Dark Watchers (Vigilantes Oscuros): Ominous Figures; Santa Lucia Mountains (California)

EnolaGaia

EnolaGaia

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The phenomenon of the 'Dark Watchers' has a long history in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California (along the coast; south of Monterrey Bay). It's difficult to categorize them. They've been described as ephemeral giant figures seen on the horizon, as ominous figures encountered at close range, and demons or ghosts. Owing to the diversity of descriptions for these Dark Watchers I'm reluctant to post about them as probable Brocken Spectres.
The Dark Watchers (also known by early Spanish settlers as Los Vigilantes Oscuros) is a name given to a group of entities in California folklore purportedly seen observing travelers along the Santa Lucia Mountains. ...

The Dark Watchers are described as tall, sometimes giant-sized featureless dark silhouettes often adorned with brimmed hats or walking sticks. They are most often reported to be seen in the hours around twilight and dawn. They are said to motionlessly watch travelers from the horizon along the Santa Lucia Mountain Range. According to legend, no one has seen one up close and if someone were to approach them, they disappear. ...
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FULL STORY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Watchers
 
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This new Live Science article adds some more details about the explanations given for the ridgetop vision version of a Dark Watcher.
'Dark Watchers' have been spooking California hikers for centuries. What are they?
By Brandon Specktor - Senior Writer

Enormous, shadowy figures in hats and cloaks have haunted the California coast for more than 300 years. What are they? ...

For hundreds of years, people have looked up at the hazy peaks of California's Santa Lucia Mountains at sunset and seen tall, cloaked figures staring back. Then, within moments, the eerie silhouettes disappear.

These twilight apparitions are known as the Dark Watchers — shady, sometimes 10-foot-tall (3 meters) men bedecked in sinister hats and capes. They primarily appear in the afternoon, and according to a recent article on SFGate.com, visitors to California have seen them perched ominously on the mountaintops for more than 300 years.

"When the Spanish arrived in the 1700s, they began calling the apparitions los Vigilantes Oscuros (literally "the dark watchers")" ...

One famous observer who felt the presence of the Watchers was the American author John Steinbeck. In his 1938 short story "Flight," a character sees a black figure leering down at him from a nearby ridgetop ...

One theory, according to Dowd, is that they are merely figments of the observers' pattern-seeking minds. In other words, it's a classic case of pareidolia ...

This pattern-seeking effect could be amplified by the presence of fog or low-flying clouds, according to Dowd. Shadows cast against clouds are responsible for another infamous illusion, known as the Brocken specter. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/dark-watchers-california-optical-illusion.html
 
Here's the SFGate article cited in the Live Science article ...
For centuries, Big Sur residents have seen 'Dark Watchers' in the mountains

If you want to see a Dark Watcher, you should wait until the late afternoon.

As the sun begins its descent behind the waves, look to the sharp ridges of the Santa Lucia Range, the mountains that rise up from the shores of Monterey and down the Central California coast. If you are lucky, you might see figures silhouetted against them. Some say the watchers are 10 feet tall, made taller or wider by hats or capes. They may turn to look at you. But they always move away quickly and disappear. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/dark-watchers-santa-lucia-range-stories-steinbeck-16012812.php
 
EnolaGaia said:
The phenomenon of the 'Dark Watchers' has a long history in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California (along the coast; south of Monterrey Bay). It's difficult to categorize them. They've been described as ephemeral giant figures seen on the horizon, as ominous figures encountered at close range, and demons or ghosts. Owing to the diversity of descriptions for these Dark Watchers I'm reluctant to post about them as probable Brocken Spectres.


FULL STORY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Watchers
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Beat me to it... I was going to post about an article I was fed in my news-feed this morning about Los Vigilantes Oscuros. I had read about it years ago on a photography forum, but it didn't go into much detail.
 
Krepostnoi said:
Yet more shadowmen with hats.
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Maybe; maybe not ... The relatively vague accounts of the phenomenon mention different types of figures. The majority of the accounts I've found relate to giant ephemeral figures observed along the mountains' skyline or ridgetops - suggesting a Brocken Spectre. However, a lesser number of accounts seem to be more along the lines of shadowman sightings.
 
Mr. Banooka said:
... I had read about it years ago on a photography forum, but it didn't go into much detail.
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Can you specify which photography forum this was?

Do you recall whether anyone mentioned there being an actual photograph of the phenomenon?
 
They need a better name than "Dark Watchers". That sounds like something Stan Lee dreamt up on a bad day.
 
GNC said:
They need a better name than "Dark Watchers". That sounds like something Stan Lee dreamt up on a bad day.
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'Los Vigilantes Oscuros'?
 
Sounds like a new Marvel superhero!
Interestingly Chumash shamans apparently had headgear that would look like a black hat from a distance.
WWchumash2.gif
 
There doesn't seem to be any substance to the claim the Dark Watchers lore originated with the indigenous Chumash culture. There's nothing in the extensive Chumash mythologies about such figures. There's nothing about such dark silent watchers to be found in the landmark study of Chumash folklore:

December's Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives
Thomas C. Blackburn
University of California Press, 1975
 
EnolaGaia said:
There doesn't seem to be any substance to the claim the Dark Watchers lore originated with the indigenous Chumash culture. There's nothing in the extensive Chumash mythologies about such figures. There's nothing about such dark silent watchers to be found in the landmark study of Chumash folklore...
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I wondered about this, but it quickly became apparent it was a bit of a dead end.

I also wondered about the possibility that it might actually reflect something from Spanish folklore, brought over by the earliest explorers and settlers. Galicia and the Basque Country seemed like a decent bet, as their folklore appears to have weathered the attritional batterings of religious conformity more than other regions of Spain - but I can't find any obvious echoes. In a crowd, Basajaun might be confused for bigfoot – with a bit of green man thrown in – but I can’t find anything obvious that really corresponds with the Vigilantes Oscuros.

The first thing that struck me when I read the links is that, whereas many such entities hide away in the shadows – or at least below the ridgeline - this bunch seem pretty intent on giving their position away. I might be reading too much into a not exactly extensive body of data, but it seems to me that there’s an air of ownership about them which suggests a kind of extrovert genius loci.
 
EnolaGaia said:
There doesn't seem to be any substance to the claim the Dark Watchers lore originated with the indigenous Chumash culture. There's nothing in the extensive Chumash mythologies about such figures. There's nothing about such dark silent watchers to be found in the landmark study of Chumash folklore:

December's Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives
Thomas C. Blackburn
University of California Press, 1975
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I was just thinking ghostly shamanic manifestations, so it is good they didn't see them :cool:
Big stretch, I know.
 
Idea: The local shamans were behind the phenomenon, trying to scare the other groups away.
 
I find the Ojai account very interesting indeed.

If this phenomenon extends further southwest along the coast to Ojai, which is in San Buenaventura County, then I may have experienced it myself.

About 20 years ago I worked in Ventura County (as it is locally known), and decided to go for an afternoon hike in the Topatopa mountains north of Ojai. I do not recall the name of the trail. What I do recall is that it consisted almost entirely of switchbacks up a steep slope. As is typical of Southern California, the soil was mainly coarse sand and rubble, while the vegetation was California chaparral, but even drier than usual on this south-facing slope.

After about half an hour of progress, I noticed a humanoid figure silhouetted against the sky on the ridge above me. Although I experienced the profound sensation of being watched, I reasoned that this must be someone who had hiked up the trail before me, and was enjoying the view. I had no way of accurately estimating the height of the figure, and no real reason to try. The distance obscured any details. All I could be sure of was that the figure was definitely humanoid in shape.

As I continued up the slope, the figure did not move much, which struck me as odd. People often do admire views for a while, but standing in one place and looking in the same direction for an hour or so is unusual. I considered the possibility that the figure was nothing more than a tree, but if so, then it was the only tree on that part of the ridge, and oddly humanoid in shape to boot.

I was pondering this oddity when something whistled past my ear, stopping me in my tracks. Was someone shooting arrows at me? I looked around quickly, but seemed to be alone on the trail, except maybe for the figure at the top of the ridge. It was in its previous pose, though I can't say what it did when I looked away, for example to watch where I put my feet.

I considered taking cover, but my options in this direction consisted of lying down in the dust of the trail, or taking my chances in dry, spiky vegetation on a steep, loose, and crumbly slope. The meager cover that the nearby bushes offered did not seem worth the chance of a close encounter with a rattlesnake, or a certain encounter with ticks.

It was then that the hummingbird sounded its battle cry above me - a sort of tapping or clicking sound that I knew well. I looked straight up in time to see the little bird make another attack run. Likely this was a mother protecting her nest.

My sense of relief faded quickly as I hastened around the next bend of the trail. There, on the ridge, was the same humanoid figure, in the same position. The sense of being watched waxed to uncomfortable levels. What would I do if I reached the ridgetop, and this person was still staring at me? I concluded that there was no reason a dangerous person couldn't go hiking in the wilderness, and headed back down, taking care to speed past the overprotective hummingbird.

Now, my assumption all along has been that the figure on the ridge was another human being, albeit a decidedly disturbing one. But who knows?
 
My first wife and I saw a Brocken spectre on Pen yr Ole Wen, Snowdonia, many years ago. It was spectacular, but although neither of us had read of the phenomenon before, we were never in doubt that it was our own shadow.

OK, so we had the clue that there were 2 of us and 2 of it, but even without that, the orientation with the sun at our backs and the spectre in front of us made it obvious. We were able to wave and see our own shadows wave back. It was a very special moment, but no more mysterious than seeing a rainbow.

If the Dark Watcher sightings are Brocken spectres, this could explain why they are mainly seen late in the day, when the sun is low. However, the geometry requires that the sun, observer and spectre should always be in a straight line — unless there is some strange refraction going on.

This means that, for the watcher to be seen looking down from a ridge, the observer would have to be on a lower ridge, with the sun behind them on a horizon that is lower than where they were standing. This is quite a specific set of circumstances.

I could understand why the figure appearing to look down on you would make it less obvious that it was a Brocken spectre than if you were looking down on it.

The hat, cloak, etc. can probably be explained by a lack of sharpness in, or distortion of, the Brocken spectre image over distance, coupled with a bit of pareidolia.

I can imagine the spectre melting away or "not being there next time I looked" as the angles and the conditions changed. The sun is in constant movement, and even minute or two would be enough for the perfect conditions for the sighting to come to an end.

The bit that doesn't make sense is when the observer moves and the watcher does not. The simplest explanation is some combination of poor observation and memory, coupled with embellishment in the retelling. It certainly makes a better story if the watcher stands there ominously and watches you as you toil along the ridge.
 
Mikefule said:
I can imagine the spectre melting away or "not being there next time I looked" as the angles and the conditions changed. The sun is in constant movement, and even minute or two would be enough for the perfect conditions for the sighting to come to an end.

The bit that doesn't make sense is when the observer moves and the watcher does not. The simplest explanation is some combination of poor observation and memory, coupled with embellishment in the retelling. It certainly makes a better story if the watcher stands there ominously and watches you as you toil along the ridge.
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Some of the accounts in the evening very well could unfold this way, with the sun setting in the ocean below and west of the observer, who looks up at higher peaks to the east.

In my case, however, the sun was high in the sky during the whole incident. My shadow was limited to the slope near me.
 
Mikefule said:
... If the Dark Watcher sightings are Brocken spectres, this could explain why they are mainly seen late in the day, when the sun is low. However, the geometry requires that the sun, observer and spectre should always be in a straight line — unless there is some strange refraction going on.

This means that, for the watcher to be seen looking down from a ridge, the observer would have to be on a lower ridge, with the sun behind them on a horizon that is lower than where they were standing. This is quite a specific set of circumstances.

I could understand why the figure appearing to look down on you would make it less obvious that it was a Brocken spectre than if you were looking down on it. ...
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Aether Blue said:
Some of the accounts in the evening very well could unfold this way, with the sun setting in the ocean below and west of the observer, who looks up at higher peaks to the east. ...
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Agreed ... Most accounts that mention any common factors for the sightings mention sunset / twilight / dusk as the time when the mystery figures are seen. These same accounts typically describe the figures as huge and visible atop the Santa Lucia ridges.

Another relevant factoid is that the Santa Lucia range is known for its fogs / mists on the western (ocean) side of the range.

Like other Pacific Coast Ranges, the mountains' close proximity to the Pacific Ocean cause moisture to be deposited on the west-facing slopes, creating a suitable environment for conifers. ...
... During the summer, fog and low clouds are frequent along the coast up to an elevation of 2–3,000 feet.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Lucia_Range

These fogs can essentially fill the valleys and canyons. In other words, there's no need to be up on the peaks to have a cloud / mist backdrop for projecting a Brocken Spectre.

Finally, one must bear in mind that these mountains rise quite abruptly from the shoreline. If you're within sight of the ocean, there's little or nothing to obstruct direct line of sight to the setting sun.

Bottom Line: The terrain and conditions on the westward / ocean side of the Santa Lucia range are quite conducive to supporting Brocken Spectres visible as the sun sets.
 
The fairly obvious conditions conducive to Brocken Spectres recommend them as the cause of the 'classic' sightings (huge figures atop the ridges at sunset / dusk).

However, other accounts (persistent mystery figures seen at closer range) don't fit this explanation. This is why I'd love to disentangle the 'classic' sightings from the others. I suspect the non-'classic' cases have been added to the lore in relatively recent times, causing a confusion between the 'classic' historical phenomenon and more modern incidents.
 
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