Are these creatures considered dangerous?
By Michael Killen

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While any large wild animal, especially one of the alleged size and strength of a Sasquatch has the potential to be dangerous, these creatures are considered by most experts to be generally harmless to humans, unless they are provoked. There have only been a handful of incidents where a Sasquatch was alleged to have become very aggressive towards a human, and these attacks probably happened after the creature was provoked in some way. Most of the time if a Sasquatch feels threatened or uncomfortable because a person is too close by, it will warn that person to leave the area by way of a territorial display.

These displays are common among the great apes and they may include a number of different huffs, grunts, snorts or other aggressive sounding vocalizations. They may also include “chest thumping”, where the Sasquatch beats its own chest like a Gorilla does. The display might even involve a “bluff charge”, where the Sasquatch will run directly at you but will suddenly stop and retreat or veer off and run away before making contact with you. The creature may also violently shake nearby trees or throw sticks, rocks or pine cones in your general direction. All of these actions or territorial displays are an effort to intimidate you into leaving the area, most are very successful. Some attacks have happened simply because people have ignored these warning signs and remained in an area too long unknowingly provoking an aggressive reaction by the creature. Though there have been a few cases where a Sasquatch might have indirectly caused a person to become slightly injured, being hit by a rock or stick thrown by the creature, there have only been two documented incidents of extremely aggressive Sasquatch attacks against humans. There has only been one documented incident where a person was allegedly killed by a Sasquatch, but even this incident is just an assumption as the actual attack was not witnessed by anyone.

The first of these two very rare but extremely aggressive attacks is known as The Ape Canyon incident. It took place in July, 1924 in Washington State near Mount St. Helens and is one extreme exception to the rule about these creatures being considered harmless. In this famous encounter, five gold prospectors were attacked by multiple creatures at the same time during a nightlong attack. The creatures, known as “Mountain Devils” back then, surrounded the log cabin as the prospectors slept and began their nightlong attack. Rocks and other debris rained down on the cabin thrown by the creatures from above. Some of the creatures tried to break down the door while others climbed onto the roof in an effort to find a way to get inside the cabin but were forced back by gunfire from the five men. Eventually at dawn, as it began to get light outside, the creatures broke off their attack and left the area. The men were scared for their lives and the first chance they got they immediately left the area, leaving behind most of their prospecting equipment.

The second of these very rare but extremely aggressive attacks is known as the Bauman Story and comes from a book written by former President and “Rough Rider” Teddy Roosevelt. This is the only known documented case of a fatality directly caused by a Sasquatch attacking a human. In this account a man named Bauman, a “mountain man” or hunter and trapper, was trapping with a partner in an area along the Idaho/Montana border. On the first night the men were camped in the area they were visited by a Sasquatch. A noise woke Bauman during the night, he awoke to find the creature in his campsite just a few feet away. Startled by the sight of the huge creature he fired his rifle at it but missed and it ran away into the forest. The next morning the two men left camp to check their traps and when they came back they found their camp virtually destroyed. The creature had returned, apparently angry at being shot at the night before, and had destroyed their camp. That night the Sasquatch returned again but this time it didn’t come into the camp but stayed close by on the hillside occasionally screaming at them or making other horrible sounding noises. The next day the men decided to pack up and leave the area but first they had to collect all of their traps. Bauman said he would go get the last of the traps while his friend went ahead to the camp and started packing up for them to leave. When Bauman returned to the campsite hours later he found his friend dead, his neck was broken and he had been bitten on the neck. He immediately left the area taking only his rifle with him so he could travel as fast as possible and kept moving all night until he was a long way from the area and felt safe enough to stop.

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