Bigfoot During Woodstock’s Summer
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 17th, 2009
Woodstock happened 40 years ago, and you’ve probably been literally hearing about the “3 Days of Peace & Music” all weekend.
Have you thought about what kind of Bigfoot reports took place during 1969? While none may have been sighted near Bethel, New York on August 15-17 of that year, the warm months in North America saw some memorable cases, indeed. Some are famous today.
The “Minnesota Iceman” was touring the Midwest, I was tracking it down, and many sightings were occurring all the corners of North America. Some of these are still talked about today. I remember investigating everything from Frank Hansen’s frozen hominoid, the Rising Sun sightings and the Florida Skunk Ape reports to exchanging break information from Alberta and Texas with John Green, Brad Steiger, Ivan Sanderson, John Keel, Jerome Clark, and Mark A. Hall. Those were the days of rapid letter communiques full of photocopied news items and hastily written notes.
The names still ring familiar down through the years: Skamania, Lake Worth, Gray’s Harbor, Bridgewater, Bossburg, Easterville, Big Horn Dam.
If you were alive during Woodstock, you may remember some of these cases:
Late Feb. 1969
Khutze Inlet, BC
Ronnie Nyce & 2 other men
Shot at Bigfoot which ran screaming into woods.
Feb. 1969
Nr Truman, AR
Nathan Russell
Saw creature a cross between dog and ape, with human head and shoulders; jumped from tree and chased him briefly.
5 March 1969
Beacon Rock State Park, WA
Don Cox
8-10-ft Bigfoot crossed road at 4 am in front of witness’ car and leapt up 40 deg. slope.
March 1969
North Saskatchewan Valley, Alberta
Mark Yellowbird
Saw Bigfoot.
March 1969
Nr Skamania, WA
Mrs. Ellen Satterthwaite
Saw legs and body of Bigfoot which crossed road in front of her car (her lights were too low to show more).
16 April 1969
Road between Paradise & Stirling City, CA
Robert & Mrs. Behme
Saw 6-ft Bigfoot with short black hair flecked with white limp across road.
24 April 1969
Port Huron, MI
Children
Frightened in woods by 6-ft gray Bigfoot.
April 1969
Between Bossburg & Northport, WA
Woman
Saw two Bigfoot looking in trash cans.
April 1969
Oroville area, CA
Ed Saville & Eldon Butler
8-ft, greenish-eyed Bigfoot came to their rabbit call at night.
Early Spring 1969
Clackamas River area, OR
Logger
Saw Bigfoot standing in small lake.
Spring 1969
Nr Kettle Falls, WA
Mrs. Betty Peterson
Two black Bigfoot over 7 ft tall, and heavy, ran quickly across road.
Spring 1969
Nr Marietta, WA
Sailor & three others
When parked, car lights lit up 7-8-ft, white, long-armed Bigfoot which ran into woods.
Early 1969
Rochester, MN
Larry Hawkins
Student saw Bigfoot crouching at roadside; it ran off when he stopped, leaving a dead rabbit.
18 May 1969
Nr Merritt, BC
David Ludlam & army cadets
Witnesses saw hairy 10-ft Bigfoot near their camp, by day and night.
19 May 1969
Nr Rising Sun, IN
George Kaiser
Watched muscular black Bigfoot with no neck 25 ft away; 3-toed tracks found.
26 June 1969
Dallas, OR
Mrs. Doris Newton
Saw two black Bigfoot walking upright across a field 150 yds away.
June 1969
Wildwood Inn, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, CA
Several people including Bob Kelley & family
6-ft, dark-brown Bigfoot seen fighting dogs.
June 1969
Mamquam, BC
Gordon Ferrier
Saw hairy biped with bushy tail; 3-toed tracks found later.
June 1969
Nr Orofino, ID
Mr. Moore
Several Bigfoot often heard and seen around sawmill.
June or July 1969
Trinity Alps nr Trinity Center, CA
Don Ballard & friend
Saw Bigfoot over 8 ft tall by daylight.
4 July 1969
N of Wildwood, CA
Eldon Brackett
Saw 7½-ft Bigfoot with no neck; left 16½-in tracks.
Early July 1969
Twain, CA
Lester Orlinger (16) & two girls
Witnesses in car saw Bigfoot crouched in road, swerved to avoid it and stopped, but it had gone.
12 July 1969
Oroville, CA
Charles Jackson & son Kevin (6)
7-8-ft Bigfoot with 3-in gray hair and large breasts watched witnesses burning rubbish in yard.
Mid July 1969
North Saskatchewan valley, Alberta
Edith Yellowbird (16)
Saw 4 Bigfoot.
26 July 1969
Deekay Road, Copalis Beach, WA
Deputy Sheriff Verlin Herrington
Saw Bigfoot at night while driving home. (This is one of the famous Grays Harbor incident.)
July 1969
Nr Bradfield Canal, AK
J.W. Huff & companion
Witnesses setting up camp saw Bigfoot watching them from 500 yds away.
July 1969
Nr Oroville, CA
Homer Stickley
By moonlight saw dark Bigfoot walk across field.
July to Nov. 1969
Lake Worth, TX
Many people including Jack E. Harris
White Bigfoot often seen during this summer; threw car wheel 500 ft at one group of watchers.
4 Aug. 1969
Nr Cub Lake, E of Darrington, WA
Mark Meece & Marshall Cabe
Chased back to camp by 3 Bigfoot.
24 Aug. 1969
Big Horn Dam, North Saskatchewan River, Alberta
Harley Peterson, Stan Peterson, Guy L’Heureuse, Floyd Engen, Dale Boddy
Construction workers were watched for about half an hour by 15-ft figure half a mile away.
Harry Trumbore’s illustration from The Field Guide of Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates (p. 45) shows the Pitt Lake, BC’s "Sasquatch" seen in June 1965, which was the precursor to the Big Horn Dam giant seen in 1969.
Aug 1969
East fork of Coquille, OR
Jack Woodruff
Something shook trailer home. Next night witness saw Bigfoot running away fast through trees; later found track 12 in long x 5 in wide.
Aug. 1969
Sixes River nr Port Orford, OR
Joe Bayless
Saw Bigfoot several times during 2-month dredging operation. 6 ft tall, heavy, black haired. Sat and watched him for 30 mins, with elbow on knee, head resting on hand.
Summer 1969
Easterville, Manitoba
Schoolteacher & Indian couple
Saw Bigfoot leaping small bushes.
Summer 1969
Nr South Sulphur River nr Commerce, TX
Jerry Matlock, Kenneth Wilson & others
8-ft, brown-haired Bigfoot with wide shoulders came fast over levee towards car at night; men drove away, trying unsuccessfully to fire a gun at it.
Summer 1969
Nr North Bend, WA
Robert Parker & friends
Fishermen heard scream and saw brown Bigfoot walk across hillside.
Late summer 1969
Nr Maple Springs, N of Orleans, CA
Woman
Prospector saw adult male and female Bigfoot several times; took apples and grapes she left out.
13 Sept. 1969
Nr Deception Pass, WA
A youth
Saw black Bigfoot 5 ft 3 in tall cross road at night.
20 or 30 Sept. 1969
Fife Heights nr Tacoma, WA
Dick Hancock & Gary Johnson
Bigfoot ran across road and hit metal road sign, leaving it bent.
Sept. 1969
Bellingham, WA
Woman
Witness opened curtains at 4 am and saw huge, sad-looking face covered with white hair.
Sept. 1969
Lost Trail Pass, MT
Man
Wood-cutter watched by 7-ft ‘apeman’; the hair on its neck stood up when he started his power saw.
Sept. 1969
Kananasis Lake-Ribbon Creek area, nr Banff, Alberta
Three men
Prospectors saw female Bigfoot 7-8 ft tall, squatting near camp at noon; it chattered its teeth and moved its arms up and down.
25 Oct. 1969
Nr Anahim Lake, BC
Pan Phillips
Game guide watched brown Bigfoot through telescopic sight for 10 mins; it sat by snowhole (apparently its home) at edge of glacier at 6,000 ft.
31 Oct. 1969
Nr Oroville, CA
Wes Strang
Saw squatting Bigfoot outside his house; looked at each other; witness returned indoors to watch TV!
Oct. 1969
Little Cricket, S-W of Yakima, WA
Ross Hendrich
Deer hunter saw two dark-brown Bigfeet 7-9 ft tall, reaching down to take something from under rocks as they walked uphill.
Oct. 1969
Feather River nr Oroville, CA
Charles Mauldin
Witness in boat saw Bigfoot running on abandoned road.
Autumn 1969
French Creek nr Oroville, CA
Ron Sanders
Saw two Bigfoot turning over rocks and eating something.
Autumn 1969
S of Twin Falls, ID
Man
Rabbit hunter saw 8-10-ft Bigfoot momentarily step into spotlight beam.
1 Nov. 1969
Nr St Clair Lake, nr Fort Lewis, WA
Army sergeant Lloyd Stringer
Driving on foggy night, hit 6-ft brown Bigfoot standing in road.
7 Nov. 1969
Lake Worth, TX
Charles Buchanan
Thrown to ground, while sleeping in pick-up, by Bigfoot.
20 or 22 Nov. 1969
Trans-Canada Highway nr Lytton, BC
Ivan Wally
Graybrown Bigfoot about 7 ft tall stood in road with hands above head as Wally drove by at night.
23 Nov. 1969
Calkins Ranch on Neimi Road nr Woodland, WA
Charles Kent
Saw ‘bear’ standing near ranch in moonlight; 18 tracks found later were 11¾ in long x 4 in wide and not a bear’s.
Nov. 1969
Calaveras Big Trees National Park, CA
Mike Scott & another
Scott fired 3 rounds at a Bigfoot 30 yds away.
Nov. 1969
Neah Bay, WA
Loggers
Bigfoot seen
Nov. 1969
Nr North Bonneville, WA
Mrs. Louise Baxter
Gray Bigfoot crossed road in front of car at 10 pm.
Dec. 1969
Nr Bridgewater, MA
Various students, residents.
Bigfoot seen near teachers’ college.
1969
Nr Davie, FL
Charles Robertson
Met smelly, growling Bigfoot in abandoned guava orchard.
1969
Nr Davie, FL
Henry Ring
Saw huge black Bigfoot treed by dogs in orange grove; it swung away through the trees and dived into canal.
1969
Nr Massett, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC
Indians
Saw Bigfoot on at least two occasions.
1969
Klickitat Valley, WA
Woman
Passed Bigfoot standing by roadside at night.
1969
Nr The Dalles, OR
Four young people
Got out of car to watch Bigfoot sitting on rocky bluff.
Source of the above chronology: Janet and Colin Bords’ Bigfoot Casebook Updated.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
How about a list of BF sights by year from, say, 1930 to the present?
Why arent these accurate? the sizes go from 5 ft to 15 ft and and from white to gray to black to brown, and what had a bushy tail and three toes?