THUNDER BAY - The mystical creature known as Sasquatch walks among us here in the Northwest.
“There is more than one of them,” said Allan Yerxa of Couchiching First Nation. “I’m going to go on record saying that.”
According to Yerxa, who describes himself as a paranormal armchair researcher, there are plenty of eyewitness accounts, footprints, and stories that prove the elusive creature exists.
“It’s an interesting issue because we are talking about a story that is handed down from elders,” he said. “What I do is try to get a hold of witnesses and help them through their experience. It’s pretty freaky - you go out walking in the bush and you see this big, nine foot tall hairy monster.”
The possibility of Sasquatch roaming the woods of Northwestern Ontario is just one of many paranormal phenomena that exist in the region, says paranormal investigator and filmmaker, Dee McCully, and in order to get to the bottom of our fear of the unknown, he wanted to provide some answers at the Edge of Dread, the city’s first paranormal convention.
McCully said the idea to host a convention came out of the many messages his Dark History page has received from people who believe their house is haunted.
“I’ve come to the belief that there are at least two or three houses on every street that are haunted,” he said. “We thought we would put on a convention and test the waters.”
The one-day convention on Saturday included several discussions on topics ranging from ghost hunting, Sasquatch, UFOs, demonic hunting, to everything in between.
“I’m testing the water with it right now,” McCully said. “There are a lot of people who say their house is haunted and they want answers. I hope we get more people out.”
McCully has been involved in paranormal investigations for more than 30 years and has appeared on several TV shows including Paranormal Survivor and created the films Sasquatch on Lake Superior and the UFO documentary, Northern Lights.
Some of the most compelling evidence of paranormal activity in the city McCully has encountered was at the McKenzie Inn.
“We had quite a bit of stuff there, from wisps to I don’t know what it was, it was like floating cobwebs, and orbs, and so many voices,” he said.
Yerxa, too, said there is plenty of evidence that Sasquatch is here in the Northwest, including hundreds of sightings between here and the northern U.S.
“There are more accounts and sightings that just haven’t been reported due to the cultural significance of the Sasquatch because it is ingrained in the culture and it is usually something they just don’t talk about,” he said.
When it comes to paranormal activity there will always be skeptics, but Yerxa said it’s a choice.
“I do have friends that sort of laugh at me and it’s all in good fun, too,” he said.
McCully hopes the Edge of Dread convention will become an annual event as more interest grows because he and Yerxa believe that everyone has at least some interest in the paranormal as it taps into something we all share.
“It’s almost like a fear of the unknown,” Yerxa said. “You generally fear what you don’t understand. People always have this interest when it comes to things like an Ouija board, things that go bump in the night, when you see things out of the corner of your eye.”
“I think it’s the interest in the unknown,” McCully added. “People have questions and they need answers and in many cases we can provide answers.”