The Mattawa Man-Killer

A father and son from the Sears family of Chicago, Illinois decided to go out on a moose-hunting trip in the Greater Mattawa River Region in Central Ontario. They were guided by an Algonquin Indian/French Canadian man going by the nickname of Little Jack. Jack had made something of a name for himself as a reliable guide - and so it was obviously foolhardy when the Sears family chose to ignore his warnings about a '*large beast*' in the area. This vain decision would ultimately cost the young Sears boy his life...

## Cannibal Giant

Little Jack had earned quite a reputation for himself as a skilled guide who would regularly lead hunters towards the largest moose he could find. He would guide rich tourists and politicians from all across Canada and the United States. His career had presumably proceeded without incident until one fateful day in 1894. It was October - which was rutting season for moose and thus the best time to hunt bull moose, which would congregate at that time of year to battle for dominance.

The hunters and their trusty guide were paddling along the main trunk of the Mattawa River, moving along the Ontario-Quebec border before turning north along a branch creek into Quebec. The party had seen many moose, but the Sears men would only be satisfied by a '*true trophy*' and so pressed Little Jack to take them deeper into the wilds of the area. Jack hesitated but eventually agreed to take them to a lake he knew, but insisted that he would only permit them to stay in the area during daylight hours, and would be departing by mid-day due to rumours he had heard about a large and dangerous creature in the region. The Sears simply took this as naught more than superstition, and so ignored Little Jack's warnings.

When they arrived at the lake, Jack clearly instructed the Sears men to stay on the south side of the lake, and placed the father in a thicket which overlooked a clearing bordered by the lake, while his son was told to canoe along the lake to the east and hunt along a marsh area. Both men promised Jack that they would not cross the lake, which was pretty narrow at the point at which they were stationed. Despite all of these preparations, Jack was still pretty nervous, and spent '*a great deal*' of his time walking between the two men to make sure that they were sticking to their assigned spots.

Little Jack told the older Sears man that they were going to be getting ready to leave, but promised that he would bring them back early the next morning. They set about leaving the area when Mr. Sears suddenly pointed out to the lake. Jack's heart sank as he saw the Sears boy paddling across the lake, already coming very close to landing on the other side. Jack ran towards him, desperately yelling and waving his arms in panic trying to get his attention. However, the young man either simply did not hear him, or chose to ignore him. At this point, Mr. Sears noticed '*a large shape*' moving in the treeline on the shore of the opposite side of the lake. Mr. Sears thought that it was a moose, and so called out to Little Jack - who was just about to get into his canoe at this point. Little Jack, however, was still in a state of panic and demanded that Mr. Sears remained silent.

Jack threw himself into his canoe and paddled as quickly as possible in an attempt to catch the Sears boy before he made a fatal mistake. However, the aforementioned young man was already landing and pulling his canoe up on the shoreline by this time. Trying to get Sears' attention one last time - and failing as the young man walked into the forest, having ignored Jack's desperate pleas. Little Jack continued to make frenzied progress across the lake, but didn't get to the shore before he heard '*several shots*' fired from the Sears' boy's rifle before silence fell. Presumably fearing the absolute worst, Jack was just about to land his canoe when the boy came running out of the woods as if he was being pursued. Having no time to land his canoe, Jack immediately raised his rifle to fire at the unseen monstrosity chasing Sears.

The monstrosity in question wouldn't remain unseen for very much longer, however, as an enormous hairy beast emerged from the tree-line, tearing after the terrified young man. As Jack watched helplessly, the monster caught up with Sears in '*a few short steps*' and grabbed him by his upper torso from behind. The creature then twisted Sears' head clean off - killing him instantly. Likely seeing red at this point, Jack 'emptied his gun' at the monster - but it seemed completely unfazed. Instead of falling to the ground, the creature held onto one of the deceased boy's legs and dragged his corpse off into the woods while holding his disembodied head in the other hand. Having no more ammunition with which to fight the horrific hairy humanoid, Jack had no choice but to return to Mr. Sears.

Wanting to avenge his son, Mr. Sears insisted on following the beast into the woods after having been forced to watch the entire traumatic event from his vantage point on the opposite side of the lake. Little Jack knew, however, that no good would come of this rash decision - and had to almost drag the distraught man away from the area...

## The Search for a Body

When Sears and Jack reached their Mattawa River camp, Jack insisted that they pack up their camp and paddle to the nearest settlement to find help. They reached said settlement by the following morning, and they immediately reported the event to the local constable - who then organised a search party to track down the monster and recover the boy's body. This party included Little Jack and Mr. Sears, along with several local loggers and woodsmen. They searched for several days, but only found the Sears boy's broken rifle and a short trail of blood at the sight of the death. They reportedly heard '*beastly screams and howls*' while patrolling the wilderness at night - and eventually the search was abandoned altogether due to the growing fear of the searchers due to the monstrous vocalisations seeming to be getting closer to their campsite each night.

Little Jack, his reputation completely ruined, eventually moved to the Huntsville area. He made his living hunting and trapping, living off the land on the outskirts of town. He became an alcoholic, and would drink away all his money on the rare occasions when he had any to squander. It is unknown what eventually became of him or Mr. Sears, but I can imagine that it was likely far from a happy ending for either of them.

## Who, What, Where, Why, Wendigo

This harrowing story comes to us from a 54-year-old trapper and hunting guide named Howard B. Leblank, who was told about the event by his father, who was a French-Canadian fur trapper. His father had apparently heard it when he had worked in the area northeast of Huntsville as a boy. Howard lives in Kenora, Ontario nowadays - and he finally told his father's story to a bigfoot researcher named Duke S, who then wrote it up on the Sasquatch Chronicles website. It seems that this tale is an old one, and is thus impossible to verify. I think that, although it may have taken on some legendary qualities in its lifetime, this story might have actually been based on fact. We have other stories recorded by Duke involving creatures that he refers to as 'Mountain Giants' - and these creatures are known to twist off the heads of human victims, just like the entity in this story did to the poor Sears boy.

Duke is one of the researchers who have come to refer to the legendary Algonquian Wendigo spirit as a potential cryptid. In this case, he classifies the Wendigo as a flesh-eating variant of the more common North American hairy humanoid. I don't personally agree with this, however, seeing as I think that the Wendigo attested to in actual legends is clearly not a bigfoot-type creature. Instead, it is described as a tall and emaciated humanoid with grey skin, and is also a spirit entity capable of possessing people who commit cannibalistic acts.

## Source

Sasquatch Chronicles: Wendigo Attack Report