Media Article # 535

Monday, August 18, 1975

Monster revisits hills

Corona Daily Independent

Corona's 'foothill monster' again ranged the outskirts of the community over the
weekend, according to witnesses quoted by police, but managed to foil sighting
efforts of law officers - and left no traces.
By now, reports of a mysterious creature of 10-feet height and human-like facial
characteristics, was implanted in the records for a second week. And stalking
the monster had become a social pastime for twilight hours.
One officer said two men identified as Ernest Palmeira, 34, of 717 W. Sixth, and
James F. Mihalko, 36, of 3051 Kips Korner, Norco, became angry when an officer,
taking the initial sighting report, failed to treat their story as a true one.
They came to the police station yesterday to complain and get their report on
record.
Another officer said he questioned the pair very closely and "they told a most
convincing story." The officer, a veteran of the department, appeared a little
shook as he talked about it. He had just returned from a search that failed to
turn up the monster.
The two men told police they drove to the south end of Main Street about 2:30
a.m. Saturday in an effort to see the monster. They drove to about 300 feet
north of the south terminus of Main, parked their car and turned out the lights.
Exiting from their vehicle, they then turned on the spot light to survey the
area. The light revealed the animal sitting on a concrete wall "slumped over."
The men told officers they were about 200 feet from the monster and could hear
him breathing heavily.
They said the animal looked up at them for a few seconds, then disappeared into
the brush that surrounds the area.
He had a hairy face, stood about 10 feet tall, and moved extremely fast.
The men said the animal turned his body when he looked around as if he had
difficulty turning his head.
About 10:30 Friday night, Ronald J. Campbell, 31, of 2342 (? not clear) S.
Gilbert, called police when he heard something outside. He said his dogs began
barking wildly toward the rear of his residence, and when he investigated he
thought he heard a noise in his barn. The dogs then ran barking into the orange
grove that surrounds the house.
Campbell saw nothing, and a search by police failed to locate anything that
would have set the dogs to barking.

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