STATE FILE · UT
Cryptids of Utah
What cryptids are in Utah? The best-known are Bear Lake Monster and Bigfoot.
Utah’s most famous monster swims in Bear Lake, the turquoise lake straddling the Utah–Idaho border that locals call the “Caribbean of the Rockies.” In 1868 Joseph C. Rich, a Latter-day Saint settler and correspondent, wrote in the Deseret News about a huge serpentine creature reported by local residents and Shoshone traditions. The story became a regional sensation; Rich was later widely regarded as having spun a yarn, but the Bear Lake Monster lives on in Garden City, where it appears on souvenirs, tour boats and murals near the shore famous for its raspberry shakes.
Cryptids reported in Utah
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1868
Bear Lake Monster
Bear Lake, on the Utah–Idaho border
A serpent-like monster said to swim Bear Lake on the Utah–Idaho line, born of an 1868 newspaper story its own author later called a lie.
REGIONAL LEGEND
HOMINID · 1958
Bigfoot
Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America
North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.
WIDELY REPORTEDThe legends of Utah
Bigfoot reports in Utah come mostly from the High Uintas, the state’s highest mountains. In August 1977 hikers from North Ogden reported watching a tall, two-toned hairy creature west of Mirror Lake for several minutes; wildlife officials searched on horseback, found nothing, and suggested a grizzly bear. Pioneer-era lore adds a darker twist: an account attributed to Latter-day Saint apostle David W. Patten, set in Tennessee in 1835, describes an encounter with a tall, hairy figure he identified as the biblical Cain, a story some Bigfoot writers have linked to Sasquatch.
Skeptics point to bears, elk and moose in the high country, and to the long history of lake-monster tall tales across the West. The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest remains the place most Utah enthusiasts head to search.
Hotspots
The turquoise lake on the Idaho line and the town that celebrates its monster.
Utah’s highest mountains, site of the 1977 Mirror Lake sighting.
Scenic route into the Uintas, near the 1977 encounter area.
Huge forest spanning northern Utah with scattered Bigfoot reports.
Sightings timeline
- 1868Joseph C. Rich’s report Bear Lake Monster
Rich’s letter to the Deseret News described a giant serpent-like creature and listed recent settler sightings. It started the legend and caused excitement across the Utah Territory.
- 1871A “junior” monster near Fish Haven Bear Lake Monster
A local fisherman reportedly caught a small member of the monster “family.” Like most early stories, it was passed along by newspapers without any physical evidence.
- 1874Bishop Budge’s letter Bear Lake Monster
Bishop William Budge wrote to the Ogden Junction that he and two companions had seen a creature about five or six feet long whose face and head were covered in light, snuff-colored fur. His report shows how varied the descriptions were.
- June 2002Brian Hirschi’s sighting Bear Lake Monster
Local business owner Brian Hirschi said he saw a large creature rise near his boat. It is often cited as the most recent well-known sighting.
Latest from Utah
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Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)
Roger Patterson and Bob GimlinThe original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.
ARCHIVE.ORG4:59
The Film That Made Bigfoot A Star
Oregon Public BroadcastingOPB’s short documentary on how the Patterson–Gimlin film turned a regional legend into a global icon – and the hoax claims around it.
▶ VIDEO
Sts’ailes Sasquatch Days in Harrison Hot Springs
Tourism Harrison River ValleyShows the festival celebrating the Sts’ailes people’s Sásq’ets, the being behind the word “Sasquatch” (no archive.org equivalent).