Camp Monsters - The Dark Divide: Sasquatch

Episode Date: November 18, 2020

We're sure you’ve all heard of the Sasquatch. Possibly the best-known legendary creature of all time, with entire groups dedicated to finding it. There have even been scientists who have dedicated their life to proving that Bigfoot does indeed walk this earth. And in this bonus episode, we're handing the mic to Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon is a Quinault native elder, a renowned storyteller and an honored historian. Her stories evoke the vivid spirituality and moral lessons of a rich culture, while allowing listeners to experience the heartfelt tales of a traditional storyteller.But why are we doing this extra special bonus Sasquatch episode now? It's in celebration of the film The Dark Divide, which is the first full length film from REI Co-op Studios. It’s based on Robert Pyle’s book, Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide. The film stars David Cross and Debra Messing, and is a story of adventure, grief and the healing power of nature, with a healthy dash of Sasquatch thrown in. You can rent or buy The Dark Divide now on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play and On Demand everywhere. To learn more about the movie visit darkdividefilm.com.

The sponsor for this podcast is Yeti. And while our sponsors typically send us a 60-second ad script via email, Yeti had a different plan in mind. They decided to send us a five-foot-long tundra cooler with the script printed out and frozen in a block of ice inside. It came with the following instructions. Inside this cooler is our ad for the Camp Monsters podcast. Please let the ice thaw on its own to gain access to the script. Under no circumstances

are you allowed to blast the ice with a blow dryer to speed up the melting process. Well, we figured it wouldn't hurt to humor Yeti and abide by their request. So we waited, and abide by their request. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And then we ran out of time and I had to record this week's episode of the podcast. So Yeti, we apologize for not reading your ad. But it's still frozen and we couldn't wait any longer.

Maybe next time try email. Oh, and we're totally keeping this cooler. Thanks. This is an REI Co-op Studios Production. Just when you thought Season 2 was over, we're back with a very special bonus episode. Now, I'm sure you've all heard about the Sasquatch. Possibly the best-known legendary creature of all time, with entire groups dedicated to finding it.

There have even been scientists who have dedicated their life to proving that Bigfoot does indeed walk the Earth. But why are we doing this extra-special bonus Sasquatch episode now? Well, we obviously wanted to tell you more stories about the monsters you love. And while we generally tell the tales of creatures that are a bit less famous, we figured that Sasquatch is just too important to ignore.

And we also wanted to talk about Sasquatch in order to tell you about the film The Dark Divide, which is the first full-length film from REI Co-op Studios. It's based on Robert Pyle's book Where Bigfoot Walks, Crossing the Dark Divide. The film stars David Cross and Deborah Messing, and it's a story of adventure, grief, and the healing power of nature, with a healthy dash of Sasquatch thrown in.

You can rent or buy The Dark Divide right now on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and On Demand. And you can learn more about the movie and where you can watch it by visiting darkdividefilm.com. Another thing that makes this episode so special is that we're lucky enough to be joined by someone who has far more experience telling the stories of Sasquatch than I do. It's my pleasure to introduce you to Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon is a Quinault native elder, a renowned storyteller, and an honored historian. Her stories evoke the vivid spirituality and moral lessons of a rich culture, while allowing listeners to experience the heartfelt tales of a traditional storyteller. Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough. Let's hear Harvest Moon tell us a story about Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or, as the creature is named in her story, Glukeek.

Long ago, the women and the children had spent most of the day picking the sweet, tiny blackberries. As the sun was falling to the west, the women started gathering their baskets of berries and head back to the village when they heard this rustling in the brush. As the rustling of the brush came closer, the women motioned with just their eyes to the children who could run quickly enough and fast enough to run back to the longhouse. Now for the children who were too young, they quickly picked him up, held him underneath their arm,

took their head and held it close to the mother's heart. When the small children heard the fast beating of the mother's heart, they knew they had to be very quiet. The women cupped their hands and brought it behind their ear in order to hear as well as a deer. As the rustling of the brush came closer, they knew that it wasn't deer because deer has a jumping sound through the brush. They knew that it wasn't bear. Oh, bear loved those little blackberries as much as we did. But as long as Bear had no cub, Bear would run away. But as the rustling of the brush came even huge monster. His legs were as big as tree trunks, his skin was covered with hair, and his eyes had a hypnotic red glow to him. This monster started chasing the women all through the berry patch.

And as he was chasing them, he took his huge big feet and he started kicking over every basket of berries, wasting them on the ground. Now the women managed to escape and they made it back to their long house. The men decided maybe we should go check that berry patch. When they got to the berry patch, they looked for footprints, none to be found. They looked for maybe hair that might have came off, but there was none to be found. That night, when everyone was sound asleep, all of a sudden, the guard dogs stood up on all fours and they just froze. Now in the past, those guard dogs would have ran out and chased whatever it was that was coming. But in this case, they didn't make a noise. The hair on the back of the dogs came straight up and for the first and only time the secret tunnels we have in our longhouses. Others just froze.

That monster came and started throwing pieces of driftwood on the roof, screaming and hollering through the entire night. Just before the sun came up, he disappeared. Now not having any sleep whatsoever, the salmon fishermen went down to the river and they started to pull up their traps. And as each of them pulled up their traps, lo and behold, there had not been one salmon caught. salmon fisherman looked up the river and standing where no man would be able to stand in the skookums or the white rapids of the river stood this monster. He picked up his smelly, stinky feet and he started laughing at the salmon fishermen. It was then they realized that as long as this monster was to stand in the river with his dirty

stinky feet that the salmon people you know who live at the bottom of the ocean, will never travel up the river again. Women aren't going out to gather food. They're not getting any sleep. And now, no salmon? Now, this was happening throughout the entire Pacific Northwest. And for the first and only time, all the chiefs gathered together for a meeting. One of the chiefs raised his talking stick and explained, let us find the strongest warrior. We'll make a special spear that would be so sharp that it would penetrate the tough leather skin of the monster and we'll be rid of him forever. As soon as he spoke those words, the whale hunter raised his arm and announced, I should be the one that kills

this monster. I kill whales that are 10 times as big as this monster. Then elk hunter, he raised his arm and announced that he should be the one that kills the monster because he knows the woods better than the whale hunter. Well, they argued back and forth until four young men brought forth this huge rock. The rock was as big as your arms could hold around. They dropped this big rock in the middle of the floor of the longhouse. Then a young girl of six seasons came forward with a shell. In this shell was full of bear grease. She took a handful of the bear grease and she started smearing it all over the boulder. For whoever could carry this rock the furthest would be the one that would kill the monster. Well, it's been said that the warrior who carried that rock the furthest

had carried it six and a half miles up the side of a mountain and back without dropping it. After the special spear had been made, as a warrior was leaving, he stopped and asked a very old elder. He said, by what name shall I call this monster to his death, and the old elder spoke and said, His name is Glukeek. So as he was leaving, you could hear, Glukeek! Glukeek! Glukeek! Weeks passed. The warrior never returned. The parents who lost their son had a meal in his honor. And it was after the meal that an old, old elder came forward and said,

Let us dig a hole, dig a deep hole, put some branches on top of the hole, and place your prettiest maiden on the very edge of the hole. At that minute, everyone standing side by side started to dig this hole. It took two full moons to dig a hole deep enough that would keep this monster in the bottom of the pit. They just placed the prettiest maiden on the very edge of the hole when they heard the rustling of the brush. Glue-keek came out of the brush,

ran straight towards the maiden, made it over halfway over the hole before he finally fell through. When he hit the bottom of that pit, he started screaming and hollering so loud it created avalanches in the Olympics. The people didn't know if they should cover their ears or cover their nose.

Days passed. He soon collapsed in the bottom of the pit. It was then that my ancestors had enough nerve to peer into the pit. And as they gazed into the pit they thought what are we gonna do with him now i don't want to feed him not after what he's been doing to my tribe one of the young men raised his arm and said let us put the dirt that we took out and we'll put it back in and we'll bury him alive. Well, as we put the dirt back in he can arrange it at different levels and escape and kill us all. A young woman raised her arm and announced, why don't we just fill the hole with water and we'll drown him. Well, as we fill it up with water, he'd be able to float to the edge and escape and kill us all. Well, there were ideas upon ideas until finally

came forward the old elder and he said, burn him. The people took a couple steps back. Burn this monster? Well, his idea of capturing him in the hole worked. So his idea of burning him shall also. So the people quickly got into a line from the edge of the hole all the way to the beach. In this line of people, they started passing up large pieces of driftwood and putting them at each end of the pit. On the night when there was no moon in the sky, all the people gathered around the pit.

The parents who lost their son would be the ones selected to torch the first fire. And as they were bending down to torch the first fire, all of a sudden there was this rustling in the brush. Are there more than one of these monsters? Are there families of these monsters? Will we be tormented for the rest of our lives with these monsters? About then, out of the brush came their son. His head was bowed low. He didn't want any eye contact, for all that had happened was he had lost his way.

Oh, the parents were so happy he was still alive. They quickly handed him the torch, and he would torch the last fire. And as he was bending down to torch the last fire, Glukeke reared up from the bottom of the pit and he said, You can't kill me because I'm going to get out and I'm going to bite each and every one of you and suck your blood. Those people kept those fires burning for four days and three nights. The flames of the fire rose so high into the sky that the people on the other side of the Olympics actually thought Raven the trickster was creating a second sun from the west. On the fourth night when there was a small crest of a moon, all the people gathered around the pit.

The chief took his walking stick and he started stirring the coals that accumulated at the bottom of the pit. And as he was stirring the coals, sparks from the fire rose high into the sky. And as they got higher, they started to cool and fall as ash. It all came to life as fleas, mosquitoes, and ticks. How many have you been bitten by Glukeek? Nahashka. thank you harvest moon for a wonderful immersive story stay subscribed to the camp monsters podcast to get updates on all your favorite mysterious creatures as we get set for another full season of camp monsters until then stay safe and stay healthy out there. Camp Monsters is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's produced by Chelsea Davis.

It's recorded here in Seattle, Washington by our very talented engineer, Nick Patry. And the executive producers are Paolo Motilla and Joe Crosby. As always, I'm Weston Davis, and thank you for joining us.