Washington State’s Batsquatch
I grew up in Washington State regaled with Bigfoot sightings. When our family went camping in the state forests, we kids kept an eye out for Bigfoot.
This week’s article is about Washington State’s cryptid, and Bigfoot did show up in my research. I even found an article where Seattle is planning to name Bigfoot as Washington’s state cryptid.
Seriously?
There is a lot of documentation on Bigfoot and many sightings reported. However, I wanted to write about a cryptid not as well-known. So, after my research, I found “Batsquatch.”
The first reported sighting of this ugly beast was soon after Mt. Saint Helen’s eruption in 1980. There has been much speculation that this beastie had been dormant until the explosion woke it up. Several sightings happened soon after the blast, with witnesses describing the beastie as having purplish skin, leathery wings, and a horse’s head.
I would not want to meet this creature in the middle of the night.
Coincidence does support the first appearance after the eruption. Before 1980 there have been no sightings or reports on the Batsquatch. I’m sorry? If I were purple with leather skin, the entire state would see me. There had been no reports before 1980, and Mt. St. Helens had been dormant since 1857, when the last major eruption occurred.
That is a significant coincidence. Of course, the reports describe the Batsquatch as grumpy and aggressive. It sounds like it did not like being woken up.
In 1994, a teen named Brian Canfield was driving his truck one night. It suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and refused to restart. If that wasn’t bad enough, a tall creature with blue fur landed on the truck hood. The beast had leathery wings and stared at Brian with yellow eyes. It stared at him for a time then flew off. The weird part is once the creature from nightmares left, his truck started up.
Hikers reported seeing the beastie flying near Mt. Shasta, California, in 2009. It might be looking for a new home since Mt. Shasta is also a dormant volcano. The last eruption recorded was in the year 1290. So, it would be a safe home for it.
In March 2011, witnesses saw the critter flying around Butler County, Pennsylvania numerous times. A businessman driving through the rural area reported seeing “the freakiest thing” he ever saw. In the evening after the sunset, he saw something in the grassy area to his left. To the gentleman’s surprise, it walked directly in front of the vehicle’s lights. He described what he saw as a tall, muscular creature. The creature was at least eight feet tall with smooth leather-like skin that was a light brown.
Sound familiar?
The witness only saw it from the side and stated it never looked at him. He described the monster’s head. “At the top back of the skull, it was like one of those aerodynamic helmets. The top was not quite a point but looked like a ridge on top of the head.”
What is unusual is also in March, two witnesses were driving to Butler, Pennsylvania. They spotted an 8-foot creature with folded wings and a smashed face. The driver stopped the car in shock, not believing what they saw. It had claws for fingers and loped across the road on two legs. They’ve never seen anything like it and stayed frozen until another car showed up and they had to move.
Again in March, in East Brady, Pennsylvania, a motorcyclist was driving in town. He saw a giant animal bent over something and drove up to get a closer look. The witness described what he saw as eight to nine feet with arms hanging below the knees. The creature was dark, leathery, and muscular but also angry. It did not like being watched, and after glaring at the driver, entered the woods.
The creature spotted in Washington State matches the sightings in California and the reports in Pennsylvania, which fit the descriptions of West Virginia’s Mothman. The significant difference is the reports from Washington described the creature as having blue hair. None of the other sightings report seeing animals with blue hair.
Physical description, except for the one report of blue skin, fits what witnesses saw and matches the description of the Mothman.
Again in March 2011, two witnesses in Rimersburg, Pennsylvania, reported seeing this strange cryptid. Their beastie was nine-foot-tall, but everything else was the same—dark leathery skin, claws for fingers, and mushed in the horse-like face.
Washington State is the only state to have a critter with blue skin. Everyone else is reporting leathery dark skin. Is this the same creature, or could it be a hybrid of some sort?
Campers and hikers continue reporting sightings of this bizarre cryptid through mid-2012. All of the sightings are still primarily in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
Back in Washington, sightings report the critter to be anywhere from 4 to 7 feet. The skin is tinted blue to purple, with claws for fingers and hairy with bat-like wings. So, why does Washington have a blue skin creature when none of the others states do and is 1980 the first sighting?
Nope, because in 2021, a hiker enjoyed the morning on Ape Canyon Trail in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Out of nowhere, a seven-foot hairy beast landed in front of her, scaring the bejeesus out of her. The monster had leathery wings and blue fur with a wolf’s face. It eyed our hiker’s pomeranian, and she screamed at it to leave the dog alone.
The Batsquatch of Washington State has blue to purple hair with a wolf’s head. But, unfortunately, the other sightings reported across the United States don’t match it. Except for the leathery wings, claws for fingers, and horse or wolf’s head.
So, are we looking at two similar creatures?
If you are ever in Washington State, be careful because it looks like Bigfoot isn’t the only cryptid. You now have the Batsquatch, and it looks similar to the Mothman. Except with blue hair.
