|
Ape Canyon is a gorge along the edge of the Plains of Abraham, on the southeast shoulder of Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington. The gorge narrows to as close as eight feet at one point. The name alludes to a reported encounter with several "apemen" in 1924, an event later incorporated into Bigfoot folklore. Ape Canyon was heavily impacted by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Adjacent to the steep rocky canyon is the present Ape Canyon trail, popular with hikers and mountain bikers. On the south side of the mountain is another feature named Ape Cave. ==Alleged Bigfoot attack== Ape Canyon was reportedly the site of a violent encounter in 1924 between a group of miners and a group of apemen. These allegations were reported on in the July 16, 1924 issue of ''The Oregonian''. Fred Beck, one of the miners, claimed they shot and possibly killed at least one of the creatures, precipitating an attack on their cabin, during which the creatures bombarded the cabin with rocks and tried to break in. Beck detailed his claims in a 22-page booklet〔Its page-count is given as such on its page on Amazon (where it is unavailable), at http://www.amazon.com/Fought-Apemen-Mt-St-Helens/dp/B00L0PX33U/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1440611698&sr=8-4&keywords=i+fought+the+apemen+of+Mt.+St.+Helens〕 written in 1967, in which he identified the creatures as mystical beings from another dimension, explaining that he had experienced psychic premonitions and visions his entire life of which the apemen were only one component.〔Beck, Fred; told to Ronald A. Beck. (1967) (''I Fought the Apemen of Mount St. Helens, WA.'' ).〕〔Beck's 22-page booklet is posted, apparently in full, online on the Bigfoot Encounters site at: http://www.bigfootencounters.com/classics/beck.htm〕 Roger Patterson interviewed Beck in 1966 and printed its gist in his book, ''Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?'' along with drawings, a photo of the miners, a map, a reprint of a contemporary newspaper story on the incident, plus reprints of three newspaper stories about subsequent spooky and Bigfoot-related activity in Ape Canyon.〔Patterson and Murphy, 74–85, 86–93〕 Chris Murphy's account of the incident includes four photos and an illustration.〔Murphy (2009), 30–31〕 Portions of Patterson's taped interview are reprinted in Green's ''Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us''. Cryptozoologist Mark A. Hall pointed out that in it Beck significantly increased the ape-men's foot size (to 19 inches, on page 94), height (to eight feet, on page 95), and weight (to "six or eight hundred pounds," on page 96), from what he had told the press in earlier interviews.〔Mark A. Hall, "Mystery Profiles--2002: Ape Canyon, Washington--1924," in ''Wonders'', 7 (3): 85, September 2002〕 (Hall is profiled in ''Cryptozoology A to Z''.)〔Coleman and Clark, 103–04〕 William Halliday, director of the Western Speleological Survey, claimed in his 1983 pamphlet ''Ape Cave and the Mount Saint Helens Apes'' that the miner's assailants were actually local youths. Until the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, counselors from the YMCA's Camp Meehan on nearby Spirit Lake brought hikers to the canyon's edge and related a tradition that the 1924 incident was actually the result of young campers throwing light pumice stones into the canyon, not realizing there were miners at the bottom. Looking up, the miners would have only seen dark moonlit figures throwing stones at their cabin. The narrow walls of the canyon would have served to distort the voices of the YMCA campers enough to frighten the men below. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ape Canyon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|