Near Chester, CA being encounter — September 1956

Around 15:00 on a warm September 1956 afternoon, an off-duty Butte County deputy sheriff was bow-hunting near Wilson Lake outside Chester, California. Paul Cerny’s 1977 MUFON article says four hunters had divided into pairs. The deputy rested on a log when gravel shifted behind him. Turning, he saw a roughly four-foot man about seventy feet away on the loose hillside. The figure appeared adult, perhaps 35–40, with fine human features and light-brown hair under a red-and-gold cap. He wore green trousers, low brown boots and an open gold jacket over a tan pullover. After they watched one another for about a minute, the figure turned and reportedly bounded uphill in twenty-foot strides. The deputy’s sister, about 150 yards away, saw only a small person through brush and assumed it was another hunter. No craft was reported. Cerny published the recollection more than twenty years after the approximate event date, with the main witness anonymous. The colourful small adult should not be replaced by a Grey, and the sister’s distant glimpse does not corroborate every detail. A linked retrospective video describes shorter bounds than the original article.