I happened to be at the Lighthouse Beer and Wine store in Sechelt getting some milk when 2 gentlemen with a large professional video camera going through the check-out caught my eye.
I asked them what they were up to and they kinda hesitated with their reply, looking kinda shy. With some encouragement the guys finally told me they were on the Sunshine Coast filming a documentary about the Sasquatch.
Sasquatch? Sunshine Coast? WHAT?
I didn’t skip a beat and told them when they were finished the documentary to email me and I would share their video with my social media friends. I haven’t heard from them since so hopefully they made it out alive.
I kinda left it at that and forgot about it, till the other day when I was having coffee with a group of regulars at the Daily Roast.
They were talking about Sasquatches so I piped up about my encounter with this documentary film crew.
That lead to us talking about a wealth of historical sightings on the Sunshine Coast including one report by a group of loggers up Chapman Creek watershed who claimed they saw a Sasquatch giving birth.
The more I thought about it, the more curios I got?
The following day, Jamie Dixon, a Shishalh Elder was at the Daily Roast so I asked him what he knew of it? He told me there has been a long history of sightings by the Sechelt Nation especially around the Salmon Inlet-Narrows Inlet-Jervis Inlet region which all branch off from Sechelt Inlet.
Jamie also told me a story about his Grandfather and Great Great Grandfather who were going past Moorsem Bluffs in Jervis Inlet in a dug out canoe. They would paddle quite close to the shoreline however the Sasquatches would throw rocks, logs and roots at them from the top of the cliff. This forced his ancestors to pass by the area quite a distance away so they were not hit by the debris being thrown at them.
The British Columbia Scientific Crypto Zoology Club dedicated to the ‘investigation of various animals as yet unidentified by science’ states on their website: “The sasquatch is depicted in both male and female forms on a variety of totem poles of a host of First Nations bands. It is viewed as a biological animal and is often avoided by some bands who feel that to see a sasquatch means one faces a premature death.”
The Bigfoot Evidence blogspot also reports “There is a very long history of Sasquatch images, carvings and very detailed names from every Native American and first nations people.”
source: bigfootevidence.blogspot.ca
Ok so now this really got me even more curios, so I Googled “Sasquatch Sunshine Coast BC” and to my surprise the website Sasquatch-pg.net had a list of sitings around the province including over 10 on the Sunshine Coast dating back to 1923.
I’ve reprinted the Sunshine Coast BC Canada sightings below:
1923, Gibsons, BC, witness unknown, 3 children spotted a Sasquatch
1947, Gibsons Landing, J. Landry, a truck driver spotted a white Sasquatch
Summer 1968, Desolation Mountain (Desolation Sound), John Pack & friends witness several 17.5 inch footprints found near the base of the mountain.
September 1970, Powell River, Ralph K. finds three 14.5-inch footprints.
Fall of 1971, Sechelt, a Prospector reported to John Green that he saw two Sasquatch, the color of a collie dog, run away from a small lake where they may have been pulling up lily roots.
1973, Gambier Bay (not sure if this is Alaska or Gambier Island?), Ron Murdock hears ape-like sounds and sees a 7ft black haired Sasquatch watching him.
March 18, 1973, Bute Inlet (North of Powell River), Peter Spika, Luke Burmas and Nick Pisac, herring fishermen, watched a beige, 10-foot Sasquatch walking on beach.
June 1973, Chapman Creek, near Sechelt, timber worker saw Sasquatch jumping up and down; it left human-like footprint.
Summer 1983, Gibsons, group finds large tracks, twisted branches 8-9 feet up in trees, an hears very loud roars or screams.
June 28, 1992, Bute Inlet (North of Powell River), miners see Sasquatch in area several times and later find a large dropping containing fibrous hairs.
March 8, 2005, Halfmoon Bay,woman reported to and investigated by Thomas Steenburg. Witness 9-foot tall black haired Sasquatch cross road in a hunched forward position.
Here is an official report I found on an investigation of the Halfmoon Bay incident
by Thomas Steenburg, reprinted from the Sasquatch Research Initiative:
1: Woman sees sasquatch cross road at limit of headlights
I spent the afternoon of March 14th, 2005, with the witness and her family going over the incident as well as spending a good deal of time at the site itself. I interviewed her using my own questionnaire since at the time SRI was not up and running yet. Since this incident a couple of other possible sightings have come to my attention, and I have learned that there indeed is a ongoing history of activity in this part of the B.C. coast. I can find no evidence that she was a victim of any hoax attempt, nor do I think she is making up this story for attention or any other self-serving reason. In fact a few of her friends and neighbors have made her the target of some ribbing since the incident after word started getting around about what happened. At the sighting location I made a search of the area, staying a good 5 to 6 hours there after the witness had gone home. I was hoping that maybe a suitable spot inside the tree line which was missed before might reveal a footprint or two, however that was not to be. The only markings were the trail through the tall grass on both sides of the road, marking the path of something big moving through the area. The sighting location and the trail, as well as the witnesses, were photograped by myself. The witness in my opinon answered all of my questions to the best of her ability, and I did not detect any contradiction in her telling of what she saw the evening of March 8th, 2005.
Thomas Steenburg
Frame 352 from the Patterson-Gimlin film, alleged by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin to show a Bigfoot, and by some others to show a man in an ape suit. Source: Wikipedia.
The numerous sightings of Sasquatches over the years on the Sunshine Coast resulted in a team of Sasquatch Hunters organizing an expedition and a search party to the region in 2006. The photo on the right, while not from the Sunshine Coast, is a still capture from possibly the most famous and controversial sighting caught on video.
A post I found on a Sasquatch chat forum by ‘secheltbigfoot’ dated July 30, 2005 talks about a Sasquatch ‘hunt’ up in the Caren Range mountains near Pender Harbour which also overlook Sechelt Inlet.
Secheltbigfoot writes he is from the Fraser River Valley near Grand Cherokee. “I have, however, spent a good deal of time in your neck of the woods in the past while working for a company that seeded oysters on large private land leases in Sechelt Inlet region.” (I have not corrected grammar)
“This Expedition is going to take place on the Sunshine Coast from Port Mellon to earls cove from one end to the other is only a sort distances and there has been many sightings here lately. there has been three sighting with in ten mile off each other in the last few months . over the years the Sasquatch has been seen in, port mellon , langdale, gibsons, roberts creek, wilson creek selma park ,sechelt, half moon bay , penderhourber, egmount and earls cover , all these towns are every close to one anther the colour as been black in the portmellon langdale and roberts creek to selma park it has been white grey colour , halfmoon bay it is black and at the end of the coast it is a redis brown . a lot of sightings have been around the populations of the coast and yes we do get a lot from the mountains . this expedition will be happing around the halfmoon bay. we will be going in the the moutains around two lakes in some old stand of trees some of the trees here are up to 500 to 800 year old and yes there has been logging happing around to . we have had people telling us that they have heard things walking around and loud noises whistling and seen foot prints in this range . as we speek other reports are comming in. i have some old reports of people being cast , rocks tosst , looking in to homes and banging on the side of homes this has also happen to my family looking in to are home ..please reply there is much more that i have not told and please for give me for the bad gramer thank you robert kennedy !!”
On August 10, 2005, secheltbigfoot posts “we have had three more sighting on the sunshine coast of bc canada in half moon bay.” When asked ‘What were the dates of these alleged encounters?’ he replies…
“well every one there has been alot of sightings going on here on the sunshine coast thur night at 906pm in half moon bay again comming up from the salt marsh in sartens bay park going up to the trails in half moon bay did get hair it has been sent in to be checked so i am not going to be saying it was or not he was all so seen swimming in trout lake i am looking in to that one more i will be talkig to the girl ,, the last four sightings have been seen by weman and one by a guy and way i hope to have more info on this for all of you robert kennedy”
Another forum member, Ken writes on December 1st, 2005 “I believe the BFRO has a Sechelt expedition planned for August 24-27 in 2006. Details on the 2006 BC expedition are on the following page: http://www.bfro.net/news/roundup/britishcolumbia.asp”
I was surprised to see that this is in fact a carefully organized expedition that cost $300 to $500 to participate in.
NOTE: I am guessing that BFRO is an acronym for Big Foot Research Organization? I am also trying my best not to correct many of the spelling mistakes, location gaffes and grammar.
An official report of the expedition states “lots of movement heard and a fair bit of vocalizations.”
Report # 12855 (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Thursday, October 20, 2005.
YEAR: 2005
SEASON: Summer
MONTH: August
DATE: 25 – 28
PROVINCE: British Columbia
COUNTRY: Canada
NEAREST TOWN: [Sunshine Coast region - North of Vancouver]
NEAREST ROAD: Pacific Coast Highway
OBSERVED: I would like to thank the BFRO for the excellent outing on the Sunshine Coast [British Columbia, Canada]. I am sure that the attendees will all agree that it was a hair raising time. I was amazed at the knowledge and the experience that the seasoned investigators had brought to the table.
Although there was no direct visual sightings, it gradually became obvious to everyone that some sasquatches were in that area.
The first night that I was out with John and Phillip from Vancouver, I was not prepared to spend that first night in my truck, especially with the amount of vocalizations we had been hearing from the mountain side above us, so I headed back to base camp. On the way back I thought I had spotted something upright stepping off of the highway in the same dark stretch were other locals had reported road crossing sightings. It was late and I had been up for a long time, so I’m not sure about that one.
On the second night, John, Phillip and I were joined by Mike and Warren at our outpost. Once again it was a clear starlit night. We heard more vocalizations as well as some knocks, but not as many as the previous night.
Mike kept us entertained with his technological support items. Warren and I ended up crashing out in my truck only to wake up cramped and sore.
The third night was utterly fantastic. After two nights of simply setting ourselves up as observers and listeners the tactic was changed to one of gentle interaction. It was like we had let them know that “we are here and mean no harm” to “we are here, and we mean no harm, so why not come down closer to us”. And they did. The way we were strung out on that road was just one big invitation. There were lots of movement heard and a fair bit of vocalizations as well. It got really exciting about 10pm when one participant stated that something had walked down and was crouched behind her tent. After about 5 or 10 minutes, when asked she said it was still there but she didn’t know what to do next. I suggested that she unzip her tent, which she did. The visitor was heard walking away. This was heard by the girl, her boyfriend and the guy in the next tent. It walked between the two tents and departed briefly then departed.
Shortly thereafter, the couple went outside their tent briefly. After about 10 minutes they went back inside their tents. Shortly after going back inside she reported via walkie talkie that the visitor had returned from the direction, but was not as close as before. It eventually departed. One of the guides walked over to their tents and sat there for a few minutes to see what would happen. After a few minutes of quiet he spread out M&M’s (candy) on top of a cooler. The idea was that if a bear was snooping so close to the tents, if it came back it would find and eat the pile of M&M’s on the cooler. But if it came back again and didn’t disturb the M&M’s at all, then it probably wasn’t a bear.
After a long interval of not hearing any sounds the three people in those two tents decided to turn in. They slept and did not wake to hear anything return. The M&M’s were untouched when they woke in the morning.
I and one of the local guides positioned our vehicles on the logging road above where the girl’s tent was situated. We had our vehicles backed up to each other and cooked dinner there.
When I went to sleep I had to put all of my equipment away and I closed up the back of the truck. I was going to sleep on the passenger side, as there would be more room without the steering wheel in the way. The doors were locked and the passenger window was down about an inch.
At 4:30 am something banged my truck. Either the side, tailgate or the roof. I woke up immediately but (I hate to say it) I could not or would not open my eyes. I sat there for what seemed like forever not moving, listening for what might be outside and then I heard distinctive heavy bipedal steps walk away from my truck heading down the road.
It was gone, or so I thought. I had keyed the mic on my walkie-talkie to see if anyone was awake. It must have heard the noise through the gap on my window because I heard it pace back past my truck to a position just behind me. I think that it had been standing between the two trucks and slightly to the centre of the road watching the security light flash on my dashboard — only a guess.
It was then that I broke radio silence and asked if anyone was up as I had something outside my truck. I was very scared. The girl who had the visitor earlier heard me and talked to me for a bit and then dropped off.
While I was talking to her the thing outside my truck walked away down the road. I believe that John, who had been listening to the two of us on the radio, stated that he had heard whatever it was walk from my position towards his and then angle up into the woods. This whole experiance lasted 15 to 20 minutes and it took me another 15 before I would get out of my truck.
Again, I would like to state that I had a fantastic time and I believe I am now better prepared to check the occurances in my local area.
Thank you for letting me be part of this!
Blaine McMillan
Vancouver Island
OTHER WITNESSES: There were nearly twenty people on the expedition. Hard to say how many people were present when various things happened.
OTHER STORIES: We spoke with several good local witnesses. They had obviously seen a sasquatch, possibly different ones, in the same general area.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: Mostly at night
ENVIRONMENT: Thick Pacific Northwest forest. Mountains and fjords.
There is also a follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker which basically talks about why, with all the activity reported on the Sunshine Coast, there were no photos or video footage? You can read it HERE.
I found a video from 2006 showing Sasquatch footprints on a beach in Powell River. The video is about 23 minutes long and the footprints are shown starting at 3:26 with a chase to find Bigfoot to 7:52 into the video. The footage is said to have been found in a “broken” camcorder found on the beach during a family vacation on the Sunshine Coast and Lower Mainland. If anything, it’s a humorous hoax by a couple guys having some fun in the genre of the Blair Witch Project. Worth watching. Explains why its listed in the ‘comedy’ category.
Sasquatch Sighting Powell River BC
This VHS-C tape was found inside a smashed camcorder
on a beach in B.C. Canada, near Powell River.
There is definitely a wealth of books and folklore on the subject. I myself don’t doubt that ‘extinct’ ancient creatures may still exist on the Earth such as ancient dinosaurs that live in lakes and oceans and ape like humans living in the forests.
A recent documentary I watched in the Ancient Aliens television series on the History Channel showed depictions of dinosaurs side by side with humans in artwork by ancient civilizations who would have no way to know about these supposed creatures alleged to have gone extinct over 60 million years ago.
Make-up artists interpretation of a Sasquatch. Source tumblr.
Do you think the Sasquatch or Bigfoot is real, legends, a hoax or just a cheesy tourist attraction?
British Columbia Tourism’s Hello BC website even says “soak in the Coast Mountain views, but watch out for the Sasquatch’s footprint.”
Let me know! Have your say below…. (posts are moderated).
Have I missed out any sightings or important information?
UPDATE: So I finally talked with Robert Kennedy who has organized over 10 years of Sasquatch expeditions on the Sunshine Coast.
Over the phone he told me that the film crew had indeed told him about our chance meeting in Sechelt, however they decided not to contact me.
After I published the article, Robert sent me his phone number so we had a good long chat.
The film crew in question includes a top scientist who with the film crew are doing a documentary for French television and Europe.
I am hoping we might get a link to the show if its posted online or they send Robert a copy. He did say that possibly in the Spring I can join an expedition as a member of the media. Very exciting!
“Duane,
I am the fellow who has done over ten years of expeditions, and five years with the French documentary film crew about Sasquatch on the Sunshine Coast. You depicted individual stories of sightings, but these leave no evidence or understanding about what Sasquatch is or what they do. You have missed a lot of my writings and write ups that are archived on the blue board with the BFRO. My vast knowledge and understanding exceeds the “finding Bigfoot” show, Thomas Steenburg and his crew. The knowledge and understanding I have is second to non. If it sounds like I am blowing my horn, it is because I can. I have kept it quiet on the Sunshine Coast for many years, but it has come to irritate me that when I am doing my studies, and I am encountering and relating with the creatures some idiot begins to shoot his gun in the same vacinity.
Duane, I have been persecuted and harassed on this subject because of my belief.
The people I hold in highest regard on this subject are, John Greene, Jeff Meldrum M.D., John Bindernagel, and Cliff Barackman. If anyone tells you that scientists do not like to get involved in this subject, come talk to me. Because all we do is work with scientists and documentary people now.
The fellows you met in the beer and wine store that day, one was a very famous scientist from Brussels, and I was waiting for them across the street in McDonalds.
Over the years I have worked with five family groups of sasquatches. So Duane, if you hear of an expedition, or a documentary group on the sunshine coast they are here because of the things we do. I have done all the organizing here. We no longer work with the BFRO because of their inconsistencies.”
Thanks
Rkennedy/ secheltbigfoot
What do you think of the Bigfoot / Sasquatch legend?
It’s Always a Good Day on the Sunshine Coast! Duane Burnett
LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot
Duane,
I am the fellow who has done over ten years of expeditions, and five years with the French documentary film crew about Sasquatch on the Sunshine Coast. You depicted individual stories of sightings, but these leave no evidence or understanding about what Sasquatch is or what they do. You have missed a lot of my writings and write ups that are archived on the blue board with the BFRO. My vast knowledge and understanding exceeds the “finding Bigfoot” show, Thomas Steenburg and his crew. The knowledge and understanding I have is second to non. If it sounds like I am blowing my horn, it is because I can. I have kept it quiet on the Sunshine Coast for many years, but it has come to irritate me that when I am doing my studies, and I am encountering and relating with the creatures some idiot begins to shoot his gun in the same vacinity.
Duane, I have been persecuted and harassed on this subject because of my belief.
The people I hold in highest regard on this subject are, John Greene, Jeff Meldrum M.D., John Bindernagel, and Cliff Barackman. If anyone tells you that scientists do not like to get involved in this subject, come talk to me. Because all we do is work with scientists and documentary people now.
The fellows you met in the beer and wine store that day, one was a very famous scientist from Brussels, and I was waiting for them across the street in McDonalds.
Over the years I have worked with five family groups of sasquatches. So Duane, if you hear of an expedition, or a documentary group on the sunshine coast they are here because of the things we do. I have done all the organizing here. We no longer work with the BFRO because of their inconsistencies.
Thanks
Rkennedy/ secheltbigfoot