Tales of encounters with the hairy ape-like creature known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot are usually associated with and originate from British Columbia and the Pacific North-West of the United States as well as the Himalayas (Yeti). However, here in Ontario we too occasionally get reports of Bigfoot sightings and strange tracks or other evidence that leads one to speculate on the possible existence of this enigmatic creature.
On June 26th, 2001 Reuters reported on the discovery of “14-inch-long footprints” by residents of a Native Canadian reserve in Northern Ontario (approx. 1,000 miles north of Toronto).
Abraham Hunter, chief of the 260-member band was quoted as saying, "It's definitely not a bear."
Speculation abounds that the tracks belong to the hairy ape-man known as Sasquatch.
“This is not the first Bigfoot report at the reserve. Two elders claim to have spotted the creature 20 years ago, Hunter said, and stories about it have been told for hundreds of years.”
In an interesting coincidence a similar set of tracks were found 95 miles east of the reserve on June 14th. The government officer who found them has 31 years experience. He stated,"I couldn't explain what it was. I naturally thought it might be Bigfoot because of the shape of it."
However, not all are as willing to speculate that these tracks and past sightings are indeed that of a Bigfoot. Laurence Kirmayer, director of McGill University's division of social and transcultural psychiatry commented,"These things happen all the time, but we're surprised because we underestimate the power of imagination and the power of belief. Such sightings are typically cultural-specific.”
Regardless of whether one believes in accounts of Sasquatch/Bigfoot or not, the fact remains that something indeed created those tracks. What or whom that may be, we may never know.
Source: (Reuters) Tue. Jun 26 2001
Vintage Media Reports Of Sasquatch Within The Province
Abraham Hunter, chief of the 260-member band was quoted as saying, "It's definitely not a bear."
Speculation abounds that the tracks belong to the hairy ape-man known as Sasquatch.
“This is not the first Bigfoot report at the reserve. Two elders claim to have spotted the creature 20 years ago, Hunter said, and stories about it have been told for hundreds of years.”
In an interesting coincidence a similar set of tracks were found 95 miles east of the reserve on June 14th. The government officer who found them has 31 years experience. He stated,"I couldn't explain what it was. I naturally thought it might be Bigfoot because of the shape of it."
However, not all are as willing to speculate that these tracks and past sightings are indeed that of a Bigfoot. Laurence Kirmayer, director of McGill University's division of social and transcultural psychiatry commented,"These things happen all the time, but we're surprised because we underestimate the power of imagination and the power of belief. Such sightings are typically cultural-specific.”
Regardless of whether one believes in accounts of Sasquatch/Bigfoot or not, the fact remains that something indeed created those tracks. What or whom that may be, we may never know.
Source: (Reuters) Tue. Jun 26 2001
Vintage Media Reports Of Sasquatch Within The Province
The following is a short history of press coverage that “Bigfoot - Sasquatch - Yellow Top” sightings reported throughout the province have received:
Friday, July 27, 1923
North Bay Nugget
COBALT -- Mr. J.A. MacAuley and Mr. Lorne Wilson claim they have seen the PreCambrian Shield Man while working on their mining claims North and East of the Wettlaufer Mine near Cobalt. This is the second time in seventeen years that a hairy apelike creature nicknamed "Yellow Top" because of a light-colored "mane" has been seen in the district.
The two prospectors said they were taking test samples from their ... property when they saw what looked like a bear picking at a blueberry patch. Mr. Wilson said he threw a stone at the creature.
"It kind of stood up and growled at us. Then it ran away. It sure was like no bear that I have ever seen. Its head was kind of yellow and the rest of it was black like a bear, all covered with hair."
The first report of the creature was made in September, 1906, by a group of men building the headframe at the Violet Mine, east of Cobalt. It has not been seen since that time.
Tuesday, April 16, 1946
North Bay Nugget
COBALT -- Old Yellow Top, the half man, half beast that is supposed to be roaming the wilds around the Cobalt Mining Camp was reportedly seen again, this time by a woman and her son, who live near Gillies Depot, while they were walking the tracks into Cobalt.
The woman, who did not want her name made public, said that she spotted a dark, hairy animal with a "light" head ambling off the tracks into the bush near Gillies Lake. She said she did not get a closer look at the thing but said it walked almost like a man.
The sighting is the second such report to be made since 1906 or 1907. A search party may be formed to try and find "Old Yellow Top."
Sunday, August 01, 1965
Hamilton Spectator
A Lakeview trucker claimed to have seen a half-human, half-animal beast six or seven feet tall on a side road near Smithville. He estimated the thing to weigh 500 pounds. He went back to look for tracks but found none.
Wednesday, August 25, 1965
Beamsville Express
This article refers to the Smithville monster having turned up in Campden, about seven miles to the northwest, apparently a few days later after it was in Smithville:
No less than seven people were reported to have called the provincial police to say that they had seen the monster, which all of them described as big, black and furry.
Wayne Beach said that the thing he saw a yard behind his car "just looked like a great big gorilla." Two 16-inch prints were reported found near a garage where Manfred Berg saw something he couldn't identify. Hector McDonald said he got a back view of the creature at night in his barn.
Ontartio Provincial Police downplayed the incidents saying "It's not a monster, there's no such thing as a beast half human and half animal. Somebody is playing a hoax."
Tuesday, October 10, 1978
Niagara Falls Review
Geraldton, Ont. (CP) - Randy Corcoran says he will never return to a nearby bush where he recently saw a creature he believes was a sasquatch.
Corcoran, 18, said Friday that he was hiking alone in the woods two weeks ago when he saw an animal about 2.2-meters tall, covered with long, reddish-brown hair.
After walking nearly a kilometer along the trail, he heard a noise in the bush and took cover behind a rock, he said in an interview in this community 270 kilometers west of Thunder Bay.
"At first I thought it was a bear or a moose making all that noise, so I hid," he said. "And when I saw it I sure didn't want it to see me."
Corcoran said the human-like animal, which he said had a long face, crossed the trail about 140 meters from him.
"I stayed behind that rock an hour after it had gone, shaking all the time."
"It doesn't matter what people say, I don't care. I saw it. I don't know if it was a Sasquatch or what, but I saw it."
Friday, July 27, 1923
North Bay Nugget
COBALT -- Mr. J.A. MacAuley and Mr. Lorne Wilson claim they have seen the PreCambrian Shield Man while working on their mining claims North and East of the Wettlaufer Mine near Cobalt. This is the second time in seventeen years that a hairy apelike creature nicknamed "Yellow Top" because of a light-colored "mane" has been seen in the district.
The two prospectors said they were taking test samples from their ... property when they saw what looked like a bear picking at a blueberry patch. Mr. Wilson said he threw a stone at the creature.
"It kind of stood up and growled at us. Then it ran away. It sure was like no bear that I have ever seen. Its head was kind of yellow and the rest of it was black like a bear, all covered with hair."
The first report of the creature was made in September, 1906, by a group of men building the headframe at the Violet Mine, east of Cobalt. It has not been seen since that time.
Tuesday, April 16, 1946
North Bay Nugget
COBALT -- Old Yellow Top, the half man, half beast that is supposed to be roaming the wilds around the Cobalt Mining Camp was reportedly seen again, this time by a woman and her son, who live near Gillies Depot, while they were walking the tracks into Cobalt.
The woman, who did not want her name made public, said that she spotted a dark, hairy animal with a "light" head ambling off the tracks into the bush near Gillies Lake. She said she did not get a closer look at the thing but said it walked almost like a man.
The sighting is the second such report to be made since 1906 or 1907. A search party may be formed to try and find "Old Yellow Top."
Sunday, August 01, 1965
Hamilton Spectator
A Lakeview trucker claimed to have seen a half-human, half-animal beast six or seven feet tall on a side road near Smithville. He estimated the thing to weigh 500 pounds. He went back to look for tracks but found none.
Wednesday, August 25, 1965
Beamsville Express
This article refers to the Smithville monster having turned up in Campden, about seven miles to the northwest, apparently a few days later after it was in Smithville:
No less than seven people were reported to have called the provincial police to say that they had seen the monster, which all of them described as big, black and furry.
Wayne Beach said that the thing he saw a yard behind his car "just looked like a great big gorilla." Two 16-inch prints were reported found near a garage where Manfred Berg saw something he couldn't identify. Hector McDonald said he got a back view of the creature at night in his barn.
Ontartio Provincial Police downplayed the incidents saying "It's not a monster, there's no such thing as a beast half human and half animal. Somebody is playing a hoax."
Tuesday, October 10, 1978
Niagara Falls Review
Geraldton, Ont. (CP) - Randy Corcoran says he will never return to a nearby bush where he recently saw a creature he believes was a sasquatch.
Corcoran, 18, said Friday that he was hiking alone in the woods two weeks ago when he saw an animal about 2.2-meters tall, covered with long, reddish-brown hair.
After walking nearly a kilometer along the trail, he heard a noise in the bush and took cover behind a rock, he said in an interview in this community 270 kilometers west of Thunder Bay.
"At first I thought it was a bear or a moose making all that noise, so I hid," he said. "And when I saw it I sure didn't want it to see me."
Corcoran said the human-like animal, which he said had a long face, crossed the trail about 140 meters from him.
"I stayed behind that rock an hour after it had gone, shaking all the time."
"It doesn't matter what people say, I don't care. I saw it. I don't know if it was a Sasquatch or what, but I saw it."
