Trail cam footage from Humboldt County suggests the Pacific Northwest’s most elusive resident has been quietly out-moisturizing all of us this whole time.

I want to be measured about this. I have spent twenty-two years in this field, I keep my notes in order, and I do not, as a rule, lead with personal feeling. But I have now watched the Humboldt County trail cam footage eleven times, I have consulted two of my three current reference texts, and I am prepared to state for the record that whatever Bigfoot is applying to its face, it is working. The creature’s complexion — insofar as one can assess complexion through approximately nine inches of facial fur — presents with what I can only describe as a healthy luminosity. I have questions.

The footage, submitted to WTC by two hikers who asked to remain anonymous and who, from the sound of their voicemail, were still somewhat shaken by the experience, was captured on a motion-activated trail camera positioned near a creek bed approximately four miles into the Six Rivers National Forest. The timestamp reads 04:47 a.m. In it, a large bipedal figure — between seven and eight feet tall, the witnesses estimated closer to eight — can be seen crouching at the water’s edge. It is not drinking. It is not fishing. It is engaged in what appears to be a deliberate, two-handed application of something to its face and neck, with a thoroughness and an upward stroke technique that several dermatologists I contacted described, unprompted, as "correct."

Community Notice

What the Footage Actually Shows

The sequence runs to three minutes and forty seconds, which is, I should note, longer than most people spend on their entire morning routine. The figure applies what appears to be a dark, paste-like substance from what may be a hollowed gourd or a very large clam shell — the resolution does not allow certainty, and I will not speculate beyond the evidence. It works the substance in with both hands. It then waits, apparently doing nothing, for approximately ninety seconds. It then rinses at the creek with cupped water, patting — not rubbing, patting — its face dry against what appears to be a broad, soft leaf. It then looks directly at the camera for four seconds. Then it leaves. The camera continues recording the empty creek bed for another six hours. Nothing else happens.

The upward motion, the patting dry, the wait time — that’s not instinct. That’s a routine. Something taught that, or something figured it out a very long time before we did, and frankly I find both options interesting.

— Dr. Renata Voss, Independent Cryptobotanist, Pacific Northwest Field Research Collective

The two witnesses, who encountered the subject briefly and at closer range than the camera captures, provided written statements through a third party. The first describes, and I am quoting directly here, "skin that was visible around the eyes and on the backs of the hands that looked — I don’t know how to say this — really good. Even. No visible irritation. It had been out there all night in the forest and it looked better than I do after a full night’s sleep." The second witness declined to elaborate but confirmed the account and added, in a handwritten postscript: "It smelled expensive." I have filed both statements. I have also ordered a clay mask. These two things are unrelated.

I’ve been tracking subject movement in this region for six years. I assumed the consistent creek activity was drinking behaviour. I am revising that assumption significantly.

— Marcus Teel, Field Researcher, Humboldt Cryptid Survey Project

I have put the threat level at Moderate, and I want to be transparent about my reasoning. The creature is not displaying aggression. It is displaying a functional and apparently long-standing personal care practice, and it looked directly into a camera for four seconds with what I can only describe as composure, and then went about its business. The Moderate rating reflects not physical danger but a more ambient concern: namely, that a being we have spent considerable institutional energy attempting to document and classify has been, this entire time, maintaining a more considered approach to its own wellbeing than a significant portion of the research community currently does. I include myself in that. Mrs Ashworth has been giving me a particular look this evening and I suspect she agrees.

The footage has been sent to WTC’s verification team and to Dr. Voss for further botanical analysis of the substance. We anticipate a fuller breakdown of the probable ingredients within the fortnight, pending what I am told will be a careful cross-referencing of regional plant compounds with known emollient properties. In the meantime, we note that the creek in question runs through old-growth forest and has never been commercially accessed. Whatever is in that gourd, the supply chain is, at minimum, entirely local and presumably organic. I am not drawing any further conclusions. I am simply noting this for completeness. The filing is under Humboldt, subcategory Lifestyle, and I have flagged it as ongoing.