The Seeahtiks - Lost Tribe of Hairy Men

 The Seeahtiks

The Lost Tribe of Hairy Men

 

Documented by Eastern Canada Sasquatch Organization

 

     The Seatco or Seeahtiks are a Native American tribe that inhabited the Pacific Northwest until the early 1900’s.  They were reported by the Clallam natives in 1924 and were said to be extinct 15 years before that time.  They inhabited Vancouver Island and the Olympic range.

 

The Seeahtiks were described as ‘Ape Men’ measuring 8 feet tall and covered in hair like the bears.  They were said to have their own language, mimic the sound of birds and hypnotize their prey.   They were also ventriloquists and could project voices coming from different places.   There were accounts of the Seeahtiks having supernatural powers and frequently stole women and children from other tribes.  The Seeahtiks were also called Stick Indians and Night People by the local Clallam tribe.  

 

 ‘Seatco

 

Alternate spellings: Siatco, Tsiatko, Ts'iatkw, See-ah-tik, See-atco, Seeahtkch, Seeahtlk, Tsiahk, Seeahtik
Also known as: Stick Indians, Night People

 

Related figures in other tribes: Sasquatch (Coast Salish), Woodmen (Athabaskan)

In Salishan mythology, Seatco are large, hairy wild men of the forest. There are two different kinds of Seatco that appear in folklore: powerful but comparatively benign forest spirits sometimes referred to as Night People (similar to the Sasquatch of the Halkomelem tribes,) and fearsome, malevolent man-eaters sometimes referred to as Stick Indians. The two beings are often confused in folklore and anthropology alike, because it is believed to antagonize these spirits to call them by their true names, so general terms like Seatco (which just means "spirit,") Night People, and Stick Indians are much more commonly used by Northwest Native Americans.’   (1) Native-Languages.org

 

 

Knowledge of the Seeahtiks became more public following the attack on a group of miners, which happened near Spirit Lake, in Mount St. Helens in the summer of 1924.  Jorg Totsgi of the Clallam tribe commented on the Seeahtiks in The Real American article of July 1924.   Other commenters from the Lummi and Quinault tribes also corroborated Totsgi’s account of this mysterious tribe.

 

Here are some excerpts from The Oregonian, on July 16, 1924:

 ‘Front Page of “The Oregonian” On July 16, 1924

 

BIG HAIRY INDIANS BACK OF APE TALE – MOUNTAIN DEVILS’ MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER – GIANTS SAID TO ROAM HILLS – SHAGGY CREATURES KILL GAME BY HYPNOTISM, IT IS SAID – VENTRILOQUISM IS USED – REDMEN’S EDITOR AT HOQUIAM GIVES THEORY OF REPORTED ATTACK AT SPIRIT LAKE

 

BY JORG TOTSGI, CLALLAM TRIBE, Editor of the Real American, Hoquiam Washington.

 

HOQUIAM, Wash., July 15. — (Special.) — The big apes reported to have bombarded a shack of prospectors at Mount St. Helens, are recognized by Northwestern Indians as none other than the Seeahtik Tribe of Indians. Seeahtik is a Clallam pronunciation. All other tribes of the Northwest pronounce it Seeahtkeh. Northwestern Indians have long kept the history of the Seeahtik Tribe a secret, because the tribe is the skeleton in the Northwestern Indians’ closet. Another reason the Indians have never divulged the existence of this tribe is that the Northwestern Indians know the white man would not believe the stories regarding the Seeahtik Tribe.

 

These facts are corroborated by Henry Napoleon, Clallam Tribe; L.J. James, Lummi Tribe; George Hyasman, Quinault Tribe.

 

GAME KILLED BY HYPNOTISM’

…

 

Other headlines from the same article read:

 

SEVERAL LANGUAGES USED

…

 

‘“BIG BEAR” SPEAKS

 

Henry Napoleon of the Clallam Tribe came upon one of the members of the Seeahtik Tribe while out hunting on Vancouver Island. He related this story to the writer:

 

“I had been visting relatives near Duncan, B.C. and while there I had been told many stories of the Seeahtiks by the Cowichan Tribe of British Columbia and warned by them not to go too far into the wilderness. However, in following a buck I had wounded I went in farther than I expected. It was at twilight when I came across an animal that I believed to be a big bear but as I aimed at him with my gun he looked and spoke to me in my own tongue. He was about seven feet tall and his body was very hairy. As he invited me to sit down, he told me that I had come upon him unaware and that his mind had been projected to distant relatives of his, otherwise he (Mr. Napolean) would never have been seen.”’

…

STRANGE MEDICINE USED

…

 ‘TRIBE HELD HARMLESS

 

The Seeahtik Tribe is harmless if left alone. However, if one of their members is injured or killed they generally take 12 lives for the one.’

…

 CLALLAMS ARE KILLED

…

‘However, Fred Pope of the Quinault Tribe and George Hyasman were fishing for steelheads about 15 miles up the Quinault River, one day in September four years ago, when they were visited by Seeahtik Indians. Mr. Hyasman said he heard and recognized their peculiar whistling before they approached us and in the morning we found that they had stolen all the steelheads we had caught. Therefore, the Indians of the Northwest after reading an account of the “big apes” attacking a prospector’s shack immediately recognized the Indians referred to in The Oregonian as the Seeahtiks, or giant Indians.’

 

…  (2) OlympicProject.com

 

Note: ‘Four years ago’ would mean in 1920.

 

   News Article dating from July 16, 1924:

 

  

Another article dating from July 13, 1924 reporting the attack on the miners at Spirit Lake.

 

 

Sources:

 Native-Languages.org (1)

 OlympicProject.com (2)

https://www.olympicproject.com/1924-oregonian-july-16/

 

 

Documented by Eastern Canada Sasquatch Organization