Cadborosaurus
Sightings of Cadborosaurus or "Caddy", the legendary Vancouver Island sea monster, have been recorded for over a century and also form part of aboriginal oral history. The most recent credible sighting occurred in 1933 when Clerk to the Legislature, Major W.H. Langley, spotted Caddy in the waters around Victoria.
Following his sighting, the Victoria Times held a contest to name the monster. Its name was derived from the location of the majority of sightings: Cadboro Bay.
Sometimes described as a sister to the Loch Ness Monster, Cadborosaurus reportedly has a long, greenish brown, looped body with a horse- or camel-like head mounted on a long slender neck with two or three coils. The tail is rarely seen. Sightings tend to occur in calm waters at dusk or in the early morning.
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Sasquatch
The forests of Vancouver Island appear to be the ideal home for Sasquatch. There have been numerous sightings and reports from Island residents after the discovery of massive footprints, about 40 centimetres (16 inches) long, in Strathcona Park in 1988 and when ape-like whooping noises were heard near Comox Lake by John Bindernagel in 1992. Sasquatch are said to range from northern California to the Yukon and east to the Rocky Mountains. Bindernagel (a Courtenay resident), however, feels that his discoveries are good indicators that Sasquatch live on Vancouver Island.
Bindernagel, who holds a PhD in wildlife biology from Guelph University, believes the Sasquatch is a large ape, something like Gigantopithecus, a large primate already documented in the fossil record, dating back 500,000 years. Sasquatch researchers have arrived at the following assumptions:
- Sasquatch sleep during the day, making their beds out of piles of vegetation.
- Sasquatch generally feed on anything they can forage.
- Sasquatch live in small groups of one male and up to four females and their young. Male Sasquatch stand 2.4 metres (eight feet) tall and weigh about 363 kilograms (800 pounds). Females are smaller at about 1.8 metres (six feet) tall and weigh approximately 227 kilograms (500 pounds).
For further information about Sasquatch, contact Vancouver Island expert, John Bindernagel at (250)338-8482. |
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Mermaid of Active Pass
In 1967, BC Ferry passengers saw what they claimed to be a mermaid sitting on rocks at the entrance to Active Pass. Reports indicated that the mermaid had long blonde hair, the lower body of a porpoise and was sitting on the rocks eating a salmon. Photos taken by a man in an aircraft support the ferry passengers' description.
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