LINDSAY SELBY: Alaskan Bigfoot stories

The Tlingit of the South East of Alaska call it "Kushtaka, the Den'aina of Central Alaska call it "Nant'ina." and the indigenous residents of southwest Alaska call it "Urayuli" or "Hairy man.
Legendary accounts say that children who go out of the house at night get lost in the woods and are transformed into the Urayuli. It is said to be about 6 to 10 feet tall covered with shaggy, coarse hair with glowing eyes. Its arms are long and it is described as looking like a primate.It inhabits in the areas near Lake Iliamna. The lake is said to have strange fish or monsters living in it.

see : http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/05/alaskan-lake-monster.html

Sightings of this Alaskan bigfoot have gone on for some years. In 1956, a fisherman said he saw the Urayuli as he was anchoring his fishing boat on the beach at night. A biologist from Ketchikan apparently found and took a photograph of some large footprints on the same beach. (Not being able to trace the photo btw. Has anyone else seen it?)

In 1982, in Dillingham, a hunting guide was said to be showing around a photograph that he had taken of the Urayuli standing on a mountain ridge. ( again not been able to trace this)

In 1999, a gang of walkers took a photo of a pair of large wedge-shaped footprints in the mud along the banks of the Kiseralik River. The footprints were measured at 12 inches (30 cms) to 14 inches long( 35 cms) and 3 ( 7.5 cms)inches deep. Also in 1999 a large black-haired huge creature was reported as being seen in the Cold Bay of Belkofski. Described as 14 feet( 4.5 metres) tall and with the stance and demeanour of a large Ape.

A Federal Aviation Administration worker Jim Coffee said an eight-foot humanoid almost ran him off the road in Newhalen, near Lake Iliamna. The same night, a woman living nearby reported that a Bigfoot left watermelon-sized footprints in her yard and tore down her laundry. Large footprints were found along the side of the road said to be 24 inches ( 60 cms) long.

See this site for more: http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/alaska2.htm

There appear to be no stories of attacks on Humans by the Urayuli but they are said to steal fish.

The Kushtaka of South Eastern Alaska, has a more aggressive reputation then the seemingly harmless and non aggressive Urayuli. The indigenous people avoided the places they thought it frequented. Harry D. Colp wrote about an encounter with the Kushtaka, published as "The Strangest Story Ever Told."

Colp and three other prospectors met up in 1900 at Wrangell. They sent Charlie, one of the four, to Thomas Bay to look over a gold prospect, while the others sought grubstakes to pay their expenses. Charlie went about 50 miles up the coast to this location. There the rains kept him confined to his tent for several days. He then went out, trying to locate the landmarks given to him by a native. By chance, he found a gold-flecked quartz ledge and loosened a piece with his gun, breaking his gunstock in the process. As he was taking his bearings, he said, a troupe of creatures he called "devils," that looked like both men and monkeys, swarmed after him. These shaggy beasts, with long, coarse hair, stinking and covered with sores, pursued him back to his canoe. During the chase, they screamed and scraped his back with "long claw like fingers." Charlie said he came to in his canoe, which was drifting at sea. He was cold, hungry and thirsty. He returned to his comrades with nothing but the clothes on his back, his canoe and oars, and the chunk of gold quartz. He declared he had enough of Alaska. In exchange for his passage back to Seattle, he told his tale to the other three. Two more of Colp's partners returned to the site of the gold-speckled quartz ledge. Once again, they returned with strange tales of "devils." One of the partners was said to have gone mad. Other prospectors who scouted the same area were reported by Colp to have suffered frightening experiences and to have behaved in a strange manner afterwards. Mysterious happenings occurred as late as 1925, when a farmer reported losing a dog in the hills there, but finding strange tracks, with the hind feet resembling a cross between a bear's and a human's footprints. A trapper in the area disappeared. Searchers found his outfit and tracks, but no trace of the man.

So an aggressive bigfoot? There have been stories from the USA of bigfoot hurling rocks. What ever the creatures were they were probably just defending their territory. The smell is also something that is mentioned in encounters with bigfoot, for example the Skunk Ape , in Florida , is said to have a terrible smell. There is an another explanation for the creatures. There have been stories of isolated communities of humans becoming cannibals (See the book Three Man Seeking Monsters by Nick Redfern for tales of UK cave dwellers) and becoming less than human in the process. Could this have been an isolated group of humans, driven insane by their cannibalism? Just a thought to add to the stories of the Alaskan bigfoot.