During the summer of 2005, residents of Teslin, Yukon, began reporting something unusual moving through the bush surrounding their community. Teslin is a small community located approximately 180 kilometres southeast of Whitehorse, surrounded by vast stretches of northern wilderness.
According to contemporary accounts, residents described hearing trees snapping and heavy movement coming from the forest, sometimes when there was little or no wind. Before long, people began reporting sightings of something much stranger.
One night, a group of nine people, including children, were reportedly inside a home when they saw a large, human-shaped figure covered in dark hair pass by a window.
Some of the witnesses went outside to investigate. They reportedly spotted the figure again near an abandoned vehicle and were able to get another look at whatever had been moving around the property.
Witnesses Chucka Choumant and Trent Smarch described an extraordinarily large creature. They estimated that it may have been approaching three metres, or roughly nine feet, tall. It was described as covered in dark hair and capable of moving surprisingly quickly.
The men reportedly attempted to follow the creature but were unable to keep up with it as it disappeared into the surrounding area.
Other residents also reported encounters with what may have been the same mysterious visitor. Melvin Harper and Tom Dickson described seeing a huge, black, hairy and muscular figure. Dickson reportedly said that its overall appearance reminded him of the familiar image of a Sasquatch.
Residents also spoke of unusual noises coming from the surrounding bush.
Then something was reportedly discovered that seemed as though it might provide physical evidence of the mysterious visitor.
A large footprint was found, along with coarse strands of hair believed to have possibly come from the creature. The hair was collected and eventually submitted for scientific testing.
For a time, the Teslin encounters appeared to have produced something exceptionally rare in the world of Sasquatch sightings: potential biological evidence that could actually be tested.
The results, however, were disappointing for anyone hoping the hair would prove the existence of an unknown primate.
Genetic testing reportedly determined that the hair belonged to an American bison.
That provided an ordinary explanation for the hair, although it did not necessarily explain what the witnesses believed they had seen outside the house. Skeptical examinations of Yukon Sasquatch reports have suggested that bears or other wildlife, combined with darkness, distance and mistaken estimates of size, could account for at least some encounters.
Interestingly, the 2005 incident wasn’t the only strange report to emerge from the Teslin area.
In June 2004, two men travelling along the Alaska Highway after 1:00 a.m. reportedly spotted a large figure beside the highway. At first, they believed it might be a person who needed assistance, so they turned their vehicle around to investigate.
When they returned, however, they reportedly saw a roughly seven-foot-tall, dark-haired figure with a hunched appearance.
The creature then crossed the highway.
According to the witnesses, it covered the road in only a few large strides before disappearing into the darkness.
Reports of Sasquatch-like creatures are not limited to Teslin. Sightings and unusual encounters have been reported around Whitehorse, Carmacks, Ross River and other areas of the Yukon, while stories involving mysterious wild or hairy beings also appear within some northern Indigenous traditions. Researchers interested in Sasquatch reports have spent decades collecting accounts from throughout the Yukon and northern British Columbia.
There is currently no scientifically verified evidence demonstrating that Sasquatch exists, and the Teslin hair sample certainly wasn’t the evidence enthusiasts had hoped it would be.
The hair had an explanation.
But the witnesses were still left with a much more intriguing question.
What exactly did nine people believe they saw outside that house in Teslin?
Sources: CBC News archival reporting, National Post, APTN News, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), Skeptical Inquirer, Boing Boing, and The Mount Washington Marmot.
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