Central Washington's Mythical Creatures

Lake Chelan's Serpent Monster

  Nearly every part of the country can claim sightings of some kind of mythical creature. In West Virginia, a winged man-like entity that allegedly signals a coming disaster, known as Mothman, has been sighted many times since the 1960s. In southern New Jersey, there have been reports of a flying monster with bat-like wings and a horse’s head, called the Jersey Devil, since at least the mid-18th century. Closer to home, the forests and waters of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) have been said to be home of a number of strange creatures ranging from Bigfoot to something called Batsquatch.

  Writing for the Exploring Washington State website (www.explorewashingtonstate.com) Sarah Prentice described the PNW as “a cryptid hotspot.” Cryptids are typically defined as animals or creatures whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science. According to a number of cyptozoologists, as they are known, the terrain and environs of the region, with dense forests and vast, relatively-undisturbed wilderness, make it an ideal place for undiscovered creatures to flourish.

  Not surprisingly, the region’s native people have long shared stories of legendary creatures, often connected to their respective creation myths. For example, one such story from the Chinook tribe involves a creature known as Wishpoosh, said to be a giant beaver-like monster who lived in Lake Cle-el-lum (a larger version of today’s Cle Elum Lake). According to the legend, every day the animal people would go to the lake to fish, but were frightened off by Wishpoosh, who would splash around and make threats. If they ignored his warnings, he would drag them into the lake, drown them, and eat them.

  Coyote, also known as the Creator, became upset with Wishpoosh for how he treated the animal people and vowed to kill him. He tied a spear to his waist and began to fish in the lake. Angered that anyone would defy him, Wishpoosh attacked Coyote. The latter threw his spear, which became lodged in the giant beaver. In response, Wishpoosh swam to the lake’s bottom, which Coyote dragged along.

  What happened next was a battle so grand that it shaped the physical characteristics of the Kittitas Valley and most of Central Washington. The two wrestled so fiercely at the bottom of the lake that the sides caved in and the water rushed out and over the mountains, creating another lake in the Kittitas Valley. The two continued to tussle until the second lake erupted from his boundaries and rushed out, joining with several rivers to form large lakes at Yakima and Toppenish.

  These lakes, in turn, also gave way as a result of their tremendous battle, that all the water roared down to where the Columbia, Yakima, and Snake rivers met and created a very great lake. The fighting, however, went on until this lake also burst forth, with the resulting flood creating the Columbia Gorge.

  By this time, the two adversaries had been washed out to the mouth of the Columbia River near the ocean. Wishpoosh then sucked up all the salmon he could find to increase his strength, swam out to sea and swallowed several whales. Not certain he could win a fight with now-reinvigorated and massive beaver, Coyote turned himself into a tree branch and hid among the fish that Wooshpoosh continued to consume.

  Once he was eaten by Wooshpoosh, Coyote turned back into his natural form, took his knife, and sliced up the giant monster from inside. Wooshpoosh screamed and then died. Tired from the conflict, Coyote called his friend, Muskrat, to help him drag Wooshpoosh’s body to the shore. The two then cut up the giant beaver and threw pieces all over the land, which created the tribes of men.

  It’s said the Nez Perce came from the beaver’s head, so they were great in council, while the Cayuse were from the arms, making them strong and powerful with the bow and war club. The Yakima came from the ribs, the Chinook from the belly which made them short and fat, and the Klickitat were from the legs, which is why they are great runners. He threw the remaining skin and blood to east, which resulted in creating the Snake River tribe, who thrive on war and blood.

  Bizarrely, the coastal tribes were created without mouths. Fortunately, one of the gods, Ecahni, saw this and, after assembling all the tribes, cut mouths for them. According to the legend, he made some too large and some crooked, as a joke, which is why the mouths of some members of the tribe are not perfect to this day.

  Another PNW legend with roots in Native American oral tradition involves the so-called Lake Chelan Dragon. According to historian Tom Hackenmiller, author of “Ladies of the Lake: Tales of Transportation, Tragedy, and Triumph on Lake Chelan,” the Chelan and Entiat people were wary of canoeing on Lake Chelan because they feared a monster called 'N'hah'haht'q. Said to be serpent-shaped, this monster would emerge from the lake to destroy the homes of the native people.

  When good spirits tried to intervene by trapping him in the lake, 'N'hah'haht'q became angry and murdered all the people living near the lake. One of those killed was a young girl who painted her story on the rock walls at Stehekin, where prehistoric pictographs can still be found today.

  Interestingly, in November 1892, the Spokane Review reported that Lake Chelan, located about four hours north of Ellensburg, was the site where three travelers came into contact with a fearsome, white flying creature. According to the newspaper, the encounter happened when one of the men went to wash himself and plunged his foot into the water.

  “He suddenly uttered a scream and informed his companions that he was being dragged into the lake by some unseen marine monster that was holding to his leg,” the story said. “His friends rushed to his assistance and taking him by the hands and arms succeeded in bringing him ashore, but what was their surprise to see the monster also emerge from the water firmly attached to the man’s leg by its teeth.”

  The article described the creature as horrible looking with “the legs and body of an alligator and the head and restless eyes of a serpent.” It said the monster also had, on either side, large, ribbed, leathery wings and a scaled tail. With the exception of its underbelly, the thing was “a beautiful white and its skin as soft as velvet.” Its skin also proved to be amazingly tough, as the two other men could not penetrate it with knives, sticks, stones, or any object used to make it release the man’s leg.

  At this point, the two companions decided to build a fire and drag the monster into the flames. “They built a good fire and pulled the neck and belly of the beast, bird or fish, across it, taking good care not to burn the leg of their comrade,” the Review said

  Unfortunately for the man in its grasp, the fire only served to “arouse the animal from its torpor” and it spread its wings and suddenly flew into the air, still holding the man’s leg in its jagged embrace. It rose about 200 feet in the air and then plunged into the lake never to be seen again that day (and, presumably, killing the poor man). The story ended on a strange note: “The natives are greatly excited, believing that the great white dragon has reappeared and that the end of the world is near at hand.”

  Of course the most famous unexplained creature to wander the PNW is the legendary Sasquatch or Bigfoot. The modern-day stories of this large, ape-like, hair-covered creature first appeared in 1958 in Northern California, although there are many legends of giant man-like beasts in the PNW wilderness among native tribes.

  The state of Washington, in fact, has allegedly had more than 700 documented sightings of Bigfoot and has been described as “the epicenter of Sasquatch activity” by cryptozoologist Ava Martinez on the Hanger1 Publishing blog. According to Martinez, one of the hotspots for Bigfoot activity is the area around Mt. St. Helens, particularly at Ape Canyon, where a famous encounter occurred in 1924, and Skookum Meadows, where, in 2000, researchers claim to have found a Sasquatch nest.

  In Kittitas County, a group called the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, which compiles sighting information, lists more than two dozen since the mid-1960s. Among the reports is one from the summer of 1965 during which three young men said they were hiking above Lake Kachess when they spotted a large, upright animal with reddish fur watching them from behind a tree. Since it was getting dark, they returned to their camp. Upon returning the next day, they couldn’t find the creature but based on where it stood next to the tree they estimated it was nine to ten-feet tall.

  Additionally, they said they had strung a rope around a tree branch and hung their food six-to-seven-feet above the ground, while also submerging their meat supply in the nearby lake. Both disappeared the morning after their sighting—although the rope was still there.

  In the spring of 2014, two men driving on Interstate 90 above Cle Elum said they spotted a large hairy creature standing beside the roadway. “As we came closer this creature stepped onto the edge of the highway looking dead off into my friend’s face as we passed, me braking,” the report noted. “I looked into the rearview mirror only to see it take two steps onto the highway.”

  Yet another report, from February 2017, placed Bigfoot near Roslyn and Ronald. The witness said he was walking in the woods behind a mountain resort when he spotted an auburn-colored Sasquatch walking through the trees. “The Sasquatch was calmly walking away toward a more forested area,” the observer wrote. “I have tried hard to convince myself that it was a person in a reddish, shaggy snow suit but I can’t explain the length of its arms and I’ve never seen a snow suit like that before.”

  One of the strangest cryptid sightings in recent years has involved a creature that has become known as the Batsquatch. This weird creature, said to have an ape-like body, large, leathery wings, and glowing red eyes (hence its name blending Sasquatch with Batman), is said to have first appeared following the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

  According to Tacoma News Tribune columnist C.R. Roberts, in April 1994, 18-year-old Brian Canfield was driving alone in the foothills of Mount Rainier at 9:30 p.m. when his truck’s engine suddenly stopped working. As he wondered what was going on, he looked up and saw, in the bright beam of his headlights, an ape-like creature that was nine-foot tall with a wolfish face, clawed bird feet and giant wings. It had bluish fur, yellowish eyes, tufted ears, and sharp, straight teeth.

  “It was standing there staring at me. Like it was resting, like it didn’t know what to think,” Canfield told Roberts. “I was scared. It raised the hair on me. I didn’t feel threatened. I just felt out of place.”

  Canfield, who Roberts noted does not drink alcohol, does not listen to heavy metal music, and doesn’t take drugs, said the creature stood there for a few minutes and then spread its wings, which were as wide as the road, and flew off toward Mount Rainier. He said the turbulence from the flapping was enough to rock the truck. And as soon as the winged beast was gone, he could restart his truck.

  Canfield told his family about the encounter and they returned to the site where the truck had stalled-out, but they found nothing. After he told some school friends about his experience, one helped him with a sketch and others came up with the name, Batsquatch.

  “I’m really not into this stuff,” Canfield told Roberts. “It boggles my mind really hard core. I really can’t explain it, It’s weird, definitely weird. I don’t like it. Usually stuff like this happens to someone else.”