TORONTO -- Does Bigfoot exist? And if so, is it Canadian?
Ontario hunter Gino Meekis of strange, in the woods that have left biologists scratching their heads.
He鈥檇 never 鈥渉eard anything like this before,鈥� he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. 鈥淚t was more bass-y than anything I鈥檝e heard scream before.鈥�
Meekis, who lives near Sioux Lookout in northern Ontario, took the footage on Oct. 3 while he was hunting grouse with his wife and grandson. The young child can be heard appearing to mimic the strange noises.
The trio first heard the odd howling as they made their way back to their car at the end of the trail along the Vermilion River.
Initially, Meekis thought it was a moose or a bear. 鈥淏ut then I started thinking of all the animals in the area -- I鈥檇 heard during my life -- and it didn鈥檛 match,鈥� he said.
鈥淎t first, I wasn鈥檛 scared because it sounded kind of far from where we were,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t sounded like it was a kilometre away. So if it started coming, (we had) enough time to get out of there.鈥�
鈥淲e could hear it moving 鈥� it sounded kind of heavy,鈥� Meekis said. 鈥淏ut my wife, she got scared 鈥� picked up (our grandson) and started walking fast towards the vehicle.鈥�
GOV鈥橳 UNCERTAIN WHAT NOISE WAS
And if you鈥檙e looking for answers from the government, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry鈥檚 guess is no better than anyone else鈥檚.
鈥淥ur biologists say it could be a larger mammal 鈥� for example a wolf 鈥� but because of a considerable distance from the recorder there is no way to be certain,鈥� ministry spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca.
Since Meekis posted two YouTube videos of the interaction, they鈥檝e both gone viral, racking up more than 303,000 views combined.
In the comment sections, users have suggested the noise may have been the urban legend Bigfoot or a giant bear. Meekis said he can鈥檛 figure it out: 鈥淚鈥檓 in the same boat as them since I heard it.鈥�
Some users have accused Meekis of orchestrating a hoax, but he called that theory absurd. 鈥淭hey think there鈥檚 a speaker or a recording playing something,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 go out that day to deceive people.鈥�
None of his hunter friends have been able to put their finger on it either.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檒l ever find out,鈥� Meekis said.
