Canadian Cryptid Cops Part I

Posted by: John Kirk on August 8th, 2006

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has a reputation for always getting their man – with one exception. A member once tracked a criminal to Hawaii, but fell in love with the place, so much so that he never came back. There is no other police force that has had to deal with more cryptids than the RCMP has dealt with.

Sasquatch, in particular, is the cryptid that the RCMP has found itself in a position of having to investigate the most. Since the 1920’s, people have been reporting encounters with sasquatch to Canada’s national police force and each report to the RCMP is taken seriously. Although I work for the RCMP, the opinions expressed in these columns are exclusively my own and not those of the force. I do not purport to be a spokesman for the RCMP, but am simply reporting the historical aspects of policing involving ‘hidden animals’.

John Green reports in his magnum opus Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us that back in 1973, the RCMP detachment in Poplar Point, Manitoba was asked to investigate sightings of a sasquatch roaming around the bush near this isolated northern community. As you can read in the following extract from John’s book, the Poplar Point officer-in-charge wrote to British Columbia headquarters asking for advice on how to handle this investigation. They obviously were of the view that their Western Canadian counterparts must know how to handle this type of thing because of the proliferation of sasquatch sightings in British Columbia!

It was reported to our office on July 26, 1976 by the chief of the Polar River Indian Band that many of his people have sighted on the reserve many times a large hairy animal that walks on two legs. Polar River is located approx. 76 miles to the south of Norway House. An investigation was conducted and the results are as follows:

Several people were interviewed and they all stated that the animal was approximately seven to eight feet tall and was very broad at the shoulders. It had the general body structure of a man only many times larger. A foot cast was taken of the foot impression that was left behind by the so-called monster and is held at this detachment. It measures 16 inches by five inches, and has only three toes. Its fur is a glossy gray color and it has white hair on it’s head. They stated that it was very powerfully built and one man reported that he saw it swimming. To date there have been no further reports of sightings in our area. It should be noted that this so-called monster seemed very inquisitive towards the people and would come around the houses on the settlement and look in doors and windows.

The RCMP report stated the general consensus among witnesses was that the animal was seven to eight feet tall, very broad but with the general body structure of a man, yet many times larger, and had gray glossy fur with white hair on its head. A cast of a footprint allegedly left by the animal measured 16 inches by 5 inches, but only had three toes. The RCMP report concludes that "this so-called monster seemed very inquisitive towards the people and would come around the houses on the settlement and look into doors and windows."

Twenty two years later the RCMP detachment in Norway House, Manitoba – to the north of Poplar Point – were called in to deal with the purported sighting and filming of a sasquatch by local ferryman, Bobby Clarke. When news of Clarke’s video hit the headlines the local RCMP detachment would likely have found themselves dealing with all sorts of safety issues that arise when people start flocking to a small remote town to look for a sasquatch. Among the issues police forces have to face are the dangers of individuals wanting to make a name for themselves by bagging a sasquatch. The last thing any police force wants is a bunch of yahoos opening fire on anything that moves in the bush.

It would seem the 10 man detachment at Norway House were well in control of the situation as there were no reports of anyone taking a bullet from an overzealous hunter of sasquatches. After having seen Clarke’s video of his sasquatch sighting, I’m of the opinion that this was big fuss about nothing. The ‘thing’ in his video is so indistinct that I believe it qualifies as the ‘Blobsquatch of the Year’. Clarke may well have seen a sasquatch, but I can’t honestly say that I think his video shows one.

Canadian Cryptid Cops II 

John Kirk About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998). In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur. Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC. In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.


12 Responses to “Canadian Cryptid Cops Part I”

  1. Ole Bub responds:

    Good morning John…

    Thank you for the Canadian RCMP perspective….I look forward to your continued blogs on the Canadian Big Folks…

    all the best…

    ole bub and the dawgs

  2. shumway10973 responds:

    Interesting…3 toes? did they mention if this looked natural or did this poor thing have them removed? I think this is the first report I’ve heard of the big guy swimming, wading, yes, but swimming, no. I think that is the reason the RCMP are so good at what they do, they take every report by their citizens seriously. We tried that today here, I’m in California, we would have to tell them there is a really large man outside before they would come. Say there’s a big foot, they would tell me to call animal control or a therapist.

  3. bill green responds:

    definetly a great article you did for cryptomundo about canadian cryptid cops, very interesting indeed.

  4. Ole Bub responds:

    Good morning Shumway…

    Swimming is not an uncommon thread in many southern sightings or posted sightings on BFRO…as opposed to gorillas who seem to fear bodies of water…

    seeing is believing…

    ole bub and the dawgs

  5. oldbutnotstupid responds:

    I would like to hear a lot more of this RCMP reporting. I had an EX RCMP staff sgt as a partner when I was with a search and rescue team. I know how serious they take every little detail. There could be a lot of valuable information in their reports of investigations. Lets have a lot more of this type input. please.

  6. driftinmark responds:

    Swimming and wading seems fairly common to the big guy, I’m sure he uses the water ways like the native americans did before roads were built, seems like a natural trail to me.

    Most of the sightings that I read are along trails, rivers, streams, railroads, anything that has a clear defined trail.

    The thing that boggles my mind the most is when they walk, its usually a straight line, like they know EXACTLY where they are going, doesn’t sound like an uneducated primate to me.

    This is a behaviour that we could use to possibly find one.

    Appears to me he is of the hunter/gatherer sort, how much time does he use daily to forage for food? Studies of our ancesters figured about 30 -40 percent of out time was used for this purpose when we were a young race.

    How does he identify the landmarks and what landmarks does he use when traveling? A nomadic creature has to know his surroundings, his life depends on it, food water, sleeping, all these factors come into play.

    I wish there were more sightings reported in Canada, but the population denisity just isn’t there. I have a feeling there are a lot of big guys up there, jmho.

    I love looking at old maps, like the ones in David Rumsey’s collection.

    Most of the old waterways are still unchanged over the centuries, could be a start.

  7. twblack responds:

    What a good article. He is out their somewhere.

  8. crypto_randz responds:

    Very good article. Good information maybe soon they will make a discovery?

  9. Karrde responds:

    Actually, many witnesses have seen Bigfeet swimming quite well. The BFRO even has a report of a sasquatch swimming past a boat under water! You can read the report here. That’s why John Green and many other cryptozoologists have always said that the Sasquatch is a very good swimmer.

  10. Karrde responds:

    Oh, by the way… excellent article!

  11. superd responds:

    Thank you for the article, and the RCMP inside insight. I’ve heard that the sasquatch in Norway House have on many times, swam the rivers.

  12. Jeremy_Wells responds:

    well, if the “aquatic ape” theory of bipedal development is correct, swimming ‘squatch would make perfect sense.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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