In the archives of cryptozoologists, there are sometimes cases of observation of completely bizarre creatures that are difficult to classify. For example, people often see yeti for many years, and in recent years they have often seen winged creatures that look like huge bats.
It would seem that these two types of creatures are very different and occupy different "ecological niches". But what about cases when eyewitnesses see winged sasquatch? And these are not isolated cases, for them cryptozoologists even came up with the term "Batsquatch" from Bat - a bat and "sasquatch" - a North American yeti.
In Washington state, near the major cities of Portland and Seattle, there is the active stratovolcano (layered) St. Helens. It is best known for the catastrophic (5 on the eruption scale) eruption on May 18, 1980, in which 57 people died.
The eruption was so strong that it completely destroyed the upper part of the mountain and reduced its height from 2950 meters to 2549 meters, and also left behind a huge crater. This eruption is the most destructive volcanic event in US history, and it also marks the beginning of one of the strangest American cryptozoological stories.
During the revelry of the elements, unexpected reports began to arrive from local residents who claimed to have seen a humanoid creature with a monkey body, burning eyes and wide wings like a bat. The creature has been seen in various areas affected by the volcanic eruption.
And they didn't just see. It was reported to have killed cats and dogs, many of which were on the streets due to the destruction of houses, and attacked cows and sheep.
After the eruption of the volcano, the stream of reports about Betsquach did not stop and continued to flow until 1994. The impression was that the volcano "awakened" this creature, and then it began to walk around the surroundings and expand its hunting zone. After 1994, it was seen much less often.
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In April 1994, a young man named Brian Canfield was driving along a remote stretch of road through the wilderness in the foothills of Mount Rainier, Kapousin Lake, when his car suddenly and unexpectedly stalled. Given that the pickup was in perfect working order, Canfield was at a loss, and after several attempts to restart the car, he was unable to start it.
It seemed that he was stuck there for a long time alone, where there was not a single person around and only the headlights of his car lit a small section of the road. And suddenly something crossed the headlights and the guy at first took it for a big bird. But then it appeared in the light again and now he could see it. It was a very massive winged humanoid with an ape-like body and was over 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall.
When this creature came closer, it was possible to clearly see its dark fur with a bluish sheen that covered its entire body, its face was like that of a huge bat, but with large, sharp teeth and burning eyes. At the same time, his legs did not look like a monkey at all, but resembled the legs of a large bird. The strange beast went into a field near the road and stopped there.
“He looked at me and seemed to wonder what I was and what he was going to do with me now. I was scared and all the hairs on my body stood on end. However, I did not feel a threat from him, there was just something inappropriate, as if I had entered someone else's house. He looked directly at me with a deep gaze, and at the same time, as though through me.
He stood there for several minutes. Then his fingers twitched and his wings began to unfold. These huge wings were as wide as a road. Then the engine of my car suddenly started up and I drove from this place as fast as I could"
Brian's story got into the media and was widely distributed in the national press. It was after this incident that the creature received the nickname Batsquach. Brian himself turned out to be an honest man, and also never used drugs or even drank, which gave additional weight to his story.
It was one of the most well-documented sightings of Batsquach, but in the same 1994, another person saw it. This time it was the owner of a local liquor store, and an avid climber and amateur pilot named Butch Whittaker.
He claimed that when he flew over Mount Rainier (another stratovolcano in the same state of Washington), a large winged humanoid creature unexpectedly flew by next to him. It moved next to the plane for several minutes, and then flew away on its own business.
The next Batsquach sighting came in 1998. An eyewitness claimed to have seen a massive logging truck run over one of these creatures on a mountain road, but at first he thought that a man had been injured and when the truck pulled up on the side of the road, the eyewitness rushed towards him to help the alleged victim. On the spot, he found out that it was not a man at all shot down and that the shot down creature was not injured at all and soon flew away from the scene.
“This creature was sitting there, hunched over a little, but in full height it was huge, probably at least 15 feet (4.5 meters). It had no tail, and its head seemed small compared to its very large body. The eyes were like little purple beads, which reminded me of the eyes of a rat. His ears were long and pointed, his nose was very small and also purple for some reason.
I believe that this is the only creature in the world that has a purple nose. The wingspan of this creature with its large body was unexpectedly very small, it seemed that he could not fly with such wings. However, I later realized that it had additional wings and that they spanned over 40 feet (12 meters).
The most disturbing feature of this large beast was its arms. He had four hands! More precisely, these were the hands that were at the ends of his four wings. The creature looked creepy and scary to look at."
Another Batsquach sighting in Washington state dates back to 2009. Tourists went to Mount Shasta (this mountain itself is associated with many mystical legends), which is also a stratovolcano. There they were frightened by a flying humanoid that appeared from a cave in the mountain:
“He was huge and squat like the Hulk Hogan and had leathery wings. I believe the wingspan was at least 50 feet from end to end (15 meters). I was holding my camera in my hands, but I was paralyzed by fear when this thing flew past us and did not photograph anything. Was it a pterodactyl? It flew by at high speed and it seems that it had a head like a bat. This shit flew into a cluster of trees and disappeared."
A creature similar to the descriptions of Batsquach was seen before the volcanic eruption in Washington. In January 1976, there was a wave of sightings of a similar creature for two weeks in the state of Texas. On one occasion, brothers David and John Doubt were driving along a rural road in the Rio Grande Valley when a humanoid with a wolf-head and bat-like wings landed in front of them, causing them to screech and slow down.
As they tried to move away from the nightmare creature, it jumped forward, as if it was about to attack people, but only opened its wings and flew over them with a loud whistle from the wings.
On another occasion, a father and son claimed to be hunting deer in Hidalgo County, near Houston, when a large winged creature dived down to grab the father.
Defending his father, the son shot at the creature with his rifle and the creature flew away, leaving the father with wounds on his body and broken ribs. In the same area, at least 10 people later told police they saw a flying monster.