Family has unusual experience outside Grass Valley witnessed in Nevada County, California

Open Map

One night in 1978, my 4 yr. old daughter and I, along with my boyfriend and his family were standing around a huge bon fire we had built. They lived on a ranch out in the country. It was dark about 9:00 at night and the stars were out bright. We were roasting marshmellows and having a good time. Suddenly, we heard a sound none of us heard before, it came from the bottom of the small canyon nearby the ranch. It was a very loud screech, howl, yelling burst of noise. It filled the whole canyon up and down the creek bed with its hollaring screech. We all began to ask "What is that sound"? What could be making a sound like that? We knew it was the sound of an animal but what kind, we couldn't tell. We were frightend! As we listened we realized that he was getting closer, we could hear the bushes crush under him as he pushed his way through them. We could tell by the sound that he was very huge and coming fast. We all dropped what we were doing and ran into the house. To my shame, when I got...