DATE:   c.1000AD
 

TIME:
 

LOCATION:     As the viking settlements in Newfoundland, Canada are found mainly in The Northern Pennisula, it is likely that these events took place here; today the areas are known as L'Anse aux Meadows and St.Anthony
 

TERRAIN:    Wooded
                     Today the Northern Pennisula of the island is a major tourist site.
                     Only one major highway allows access by land.
 

OBSERVED:   The First Sasquatch Sighting by a European?

It is a little known historical fact that the first Sasquatch encounter was perhaps observed by the vikings who settled on the island of Newfoundland in Eastern Canada. Leif Erikson, or Leif the Lucky (son of Erik the Red), and his crew of Norsemen landed on the rugged shores on "The Rock" some one thousand years ago, becoming the first Europeans to set foot in the Western World. Leif kept a record of his journey across the Atlantic, from Iceland to Greenland, and of his experiences whilst in Newfoundland, the last point of land on his voyage. Among his accounts, Leif told of seeing huge hairy men who towered over him and his Berzerker crew (and the vikings are known to have been large men). The "huge hairy men", according to Leif, lived in the Woods and had a rank odour and a deafening shriek. Apparently, Leif had several sightings of the "huge hairy men" before departing the island.

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:  Towering height, hairy, man-like, rank smell, deafening verbal tones., The natives of Newfoundland, the Beothuck (now extinct), most likely had similar relations to the Sasquatch like other native bands, especially those of Western Canada (ie Bella Coola). Leif's accounts spoke of his meeting of a race of men (seperate from the "huge hairy men"), which were almost certainly the Beothuck.
 

OTHER NOTES:   voyagers - sailed the Atlantic, charting course from Iceland to Greenland to Newfoundland, settling in the latter for some time before retracing their voyage back home.
 

OTHER OTHER NOTES:
I initially was introduced to this information from an "Unexplained" documentary (broadcast station and show title not recalled). I later found other info pertaining to this in the archives at a St.John's library. The remains of the Viking settlement (in L'Anse aux Meadows) was found in the 1960's. It is now a National Historical Site (where during summer, 2000, the voyage of Leif the Lucky was retraced, having the recreated ship landing on the Northern Pennisula). The arrival of Leif Erikson is celebrated every year in L'Anse aux Meadows by the residents of the area.
 

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA?: