That was about the extent of any following up on Chehalis Flats until January 3, 2006. On this date, the couple contacted researcher Ken Kristian. Ken used to publish a sportsman’s newsletter, was well known locally as a very good fishing guide, and had a long time interest in the sasquatch mystery. After being contacted, Ken went to visit the couple in their trailer to hear what they had to say and to hear what they had recorded on the night of February 1, 2005.

Ken was instantly aware of the similarities of whatever was recorded and other more widely known alleged sasquatch recordings. He immediately telephoned Gerry Matthews and myself to tell us that this was something that needed to be followed up on! He stopped by my place on his way home so I could hear what was recorded. I suggested we meet at his place and play the entire recording to make sure that no one was call blasting with one or more of the well-known recordings, perhaps enjoying himself or herself by scaring people at this trailer park.

Long hours of comparisons assured us that this was not one of the other recordings and at one point we thought we could hear a second animal returning the call before the first one stopped. Now that we knew that this was not a copy, and was indeed a recording of some animal out on the flats, we all agreed that an investigation was in order. Several trips to the flats by researchers were to follow over the next six weeks or so.

On one such outing, John Kirk, Sebastian Wang, and myself went out in the early hours of the morning with only a few clouds and we ended up getting caught in a late season snowstorm. John lost an expensive bush knife on this trip and despite retracing our steps the knife was never found. I still keep an eye out for it when I am in the area. On an earlier outing, Ken Kristian found a large hole in the perimeter fence of the golf course. Whether an animal was responsible for it or not is not known, but the links did appear to have been torn apart rather than cut. On yet another outing, Sebastian Wang and myself came across some odd tracks on the north end of the flats. They did appear to be barefoot tracks, but were not clear enough to declare them sasquatch prints in my opinion, though I still wonder about them.

During the follow up investigations, we were told the name of another resident who clamed to have seen a sasquatch out on the flats in the early hours one morning in early March. I tried to contact the fellow, but he only occasionally came to stay at his trailer on long weekends. When he did call me back, he said that he did see the creature, but was not interested in being interviewed or participating in any investigation. You have to respect a witness’s decision, although I thought seeing a sasquatch in the same area at the time these sounds were being heard was significant.

Other things were being found out on the flats such as animal diggings. Clamshells were found at one point showing that whatever was digging knew where to dig in order to find them. We had made so many trips out on the flats that we were finding our own boot prints everywhere we went, week after week. This bothered me because the flats are really a flood plain of the Harrison River. It floods every spring after the mountain thaw and during the low water season miles of flatlands are covered in mud and damp sand - excellent conditions for leaving tracks. We were finding boot prints left by ourselves weeks earlier, yet other than the one set of possible tracks found by Sebastian and myself, no other clear prints were found. Some people thought that some diggings may have been tracks, but I did not see things this way. If we left clear and unmistakable prints, then a sasquatch should also. However, there was a lot of ground to cover and I think in six weeks we may have gone over only a fourth of what was out there.

At least twice during the six weeks of follow up, the strange sounds were reported again. Nonetheless, nothing was heard during our late night sittings except owls, crows, an occasional drunk coming home after a few too many at the Sasquatch Inn, and of course coyotes emitting the familiar yipping call which has been heard a thousand times before.

I met Gerry Matthews at the flats for another day of searching on the morning of April 5, 2006. Ken could not make it that morning due to a prior commitment. Gerry and I put on our rubber boots, shouldered our packs and off we went hoping to find tracks - never thinking that the sound would be heard on a bright sunny morning because all of the reports had been between midnight and dawn.