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Rockin' Rhonda: Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Dave Graham: This is The PULSE Community Podcast. Welcome to another look at life from the perspective of mid-Vancouver Island. I’m Dave Graham. We just got through Mother’s Day weekend. Now our sights are set on the big weekend to come.

Peter McCully: I’m Peter McCully, and we are grateful to Queen Victoria for the upcoming long weekend. Aside from honoring the former monarch, the weekend also marks the unofficial start of summer in Canada.

Dave Graham: And what a wonderful time it is, although you have to get up really early to enjoy the sunrise these days. And the days will keep getting longer for another month or so before the summer solstice. In the meantime, the smell of cut grass and barbecues confirms that we’re moving outside for the season.

Peter McCully: We are looking forward to a couple of compelling conversations on the podcast this week. Jeff Vircoe and Bonnie Bartlett join us from Forward House, the Parksville-based nonprofit doing extraordinary work alongside adults living with mental health and addiction recovery challenges. They have a community forum on May 23rd that they’d like everyone to know about.

Bonnie Bartlett: If you’re feeling isolated, if you’re feeling scared, pick up the phone and give us a call or pop by our house. We’ve got a wonderful team here that are willing to talk with you. And if we can’t help you directly, we can certainly send you out to other resources that the community has to offer. We just want you to know that you’re not alone, and there is hope.

Dave Graham: We’ll also hear from Tom Sewid, a man who has spent a lifetime on the BC coast and has had more than a few encounters with Sasquatch to talk about. Tom is heading to the Comox Valley this month for Squatch Watch Vancouver Island, a three-day conference where he will share some of his sightings of Bigfoot on the island.

Tom Sewid: It’s on a boulder beach that’s really steep. Everyone comes out. Numerous FLIRs come out, night vision equipment. And we’re all watching this, but I had the wherewithal to grab my cell phone and put the lens up to the FLIR, and I started video recording. That’s when we captured 16 minutes, 40 seconds of a bipedal big bugger Sasquatch on a beach on Quadra Island. And the next day when we truthed it, we found tracks, and we found it was eating chitons, rock stickers, mollusks that stick to rocks.

Peter McCully: Sixteen minutes and 40 seconds. That is a very, very long video to explain away.

Dave Graham: History tells us that many sightings of the paranormal can supposedly be explained away as either swamp gas or a guy in a suit, but I’m not sure about this one. It is intriguing, and I enjoy the fact that as advanced as we may think we are, this serves to remind us that there are still many things in life that remain unexplained.

Peter McCully: On an upcoming podcast, we’ll talk with Ron Thorogood. He’ll tell us about the Parksville Car and Bike Show that’s planned for the community park in July.

Dave Graham: And we’ll welcome Sean Thomas to talk about his new single. It’s called Better. Sean is a singer, songwriter, producer, and actor.

Peter McCully: Sarah Ronald stops by on behalf of the Parksville Museum. She’ll walk us through what’s coming up, including their Storytellers Festival and music concert series.

Dave Graham: We have a full summer of stories to share. We’re planning months in advance, so stay tuned and keep us in the loop if you come across a person or a story you think we should be looking into.

Peter McCully: You’ll find contact links on The PULSE Community website. You’ll also find more information about upcoming giveaways, including the chance to win tickets to see April Wine, Beachfest Rocks, and Blue Rodeo. Head to our website, thepulsecommunity.ca, or our Facebook or Instagram pages for links to enter the Great Canadian Bash ticket giveaway on right now.

Kelley Douglas: Good morning.

Peter McCully: Hi, is this Kelley Douglas?

Kelley Douglas: This is Kelley Douglas.

Peter McCully: Hey, Kelley. It’s Peter McCully calling from The PULSE Community Podcast. How are you today?

Kelley Douglas: I’m great. How are you?

Peter McCully: Good. I guess you know why I’m calling.

Kelley Douglas: I do know why you’re calling.

Peter McCully: Dave Graham reached into the big draw drum and pulled out your name for an entry to win a couple of general admission passes for the Boots and Boats Festival in Nanoose.

Kelley Douglas: Thank you so much. That’s so awesome. I’m so excited. It’s the first one, right? They haven’t had them here before.

Peter McCully: That’s right. The Boots and Boats Festival has been happening up in the interior, but this is the first time it’ll be on the island. Chris Buck of the Chris Buck Band is bringing it here. He’s got The Heels, Chad Brownlee, Morgan Griffiths, and 18 others.

Kelley Douglas: There’s so much talent on the island, and live music is my happy place, so I’m so excited that I won the ticket.

Peter McCully: Excellent. Well, we’re glad that you entered, and thank you very much for listening to The PULSE Community Podcast.

Kelley Douglas: Thank you so much for the ticket.

Keith Alessi: Hey, this is Keith Alessi. I’m bringing my inspirational true-life story, Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, but Banjo Saved My Life, to Shar’s Landing on Thursday, June 4th. It’s a show that’s been internationally toured, highly awarded, and has had sold-out runs off Broadway, in Nashville, Tennessee, and Edinburgh, Scotland. The show is about tomatoes and banjos, but it’s really about overcoming obstacles, pursuing passions, forgiveness, joy, inspiration, and possum. We’re going to be donating our artist fee to the Community Arts Council of the Alberni Valley - we’ve raised over $1.3 million doing so across every event we’ve attended. We look forward to seeing you out there.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay & Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island’s most advanced real estate business network, since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You’ll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Dave Graham: So Peter, with the unofficial start of summer in sight, I’ve decided that in order to make the most of the season, I’m going to have to make some changes.

Peter McCully: Okay. So what did you have in mind?

Dave Graham: I got almost halfway through the big garage cleanup, and I’ve had it. I’m done. Considering the fact that aside from those classic Keitel products, the garage is full of projects half-finished - some never even started. I think that leaving the cleanup incomplete is only fitting. I’m just acknowledging my core self here. I’m going to have to admit that I’m a project-half-done kind of guy. This is self-awareness, and I have to be true to myself.

Peter McCully: Well, if that’s what works for you. We’re all just trying to find our own way through this wild world, as Cat Stevens once said. Sometimes some among us need some help, and sometimes it involves our next guests. Here’s Marilyn.

Marilyn: Jeff Vircoe is a Canadian Forces veteran, a journalist, a father, and a man in long-term recovery. For 20 years, he has worked as a counsellor at Edgewood Treatment Centre, one of Canada’s leading addiction treatment facilities. He also serves as president of Forward House, the Parksville-based nonprofit working alongside adults living with mental health and addiction recovery challenges. Joining him is Bonnie Bartlett, Forward House’s marketing and public relations director, a passionate advocate for the programs and the people that make Forward House one of the most important community resources on mid-Vancouver Island.

Dave Graham: Jeff, welcome to the podcast. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.

Jeff Vircoe: Likewise, Dave. Nice to meet you.

Dave Graham: You grew up in foster care, a lot of early trauma. Substances entered the picture by around age 17. You joined the military because, by your own account, it felt like the only place that would take you at that point in your life. Can you talk about what your life was like at that point?

Jeff Vircoe: It wasn’t even by 17. I was into substances by 13. By then, I already had four years of trying to figure out what worked for me. Growing up the way I grew up, substances were the answer to a lot of the darkness that I was carrying around. I didn’t even know it was darkness. I just knew I felt different from other people. When I would use substances - and it began like most kids would, with alcohol, then moved into marijuana, pills, and powders - I felt that I fit in. The bottom line is it’s a chemical, and I’m a young guy, and I’m damaging myself. There was no way to deal with that kind of trauma. I was just stuffing it away. I didn’t believe that there was trauma. I knew there was something wrong, but a lot of the kids I was growing up with were in the same kind of realm. We were all coming from pretty difficult backgrounds.

It started out as fun. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t have a lot of fun at different times. But at some point it turned into unpredictability. That included blackouts - no longer remembering what I did. I quit school in grade nine, and the characters in my life were shady, and it was getting more and more dangerous, with the criminal element right around me.

When I decided to join the military, I was just out looking for a job. My mom was giving me the gears about finding work. I was walking downtown Montreal and there was a big gray building on Bishop and St. Catherine - the recruitment office. I don’t know why to this day I stuck my head in there. I think there is some providence involved. I talked to the guy behind the desk and he said they’d take me. I had just turned 17, and I saw where this train was headed. On some level I knew I had to get out. So that’s how it began.

Dave Graham: Was the military a good fit for you?

Jeff Vircoe: The military was a great fit for me because it was structured, and it also got me around people who weren’t a criminal element. But it wasn’t a good fit on another level because they were also, behind the scenes, promoting a lot of alcohol use. And I gravitated towards that while in uniform as well.

Dave Graham: So the military is a good fit with some caveats, and then that relationship ended. How and why?

Jeff Vircoe: One thing we know about the disease of addiction - it’s progressive. My drinking went from weekends to weekends plus Thursday to weekends plus Monday. In no time at all I’m consuming alcohol five times a week, so I’m either hungover or drunk five times a week, and I start getting in trouble. That could look like AWOL, not showing up to work on time, fights in bars. Cannabis was illegal at the time, so I had that on my resume as well. I was being posted all over - from Borden, Ontario, to Halifax to Esquimalt, BC. And in Esquimalt, I got posted to ships, doing deployments all over the world, bringing this whole act of mine into foreign countries.

By the time I got out, I was so sick with my addiction that I thought they were interfering with my drinking, and it was almost a human rights issue in my mind. Eventually I was in enough trouble, I could see more trouble coming, and I just asked for my release around nine years in. They tried to keep me. I was adamant about it and ended up getting out in the summer of ’85 and moved to Calgary.

Dave Graham: Thank you for your service. Did you hit bottom, and what was that like?

Jeff Vircoe: Everybody’s bottom is a little different. Mine was enough to scare me. When I got out, I’d lost my identity entirely - my comrades, my shipmates, everything. I had no idea who I was. I’m living in Calgary, and my drinking and drug use picked up to the point that it got dark. Thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation were regular. Towards the end, I was ready to end it. I wasn’t looking to quit drinking. I was looking for a reason to stay alive. And so on the day I sobered up, I’d made enough of a mess of things with the person I was involved with at the time that I decided I’d go to an AA meeting. I’d been to treatment before at 19, so I already knew I had a problem. Now I’m 26. I rolled into an AA meeting on February 22nd, ’86, and haven’t had a drink since.

Dave Graham: Was it immediate recognition that this was a way out, or did it take some time?

Jeff Vircoe: No, it took me three tries. Treatment at 19 - I thought that was very nice of them, and if there’s ever a problem I’ll come see you. I blew them off. Seven years later, when I went back and everything they had told me had happened, they gave me a wide berth and let me settle in. Then I had to get to a place where I understood it wasn’t just alcohol, and that addiction is way more than the substances we consume. I changed my sobriety date to July 18th, 1988. It took me three tries. The old thing - if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. You also start losing people, and when you look at your own life and the friends who aren’t here anymore and how they went down, you realize this illness is progressive and it’ll take you down if you have it.

Dave Graham: So now we’re looking at decades of recovery, and you work in the industry. You’re at Edgewood, one of the country’s premier addiction treatment centres. What keeps you that deeply engaged?

Jeff Vircoe: A large part of recovery to me has always been about giving back. It helps keep me on track to try and give a hand to the next person. My military time taught me that service was really important to me. When I sobered up and started using the 12-step model - along with a lot of therapy and mentorship - I started understanding that I needed to move towards helping others get out of their victimhood as well. I don’t make a lot of money doing this, but it feels right inside. There’s nothing quite like seeing a family come together because somebody has faced their demons and is willing to do the work to become a better human.

Dave Graham: Lastly, do you have some thoughts - words of advice - for achieving or maintaining good mental health in a world that seems to be becoming more intense by the day?

Jeff Vircoe: Some of the principles of recovery have helped me a lot when it comes to navigating what we’re going through today, and a lot of that is connection. It begins with looking people in the eyes and telling people how you’re feeling. Not so much what you’re thinking, although that becomes important too, but how do you feel? What’s going on? For a lot of us, there’s fear or anxiety. Just being open to sharing with other people, learning how to listen, and learning how to be authentic - that’s where it is. Seek out people who are safe to be around. The old rules about men not showing their emotions - I think that’s bunk. People are people, and what we’re going through right now, it’s really important to talk about how you’re doing. I see that here all the time at Forward House.

Dave Graham: Bonnie, it is a pleasure to meet you. I want to thank you for the tour you gave me of the Forward House facility earlier. Welcome to the podcast. Can you give people a general picture of what happens at Forward House?

Bonnie Bartlett: It’s a really exciting year for Forward House as we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary - 25 years as a registered charitable organisation serving the Parksville-Qualicum community. We’ve been quietly providing steady service to those in our community who need it the most. Inside our doors, you’ll find various mental health and wellness supports: mindfulness, meditation, yoga, recovery groups in the evenings, advocacy workers who help our members find resources, educational opportunities, programs that help build life skills, and creative outlets - music therapy, expressive arts. We’ve got something here that anyone can find interesting, something that will help them stay connected. Simple, meaningful social activities - a game of cards, a game of crib, getting out for a recreational program - all of those things really help people feel connected, feel part of something special, and know that they’re not alone.

Dave Graham: As we were walking through the home before our conversation, I got a strong sense that it’s non-threatening, non-judgmental, welcoming. The word that came to me was sanctuary. How many people does Forward House help, and how many programs do you offer?

Bonnie Bartlett: We offer between 20 and 25 different programs throughout the week. We serve probably over 200 meals here every week, and for a lot of our folks, our meal program is maybe the only healthy meal they’ll have that day - so it’s super important that we continue to provide food security and nutritional guidance. We have over 100 registered members who benefit from our services each and every month.

Dave Graham: Is it a referral service? Do people get referred here?

Bonnie Bartlett: Referrals are not mandatory. We do work with some of our local ministries, and Island Health certainly refers some members our way. But if anyone in the community is needing help, wanting to reach out and get some support, there is a small admission process - we want to make sure that Forward House is the right fit for them and they’re the right fit for us. But referrals are not mandatory, and we encourage anyone who’s feeling isolated, or any family members who want to seek help, to give us a call at any time.

Dave Graham: Can you talk a little bit about the Families Care program?

Bonnie Bartlett: I grew up in an alcoholic home, so having an organisation that offers hope and help and support to family members is very critical to me. My dad was an alcoholic. My mom played the classic codependent role. I was a loved child - I had a wonderful family - but there was always that darkness when Dad had gotten into the bottle. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. My son also struggles with addiction and has found recovery himself. For parents and family members who have a loved one who struggles with mental health or addiction recovery challenges, it is critical to know that it is not their fault. There is hope. The more we talk about it, the more we realize we’re not alone, and the more we can help break stigma.

Dave Graham: More than half your funding comes from Island Health. The rest relies on community support. Are you making ends meet?

Bonnie Bartlett: We have for many years received core operational funding from Island Health, and we’re extremely grateful for it - it truly reflects the recognition of the importance of the work that Forward House does. But the reality is that a significant portion of our operating budget must be raised through community fundraising, grants, and donations. This reliance does place us closer to the edge than many people might expect. Like many nonprofits, we’re facing increasing pressure from rising costs - utilities, food, program materials. Without additional community support, we’re faced with the real decision of scaling back programming, reducing hours, or limiting the number of people we can serve, which would be a tragic choice. And if that happens, it’s not just the services that are impacted - it’s the people, the families, our community. So we really rely on and need as much community support as is available.

Dave Graham: The Forward Recovery Centre opened on the Alberni Highway in 2022. Can you talk about the role it plays?

Bonnie Bartlett: This is timely. Last year, we were forced to close the doors of that second facility - it just was not feasible to continue paying the monthly lease. But we’re proud that all of the programming - our recovery program and clinical programming - we were able to get creative and move it into our home here on Hurst Avenue. So we’re still running those services, though the funding situation was a major factor in not being able to maintain that location.

Dave Graham: Jeff, the shocking tragedy at Tumbler Ridge brought mental health back to many a conversation. From your perspective, what does that kind of event do to communities, and what do people need to hear right now?

Jeff Vircoe: My first thought when I heard what happened up there was mental health. At Forward House, we’re not just about addiction and recovery. Since COVID, when people became isolated and maybe lost some of that ability to talk to their neighbours, you’re stuck with things rattling around in your head. When I heard about Tumbler Ridge, I went quickly to a place of - this isn’t about addiction. This is somebody who needed help and, for whatever reason, fell through the cracks. It made me more grateful that I’m involved in Forward House, because most of our clients are not dealing with addiction. Most of it is anxiety, depression, mood disorders. Some of the solutions are still the same, so our programs can really help. And as you noticed coming in, we’re not going to let people fall through the cracks here. We’re going to make sure you get to be part of this and that we get to know you.

Dave Graham: Bonnie, let’s talk about the May 23rd Public Education Forum at Knox United. What’s the vision for the evening, and is there a particular reason this is happening now?

Bonnie Bartlett: Part of our mandate at Forward House is to provide education - not only to our members and family members, but to our community at large. Celebrating our 25th anniversary was a wonderful opportunity to host an interactive community forum at Knox United Church. Everyone is invited to attend. We’ll have an interactive panel along with Dr. Ian King, one of BC’s top addiction medicine psychiatrists, who will be doing a presentation. Our panel includes Elizabeth Driver, the MHSU Oceanside manager, who’ll talk about what’s going on in our home community including the proposed treatment centre in the works; Laura Snazell on the family dynamic; our own Angela Smith on mental health and resiliency; and Jeff, who’ll talk about lived experience and share hope with the community.

It’s on May 23rd from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. There’s a suggested donation of $10, but we will not turn anyone away. We want this to be completely barrier-free - we want to get our community on board and educated, and see if we can’t bring people together.

Dave Graham: If someone is listening and they feel they are struggling, do you have some words of advice?

Bonnie Bartlett: We want you to know that there is hope, that help is available. It’s okay to ask for help, and we’re here to support you. If you’re feeling isolated, if you’re feeling scared, pick up the phone and give us a call or pop by our house. We’ve got a wonderful team here that are willing to talk with you. And if we can’t help you directly, we can certainly send you out to other resources that the community has to offer. We just want you to know that you’re not alone, and there is hope.

Peter McCully: Our thanks to Jeff Vircoe and Bonnie Bartlett for joining us today. Their community forum is May 23rd. Details in the show notes. And if you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out. As Jeff said, you are not alone, and there is hope.

Dave Graham: Again, it’s important we talk about it. Conversations about mental health should be no different from conversations about any other aspect of our wellness.

Peter McCully: The PULSE Community Podcast is available on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. We’re also on Facebook and Instagram.

Dave Graham: You’ll find all our podcasts on our website. Also events listings, Vancouver Island webcam links, and contests at thepulsecommunity.ca.

SOSD69: When families are supported, our whole community thrives. That’s why SOS launched For Our Families, a campaign dedicated to keeping essential and enriching SOS child, youth, and family programs open, accessible, and vibrant. You can make a donation through the SOS website, and you can help by teeing off at the first-ever SOS For Our Community Golf Tournament, June 6th at Morning Star Golf Club. For just $180 per person, enjoy the driving range, 18 holes of golf, a golf cart, buffet dinner, on-course challenges, the chance to win a brand-new vehicle from Parksville Chrysler, and other great prizes. Bid on great local items in the silent auction. Support local children and youth. Strengthen local families. Learn more at sosd69.com.

Rockin Rhonda: Ever find yourself waiting endlessly at a big box pharmacy, feeling like just another number? There’s a better way. At Tablet Pharmacy, they provide the personalised service you deserve. Check their competitive prices online at tabletpharmacy.ca before you even leave home. They offer free delivery and blister packaging options to make managing your medications easier than ever. With convenient locations in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and now open in Nanaimo near The Brick, Tablet Pharmacy has been serving Vancouver Island since 2019. Stop being just a prescription number. Experience the Tablet Pharmacy difference today. Visit them online at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Dave Graham: The PULSE Community Podcast is coming from a sliver of land off the west coast of Canada. Living on an island is special. It’s one step removed from the rest of the world. You can’t drive here. Taking the ferry is special, and I hope that I never get over the fact that we live in a place that is considered a destination for travellers from around the world.

Peter McCully: It never gets old. Right now, there are people on the ferries who are practically jumping up and down with excitement. At the same time, there are people who live here who drive past the same spectacular sights every day without ever taking a second look.

Dave Graham: And there will be some folks coming here soon bringing stories and supporting evidence of something else that has people excited - something that may be wandering our forests and beaches at night. Here’s Marilyn.

Marilyn: Thomas Sewid grew up in Alert Bay and attended high school in Qualicum Beach. Decades spent as a hunting guide and commercial fisherman along the BC coast gave Tom something few investigators can claim - a lifetime of direct encounters with Sasquatch. Now based in Washington State, Tom runs Sasquatch Island, leads guided expeditions, and is one of the most in-demand speakers on the Sasquatch conference circuit. He’s heading to the Comox Valley this month for Squatch Watch Vancouver Island 2026.

Peter McCully: Thanks for joining us on the podcast today, Tom.

Tom Sewid: Thank you for inviting me on.

Peter McCully: On the podcast, we’ve had the opportunity to chat with Shannon Sinn of Victoria, who’s written about Bigfoot on the island. We’ve also had one of your old high school chums, Chris Berger, who talked to us about he and his friends seeing a Bigfoot in the Coombs area when they were teenagers. Were you one of those teenagers?

Tom Sewid: I didn’t participate in the sighting, but I went up the next night and investigated. We did find some partial tracks where it was standing behind the bush. Back then I was pretty young and not the well-honed bush tracker and hunter I am now, but it’s something. That gravel pit was a party place for us. A buddy of mine, Lance, was parked there in his pickup truck after a party. Two hours later, Lance is opening my bedroom window at my parents’ house - something had hit the back of his truck with a big boom, he got out, there was something up on the bank, and he jumped in the truck and squealed out of there. It threw a rock at his tailgate. We went up at daylight and checked - sure enough, we found the big boulder that was thrown probably 25 feet from the tree edge. It still had the red paint on it, and you could see where he’d burned out in the gravel with his tracks. A pretty active spot.

Peter McCully: When did you first encounter Bigfoot or Sasquatch?

Tom Sewid: I heard about it as a kid when I was being raised in Alert Bay off the northeastern coast of Vancouver Island. Half the island’s Indian reserve and the burial ground was filled with memorial totem poles with Tsunawa - the wild woman of the woods, a female Sasquatch - carved at the bottom, the highest-ranked crest of the Kwakwaka’wakŵ and Lekwungen First Nations. Going up to the ceremonial big house known as the Kilxi, we’d watch and be taught the dances, and you always saw the Sasquatch during the potlatch dances and rehearsals.

It wasn’t until I was 11 or 12, driving up from Campbell River to Sayward with my father at night. As we were coming down the hill, the lights illuminated the guardrail and a cement garbage can. I thought it was a hippie sitting on the guardrail. All of a sudden, it put its left arm down and sprung to its left, and I could see the hair on its head, its shoulders, under its arms, its butt, the hair on its legs, the sole of its feet as it just launched probably five or six feet off the ground and disappeared into the darkness of the bush leading down to the White River. Dad swerved and said, “Holy, I think we just saw Bigfoot.” I slid right over on the bench seat and sat beside him the rest of the way, I was so scared. That was my first encounter.

Peter McCully: You’ve spent many decades as a hunting guide living in the bush along coastal BC, with numerous encounters during those years. Have you ever put a number on it?

Tom Sewid: I tell people I’ve been within five or six feet of a Sasquatch twice. At the store I manage here in Forks, Washington, we have a Sasquatch mannequin about 25 feet from my till - I’ve been around them from here to that mannequin six times. And I’ve had them around me well over 30 times through my life, living and working in the coastal bush of British Columbia and elsewhere.

Peter McCully: Could you share a few of those stories for us?

Tom Sewid: We had numerous encounters where we’d hear them, smell them, might see something - a black shadow bolting through the bushes. It wasn’t until the early ’90s when I was captain of a commercial salmon seine boat. Me and my girlfriend and two friends who were deckhands went to Village Island. We anchored out, put the skiff in the water, pulled a bunch of crab traps. Me and one crewman, Dean, were cooking crabs on a Coleman stove on the hatch covers. Beautiful night - no wind, half moon out, first week of October, everything lit up. All of a sudden we heard this bang, bang, like something hitting the side of my trailer on the beach, 150 yards away. Then this whistling chirp, warble, lip smack, really deep-toned and loud. We looked at the trailer and in the moonlight we just saw those two big vertical forms walking down the side of it. The trailer is eight and a half feet tall. The biggest one was probably close to eight feet.

I told my girlfriend Jojo and crewman Trevor to come on deck. All of a sudden you heard that warbling, whistling chirp again. Trevor flicked his cigarette overboard, went into the galley, opened the engine door, went down the ladder, through the engine room, through the steel bulkhead door into the crew sleeping quarters - and that was the last we saw of Trevor. That night, for an hour and a half, we had the spotlight on two Sasquatches. As soon as we hit them, the female dropped on her knees in a fetal position with her butt pointing at us. The big male was looking at the spotlight for almost 25 minutes. We pulled the camera out - no film in the 35 millimetre. We threw apples and eggs and potatoes, trying to get them to stand up and move, but they wouldn’t. Then I turned the spotlight off, and you could hear them get up and move through the grass and shrubbery into the wall of hemlock trees, and then you heard a big rotten hemlock being pushed down and crashing - indicative of Sasquatches when they’re angered. Five and a half inches in diameter. Then they disappeared.

Later, just Dean and I on deck, we saw it again on the opposite side of the bay. Dean points and goes, “What the hell is that?” And that thing stood up - you could see the hair in the moonlight hanging off its arms - and grabbed an alder tree, pulling itself off the beach into the bushes. You could hear it walking through the slough. Then it stops, gives a whistle chirp, gets an answer further in the forest, and you could hear the two Sasquatches come together and walk due west into the backside of my abandoned native village on Village Island - probably heading to harvest the wild plums, apples, and crabapples growing there. A spectacular Class 1 sighting. My first really good one.

Peter McCully: Tom, remind me never to go fishing with you.

Tom Sewid: Why not? You don’t want a close encounter of the hairy kind?

Peter McCully: That’s right. What is the biggest misconception people have about Sasquatch?

Tom Sewid: I hear constantly, “There’s more than one?” I just roll my eyes. You need thousands to keep a species going, so I guesstimate well over 100,000 throughout North America - Sasquatch Island.

Peter McCully: What is the most Sasquatch-active spot on the island, without giving away your secret locations?

Tom Sewid: I would probably say the Sayward region is the most active, as well as the west coast around the native villages of Nitinat Lake. And then Tofino - it just comes on from time to time. It’s always the shellfish beaches or up by the graveyard, where they hear and see them.

Peter McCully: You studied with the late Dr. John Bindernagel, who was based in the Comox Valley, and the two of you investigated together for over 25 years. Is there anything you learned from John that you carry into every investigation still today?

Tom Sewid: When in doubt, throw it out. The supernatural aspects - the cloaking, the mind speaking, the portal turning, the UFO flying. He would always say, “We have to take a scientific approach to getting conclusive proof of the existence of Sasquatch.” If you think a report is nonsense, walk away from it.

Peter McCully: You’re going to be one of the speakers at Squatch Watch this year, and interestingly, one of the other speakers is Terry James, who wrote a biography of Dr. Bindernagel called Sasquatch Discovered. So this is a bit of a homecoming for you.

Tom Sewid: It’s more of a reunion. Five years ago I hosted BinderCon, the memorial Sasquatch conference for Dr. John Bindernagel. His son Chris spoke. Half the lineup from that conference will be at Squatch Fest - we’re pretty much the top of the pyramid for British Columbia investigators. When I do the Sasquatch Island investigations, I make a point to bring people to where Dr. John Bindernagel lived and walked, and tell them about the hours he and I would sit and chatter like Sasquatches about Sasquatch.

When we started in the early ’90s after that great sighting on my commercial fish boat, I went and saw him the following week - that’s when we met. We both believed it was a branch of Gigantopithecus blacki, the supposed extinct Asian great gorilla, that possibly came over on the Bering land bridge. Just before he died, I went to see him and told him I’d just had another really close encounter - on our 250-acre island, Compton, where Sasquatches were stealing our garlic and apples and using an opposable thumb to twist the wire off our aluminum food box. So I crawled out of one of the cabins before dark on my belly, got into a pile of alder leaves, and lay still with just my eyes showing and my gun in my chest. And just before dark, that lanky teenage Sasquatch came down the alder line, grabbed a tree, and stepped down to look at the back of our camp. I shot up out of the leaves yelling. He jumped up with his hands up, roaring at me. I came out with my arms up and the gun, roaring back - not pointing it, because I wouldn’t do that unless he threatened me. He pulled the alder tree, it bent, and he jumped up on the bank, turned around, yelled at me one more time, and ran through the bushes. He never stole my apples or garlic again.

Peter McCully: You’ve used the latest technology - cameras, listening devices - on your expeditions. What’s the most compelling thing you’ve captured with that equipment?

Tom Sewid: A friend purchased a FLIR Scout - a forward-looking infrared monoscope, about $700 new - second-hand on the internet and left it with me. We went on an expedition out of Campbell River on a 54-foot yacht called the Potawat, built by Oscar-winning actress Claire Trevor. We left Campbell River with an investigator from Spokane and a well-known friend of mine, Adam Davies, well-known on the Sasquatch conference circuit and television. Got through Seymour Narrows at dark - this is February, clam tide season. We pulled into Small Inlet on Quadra Island and anchored up.

We all went up on the top bridge for cigarettes. I looked at Adam Davies and said, “Do a roar like a Sasquatch or a Yeti.” He said he’d do a roar like a Congo mountain gorilla but wouldn’t finish it the way they do - they pee on themselves after they roar. He launched it. Something roared back from the hill on the other side of the bay. Next morning, on the beach, piles of broken cockle shells - the type of shellfish Sasquatch really likes to eat. We stayed another night. We found tracks on the beach. Later, Adam opened the door on the back deck and said, “Tom, you better come out and look at this.” He gave me the scope, and there was a big heat signature on the half-tide, rising boulder beach. Everyone came out - numerous FLIRs, night vision equipment. I had the wherewithal to grab my cell phone and put the lens up to the FLIR and started recording. That’s when we captured 16 minutes, 40 seconds of a bipedal Sasquatch on a beach on Quadra Island. The next day we truthed it - we found tracks, and we found it was eating chitons, the mollusks that stick to rocks. Where it had been standing that evening, there were no big ones left - only the size of a pinky nail. It had eaten all the large limpets off the rocks, smashing them with another rock and peeling them off.

Peter McCully: I’m not going camping on Quadra Island with you anytime soon either.

Tom Sewid: There’s a few on Quadra Island.

Peter McCully: Tom, the one question that nobody ever asks you but should - what would that be?

Tom Sewid: When they come to the store in Forks, Washington - the largest Sasquatch store and museum, sasquatchthelegend.com - they’ll ask, “But what are they?” And that’s when I make them turn white. I say they are the indigenous people of North America - Adam and Eve. That is what Xegxagweme, the creator, created as the perfect human: big, nocturnal vision, covered in hair, with dark black skin. One of the ancestors chipped rocks and made spark and started to use fire. The Sasquatches, I’ve learned through numerous Indian tribes and shamans, have very strict laws. They don’t use fire. They don’t use tools. Tool evolves to weapon, and then you get greed, envy, hate, animosity, and eventually warfare - until you evolve to leave the Sasquatch clans and become what we are: hairless bipedals with no nocturnal vision. We are the humans of the day. Sasquatches are humans of the night.

And that’s why if you live at the urban edge with a forest behind you, take a picture of your compost bin before you close the lid. Take a look in your greenhouse. Look in your outbuilding with your poultry or your pet food or your freezer with fish and game. Look at your fruit trees and gardens. When you start noticing your tomatoes on the greenhouse windowsill are sometimes missing a third of them, and there are big impressions behind your compost - at night when we sleep, Sasquatch just needs to listen, and when it hears us in REM sleep, it goes to work. That’s why there’s activity around Parksville, along Englishman River, and north on the edge of the inland highway where the bridge goes over. The community hall in Fanny Bay - the timber behind it has been cleared for 60 or 70 yards because a big Sasquatch was seen watching the moms and children play in the playground. Campbell River. Quadra Island. Cobble Hill. When the Sasquatches, I’ve learned, are in harmony and balance with the environment and nature - that’s what they’re teaching us. We need to get more like Sasquatch. Otherwise, stick a fork in us.

Dave Graham: Tom Sewid. After hearing that, I’m thinking of revising my Victoria Day long weekend hiking plans. Is there a Bigfoot equivalent to bear bells? Do we know if pepper spray works on these things? If one encounters a Bigfoot - do you avoid eye contact, back away slowly, make a lot of noise? Or speak softly? “Nice Bigfoot. That’s a good boy. Please don’t tear me in half.”

Peter McCully: Links to Squatch Watch Vancouver Island 2026 are in the show notes. And while you’re at thepulsecommunity.ca, check out our Skookum Kids Stories - Captain Dave and the Crew of the Mellow Submarine, and Peter and Gracie the Eskimo Dog. Our stories now include colouring pages with each new episode.

Dave Graham: I can recommend the colouring pages - they’re not too hard, and you can make the sky green if you want. We have a new story coming out weekly. This week’s episode has Captain Dave and Larry the Lobster helping make the new kid at the French Creek Marina feel welcome. A warm story. Very comforting. No Sasquatches.

Peter McCully: Then we have our Radio Archaeology classic radio series, featuring original episodes of Dragnet with Sergeant Joe Friday and Gunsmoke with Marshal Matt Dillon.

Dave Graham: Also this week, join Cindy Thompson of Parksville for A Resilience Project, as she features Karen and Ricky Sanchez, who have spent 20 years building homes for orphaned children with HIV/AIDS in Thailand. This is a story of purpose and resilience and a calling that doesn’t let go.

Peter McCully: And Parksville councillors Joel Grenz and Sean Wood, the Non-Partisan Hacks, take listeners behind the scenes of municipal advocacy work that directly impacts Vancouver Island taxpayers.

Dave Graham: You’ll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca. While you’re there, sign up for our weekly newsletter. Be up to date on all the latest podcasts, guests, and contests.

Peter McCully: Enjoy the weather, folks. Get outside. See something new. Spend your dollars locally. And if you’re camping on or near Quadra Island, maybe sleep with one eye open.

Dave Graham: Camping? I’m not sure I’ll ever go camping again. A tent won’t hold up against a Bigfoot. Actually, I just remembered my camping gear is somewhere in the garage, so it’s kind of a moot point. From now on I’m camping in a building - hopefully one with amenities and indoor plumbing. At my age, roughing it means doing without room service.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics, all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.