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BONUS: The Historical Natives | Coast Salish | Sasquatch
4.3k Plays3 years ago
Happy Indigenous People's Day! Enjoy this preview episode from The Historical Natives, a horror-themed podcast about Native American history, culture, and folklore. Follow The Historical Natives and check out their full-length Sasquatch episode on November 30, 2021!
BUT FIRST, Julie talks about Indigenous horror writers for like 5 minutes.
[0.00 - 5:24] - Julie chat
[5:25 - End] - The Historical Natives - Coast Salish - Sasquatch
BOOKS RECOMMENDED:
- The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones
- Into The Forest And All The Way Through, by Cynthia Pelayo
- Grass Dancer (from Tribal Scream) and Coyote Rage, by Owl Goingback
- Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger
- The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline
- Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, by Aviaq Johnston, Richard Van Camp, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Seaan Qitsualik-Tinsley, and Thomas Anguti Johnston
MUSIC:
- Julie's preamble
- Taking Me High, Taking Me Low (Instrumental Version) - Gold Flow
- My Brother - Yi Nantiro
- Intro to Historical Natives Episode:
- Eerie Music Box 2 - Natalie000
- Background: People:
- Daniel Birch - Indigo Shore DooDoo - Unknown
- Background: Being:
- Haunted Woods - Dark Music Radio Silence - Dark Music
- Background: Call to Action:
- Creepy Night - Astrofreq
- Story Intro:
- Samuel Francis Johnson - Creepy Ambient
- Outro of Episode:
- AQUI - Charles Michel
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Indigenous People's Day
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, this is Julie Saunders, the creator of Believer. We are just about two weeks out for new episodes of this show premiering. However, yesterday, October 11th, was Indigenous People's Day in the United States. It's a holiday that was created to honor the people and cultures who were displaced by mostly European colonizers, such as my ancestors. And I thought,
00:00:25
Speaker
Since we have not premiered yet, you probably have an opening in your fiction and or podcast enjoying schedule for some indigenous horror.
Respectful Indigenous Horror Stories
00:00:36
Speaker
A lot of white American horror pulls from indigenous traditions often disrespectfully. Native American burial grounds, shamans, just various bastardized legends are all over modern American horror.
00:00:52
Speaker
Even Sasquatch, a central figure in our show, has roots in various native traditions. In fact, while several cultures have legends about hairy wild men or Bigfoot-like creatures, the term Sasquatch is actually borrowed from the Halkamalem language.
00:01:09
Speaker
based on stories from the First Nations people in northern Washington and British Columbia. In doing my research on Sasquatch, I found this absolutely fantastic historical horror podcast. It's called The Historical Natives, and they did a deep dive into the Coast Salish people and their stories about Sasquatch. They're actually releasing an updated version of the episode they previously made, and they were kind enough to give us a preview of that
00:01:37
Speaker
to drop in our feed. I'm really excited about it. Listen to this preview, follow the historical natives, tune back in for their full episode in November. They'll have more information, a dramatized short story, all kinds of great stuff.
Recommendations of Indigenous Authors
00:01:52
Speaker
Before we get to that, I did want to recommend a couple of other authors and books. If you have read any of these or you have any more recommendations to add, please reach out to me on social media. I want to keep the conversation going there for sure.
00:02:08
Speaker
Steven Graham Jones is a New York Times bestselling author. He's written novels, collections, novellas, and comic books. His most recent works are The Only Good Indians, Night of the Mannequins, and My Heart is a Chainsaw, which just came out this year.
00:02:24
Speaker
I recently read The Only Good Indians and it was eerie and beautiful and violent but like in this really lovely way. If you, like me, are really creeped out by elk and really love beautifully written revenge stories with social commentary thrown in, you've just, you've gotta read it.
00:02:45
Speaker
If dark poetry is more your style, Cynthia Palayo has this incredible collection called Into the Forest and All the Way Through. Each poem in the collection is inspired by one of a hundred missing or murdered indigenous women in the United States. It's haunting and gorgeous. It's like nothing else I've ever read.
00:03:06
Speaker
If the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US and Canada is something that feels a little distant for you, I think that these poems will just burrow straight into your heart in a very necessary way.
00:03:21
Speaker
Owl Going Back is another great indigenous horror writer. I recently read his nebula-nominated short story Grass Dancer. It's this lovely magical story about grief and war and traditional dances. I also read a few chapters of his most recent novel, Coyote Rage. They were included in the same short story collection. Coyote Rage is this, it's like a muscular dark fantasy about a shape-shifting trickster god. I'm really excited to read more of it.
00:03:50
Speaker
Next up on my list are going to be Elatsoe, which is a young adult fantasy mystery by Darcy Littlebadger, The Marrow Thieves, a super dark, young adult dystopian novel by Cherie de Moline, and Tuck to Me, an anthology of arctic horror stories, which I'm really excited about. They're all by indigenous and Inuit writers. I love a good Frozen horror story, so I'm very excited for that one.
00:04:15
Speaker
I've included links to all of the authors and books I just mentioned in the show notes. I would love to know what you think. Okay, now on to the main event.
'The Historical Natives' Podcast Overview
00:04:28
Speaker
The Historical Natives is a horror-themed podcast that covers Native American history, culture, language, and folklore, founded by a sibling duo wanting to learn more about their culture.
00:04:39
Speaker
Joseph Stafford and Mackenzie Taylor also create digital art and short stories to accompany their researched information. You can find out more about them at their website, thehistoricalnatives.ca or on Facebook and Instagram at thehistoricalnatives.
00:04:55
Speaker
Their next episode comes out on October 31st. What we're gonna play here is a preview of the episode after that, which is a two-part rerelease about Sasquatch and the Coast Salish people. If you enjoy this shortened version that we have here, you should definitely follow them for the full episode on November 30th, including a dramatized short story. All the short stories are excellent, so you definitely wanna check that out. Okay, we'll be back soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the historical natives.
Coast Salish Culture and History
00:05:49
Speaker
Ani, I'm Mackenzie. And I'm Joseph. First, we would like to acknowledge that we are recording in the traditional territories of the local hunger people. And before we get into it, we'd like to introduce who we are to those who might not know.
00:06:04
Speaker
We are the historical natives. We are a horror-themed podcast that covers Native American history, culture, language, and folklore. And we are a teaser audience that are wanting to learn more about our culture, create digital art, and short stories to come in our research information and our advocacy. Now, we'd like to tell you a bit about the Crusaders peoples.
00:06:30
Speaker
The Coast Salish territory extends throughout large parts of both present-day British Columbia and the Washington State, including parts of the Strait of Georgian, Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Lower Fraser Valley, and Pudgett Sound. The only exceptions are lands included in the Douglas Treaties, which are the only historic treaties in all of southern BC.
00:06:58
Speaker
Villages of the Coast Salish typically consisted of long houses, which was made out of Western red cedar, split planks, and earthen floors, providing housing for about 40 or more people. Also used by the interior Salish people, some of the houses, known in the Chinook as the Kool. The park is a traditional event that is stuck into the ground, actually in a round ship. The walls are really big, but they have a 60 feet
00:07:31
Speaker
The Coast Salish peoples are most known for their artwork and have a unique style of depicting animals, mythical bakers, humans, and sphere beings. When they create masks, they can range from small to extremely large. By using red, black, and other colors to help depict the negative and positive space, these masks would often be used in ceremonies like the potlatch.
00:08:03
Speaker
Colonists are ceremonies to tell stories and social changes, such as marriages, man-givings, new chiefs and dads. In Chinook, it means to give. When the colonizers started to settle in, they realized that the potlatch was vital in keeping the Indian culture alive. And with a little pressure from the church, the newly formed government issued a proclamation in 1883.
00:08:32
Speaker
On April 19, 1884, a year later, they amended the Indian Act to make engaging and potlatch a misdemeanor. However, it was written so vaguely that the law was mostly ignored. And, like many things, that didn't fly with the church. And so, it was rewritten and worded so carefully that even being a guest could land you in jail.
00:09:03
Speaker
The last major potlatch was held in 1921. It was held on McWamless Village Island in British Columbia. There were at least 300 guests making it one of the biggest potlatches ever held on the British Columbia coast.
00:09:24
Speaker
Despite the scale, the crane or potlatch was held in secret. This, and the reason it was held on Village Island, was to help avoid the Indian agent. Although they took precautions to hide their potlatch, Indian agent
00:09:42
Speaker
Halliday and Sargent by the name of Angerman had their chance to arrest and prosecute the Indians. And so they did. They arrested about 45 people and charged them with various crimes, such as giving speeches, dancing, caring, and receiving gifts at the potlatch. Halliday and the Sargent offered those accused a chance to avoid jail time.
00:10:10
Speaker
However, the community would have to give up their regalia and promise to give up potlatches. Their regalias and other potlatch items were then divided and given to different museums. However, a man by the name of Mr. George Hay and the Deputy Superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, Duncan Campbell Scott, had selected some of the pieces for their own private collection.
00:10:40
Speaker
And with that, potlatches went underground until 1951. You see, in 1951, Section 149 of the Indian Act was simply deleted. This meant the Indigenous communities could finally be public with their potlatches again.
00:11:01
Speaker
A year later, in Victoria, British Columbia, the first public potlatch was hosted by Chief Mungo Martin of the Kwokwakiwak peoples.
00:11:17
Speaker
The Coast Salish languages are part of the Salish and linguistic family. Many Salish and languages are endangered because of the federal policies and program aimed at assimilation, such as residential schools, which significantly decreased the number of fluent speakers. Prior to the implementation of the residential school system and similar assimilation policies in the 1880s, all Indigenous people in Canada spoke at least one Indigenous language.
00:11:47
Speaker
In terms of indigenous languages spoken in BC, well, they're incredibly diverse. More than 50% of indigenous languages spoken in Canada originated in so-called BC. With that being said, in the past 120 years, linguistic fluency has dropped by approximately 95%.
00:12:06
Speaker
Again, the Coast Salish languages are part of the Salish or Salishan language family, which is the largest language family in the Pacific Northwest, and estimated to be three to six hundred thousand years old. Salish or Salishan languages are further categorized into five groups, Nuhot, Central Salish, Samosan, Interior Salish, and Tillamook. Of the 23 languages in the Salish family, six are currently extinct, and most of the surviving languages are critically endangered.
00:12:37
Speaker
Language revitalization programs such as those at local universities, colleges, and high schools record and promote these indigenous languages as much as possible.
Sasquatch: Myth, History, and Theories
00:12:50
Speaker
We've chosen a couple of phrases from the New Hawk Nation. Our first word being
00:12:59
Speaker
Which means season spring salmon. This refers to when spring salmon are running in the river. Which means season of the dog salmon. And our last word is
00:13:22
Speaker
Which means to be brave. Now there are two ways of saying it, however I only know of the one. We have links on our website for you to check out if you're interested in learning a lot.
00:13:43
Speaker
We at the historical natives believe in reciprocity, compassion, and uplifting indigenous communities and voices. That's why, with every episode, we include a call to action detailing easy ways you can materially support indigenous peoples. Since the story of the Sasquatch is common across many nations, we have a variety of links on our website, thehistoricalnatives.ca. There, you can support a variety of indigenous-related causes and learn more about the impacts of colonization.
00:14:24
Speaker
So who is the Sasquatch? Albert Osman has a theory that it is an undiscovered ape hiding in the thick bushes of trees. But if that's the case, then why haven't we seen him? The Pacific Northwest is made up of large trees with growths of moths and lichens, with the forest floor being made up of an abundance of ferns and herbs.
00:14:53
Speaker
It is filled with vast unexplored areas, which is ideal for someone who doesn't want to be found. However, when they do show themselves, they appear to be bipedal. And for those who don't know, bipedal means someone who uses two legs for walking. They've also been described to look very similar to that of an ape or a large man.
00:15:25
Speaker
So if they look like an ape, could they have evolved just like us? And if so, from what? There's a theory out there that the Sasquatch evolved from me. If you're like me and don't know what the...
00:15:43
Speaker
Gigantopithecus is. It was a giant ape that lived about 300,000 to 1 million years ago, in areas like China, India, and Vietnam. The species is said to have been sexually dimorphic, with males much bigger than females, but they were pretty darn big.
00:16:01
Speaker
The fossils that they've found so far indicate that it's stood up as high as 10 feet and weighed up to 1,100 pounds. They suspect it had an enormous bulk and brute strength that helps keep them
00:16:14
Speaker
Gigantopithecus. Safe from the predators. But despite their great size, they were herbivores, using its heavy and muscular jaws to chew the tough grasses found in the southeast Asian forests where it lived, just like pandas. So, they are guessing that they went extinct about 300,000 years ago. This is likely because of the retreat of the preferred habitat due to climate change and potentially archaic human activity. So why the connection?
00:16:45
Speaker
Well, it began in 1960 with a zoologist named Vladimir Draczynski, who briefly described it in the journal Nature. In 1951, a photograph was taken of an alleged Yeti track. The photo was taken by Himalayan mountaineers Michael Ward and Eric Shipton.
00:17:08
Speaker
Trusinski concluded that the Yeti must be walking like a human, and was oddly similar to the Gigantal Bithicus. The theory continued with Professor Krantz, who was a member of the Four Horsemen of Sasquachery. This group of early investigators established the foundational thought on Bigfoot research around the 1960s.
00:17:33
Speaker
It was Krantz who used the Canadian indigenous term Sasquatch to describe the humanoid-like being. He was also the only scientist at the time to continue the push for a connection between Gigantopithecus and the Sasquatch. So if they are descendants of Gigantopithecus, then is the Sasquatch an endangered animal?
00:17:59
Speaker
While organizations like the NAWAC, the North American Woodland Ape Conservatory, and the Olympic Research believe so. Unfortunately, to protect the undiscovered ape, as Osman called it, and to help further protect our forests, science requires a specimen.
00:18:17
Speaker
Located somewhere in the Uichito Mountains is Area X, a camp dedicated to finding the Bigfoot and taking it in for science. At their camp, they have had more than a dozen run-ins with the being, from rocks being thrown, whistling, to hearing vocalization, to which they describe to sound like the Simon Gibbons, but bigger.
00:18:39
Speaker
On the other side of things is the Olympic Project. They are an association of dedicated researchers, investigators, biologists, and trackers. All are committed to documenting the existence of the Sasquatch. But most importantly, the main goal of the Olympic Project is to conduct their studies in a non-invasive manner, with respect and sensitivity to the habitat that this species is thriving in.
00:19:06
Speaker
earlier said that they're mainly seen in the Pacific Northwest. Have they been seen anywhere else? Yes. On the other side of Turtle Island is the Skunk Ape, which is considered to be the cousin to the Sasquatch. They've been reported to be more aggressive and won't hesitate to mess you up. First spotted in 1818 in the Apalachicola, Florida.
00:19:35
Speaker
The being is said to have looked like a man-sized monkey or ape, that it was raiding their food stores and stalking the fishermen. Other reports of the skunk ape were common in the 1960s and 70s. All sightings reported a large, foul-smelling, hairy, ape-like creature which ran upright on two legs.
00:20:00
Speaker
And across the pond, there's the Yeti, also known as Mete in Himalayan folklore. It is an ape-like creature reported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Alaska. Since they are finding genetic similarities in DNA samples and footprints being found, some believe that our Sasquatch came over from Asia using the old land bridge that used to exist.
00:20:32
Speaker
So if you decide to go out into the woods and look for the Sasquatch yourself, what sort of signs should you be looking for? And what do they typically eat? Tom Sood is a member of the Kwakwaka tribe from Northeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He is also half Cree native from Central Canada.
00:20:54
Speaker
is the host of Sasquatch Island podcasts with Wantswax Radio and he says the best way to find the Sasquatch is to either follow the deer and their migration or watch the rivers and streams for fish.
00:21:07
Speaker
There are a few things you'd want to pay attention to other than a food source, which would be sightings of tree snapping going in the same directions or teepee-like structures. Most posts will not be rooted into the ground. Some can be up to 12 feet high. Some researchers believe that these are markers, either for their territory or they're used as direction markers.
00:21:31
Speaker
Just like all civilizations, there are social dynamics, and the Sasquatch are believed to be no different. They are believed to have a leader, harvesters, which seem to be made up of the females, young ones, and elders, hunters, made up of the young males who go out and hunt, deer, and others. The scouts or day watchers also warn and alert the others to hide or run away. They do the tree knocks or mimic an animal to alert the others of danger.
00:21:59
Speaker
I'm a little skeptical on this just because, as some of you might know, if you've listened to our recent episodes, the stick Indians are most known for their mimicking, whistling, and snapping trees to get your attention. So be careful out there, and remain calm if you do hear anything. That they exist everywhere around us and that's why they can appear and disappear right in front of people.
00:22:24
Speaker
There is a place called the Montana Vortex that was a sacred place of healing for the indigenous people of the area. Unfortunately the land was bought by Joe Hauser who has been exploring its paranormal activities and so far he's found about four. But there's a house on the property called the House of Mystery where you can stand on one point of the house and be totally slanted but they have experienced Sasquatch activity in the house.
00:22:51
Speaker
You can't see it, but you can hear its vocalization, such as huffing or growling. If you were to take photos of the house, you'll see glowing orbs all over. They suspect that this is how they move around without being seen.
00:23:06
Speaker
Stan Gordon is a paranormal UFO and Bigfoot researcher who believes that the sightings between UFOs and the Sasquatch are connected. When you see one, you most likely see the other, either a few hours or days after a sighting is recorded. They've also known to be almost transparent, kind of like the predator camouflage, and can speak to you telepathically when they choose to.
00:23:37
Speaker
Most indigenous elders of Turtle Island see the Sasquatch as our ancestors and are here to protect us if we choose. And whether you believe the Sasquatch is an ape that has yet to be fully discovered or is an interdimensional being, all can agree that they are humanoid and living deep in our woods.
00:24:07
Speaker
Before we go, we wanted to let you know that we are on Facebook and Instagram. We are the historical natives on both of those platforms. We also have a Patreon. Thank you to those who have already signed up. It helps us tremendously. Right now, we only have a $5 support patron tier available. However, we're in the process of providing further tiers with lots of cool benefits. Also, don't forget to check out our website, thehistoricalnatives.ca for our beautiful 10 out of 10 merch.
00:24:36
Speaker
Also, before we go, we'd like to give a big thank you to Believer A Paranormal Mystery for giving us this time and space to share with you what we've learned so far.
00:24:48
Speaker
If you or anyone you know has a story or knowledge that you'd like to share with us, you can reach us on our website or any social media platform. Again, we are the historical natives. And be sure to check out our full length episode of the Sasquatch that'll be coming out on November 30th. That's it for now and we'll see you at a later time.
00:25:24
Speaker
Thank you.