The Bus Driver Hoax, 1977

By: Tom Adams.

VANCOUVER, Canada (AP) - A bus driver and several passengers who reported seeing the legendary man-beast Sasquatch were tricked by four practical jokers using a $200 monkey suit and shoulder pads, according to the hoaxsters.

"It was a good practical joke, we thought it might fool a few people," said Ken Ticehurst, the 5-foot-11, 165-pound man who
dressed up in the gorilla costume. "I was running like O.J. Simpson."

The pranksters said the hoax took three weeks to prepare, including buying the suit from a costume shop, manufacturing a
foot to make a footprint, checking bus schedules so enough people would see it "to make it more believable" and planting a phony witness on the bus to make the first move and get passengers excited.

The reported sighting occurred on May 15 as Pat Lindquist was driving a Pacific Stage Lines bus westbound on the Harrison
Hot Springs, British Columbia-to-Vancouver run May 15 when he and several passengers saw what they thought was a Sasquatch lumber across Highway 7 about 35 miles east of Vancouver.

 Lindquist stopped the bus and pursued the creature into the bush.

"At first we thought it was a prankster in a fur suit," said Lindquist, a 28-year-old Vancouver city policeman, at the time of
the incident.

"It had flat, flared nostrils like a monkey and large white eyes. It didn't make any sound except heavy breathing."

Ticehurst, 24, of Port Coquitlam, revealed the scam Thursday in an interview on a radio talk show along with Don Ticehurst,
26, and Rene Quesnel, 19 of Port Moody. The three said they planned the stunt with Gordon Jacobi, 26.

They said they based their pattern for a resin-cast Sasquatch foot on a book about the creature by Don Hunter and Rene Dahinden.

Don Ticehurst, one of six passengers on the early morning bus, said he "had to act pretty excited. Some people were still
asleep." Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Bob Eyford, who did some independent investigation, said he's convinced the pranksters are telling the truth.

For years, stories have persisted that the gorilla-sized Sasquatch, North America's version of the Abominable Snowman,
lives in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.

From time to time sightings are reported and there is at least one photograph of an alleged Sasquatch, although it looks
more like a blurry picture of a gorilla. Several books and articles have been written about the beast.

WCSRO, 2006.