SIGHTING OF BIGFOOT OR MAYBE SASQUATCH, COULD’A BEEN ELVIS

My next memory, although vague, is worth documenting. It took place in the early 70’s during one of the wilder times in my life. The event, that created this memory, is a little hard to fully believe. It involved me in a subject that has a wide range of followers. The far largest group, of which, is filled with “non-believers”. Although, in later years, that group is somewhat shrinking and more opinions are falling toward the “unsure but maybe” side. Most, now remain silent, when the subject comes up. Rather than howling with rage and accusing believers of craziness, as in the past. My memory, for this post, is my BIGFOOT OR THE SASQUATCH sighting. At the time of this memory, I was a firm “disbeliever” in the myth of a mysterious “being“ found creeping around the wilderness in North America.

To set the scene, let’s start with the location and timing. It was late fall, in the early 70’s at about 8:00 am. We had been on the road a couple of hours by this time. The occasion was a hunting trip in the foothills west of Calgary and at the base of the Rocky Mountains, just south of Kananaskis. Early on this cold, cloudy fall morning we were pumped for the hunt, but still huddled in the warmth of the car. No one, as yet, had suggested we get out and walk thru the brush. If I remember the details correctly, we had a couple large thermos’s of coffee filled with Baileys, to kick start our day. Breakfast sandwiches were being chomped down, and our morning smokes were filling the car with a cloudy blue haze. The world was perfect at this moment. . . .

We were following a ridge line on a secondary road, overlooking a wide flat valley. The land we were driving along was typical, Alberta grasslands, fringed by short brush on the far side across the valley. We had a clear field of vision and three and half pairs of eyes scanned the valley floor. The driver had to keep half of his eyes on the road. Nobody was saying it, but all were thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice if our game just walked out onto the middle of the valley floor, so we could shoot it and get on with the partying”. The conversation, was light banter, with stories of hunting and fishing glory, being bandied about. Each hunter trying to outdo the others, with their story. To an outsider, looking in, it must have appeared that a group of fools had been turned loose, all in one car.

Morning was slowly passing, the sun was up, but a cloud cover prevented temperatures from rising significantly. We had driven a few miles along this road, when something caught my eye, out across the valley. I was attracted to a movement in the brush about one mile away. I looked closer and observed a “black figure” “striding” thru the undergrowth along the side of the valley. Peering closer I see that this figure is walking upright, which immediately rules out, all of the four legged prey, we were stalking. Must be a bear! My heart is pounding out of my chest. I was just about to squeak out, “guys I think I see something”, when R hollers, “get out your guns”.

Immediately there is a flurry of activity in the vehicle. Guns were being uncased, and ammo was being sorted out, from amongst the sandwiches and drinks. Crap was flying everywhere. Two windows were rolled down and the two far doors, flung open. The vehicle was transformed into a “porcupine” looking beast, with gun barrels protruding from it. We all knew that there was nothing we were going to shoot at, from a mile away, and for sure not before we identified exactly what it was. The main reason for unloading all the firepower was that we each had a scope on our rifles. We stood or leaned against the car and peered out ,at whatever it was, that was moving thru the low brush.

It became very silent as each one of us realized that what we were looking at, resembled nothing that we were allowed to hunt. This tall black figure, was exposed above the bush from about hip, height, upwards and taking large strides thru the brush. My mind was racing, while I was trying to determine what I was seeing. Some options went thru my mind, such as a tall skinny bear about 8 feet tall, naaahhh! Or maybe a tall well-built rancher out for his morning walk, without any clothes and covered in black hair, naaaahhhh! Or could it be my imagination? Nope! Because everyone else was peering in the same direction as me. Could it be too many coffees and Baileys? Perhaps! That seemed to make the most possible sense.

Whatever it was, it covered ground very quickly and within a couple of minutes had traversed about 1/2 mile of brush and disappeared into a ravine. Now it was really silent. I did not hear my old buddy R, the ultimate hunter, offering to jump down into the valley and chase it into the ravine. He just kinda looked away from me and slowly cleared his rifle before putting it the back seat and grabbing another Baileys and a smoke. The others followed suit. It was pretty quiet in the car. The minutes seemed to drag, before I whispered, “did you see that”? Not one answer, but a lot of heads were turned away from me. I’m like, “Geezus DID ANYONE SEE THAT?” R’s brother says, “I don’t think I saw anything?” Our other friend says, “I will never tell anyone about this”! R is thinking! You can smell it!

Little by little conversation starts to return to normal, on about every subject, except what we had just witnessed. However we were all aware of what each of us had just seen. There was no hiding it. In the space of about 5 minutes, a great piece, of my previously held “truths”, was wiped from my conscience. “What in hell was that”, kept trampling through my mind? The remainder of the day, was spent with a very quiet and subdued group of wild hunters. We looked for game, but only halfheartedly. We just weren’t into it. Each and every one of us, was quietly trying to reconcile that vision, with what we knew, should not be, and could not be. With our tails between our legs we returned home in the late afternoon, without any game meat.

On the ride back, we made a pact to not tell anyone what we thought we had seen. We did not even have a name to call it, nor any idea of what it was. Even a few beers could not rid the mind of the image, of a giant figure striding through the bush at a speed faster than any of us could run. We all knew what we would be subjected to. It would be, “Geezus are you guys drunk again”? And “what have you been smoking?”. Along with, “you’re never going out again, if you come back with this bullshit”. Our blood bond of silence lasted about 10 minutes after getting into the house, when ol’ R, spilled his guts. The results were just about as expected and for many months, if not years, we were subjected to ridicule.

Maybe it was BIGFOOT, THE SASQUATCH, ELVIS or maybe it was nothing, and all of us suffered the same hallucination, at the same time. There were no iPhones in those days, hence not the usual 1000 pictures, like there would be today, if even a bug were to be encountered in the wild. I for one do not need a picture, that image is forever burned into my brain. It may well be the last image I ever see as my memory turns to vapor. One thing, I do know is, from that point on, I was less ready to “pooh pooh” anything, that anyone thought they had seen, or believed in. I’m talking, strange animals, the Loch Ness monster, UFO’s, Bigfoot or Elvis. I became a lot more open in my thinking, and acceptance of other’s beliefs. Some even thought I had turned liberal on them.