SOOKE -- The birds are singing from the branches, the sunlight is defusing through the leaves, and I am walking through the woods after receiving an email about a Sasquatch sighting in Sooke.
Fifteen-feet tall — Rachel, a viewer, wrote — possibly a unique story.
Before trekking through the trees, I started typing on a few keys in search windows on social media and found Christina.
“I absolutely love Bigfoot,” she smiles while walking to show me something in her wooded yard. “I think he is a wonderful, mystical creature.”
Along with a Sasquatch sign posted by her door, Christina has a pair of Bigfoot bumper-stickers on her vehicle and a Sasquatch statue that’s carrying garden gnomes.
But nothing in her collection compares to the 12-foot tall ‘creature’ standing next to a tree in her yard. He’s an impressive construction, with ‘fur’ created from bark and moss.
You can hear my surprise on the video. “Whoa!” I say.
“That’s Sam Sasquatch!” Christina introduces us with a smile, before adding he’s a low-maintenance pet.
“He doesn’t eat very much,” she says. “He keeps to himself. He’s very quiet.”
After thanking Christina and Sam for their time, I confirm a couple of facts — some of the details that were shared in the original email.
I quickly realize this is not the Bigfoot I was told about.
“There are other Sasquatches in East Sooke,” Christina says matter-of-factly.
So, the search continues. It leads me to the artist who made most of the Sasquatches in Sooke, Paul Lewis.
“I’ve always been fascinated by them,” Paul says. “I think they’re real.”
Paul says he became a Bigfoot believer the day that he — and a group of friends — setup camp in a forest, just past a large boulder.
“The strongest guy that was with us couldn’t even pick it up,” Paul explains.
Later they heard growling, he says, so they started preparing for a bear — but that boulder arrived instead.
“This thing came hurling through the air, hit a tree, and came rolling towards us. We’re like, ‘What the hell just threw that?’” Paul says. “There’s nothing else that could explain it. That has to be a Sasquatch!”
When I tell Paul about the Sasquatch sighting that started this search, he tells me about building Curious George, a Bigfoot statue. He constructed him for a man named Blair. Blair is now building the newest bigfoot that was mentioned in the email.
“That’s the big boy!” Blair says about the creature that will stand 15-feet by the time he’s finished. “I’m calling him Kong!”
Blair says he’s planning to build a Bigfoot family — a mate for Kong followed by a baby.
“I like the mysterious and unknown,” Blair explains.
But there is one thing these humans who live with the creatures do know, and it’s that Bigfoot can teach a large lesson.
“[They show us how to] share the world with others,” Blair says. “[And] it’s not just us [out there].”
“Especially during a time like this, things are difficult,” Christina suggests. “Let’s smile about the things that we can.”