Local Recounts Bigfoot Encounters at Historic Gypsy Copper Mining Camp
Posted Monday, September 28, 2026
By Squatchable.com staff
There's something undeniably compelling about a firsthand account from someone who's spent decades in Bigfoot country, and this recent video delivers exactly that. A witness named Sean, accompanied by his son Skyler, takes the camera crew up to the historic Gypsy Copper Mining Camp in the Colville National Forest to share two remarkable encounters that happened back in the early '90s.
The location itself is steeped in history. Built around 1896 by R.M. Prrowy Jr., this cabin holds the distinction of being the oldest standing structure in the Colville National Forest. Back in 1986, around 100 firefighters were dispatched specifically to protect it from wildfire due to its historical value. You can still see the burn scars on the trees today, with new growth reaching 35 to 40 years old. It's the kind of remote, rugged setting where stories like Sean's tend to unfold.
Sean's first encounter sounds like something straight out of a siege scenario. Late one night, around 11 PM, he and others were sleeping in the cabin when a boulder roughly the size of someone's head started bouncing off the roof. Scared stiff, Sean grabbed a .65 caliber firearm and let off a round. Silence followed for about an hour, then the bombardment resumed. Boom, boom, boom. This pattern repeated throughout the night until 4 or 5 in the morning. For those familiar with the famous Ape Canyon incident of 1924, where miners were besieged by rock-throwing figures in the Cascades, this kind of behavior echoes that legendary encounter in a way that's hard to ignore.
The second encounter is equally gripping. Sean and his brother were up on Crawl Ridge when they spotted a tall figure running down the road at what he estimates was around 30 mph. Standing somewhere between 7 and 8 feet tall, the figure had hair that Sean describes as 5 to 6 inches long, resembling black bear hair but moving in a way no bear ever could. Shortly after, a group of horseback riders came tearing out of the area, clearly spooked. When Sean and his brother met the riders at the road, the conversation went something like, "Did you see that?" followed by an immediate decision to pack up and leave.
One detail that stands out is Sean's observation that Bigfoot sightings in the area seemed to taper off in the late '90s, right around the time the Forest Service decided the old mining tunnels were a hazard and blew them all shut. Whether that's coincidence or connected, it's the kind of pattern researchers often find fascinating. Many longtime witnesses in the Pacific Northwest have noted similar correlations between human activity changes and shifts in Sasquatch presence.
The video also touches on some lighter moments, including a hilarious encounter with a 500-pound cinnamon black bear and her two cubs that sent everyone running, plus some talk about morel mushroom hunting in the spring. But the core of the footage is Sean's testimony, delivered with the calm, matter-of-fact tone of someone who's had time to process what he experienced.
For anyone interested in witness accounts from seasoned outdoorsmen with deep ties to a specific region, this one is worth the watch. Sean comes across as genuine and detailed, and the historical backdrop of the mining camp adds an extra layer of atmosphere you don't often get in these interviews.