Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

There are quite a few reported Sasquatch encounters associated with Fort Lewis and what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), including accounts from soldiers and other military personnel. What makes Fort Lewis interesting is the combination of multiple independent reports, military training environments, and reports involving night operations and thermal optics.

1997 — Marines encounter something during a night exercise

This is probably one of the more striking accounts. A Marine reported that while moving through brush during a training mission in 1997, he came within roughly 10–15 feet of a very large, human-shaped figure. He described it as approximately 7 feet tall. In the darkness, he initially couldn’t determine what it was. He became frightened and fired a burst of blank ammunition from an M249 SAW to scare it away.

According to the report, it then ran away on two legs through dense vegetation, taking enormous strides. The Marine reported that several Marines behind him also saw it.

1971 — Soldier sees a huge figure near the barracks

There’s an older BFRO report from March 1971 involving a soldier on patrol at Fort Lewis. He reportedly saw a very large, broad-shouldered, dark figure near a tree line. It moved with what the witness described as an unusual swaying gait and was substantially larger than a normal person. The soldier reportedly couldn’t understand why anyone would be outside in that location at that time of night. He eventually returned to the barracks without approaching it.

The thermal-imaging incident

This one is particularly intriguing from a military perspective. A BFRO report describes a crewman operating a Bradley fighting vehicle on a JBLM firing range. While watching the range through a thermal imaging scope, he reportedly saw a large upright bipedal figure run across the range.

According to the account, personnel in three Bradley vehicles supposedly saw the same thing and called a cease-fire. A range officer subsequently went downrange but reportedly couldn’t find anything corresponding to the thermal image. That sounds extraordinary but it’s important to emphasize that this is a secondhand report preserved by BFRO, not a released Army incident report or independently verified sensor data.

Salish Sasquatch writes “Come with us to Fort Lewis, Washington, as we interview one of our good friends, Steve Edwards, as he shares his amazing encounter of a little gray Sasquatch, and loads of audio files from the military base.”