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The incident was investigated by and published in Thomas Steenburg’s In Search of Giants, Bigfoot Sasquatch Encounters published by Hancock House in 2000. You will find the book listed for sale on the Hancock website, http://www.hancockhouse.com

Here is a brief on the Steenburg investigation:

“The Crandell Campground Incident”

This encounter, between four witnesses and sasquatch, occurred in the Province of Alberta, Canada. Steenburg placed the story in a chapter of its own in his book primarily because in the twenty years he had been investigating the mystery of the sasquatch, he said this was the most interesting and detailed accounts he had ever probed.

This fascinating story took place in the Crandell Campground located in the Waterton Lakes National Park in the southwest corner of the province. There were two couples with two cars at one campsite. This incident occurred on the Holiday Victoria Day-long weekend of 1988.

Steenburg writes:

“I first heard of this incident three months after it happened when Susan Ray Adams contacted me and told me her story. She called me on the night of August 24 th, 1988 after seeing my ad in the Calgary Press. I made arrangements to visit her home and interview all four witnesses separately. So impressed was I with this story, I delayed production of my first book The Sasquatch in Alberta, so some details could be included. I also put portions of the interviews in my second book Sasquatch/Bigfoot, The Continuing Mystery published in 1993.”

”When I visited Susan’s home, all four witnesses questioned me extensively about sasquatch in general. It was obvious all were still on pins and needles three months after their encounter with a sasquatch. I was also handed a copy of a hand written letter which one of the four, Darwin Gilles wrote for the park warden’s office the next day.”

Monday May 23:

At approximately 12:50 a.m. at Crandell Lake Campground we spotted a very unusual animal. We were sitting at our campfire when we heard some snorting. We assumed it was a deer, but upon further observation we decided it was a bear and bolted for the cars. The animal was on its hind legs and we switched on the headlights on one of the vehicles. From the shadows, I could see the animal was moving on its hind legs so I called to the other vehicle to turn on its lights.

What we saw was incredible. This animal was not only on its hind legs; it was striding like a human. We watched as it walked through the trees for at least three to four seconds. Immediately thought it was a joke. We are all convinced it was not a bear. We jumped into the same vehicle and followed in the general direction it disappeared. We came across another vehicle and flashed our lights. These people had also sighted something very strange and were quite scared. This confirmed that we had both seen the same thing. It is important to note that we are four mature, responsible, professional people. We thought very carefully before coming in to report this incident at the warden’s office. All four of us are convinced that is was not a bear.

I am equally convinced it was not a practical joke. If it was, it was pretty elaborate and well done. From our sighting the description we can give you is as follows:

The animal was approximately 8 feet tall (as measured by the tree it was standing beside in our campsite.) The animal was never on all fours. When we switched on the headlights and got a good look, this thing was striding and big strides at that. It also had long arms, which were swinging while it moved through the bush. It wasn’t a bear, okay! I don’t know what more I can write about this incident. Would appreciate hearing anything that might explain what we saw, (or additional sighting, if any).

Darwin Gilles

Note: The sighting took place at campsite C-3 at Crandell Campground on the Blakiston Brook in Waterton Lakes National Park on May 23, 1988 and a sketch of the campsite is in Steenburg’s book.

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