A Newfoundland bigfoot?

In 1980, a researcher named Michael Taft published an article entitled Sasquatch-Like Creatures in Newfoundland. He includes a rather remarkable story, taken from the Memorial University folklore and language archive, about a Sasquatch-like creature reported in Newfoundland in the 1930s.

The story involves a man who sold bootleg rum. The man started to carefully bury the bottles of rum up in the back garden, in different places, under the cover of darkness. No matter how hard they searched, the police could never find a thing.

One night, when it was nice and dark, he went up to the back garden as usual to get a bottle of rum. He took his shovel, paced off the right number of steps from the fencepost, and started to dig. He had just reached the first bottle of rum when he saw a very bright light coming towards him.

The light came closer, so bright that he could not look at it directly. As the light came closer to where the man was standing, it started to dim. When it got dull enough that he could look at it, the man saw the light was coming from the very bright eyes of what could only be described as a monster six-feet tall. It was jet black and covered all over with hair an inch to an inch and half long, and its eyes were like two big saucers.

The man stopped digging. The eyes grew dim once more and the monster backed away, further into the shadows. In haste, he started shovelling dirt back into the hole, and as he filled in the hole the monster disappeared.

The bootlegger took up his shovel, put it over his shoulder, and hurried home. The next day, when it was dark, he took his shovel and ventured up into the back garden once more.

He found the fencepost, measured off the right number of paces, and started to dig. Just like the night before, as soon as he started to dig, the bright light returned. As he dug, the hairy monster with the two great eyes drew closer. When he stopped digging, the eyes grew dim and the monster moved further away. Eventually, he had to fill in the hole and go back to bed.

Being a cautious man, the bootlegger decided to leave well enough alone. He had no desire to enrage a monster six-feet high, covered with black fur and with eyes that shone like headlights. So, from that point on he gave up the bootleg rum business, and put his energies into more legal activities.

Local folklore maintained that the monster was guarding a great treasure. The story went that the treasure had been hidden by pirates and they had left the monster behind to act as its protector until such a time they could return. But the pirates never came back.

Taft gives the location of the story as Battle Point but notes that he changed the original name of the community. If you think you know where the story might be from, please contact me either by e-mail, or by postal mail c/o The Telegram.

And if you do not mind six-foot monsters lurking in the darkness, covered in fur and with eyes as big as saucers, you are welcome to go and try and find the treasure (and some well-aged rum) for yourself. Just remember who told you the story if you find it.



Dale Jarvis can be reached

at info@hauntedhike.com