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Geographical Index > Canada > British Columbia > Report # 25368
 
Report # 25368  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Thursday, January 29, 2009.
Motorists describe boat on trailer being shaken violently at night near Lake Cowichan

YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

PROVINCE: British Columbia

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: [Note by Cindy: This general area (20 miles) had a earlier sighting . June 25 2006 when a truck driver chased a sasquatch down the road.]

NEAREST TOWN: Lake Cowichan

NEAREST ROAD: 20km near Hillcrest main

OBSERVED: In Aug 2006 myself and my stepson and his girlfriend left to go fishing and crabbing in port renfrew bc. We had travelled about 15 to 20 kilos south past the mesachie lake turn off and decided to stop to relieve ourselves, due the bumpy road conditions.

As always I made sure all the lights on the boat trailer were still working and that all tie downs were secure, we stopped for about 10 min then left, we proceeded about 250 meters and I stopped in the middle of the road so my stepson could put in a new cd into the player.

I turned on the interior cab lights so he could see what he was doing. As he was searching for what he wanted to play the truck began to shake and lurch from side to side my stepson yelled at me saying were rolling off the road thinking that I was out of gear and rolling backwards. I assurred him that we were in park and my foot was on the brake and my forward vision correlated that we were not rolling but were being pushed and rocked sideways.

My stepsons girlfriend who had the window seat yelled to me that the boat and trailer were being pushed toward the side of the road by something she could not see. I did not hesitate and put the truck in drive and punched the throttle fearing that we were in some kind of earthquake and land shift.

We of course were quite shocked at what had just happened. I stopped some kilos up the road to check on the boat and trailer but without lights the only evidence at that time were that the trailer lights were not working and that the boat was sitting twisted on the trailer.

We found a campsite that night and in the morning upon inspection of the trailer and boat we found that the main safety latch at the front of the boat was stretched and useless and the nylon winch cable was split. The tie downs at back of the boat were stretched and torn also. We left the same day after a quick fish and found that the road in the area were we all hoped find road damage was not to be.

We thought maybe a bear tried to get in the boat but found no claw marks on the boat. Anyway the crab bait we had was in the truck bed near the cab.

OTHER WITNESSES: 3

OTHER STORIES: I had read a report after my incident that another incident happened in june 2006. Also the reason I am sending this in is that there is a missing hiker in the same area that I had this encounter. Also I see that your coming to vancouver island. I would suggest to you that the area where I had this strange encounter be on your list. By the way I dont travel the road at night

TIME AND CONDITIONS: late evening clear skys

ENVIRONMENT: felled trees and regrowth


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cindy Dosen:

I spoke with Alan for two hours. I have found him to sincere and logical recalling his experience.

The three witnesses Alan (father), James (son), James (girlfriend) are still certain that a large animal happened that night.

They were heading to the coast for crab fishing. They had open cans of catfood and sardines in the back of their pickup for the traps.

At 11:30 PM they pulled over a on a main logging road for a pee break. The drove about three hundred feet down the road and stopped again to change a CD. This is when something grabbed the boat and trailer started to push it off the road.

Alan is convinced it was something with much greater force than a bear, due to the damage: Splitting of the fiberglass hull, on a 1,200 lb boat; the stretching and shredding of some 3" flat nylon boat straps used to tie down the boat; the whole boat being dislodged and twisted inside the craddle of the trailer.

But there were no scratches, no marks, and no dents on the fiberglass or transom, but there was a large, long split in the fiberglass from the top edge to down to the water line. Extensive repair was required.

The two other witnesses described the sames things: The heavy rocking of the truck; the boat moving sideways. They could not see much past ten feet of the end of truck's cab due to the darkness that night.

Their first reaction was that they had stopped on some unstable ground that was slipping away in a landslide, or perhaps an earthquake. Then Alan booted the truck out of there. Later when they arrived at their destination they checked the trailer and saw the boat was almost falling out of the trailer. The wiring for the lights had severed from the plug, and the hull had a three foot long split in the fiberglass.

Alan is 49. He's a fisherman and does computer repair.

They don't know if it was a bigfoot, and did not see what shook the boat so violently.

The incident is relevant to the BFRO's database of sightings because there are other incidents from this same area, and there are not too many other logical explanations for what happened to these people.


About BFRO Investigator Cindy Dosen:

  •  Diploma in Animal Sciences. Working toward Veterinary License
  •  Ex-Breeder of Rhodesian Ridgebacks (Dogs)
  •  Work in the Marine Transportation Industry
     (BC Ferries - Supervisor Ship Steward)

Attended/ Organized the following:

  •  2007 BC Van.Island Co-Org.
  •  2008 WA Cascades
  •  2008 WA Oly.Pen.
  •  2008 BC Interior
  •  2008 BC Sunshine Coast
  •  2008 BC Van.Island Co-Org.
  •  2009 BC Sunshine Coast Org.
  •  2009 WA Cascades
  •  2009 BC Van.Island South Org.
  •  2009 WA Oly.Pen.
  •  2009 Yakima - Gimlin Round-up
2010 BC Van.Isle South Alumni Exped.( Org.)
2010 WA Oly Pen. Alumni Exped. (Attended)
2010 BC Interior Alunmi Exped. ( Attended)
2011 BC Van.Isle.South Exped. (Org.)
2011 WA Oly Pen. Exped.( Attended)
2011 TX "All-female" Exped. (Attended)
2012 BC Sunshine CoastExped. ( Org.)
2012 BC Van.Isle.South Exped.(Org.)
2013 BC Van.Ise South Exped. (Org.)
2014 BC Van.Isle South 1 & 2 Exped.s (org.)