The Dark Watchers

Imagine hiking through the mountains of California only to discover you’re being watched in the distance by a large, shadow entity.

That is exactly the lore of the Dark Watchers, these tall shadow figures that are known to gaze at hikers in the Santa Lucia Mountains. But, could they be real? Listen now.

Have you ever seen a shadow watch you while hiking?

Are mysterious figures haunting the hills of California?

What are watching hikers in the Santa Lucia Mountains?

What is up, Bizarros?! This week we dive into the eerie silhouettes that stalk hikers in the mountains of California. We dive into the Dark Watchers.

What Are The Dark Watchers?

The Dark Watchers of California have been a part of Central California history for centuries.

Believed to reside in the Santa Lucia Mountains, these tall figures are anywhere from 8 to 15 feet tall.

It’s widely believed that the native tribes of the area had myths and stories about these ancient entities still seen today.

The Chumash people who historically lived in this area had legends of the dark watchers. They called the “old ones”

Though none of these stories are easily found online.

The first historical reports are from the Spanish settlers in the 1700s. They called the entities “Los Vigilantes Oscuros”

The three things that people who have witnessed the Dark Watchers agree on are

1 They are all tall humanoid figures that seem to be wearing a cloak or brimmed hat.

2 They are completely covered in shadow,

3 And they sometimes have a walking stick.

The watchers are typically seen in the golden hour to twilight as the sun sets behind the mountains.

Their tall silhouettes stand on the range, looming over the people who see them.

Shadowy figures with no facial features, just blackness like a void, and They stand silently and never make any noise.

It’s also said the Dark Watchers appear to be those who are more modern in their hiking. They avoid people carrying firearms and people dressed in weatherproof clothing. Preferring those that travel in a more old fashion way.

The Dark Watchers are typically shy. They are known to appear, look, and disappear after several minutes. All they ever really do is watch. Nothing else.

The dark watchers came back into the general public’s thoughts in 1937 again after Robert Jefferson’s poem collection about the Golden Coast called “Such Counsels You Gave To Me and Other Poems.”

Jefferson was quoted

“He thought it might be one of the watchers, who are often seen in this length of coast range, forms that look human to human eyes but certainly are not human.

They come from behind ridges to watch,” Jeffers wrote. “…

He was not surprised when the figure turning toward him in the quiet twilight showed his own face. Then it melted and merged into the shadows beyond it.”

John Steinbeck wrote about the dark silhouette in passing in his short story “Flight.”

Quote “In the tale, a teenage Mexican American boy kills a man and is forced to flee into the Santa Lucias.

As his mother bids him farewell, she urges him to say his prayers, take care of his horse, and “when thou comest to the high mountains, if thou seest any of the dark watching men, go not near to them nor try to speak to them.”

John Steinbeck’s mother, who grew up in the area, knew to bring gifts to the watchers and was known for it.

Olivia would bring gifts of fruits or even flowers (sounds like fae to me)

Possible Explanations For The Dark Watchers

Pareidolia. The idea is that shadows, mist, And trees combine together to trick the brain into seeing shadow figures on the hill.

Another explanation is Brocken Spectre

Basically, when the sun gets behind something on the misty mountains, it makes the shadows huge. 

It could also be an optical illusion of low-flying clouds casting shadows that make it look like something is watching you. 

Encounters With The Dark Watchers

From TakohamoOlson on Reddit

My husband and I were in California a few years ago for the wedding of my ex (yeah, I know…strange, we actually got an invite). He and his new wife took us to Big Sur near the Santa Lucia mountains.

As we were out sightseeing, I looked at the mountains and asked them about the thin statues on the peaks. My ex and his wife looked rather scared and asked, ‘OMG, you saw THEM?!’ I asked what the story was with the statues, and they said, “Not statues; they are the Dark Watchers; The local NA tribes know more about them, but they’ve been here since the beginning of time.’

That creeped me out.

From mysterious universe

“One strange occurrence was told of by a witness from Moreno Valley, California, who in 2011 said:

Many, many years ago, I was with a friend driving through a dirt field here in Moreno Valley near Allessandro, near what I believe were old abandoned barns that I always had heard were haunted, when my friend’s car broke down. (could have been a coincidence, it was a beat up Volkswagen bug)

It was dusk at best, and there was no way we were going to make it out of the field before it was pitch black instead of chancing getting retardedly lost and/or hurt in the dark, we decided to sleep in the car and set out in the morning to go get help to tow the car.

(it was way before the days of everyone having cell phones and quick help) As we were killing time, in the pitch black now, we were hanging out inside and outside of the car, killing time, sharing smokes, and we started to distinctly see what looked like black shadows, evenly distributed and completely encircling us; they did not move, they stayed motionless but were of significant size and based on the distance,

I would say at least the size of a small car like the bug we ourselves were in. Whatever these were seemed hunched over, perhaps kneeling.

Time passed, and they never moved, and though we walked around the car and got in and out of the car to see if what we were seeing was some sort of optical illusion, we couldn’t explain or discredit what we were seeing. To this day, it racks my brain.”

——–

“In 2013, there was a report made by Elizabeth Benitez of San Mateo, California, who claimed to have seen the specters in broad daylight near the San Luis Obispo reservoir. She would say of this encounter:

I remember one day, my friend and I were coming back from Los Angeles. We passed the San Luis Obispo reservoir, and as we drove on the road, I saw something at a distance down at the end of the mountain.

It was a really big human figure, but it wasn’t. It had a black cape, kind of like the Grim Reaper, and it was leaning over, holding on to a staff at a “puddle of water,” or so that is what it seemed at a distance.

It was in the daytime, too, so I could identify it wasn’t a person. Even in mid-light, he was very black and reminded me of a raven. I told my friend who was driving to look over at the mountains, and surprisingly, she was able to see a glimpse of it.

I asked her what she saw without giving her my details, and she said exactly what I saw. She only looked at it for about 5 seconds, but she was able to see it.

She almost lost control of the car, too, when she looked away at it, and I begged her to go back and see it, but she was very tired of driving already. These Dark Watchers are real”

————

“Also in 2013 was an account from a witness known only as “Brian,” from Hollister, California, who claimed to have seen the entities as they were driving home. He would say of the incident:

We were coming home to the San Juan Bautista/Hollister side when we saw a very large dark figure standing at the edge of the mountains, which was extremely weird since I’ve never seen anyone cross over the barbed wire fence, and I travel that road daily and at all hours.

We drove by it slowly behind the figure, noticing it staring off into the distant valleys and mountains (Fremont peak). It appeared to have a large cape with straight shoulders that were very broad.

It seemed to have a hunch on its back. At first, from a distance, I thought it was a condor, but when I got closer, it stood almost over 10 feet tall. It did not notice us driving behind it, but when we found a spot on the cliffy road to turn around and get a better look, it was gone.”

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“In 2015, there was a report from a long-distance runner calling himself Joey in Sylmar, California. The witness said that he had been out training for a race in the mountains when he saw something peculiar, saying of his experience:

Time of day was 2:00 pm I was running and up in an area where no human could climb without gear I saw a black figure in plain day light.

I had never seen anything like it up in the mountain. Was darker than dark could not explain it. A year past and today again January 24th I saw it again and in the same spot.

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“In 2018, there was a report from a witness from Ojai, California, who was out hiking in the mountains when he came across something very bizarre indeed. He would say:

I was hiking up a remote trail up the 33 in Ojai, I was about an hour up the mountain, no people, no cars in sight. as I was hiking, I had this eerie feeling I was being watched.

I looked up at the top of the mountain. It was a black figure. I waved jokingly, not really thinking the object was a person. It waved back.

Thinking I was maybe tripping or that it was a tree waving in the wind, I took a puff of my cigarette only to see the figure blow out a plume of smoke as well.

I started seeing it flowing, and I said, flowing, almost floating vertically. I ran like hell back to my car, spraining my knee in the process.”

Who Are The Dark Watchers In The Santa Lucia Mountains?

What do you think, Bizarros?

Are these spirits of Spanish settlers?

Are they the spirits of the settlers that feel protective of the land?

Are these older spirits that are like elementals that are more like embodiments of the land?

Let us know what you think the Dark Watchers are in the comments.

Sources

Mystery universe

Sf gate

Mccagora.com