I was recently (an hour ago) at a Budget Battery store and making idle conversation with the employee there, Charley Williams. He said he was going camping, and I asked him to pass along any Bigfoot encounters he had to me.

He then said that his grandfather, Percy Watts, had seen one crossing railway tracks that he and a crew had just laid, 50 yards away. This was in the 1950's, near Kalispel, Colorado. There were between six and ten men in the crew. They all departed immediately. (But maybe they just wanted an excuse to knock off work early??) Some of them said they'd never go back to that area.

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About six months ago, I noticed a disabled car by the side of the road and picked up its driver and passenger, a grizzled/outdoorsy couple in their late 30's. When she mentioned that she was from Montana, I asked her if she'd seen any Bigfoots there. In a sort of dreamy voice, she said she had, when she was five and her sister seven, but that her parents wouldn't take their report seriously. She sounded aggrieved. Unfortunately, I wrote down her phone number on a slip of paper I accidentally threw away, so I wasn't able to get more details. The sighting would have been over thirty years ago, in the early 70's.


I've asked only four people if they've had sightings, so this 50% positive-response rate is amazing. Maybe they're just humoring me?

Maybe.

And maybe you're just lucky.

Over the years I've asked more people than I can remember. Not a one has claimed a sighting.

There is no Kalispel, Colorado. I was in Kalispell, Montana two weeks ago.

As well as the Kalispel Reservation in Usk Washington (bordering the Colville National Forest).

If your interested:

Kalispel Tribe

If it was in Kalispel, MT and not CO that might make it even more interesting. Kalispel, MT is very near Flathead Lake, which is home to the Flathead Lake Monster, reported since the late 1800s. Two creatures within the realm of cryptozoology being so close together, could keep one busy for a long long time.

Flathead Lake Monster Info

It looks like it must have been Kalispell in MT. It's about 150 miles (if a crow) ENE of Spokane, WA--the northern tip of Idaho is in between them. It's about 50 miles south of the Canadian border.

I'll check with Charley when he gets back from vacation. I'll ask him if there are any family records about this--a letter from his grandfather, etc.

Charley says he's visiting his family next week and will ask his uncle for details. He says that it was in MT--I was the one who mistakenly credited it to CO.

IF this sighting can be fleshed out, it would be a strong one, because it has five attractive elements:

Multiple witnesses--and not teens;
Witnesses fled their work-site;
Witnesses didn't seek publicity;
Daytime--and unobstructed view;
Prior to publicity about Bigfoot--hopefully even prior to Jerry Crew's 8/1958 track find;

OTOH, I can imagine that a prankster acquaintance of these workers might have thought it a hoot to hoax them in a costume. If the reported height wasn't 7' or more, that could be a possibility.

I live in the Flathead Valley I have heard first hand sightings of the lake monster, and also sightings of Sasquatch. Northwest Montana is good territory for Bigfoot.

And Spokane, WA is one of the earliest sighting locations of Bigfoot in the NW. Spokane, CO I'm not sure about.