The 1977 Canadian Bus Driver Hoax

[admin]

Bigfootencounters.com wrote:
(Three Articles)

MISSION, British Columbia (AP) - A furry creature about seven feet tall lumbered across Highway 7 near this Fraser Valley community Sunday and made some believers in the legendary Sasquatch.

The sighting, 35 miles east of Vancouver, occurred as a Pacific Stage Lines bus driven by Pat Lindquist was westbound a mile east of Lake Erroch on the Harrison Hot Springs-to-Vancouver run.

The passengers and Lindquist saw ahead of the bus a glimpse of something they all described as a seven-foot tall, 300-pound beast with dark brown to black fur or hair and a light-colored face.

"At first we thought it was a prankster in a fur suit," said Lindquist, 28, a reserve Vancouver city police officer. "But people were shouting 'what is it, what is it', so I slammed on the brakes to have a look.

"To tell the truth, I thought it was someone trying to con us so I took off after it. I guess I thought I was going to pull off his hat and bawl him out. I don't know why I did it. I'm not sure I really intended to catch up with it."

Lindquist, who police here describe as "very nervous and pale" when they arrived on the scene, later described what happened when he gave pursuit.

"The first thing I noticed was the smell...a horrible smell like very rotten meat. The bush was thick and I was pushing the branches apart when I saw it about 20 or 25 feet away. I just couldn't believe it."

"At first I was mad. But then I went to awe and then to fright and I began to shake. I couldn't stop shaking and then I got out of there." The smell has been a common element in the reports from numerous people who claim to have been close to the Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot.

Lindquist, who is 6-foot-2, said the thing before him was no more than seven feet tall, only "much heavier than I am." "It had flat, flared nostrils like a monkey and large, wide eyes. It didn't make any sound except heavy breathing. It had a
broad chest and it was heavy up and down."

"It could have taken two steps and grabbed me, but it didn't do anything. It didn't growl. It didn't show its teeth. It just looked at me." Lindquist said the hair on its face was a light brown and "it appeared to have the mange; the skin underneath looked kind of white."

© Oklahoma City Times; Monday, May 16, 1977
Credit: T. Adams, article courtesy Ron Schaffner's Creature Chronicles

- ---

Second Follow-up article

SASQUATCH HUNTER CAN'T BELIEVE MONSTER SIGHTING
IS JUST A HOAX

New Westminster (CP) - Radio Station CKNW broadcast reports Monday that a Sasquatch sighted 10 days ago near Erroch Lake in the Fraser Valley was a hoax perpetrated by three persons, but veteran Sasquatch hunter Rene Dahinden wants proof.

The radio station said three persons faked large footprints using plaster casts and one of them dressed up in a fur suit. Dahinden said in an interview he'd like to see the suit. "If they can produce the evidence that this was a hoax, I would like to see it. The hoax would be more important than a real Sasquatch sighting...it would teach us a lesson to smarten up."

Dahinden said he heard similar reports of a hoax involving the legendary ape-like forest creature. "It (the report) claimed the three persons involved would also fake sightings in Washington, Oregon and California." "CKNW doesn't know whether or not it was a hoax because it doesn't have any evidence. Let them produce the fur suit and the material used to make the footprints."

Dahinden said he was in the Fraser Valley community of Mission when RCMP questioned Pacific Stage Lines bus driver Pat Lindquist who reported seeing the sasquatch a mile east of Lake Erroch on his run from Harrison Hot Springs to Vancouver.

"The questioning was very professional and I cannot see how Lindquist could have mistaken a man in a fur suit for the real thing." "Maybe my view was colored but if there was a hoax, let's see them re-enact the whole thing." Dahinden said Lindquist would have to be in a state of shock to make such a mistake.

© Victoria Times; Tuesday, May 24, 1977
Credit Source: Ron Schaffner's Creature Chronicles

- ---Third follow-up article:

'BIGFOOT' WAS JUST MAN IN MONKEY SUIT

VANCOUVER, Canada (AP) - A bus driver and several passengers who reported seeing the legendary man-beast Sasquatch were tricked by four practical jokers using a $200 monkey suit and shoulder pads, according to the hoaxsters.

"It was a good practical joke, we thought it might fool a few people," said Ken Ticehurst, the 5-foot-11, 165-pound man who dressed up in the gorilla costume. "I was running like O.J. Simpson."

The pranksters said the hoax took three weeks to prepare, including buying the suit from a costume shop, manufacturing a foot to make a footprint, checking bus schedules so enough people would see it "to make it more believable" and planting a phony witness on the bus to make the first move and get passengers
excited.

The reported sighting occurred on May 15 as Pat Lindquist was driving a Pacific Stage Lines bus westbound on the Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia-to-Vancouver run May 15 when he and several passengers saw what they thought was a Sasquatch lumber across Highway 7 about 35 miles east of Vancouver.

Lindquist stopped the bus and pursued the creature into the bush. "At first we thought it was a prankster in a fur suit," said Lindquist, a 28-year-old Vancouver city policeman, at the time of the incident.

"It had flat, flared nostrils like a monkey and large white eyes. It didn't make any sound except heavy breathing." Ticehurst, 24, of Port Coquitlam, revealed the scam Thursday in an interview on a radio talk show along with Don Ticehurst, 26, and Rene Quesnel, 19 of Port Moody. The three said they planned the stunt with Gordon Jacobi, 26.

They said they based their pattern for a resin-cast Sasquatch foot on a book about the creature by Don Hunter and Rene Dahinden.

Don Ticehurst, one of six passengers on the early morning bus, said he "had to act pretty excited. Some people were still asleep." Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Bob Eyford, who did some independent investigation, said he's convinced the pranksters are telling the truth.

For years, stories have persisted that the gorilla-sized Sasquatch, North America's version of the Abominable Snowman, lives in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.

From time to time sightings are reported and there is at least one photograph of an alleged Sasquatch, although it looks more like a blurry picture of a gorilla. Several books and articles have been written about the beast.

© San Antonio, Texas; Evening News; Friday, May 27, 1977
Credit: Tom Adams

These articles sent August 26 2001 courtesy Ron Schaffner's Creature Chronicles