An interesting find to our North -- from The Vancouver Sun:
Mask associated with sasquatch lore returned to B.C. First Nation
Hunting for an elusive sasquatch mask revered by a British Columbia First Nation has been a 16-year journey for James Leon, taking him through London, Boston, New York and Ottawa.
In the end, all it took was a question to the lady sitting next to him at a Vancouver event that led him to his nation's Sasq'ets mask that vanished 75 years ago.
Leon was at a repatriation event for another First Nations artifact held by the Vancouver Museum when he asked the lady sitting beside him if she knew of the ape-like mask partially covered in bear fur.
"Her eyes lit up and she said 'We were just looking at that mask the other day.' And they were gracious enough to go get it for me," he said with a chuckle.
The mask disappeared in 1939 from Sts'ailes First Nation, near Harrison Hot Springs in B.C.'s Fraser Valley.
Community elders told Leon that the mask had been taken by J.W. Burns, a teacher at the Chehalis Indian Day School, and a man obsessed with the sasquatch legend.
Burns, who is often credited for bringing the word "sasquatch" into common use, donated the mask to the Vancouver Museum. Beautiful work:
And if you happen to sight a Sasquatch?
While the more recent stories of bigfoot are enough to produce nightmares, Leon said his people consider spotting a sasquatch good luck.
"There are certain things that happened to us when we see one," he said. "They call it gifts that come with seeing one, like I'd be a good speaker or a good hunter."
There's an even better endowment — a golden gift — if the sasquatch sees you, he explained.
Interesting that there seem to be two populations. The Pacific Northwest and the Atlantic Northeast. Lots of megapod stories in Maine and New Hampshire.
