Indigenous Perspectives on Sasquatch (Part 1)

Indigenous Perspectives on Sasquatch (Part 1):

Note by SunBôw: I am often heard saying that the best sources to know and understand Sasquatch, apart from the Sasquatch themselves, are from first hand experiencers, especially those who have developed communication with those relatives. For lack of knowing direct experiencers in your surroundings or networks, the Indigenous cultures and their ancestral knowledge transmitted mostly through oral tradition but also nowadays through some writings, offer the best sources of knowledge about Sasquatch or other related Hairy Humanoids known since ancestral times by a vast diversity of names in tribes and ancient cultures around the world. From my years of experience and research on the grounds, it appears obvious to me that the proportion of experiencers who had contacts and communications with the Hairy Humanoids is much higher among Indigenous Peoples, especially among cultures that have remembered and honored those relatives in their traditional stories and ceremonies, whether they call them Sasquatch, Sabe, Skokum, Yowie, Dooligah or any other name among hundreds.

The following is from a post about Sasquatch that has been circulating for six years on Indigenous Life Movement and shared thousands of times on FB. It shares a couple of quotes from Lakota Elders taken from a longer series of quotes once published on SCENIC, some of which were cited in Hairy Humanoids from the Wild – Encyclopedia of All Things Sasquatch. Most interestingly, the comments on that post offer a wealth of knowledge from first hand experiencers and about ancestral legends. Since the post is on a public page, I took the freedom to select and reproduce here some of the comments yet, as I could not contact everyone for permission to quote their words, I will only use initials here. FB users can verify the content and comment on the original post.

It took a while to select the relevant comments worth sharing here out of the hundreds and it would be too long to include the ones chosen in one post. So this post will be the first of a series. For the convenience I only corrected some obvious misspellings, syntax errors and missing capitals or punctuation, but I did not edit the words of the messages. Not all comments were necessarily from Indigenous readers, but their names and the content of their words show that the majority was. Definitely a significant sampling.

Without further introduction, here is the original post, followed by a first series of selected comments. May our readers find this educative and interesting. Blessings…

Original post from April 17, 2016:

“The Lakota, call Bigfoot Chiye-tanka “chiye” means “elder brother” and “tanka” means “great” or “big”. In English, though, the Lakota usually call him “the big man”.

“There is your Big man standing there, ever waiting, ever present, like the coming of a new day,” Oglala Lakota Medicine Man Pete Catches. “He is both spirit and real being, but he can also glide through the forest, like a moose with big antlers, as though the trees weren’t there… I know him as my brother… I want him to touch me, just a touch, a blessing, something I could bring home to my sons and grandchildren, that I was there, that I approached him, and he touched me.” Ray Owen, son of a Dakota spiritual leader.

“They exist in another dimension from us, but can appear in this dimension whenever they have a reason to. See, it’s like there are many levels, many dimensions. When our time in this one is finished, we move on to the next, but the Big Man can go between. The Big Man comes from Creator. He’s our big brother, kind of looks out for us. The existence of The Big Man is taken for granted throughout North America, and so are his powerful psychic abilities. The Big Man knows when humans are searching for him and that he chooses when and to whom to make an appearance, and that his psychic powers account for his ability to elude man’s efforts to capture him or hunt him down. In Native culture, the entire natural world, the animals, the plants, the rivers, the stars is seen as a family. The increasing appearances of the big man are not only a message or warning to the individuals or communities to whom he appears, but to humankind at large. A messenger who appears as a warning from Creator that man’s disrespect for his sacred instructions has upset the harmony and balance of existence!”

Comments:

LR: We had to take down a 100 ft cherry tree as it was split up high. I was talking to the tree, giving my gratitude and saying how sorry I was that it had to come down for safety. There was no wind and a branch up high started shaking with nothing on it. A piece of bark fell and I caught it in my hand. Tears of love flowed. That night, I heard something outside my window, mocking my breathing. I was so scared. Footprints from charcoal from a fire were left behind. I see him often and can call him and he comes. He has shown himself and others many times to me. There are different looking ones and different colors. They even walk into my house, in spirit form, especially when grand babies started coming. Always respect them. Talk to them, they hear and will come to you. Their energy is like the strongest vortex that you ever felt. The first one, I call him Harry, would come to the kitchen window every night and grunt, I would say hello and then walk away, I was so used to his presence, I don’t know why I didn’t stand there and talk more. I don’t see him to much anymore and don’t call him in as who am I to disturb his life walk. He has shown up in many pictures. They are multi dimensional, maybe one day our physical bodies will become higher vibrational and we can disappear at will too. Thank you for sharing this story. They are sacred to me. Yes, I can see the energies of trees and everything, including rocks, aka, Stone People. The energy of a Sasquatch looks like the heat that comes of a road all compacted into the shape and size of the one presenting. Sasquatch would breath exactly how I was breathing. The rhythm, the sounds, he was one with my breathing. Ex.: I take deep breaths in and blew out slowly when sleeping, he was mimicking this. Even the fast breaths.

VEM: I have not seen him, but I have had two visitations in my lifetime. Once when I was 3 years old, not only did my parents see the being but they tell me our neighbors saw it also. The second time it appeared in human form in an urban setting as a beggar. Initially I refused in my heart to give him any money, but later changed my mind and dropped my change into his cup. My car was a few steps away from him, but when I turned around to see him he was GONE! For those of you who think me crazy… too bad. There are spirits that walk among us, with important messages to bring. I’ve never seen The Big Man, but I believe he exists, just like the two spirits that I saw. “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” TIKBA A’ Chahta Sia. Yakoke.

RM: Obviously we here on this site KNOW THAT “BIGFOOT” or whatever Ur heritage calls it ( & no disrespect). I too am a BELIEVER & have had MANY MANY sightings….but what we all should be asking is… is why is the GOVERNMENT LYING TO US & SAYING THEY DONT EXIST….WHAT ARE THEY(the Government) hiding….& I hear that they hunt them down on some occasions & KILL THEM!! THAT DOESN’T SURPRISE ME ONE BIT … TAKE CARE & KEEP ON SASQUATCHIN’ AAAYYYEES!!

SS: In India we call him the Lord Hanuman, Vanara, Bearlike or Apelike People.

MR: Well now I know his not here to hurt us.”Chiye-tanka he is watching out for us. Now I really know I won’t be afraid of him. Hiy hiy…

ADM: That name is the first words I ever learned in Lakota in 1966.

CM: Thanks for aļl the stories…I’m Nuu-chah-nulth from the Tla-o-qui-aht FN in Canada in Tofino, B.C. We call him Bookmus (bigfoot) in our language. I hope I have the spelling right. We have many stories about this mythical creature. I was told if we touch one we could gain its power. They are supernatural beings like others have said they can divert themselves from human to spiritual beings. I remember when they had a 1 million reward to catch one in the US. I just laughed “never going to catch one”. But we believe when our men go missing at the ocean and are not found they turn into these Bookmus. There is a specific word used for it but I cant remember. As a child I was told of the Bookmus it was used as a tale to scare children. They would say the Bookmus is coming that would scare us to behave and listen to our parents! There is lots of stories we have but I’m glad to share some of ours to you.

JS: I love these accounts and beliefs. If I may share. I read many years ago, that some cultures believe the Bigfoot are actually the shaman who have ventured into the woods on their spirit journey or when in need of spiritual healing or aid for their community. They transcend from human form to the form of ‘Sasquatch’ in order to truly become more in tune with the forest and live as a free animal rather than being hindered by human form and limitations. This is why stories of Sasquatch being attracted to indigenous music and language is a common theme, and why they are most common in areas of remote regions long inhabited by indigenous cultures. Once the rituals or journeys are complete, the shaman return back to human form and thus, the Sasquatch remains are never found. Why Sasquatch is a humanoid form, and has interaction with humans on a humanoid level. There are many other fascinating theories and stories out there. This one in particular I found to be most interesting. Cheers.

DWW: Also called shape shifters as well.

AM: Yes I believe Bigfoot is real and why the elders believe he was a spirit and a physical being. I have encountered these creatures on more then one occasion, in a little over two years. I believe they have the ability to become transparent and not to be seen by our eyes if they choose, but not to animals like our dogs. I’ve seen one of these creatures walk in font of a Salt Cedar tree, and became like invisible to our eye. It had blended in so well with the colors and textures of the salt cedar trees that it looked as if it went invisible. We believe it stood still and seemed it disappeared, but the two dogs we were walking with were still looking at the place where the creature had walked, that’s how we knew it was still visible to the dogs and not to us… I had taken a picture on another occasion and I will post it too, it seems these creatures have the ability to blend in so well with the vegetation in the surrounding area. We weren’t able to see it, but our dogs alerted us, and it kept its eyes on the creature, and that’s why we knew it was there still. We also believe some of these creatures have friended our dog, so our dog won’t bark at them, instead they run to greet them like a friend.

RM: Awesome, I believe every word from you, because my 1st cousin said the same thing when he was out cutting firewood 2 years ago. He is the kind of guy that doesn’t lie either.

RL: I grew up in Vancouver, Washington State, as a child from 1975 to 1980, working the fields with migrant workers picking apples and fruits. We too have seen and felt them around us, treated them with much respect. To this day, my brother and I talk about our experience. Gracias Creator for sending the big man to guide us on our spiritual journey. (I’m) descendant de los Yaqui, Sonora.

RAB: Bigfoot use to talk, now he groans and moans when he speaks. He loves to be around Native Americans. He also loves to hear Native American music. My youngest son’s mother is Lakota and she saw him Washington State when she was very young. Whenever we see a show on tv about bigfoot, she has bad and good dreams about him that night when we go to bed and sleep.

WBW: I had seen one about a year ago off of a hunting road. It was a blond or light brown color. When I mentioned this to my brother, I thought he’d make fun of me. But he told me that when we were young and had visited family outside of Aiken, SC, he had ridden one of their 4-wheelers around in the woods on their property by himself. I remember that day because he came back looking strange. Never knew what happened until he told me this. He had stopped to check something he’d seen on the ground and when he looked up, he said he saw a big hairy creature standing in the woods nearby looking at him. He said it scared him so bad that he got out of there as fast as he could… NEVER went back in there by himself again. He realized later he’d seen a Sasquatch. Apparently Sasquach appears to white people as well.

CM: I think this was the same story I heard on Youtube about a young guy on a 4wheeler in SC… small world. I also heard the stories of soldiers hearing or smelling then in the back woods out by east gate in Ft Lewis, Washington. Interesting stuff. We have them in Southern Sask too.

NBT: I’ve had 3 visual encounters and non visuals while camping. I got a gift of a stack of rocks once.

SA: Squatch is real. I’ve seen him on two different occasions, one when I was ten in Bonnie Lake. The other was just a few months ago; there was three, one chased something away from me. Second time was up in Green Water a few months ago, bruh three were out there, the big one chased something away.

SG: That area is full of them, my mother also saw them twice around there. I love knowing they are around, makes me feel safe.

KW: In the 70s I lived in Bonney Lake around Church Lake. Our home was newly built. No curtains yet, I was probably 4 when we moved in. I always felt something was watching me thru my window. And one night something did wake me and I stood up to look out my window more directly and saw something tall, hairy and black standing not far from my window. I got scared and ran out to tell my dad there was a bear outside. Still to this day I have reoccurring nightmares about hiding from this creature in that same house. But he can always see me. And some times I have made eye contact with it. It’s such a lucid dream every time. And to this day I feel some kind of connection with bigfoot and want to learn everything about them. I’ve had more experience in Gig Harbor and Wynoochee River / dam areas.

KD: Yaasss!!! Lol the BigFoot community usually gets uptight when I tell them this is an interdimensional being, instead of banging on trees and hollering, use your energy and call on them.. lol cracks me up.

CH: Had a strange encounter last year the week after Christmas while hiking at the Red River Gorge. Actually it was a series of strange events that day hiking. My husband and I both think it was the Big man.

WB: I grew up in West Los Angeles, in 1957 or 58, I cannot remember the exact year. But it was the year that a newspaper article came out in the Los Angeles times it was about a logger on a logging trail in Northern California who had come across gigantic footprints. The article called it Bigfoot and as far as I know that’s where the name came from. My father called me over and read me the article. I was fascinated I was 8 years old. I had an uncle who was born about 1898 in Washington State, he grew up in a cabin deep in the woods. He always had great stories to tell and he visited us about every month, so I thought if anyone knows about this he will. He came to our house one weekend and I showed him the newspaper article and ask him if it was true. Remember, this was the first newspaper article ever written about Bigfoot, most people had never heard of him. My uncle smiled and said ”of course they’re real, growing up in the woods in Washington we all knew they were there, my mother would tell us if we went out to play, if you see them, just leave them alone they will not bother you. Remember this was in the early 1900s.” And I knew after I talked to him that they were real.

CW: My family often spoke of Bigfoot and how they once hunted in unity with them, they caused no problems with our people. They were said to have the ability to blend in. They could be standing right in front of you and you wouldn’t know it unless they wanted you to see them. I’ve seen Bigfoot 3 times in my life, but I’ve experienced evidence of them being near by on several occasions. They like to throw rocks if you’re in the area where they’re gathered. If they’re hunting in an area and you enter, they will break sticks or use these sticks to beat on trees in hopes to scare you away. They are gentle beings and only get violent if they feel threatened or provoked. Their scent is like no other, it is a very strong odor. In my family, we also called them pinestraw men, because the hair on their bodies was the color of fallen pine needles. People say they don’t exist because they’ve never seen one, but here’s the deal: only certain people have the ability to see them or other strange phenomenon, because their brains have the ability to alter its inner wavelength. This is why some people can see ghosts, while others cannot. The Bigfoot can alter your perception at will, but there are some people minds he cannot alter and those people are said to be some distant relative of his. My mom said that they live within the earth, and only come to the surface when needed. My mom said they had tunnels and only they knew how to access them. Interesting, my friend tells me my relatives are Sasquatch. I’ve seen many of them, different facial features and color of fur.

HC: I have been a watcher for many years and I can say this: many many times I could be watching them and they would be there, the young playing as the others watched over as the sun would, it would be like they would just disappear. I often thought that they would go into the caves, only thing was when I would go look, there would be no signs of them in the caves. So where they went, I do not know, but it seems it would not take them long to find me again.

RB: Whole family living in Bear Creek, SD, seen father, mother and a young one.

SM: I don’t care what people think, but I do have a witness. JJ and I seen Bigfoot when we were kids along a creek on the opposite side of us. Wow. We ran a long ways that day to get back to my mom’s house. Scared us to death. Like I said I believe because we seen him. Don’t care what other people think. I KNOW!!!!!!

JP: 1981, I had one wake me up at about 3am. I was in a small hard shell camper, private property along the Missouri River. Its footsteps woke me up. It was coming through a small piece of timber where the ground was thick with raspberry type brambles. It walked through this thicket that I couldn’t hardly get a tractor blade through, the way you or I would walk through knee high brome grass. It came out right at the front entrance side of the trailer, stepped on a mostly melted bag of ice laying beside the steps, walked between our two cars and on a back road. No noise. There was a security light pole right by the cars and got to see it really well! HELL YES THEY ARE REAL! It left three foot prints, one had 6 toes!

ABH: I’ve seen and met him in my dreams. I can tell you things, but I’ll get called crazy. When he sees us, we are the one who is ugly, he can see our soul our spirit. Most of us Natives are so lost to our culture, our way of life, we look like a monster to him.

RT: I read an article about the “Sasquatch people” and I read that we were once apart of the Sasquatch people. When the settlers came along, they taught us how to lie, cheat, and steal. And that is what made our people not “pure” anymore, and the ones that picked up on the white man ways got separated from Sasquatch people because they went and hid deep in the forest to hide from us and don’t show themselves sometimes because they are the ones afraid of us, like you said because we are the ugly ones!!! They are able to see our wrong and lies and it’s like a dark cloud or shadow on us and that’s why they hide themselves. And about us being lost to our cultural ways and being full of lies living like the white man, Sasquatch are going to come back to our people one day and show us how to be pure again…. There was so much more in this article, but I just had to share this part related to your comment because I strongly believe this too!!! Even though I’ve never seen him before, I still believe in Sasquatch people!!! Thank you for sharing your comment.

MK: They used to play with my mom and uncles when they were children. My mom said when they got sent to all the elders on Sundays, on the way from Big Mama’s house to Aunt Lizzie’s, she would see this big creature on two legs in the distance. And it would mimic her movements. She would go one way, he or she would do the same. It played with my mom like this for years. She would never say it’s Big Foot. But it is obvious. My aunt saw a footprint of Sasquatch next to my grandma’s grave a couple years ago.

CB: AHO!!! I didn’t get to see them, but I heard them and heard something slap the ground that wasn’t by man, in the mountains, one day logging by myself in Eastern Oregon.

FS: Maybe that’s why you always dreamt about Bigfoot. He was probably looking out for you LKM.

LKM: I haven’t had a dream about him in a while. Haha.. That’s cool though. Maybe I shouldn’t fear him so much in my dreams now. Lol.

GBS: Yes !! We see him differently. There’s two: the real and the spiritual.

(To be continued…)