Thomas Bay

creatures in the area.

The bay is named for U.S. Navy officer Charles M. Thomas.

Natural history

Thomas Bay is known for being rich in gold and quartz. The wildlife has moose, brown bears, black bears, squirrels, wolves, rabbits, and other common Alaskan creatures. The land has been used for logging.

Bay of Death

In 1750, a native (Tlingit) village on Thomas Bay was completely buried by a large landslide. Over 500 native people died in the natural disaster. From that day on the bay was dubbed "The Bay of Death" or "Geey Nana" in Tlingit.

Devil's country

In 1900, the first documented account of the legendary devil creatures came to be thanks to Harry D. Colp, who wrote his account down. Harry Colp and three of his prospecting friends who are simply known as Charlie, John, and Fred, were staying in Wrangell, Alaska. As the story goes, Charlie received word from a native local of an area to mine for gold.

"He told me to go up to Thomas Bay* and camp on Patterson River on the right side, travel upriver for about eight miles and then turn to the high mountains, and after traveling about a mile and a half, I would find a lake shaped like a half-moon."

Charlie went to check out the native man's story of the gold that was to be found in the mountains in May 1900. By the time he returned, June 1900, he arrived without a coat or his hat, his canoe was empty, and looked like he had been "through hell". He did carry with him a large piece of quartz.

Charlie claimed to have arrived in Thomas Bay, but couldn't find the half-moon shaped lake. Instead he spent some time off an 'S' shaped lake. He claimed that the surrounding area seemed oddly void of life. There were no squirrels, no birds, etc. Wanting to get his bearings after he found his large chunk of quartz, he climbed to the top of a ridge. From there he could spot Frederick Sound, Cape of the Straight Light, the point of Vanderput Spit (Point Vanderput), and Sukhoi Island from the mouth of Wrangell Narrows. Behind the ridge, Charlie finally spotted the half-moon shaped lake, which is where the Patterson Glacier turns into a lake that turns into Patterson River.

It was from this point that Charlie claims that a swarm of devil creatures were making their way up the ridge from the 'S' shaped lake (actually called Ess Lake). Charlie claimed that he barely managed to out run the strange creatures. He received several scratches along his back from the creatures. He never returned to the area.

The people who have had encounters with these creatures seem to go into hysterics and are usually deemed 'temporarily insane'. The creatures have always been described as looking neither like man or monkey, but covered with coarse hair and oozing sores. They are foul smelling. They are about four feet tall and have claw-like fingers.

In 1925, a a farmer reported losing a dog in the hills there, but finding strange tracks, with the hind feet resembling a cross between a bear's and a human's footprints.

External links

* [http://www.tides.info/?command=view&location=Thomas+Bay%2c+Alaska Tides: Thomas Bay, Alaska]
* [http://www.bigfootencounters.com/stories/harrycolp.htm Strangest Story Ever Told]
* [http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/Bodybroker/9485/ The Devil's Territory]
* [http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=2074&pid=47293&mode=threaded&show=&st=& Kushtaka Cave]
* [http://www.scidiv.bcc.ctc.edu/rv/phd/chapter3.html Stikine Glacial Chronologies]

ee also

* Bigfoot
* Devil
* Alaska

References

* cite book
last = Wendt
first = Ron
authorlink = Ron Wendt
title = Strange, Amazing! True Tales of Alaska!
publisher = Goldstream Publications
date = 1995
location = Wasilla, Alaska
pages = 68
isbn = 1-886574-10-3

* cite web
last = Puma
first = Jeremy
authorlink = Jeremy Puma
title = Kushtaka: Alaska's Otter Hominid
publisher = Summer Harvest
date = June 7, 2007
url = http://www.palmtreegarden.org/fp/2007/06/07/kushtaka-alaskas-otter-hominid/