A Montana Monster
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 12th, 2006
A Montana Monster
It Looks Like a Man and Eats Bears and Sheep.
Some of the old time hunters and Indian fighters who are still holding out in the city should endeavor to find a wild eyed individual who came in from the mountains this morning. Whether he discovered a new brand of whisky or whether it was the lonliness [sic] of his life in the mountains that caused him to see visions and hear sounds is not known, but, whatever the cause, he had told a story that knocks Joe Klaffki’s ghost story, attested to by Jack Brennan, completely in the shade.
He said that over in the range of mountains which forms a part of the Wyoming line he had seen evidence of the existence of a creature whose genus was unknown to him. He also claimed to have obtained a glimpse of the “varmint,” but always when he was unarmed, and as its appearance was such as not to invite a close inspection he had never sought to get near enough to it to see just what it was. He says the animal is covered with hair, but in form it is not unlike a man, a resemblance that is increased by the creature’s habit of rising on its haunches and walking on its hind legs after the manner of a gorilla.
After having seen the animal the man said he could account for the existence of the torn and partly eaten carcasses of several large bears and also of one mountain sheep that he claimed to have found in the vicinity of where the unknown animal apparently makes his headquarters. The stranger says he will return to the mountains shortly and will pilot anybody who may desire to visit the locality to the exact spot where he last saw the monster. — Anaconda Standard.
Source: Brooklyn Eagle, Brooklyn, New York November 4, 1892.
Credit: Jerome Clark.
Could this be an early report of a Sasquatch?
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.
Sure sounds like it to me.
Sounds like it to me also. Were there any follow up reports?
GREAT STORY LOREN GOOD INFORMATION ON THIS ONE. A gorilla like creature that can eat bear and sheep carcasses. I have to say this creature must be one huge giant creature. It’s got to be immense. the proportion of this creature must be of unbelievable size. To take down a bear even if some bear are grizzly must be one heck of a sight to see. I hope there are more updates on this creature I would like to read more.
Has to be Sasquatch…
sounds like it. whatever happened?
Not too sure about a Montana bear, but if a Sasquatch got into it with a big Alaskan Kodiak or Polar bear, I’d put my money on the bear!
Ok, so a Montana grizzly might be a smaller bear, but from what I read they can be outright nasty! Perhaps a mighty big Bigfoot took on such bears? That could be risky business as bear claws can rip into flesh and break necks with one swat! I would think that after such a victorious confrontation, even Bigfoot might steer clear of bears from then on? In this case, Bigfoot may have attacked and killed several “Large” bears! Guess sasquatch was mad?
Now If I had been in this fellows shoes, there is no way I would ever not be armed. As a matter of fact, I would pull up stakes and leave! In those days, I would not have shared space with such a monster!
Yet this is a very interesting older story. Perhaps another good piece in the puzzle?
I have read several reports of bears fleeing when a Sas enters the area. We are not talking about a Bear on Bear fight, we are talking about a seemingly quite crafty hominid that can take down anything a bear can. Given the rock throwing capability these creatures seem to have I can see them easily breaking the bones or even stunning a large bear with a head or body shot and then breaking the bears neck while it recovers. Just a thought.
Nice imput to the bear vs bigfoot theory but the polar bear and kodiak bear i think these bears are so big and can defend their territory big foot might have some trouble just because of the size of these bears. Plus they can maul just about anything. Unless this bigfoot is well over 8ft. I wonder if bigfoot can maul an animal?
Whatever credit is due Jerome Clark, I think credit deserves to go to Gary S. Mangiacopra and and Dr Dwight G. Smith. They reprinted the Anaconda Standard story in their article “Wild Men and Mountain Gorillas: A Historical Retrospective of 19th Century Sasquatchery Encounters”, published in the Crypto Hominology Special Number II, 2002, edited by Craig Heinselman. Their article cites about a dozen such stories.
Can anyone think of a possible explanation, other than a Bigfoot encounter, for a story written by an anonymous journalist who attributed the story to an anonymous stranger?
It could be a territory of food thing? Or perhaps a Bigfoot gone mad or sick? Angry at the bears- so kill them! Kind of like King Kong fighting the T-Rex and breaking its jaw! Personally I think Kong would have met his match in real life!
Perhaps the Bigfoot in this story finally met his/her match, by taking on the wrong bear later on?
On the other hand are Bigfeet known to be so violent? I thought they tend to hide, unless provoked? If Bigfoot vs bear is common in the wilds, one would think more dead bears or dead foots would be found in the woods, by hikers and hunters? Plus just think of the racket they would make fighting! Such a fight to the death could go on for a long time.
I would tend to believe this older story more, if the dead bears were not mentioned. However, this sure would make for a great modern day movie! Just think…
As an outdoorsman who believes in Bigfoot from a more scientific perspective, I tend to think that Bigfoot and bears avoid each other. I think a bear would be more likly to attack a squatch, rather than the other way around. Bigfoot must be a smarter creature; so why fight a bear?
I wouldn’t rule out arctodus simus, the short-faced bear that appears to have been even more suited to upright locomotion than the Asian black bear, which can walk bipedally (or so I’ve read) for half a mile. The short-faced bear could definitely kill grizzlies. This unusual, long-legged bear-like animal did live in north America. Not too many years back a park ranger in Colorado saw prints that he said that “if I didn’t know it were extinct” that the short-faced bear would have made them. Am I mistaken in recalling reading, possibly on this site, of sightings of an animal that might have been this animal in Alaska or the Canadian muskeg or tundra?
Note that the backwoodsman who made the report said it could “get up on its haunches like a gorilla”, chiya-tanka has always been described in a far more human-like manner.
Nice input cabochris and sschaper, The mauling tactic is probablly what bears are known for they really dont give their opponents a shot plus they stand up on their two feet to gain advantage. When they attack those fangs are ready to tear apart their opponents.
“Nice imput to the bear vs bigfoot theory but the polar bear and kodiak bear i think these bears are so big and…”
Kodiak/Polar bears don’t live in Montana. Black bears and grizzlies do, but believe me: I’ve seen both of these animals up close and personal and a hominid is NOT going to kill one without a serious weapon. This leads me to believe either:
a) it was scavenging, or
b) the “wild eyed individual” was having a bit too much rotgut whiskey.
God, I love old stories like this! It’s stories like this that would make great radio shows.
Have you ever heard some of the old re-runs on the radio like mystery theater. Just imagine a story like this unfolding with actors, theatrical music, action sounds ect; Only with an old myterious manlike creature lurking in the dark recesses of your minds eye as the story unfolds to you. The kind of radio theater that makes your skin crawl, as you shorten and quiet your breath so you can hear every second of the play as it develops.
Brought to you by rich chocolaty Ovaltine!
The report says the creature was described as “rising on its haunches and walking on its hind legs after the manner of a gorilla.” Wasn’t the gorilla first discovered 17 October 1902?
It amazes me how often we overlook the obvious. For the sake of the argument, let’s say bigfoot is real. In that case, we are not talking about a big dumb clug in a wookie suit, out pretending to be bigfoot. We are talking about a creature that is way more intelligent than a bear, and that doesnt take much intelligence. A bears bruit force doesnt require it to be extremely smart. But, the survival of a bigfoot would require it to be pretty savy. Imagine survival skills beyond our wildest imaginations, passed down from parent to child for who knows how many eons. Bigfoot would also have to be sly, very sly. He would know every single trick to killing a griz without putting himself in harms way. Native Americans killed griz with nothing more than a sharp stick for thousands and thousands of years. They had lots of tricks, passed down from generation to generation. There are traps used by indigenous people called “deadfalls” these are not complicated and do not require high intelligence to make. A deadfall can easily kill a griz, kodiak, or polar bear. I worked for a government agency in the wilderness of the Yellowstone ecosystem and surronding agency. Carcasses dont last long up there, of any sort. There are lots of hungry critters, and they like to crunch the bones on carcasses as well. If bigfoot does exist, he is way smarter and sly and wiley than we can ever imagine. That is, if he is operating on the level playing field that we perceive to be our reality, this earth, this dimension, this time.
For a hominid to exist and thrive in that environment up there, a century and a half ago, would take unbelievable ability, and the ability to kill a griz would be a secondary skill. One more note, totally missed in this thread, griz sleeps several months out of the year, and when he is asleep, he is oblivious to the world around him, easy pickens for a sly, wiley bigfoot with a two hundred pound rock to smash its skull.
Of course, bigfoot might not exist, but if he did, do not underestimate him/her and his/her abilities.
The lowland gorilla, discovered in 1847, was old news by the time of this report.
It was the mountain gorilla that was discovered in 1902.
I know Bigfoot is usually observed as a solitary creature but perhaps to kill a creature such as a bear they gang up on them? Also I wouldn’t find it quite so unbelievable that an 8-foot tall Bigfoot could take out a black bear. A grizzly on the other hand I would doubt.
sounds like a wild west urban legend to me. also the story of never having his weapon when siting the creature… come on. if i was wondering around in a place where bears much less bears torn to pieces without my weapon all would have a name for me… moron!
yet people hike/jog/picnic in cougar country all the time without fire-arms… we call them PETA members instead of morons though… (no offense meant to any animal rights persons, just noting the cultural/individual differences)
I would like to offer up a few points. First of all, there have been Squatches that have been reported to be 9 foot tall-and upwards. Judging from the twists that have been found, a general description of their build, possible weights of the largest males as well exceeding a thousand lbs.,its ability to simply beat to death some fairly sturdy game with its fists in short order, incredible swimming ability–I’ve come to the conclusion that if bigfoot exists and the accounts I’ve read are true, then yeah, a large male perhaps COULD take out a grizzly. I cant remember where I read it (sorry) but appparently, a grizzly carcass was recently found with its jaw twisted off. If, in fact, this injury occurred during combat (and that was implied), what else but a squatch could do that?