Canadian Cryptid Cops Part II
Posted by: John Kirk on August 9th, 2006
In 1977, a Greyhound bus driven by Pat Lindquist, coincidentally a reserve officer with the Vancouver Police Department, came to a screeching halt near Lake Erroch outside of Mission, B.C. when what appeared to be a sasquatch crossed the road in front of the vehicle. Lindquist leapt from the halted bus and went chasing after the alleged sasquatch. On the side of the road he found large footprints far bigger than those of a human, but lost the creature itself as it disappeared into the bush.
My old and dear friend, the late Rene Dahinden, was called in to look at the tracks and investigate the sighting. He arrived to find that the RCMP conducting an investigation of their own as Lindquist had reported the incident to the local detachment. Dahinden combed over the ‘crime scene’ and closely examined the tracks which were incredibly realistic. Rene opined that he thought that they were genuine tracks and that Lindquist must have seen a sasquatch.
The police were about to step up the investigation a notch when four young men from the Vancouver area suburbs stepped forward and confessed that they had hoaxed the whole affair and even produced the gorilla costume that one of them wore to play the role of sasquatch (Note to claimants who says they were the sasquatch in things like the Patterson film: No costume, no cigar). Rene readily admitted to me afterwards that he was completely fooled by the tracks the boys had manufactured and resolved that he would never let this happen again.
The RCMP decided not to lay charges against the four young men who were lucky they did not go to court for various offences such as wasting police resources and mischief. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Bob Eyford, who did some independent investigation, said he was convinced the pranksters were telling the truth.
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.
I would have at least put them to work doing community service or something. They obviously had too much free time on their hands. Then again, if I ever did something like that I would want someone like that heading up the investigations. I’m surprised the young man didn’t fall on his face running with such big feet, that would have been hilarious, “I just saw a sasquatch trip on it own feet and do a nose plant on the yellow line.” That would make a great comedy routine. Apologies to anyone who thinks otherwise.
hey john, thats a very interesting sasquatch sighting in part 2 of your article canadian cryptid cops.
Good morning John….
Please keep those Canadian cryptid commentaries coming…most enjoyable…
seeing is believing…usually
ole bub and the dawgs
NOW I am curious HOW did they do footprints that fooled Dahinden?
Admitting to and learning from mistakes is something more people need to learn to do today.
I second the thought of One Eyed Cat. How did they pull off prints that fooled these experienced outdoors folk and professional investigators? While it sounds like actual crime scene forensic folk weren’t there, I get the impression that all the RCMP on site were wilderness savvy people, used to seeing tracks. I would think that they would not be easy to fool with ‘typical’ efforts at fake footery.
My guess would be that the person in the suit wasn’t heavy enough to “leave tracks” in the typical sense.
If I were to do this type of hoax I would use a good cast (or carving) to leave the prints, then run across the road in the suit to be sure someone found the prints.
That is, of course, pure conjecture on my part.
Stupid kids. They should have been mildly punished for something like this.
I remember hearing of that sighting on the news at the time. but this is the first I have heard of the final outcome. Just goes to show how one can be fooled into thinking it might be real when only the first part of the story is known.
I can’t help wonder how many times this sort of thing has happened.
I have a question.What did the bus driver plan to do if he caught up with the Sasquatch (hoaxer)?
IFTHESHOEFITS: Yes I also wonder what his plan was????
How could one not catch a teen in a monkey suit? Surely such a costume would slow a person down? Especially running throught the woods! One slip and fall, it would be all over! That the kids were let off the hook makes me wonder even more? While I do not have all the facts, sounds like a good way to close a case!
Dumb kids, lucky they weren’t killed. Nevermind crossing a highway in front of traffic, I’m sure there’d be a few hunters willing to bag a sasquatch.
Great read John, keep up the good work!
Silly kids, I wouldn’t try that today. One would likely get shot!
Great article!