Police: 2 Men Searching for ‘Sasquatch’ Found Dead in Washington Wilderness

Two Portland, Oregon, men who went into the Washington state wilderness to look for “Sasquatch” were discovered dead after failing to return home on Christmas Eve, police said.

The 59-year-old and 37-year-old men were reported missing in the early hours of Christmas morning by a family member, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) said in a statement Saturday:

The relative reported that the pair were “searching for Sasquatch,” SCSO said.

A “flock camera,” also known as a license plate reader, picked up the vehicle in which the men had traveled to the woods of eastern Skamania County, leading search-and-rescue officials to find it abandoned off of Oklahoma Road, near Willard, Washington.

A three-day search ensued, featuring more than 60 volunteers, canines, and drones. 

The U.S. Coast Guard also provided an “air asset” based in Astoria, Oregon, to assist in finding the two missing men, police said. 

After a “grueling” search effort through “difficult terrain and harsh weather conditions,” the sheriff’s office said they found both men deceased “in a heavily wooded area” of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. 

“Both deaths appear to be due to exposure, based on weather conditions and ill-preparedness,” police said, before thanking the dozens of volunteers who searched for them through Christmas. 

“The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office extends our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the loved ones lost in this tragic incident,” SCSO added in the statement. 

“Sasquatch sightings” are so popular in Skamania County that the community’s Chamber of Commerce website has a page dedicated to it:

Back in the late 1960s, there were so many reported sightings of Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti or the Giant Hairy Ape in Skamania County, Washington, the county commissioners decided that an ordinance needed to be in place to protect the elusive creature and keep Bigfoot seekers from shooting a bearded elk hunter tramping around in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The law was originally passed in 1969, amended in 1984 and today harming Sasquatch within Skamania County’s borders could cost you one year of jail time and/or a $1000 fine. Stop by the Visitor Center at the Chamber to pick up a Bigfoot postcard with the ordinance printed on it.

The men whose bodies were recovered have not been publicly identified.