San Bernardino County history: Lytle Creek monster – Welcome to San Bernardino County

Newspaper article titled "Marine Out For Monster" featuring an interview with a person discussing their curiosity and engagement with the Lytle Creek monster.

Lytle Creek, which has a history of mysterious sightings, is an unincorporated community in the San Gabriel Mountains within San Bernardino County. Several neighboring cities, such as Fontana, Rialto, Colton and San Bernardino, are built on the ancient alluvial fan sediments left behind by Lytle Creek.

Lytle Creek grew immensely in 1860 following the discovery of gold. The Harpending Company of New York, one of the large-scale mines in the area, reportedly extracted $2,000 worth of gold a week, equivalent to over $62,000 in today’s dollars.

However, flooding in 1891 brought most of the large-scale mining operations to an end, leaving the canyon for ranchers. The town’s population remained small at around 588 residents.

In the summer of 1966, local newspapers reported sightings of a big, furry, slimy creature by teenagers around the region, nicknaming it the Lytle Creek monster. The sightings occurred in the old Fontana Drag strip just south of Baseline, what is now Interstate 15.

At the time, reports of other strange phenomena such as UFOs were frequent in the Inland Empire, according to police reports at the time. In 1965, a Rialto police officer reported a “monster” seen in the river bottom off South Riverside Avenue.

Four years earlier, two girls claimed to have encountered a “huge, green-faced ghoul with a liking for loud rock and roll music,” according to a local newspaper. After an investigation, police discovered it was a prankster dressed in a black cape and Frankenstein mask with long, false, monster-like fingers.

Another story from the 1950s involved a driver whose car was clawed by a monster with a round face, phosphorescent eyes, no ears and scaly, elongated arms. Sheriff deputies later determined it was most likely a vulture swooping down to reach prey when it was mistakenly hit by the car.

Despite these explanations, the true identity of the Lytle Creek monster remains a mystery. In 1991, a Fontana resident reported hearing heavy footsteps that shook his home near Lytle Creek. The next morning, he found several of his chickens flattened. His son reportedly saw a large gray creature leaving the scene.

The information in this historical feature was originally part of a video series produced by the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk’s office.

Additional County Update News – October 30, 2025