Post by thomassteenburg on May 27, 2013 23:35:19 GMT -5
The following interview is of an incident which occurred on Vancouver Island March 20, 2012. The main witnesses are mother and son. I will post the sons interview on another thread. The differences of opinion are very interesting.
Thomas Steenburg
B.C. FILE# 10184
LOCATION: Steep hill, Highway 19, just north of Sayward Junction, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
DATE: March 20, 2012
TIME: Proxy 10:35 p.m.
REPORT BY: Thomas Steenburg
Cliff Barackman received a report from a charming lady, concerning a possible Sasquatch encounter she and members of her family experienced 1 year previously. Cliff passed on his report to me in case I might like to contact her for further information. I did a phone interview with the lady on April 10 2013. Details follow.
Q. Would you state your full name please?
A. My full name is spelled, T, a, r, i, n, a. Do you want my middle name, you said full name?
Q. Yes. That will be fine.
A. My middle name is Evelyn, spelled, E, v, e, l, y, n. My last name is Rissanen, R, i, s, s, a, n, e, n.
Q. Your present mailing address?
A. 715, Nempkish Heights, Port Mc Neill.
Q. Phone number, I already know, (250) 956-4573?
A. Yes.
Q. What is your currant occupation?
A. I am actually a stay at home mom. I am also a hypnotist in training.
Q. Do you wish to remain anonymous?
A. No. I figure the more people who talk about it the better.
Q. Do you ware corrective lenses?
A. No.
Q. When this incident occurred, were you under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or anything else for that matter?
A. Nope. (Little chuckle)
Q. I have to ask that by the way.
A. Well I guess, yeah. (More laughter}
Q. What was your age at the time of the incident?
A. Last spring, I was 42.
Q. Were there other witnesses beside you?
A. My little girl was in the front seat beside me, but it’s a camero so she is sitting quite low, my son and his girlfriend were sitting in the back, my son did see something but he thought they were moose, or caribou, because they were so huge, but he just saw a flash of something big, and that’s what happened to me right.
Steenburg note: This is one of the most interesting things about this case starting to come to light. I can’t figure out why the son, {I am trying to arrange to interview him as well) saw something so different from his mother. According to Tarina, her son saw a number of figures, while she says she only saw one. Yet they or it was reported to have crossed the road in front of the car? More on this as this report continues.
Q. How old is your son?
A. He is 19.
Q. And his girlfriend?
A. She is 19 as well.
Q. Did she see anything?
A. She didn’t mention anything. I could ask her about it. But as of right now I have to say no.
Q. Where exactly did this happen?
A. I don’t really know the name of the highway, it could be highway 19? (She is correct) At the Sayward Junction when you are heading through from Cambell River, the next little junction is Sayward, then you go up this big grade, this big hill, and it was on this grade, near the top, where I saw this.
Q. Were you guys on your way home?
A. Actually at the time I resided in Cambell River. I was coming up to see my daughter, her boy friend, and my mother and father.
Q. You resided in Cambell River when this happened, and you live in Port McNeill now?
A. Yes.
Q. What date did this take place?
A. It was the kids spring break, the proper date I think it was March 20, 2012.
Q. Was it at night or day?
A. It was nighttime.
Q. Do you recall the time?
A. I would say. We left Cambell River rather late so I would say 9:30 at night maybe?
Steenburg note: In her written report to Cliff Barackman she stated 10:35 p.m.
Q. Describe the area in which it took place?
A. A steep grade on the highway, it was the right hand side, (passenger, eastside) there was a cliff face, basically like a rock cut, but on different parts of that there were trees growing, there was some growth, it wasn’t just a strait bluff up, that’s what made me wonder, you what the heck, but at the time it was such a stormy and nasty night, I was wondering to myself if they were trying to, and I say they because there was more than one, but I only saw one, but my son saw 4, he saw 4 things dash across the road, just, blink, blink, blink, all at once, {Laughs}, but my eyes rested on the one, beside the car, but anyways, I think they were trying to escape danger of some sort. There was a mud slide not long after that that put the road out of commission for a week.
Q. So they crossed the road in front of you?
A. Yes they did.
Q. All of them?
A. Yes. Like I said I only saw 1, but I am using my sons word that there were more than 1, because he did see figures on the right hand side of the road, and his exact words were, “What the hell was that”, When looked over to my left, I was stomping on the brakes, and I was looking right at this creature.
Q. You came to a complete stop?
A. No I didn’t, I just jammed on the brakes so I was decelerating real fast, so I had maybe 3 seconds, because it came out in front of me, not directly in front of me but maybe 10 feet or something, but you know when you are traveling you just go by a point really fast, but slowed right down because, but I was scared to stop, the look on it’s face was not very happy. (Laughs), cause I almost hit it, right.
Q. It was on the right hand side of the road?
A. It was on the right hand side of the road, and it jumped across to the left, and on the left hand side of that road there is an embankment which goes down into a gully, My kids have called that area Tree Top Village, because of the grade you see tree tops.
Steenburg note: I did clarify what she meant when she stated that it jumped. She was describing the fact the subject took only about two steps to cross in front of her car.
Q. The other figures, did they cross i9n front of you as well?
A. Yes, according to my son Devon.
Q. You didn’t see them?
A. I didn’t see the other ones, I only saw the 1.
Q. How do you explain them crossing in front of you and you not seeing them?
A. I didn’t see the other ones. Like I said My son said he saw 4, he saw 4 figures on the right hand side of the road, but like a flash, caught my eyes and I went from right to left, and that’s when I saw the 1 creature, but like my son said he saw more than 1, I didn’t see the other ones I only saw the 1.
Q. Ok, so you were looking at the first one maybe and didn’t see the others?
A. Right.
Q. But the others also crossed in front of the car?
A. According to my son, yes.
Q. What distance would you estimate you were from the subject when you saw it.
A. As I was coming up, umm, its quite hard to tell, I wasn’t going all that fast because it was a stormy night, going up a step grade with sharp corners, so I was probably going 50 kms an hour, and it’s really hard for me to judge, I would say, like how do you gage, I don’t know how far away it was on the right hand side of the road. It could have been 10 feet, it could have been 20 feet, but it was just a flash n the right that caught my eye, you know what I mean, you just catch something out of the corner of you’re eye, and then wooof! It crossed in front of the car and then when I was looking at this creature I would say it was only about 3 feet away from me, it was very close.
Steenburg note: At this point she was looking into its face outside the driver side window. It is possible this is the moment her son saw others cross in front of the slowed but still moving car. Speculation on my part but it would explain a few things.
Q. What color was it?
A. It was ah. The main thing I saw which stood out the most was its eyes. I think when my headlights flashed into its eyes they must have reflected for a moment or two because they looked, orange ish, and that’s when I noticed that orange ish, deep brown eyes, oh deep brown face, pardon me, but a fury outline, I could not see the color of the fur or hair, because it was dark, but I could see the outline of it. Huge shoulders, just enormous shoulders, I could not see where his arms lifted out from his body. I call it a he, it just felt like a he, I don’t know? I didn’t see boobs or anything, but this was a fast encounter right. I did not have a lot of time to gaze at it, I wanted to but I was scared, like I said, but yeah I could see the creatures face.
Q. What was you’re first impression?
A. My first impression was, “ OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD”. My daughter started to cry, I knew exactly what I saw, and I just started rattling that stuff out, my voice loud and shaky, then my little girl, see was 8 years old at the time, she started to cry, I was scaring her, then my son and I started talking about it and that’s when he had said he had seen 3 or 4 of them. He said, “They looked like they were moose”, I said there’s no moose here, he said then “caribou or something”, then I told him what I saw, he didn’t say another word, now coincidently as we continued down the road, we are still all stunned, thinking about this, and then there was a loud bang on the right hand side of the car? On the rear fender behind where my son was sitting, I thought, this is going to sound stupid, but I wondered if one of them had 1 of them jumped onto the back of the car and smashed the side of the car. (laugh), We were on a flat grade at that time, we were going on a strait flat stretch, so nothing could have come down the mountain side and hit the car, right?
Q. Was this right after the sighting or some further ways down the road?
A. Some time after the sighting, yeah.
Q. Did you notice any damage to the car later on?
A. There was a slight indentation, on the outside of the car. Wasn’t any hair or anything? It could have been a stick or dirt or something. I thought maybe there was more of them on the side of the road just up ahead and they threw something at the side of the car? Isn’t that fairly common with them?
Q. Did you all carry on traveling after the sighting?
A. Yes we did.
Q. You must have been at lest a few kilometers further up the road by the time the bump was heard?
A. Yes, exactly, I know, yeah. All this thing just makes me wonder you know, right. It was a Camero at the time right, It had like a glass hatch back, I’m sure we would have felt if something had jumped on the car you know. (Laugh) But I just can’t explain what that thump was?
Q. You still own the Camero?
A. Yes.
Q. What year is it?
A. 1981.
Q. Oh, cool car.
A. It is a cool car. Out of commission right now though.
Q. What was the subject doing when you first saw it?
A. Dashing across the road.
Q. So it was moving the whole time you were looking at it?
A. Yeah. Like I just caught a glimpse of it, when it was on the right hand side of the road, and I saw something flash, go right across the road in front of me, and I saw it for a total of maybe, 3 seconds. But I’ll tell you this, those 3 seconds are fried into my brain. Know what I mean, you know what you see, right. I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, I smoke cigarettes. (Laugh).
Q. Was it hairy?
A. Pardon?
Q. Was it hairy?
A. It looked like it had an uneven outline, so I would say it was hairy, though I didn’t see hair.
Q. Did it stand and walk upright?
A. It was upright yes. It wasn’t on all fours. It moved so fast across the road, it had to up right, so yes it was upright because it was so tall beside the car? In the Camero you sit fairly low down, right and I was looking up at it
Q. Did you ever see it drop down to all fours?
A. No.
Q. How tall do you think it was?
A. Oh jeepers? I would hazard a guess, maybe 10 feet tall?
Q. How much do you think it weighed?
A. I don’t know, I really don’t know.
Q. Heavier or lighter than a large man?
A. Defiantly way heavier than a man. It’s out line was huge.
Q. How long do you think you saw the subject for?
A. For about 3 seconds, like I said, and I slowed right down, but I was scared to stop.
Q. Did it see you?
A. Yes, defiantly, we made eye contact with each other, it was looking right at me. Through the drivers side window. And I was looking way up at it.
Q. You say the drivers side window rather than the front windshield.
A. Well the windshield of the car but I was looking out at it through the drivers side.
Q. When did it look at you?
A. While I was looking at it.
Q. Ok at the driver’s side or the front windshield?
A. Out the driver’s side.
Q. So it looked back at you?
A. Yeah, it had stopped, and it was standing there and it was looking right at me.
Steenburg note: A bit of a contradiction here from an earlier statement that the subject was moving the whole time it was in sight. This was the first time she said that the subject stopped moving to look right at her as the car went past.
Q. What was its reaction?
A. It looked angry. I don’t blame it for being angry, Maybe it was fear, startled, angry all at once?
Q. Can you describe some facial features?
A. I saw the eyes. I didn’t see teeth. But I saw the skin on his face, was like a dark color, and like I said the eyes reflected orange off the headlights for 1 brief moment, right. Like I said, I saw the eyes, the skin on the face, I didn’t notice the nose, or the mouth, like I said it was a very fast encounter, forever, I will never forget that, it was really cool.
Q. Could you tell if it was male or female?
A. No. I feel it was a male though?
Q. Can you describe the arms?
A. Um, no. I really didn’t notice too much about those, I saw the head and the outline of the shoulders going down its body on each side you know. I could see a gap between its arms and the body.
Q. Did it make any noise?
A. No.
Q. Did you smell anything?
A. No. My windows were shut.
Q. Are there any other physical characteristics, which stand out in your memory?
A. Actually I have always wondered why were they there? That is that is a very weird spot to see something like that, and also in a group? I mean every story I have hear and I am sure you have heard a lot more then me, They almost always say 1 creature alone? It was almost like a family? Or do you call it a tribe? Males and females, whatever. What would you call a group?
Steenburg note: She really didn’t answer my question but I did answer hers.
Q. I would call it 3 or 4 Sasquatch
A. Oh, (Laughs}
Q. Did you or your son go back to check for footprints?
A. No. I just kept driving. I don’t think you could have paid me that night to go back and get out of the car.
Q. Did you report what you saw?
A. I actually did to the one website that you were referring to earlier. (Cliff Barackman}
Q. Anyone else like the RCMP?
A. No. I didn’t think that they would believe me, or they could do anything you know.
Q. How good do you feel you are at recognizing game?
A. I would say pretty good for what is around on the north Island, (Vancouver island), I grew up in the woods basically, we went out hunting, we went out fishing, we camped on the weekends when I was a kid. I am also an artist and do pap portraits. So I am really attuned to detail.
Q. Would you just tell who the other witnesses are and their ages?
A. My daughter, whom I don’t think saw it, she was sitting in the passenger side front seat, her name is Coral Robinson, she was 8 at the time. In the back seat my son’s girl friend was sitting directly behind me, her name is Jessica Clarke. She was 19 at the time. My son Devin, his last name is Bruce though he goes by Robinson, and he was 19 at the time.
Q. What do you think it was?
A. Sasquatch.
Q. You are convinced of that?
A. Absolutely, absolutely. I wish I would have had enough courage to stop, but when you almost run over something you think, or wonder if they want to hurt you. The expression I saw in his face was not like, hey how are yea, you know friendly, it was angry. But I would be angry too if someone almost ran me over.
Q. Tell me the whole thing again?
A. My son and his girlfriend, and my daughter and I were heading up to Port McNeill from Cambell River on spring break, we were suppose to get a lot earlier of a start, but we had to do grocery shopping and what not, so that detained us more than we anticipated in Cambell River, so as we were driving out it was dark, the wind was blowing and it was raining really hard. Everything was going ok, I was driving slower than normal, there was lots of pooling water on the road, and we passed the Sayword junction, and we were driving up the big hill, basically you curve to the left, you go up more of a grade, you curve to the right, and then you curve to the left again and at that point there is a big drop off on the left side of the road, and it does a couple of more windy turns like that, and almost right near the top, like I said I saw a flash of movement, to the right, and went straight across, and I put on the brakes, I wasn’t sliding or anything like that, but it did slow down somewhat, and I was looking into the face of a Sasquatch, and I could see his eyes reflected orange, and his face looked like a brown. When the eyes reflected orange, the face almost looked tanish, but as the lights moved away it was darker but I could see his eyes glinting. At that point my brain was taking in the fact that he had a fury looking outline on his head, and no neck, it was all shoulders, and so I saw the head and the shoulders going down to maybe, I didn’t see anything I would say on a human from the belly button down. Or about lower rib cadge down. That is what I saw, and he looked angry, and I just started shaking and said, “Oh my god, oh my god”. I had slowed down considerably but I kept going, I think I was going to stop, I just remembered this, I was going to stop but my son said, “Don’t f*&^%$&g stop”! Pardon my language, “Don’t f#$@^&g stop, are you crazy”! That’s what occurred, pardon me, and then it was maybe a couple of minutes after that there was that loud bang. I think I said, “What in the hell was that”? My son said that was right beside him on the outside of the car, we checked later expecting to see blood thinking we had hit something, but you never know?
Q. At the time you were saying, oh my god, your little girl started crying?
A. Yes. She started crying because like I said I was really rattled, so she started crying, of course I told her that everything was ok and moms sorry, I didn’t want to scare her by telling her you know, Mommy just thought she saw something, you know to calm her down.
Q. And your son in the back yelled to keep going?
A. Yeah. When I started slowing down, as I was saying, Oh my god, oh my god, and he said, “Don’t slow down are you f*%@*^g crazy”. (Laugh).
Q. The girl friend?
A. She didn’t say a word. She was quite as a mouse. She didn’t say anything, and a little further down the road, as we were talking about what had been going on, it was a minute or two just before the clunk hit the car, I was describing what I saw, and that’s when Devin said, “I thought it was a moose, or caribou, I saw 3 or 4 of them”. I said that was no moose, there are no moose here and that was no Caribou, It was a Sasquatch, I saw I looked right into its face, 30 seconds after I said that there was a loud bang on the right rear of the car?
Q. In your opinion do you think your son got a glimpse of what you were looking at a only thought he was seeing a number of subjects?
A. Actually you know, I think, his eyesight is perfect, If he said he saw 3 or 4 then I believe him. It was a stormy dark night so I under stand your eyes can play tricks on you, especially from the back seat looking through the windshield, cause that’s how he saw them right?
Q. But did not see any others but the 1 individual?
A. That’s right.
Q. It was raining?
A. Yeah a dark stormy, miserable night.
Q. You are sure it was a Sasquatch you saw?
A. Defiantly. 100 per cent.
Q. But your son does not feel that way?
A. He felt sure it was an animal. We really did not talk all that much about it after, because, he’s always with his girl friend, but I wonder if he just didn’t want her to think we were, bonkers or something, you know I could ask him.
Q. Do you think he would be willing to talk to me?
A. Sure, why not?
Q. Would you give him my phone number?
A. I will do so.
Steenburg note: I had no indication that Tarina was making this up as she went along, and my gut tells me that these people did have a strange experience on highway 19, March 20, 2012. But there are some red flags here, the most glaring of which, I can not understand how her son could watch 3 or 4 subjects cross the road while she only saw 1. It could be she was memorized by the first subject and while she was looking into its face from the moving car, out her drivers side window for those few seconds that’s when her son perhaps saw a number of others cross in front of the car as well? Also I will be sure to ask about why he said he thought the subject or subjects were moose or Caribou, nether of which are known to be on Vancouver Island. But again that is speculation on my part and I hope some of these answers will come in the near future if and when I have the chance to talk with Devin. I personally don’t think the loud bang of something striking the car has anything to do with this encounter. It is more likely they just ran over something lying on the highway like a peace of wood or rock as we all have done a thousand times.
Thomas Steenburg
Thomas Steenburg
B.C. FILE# 10184
LOCATION: Steep hill, Highway 19, just north of Sayward Junction, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
DATE: March 20, 2012
TIME: Proxy 10:35 p.m.
REPORT BY: Thomas Steenburg
Cliff Barackman received a report from a charming lady, concerning a possible Sasquatch encounter she and members of her family experienced 1 year previously. Cliff passed on his report to me in case I might like to contact her for further information. I did a phone interview with the lady on April 10 2013. Details follow.
Q. Would you state your full name please?
A. My full name is spelled, T, a, r, i, n, a. Do you want my middle name, you said full name?
Q. Yes. That will be fine.
A. My middle name is Evelyn, spelled, E, v, e, l, y, n. My last name is Rissanen, R, i, s, s, a, n, e, n.
Q. Your present mailing address?
A. 715, Nempkish Heights, Port Mc Neill.
Q. Phone number, I already know, (250) 956-4573?
A. Yes.
Q. What is your currant occupation?
A. I am actually a stay at home mom. I am also a hypnotist in training.
Q. Do you wish to remain anonymous?
A. No. I figure the more people who talk about it the better.
Q. Do you ware corrective lenses?
A. No.
Q. When this incident occurred, were you under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or anything else for that matter?
A. Nope. (Little chuckle)
Q. I have to ask that by the way.
A. Well I guess, yeah. (More laughter}
Q. What was your age at the time of the incident?
A. Last spring, I was 42.
Q. Were there other witnesses beside you?
A. My little girl was in the front seat beside me, but it’s a camero so she is sitting quite low, my son and his girlfriend were sitting in the back, my son did see something but he thought they were moose, or caribou, because they were so huge, but he just saw a flash of something big, and that’s what happened to me right.
Steenburg note: This is one of the most interesting things about this case starting to come to light. I can’t figure out why the son, {I am trying to arrange to interview him as well) saw something so different from his mother. According to Tarina, her son saw a number of figures, while she says she only saw one. Yet they or it was reported to have crossed the road in front of the car? More on this as this report continues.
Q. How old is your son?
A. He is 19.
Q. And his girlfriend?
A. She is 19 as well.
Q. Did she see anything?
A. She didn’t mention anything. I could ask her about it. But as of right now I have to say no.
Q. Where exactly did this happen?
A. I don’t really know the name of the highway, it could be highway 19? (She is correct) At the Sayward Junction when you are heading through from Cambell River, the next little junction is Sayward, then you go up this big grade, this big hill, and it was on this grade, near the top, where I saw this.
Q. Were you guys on your way home?
A. Actually at the time I resided in Cambell River. I was coming up to see my daughter, her boy friend, and my mother and father.
Q. You resided in Cambell River when this happened, and you live in Port McNeill now?
A. Yes.
Q. What date did this take place?
A. It was the kids spring break, the proper date I think it was March 20, 2012.
Q. Was it at night or day?
A. It was nighttime.
Q. Do you recall the time?
A. I would say. We left Cambell River rather late so I would say 9:30 at night maybe?
Steenburg note: In her written report to Cliff Barackman she stated 10:35 p.m.
Q. Describe the area in which it took place?
A. A steep grade on the highway, it was the right hand side, (passenger, eastside) there was a cliff face, basically like a rock cut, but on different parts of that there were trees growing, there was some growth, it wasn’t just a strait bluff up, that’s what made me wonder, you what the heck, but at the time it was such a stormy and nasty night, I was wondering to myself if they were trying to, and I say they because there was more than one, but I only saw one, but my son saw 4, he saw 4 things dash across the road, just, blink, blink, blink, all at once, {Laughs}, but my eyes rested on the one, beside the car, but anyways, I think they were trying to escape danger of some sort. There was a mud slide not long after that that put the road out of commission for a week.
Q. So they crossed the road in front of you?
A. Yes they did.
Q. All of them?
A. Yes. Like I said I only saw 1, but I am using my sons word that there were more than 1, because he did see figures on the right hand side of the road, and his exact words were, “What the hell was that”, When looked over to my left, I was stomping on the brakes, and I was looking right at this creature.
Q. You came to a complete stop?
A. No I didn’t, I just jammed on the brakes so I was decelerating real fast, so I had maybe 3 seconds, because it came out in front of me, not directly in front of me but maybe 10 feet or something, but you know when you are traveling you just go by a point really fast, but slowed right down because, but I was scared to stop, the look on it’s face was not very happy. (Laughs), cause I almost hit it, right.
Q. It was on the right hand side of the road?
A. It was on the right hand side of the road, and it jumped across to the left, and on the left hand side of that road there is an embankment which goes down into a gully, My kids have called that area Tree Top Village, because of the grade you see tree tops.
Steenburg note: I did clarify what she meant when she stated that it jumped. She was describing the fact the subject took only about two steps to cross in front of her car.
Q. The other figures, did they cross i9n front of you as well?
A. Yes, according to my son Devon.
Q. You didn’t see them?
A. I didn’t see the other ones, I only saw the 1.
Q. How do you explain them crossing in front of you and you not seeing them?
A. I didn’t see the other ones. Like I said My son said he saw 4, he saw 4 figures on the right hand side of the road, but like a flash, caught my eyes and I went from right to left, and that’s when I saw the 1 creature, but like my son said he saw more than 1, I didn’t see the other ones I only saw the 1.
Q. Ok, so you were looking at the first one maybe and didn’t see the others?
A. Right.
Q. But the others also crossed in front of the car?
A. According to my son, yes.
Q. What distance would you estimate you were from the subject when you saw it.
A. As I was coming up, umm, its quite hard to tell, I wasn’t going all that fast because it was a stormy night, going up a step grade with sharp corners, so I was probably going 50 kms an hour, and it’s really hard for me to judge, I would say, like how do you gage, I don’t know how far away it was on the right hand side of the road. It could have been 10 feet, it could have been 20 feet, but it was just a flash n the right that caught my eye, you know what I mean, you just catch something out of the corner of you’re eye, and then wooof! It crossed in front of the car and then when I was looking at this creature I would say it was only about 3 feet away from me, it was very close.
Steenburg note: At this point she was looking into its face outside the driver side window. It is possible this is the moment her son saw others cross in front of the slowed but still moving car. Speculation on my part but it would explain a few things.
Q. What color was it?
A. It was ah. The main thing I saw which stood out the most was its eyes. I think when my headlights flashed into its eyes they must have reflected for a moment or two because they looked, orange ish, and that’s when I noticed that orange ish, deep brown eyes, oh deep brown face, pardon me, but a fury outline, I could not see the color of the fur or hair, because it was dark, but I could see the outline of it. Huge shoulders, just enormous shoulders, I could not see where his arms lifted out from his body. I call it a he, it just felt like a he, I don’t know? I didn’t see boobs or anything, but this was a fast encounter right. I did not have a lot of time to gaze at it, I wanted to but I was scared, like I said, but yeah I could see the creatures face.
Q. What was you’re first impression?
A. My first impression was, “ OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD”. My daughter started to cry, I knew exactly what I saw, and I just started rattling that stuff out, my voice loud and shaky, then my little girl, see was 8 years old at the time, she started to cry, I was scaring her, then my son and I started talking about it and that’s when he had said he had seen 3 or 4 of them. He said, “They looked like they were moose”, I said there’s no moose here, he said then “caribou or something”, then I told him what I saw, he didn’t say another word, now coincidently as we continued down the road, we are still all stunned, thinking about this, and then there was a loud bang on the right hand side of the car? On the rear fender behind where my son was sitting, I thought, this is going to sound stupid, but I wondered if one of them had 1 of them jumped onto the back of the car and smashed the side of the car. (laugh), We were on a flat grade at that time, we were going on a strait flat stretch, so nothing could have come down the mountain side and hit the car, right?
Q. Was this right after the sighting or some further ways down the road?
A. Some time after the sighting, yeah.
Q. Did you notice any damage to the car later on?
A. There was a slight indentation, on the outside of the car. Wasn’t any hair or anything? It could have been a stick or dirt or something. I thought maybe there was more of them on the side of the road just up ahead and they threw something at the side of the car? Isn’t that fairly common with them?
Q. Did you all carry on traveling after the sighting?
A. Yes we did.
Q. You must have been at lest a few kilometers further up the road by the time the bump was heard?
A. Yes, exactly, I know, yeah. All this thing just makes me wonder you know, right. It was a Camero at the time right, It had like a glass hatch back, I’m sure we would have felt if something had jumped on the car you know. (Laugh) But I just can’t explain what that thump was?
Q. You still own the Camero?
A. Yes.
Q. What year is it?
A. 1981.
Q. Oh, cool car.
A. It is a cool car. Out of commission right now though.
Q. What was the subject doing when you first saw it?
A. Dashing across the road.
Q. So it was moving the whole time you were looking at it?
A. Yeah. Like I just caught a glimpse of it, when it was on the right hand side of the road, and I saw something flash, go right across the road in front of me, and I saw it for a total of maybe, 3 seconds. But I’ll tell you this, those 3 seconds are fried into my brain. Know what I mean, you know what you see, right. I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, I smoke cigarettes. (Laugh).
Q. Was it hairy?
A. Pardon?
Q. Was it hairy?
A. It looked like it had an uneven outline, so I would say it was hairy, though I didn’t see hair.
Q. Did it stand and walk upright?
A. It was upright yes. It wasn’t on all fours. It moved so fast across the road, it had to up right, so yes it was upright because it was so tall beside the car? In the Camero you sit fairly low down, right and I was looking up at it
Q. Did you ever see it drop down to all fours?
A. No.
Q. How tall do you think it was?
A. Oh jeepers? I would hazard a guess, maybe 10 feet tall?
Q. How much do you think it weighed?
A. I don’t know, I really don’t know.
Q. Heavier or lighter than a large man?
A. Defiantly way heavier than a man. It’s out line was huge.
Q. How long do you think you saw the subject for?
A. For about 3 seconds, like I said, and I slowed right down, but I was scared to stop.
Q. Did it see you?
A. Yes, defiantly, we made eye contact with each other, it was looking right at me. Through the drivers side window. And I was looking way up at it.
Q. You say the drivers side window rather than the front windshield.
A. Well the windshield of the car but I was looking out at it through the drivers side.
Q. When did it look at you?
A. While I was looking at it.
Q. Ok at the driver’s side or the front windshield?
A. Out the driver’s side.
Q. So it looked back at you?
A. Yeah, it had stopped, and it was standing there and it was looking right at me.
Steenburg note: A bit of a contradiction here from an earlier statement that the subject was moving the whole time it was in sight. This was the first time she said that the subject stopped moving to look right at her as the car went past.
Q. What was its reaction?
A. It looked angry. I don’t blame it for being angry, Maybe it was fear, startled, angry all at once?
Q. Can you describe some facial features?
A. I saw the eyes. I didn’t see teeth. But I saw the skin on his face, was like a dark color, and like I said the eyes reflected orange off the headlights for 1 brief moment, right. Like I said, I saw the eyes, the skin on the face, I didn’t notice the nose, or the mouth, like I said it was a very fast encounter, forever, I will never forget that, it was really cool.
Q. Could you tell if it was male or female?
A. No. I feel it was a male though?
Q. Can you describe the arms?
A. Um, no. I really didn’t notice too much about those, I saw the head and the outline of the shoulders going down its body on each side you know. I could see a gap between its arms and the body.
Q. Did it make any noise?
A. No.
Q. Did you smell anything?
A. No. My windows were shut.
Q. Are there any other physical characteristics, which stand out in your memory?
A. Actually I have always wondered why were they there? That is that is a very weird spot to see something like that, and also in a group? I mean every story I have hear and I am sure you have heard a lot more then me, They almost always say 1 creature alone? It was almost like a family? Or do you call it a tribe? Males and females, whatever. What would you call a group?
Steenburg note: She really didn’t answer my question but I did answer hers.
Q. I would call it 3 or 4 Sasquatch
A. Oh, (Laughs}
Q. Did you or your son go back to check for footprints?
A. No. I just kept driving. I don’t think you could have paid me that night to go back and get out of the car.
Q. Did you report what you saw?
A. I actually did to the one website that you were referring to earlier. (Cliff Barackman}
Q. Anyone else like the RCMP?
A. No. I didn’t think that they would believe me, or they could do anything you know.
Q. How good do you feel you are at recognizing game?
A. I would say pretty good for what is around on the north Island, (Vancouver island), I grew up in the woods basically, we went out hunting, we went out fishing, we camped on the weekends when I was a kid. I am also an artist and do pap portraits. So I am really attuned to detail.
Q. Would you just tell who the other witnesses are and their ages?
A. My daughter, whom I don’t think saw it, she was sitting in the passenger side front seat, her name is Coral Robinson, she was 8 at the time. In the back seat my son’s girl friend was sitting directly behind me, her name is Jessica Clarke. She was 19 at the time. My son Devin, his last name is Bruce though he goes by Robinson, and he was 19 at the time.
Q. What do you think it was?
A. Sasquatch.
Q. You are convinced of that?
A. Absolutely, absolutely. I wish I would have had enough courage to stop, but when you almost run over something you think, or wonder if they want to hurt you. The expression I saw in his face was not like, hey how are yea, you know friendly, it was angry. But I would be angry too if someone almost ran me over.
Q. Tell me the whole thing again?
A. My son and his girlfriend, and my daughter and I were heading up to Port McNeill from Cambell River on spring break, we were suppose to get a lot earlier of a start, but we had to do grocery shopping and what not, so that detained us more than we anticipated in Cambell River, so as we were driving out it was dark, the wind was blowing and it was raining really hard. Everything was going ok, I was driving slower than normal, there was lots of pooling water on the road, and we passed the Sayword junction, and we were driving up the big hill, basically you curve to the left, you go up more of a grade, you curve to the right, and then you curve to the left again and at that point there is a big drop off on the left side of the road, and it does a couple of more windy turns like that, and almost right near the top, like I said I saw a flash of movement, to the right, and went straight across, and I put on the brakes, I wasn’t sliding or anything like that, but it did slow down somewhat, and I was looking into the face of a Sasquatch, and I could see his eyes reflected orange, and his face looked like a brown. When the eyes reflected orange, the face almost looked tanish, but as the lights moved away it was darker but I could see his eyes glinting. At that point my brain was taking in the fact that he had a fury looking outline on his head, and no neck, it was all shoulders, and so I saw the head and the shoulders going down to maybe, I didn’t see anything I would say on a human from the belly button down. Or about lower rib cadge down. That is what I saw, and he looked angry, and I just started shaking and said, “Oh my god, oh my god”. I had slowed down considerably but I kept going, I think I was going to stop, I just remembered this, I was going to stop but my son said, “Don’t f*&^%$&g stop”! Pardon my language, “Don’t f#$@^&g stop, are you crazy”! That’s what occurred, pardon me, and then it was maybe a couple of minutes after that there was that loud bang. I think I said, “What in the hell was that”? My son said that was right beside him on the outside of the car, we checked later expecting to see blood thinking we had hit something, but you never know?
Q. At the time you were saying, oh my god, your little girl started crying?
A. Yes. She started crying because like I said I was really rattled, so she started crying, of course I told her that everything was ok and moms sorry, I didn’t want to scare her by telling her you know, Mommy just thought she saw something, you know to calm her down.
Q. And your son in the back yelled to keep going?
A. Yeah. When I started slowing down, as I was saying, Oh my god, oh my god, and he said, “Don’t slow down are you f*%@*^g crazy”. (Laugh).
Q. The girl friend?
A. She didn’t say a word. She was quite as a mouse. She didn’t say anything, and a little further down the road, as we were talking about what had been going on, it was a minute or two just before the clunk hit the car, I was describing what I saw, and that’s when Devin said, “I thought it was a moose, or caribou, I saw 3 or 4 of them”. I said that was no moose, there are no moose here and that was no Caribou, It was a Sasquatch, I saw I looked right into its face, 30 seconds after I said that there was a loud bang on the right rear of the car?
Q. In your opinion do you think your son got a glimpse of what you were looking at a only thought he was seeing a number of subjects?
A. Actually you know, I think, his eyesight is perfect, If he said he saw 3 or 4 then I believe him. It was a stormy dark night so I under stand your eyes can play tricks on you, especially from the back seat looking through the windshield, cause that’s how he saw them right?
Q. But did not see any others but the 1 individual?
A. That’s right.
Q. It was raining?
A. Yeah a dark stormy, miserable night.
Q. You are sure it was a Sasquatch you saw?
A. Defiantly. 100 per cent.
Q. But your son does not feel that way?
A. He felt sure it was an animal. We really did not talk all that much about it after, because, he’s always with his girl friend, but I wonder if he just didn’t want her to think we were, bonkers or something, you know I could ask him.
Q. Do you think he would be willing to talk to me?
A. Sure, why not?
Q. Would you give him my phone number?
A. I will do so.
Steenburg note: I had no indication that Tarina was making this up as she went along, and my gut tells me that these people did have a strange experience on highway 19, March 20, 2012. But there are some red flags here, the most glaring of which, I can not understand how her son could watch 3 or 4 subjects cross the road while she only saw 1. It could be she was memorized by the first subject and while she was looking into its face from the moving car, out her drivers side window for those few seconds that’s when her son perhaps saw a number of others cross in front of the car as well? Also I will be sure to ask about why he said he thought the subject or subjects were moose or Caribou, nether of which are known to be on Vancouver Island. But again that is speculation on my part and I hope some of these answers will come in the near future if and when I have the chance to talk with Devin. I personally don’t think the loud bang of something striking the car has anything to do with this encounter. It is more likely they just ran over something lying on the highway like a peace of wood or rock as we all have done a thousand times.
Thomas Steenburg