Response comes after mystery platform images go viral
Eureka, CA – In response to visual evidence suggesting a primitive hominid in a public forest, city officials in a Northern California coastal community strongly dismissed the possibility of a Bigfoot in the preserve.
The denial came after photos circulated on the Internet from Eureka’s Sequoia Park, seeming to show a hominid or hominids 50 feet or more above the forest floor in a tall redwood tree on a platform.
The images, first posted on this site some days ago, were taken by an experienced Western naturalist visiting the 70-acre sanctuary, which protects many old growth redwoods. The photos were determined to be original and unaltered.
The platform in question is part of the Redwood Sky Walk, currently under construction and slated to open later this year, which will connect the city of Eureka’s zoo with its redwood community forest.
Sky trail high in the trees
The $4M canopy trail will extend a quarter mile into the forest, connecting numerous tree platforms and rising as high as 100 feet from the forest floor. The ADA-compliant project will include an aerial segment for less mobile visitors.
A high-ranking city staffer familiar with the project dismissed the idea of a primitive man monster in the park. “I don’t even see how that’s possible,” he said.
No workers were aware of such a creature, he added, urging residents and curious out-of-towners to avoid the area during the sky walk’s final construction phase and after its soft launch to reduce the human footprint in the park and zoo during Covid restrictions.
Bigfoot expert weighs in
Cryptozoology expert Steven Streufert, who owns Bigfoot Books in Willow Creek, was cautious in his assessment of the photos.
“It’s ambiguous enough to be interpreted as such. It seems to have a form and the shape of a body. It’s fairly solid and not just a shadow. But I still have a lot of questions.”
A commenter on the King Bigfoot blog thought the creature was wearing something that blended it into the background.
“The person or bigfoot in the pic appears to be wearing a hat or a rain breaker. Definite artificial material not fur,” David Williams posted.
Potential megafauna habitat
Photographic evidence aside, the question remains whether a primitive primate, should such a species exist in the California wilds, could find itself in Sequoia Park. It has large redwoods, meadows, springs, a lake, grottos and tree caves, and food sources like fish, waterfowl, berries, shoots and roots. Deer and the occasional black bear have been spotted here.
Dr. Richard Stepp, a former professor of physical sciences at Humboldt State University and lifelong researcher on paranormal topics, thinks it would be possible.
“There are streams that flow through the park, covered with thick underbrush. Streams are traditional passageways for large mammals to travel without detection,” Stepp said.
Moreover, he added, there have been other reports of primitive hominids near Eureka, including the testimony of an eyewitness from a farm south of town in the 1940s.
Sighting near cryptid hotspot
While on the outskirts of Eureka, Sequoia Park connects with green corridors of private and public forests that extend all the way to Humboldt County’s Six Rivers National Forest and Redwood National Park, regions with more documented hominid encounters than anywhere in California.
They include the famous Patterson-Gimlin creature, captured on film in 1967 near Willow Creek, the so-called Bigfoot capital of the world.