Sportsman's Club

[SherlockJr]

We haven't researched what may be an important part of this mystery. Starting this thread for the Bald Knob Sportman's Club, or Bald Mountain Sportsman's Club, and whatever we can find out about this place. I am hoping Annasmom, Suzy and Joe can contribute their memory of this place.

[SherlockJr]

It is my understanding that the club is located south of the farm. Looking at the map, the "Y" in the road, the club members would head toward the bottom of the "Y" over the bridge to get to the club. This means anyone traveling to or from the club would have to pass directly in front of the house. If this is the case, Anna could have been taken at this spot instead of on Purisima Creek Rd.

[SherlockJr]

This is listed in California Corporations:

CorporationBALD KNOB SPORTSMAN'S CLUB
Number: C0894945
Date Filed: 8/15/1978
Status: suspended
Jurisdiction:
CaliforniaAddress
36341 SHELLEY CT
NEWARK, CA 94560
Agent for Service of Process
AUGUST J CAFFERATA
36341 SHELLEY CT
NEWARK, CA 94560




This was named Bald Knob after Anna went missing, if it's the same place.

[Cubby]

Interesting, Sherlock. I've always thought Anna was taken from closer to the drive or drive/guest parking area than from the road, but I don't know why. Would this be the same club that was used by the horseman and motorcycle club?

Looking forward to learning more about this area.

[SherlockJr]

Our Canadian researcher has just sent me this link...

http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/purisimabald.html

[Annasmom]

We haven't researched what may be an important part of this mystery. Starting this thread for the Bald Knob Sportman's Club, or Bald Mountain Sportsman's Club, and whatever we can find out about this place. I am hoping Annasmom, Suzy and Joe can contribute their memory of this place.

There was an article in the November, 2007, magazine of the Half Moon Bay Review which said "...on an ever-shrinking swath of land leased by the 100-year-old Half Moon Bay Gun Club, a microcosm of this older way exists..." It says that the club occupies "shrinking patches of private or leased property" which includes a place south of Half Moon Bay which has to be the same place as the hunters' club up in the hills just south of the farm on Purisima Creek Road.

Names mentioned in the article are Bob Edwards, 73, who "still hunts down at the Bald Knob Sportsman's Club, south of Half Moon Bay" and Jack Bettencourt, another hunter.

Hunting season starts in August and ends in late October, so the club itself probably wouldn't have been around in January, but certainly their lodge (which I never saw) was still there, and as far as I know, the road which ran in front of the house was the only way to get there. There may have been trails or a road from Tunitas, the adjacent canyon, that I don't know about.

We drove down Purisima Creek Road yesterday just to take a look. Looks like TC, if she still lives there, has cows in the meadow. I was once again impressed by what a long and winding road it is from the coast highway to where we lived. I was trying to picture someone keeping a child out of sight of the surrounding houses..The nearest houses in 1973, however, would have been below the level of the road, as ours was, and thus wouldn't have had a view of the road.

The article in the Review Magazine may be available on line. There was another Review Magazine article in April, 2008, which mentioned the Purisima neighborhood. "Purisima Creek Road, when seen from high atop Higgins Canyon Road, transports you to another era when things seemed less complicated. Sheltered from the distant storm clouds gathering over the ocean, a red barn stands serenely in the midst of trees and gently sloping pastures as if untouched by time." That red barn was white when we lived there. It is the only red barn you can see from Higgins Canyon Road.

[SherlockJr]

So now today, since TC owned the property and put up a big security gate, there must be another road to get to the cabin.

[Dr. Doogie]

Here is a link to a sattelite map of the area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.429802,-122.374842&spn=0.010735,0.023217&t=h&z=16

It shows some very overgrown dirt roads that seem to connect to Tunitas Creek Road. It is unknown if those roads existed in 1973 or were passable after the rainstorm of January 15th.

[SherlockJr]

Here is a link to a sattelite map of the area.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.429802,-122.374842&spn=0.010735,0.023217&t=h&z=16

It shows some very overgrown dirt roads that seem to connect to Tunitas Creek Road. It is unknown if those roads existed in 1973 or were passable after the rainstorm of January 15th.


It appears this road goes up the mountain and ends in a loop. There seems to be some type of building in the loop. Could that be the cabin?

[Dr. Doogie]

It appears this road goes up the mountain and ends in a loop. There seems to be some type of building in the loop. Could that be the cabin?

I believe that it is. There appears to be some poor dirt roads to the south and southeast that do lead to Tunitas Creek Road.

[Cubby]

Have fliers or letters ever been sent to the current people in charge of the Gun Club? If anyone has been a long term member, it's possible they may remember of someone having some criminal trouble back then.

[SherlockJr]

There is no listing for Half Moon Bay Gun Club in the CA corporations, or partnerships. They must be filed with the state under another name. My suggestion would be to contact the gentleman listed in the Nov 2007 article, perhaps he can shed some light on this. However, Annasmom posted the hunting season ends in October and maybe the gun club only leases the property for 3 months during the year.

[Annasbro]

We called it the hunter's cabin. I have been next to and around it numerous times. I don't think I was ever inside. It was empty most of the time. I used to hike up to bald knob quite a bit and the path goes directly past it. I can answer any questions anyone has about the structure or its location. It might be deceptive from the arial pictures to get an accurate feeling of its proximity to the farm. It is up a hill that is quite steep and doesn't feel very connected to the area immediately around the farm. It lies in a fairliy flat area before the winding decent up to the top of the mountain. I would find it hard to believe that someone passed in front of the house and drove up to the cabin without being noticed because of the proximity of the road to our house. It is, however possible. I suppose someone could use the far branch of the y in the drive and get there more un-noticed. The road up to the cabin is pretty rough but maybe could be traversed with 2w drive.This is an interesting thread and should be investigated further.

[SherlockJr]

We called it the hunter's cabin. I have been next to and around it numerous times. I don't think I was ever inside. It was empty most of the time. I used to hike up to bald knob quite a bit and the path goes directly past it. I can answer any questions anyone has about the structure or its location. It might be deceptive from the arial pictures to get an accurate feeling of its proximity to the farm. It is up a hill that is quite steep and doesn't feel very connected to the area immediately around the farm. It lies in a fairliy flat area before the winding decent up to the top of the mountain. I would find it hard to believe that someone passed in front of the house and drove up to the cabin without being noticed because of the proximity of the road to our house. It is, however possible. I suppose someone could use the far branch of the y in the drive and get there more un-noticed. The road up to the cabin is pretty rough but maybe could be traversed with 2w drive.This is an interesting thread and should be investigated further.

My first thought was possiby someone leaving the cabin and passing by your house and taking Anna when she was in the yard, then heading west on Purisima Creek Rd. Is there a name to this road? I always thought it was more like a private driveway. Was this the only road to drive a car to the cabin? The windows on the side of the house (east side) look to be on the enclosed back porch which was a bedroom and the living room. If everyone was sitting in the living room, could they see out the window into the yard, or were drapes hung that blocked the view. How often would you see cars coming from the cabin? Also, wasn't the cabin used for bikers? Do you see many motorcycles coming from the cabin?

[suzapalooza]

As Annasbro said, we thought of that place as the hunters cabin. I never went up there, too afraid of the ticks! I think there was a gate across the 'road' just near to the water tank, just past the horse barn, and it was kept closed. One day a bunch of bikers showed up on the uphill side of the gate, and they were trespassing. There was some type of verbal exchange, between maybe JoeFord or Billwhite, and the bikers, to get them to turn around and go back wherever they came from and someone said 'Go get NAHNDAAA' (as if Nanda was the Incredible Hulk or something...!) and the bikers took off. I got this story second-hand, I wasn't there for the event, and can't remember the time frame.

[SherlockJr]

That was funny to read about Annasbro!

Ok, the the dirt road had a locked gate before heading up the steep hill. This almost rules out anyone taking Anna by car coming from or going to the cabin. The possibility of a motorcycle still exist if the bike could go around the gate.