by C. P. Lyons -- Pages: 28, 29, 30

Hairy Giants
Laidlaw, British Columbia is a small station on the Canadian National Railroad. Close to it is an Indian Reserve. There are many such small reserves along the Fraser River, but this one had the doubtful honor not long ago of playing unwilling host to a fearsome hairy giant.

The oral history of the Indians has it that a mysterious race of giants, known as the sasquatch, live in the high mountains around Harrison Lake. Over the years, various Indians have reported brief encounters with these individuals. Such stories are not easily discounted, for the Indians have a remarkable memory for detail and find little purpose in distorting the facts as they know them.

Various people in close contact with the Indians have no doubts that, at least, the remnants of such a race of giants do exist in the hidden vastness of the Coastal Mountains. One or two expeditions have even attempted to investigate, but were forced back by extremely rough and hostile terrain.

The following instances are only two of the many stories told by the Indians. An Indian woman living near Laidlaw related them in all seriousness.

“Over a hundred years ago (roughly 1850) when the Indians were berry picking, one woman who had strayed from the others was suddenly confronted by a giant. Too paralyzed with fear to scream or run, she was quickly carried up the steep mountain side. After a long climb, during which time she remained in a semi-coma and so did not note direction or length of time, she was carried through a rough door into a large rock cave.”

”Two other Indian women were crouched in the cave and, when left alone with the new arrival, told her they had been captured in a similar manner years ago. They had been brought as wives for the giants and had since born children.”

“The men [giants] would disappear for months at a time and then return with food. For the new woman they brought flour and smoked fish that they knew she was accustomed to eating. (The fact that there was flour dates the story as taking place after the arrival of the Hudson’s Bay Traders in 1827-1840).”

”Although the woman had been a captive for over a year and had born a child, she was determined to escape. The other two women told her they would help and when the hairy giants left on one of their seasonal hunting trips, she was told to prepare all the food she could. She made bread, or **bannock, suggesting that these giant people or the Indian women, at least used fire and with a heavy pack of food set out across the mountains.”

** Bannock traditionally was a large, round cake like bread that required baking. It was usually made from barley, wheat or oatmeal, often combined with elk or moose lard, varying according to region.

”After almost unendurable hardships she became exhausted and was carried and helped along by the other two women who possessed the giants’ strength in some measure. She was left in a stupor near where she had originally disappeared.”

“The villagers saw her but she suddenly became afraid of them and fled. She was pursued and carried to her father’s house where she fainted and remained under a spell. (Perhaps nervous collapse from the birth and year long ordeal) The Indians believed that the giants held some mental power over her but with careful nursing she eventually recovered.”

“The second episode is still fresh in many of the Indians’ memories.”

”Several years ago, in the vicinity of Laidlaw, a hairy giant entered a house and caused a woman and her two children to flee in terror. Later, footprints approximately twenty inches long were found clearly imprinted in the mud along the route the woman had taken. Although she was not captured, she has since refused to live in the house.”

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