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Mixing Traditions in Raincoast Sasquatch
by Christopher Roth, Ph. D.
Anthropologist, University of Chicago
 In
the new book,
Raincoast Sasquatch: Bigfoot, Sasquatch Evidence from Indian Lore by
J. Robert Alley (Seattle: Hancock House, 2003; ISBN 0-88839-508-6), the
author tackles Sasquatch accounts from some of the same peoples (the
Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Haisla) with whom I have worked during the last
eight years in northwestern British Columbia and southeast Alaska. This is a
good book, and I would recommend that Sasquatch investigators read this
volume. However, in an otherwise thorough and careful examination of
Northwest Coast lore, I am afraid Robert Alley has infused some material
into the overall Sasquatch story, when it does not belong there.
First, let me share a little background. Among the Tsimshian peoples, there
is "belief" in Sasquatch as real creatures. On this point, Alley and I
agree. The Tsimshian call Sasquatch ba'wis, which is also their word for
(familiar, Old World) ape or monkey -- species they did not know about until
European contact, of course. The word is probably borrowed from Haisla and
related languages to the south. There, among the Haisla and Kwakiutl and
others, ba'wis/bekwis has more cultural significance and there are rituals
associated with it and so on. The Tsimshian have the word but they use it
for a creature they sometimes see in the forests -- and wandering into
villages -- about whom they have no particular ceremonies, relationships, or
narratives and whom they do not regard as particularly supernatural. They
tend to regard Sasquatch, as semi-human and semi-intelligent.
Many Tsimshians routinely consider the possibility or likelihood of
supernatural or rarely seen entities such as ghosts, Sea Monsters, Lake
Monsters, Sasquatch, and a kind of supernatural "Land Otter" (river otter,
in standard English, smaller than sea otters, and amphibious) which can
kidnap people in the bush by disguising themselves as people you know. Land
Otters can also bewitch people alone in the bush or at sea and make them
crazy. The word for crazy, mi'watsm, means literally otterlike or be-ottered.
I mention Land Otters because some cryptozoologists looking for Native
beliefs connected to Sasquatch sometimes seize on Land Otters. But Land
Otters are not human-sized -- far from it -- and, although they are hairy,
there the similarity ends. In his recent book,
Raincoast Sasquatch, J. Robert Alley confuses Land Otters (kushtakaa)
and Sasquatch quite grievously and his book, I am afraid, will cause even
more confusion between these two traditions, for its readers and serious
Bigfoot researchers.
For the Tsimshian and Tlingit and related peoples, Sasquatch are distinct
from the belief in the supernatural powers of the familiar Land Otter
(a.k.a. river otter) (kushtakaa in Tlingit, 'watsx in Tsimshian), which is
believed to be capable of the previously mentioned supernatural kidnapping
of humans. Some kidnapped humans are reported to become, as a result of
their kidnap, Otter People themselves, but it is ambiguous in most
narratives whether they then shrink to otter size or become human-sized
otter-like people. The former seems more logical, though Alley exploits this
ambiguity to make a stronger case for a Land Otter-Sasquatch equation.
Those with a literary bent can look at
Raven Stole the Moon (NY: Pocket Books, 1999), a mystery-thriller
novel by Garth Stein, who is Tlingit. Though it takes certain liberties in
pursuing its storyline, the core Land Otter beliefs in the book are faithful
to actual Tlingit traditions. Again, it doesn't look at all like Sasquatch.
Sasquatch are not particularly elaborated in Tsimshian (and neighboring
nations') legend or ceremony, perhaps even less so than most other animals
in their territory. This distinction correlates with what ethnographers like
Louise Jilek-Aall and Wayne Suttles have said about Sasquatch in the Salish
area; that the stories about them are of the nature of reports and anecdotes
rather than artfully formed narratives like legends and myths.
Unfortunately,
Raincoast Sasquatch will cause confusion between the Sasquatch
reports and traditions, and the Kushtakaa (Land Otter) myths and
supernatural kidnapping tales.
Copyright © 2003 Christopher Roth
Exclusive for
The Cryptozoologist, September 2003
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