SASQ'ETS MASKS AND A DISPUTED PHOTO OF A BIGFOOT

This is not attempt to either  endorse or  disprove  a photograph of an alleged bigfoot. It is an attempt to provide more facts to the discussion. Let us start with the mask and a brief look at it's history.

Pictured above is a photograph of a mask that disappeared from the Sts'ailes First Nation possession in 1939. The mask was with the people who lived near Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia's Fraser Valley. It had been carved by Ambrose Point based on stories  "from the beginning of time" he had been told by the Native people.

On this reservation, the children attended the Chehalis Indian Day school where J.W. Burns  was a teacher. They say he became obsessed with the sasquatch stories and he began to write newspaper articles and papers about them. He spent a lot of time talking to the Native people and writing down their experiences. Burns is often credited with bringing the term "Sasquatch" into common use. [Despite the misspelling and mispronunciation].

At some point in 1939, Burns came into possession of the mask and left with it. The community elders felt he had stolen it.

Mask at 1938 gathering, event written

about by Burns for the 

newspaper.

Decades later, James Leon began his 16 year search for the missing and possibly stolen mask.  His search took him around the U.S. and even to England. He always returned empty handed.

While at a 2014 repatriation event for a different First Nations artifact at the Vancouver Museum, he struck up a conversation with the lady seated next to him. Leon asked her if she might know of the ape-like mask partially covered in bear fur that had gone missing so many years before.

"Her eyes lit up and she said, 'We were just looking at that mask the other day.' And they were gracious enough to go get it for me," said Leon.

He discovered that Burns had donated the mask to the Vancouver Museum. For some of the time, it had been on a travelling display. The museum decided to return the mask to the Sts'ailes First Nation.

Museum of Vancouver CEO Nancy Noble said the museums have a social and a cultural obligation to consider repatriating certain objects from their collections to the First Nations.

"For Aboriginal peoples, the return of an object with significant cultural or spiritual value can help to rebuild awareness, educate youth and strengthen ties to a culture that was often suppressed or taken away," Noble further stated.

Although the elders Leon had first talked to were now gone, he knew they would be pleased that the mask had been returned. His people consider a sasquatch good luck.

"There are certain things that happened to us when we see one. They call it gifts that come with seeing one, like I'd be a good speaker or a good hunter." If a sasquatch sees you, then there is a golden gift, which was not elaborated on.

Said Leon : "We do burning for the sasquatch. It's our belief that his primary role is to ensure that the land is being taken care of. Because every one of us, as Sts'ailes people, we carry an ancestral name, a rich name from the land."

And now the alleged bigfoot/sasquatch photo. It is highly controversial with some saying it's fake, some saying it is real, and others who remain on the fence.

Note the similarities. The hair or fur around the face, the mouth, the eyes. Even the nose is somewhat similar.

One of the criticisms of this photo is that it doesn't look like any sasquatch ever seen or described. The mask carved and made by Ambrose Point puts the lie to that statement. He based his mask on descriptions given to him by the Native Peoples. 

So, does the photo show a sasquatch that resembles the ones portrayed by the mask? Possible.

Is the photo a fake based on the mask? Possible.

However, if it is a fake based on this mask, when was the mask viewed by the alleged faker? 

Even if the alleged faker had viewed this mask, why would they choose this particular description of a sasquatch to base their fakery on? It is not a common description or reproduction of a sasquatch.

Is it just coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence. I am in agreement with Jethro Gibbs on that account. 

Anyhow, here is just another piece of puzzle thrown onto the table. Perhaps it might fit in to help solve at least one small section. Or not.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."