Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

Nov 20

SC EP:275 First Nations encounters with Sasquatch Part Two

Tom Sewid returns tonight for part two of my interview on the First Nations encounters with Sasquatch. Please visit www.hamoomooadventures.com

Thomas Sewid was born on a small island off northeast Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada called Alert Bay. This is the modern epicenter for the northern Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) First Nations Tribes, otherwise known as Canadian Indians. Raised with the rich culture and heritage of this coastal First Nations Tribe, he was brought up hearing the stories of the animal kingdom and seeing the great ceremony known as Potlatch. At Potlatch he has witnessed the ancient dances with carved masks and beautiful traditional regalia hosted in the great buildings known as Bighouse’s.

Raised to be a commercial seine fisherman from an early age he would work his way up the ranks to be a captain of salmon seine boats during the 1990s. Thomas has also participated in numerous other commercial fisheries throughout the entire British Columbia coast. During this time, he would meet other First Nations from throughout the coast and hear their stories pertaining to the Sasquatch/Bigfoot.

In his mid-twenties Thomas was sent out by his Chief and Council to the abandoned Indian Village known famously as Mamalilacolla, Village Of The Last Potlatch to be its care taker . The name is far from the truth, and Tom would educate the boaters and sea kayakers that came to this world famous site to see the fallen totem poles and Bighouse remains that the Potlatch ceremony was and is still alive to this day. Little did he know in the first year that the caretaking would lead him to give daily summer tours throughout this village educating all about the rich history and culture of his Tribe for over 25 years! It also turned his life around where instead of catching salmon during the summers he was now working in the Eco-cultural tourism industry of the B.C. coast.

Living in the bush world of his people he honed his skills to be a modern day bushman. One of the things that interested Thomas was the stories about encounters with large and small hair covered bi-pedal creatures’ visitors and local homesteaders had had in the region. He also began to wonder about some of the night time noises and strange happenings that were taken place while he was living out in the bush? Then came his encounter with two creatures and a few years later another encounter that set him on the course to be one of North America’s leading Sasquatch/Bigfoot researchers for he has deep insight into the First Nations stories and beliefs!

In the 1990’s he hired on with a yacht to be a commercial hunting guide. Traveling throughout all of The Broughton Archipelago he poked around in every bay, channel, nock and cranny as he states looking mainly for black bears for his International clients. In fall the outfit would journey deep into the inlets in pursuit of grizzly bears. Thomas spent many years being a big game guide and as though it was just part of what he did, he was always questioning locals and people working in the bush about Sasquatch.

Each year though, Thomas always found himself back in Village Island during the summers conducting tours and building his tourism business. He would have a float house which became British Columbia’s only floating Indian Art Store, a small marina and eventually a 12 passenger water taxi/tour boat with native orca design painted across its’ bow. He would build cabins out of red cedar reminiscent of his peoples’ traditional styled Bighouse’s which he still has to this day. He also purchased a sea kayak fleet and became one of the most sought after outfitters specializing in paddling with orca whales and grizzly bears all with a heavy First Nations cultural component.

Through the years, Thomas was active in the Canadian Indian political field as a Director on the boards of Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia, Aboriginal Tourism Team Canada. He even participated with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver B.C. when he assisted with incorporating the Canadian Indian cultural component into the games.

As a true aboriginal entrepreneur he honed his business skills, so that now he works part time under contract helping others build or expand their tourism business ventures as a consultant. It has and is taking him all over western Canada and he just finished one year living and working in the Northwest Territories. There he conducted boat tours, fishing operations and in the winter ice fishing charters for the world famous Aurora Village which focuses on catering to people to see the northern lights.

These days sees Thomas assisting his life’s partner in Kent Washington with www.hamoomooadventures.com which is an adventure tourism operation catering to people wanting to sea kayak, high end camp called Glamping, take yacht based adventures and of course conduct or participate in Sasquatch tours or research. The focus to all is a heavy First Nations cultural component which is amazing after decades of honing his skills.

Tom and his partner Peggy have just launched The Seattle Sasquatch Tour, where one gets to see Peggy perform the costumed masked native Sasquatch dance in the shadow of the Tzoonakwa (Wildwoman Of The Woods) Totem pole in down town Seattle. Afterwards Thomas guides you through the Seattle Art Museum to share insight into the Sasquatch carvings found here and at The Burke Museum. This tour is sure to give insight into the creatures like no other tour in North America. They even have a dinner tour where all go to Ivar’s Salmon House which is designed and decorated like a traditional west coast Indian big house.

Thomas Sewid & Peggy Ferderer

tom.sewid@gmail.com

U.S.A. Cell 206-617-7547

Ha Moo Moo Adventures www.hamoomooadventures.com

 


 

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38 Responses to “SC EP:275 First Nations encounters with Sasquatch Part Two”

  3. Frankie P

    I am awed with this gentleman’s presentation. I have always been so interested in the “native peoples” of the Americas, and to learn so much in a couple of hours of him, his life, his people, the country, the history, as well as our “favorite unknown” Sasquatch was a joy and a gift. Thank you so much Wes for bringing Mr. Sewid’s stories to our attention. I hope you tell him how much I and others appreciate it.

  5. Tony s

    Does anyone remember the story out of Tennessee, I think, about the lady that said she had habituated Bigfoots to the point where they would ask her for garlic in sort of a garbled english? Mary Green, I think.
    She had said that thy used it for bug repellent. When I heard the story at the time I though it was crazy but I think I’ll go back and read that report more carefully.

    • m99

      ~ When I was a young mom I tried to (still do) eat as close to the earth as possible. Me and my two children just love raw garlic. Being from the Piney Woods, there are lots of mosquitoes, but I didn’t know it was a bug repellent. Once, we visited my folks and my dad called me aside and said that we “all stink”! I said WHAT!? He said you gotta quit eating that raw garlic! You stink! Well, I guess I hadn’t noticed, but we did cut back a bit. hahhahah…

    • Amanda B

      Is that the documentary where she says they come to her door and ask for sugar? The Russian researcher Igor was staying with her so he could meet these Sasquatch. She also said she has seen them hunt deer, that they do it in 3’s and it’s quite brutal as the rip the back legs to catch it. Is that what you’re referring to?? Was an interesting documentary

    • m99

      ~ When I was a young mom I tried to (still do) eat as close to the earth as possible. Me and my two children just love raw garlic. Being from the Piney Woods, there are lots of mosquitoes, but I didn’t know it was a bug repellent. Once, we visited my folks and my dad called me aside and said that we “all stink”! I said WHAT!? He said you gotta quit eating that raw garlic! You stink! Well, I guess I hadn’t noticed, but we did cut back a bit. hahhahah…

      https://youtu.be/q8k__Srgr00

  7. Tony s

    Love the epidemic theory as well. Would that mean that they have acquired some of our immunities by now ? If they do predate on humans and eat them, one would have to assume that they have ingested some if not all of our blood and or brain tissue born diseases.

  13. Rick T

    Thomas sounds really cool. I am going to see if I can hook up with his organization maybe next spring, since I am about 30 miles north of him. Sounds like it would be a lot of fun

  14. michael n

    Hey wes thanks for the great shows. This is the only place that I get encounters that I trust and know are real.
    Secondly I never wanted to pile on but I haven’t had holidays with family now for years. What used to be a magical time of the year are now just another day. I find that listening to your show present and past episodes takes my mind off of things for a while. It really does help. So thank you for that too.
    All the best to you and yours and everyone else here.

  15. Scott D

    A BIG thanks to Tom for coming on the show! Thoroughly enjoyed both! I wish I had a fireplace or stove, listen to the crackling of the fire and trip out on it all…lol! Loved it! Take care Tom and Wes.

  16. Kathryn C

    I could listen to Tom Sewid for hours and longer. He is so knowledgeable and intelligent and easy to listen to. I am very glad you brought him on the show. His suggestion of why we are seeing more Squatch in the last 25 years certainly makes sense and this is a subject I have mulled over. It makes sense that it is their self preservation. I hope he is willing to visit the show every now and then and treat us with some more stories.

    Thank you Tom. I ordered a copy of your father’s book earlier today as you really perked my interest in your culture. I imagine you got your love of storytelling from your father? Please come back and smarten us up about the Big Fella.

  18. michael n

    That chirp whistle that tom talks about is what the guy from the LBL episode was trying to describe……exactly. that is really cool to hear that. It was the big one from the first group he ran into.

  19. Rich A

    hey Wes what are the chances of doing a topic or have a guest who knows about the San Juan Islands is there any action out there I don’t know if I have heard much seems they would have a long way to swim to get to those islands but who know?

  20. Casey M

    Fantastic interview and an even more fascinating guest. What doesn’t this gentleman know? I especially appreciate the information regarding his tribe and local customs. This is Bigfoot gold for sure!

  21. Jan D

    This second interview was just as good as the first. Tom’s familiarity with the creature and its habitat, not to mention the history to which he has access, is a valuable addition to the cases archived here. Important information here about the dietary and migratory habits. Tom’s delivery is so down-home. It’s like sitting at the woodstove with granddad on a Winter night.

  24. Marideth S

    Tom is such a brilliant story teller and very organized on his thoughts. I love his “matter of fact” attitude on the Sasquatch topic. I could listen to him more. Wes, good call on dedicating three shows to him.

  25. scott p

    Tom has a very good point about small pox. Iv’e read somewhere and i believe it was from an old trapper/hunter in BC here going back to the 60’s. can’t remember his name though but i do remember reading about how sasquatch’s were believed to have been affected heavily in there population from the white men when they first came over here with disease/etc. i think his information came from tribal elders and there stories about the sasquatch. No different then south america being decimated when the spanish showed up with there diseases. makes complete sense.

  28. Diana A

    Well, I think bigfoot is the protector in the environment. Only its not like a magical wand or fairy tail. Its because if Bigfoot is found and everyone knows about it, they will have to study and then in a sense stopping logging stopping fraking, stopping oil, daming all the water–its because those are the things the newly discovered species needs to survive. In that sense, saving the environment or protecting the environment making the bigfoot the protector of the environment. DO YOU GET IT NOW. I m sure the government has them stored, theyve raided our burials enough to find them and drag them off. Thats why regular citizens are not allowed in our burials. they end up looking for things. However i do believe it doest halt naking money. There would probably be people coming here JUST to visit and get a sighting. It wont stop the money train. It would probably increase funds, Agencies will put money into research. I just dont want to see christians insist putting clothes on them.

    • SantiamLady

      Great episode! Love Tom’s stories! And, yeah, I agree with several others above about the garlic thing. It is great for keeping away fleas, ticks, & mosquitoes off both humans and their dogs!

  30. Stephen C

    Ticks don’t bite if I eat a clove of garlic a day. Geranium and mint put in a blender stops wasps stings /pain.also works on shingles /burning ,for 15 minutes,then repeat.stops the burning compleatly ,then the burning slowly comes back,repeat,and burning stops .i did this for the whole time I had shingles ,what a relief! I learned this in south west mexico.

  31. L S

    Great show! Would like to hear him talk longer in his native language, maybe an entire small story, because the sound when he talks is really cool and I want to hear it just a little bit longer. Thanks for the great stories and history!

  32. Brian D

    Awesome show Wes. I’m not to proud to admit I envy the life that Tom has lived. His experiences
    , his wisdom, and his ability to tell his story. Great show, great guest! I hope we can hear more from Tom in the future.

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