And two local Sasquatch hunters are convinced the sighting, reported last month on Mount Cheam, is the real deal.
"This was a legitimate sighting, not a bear, not a deer or anything else," said Bill Miller, a full-time Sasquatch hunter who lives in Harrison Hot Springs.
The Sasquatch was sighted on June 19 at 2 a.m. when a husband and wife were travelling down the mountain after watching the city lights from a lookout point. The wife was busy fiddling with CDs when the creature crossed in front of them.
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| ©Jenna Hauck / Progress |
| Sasquatch hunter Bill Miller (left) explains the characteristics of Big Foot as fellow hunter Tom Steenburg looks on. |
"He grabbed his wife's arm and said 'did you see that guy cross the road?,'" said Tom Steenburg, a Sasquatch hunter and Big Foot author, who interviewed the couple two days after the sighting.
"His wife started asking him questions, like what was he wearing. He said that he wasn't wearing anything, he was just really hairy. She asked how tall he was. He just said that he was really big. Finally she asked, was it the Sasquatch? No, he replied. It couldn't have been, there's no such thing as the Sasquatch."
The man who saw the figure described it as having "long arms, down to his knees," a "very heavy, big upper body," a "thin waist," a "flat stomach," and no neck, "just kind of a head."
He compared it to being "big like a wrestler, flexing its back and chest." He also said it was about seven feet tall, covered in black hair, and walked on two legs.
"He said they came around the bend, then something took a step up from the trees and out onto the road," said Miller. "It took only two quick steps across the road, looked towards them, and then it was gone."
Miller, who has been a Sasquatch hunter for 10 years, and Steenburg, who has been one for 29 years, investigated the site in the following days.
"We looked for signs of where it might have gone into the bush and I found it immediately," said Steenburg, who has investigated over 500 Sasquatch sightings in his career. "I saw exactly where it stepped."
They found elongated trackings of crushed sprouts and pine needles, measuring a few feet in length, and over four feet apart.
Although there was no Sasquatch hair found at the scene, and the road was too hard to leave behind any detailed footprints, the two hunters still believe there is enough evidence to prove that the Sasquatch had passed through.
"It's too problematic to explain it as a hoax rather then accept it," said Miller. "Who would be running around out here in this ankle-breaking country, in a gorilla suite, on a warm night, sweating their tail off, jumping in front of cars?"
The tracks led all the way down a steep 60-metre hill, covered in branches, trees and shrubs. Miller believes that if someone was playing a prank they would have only waited at the side of the road instead up struggling uphill in the dark.
As well, the tracks were in a straight line. According to Miller this is even more supporting evidence, as the Sasquatch has a mid-tarsal break in their foot that allows them to walk one foot directly in front of the other with ease.
"If I, or any other human, were to climb this hill I would need to turn my feet sideways to stay balanced," he said. "But these footprints are in a straight line, like he was walking a tight rope. They even go straight over a two foot high shrub in one step. This is circumstantial evidence."
The footprints also proved that the sighting couldn't have just been a bear.
"A bear walks on four feet, and throws its weight from side to side when walking," he said. "And their footprints are only the size of baseballs, they aren't elongated like these impressions."
Along with the footprints, Miller pointed out that the description the man provided was too accurate to be a joke. He also ruled out the possibility of the man playing a prank on himself and Steenburg, saying that he had no motive.
The man who reported the sighting, an avid hunter, wishes to remain anonymous.
"He was really apologetic, and really agitated," said Miller. "He seemed to be wrestling with the idea that he just saw a Sasquatch. He didn't believe in them."
According to Miller and Steenburg most people who report sighting don't want to be named for fear of a tarnished reputation.
"Ninety per cent of the population don't believe that the Sasquatch even exists," said Steenburg.
Both men receive their fair share of slack when they tell people what they do for a living.
"It's human nature to laugh at what your ignorant about," said Steenburg. "But that's what it's all about, trying to get people who tell you it doesn't exist to believe in it."
Miller feels the same way.
"It's easy to be skeptical and laugh at it," he said. "But no one has ever stepped up to give a counter explanation for the evidence we have collected, even when they've been offered money."
Miller and Steenburg both use their own money to keep the dream alive. Miller is living and working off of his pension right now, but is hoping that the video he will one day get of the Sasquatch will support him for the rest of his life.
"I don't want to see it close enough where I can feel it's breath in my face," he said. "But I want a video of it. That's all I need. Just a video of it, and I'm set."
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