Creepy Mysteries: Ape Canyon Attack

It seems like every region of the United States has a cryptozoological creature that calls it home taunting witnesses who are not quick or skilled enough with a camera. In the Northwest the undisputed king of the cryptids is the Sasquatch. Since Pre-Colonial times people have seen hairy, large ape-like humanoids have been reported in this area. Despite eyewitness accounts, photos, videos, and footprint casts the actual existence of the Bigfoot has never been proven. In 1924 a group of experienced prospectors near Mount Saint Helens would experience a terrifying event that convinced them that this creature is very real.

Eight miles from Spirit Lake a quintet of gold seekers: Fred Beck, Gabe Lefever, John Peterson, Marion Smith and his son Roy Smith set up camp to begin a search for riches. Towards the end of their planned time at Mt. St. Helen they had found success but, Beck complained of a severe toothache. This led the group to decide that they would hunker down in their work cabin until he felt capable of making the trek home. On their journey to this cabin they stumbled across the first piece of evidence that they were not alone in this vast forest. In the muddy ground was a large footprint that they initially thought belonged to a bear but upon closer examination they discovered it bore more resemblance to a human print but much larger at 19 inches long. This was not a print they were not unfamiliar with as weeks prior one of them had seen an identical footprint just before they heard a strange whistling noise coming from the forest.

As unsettling as the footprint it would be nightfall when the true fury of the mysterious creature in this region would be unleashed. Needing water that night Fred and Gabe ventured out to a nearby spring along the way they finally saw the large bipedal creature who theoretically left the print. They fired off at the creature who quickly dashed back into the forest and disappeared from view. This naturally provokes the Sasquatch’s aggression forcing them to retreat back to the cabin. As night goes on and things begin to settle something charges hard into their cabin knocking planks loose and waking them. According to their testimony they see three creatures who hurling massive rocks at them. They arm themselves as the cryptids continued their attack. At one point they even went quiet to lull the five men into a false sense of security before ramping things up again even to the point of one of their arms breaking through the wooden walls.

Emerging from the forest the five of them swore they would never speak of their experience again. This oath went out the window shortly thereafter when at a bar. The story spread among the community and even attracted the attention a various media outlets. The secret the five men vowed to take to their graves was now out it the open making them the center of a wild tale.

Years later Fred Beck wrote a book about their terrifying experience and theorized that the “mountain devils” were perhaps from another dimension. In recent time theories of interdimensional travel have been thrown around concerning the Sasquatch phenomenon as an explanation for how they seemingly vanish into the wilderness and remain blurry in most photos and videos. Perhaps Beck was a man ahead of his times in terms of cryptozoology. Regardless of whether this is a hidden creature or something more metaphysical, story remains that these five experienced explorers of the wilderness supposedly spent a night under siege from the elusive large-footed creature. Skeptics have noted that the area now know as Ape Canyon is near a camp for young people and perhaps it was rowdy youths who threw rocks and terrorized them all night. However, one would assume these men who were no strangers to this forest could tell the difference between massive ape-like humanoids and mischievous kids. The legacy of battle with Sasquatch that Beck, Lefever, Peterson, and the Smiths had lasts to this day. The area around Mt. St. Helen where this took place is now known officially known as Ape Canyon. For decades conspiracy theorists have spread rumors of Sasquatch corpses being recovered by the military when Mt. St Helens erupted in 1980.