April 15, 2007

Bigfoot Stories Told Around the Campfire

Another edition of the Bigfoot Buzz from the First Perspective, Canada’s #1 source for Aboriginal News.

March 2007 – Stories Told Around the Campfire

After each article for the BigfootBuzz, I receive a number of e-mails either commenting on the article or sharing stories of encounters. I really appreciate both. However, I really love receiving the stories of encounters from different people, from different walks of life; no matter the content of the story I love reading them. Given that when I was growing up it was quite common for my dodda, or grandmother, to relate to my brothers and me fantastic stories of growing up in a different time and different place, it is no wonder that I still love a good story. My dodda told us many stories, and to an extent it is the oral histories of my people, and from those stories I have learned to keep an open mind about the possibilities of the natural world.

As with all good stories or oral histories, the point is not necessarily that they have to be believable as most times they are not. What matters is that regardless of whether it stretches the boundaries of our reality, it is someone’s reality and worthy of listening to as a representation of a person’s experience.

In this month’s BigfootBuzz, I would like to share some of the stories that I have had the honour of being gifted with by various people through the column, and through my travels in Canada. While I have stories of encounters from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, I have chosen to share those from Indigenous people. My reason for doing so is that in the Sasquatch-related literature, there is a definite lack of stories of encounters from Indigenous people that have not been placed within the box of “quaint Indian folk-tales”. The classification of such stories as such had always bothered me because based on my experience, my dodda’s stories were never “quaint Indian folk-tales” but events that shaped her life. I honour my dodda by accepting her stories in such a context, as I also honour those people who have chosen to share their stories of Sasquatch encounters with me.

Well, enough of my soap-boxing, here are the stories that I promised.

The Hypnotizing Sasquatch

This story was related to me by a colleague that I used to work with out in Vancouver, British Columbia. My colleague had a client that was a member of the Nisga’a Nation in northern British Columbia. Once when she was up in Nisga’a territory on business, this business client related an encounter that she had when she was out picking berries in the forest.

This person was out by her home picking berries with her niece, and had gone in different directions following the berry bushes. After picking berries in a particular area for a least an hour, the person related to my colleague that she felt like she was being watched. Feeling uneasy, the person decided to call it a day and began walking down the forest trail towards her home. As she was walking down the trial she came across a Sasquatch standing in the trail, approximately 50 feet from her. Needless to say she froze and just stared at the creature. My colleague did not mention in relating the story to me whether the person gave a description of the creature. However, what my colleague did relate was that the person said that in looking at the creature in the eyes, she felt that she was being hypnotized by it.

After staring at it for at least a minute, the person was able to break eye contact and run back the way she came, and ran to the house along another pathway. Apparently after getting to the house, the person was overcome by a great tiredness and immediately collapsed on the couch where her niece later found her. This person related to my colleague that the tiredness that they felt immediately after the encounter continued for a number of weeks, and blamed such lethargy on the encounter with the Sasquatch.

The Sasquatch People

Staying in British Columbia, a person emailed me to let me know a little bit about their experiences with what they called the Sasquatch people. The person who emailed me is a member of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, and related the following about the Sasquatch.

According to this person, the Sasquatch people were long known to the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation. In days gone by, the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation was a nomadic people and only gathered together in winter or when affairs of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation required such gatherings. The Sasquatch people learned of this type of behaviour from the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, and only gather in groups accordingly. In addition, the Sasquatch people learned to apply their wood-craft skills to avoid being detected by non-Indigenous gold-miners after some members of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation did the same.

Of particular interest of this person’s experiences is that the person inferred that his people and the Sasquatch people use to engage in trade, but once the non-Indigenous gold-miners arrived in the territory such trade ceased. However, the Sasquatch people continued to trade with other First Nations and even learned a little of the old languages.

This person related that the oral history of his people state that Sasquatch people began after a family of his people were cast out because of bad behaviour. In closing this person stated that the Sasquatch were not bears and would not run away when confronted. If the Sasquatch people were pursued, they would become suddenly silent and move quickly behind the pursuing party. Given the many Sasquatch stories that I have heard, such behaviour certainly fits the known modus operandi of our furry friend.

Sasquatch Known as “Chain Packers”

A recent email from a person whose father-in-law is a Pomo Native American relates the following about her father-in-law. When he was a young man, the father-in-law had many encounters with the Sasquatch. In the Sherwood Valley in California where the Pomo reservation was located, the people used to put out salt lick in the winter for their cattle. Apparently the Sasquatch used to come down into the valley to take these salt licks. When the Sasquatch came around, the residents of the reservations used to go indoors for fear of looking at the Sasquatch as it was believed that doing so would make a person go insane. Of course, a non-Indigenous people living amongst the Pomo did not heed this advice and after seeing a Sasquatch did go a little “nuts” and moved back to the city.

The father-in-law used to encounter the Sasquatch all the time when commuting between the reservation and Fort Bragg, a town on the coast of California. The father-in-law used to work during the week at Fort Bragg and hike back to the reservation on week-ends. More times than not, the Sasquatch used to follow him as he hiked along; never bothered him, just followed.

According to the father-in-law, he called the Sasquatch “chain-packers.” The reason for such a name was because when the first non-Indigenous people came to the area, the Indigenous people tired to tell them about the Sasquatch. The non-Indigenous people laughed and said that the Indigenous people were just seeing ghosts. The Indigenous people were told that ghosts carried chains to rattle, and accordingly the Sasquatch came to be called “chain-packers.”

On a funny note, the father-in-law also related that once a Sasquatch carried off one of the Pomo teenage girls, who every one said was a real difficult person to get along with. Needless to say, the people of the reservation were really glad she was gone. However, after a few weeks the Sasquatch brought her back; apparently she was too difficult for him to handle as well. The Pomo people were very disappointed to see her return.

North-Western Ontario Railway Sighting

I received an email from a woman that used to live in a small community called Quibell, Ontario. In the summer of 1973 or 1974, the women, along with her younger brother and a couple of friends went out hunting along the railroad tracks that ran near the town. The group had walked all afternoon on a very hot and humid day.

Towards the evening the group started to head back home for dinner along the same railway tracks. Walking along a long stretch of track close to their community, the woman and her brother looked up ahead both saw a big black thing walking towards them. It appeared that the figure had its head down looking at the ground while its arms were just hanging past his knee area. The woman and brother brought the rest of the group’s attention to the figure and the group continued talking and looking at it. The woman figures that the figure must have heard them because it stopped and looked at us.

Recalling the event, the woman stated that she remembered that it was all black except for a light area around what would have been the face area. The woman also recounted that the figure was extremely tall. The figure just stood on the tracks looking at the group for a short time, and then with one step it was on the other side of the tracks and headed into the bordering bush. The woman stated that at this point she became afraid and grabbed her brother’s hand and told him “let’s go”! When they had walked to where the figure had gone into the bush, her two friends stood there yelling and shooting into the bushy area.

When the group got back to the community again, they told the adults of their encounter. However, the adults brushed it off saying that someone was playing a joke them, and that it was someone dress in black pajamas or something similar. The woman recalls laughing at this because she figure, rightly in my opinion, who is going to walk around wearing black pajamas on a hot summer day and way off on the railroad tracks? The woman recalls the encounter clearly, and from the encounter believes that Sasquatch exist.

Conclusion

I hope that people enjoyed the recounting of these encounters, and I welcome any comments that people may have. I would like to thank all the people that have shared their encounters with me… Meegwetch/Nia:wenTerence Sakohianisaks Douglas

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Eyewitness Accounts, Folklore, Sasquatch