14 Unusual and Uncanny - Slumach

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lowed, staying off to one side at a distance of about 200yards away. The Sasquatch did not make any attemptto hide or conceal itself and continued to follow thehiker before suddenly wandering off in another directionduring the mid afternoon. The informant said hewatched the Sasquatch through binoculars until it wasjust a small speck in the distance. He lost sight of thecreature shortly after it began climbing a near verticalrock face. He believes that the Sasquatch may have entereda cave that is concealed on the side of the jaggedrock face.Although this was the first time he had ever seen aSasquatch, he is convinced that they are not harmfulunless they are provoked or believe they are beingthreatened. He used the fire incident as an example tosupport this belief.He is convinced that the Sasquatchactually live in the subterranean caves and cavernscommon to the area. And is further convinced that thereason Sasquatch remains or corpses have not beenlocated or identified is because the living creatures takethe bodies of the dead to tombs somewhere within thesame natural underground chambers in which theylive. Although he would not elaborate on either of theseopinions, he did indicate he was doing his own independentresearch on the Sasquatch and would publiclyrelease his findings when his project was completed.According to the native elder who assisted me withmuch of the native aspect of the Pitt Lake legend,Sasquatch will not harm anyone unless a person looksdirectly into their eyes. Should anyone look directlyinto the eyes of a Sasquatch when it is closer than thelength of a man, it will steal that person’s soul and theywill most likely die.Traditional Stolo belief is that the Sasquatch is oneof several supernatural creatures living in the naturalworld. The natives call these strange and unnaturalcreatures Slalakums. Slalakums are physical creaturesand are completely separate and different than spiritualbeings. Traditional belief is that the sight of one ofthese powerful supernatural creatures causes seriousillness, soul sickness, soul-loss, unconsciousness andsometimes death.The Old Native WomanI first heard this story when I worked at the loggingcamp at the head of Pitt Lake. Originally I dismissed itas being totally fictitious and just too bizarre to publiclyrepeat. However, while studying native history andlearning about traditional native beliefs in Slalakums,the story slowly began to transform from bizarre andridiculous into the realm of the supernatural.The incident took place a few miles north of the loggingcamp at Alvin in the early 1970s. One of the loggersworking at Pitt Lake supplemented his income with asmall trap line. The trap line was located on the east sideof the Pitt River in a little side valley between CorboldCreek and Shale Creek.According to the story continually being retold in thelogging camp, the logger was out checking his trapswhen he noticed the most beautiful white fox he hadever seen watching him. Wanting to add the valuable foxpelt to his collection, he followed the fox for a coupleof hours. The cunning fox showed itself frequently butalways remained just out of rifle range.The logger, loosing sight of the fox followed it’s tracksaround a sharp bend into a narrow canyon. Just afterentering the canyon he looked up and saw an old nativewoman about 20 yards in front of him. She was standingby a camp fire, outside the entrance of a large cave. Shedid not seem to be startled at his appearance and continuedstirring the contents of a huge cauldron hangingover the fire. The fox was sitting beside her. The cave reportedlyhad some kind of unusual incandescent swirlinglight shining inside it. The old women beckoned thelogger to come closer but made no effort to move awayfrom the fire.The logger after almost having a heart attack, hightailed it back to camp as fast as his legs would go. Whenhe arrived back at Alvin he immediately quit his job,packed up his possessions and went back to MapleRidge on the next boat. Within a few weeks of the incidenthe had sold his home in Maple Ridge and moved tothe interior of British Columbia.People who claimed to have known the logger say thathe was a highly skilled woodsman and was not a personwho would scare easily. They firmly believe that hesaw something that thoroughly terrified him. No onebelieved that he would ever concoct a story like this.Apparently it took several years before this fellow wouldeven come back to the Maple Ridge to visit his friendsand relatives.There is no explanation to this story with the exceptionof comparing the old native women the logger reportedlyencountered to the native Slalakum known as thecannibal woman.Copyright © 2002 Robert W. Nicholson
Traditional Stolo native legend says that the cannibalwoman had always lived in a rancid smelling cave aboveYale. When her cave was destroyed during the constructionof the Canadian Pacific Railway she moved to anunknown location, far away in the mountains. The cannibalwoman stole children and took them back to herhome to eat. To the best of my knowledge, traditionalbelief does not acknowledge the cannibalization ofadults.It is also interesting to note that the side valley wherethis encounter allegedly took place may also be withinan area that has traditional cultural significance to thePort Douglas natives. The traditional beliefs of the Lillooetnatives of which the Port Douglas are associated isalso worthy of consideration in this story.According to the Lillooet’s traditional stories, there isa very ancient and evil women who lives at Devils Lake.Devils lake is located south of Lillooet and north ofthe Stein River valley. The natives say that this ancientwoman has very long hair and often floats around DevilsLake on a log chanting songs that they do not understand.It was common practice for natives who passedby the lake, to blacken any exposed skin with ash so thatthe evil women would not see them.This legend continues on to say that any man or beastentering the waters of Devils Lake simply disappears.Although Devils Lake is considered by the Lillooet’s tobe the home of this ancient evil woman, she is also saidto wander the land, in search of souls.WolvesIn my introduction I mentioned that several loggers atPitt Lake had reported seeing a wolf that was head andshoulders above the stumps of a freshly felled cut block.This wolf was seen by almost everyone working in thelanding at the time.Without exception, everyone who saw this wolf confirmedits unusual size. Wolves of this size have beenseen by numerous people, throughout the search area,over the years. Most of these sighting have escalatedinto wild and entertaining stories that include everythingfrom werewolves to the transformation of Slumach’sghost.Stu Brown is among the people who have reportedseeing extremely large wolves in the region. He toldme that although he was familiar with wild animals hecould not readily confirm the identity of the particularspecies of wolf he saw. He suggested, based on its size,that it may possibly be a member of a species thought tohave become extinct in the area during the latter half ofthe last century.This opinion should not be readily dismissed consideringthe fact that wolf populations were virtually destroyedin south-western British Columbia and WashingtonState through over hunting by the first half ofthe 20th century. Wolves, classified as Olympic wolves,are being reintroduced to the Olympic Peninsula ofWashington State.Unnerving SoundsUnless someone has a recording of the sounds that canbe analyzed it is not practical to speculate as to whoheard what, where. Nature itself can be deceiving andin that deception may lay rational explanations to someinteresting vocal stories.WaterDuring the construction of the Golden Creek loggingspur road at Pitt Lake unnerving sounds were heard byeveryone on the road crew. The sounds made me immediatelythink about the stories of Slumach’s ghost.What I heard definitely sounded like someone moaningin agony. The road crew was accounted for and therewas no one else working in the area at the time. Thesounds were intermittent and seemed to come fromdifferent locations in a confined area. No one coulddetermine an isolated source. Both my helper and I dida quick search of the immediate area but did not findanything.Shortly after I began drilling to widen a corner of aswitch-back, water came gushing out of the drill holes.The escaping water had definitely been under pressure.The sound produced as the water escaped can best bedescribed as a combination high pitched moan and asteam valve releasing. The sounds that were heard wasactually air trapped in the underground stream thatwas being forced to the surface through the tiny cracksand seams in the rock. The pressure would build andthen release causing the intermittent moaning sounds.The pressure was so great that the water sprayed out ina high arch across to the other side of the road. It tookseveral minutes before the pressure subsided and thewater flow was reduced to a steady stream.Underground miners say that eerie sounds made bywater pressure deep beneath the surface of the earth arenot uncommon. Several underground miners who havehear similar sounds say that they often joke about min-Copyright © 2002 Robert W. Nicholson
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14 Unusual and Uncanny - Slumach

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