Retired Carpenter Rescues Wounded Young Bigfoot in Washington Mountains

Posted Monday, July 13, 2026

By Squatchable.com staff

There's a video circulating right now that stopped me in my tracks, and I think every person who has ever wondered what it would really be like to come face-to-face with one of these beings needs to see it. It's a first-hand account shared by a man named Walter Hayes, a 68-year-old retired carpenter living alone in a cabin deep in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State after losing his wife to illness and his only daughter to a traffic accident. His closest companion for over a decade had been his aging Labrador, Scout. The story unfolds on a misty morning after a heavy rain, when Scout suddenly bolts into the forest with a speed his old bones shouldn't have allowed. Walter follows the barking and finds something that changes everything. Scout is using every ounce of strength he has left to drag a small, mud-covered creature out from the tree line toward the cabin. The being is roughly the size of a six-year-old child, covered in dark brown fur matted with rainwater, dead leaves clinging to its back, and a leg torn open from sliding over sharp rocks during the storm. Its chest rises and falls with shallow, exhausted breaths. What makes this account so powerful isn't just the discovery itself, it's what happens next. Walter describes the moment those amber eyes opened and met his, then immediately shifted into pure terror. The young Sasquatch curled up and raised both arms over its head in a defensive reflex, the kind of instinct that only comes from enduring violence over and over again. That image alone is enough to sit with you for a while. Instead of reaching for the phone or calling the rangers, Walter does something remarkable. He lowers his rifle, creates distance, and lets Scout do what dogs somehow always know how to do. He spreads his coat on the ground as a silent invitation, and eventually carries the injured being back to his shed, where he spends hours earning trust before treating the wounds. The detail about him opening the first aid box so everything inside was visible, then stepping back, shows a level of patience and understanding that most people wouldn't think to extend. The whole thing reads like a quiet meditation on grief, loneliness, and what happens when two wounded beings recognize something familiar in each other. Walter even laughs for the first time in years when Scout pulls the coat closer to the young Sasquatch and looks back at him as if waiting for permission. I don't want to give away too much more because the pacing of the telling is part of what makes it land. If you've ever wondered whether peaceful contact is possible, or whether these beings might respond to compassion the way any frightened creature would, this one is worth your time. Go find it on YouTube and settle in. It's the kind of story that stays with you long after the video ends.