YEAR: 1983

SEASON: Summer

PROVINCE: British Columbia

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: On the Sunshine coast, near Gibsons

OBSERVED: My story begins in the summer of 1983 on the Sunshine Coast near Gibsons BC. I was a Resident Leader at a YMCA camp at Langdale, about 20 Km's north. My assistant (I have forgotten his name), myself and 9 boys aged 10 and 11 left for an overnight hike up to Tetrahydren Ridge. " Tet " Ridge had been abandoned by Mac-Blo logging a few years before and was awaiting re-forestation . Consequently the area had many large 5 - 10 Hectare clear cuts, which after leaving the logging road we began to hike through. During these traverses we, the assistant and I, began to get brief glimpses of a large, black figure disappearing into the thick brush, either ahead of us or just of to the side, left or right. It looked Approx. 8 - 10 feet tall, although it was almost always uphill from us. As it was quite a ways off in the distance we could never be sure if it was real or just our imagination playing tricks on us. ( 15 year old boys have large imaginations, especially growing up hearing stories of Big Foot etc. ) It wasn't until we began to see incredible large tracks and broken branches at the 8 or 9 foot level that we became worried. After at least 5 sightings during our afternoon hike we started to contemplate returning to camp. We soon realized that we had hiked farther then our turn around mark and would have to stay the night some where. We also became concerned that the management of the camp would not look favorable on us returning early with such a tall tale ... scaring the kids needlessly etc. So, we made camp almost at the summit of Tet Ridge , and would finish the ascent in the morning. Dinner and the sing song that followed were uneventful, the only tense moments came when the campers or us had to use the latrine we had constructed, away from the camp and the large bonfire. We, the assistant and I, watched the campers like hawks and, after the last Smore had been eaten, sent our charges to bed . We stayed up to clean, and stow the food properly in a tree. We banked the campfire and began to enter our tent when the first of many " roars " ( 5 - 10 ) echoed of the surrounding mountain sides. It was unlike anything I have heard before or since and the power behind them was disturbing. The sound seamed to be generated effortlessly. We had to reassure the boys many times and 'slept' by the camp fire, siting back to back, debating the risk to hiking down in the dark. Finally the sounds stopped and, although we thought we heard something in the bush, about 200m below us the rest of the longest night I have ever experienced (including those spent with my colicky daughter) finally came to an end . We broke camp after breakfast, and completed our trek. Although we looked for tracks and any other signs during our hike back to camp we did not see anything. We agreed not to tell anyone of this and began convincing the boys that they did not hear anything more than the howl of the wind, which most of them accepted dubiously .

I hope this helps and although I am glad to tell someone my story I would not wish to repeat this experience. I have since camped on the Sunshine Coast with my family and, as my wife can attest, do not sleep very well. I will never forget what I heard.

ALSO NOTICED: Its head was in proportion to the body but it didn’t have a neck.

Follow-up investigation report:

Report supplied by Kyle Mizokami

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