Albert Ostman

[bipedalist]

wasnt there another one where a railroad guy got nabbed & the female bf supposedly licked his feet raw to prevent his escape?

read enough over at bigfootencounters,com and they start running together after a while,lol.

think ostman may have been a little too calm about it? i dont know, he seemed a plain fellow, might not have been a bad life for a single guy already used to being out there,living w/ the squatch....raising a little squatchy family of his own w/ his furry young bride

Is that the one that gave BF a tongue like a cat's tongue..... lol? (she must've been a cougar)

Edited April 22, 2012 by bipedalist

[Guest Kronprinz Adam]

Hello. What are your opinions on the story of Albert Ostman? Apparently he was kidnapped by a Saquatch while in a sleeping bag back in 1924 and didn't speak of it until 1957.

Hi OntarioSquatch...in my opinion the story is quite fantastic, if it is true (!?) then it would be one of the strangest stories of all time...I really enjoyed the narrative, but I have no idea if such stories about apemen creatures having family time are true...

I saw in some website (I do not remember exactly and I'm afraid I didn't saved the website) some kind of map about the location of the events...some kind of round plateau surroundered by rock....it is supposed that the 4-member Bigfoot family lived there and there was only a narrow gap on the rock, where the creatures entered...Ostman noticed this and used it as his escape route...

According to this description and that chart, would it be possible to locate this particular rock structure using Google Earth? (I have no idea of the geography of that region, but I think some expert outdootspeople may help).

Greetings from Guatemala.

K. Adam

[Guest BFSleuth]

If you could locate that map and post it I think it would be very helpful to try and identify the "hanging valley" as I like to call it. I have some possible locations, but nothing that seems to have all the features he was talking about.

[Doc Holliday]

bipedalist , yes, i think so, but i may be combining stories. cougar indeed...wow, talk about a bad case of "cat scratch fever" ,lol.

if memory serves his coworkers found him wandering around "shell shocked" after escape? now ill have to look it up.

[Guest Transformer]

Click on map to enlarge and sorry for my poor red circle job.

From there I hired an old Indian to take me to the head of Toba Inlet.

We arrived at the head of the inlet at 4:00 p.m. I made camp at the mouth of a creek

The head of Toba Inlet is circled with the number 1 beside it.

But the question is, in what direction will I go, if I should get out? I must have been near 25 miles northeast of Toba Inlet when I was kidnapped. This fellow must have traveled at least 25 miles in the three hours he carried me. If he went west we would be near salt water—same thing if he went south—therefore he must have gone northeast.

According to Mr. Ostman he would have been somewhere near the red arc drawn northeast of Toba Inlet which is marked with the number 4 beside it.

I injected another shell in the barrel of my rifle and started downhill, looking back over my shoulder every so often to see if they were coming. I was in a canyon, and good travelling and I made fast time. Must have made three miles in some world record time. I came to a turn in the canyon and I had the sun on my left, that meant I was going south and the canyon turned west. I decided to climb the ridge ahead of me. I knew I must have two mountain ridges between me and salt water and by climbing this ridge I would have a good view of this canyon, so I could see if the Sasquatch were coming after me. I had a light pack and was making good time up this hill. I stopped after to look back to where I came from, but nobody followed me. As I came over the ridge I could see Mount Baker. Then I knew I was going in the right direction.

I was hungry and tired. I opened my pack sack to see what I had to eat. I decided to rest here for a while. I had a good view of the mountainside, and if the old man was coming I had the advantage because I was above him. To get me he would have to come up a steep hill. And that might not be so easy after stopping a few 30-30 bullets. I had made up my mind this was my last chance, and this would be a fight to the finish. I ate some hard tack and I opened my last can of corned beef. I had no butter, I forgot to pick up my butter sealer I had buried near my camp to keep it cold. I did not dare to make a fire. I rested here for two hours. It was 3:00 p.m. when I started down the mountain side. It was nice going, not too steep, and not too much underbrush.

When I got near the bottom I shot a big blue grouse. She was sitting on a windfall, looking right at me, only a hundred feet away. I shot her neck right off.

I made it down to the creek at the bottom of this canyon. I felt I was safe now. I made a fire between two big boulders, roasted the grouse, made some coffee and opened my can of milk. My first good meal for days. I spread out my sleeping bag under a big spruce tree and went to sleep. Next morning when I woke up, I was feeling terrible. My feet were sore from dirty socks. My legs were sore, my stomach was upset from that grouse that I ate the night before. I was not sure I was going to make it up that mountain. It was a cloudy day, no sun, but after some coffee and hard tack I felt a bit better. I started up the mountainside but had no energy. I only wanted to rest. My legs were shaking. I had to rest every hundred feet. I finally made the top, but it took me six hours to get there. It was cloudy, visibility about a mile.

I knew I had to go down hill. After about two hours I got down to the heavy timber and sat down to rest. I could hear a motor running hard at times, then stop. I listened to this for a while and decided the sound was a gas donkey. Someone was logging in the neighborhood. I made for this sound, for if only I can get to that donkey, I will be safe. After a while I hear someone holler “Timber†and a tree go down. Now I knew I was safe. When I came up to the fellows, I guess I was a sorry sight. I hadn’t had a shave since I left Toba Inlet, and no good wash for days. When I came up out of the bushes, they kept staring at me. I asked where the place was and how far to the nearest town. The men said, “You look like a wild man, where did you come from?â€

The following day I went down from this camp on the Salmon Arm Branch of Sechelt Inlet.

Salmon Arm Branch of Sechelt Inlet is marked by a red circle with the number 2 underneath.

No experienced hiker of the area would even dream to have travelled the distance from 25 miles northeast of Toba inlet to the Salmon Arm Branch of the Sechelt Inlet in two days which would be over 100 miles in some of the most dense and rugged and steep and mountainous areas of British Columbia. Based on his own story and the places shown on the map it would be unimaginable to think he would have seen Mt. Baker (red circle with number 3) the first day he was running too.

In my opinion Ostman either was never in the area he talked about or didn't have a clue about time/distance/direction or anything else it would take to survive a day or two in the area and get out alive and I cannot think why anybody could believe such a story. That is my opinion anyway.

Edited April 22, 2012 by Transformer

[Guest Kronprinz Adam]

If you could locate that map and post it I think it would be very helpful to try and identify the "hanging valley" as I like to call it. I have some possible locations, but nothing that seems to have all the features he was talking about.

Hi BFSleuth!! I located the pic I saw, it was not on the web, but in a comic book called "The Big Book ot the Unexplained", it is basically a retelling of Ostman's story in a comic-like style...I saw this diagram and I asked myself...if a comic artist can "recreate" this drawing...why not finding similar places using Google Earth? (of course such drawing contains also some artist imagination. I do not remebery very well if I have seen a better one on the web)

Greetings,.

K. Adam

Edited April 22, 2012 by Kronprinz Adam

[Guest BFSleuth]

Do you have a sense that we are looking North in the drawing? I found a hanging valley on GE, but it faces south and is very narrow with no significant trees.

I also think based on the description of his escape he couldn't have been taken NE after capture, more likely South, closer to his point of escape. He only went over one significant ridge before dropping into the point he was picked up.

[BobbyO]

Baker's the most northerly. Since Baker and Shasta are in different states and separated by Oregon you might confuse them in pictures but you couldn't if you were actually in the area.

No i wouldn't confuse Baker & Shasta, Baker is very distinctive like i said and i do know my geography.

Adams and Shasta are what i'd get mixed up in individual pictures, they are pretty similar in shape but i'd still be confident in getting each one correct due to Adams having more snow on it in general.

@ BFS, thanks for clarification on the Baker snowfall, i knew there was a reason it always looked so white..

@ Ontario, Baker is the peak that he said he saw at one stage ( of his escape i think it was off the top of my head ), he was around 100 plus miles north from Baker when this happened.

Based on his own story and the places shown on the map it would be unimaginable to think he would have seen Mt. Baker (red circle with number 3) the first day he was running too.

In my opinion Ostman either was never in the area he talked about or didn't have a clue about time/distance/direction or anything else it would take to survive a day or two in the area and get out alive and I cannot think why anybody could believe such a story. That is my opinion anyway.

I personally think the Guy got his locations mixed up, but if he says he made his way up the Toba then we'd have to assume he did..

Assuming this is true however,, i don't believe that he could be sure of being taken 25 Miles North/North East of the Toba by a Sasquatch ( he actually said 10 Miles in what i read ), especially with, as you pointed out, him coming out down by the Sechelt Inlet.

That would say to me that he got taken South/South East instead, it would also mean that Mt Baker would have been more likely with regards to visibility.

Anyway's, he believed that he had made 10 Miles or so from the head of the Toba Inlet in a North/North East direction when he first noticed disturbances..

He said he was awake for around about 3 hours inside the Sleeping Bag until they reached their destination & was asleep when he was picked up, speed would be unknown but was " going at a trot for a long time "..

He actually said he was awakened when he was picked up but half aseep, then said he had " no idea when it started as i was asleep when he picked me up "..

On his " escape " he made 3 miles in " record time " & then headed West emerging 2 days later on the Salmon Arm of Sechelt Inlet..

He simply must have headed South/South East whilst in the Sleeping Bag, towards the Sechelt Inlet but on the East side of the Jervis Inlet..

The distance from Ostman's alleged Camp which is inclusive of the 10 Miles North East he thought he made from landing at the head of the Toba, to the middle of the Salmon Arm is around 60 Miles..

If we are to assume that Ostman was taken South by the Sasquatch, then in 3 hours the Sasquatch would need to have been going at a pace of around 15 Miles per hour on average for those 3 hours or so that he was aware he was being transported, to be there or thereabouts & within the time & distances..

Who knows how quick a Sasquatch would travel " on level ground and was going at a trot for a long time "...

That's just a rough outline anyway but close i'd guess, to what would have had to have happened..

[Guest Transformer]

The quotes I have used are from the original link that was used to start this thread and I should have written that in my post. I believe that they are an accurate account of what he said. As far as the sasquatch speed "going on level ground" I will once again point out that all of that area is extremely dense and rugged mountain terrain that a very skilled hiker would be very happy to get 3 or four miles in a day as the crow flies. And even if sasquatches have superhuman powers Mr. Ostman does not and he would not have been able to travel anywhere near 15 miles much less the 25 or 30 miles needed as the crow flies in the most charitable of the excuses made for his geographic mistakes given his two days of travel. The only level ground is along rivers and the dense brush is up to the very edge especially in the unlogged areas which would have been the majority of the area in those times. The tale Mr. Ostman tells is incredibly hard to swallow given what I know and have been told about the area.

Here is a picture of Toba Inlet. Note the terrain because you do not go up and down those mountains very easily in fact it is incredibly difficult and just not attempted except by the very experienced and very well equipped with lots of time on their hands.

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/auth/english/maps/climatechange/potentialimpacts/coastalsensitivitysealevelrise/js1419-k.jpg/image_view

Edited April 22, 2012 by Transformer

[Guest Transformer]

[BobbyO]

I don't disagree.

Like i said initially, i personally believe the Guy got his locations mixed up initially anyway but we have to assume & work on what was said of course.

[Doc Holliday]

That's the thing about trying to verify .perhaps landmarks mentioned are the best route to go.

if true,(not saying it is or isnt, I simply don't know)how could he really have known exactly how far & which direction he'd traveled,especially while being carried blind in a sack & trying not to panic.

perhaps he did panic.

The details on directions might be a little better in the retelling than he actually was capable of knowing,perhaps to not seem like panic & fear took over when it may have.

Id figure a journey like that,if real, in a bag would leave you feeling like a well shaken can of Coke, shook up & spewing all directions when released,lol.

[Guest BFSleuth]

I think the best bet is not to try to determine where he said he went from the beginning, but to backtrack from where we know he came out.

[Doc Holliday]

i agree bfs, backtrack and look for the terrain features he mentioned.

if anything looks close to the description go from there.

the aerial pics & google earth shots do look like a rugged and difficult place to travel,imo.

[bipedalist]

...

No experienced hiker of the area would even dream to have travelled the distance from 25 miles northeast of Toba inlet to the Salmon Arm Branch of the Sechelt Inlet in two days which would be over 100 miles in some of the most dense and rugged and steep and mountainous areas of British Columbia. Based on his own story and the places shown on the map it would be unimaginable to think he would have seen Mt. Baker (red circle with number 3) the first day he was running too.

In my opinion Ostman either was never in the area he talked about or didn't have a clue about time/distance/direction or anything else it would take to survive a day or two in the area and get out alive and I cannot think why anybody could believe such a story. That is my opinion anyway.

Agreed, ten miles per day in that terrain would prob. kill most people in great physical shape headed cross country even if following stream channels and such.....