The Lake Minnewanka Wildman

Lake Minnewanka is located in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

The information below was collected through a variety of sources, including: Archive Reports, Old Newspapers, & Local Legends.

The first sighting of the creature that became known as “The Lake Minnewanka Wildman” took place in late 1895. Several people were out fishing, along the southern shore of the lake when footprints of “gargantuan size” were found on the ground, the footprints came in at an estimated length of 19 inches. Then in early 1896 the same sized footprints were found near the lake shore once again, the curious individual who found them decided to follow the footprints and find out where they led to. The footprints led to a hole broken in the ice of the lake, from there the footprints trailed off into the woods. The witness stopped following them at this point.

In the late spring of 1896, a trapper was checking his lines when he noticed a large creature moving in the distance. The creature walked towards the woods and ducked to avoid a tree limb that was crossing it’s path. Later on, the trapper approached the area where the creature had ducked to avoid the errant tree limb. He found that the limb in question was more than 7 feet off of the ground.

There are no recorded estimates of the height of the creature, but the above mentioned information would most likely make it between 7.5 – 8 feet tall.

In the late summer of 1896 two prospectors were out when they spotted what they described as a “great bear”. The two men shouldered their rifles and fired at this “bear”. To their surprise and horror, the creature that they thought was a bear stood up on two legs and emitted “a most horrible shriek”, the bear turned Sasquatch then ran off into the surrounding forest. After only seconds the two men could no longer see the creature, but they could still hear it screaming from within the forest.

They left the area as quickly as they could.

Early winter 1897 found the creature lurking near the outskirts of temporary settlement. The dogs in the area raised the alarm, and men armed with rifles responded to see what had caused their dogs to bark and growl so ferociously. The creature was almost immediately spotted and was greeted by a hail of gunfire. Once again, the creature ran away screaming and disappeared into the surrounding forest.

It wasn’t until late summer 1897 that the creature was seen again. This time, two young boys watched the creature at a distance as it walked along a small ridge and disappeared from sight. They ran home to tell of what they had just observed

The creature seemed to disappear from the area for a while, perhaps being fed up with trigger happy settlers, for it was not sighted again until fall 1898.

A man fishing along the lake shore sighted the creature from an estimated distance of 40 -50 yards. The creature bared it’s teeth and growled at the man, and once again it was fired on. It ran from the area emitting “hair raising cries”. It was believed that the creature was hit by at least one of the bullets that was fired it’s way, as spots of blood were found on some of the trees in the area.

In early winter 1898, two Irish wolfhounds are found dead just outside of a small settlement. 19 inch long footprints are found in the area also. Locals mount a hunt for the creature, but nothing is found.

In the spring of 1899 the creature is spotted near a cabin, watching a pair of horses stationed in a small corral. The inhabitant of the cabin must have caught the creature off guard, for he shot the creature with a lever action rifle, and apparently hit it at least 3 times. The creature fell to the ground, but quickly rose again and dashed off into the forest.

In the late summer of 1899, a small pile of fish bones was found near the lake shore, and near this bone pile was found several 19 inch long footprints.

In the early winter of 1899, the creature is spotted by a man on horseback, once again at a distance. This time it was walking towards the west, the witness stated that the creature had a very bad limp. Perhaps this was the effect of being shot so many times. The man watched the creature until it disappeared into the distant tree line.

This was the last report of the creature that became known as The Lake Minnewanka Wildman. Perhaps it had decided to give up on the Lake Minnewanka area, and head to a place where there were less people and naturally less bullets being fired it’s way.

Whatever the fate of this creature, this is probably the last we will ever hear of it.

Description: The height of the creature, 7.5 – 8 feet, was already covered. The once vague description of it’s coloring stated that the creature had “reddish-brown fur (hair)”.

Frequency: 10 occurrences (sightings & footprint finds) over a period of 4 years (1895 – 1899).

Demeanor: Shy & curious, as usual. Rarely showed signs of aggression, only when threatened or injured.

© Sean Viala, 1999.