‘Bigfoot’ has been spotted in a tiny town – and locals have some theories

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Colorado train passengers stumble upon bigfoot-like creature The town is hundreds of miles from Bigfoot’s native Pacific Northwest and Canada; British Columbia was where the Anglicised word “Sasquatch” evolved from a local tribe’s term for “wild” or “hairy man.” “I’ve lived in the Northwest for a number of seasons, winters and summers, and their bread and butter – and when you go there, the forest is, like, black; it’s like a dungeon – and you’re like, ‘Of course that’s where he would be,” says Doug Mac, 35, who slings drinks at the Lacey Rose Saloon on the town’s main street, bartending when he’s not working as a ski guide, ranger or carpenter. “Why would we sell it?” Because Bigfoot is “not really a legitimate folklore around here,” says Gallegos, who wears many hats, including executive director of Silverton’s Chamber of Commerce and contributor to the local paper. “People just think it’s fun to do things around the train and the train passengers.” Dee Jamarillo, a 69-year-old lifelong Silvertonian, recalls how, “a long time ago, dressed up in those Bigfoot costumes and went down there and showed off for the train.” Colorado train passengers stumble upon bigfoot-like creature Silverton, says Harper – as a piano-playing cowboy entertains the lunchtime tourist crowd at the adjacent old-timey saloon – is “a unique community.” A few years ago it stood in for 1960s Aspen in a film about Hunter S. Thompson’s unsuccessful run for sheriff, the directorial debut by Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr’s son, which would be random – but that’s just how things work here. “It’s kind of fun and exciting when you’re snowed in – it happens on a regular basis.” Gallegos says, “So although it sounds, psychologically, like it could be rough, we’re all incredibly prepared people.” “It was not a local, because we went and sought out the locals who are mischievous, and it was not them.” Jim Harper, who runs Silverton’s Grand Imperial Hotel And despite a penchant for playfulness, Harper insists that none of those people was responsible for the recent Bigfoot furore.