This Day in History: A hoax perpetrated by a man who claimed that he had seen "Bigfoot" (also called "Sasquatch") caused a rush of more than 50 American and Canadian bounty hunters to Colville, Washington, in search of the legendary creature on this day (January 27) in 1969. Joe Metlow, a mining prospector, announced that he had seen the 9 ft tall beast, estimated to weight 1,000 pounds in northern Stevens County, and offered to divulge the location of the sighting in return for a "suitable" payment. By January 30, the hunters searched Stevens County by airplane, by helicopter, and on foot. Metlow rejected all offers of payment (including one for $55,000) as unsuitable, and the Bigfoot hunters gave up after a few days of fruitless searching.
Also in 1969, Skamania County, Washington, passed a law making killing a Bigfoot punishable by a felony conviction resulting in a monetary fine up to $10,000 or five years imprisonment. In 1984, the law was amended to a misdemeanor and the entire county was declared a "Sasquatch refuge". Whatcom County followed suit in 1991, declaring the county a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area". In 2021, Rep. Justin Humphrey, in an effort to bolster tourism, proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season in Oklahoma, indicating that the Wildlife Conservation Commission would regulate permits and the state would offer a $3 million bounty if such a creature was captured alive and unharmed.
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