Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest, Part I
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SI J-F 2007 pgs 11/13/06 11:50 AM Page 20 INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest, Part I ankind’s imagination has al- I spoke on “Mysterious Entities of pictorial chart, “Alien Timeline” shown ways been excited by the pos- the Pacific Northwest,” which I specially in the September/October 1997 Msibilities of unknown regions. researched for the cruise, and—as SKEPTICAL INQUIRER.) Thus, a seemingly limitless universe opportunity presented itself—I was also The earliest record of potential invites speculation about extraterrestri- able to do a bit of on-site investigating Sasquatch footprints is dated 1811 als; the world’s largely unexplored relating to that topic as we occasionally when David Thompson, a trader and oceans and seas, even deep lakes, put into port. Here is an overview of explorer, was seeking the mouth of the prompt thoughts of leviathans; simi- what I found. Columbia River. Crossing the Rockies larly, vast wilderness areas of the globe at what is today Jasper, Alberta, he came Sasquatch spark belief in other strange creatures, upon a mysterious track in the snow. It including various man-beasts; and The area our cruise skirted is part of the measured fourteen inches long by eight belief in the great, imagined “Other Pacific Northwest, an area loosely en- inches wide and was characterized by Side” leads to tales of such entities as compassing northern California, Wash- four toes with short claw marks, a ghosts and spirits. ington state, Oregon, British Columbia, deeply impressed ball of the foot, and an In mid-2006, I was aboard a Center and southern Alaska. It contains some of indistinct heel imprint (Green 1978, for Inquiry cruise that traveled north the most extensive forests in North 35–37; Hunter 1993, 16–17). Some from Seattle, Washington, along the America which, some claim, is home to modern Sasquatch enthusiasts have sug- coastal reaches of British Columbia the fabled Sasquatch (although sightings gested it was the legendary man-beast, and southern Alaska. As part of our exist in other states and countries). but primate expert John Napier of the floating conference on “Planetary The name “Sasquatch” is often said to Smithsonian Institution was not so sure. Ethics”—featuring an address on that be Native American; actually it was Napier observed (1973, 74) that crucial topic by CFI chairman Paul coined by a Canadian schoolteacher J.W. Thompson’s description was “an inade- Kurtz—we visited Glacier Bay and Burns, in the 1920s. Her Native Coast quate basis for any far-reaching conclu- were treated to lectures on global Salish informants had different names sions.” He argued that the print could warming and the melting of the for various unknown hairy giants, the well have been that of a bear (whose world’s glaciers by Mark Bowen, British Columbian version being known small inner toe may not have left a author of Thin Ice (2005). Among as sokqueatl or soss-q’tal. Burns wanted to mark); Thompson himself thought it other speakers, Barbara Forrest cri- invent a single term for all of the alleged likely “the track of a large old grizzled tiqued recent attacks on the teaching creatures (Coleman and Clark 1999, bear” (qtd. in Hunter 1993, 17). of evolution. 215; Alley 2003, 9). This began a process Contrastingly, in 1847, a very differ- of homogenization that helped turn var- ent type of wild man was reported. Joe Nickell is a former private detective ious imaginative wild-man concepts into Artist Paul Kane was in Washington, in and author of numerous investigative an increasingly uniform type, as we shall sight of Mount St. Helens volcano, books, including Crime Science and Real- see. (I have been investigating this which, the Indians asserted, was “inhab- Life X-Files. His Web site is at www.joe process for many years, just as I did for ited by a race of beings of a different nickell.com. extraterrestrials which culminated in my species, who are cannibals, and whom 20 Volume 31, Issue 1 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER SI J-F 2007 pgs 11/13/06 11:30 AM Page 21 they hold in great dread.” Called of nine-by-seventeen-inch feet. A friend (Bord and Bord 1982, 80). Roger “skoocooms” or “evil genii,” however, of Mullens, Bill Lambert, had then Patterson, a longtime Bigfoot enthusiast they appear to have been seen as super- strapped them onto his own feet and who had frequently “discovered” the natural rather than natural beings. In tromped about the area where the berry creature’s tracks, encountered a man- any case, Kane did not refer to them as pickers’ cars were parked (Dennett beast as he and a sidekick rode at Bluff ape-like (Hunter 1993, 17–18). 1982). Since then, more realistic foot- Creek. It spooked the men’s horses but The supposed capture of Sasquatch prints have appeared, curiously follow- as his mount fell, Patterson claimed, he was reported in the Victoria, British ing extensive published descriptions of jumped clear, grabbed a movie camera Columbia, Daily Colonist on July 4, 1884. what genuine Sasquatch/Bigfoot should from his saddlebag, and filmed the crea- Railway men had allegedly captured a be like. So has other evidence. ture as it strode away with a seemingly hairy “half-man, half beast,” only four- The 1950s were a watershed in exaggerated stride, “as if,” wrote Daniel feet-seven-inches tall and weighing 127 Sasquatch’s history. In 1951 the foot- Cohen (1982, 17), “a bad actor were pounds. Dubbed “Jacko,” it was allegedly print of a yeti or “abominable snowman” trying to simulate a monster’s walk.” being kept in an area jail, but was to be from the Himalayas was photographed Patterson’s creature had hairy, pendu- taken to London to be exhibited. by explorer Eric Shipton and received lous breasts, a detail many thought so Although some have suggested Jacko considerable media attention—in Cali- convincing that it argued against the could have been an escapee from a tour- fornia and elsewhere across the United film being a hoax. Actually, Patterson ing circus menagerie, it seems more States and even the world. had previously made a drawing of just likely he never existed. He was never In 1955, one William Roe claimed to such a supposed female creature which heard from again, except that a later have observed a female Sasquatch for a appeared in his book, published the year newspaper article—in the July 9, 1884, few minutes at close range. Two years before (Patterson 1966, 111). Mainland Guardian—indicated the later Albert Ostman swore that, some Although early in the next millen- story had been a hoax, apparently per- thirty-three years earlier, in 1924, he nium a Patterson acquaintance, Bob petrated by a reporter for the Daily had been prospecting alone near the Heironimus, confessed he had been the Colonist (Stein 1993, 246–247). Toba Inlet, British Columbia, when he man in the ape suit (Long 2004), some Certainly, hoaxes characterized many was abducted—carried off in his sleep- skeptics as well as die-hard monster Sasquatch reports throughout the next ing bag—by a male Sasquatch. Ostman enthusiasts refused to believe him. century. A case from 1924 may be one claimed he was held captive by a family Meanwhile, hoaxes and questionable of them. A man named Fred Beck and of the creatures, whom he described in reports aside, the fact remains that no several fellow prospectors claimed to detail, but escaped after almost a week. credible capture of Sasquatch/Bigfoot has have shot at several “mountain gorillas” However, analysis of his story demon- ever been recorded, nor has anyone ever in a canyon near Kelso, Washington. strated that it was more likely the result recovered a carcass or even partial skele- They insisted that that night the crea- of imagination than of recollection ton in the Pacific Northwest or else- tures bombarded their cabin with rocks (Daegling 2004, 31–32, 67–69). where. Insists Cohen (1982, 9), “Surely and beat upon the door and roof. At In 1958, Sasquatch was rechristened the creatures die.” Ah, well, but the leg- daybreak the attack had ceased and after making several visits to a road-con- end still seems impervious to destruction. giant footprints were found around the struction site at Bluff Creek in remote cabin (Bord and Bord 1982, 41–42). northern California. The tracks were Cadborosaurus However, rumors have since persisted discovered by Gerald Crew, a photo of That there are—if not actual “sea ser- that pranksters living in the vicinity had whom, holding up a cast of a giant foot- pents”—great denizens of the deep, no planted the footprints and thrown the print, was picked up by a wire service one can dispute. Among them are the rocks (Daegling 2004, 59–70). and circulated across the country. As a giant manta ray (frequently twenty feet Another case took place in 1930, result, “Bigfoot” (whose name first across), the whale shark (sixty or more near Mount St. Helens. Some people appeared with the Crew photo in the feet long), and still other great crea- who had been picking berries returned Humboldt Times on October 5, 1958) tures—including the giant squid and to their cars to discover huge, manlike began to proliferate. Decades later, after the blue whale (Welfare and Fairley tracks circling the area. Excitedly, they the death of the Bluff Creek road con- 1980, 68, 71–72). reported the tracks to nearby forest tractor, Ray Wallace, Wallace’s family While there are numerous early rangers, but for more than half a century told the press that he had faked the accounts of great “sea serpents,” often the tracks remained a mystery.