Mention Bigfoot and it’s just a matter of time before you hear about someone who claims to have seen the tall, hairy beast. Heck, I know several people — folks I consider sane and reasonable — who will swear they spotted him just miles from my house.
Eatonville Sasquatch Central
According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization there are more Sasquatch sightings in Washington than any other state, and more sightings in Pierce County than any other county. So that would put Eatonville in Sasquatch Central.
Although we don’t talk much about our Sasquatch sightings, he’s definitely become part of our culture.
1971: Eatonville created a float for the Daffodil parade, complete with a Sasquatch. The float won a best humor award.
1972. A camera crew from Channel 5 came out and interviewed young men about a Sasquatch sighting.
1972. The Dispatch featured a cover story (extremely tongue and cheek) about Game Warden George Smallwood’s error in not following up the Sasquatch lead involving a calf killing.
1975. The bar on Mashell Ave. changed its name to Bigfoot Tavern.
1981: Four kids spotted Bigfoot near Alder Lake. A witness said, “We . . . noticed rustling sounds in the bushes directly across the creek from us, maybe 40-50 feet away. As we kept walking and trying to see what was making the sounds, we realized whatever it was, was keeping pace with us across the creek.
“Then we noticed a face peering through an opening in the bushes. It was mostly covered in reddish-brown shaggy hair. The eyes were a golden brown color. We kept walking another 100 yards or so, with the sasquatch peeking through the bushes maybe two more times. We ran back to camp, fast. We told our parents, who took us pretty seriously. I remember reading about other sightings in the area that same weekend when we got home from camping. (www.bfro.net)
May 10, 2010: Three hikers surprised a Bigfoot near the Eatonville cutoff road. One of the witnesses said, “I and my friends were hiking at the Eatonville waterfalls when we smelt a wet dog musky sweet smell. We figured it was elk or a bear. When we turned the corner by the middle fall there was a huge black creature crouching over like a human drinking from the river. My buddy gave a surprised yelp and it looked up stared at us for a minute then moved lightning quick into the trees. It didn’t seem scared but more annoyed. (www.bfro.net)
June 2011: There are plans to shoot a music video in near Eatonville. The subject? Bigfoot.
And the legend continues . . .
Click on Images to Enlarge.
Eatonville To Rainier 
9 responses to “Sasquatch Sightings”
Do any of u think sasquatch
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IS SASquatch really?
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Visiting Ashford soon looking for something sqatchy like wood carvings or statues, anything really. Would appreciate feed back. Thank yoi.
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I have a 10 foot carving at my home — Eatonville. But let me check. 🙂
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I have taken many pictures of bigfoot carvings throughout Western Wa. and a couple in Oregon. Would love to see yours if possible. Will be driving through Eatonville Presidents weekend.
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That’s the weekend of the 16th/17th, right? That should work. If you’d like to contact me direction (diane@spilledinkstudio.com) we can firm up the details. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can find any other Bigfeet around. 🙂
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When I was a child I used to go to church camp at different camps through Public Welfare Assistance. We didn’t have much money and my mother would send me to camp every summer. The year was 1966 and the location was A camp now called Camp Arnold at Timberlake, belonging to the Salvation Army, about 5 miles WNW of Eatonville Washington. This was a brand new camp and it was the opening summer for the camp.
The camp had Boys Town and Girls Town. There was a lake that had a dock with a slide that spiraled. The dock floated out a few yards form the shore. All the cabins were “A” frames with a loft for the councilors. Between the boys’ cabins and the girls’ cabins was the dinning hall.
I had a lot of fun that summer swimming, shooting guns and bow and arrows. The cabins were set within the fir trees and we had about eight boys per cabin. I think there were about fifty to seventy kids in camp. I was only about ten years old.
It was about the third day of camp when everything changed. We had retired for the night and everyone was in bed. I was awoken by loud noises. The counselor told us all to stay in our beds. I remember the boy who slept in the top bunk above me – I called him Silver Tooth for his front tooth was silver – looked out the window and said he saw several large hairy men around the water tower and the cabins and they were ten feet tall. I was scared so I hid under my covers and wished it would stop. The counselor was upset and said for us all to stay in our bed and to stay away from the door and windows.
After what seemed to be hours the ruckus stopped and we went to sleep. The next morning when we went outside. Just in front of our cabin was a 30 to 40 foot fir tree tipped over and the root ball was up in the air with a hole in the ground about eight feet. There were human like foot prints everywhere. There must of been several of them and of different sizes. I saw hundreds of foot prints everywhere. They were from eight inches to maybe fourteen inches in length and depressed into the ground about a quarter of an inch. You could see the toes – think four or five – I was pretty young and don’t remember.
They took us for a walk that day around the perimeter of the camp. I remember them telling us that the girls played a joke on us and that we were going to play a joke on them tonight. One counselors said you should see the dogs here they are five feet tall. As we walked, we came to the water tower where silver tooth saw the ten foot men, and there were large foot prints all around the water tower. When we got to the lake something had pulled a bunch of algae or sea weed out and it was everywhere.
That night we played a scary record (didn’t sound anything like the night before) and the counselor said we really got back at those girls.
When we woke up the next morning they told us we were going home early and we loaded the bus to come home two or three day early.
Back in those days I never heard of Bigfoot. Later in my life the movie Bigfoot came out and I went to see the movie. When the Bigfoot came into the camp it brought me back to the night in camp and the noises I heard that night.
As an adult I often think about that night and wonder how I could get a hold of someone else who was at Camp Timberlake that summer night. I know that all the adults must have seen them and even got some photos. My older sister said that she went to that camp on Mt. Rainer and at the gate it has a sign that says the only known sighting of Bigfoot.
If you know of this sighting please, tell me how I can find more about it and maybe even visit the camp or get in touch with others that were there that night.
Thank you
Years later my oldest son wanted to go to Alaska to be crab fisherman on a boat. Me and my friend John drove him up there and dropped him at the boat in Seattle. On the way home we went and found the camp. They had built new building, but all the old A frames were still there just as I remembered them. We looked for a ranger or camp guard but didn’t find anyone. I often still think of that day and have told friends, but they just laugh. I believe Bigfoot exist and no longer wish to see or find him.
Thank you for listening
John
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This is a GREAT story. I’m going to check this out. I know folks that work there, including my nieces this summer. Thanks for sharing.
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thank you, please let me know what you fined out
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