Yukon villagers believe they saw Bigfoot
WebPosted Jun 7 2004 04:03 PM CDT

WHITEHORSE - A Sasquatch sighting has tongues wagging in the Yukon village of Teslin.

 
Village of Teslin, 160 km south of Whitehorse on the Alaska Highway

Two people say they saw the fabled bushman, also known as Bigfoot, cross the highway at the construction zone near the Teslin airport.

Marion Sheldon and Gus Jules were driving down the side of the highway on an all-terrain vehicle on Saturday evening.

They reported the sighting to Conservation Officer Dave Bakica.

"They claim they thought it was a person standing beside the road, but couldn't tell from all the dust," said Bakica.

"By the time they turned around to look back they said this person was completely covered in hair and took just two strides to get across the whole Alaska highway."

Bakica said the pair told him that by the time the got back to the location, the person or animal or thing had disappeared into the bush.

Teslin is 160 kilometres south of Whitehorse.

The conservation officer said he searched the area for tracks but they may have been wiped out by Saturday evening's rain.

Both witnesses appeared very shaken by the sighting.

Sheldon and Jules say they don't want to talk about the experience until they have consulted with local Teslin Tlingit elders.

For thousands of years sightings of the elusive, bipedal ape-man have been reported, throughout North America's Pacific northwest and as far away as China.

The creature has long featured in First Nation oral traditions.

Bigfoot believers, a small group of dedicated scientists among them, say the primate is likely the offspring of an ape from Asia that wandered to North America during the Ice Age.

LINK:For more information on other Bigfoot sightings The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization

Some believe there are at least 2,000 ape people walking upright in North America's woods today.

An adult male is estimated to stand at least 2.4 metres (8 feet) tall and weigh 360 kilograms or 800 pounds.

The hairy creatures are described as shy and nocturnal.

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization web site reports a sighting in south-central British Columbia, near Kamloops on May 17.

A resident said that while driving he saw what he believed to be a father and son Sasquatch near the side of the road, getting a drink of water.

GC ........you got a point..........in fact the west Coast through lets say Bella Coola etc to Alaska probably really never gets too cold etc.........no -35C  stuff anyways. So why not hang there all year long..........Salmon......berries etc .............lots of food and no people.

Plenty of food (Shellfish galore) and a ton of privacy. The only was accessible is by water or plane.

No doubt about that! A couple of hunting trips on Prince of Wales Island taught me that a person simply can't starve down there. The fish, crabs, and clams are incredible. 20 minutes of clam digging provided us a weeks worth of food.

Witnesses ‘shook up’ over creature sighting
By Chuck Tobin

Conservation officer Dave Bakica is convinced that whatever two Teslin residents saw early last Sunday morning, it shook them up.
Marion Sheldon and Gus Jules were travelling out of town along the Alaska Highway on an ATV, sometime between 1 and 2, when they passed what resembled a person standing on the side of the highway.
Thinking it was a local from their small community who might be in need of a ride, they turned around and headed back, Bakica explained in an interview Tuesday, recalling his conservation with Jules and Sheldon.
As the two lifelong Teslin residents and members of the Teslin Tlingit Council approached to within some six metres, they noticed the figure was covered in hair, but standing upright – the entire time.
Though natural light was dusky at best for that time of the day, with the aid of the four-wheeler, Jules saw what he believed to be flesh tones hidden beneath the mat of hair, as he relayed to Bakica.
Sasquatch, Big Foot?
“I have no doubt they saw something, and are convinced it was not a bear or anything in the ordinary,” the conservation officer said. “They are convinced this was something out of the ordinary.... And they are pretty shook up over it.”
Jules, Bakica emphasized, is an experienced hunter.
He described the figure as standing about seven feet tall, but hunched over. They could see it was not a person.
And as the two parties went their separate ways, the dark-haired figure took but two or three steps to cross the width of the Alaska Highway, about two kilometres northwest of town, near the airstrip.
Bakica said ground conditions, mixed with a few rainfalls, made it impossible to pick up any remnants of definitive tracks, and there was no hair on branches or the like to be found.
As well, by the time he’d talked to Sheldon last Sunday night and went to the scene Monday morning, half the town had been out to the site to have a look for themselves, as the conservation officer put it.
But Jules has launched an additional, more in-depth search for any evidence that could substantiate their experience.
“I have no doubt in my mind that they believe what they saw was a Sasquatch,” said Bakica. “Whether it was or not, I do not know.
“Just because you can’t prove something was there, does not mean it was not there.”
Sheldon and Jules could not be reached for comment.
Folklore and eyewitness accounts of the Sasquatch, Big Foot or whatever names there may be for a large, ape-like animal which was walks upright, have around for decades.
In April 1991, three Pelly Crossing residents reported seeing a Sasquatch while driving between Pelly and Stewart Crossing.
The creature fled back into the woods as the vehicle passed, but they did take picture of what they claim to be footprints measuring 37.5 centimetres (15 inches) long in the melting snow.
On the other hand, it was reported in December 2002 that the creator of the Big Foot myth died at the age of 84.
Ray Wallace is said to have started the myth in 1958 by having a friend carve wooden feet measuring 40 cm.
It was later claimed by Wallace’s family that tracks around a construction site had been faked.
But the myth caught like wildfire, and was quickly embraced by the North American lust for its own legend of the unexplained, just as the Himalayans had the Abominable Snowman.

Why do they do that?

"Journalists" call that "balanced reporting".

....also..covering your reputation's ass!

"Journalists" call that "balanced reporting".

Of course, the reporter had to add at the end of the story that "no information regarding "hangovers" was mentioned", along with smirking at the weather guy and exchanging knowing looks.  (gag)

Big Foot spotted in Yukon Territory

Associated Press
Posted June 11 2004, 11:52 AM EDT

WHITEHORSE, Yukon - Conservation officer Dave Bakica is convinced that whatever two men saw early last Sunday morning, it shook them up.

Marion Sheldon and Gus Jules were traveling out of town along the Alaska Highway on an all-terrain vehicle between 1 and 2 a.m. when they passed what resembled a person standing on the side of the highway.

Thinking it was a person from their small community who might be in need of a ride, they turned around.

As the two lifelong Teslin residents and members of the Teslin Tlingit Council approached to within 20 feet, they noticed the figure was covered in hair, but standing upright the entire time.

Though natural light was dusky, Jules saw what he believed to be flesh tones hidden beneath the mat of hair, he told Bakica.

Sasquatch? Big Foot?

"I have no doubt they saw something, and are convinced it was not a bear or anything in the ordinary," Bakica said. "They are convinced this was something out of the ordinary ... And they are pretty shook up over it."

Jules is an experienced hunter. Jules described the figure as standing about 7 feet tall, but hunched over. They could see it was not a person.

As the two parties went their separate ways, the dark-haired figure crossed the highway in two or three steps.

Bakica said ground conditions mixed with rainfall made it impossible to pick up definitive tracks and there was no hair on branches or other vegetation. Also, by the time he went to the scene Monday morning, half the town had been out to the site, he said.

Jules has launched a search for evidence that could document his experience.

"I have no doubt in my mind that they believe what they saw was a Sasquatch," said Bakica. "Whether it was or not, I do not know.

"Just because you can't prove something was there, does not mean it was not there."

Sheldon and Jules could not be reached for comment by the Whitehorse Star.

Teslin is about 90 miles southeast of Whitehorse.

It would not be the first suspected Yukon sighting of the folklore beast.

In April 1991, three Pelly Crossing residents reported seeing a Sasquatch while driving between Pelly and Stewart Crossing.

The creature fled back into the woods as the vehicle passed. The residents took a photo of what they claim were footprints measuring 15 inches long in the melting snow.