Jacko, the "British Columbia Gorilla" reportedly captured above Yale

Summer 1884. The Canadian Pacific Railway was being pushed through the Fraser Canyon of British Columbia, and Andrew Onderdonk's crews were working above the town of Yale. On Friday, 4 July 1884, the Victoria Daily Colonist ran a strange headline. "What Is It? A Strange Creature Captured Above Yale. A British Columbia Gorilla."

Engineer Ned Austin was bringing his train up to the bluff at the eastern end of No. 4 tunnel, some twenty miles above Yale. He "saw what he supposed to be a man lying asleep in close proximity to the track." He signalled for the brakes.

"At this moment the supposed man sprang up and uttering a sharp quick bark, began to climb the steep bluff." Conductor R.J. Craig, Express Messenger Costerton, the baggageman and the brakemen gave chase. After five minutes of climbing, they had the creature cornered on a ledge. A small piece of loose rock was dropped, "rendering poor Jacko incapable of resistance." He was lowered with the bell rope, bound, placed in the baggage car and taken to Yale.

The paper described something "of the gorilla type," "half man and half beast." It stood "about four feet seven inches" and weighed "127 pounds." Apart from its hands and feet, it was covered in glossy black hair about one inch long. Its forearm was "much longer than a man's forearm," and its strength was extraordinary.

George Tilbury of Yale took charge of Jacko and planned to exhibit him in London, England. A Dr. Hannington advised against raw meat. "His favorite food so far is berries, and he drinks fresh milk with evident relish." Thomas White, Mr. Gouin, a civil engineer, and Mr. Major, a storekeeper, said they had seen a curious creature before, between Camps 13 and 17.

Within a week, rival papers struck back. On 9 July the Mainland Guardian of New Westminster wrote "that no such animal was caught, and how the Colonist was duped in such a manner, and by such a story, is strange." The British Columbian reported a crowd at the Yale gaol. "Two hundred visited the Skookum house begging admission." They found only the gaol governor, answering questions about a creature that was not there.

In the 1950s journalist Bruce McKelvie found the Colonist article and passed it to Sasquatch researchers John Green and René Dahinden. McKelvie claimed fire had destroyed the other local papers. That proved wrong.

In 1961 Ivan T. Sanderson popularised the story in Abominable Snowman: Legend Come to Life. In 1975 Green found the two follow-up articles and wrote the case off as "probable journalistic fiction." By then, in Wikipedia's words, "the story had taken on a life of its own."

Most writers now read Jacko as newspaper fiction. No body, hair or photograph survives. The dateline even reads 1882, which clashes with the 1884 issue.

Sceptic Joe Nickell cited the Guardian's dismissal. Anthropologist Grover Krantz suggested P.T. Barnum bought Jacko and showed him as Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy. Chad Arment rejected the idea, noting that Jo-Jo spoke several languages and could write his name. Advocates still wonder whether a small Sasquatch was caught that day. Loren Coleman traced how the tale spread, and In Search of... took it to television in a 1977 episode on Bigfoot.