🦇Batsquatch🦇
Mothman’s cousin in the PNW?
In May of 1980 Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington state. Leaving casualties and significant upheaval environmentally and economically in its wake, it is regarded as one of the worst volcanic eruptions in the history of the United States.
Just three hours northeast of Mt. St. Helens, amidst wildflowers, the sweet smell of mud and earth, and acres of dense, ancient forest, towers yet another Washington volcano—Mt. Rainier. Though Mt. Rainier hasn’t erupted in nearly 500 years, the long reaching tendrils of Mt. St. Helens’ destruction may have inadvertently coaxed something much stranger than hot lava from within its depths.
The Sightings
On April 1994, around 9:30 pm, an 18-year-old Brian Canfield’s truck broke down just outside of Mt. Rainier in Washington state. Flustered, he hopped out of the truck, popped the hood, and checked the engine. No signs of anything out of the ordinary. The oil was good. The lights were still on, so the battery wasn't dead. It didn’t feel overheated. He blew on a couple things like a Nintendo game, tightened a couple knobs, picked out a few dried leaves, and slammed the hood shut. The wind picked up rather abruptly, so he headed back into the cab to plot his next move. At this point, Brian said the wind had gotten so intense, it started to rock his vehicle back and forth like a boat on choppy seas.
That’s when he saw something illuminated in his headlights. Two hypnotic yellow eyes with pupils like crescent moons calmly staring back at him. The beast stood about 9 feet tall, the rest of its face almost like that of a dog with prominent white fangs. It was covered in bright blue fur, had feet like a bird, and two sprawling, leathery bat wings.
They stared at one another, transfixed for less than a minute. The creature then flapped its wings and burst into the air, taking off toward the mountain on the horizon. Once it was completely out of view, Brian sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. The wind had also let up completely.
Dumbfounded, he picked up his keys and tried the engine again. It started right up, so he got out of dodge rather quickly. His parents were completely floored by the story and Brian’s honest recollection inspired them to gather their things and drive back to the area that same night to investigate, but no trace was found.
Despite this rather intense encounter with what many would consider a monster, Brian says he never once felt threatened by the creature. In his interview with reporter CR Roberts of Tacoma Washington News Tribune, Brian says his senses felt very heightened and he sort of “felt out of place”, almost like he was not meant to behold this creature. Maybe it was like some other universe had converged with his own. A brief thinning of the veil between our reality and one we may never know or understand.
After Canfield cleverly dubbed the creature Batsquatch, a few more locals came forward with accounts of their own. A local liquor store owner Butch Whittaker claims to have spotted Batsquatch while out flying his personal plane (quite a flex there, ol’ Butchy). He says the creature flew next to his plane for several minutes before course correcting and disappearing from view.
According to Lisa Godfrey’s American Monsters, in July 2011, a family submitted a story to a Texas publication called “The Gate to Strange Phenomena” with a story of a giant bat-like creature traipsing around their heavily wooded property in Tacoma, Washington. The description is a bit different from Canfield’s original sighting. They said the creature had light grey skin, giant bat wings, and omitted a piercing shriek as it flew away. They also reported several farm cats had disappeared from the property–similar to the story of Mothman making off with peoples’ dogs. So, was their sighting Batsquatch, too? Or another mystery entirely? Everyone’s always Appalachia this, Appalachia that, but it sounds like the Pacific Northwest could give us a run for our money. Or it could be that the world is a lot stranger than we think.
Possible Explanations
So now comes the bit where I pretend to know what I’m talking about.
The late great high strangeness writer Charles Fort posited in The Book of the Damned that there was a connection between volcanic activity and atmospheric phenomena. While I appreciate Charles Fort, I don’t regard him as a scientific authority. He was an inquisitive dude with interests similar to my own. He simply found it curious that weird things seemed to occur in proximity to volcanoes. In fact, in another famous case in 1947, a pilot named Kenneth Arnold spotted several UFOs over Mt. Rainier, so it does suggest that the unexplained is common in this area. Could be a coincidence. Could also be a pattern.
I also came across an article called "Magnetic Anomalies and the Paranormal" in the Journal of Scientific Exploration where a fella named John D. Ralphs notes a connection between geomagnetic fluctuations and paranormal experiences, so clearly Charles Fort wasn’t the last person to explore such a theory. Ralphs asserts it has more to do with “cosmic rays” than anything else, but, again, I am not smart enough to know what that means on a granular level. Do these “cosmic rays” induce hallucinations or psychic visions? Maybe! 🤷🏻♀️
As I live and breathe, I will never claim to have all the answers. I just draw pictures for a living. And I’m not trying to sound like some online crank just asking questions (though that’s exactly what I’m doing) but these theories feel like they could carry a little more weight than assuming a never-before-seen nine-foot tall mammal exists without any evidence. Are folks hallucinating because of something atmospheric or a geothermal anomaly lingering years after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens? Do these volcanoes emit something naturally that distorts reality beyond our current comprehension? There is no evidence to suggest Brian Canfield was not earnest. In fact, according to Lisa Godfrey in the book American Monsters, the journalist that published his story believed Brian Canfield appeared highly credible and detected no deception in his recounting of the incident. Brian was not known as a teller of tales, he was just a normal kid that claimed to see something that was very decisively not normal.
So, I ask you, dear reader, do you believe in Batsquatch? Because I sure as hell want to. Sounds like the kinda guy I’d like to have on my side. Hell, maybe one day when I’ve got the money and the time I’ll make the pilgrimage to Mt. Rainier and investigate it for myself. Picture it: me and Batsquatch, just chillin’, telepathically discussing the mysteries of the universe. Good times.
To hear me narrate this story and to watch me while I draw the witness accurate drawing above, check out the following video on my YouTube channel. Like and subscribe if you’re so inclined.
Sources/references:
The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths & Monsters by J.W. Ocker (book)
American Monsters by Linda S. Godfrey (book)
The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort (book)
“Batsquatch! A Brief History of a Local Cryptid” by Jess Ropers, The Pacific Sentinel (a student run paper out of Portland)
I can give you a little dusting of St. Helen's ash if you need even more inspiration. 🖤
I went hiking at Mt. St. Helens almost 2 years ago and was definitely keeping an eye out but I didn’t see any 😔. To Sara’s point about the ash, I’ve definitely seen little vials being sold here in Seattle as antiques and souvenirs. So fun.
P.S. You are killing it with your YouTube channel!