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True Giants

Canada

True giants, or mountain giants are a classification of unknown primates, inhabiting the most remote and isolated reaches of Canada, as well as the northern United States, Siberia, the Himalayas and the Australian Outback. True giants, as the name implies, are the largest unknown primates, allegedly reaching an incredible 10 to 15 ft in height, with enormous two ft long, four toed tracks. It's unknown if they have a fifth toe that doesn’t appear in tracks or it literally has four toes. Stories of Canadian true giants predate European contact, but were lumped together with bigfoot sightings until the late 60’s, when Canadian and American cryptozoologists like John Green and Mark A. Hall realized the obvious differences. Unlike the extremely muscular and wide bigfoot, true giants are somewhat thinner, albeit still much more heavily built then a human. Also unlike bigfoot, they have longer hair on their head, have a more human-like build and have disproportionately large, flat hands.


They have a much smaller range than bigfoot, and seem to only live in the most inaccessible areas of Canada, often more then 100 km from any large settlement. Their habitat tends to be in areas with easy cover, like steep mountains, dense forests and rocky tundra ranging from northern Ontario to southern Nunavut. They are sometimes said to live in caves and even wear primitive clothes, usually loincloths or hides as blankets. They’re often described as having a strange wobbly gait, probably a side-effect of their massive size. They are often aggressive, and are feared by some First Nations as man-eaters or cannibals, and are often blamed for the disappearance of hunters and berry-pickers. Regional names of true giants are nakani by the Dené, matlose by the Nuu-chah-nulth, ijiqqan by the Netsilik Inuit and chenoo by the Wabanaki. A commonly held belief by Indigenous legends and some sightings is that they inhabit caves, sometimes with a boulder at the entrance to seal off anyone from finding them.

In Inuit folklore from the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, there are giants called Ijiqqan, twice the size of a man, west of the Back River near Kugaruuk. According to an elder from the area, there was a sighting of Ijiqqans by an Inuk man named Siksik in the early 20th century, who was hunting with his father. They killed two caribou and saw a pair of ijiqqans coming towards them. They ran away and watched them from a safe distance pick up the two caribou, one each slung over their shoulders and casually walked away. In November of 1941, Fort Douglas, British Columbia was being "terrorized" by an enormous bipedal primate. Jimmy Douglas and his family, who saw the animal, guessed it was 14 ft tall. In 1959, bigfoot researcher Stephen Franklin interviewed a Songhee man named Jimmy Fraser who claimed that he came across a 15 ft tall aggressive “sasquatch” that roared at him while hunting deep in the mountains of Vancouver Island.

In late June of 1965, prospectors Ron and Loren Welch came across a set of 60 cm (1.9 ft) long human-like tracks in the snow on the top of a valley high up in the mountains north of Pitt Lake, British Columbia. The stride of whatever made the tracks was twice as long as theirs, and appeared to have been made by a biped. Beside the prints was a much larger imprint, which seemed to indicate the trackmaker was dragging something wide, but not very heavy. They followed the prints up to a frozen pond which had a large hole in the middle of the ice. As they were walking around the pond, they noticed the creature making the tracks. It was very still, and seemed that it either didn’t care it was being watched or didn’t notice them. Ron sat down and drew a sketch of the giant as he was seeing it. Ron guessed it was about 10/12 ft tall, while Loren guessed it was 12/14 ft tall. It had massive shoulders, with auburn coloured hair, which was thinner on its arms then on its head. Its hands were described as “the size of canoe paddles.” Its arms were so long it reached down to its knees, which were callused. After watching the animal for a while, they left the area.

In April of 1969, there were far-fetched reports of a true giant in an area not traditionally associated with vast untamed wilderness, Nova Scotia. Specifically around Berwick, where people reported seeing a creature the media labeled a “sasquatch” or “phantom” but was described as being over 15 ft tall, more then twice the height sasquatches are thought to reach. Witnesses would occasionally spot the animal, described as a tall dark form, striding across the tree line in the outskirts of the village. Also in 1969, near Nordegg, Alberta, five workers constructing the Bighorn Dam noticed a large dark, upright figure watching them from the ridge above them. They watched it for nearly half an hour until it disappeared into the tree line. Two of the men went to the ridge were they saw the animal for a size comparison, and by using the trees next to them, they guessed that the figure was 12 to 15 ft tall. This was just one of the many true giant sightings around Nordegg, up until present day. In 1971, editor of Fort Nelson News acquired a photo of a “Nakani” sent to him by a trapper. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of the photo are now lost.


In 2012, Maggie Cruikshank Qingalik and her friend were out berry picking out in the wilderness near Akulivik, Quebec on the northeast coast of the Hudson Bay. They saw a figure that they initially thought was another person picking berries, albeit a very tall one wearing all black, until they got closer and realized it was covered in hair. They watched the creature taking long strides on the side of a hill and would occasionally get on all fours. It slowly started approaching them, so they hopped on their ATV and sped away. Due to a lack of identifiable landmarks or vantage points, it was hard for them to initially guess its size, but they estimated it was 10 to 15 ft tall. They took photos of its strange four-toed tracks. A year later in another community in northern Quebec, a man named Melvin Georgekish photographed a series of very large tracks after seeing a pair of glowing eyes at the same spot the day earlier near Wemindji. He found three different sets of tracks, with one set being 48 cm long. 


The most recent true giant sighting I know of in Canada was in July 17th, 2016 by a Tlicho man named Tony Williah in the Northwest Territories.

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The content presented here has been a personal research project that has taken many forms over many years. I am working hard to ensure that I am giving credit wherever it is due. If you find something that I can more effectively credit, please let me know!

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