Ontario Sasquatch sighting delights and disturbs

GRASSY NARROWS, ONT. -- Maybe he just wanted to help, but two women on their way to pick blueberries in Northern Ontario say all he did was scare the living daylights out of them.

Helen Pahpasay and her mother were driving to a spot about 25 kilometres north of Grassy Narrows last week when they spotted a tall, black creature roughly 15 metres ahead.

Ms. Pahpasay, from the Ontario First Nation, said she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her until her mother confirmed she was seeing the same thing.

"It looked about eight feet tall and it was upright," Ms. Pahpasay said. "We were scared ... I had no idea what it was. It wasn't a bear or a moose. It was upright and walking."

They're still not sure what to do with it, but a family living on the Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario has a plaster cast of a "huge" footprint from what they think is a sasquatch-like creature.

"It's got six toes and a giant heel," said 21-year-old Judy Fobister, whose father went out and took the imprint.

"He brought it home and he showed us," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I was shocked that there is actually something out there."

The footprint measures about 38 centimetres long by about 15 centimetres wide and nicely fills a large pizza box, which is where the plaster cast is now safely stowed.

"The way toes are, it looks kind of weird," Fobister said Tuesday. "They don't look normal. They're huge. The big toe is huge. If you put three of your middle fingers together, that's how wide and how long the big toe is."

Sasquatch is back in the news. The big fellow’s been avoiding the spotlight for a while, but this week I’ve seen a few stories suggesting he is once again leaving the mountains in search of sunny roadside destinations. One story about possible yeti hair is in the Beacon’s News Buffet today and a couple of days ago the Missoulian ran an article about a possible sighting near Alberton. And apparently he has been competing for prime berry-picking areas in Ontario. It’s good to see him getting out again.