The Deroche & Spindle Canyon Occurrences.
By Ken Kristian, August 16, 2003
Ken has a personal site on fishing, hunting and BC mysteries. You can view it at: http://members.shaw.ca/kenkristian/
.
The summer of 1998 found a group of teenage boys preparing to have a campout on the rear of a private 18-acre piece of property located outside of Deroche, B.C. The boys had set up their tents in a glade (quite far away from the family home) inside the edge of the old-growth forest, which still remains quite wild and rugged, at the base of the Coast Range Mountains.
It was just shortly before dark, and all the boys were gathered around a small central campfire when something screamed at them with a huge volume from inside the edge of the forest. Whatever screamed at them could also be clearly heard pacing back and forth and breaking heavy branches inside the tree line.
In a later follow-up conversation at my home, one of the boys described the warning-type scream as monkey-like with a volume that would be impossible for any human voice to duplicate without the assistance of an amplifier.
The boy's mother has also recently informed me that this was no joke. She went on to explain that the group of macho boys burst into her house near tears after their possible Sasquatch encounter and refused to go back into the woods to their camp that night.
On June 30, 2003 we had another report of a possible Sasquatch encounter from the same above-mentioned property outside of Deroche, BC. According to the three scared witnesses who had wandered into a swampy and remote area of the property never visited by the residents, threatening high-pitched screams, the snapping sounds of heavy branches and strange, non-human mumbling sounds were heard after they stumbled upon a large bed made out of evergreen boughs. The witnesses also claimed to have smelled a very strong odor described as being a mixture of sulphur, rotten meat or eggs and human excrement.
On Tuesday, July 29th we had another report of possible on-going Sasquatch activity from the above-mentioned property owners outside Deroche, BC. Shortly before dark the residents reported hearing extremely heavy footfalls outside that shook the entire house, scaring the females at home at the time quite badly. Shortly after this happened, two very loud high-pitched screams were heard coming from just inside the edge of the bush on their property. The sounds of the scream reportedly set off howling from some of the dogs on farms in the area. Shortly after dark the residents were driving towards town on a road in front of their property when a very large rock suddenly flew from heavy bush at the roadside and narrowly missed their vehicle.
We Investigate:
We had a chance to investigate the sighting report outside of Deroche and we were lucky enough to find one possible Sasquatch track measuring 16 inches in length by 6 inches in width. The ground in the area was hard and dry and did not lend well to making tracks or tracking at all. The single track we did find appeared to be leading away from a crude bedding area consisting of old cedar boughs (it may be interesting to note that cedar is reported to be a strong flee repellent) and was situated on the crest of a small knob of soft dirt. Most of the weight appeared to be placed on the toe area. The big toe measured 3 inches in length and was impressed into the soil about one and one half inches deep.
We were very impressed with the age and size of the trees in the old-growth forest (mixed red cedar, Douglas-fir, hemlock and various hardwoods, with some over 8 feet across) where the on-going Sasquatch activity is taking place. If a Sasquatch wanted to hide in this old-growth forest it would be next to impossible to see it ... one step behind any one of these huge trees would be all it would take to stay well concealed.
Sasquatch sighting report, August 14, 2003:
A buddy and me 3 weeks ago were hiking up into Spindle Canyon (located above Becker Creek at the northerly end of the Pitt Lake), looking for Slumachs lost gold mine. It was starting to get dark so we decided to make camp for the night just as we were both starting to fall asleep we heard the most blood curdling scream then a bunch of low garbled noises. We shit, turned on every light we had with us and scoured the bush around us. We could smell this very rotten odor (rotten eggs & excrement?). Anyway, we never went back to sleep that night, and at daybreak we proceeded to hike further up in to the canyon. We couldnt believe our eyes, there it was crouched over a pond in the creek catching minnows. It never saw us. Suddenly it turned around and looked at us, stood up and bolted into the bush. I must say we went back down the way we came up Ill never go back into that area again. This is a true story and if you wish you can contact me by cell phone at xxx-xxxx .
B. Hay
Note: In a follow-up phone conversation, B. Hay went on to explain that he has been into this area in the past searching for gold and has found 16-17 inch Sasquatch tracks himself, and on one other occasion had reports from a friend that had been in the same area prospecting and had seen large barefoot man-like tracks in the snow leading away from the wreckage of a helicopter high in Spindle Canyon.
Brad estimated the height of the Sasquatch he encountered at somewhere between 7 and 8 feet.
Well have more on this report and others we are currently investigating at a later date.
*A special thank you to Ken Kristian for allowing us to use this report.