We Believe We Saw Bigfoot

[From “The Victoria Star”. September, 3/ 2008.]

By Monica Inman-Riley

"I know exactly what I saw," said Dale Tompkins.

The resident of Anfield in Victoria County was referring to a remarkable incident in York County last weekend which he describes as "quite chilling ... for a few minutes afterwards, especially."

It was shortly after 7 p.m Sunday evening, Aug. 17 and Tompkins and his wife Valerie were travelling in the Skiff Lake area, heading home from a visit with friends at Second Eel River Lake. That's when they spotted it – the creature they both firmly believe to be Bigfoot.

"When we got home we went on the Internet and found pictures exactly like what we saw," Dale told the Bugle-Observer the following day. "There were pictures of brown ones and black ones. What we saw was a black sasquatch."

"We were a half to three-quarters of a mile from the Skiff Lake sign in a densely wooded area when we came around a turn and saw a huge figure on the edge of the road. It looked down towards us then it walked across the road ahead of us just about 250 meters away."

Tompkins said that at first he and Valerie thought it was a bear standing on its hind legs. But as they came closer they realized they were seeing more than just a bear.

"We own hunting and fishing camps and in the last 22 years we have brought in and weighed over 150 bears and I have seen 15 or 16 live ones, five this spring, so I know a bear when I see one. I know a bear can stand on its hind legs and move around, but a bear can't walk on two legs the way this human-like form did. It crossed the road in three or four long steps, swinging its long arms like a human!"

(Tompkins estimated the chip-sealed road to measure 35 feet across.)

At the time of the sighting, the couple noticed a vehicle following closely behind them. With hopes that the driver had seen what they described as a "pitch-black, sleek, hairy, approximately 8-and-a-half foot sasquatch", they stopped him and his passenger along the road in Canterbury.

"We asked them if they saw what we saw and they said they did," explained Valerie. "They told us they were on their way home from their local area cottage. They were as excited as we were."

The Bugle-Observer contacted the other couple who confirmed the road-side conversation with Dale and Valerie Tompkins, who they met for the first time that evening.

Although they requested anonymity the woman said,"I know what we saw and I don't care if people believe us or not. There are four of us who witnessed the same thing so why would we just make something like that up?"

Although they stand behind the claims, her husband acknowledged most people will not believe them.

"We don't want to be involved in what we feel people will only think of as a hoax."

Valerie Tompkins considered someone may be playing a hoax on them and the out-of-town couple.

"If it was just someone dressed up, they sure did a good job," she said.

Then she added in a firm tone.

"We believe we saw Bigfoot."

WCSRO, 2008.