Daily Colonist ran the story of a small hominid captured by
a crew of railway workers in British Columbia during the summer of 1884. It was described as “Something of the gorilla
type standing four feet seven inches in height and weighing 127.” Jacko had long hair, black and about an inch
long, and looked human except for this hair which covered everything except
hands and feet. His forearm was
reportedly much longer than a human one, and that is probably what gave him a
gorilla image. The beast was captured
while lying hurt next to the railroad tracks and taken to the local jail, where
Mr. Tilbury was to care for it.
The Mainland Guardian of July 9, 1884 (New Westminster, BC),
mentioned the story and noted: “The ‘What Is It’ is the subject of conversation
in town. How the story originated, and by whom, is hard for one to conjecture.
Absurdity is written on the face of it. The fact of the matter is, that no such
animal was caught, and how the Colonist was duped in such a manner, and by such
a story, is strange.”
On July 11, 1884, the British Columbian (also a New
Westminster newspaper) reported that some 200 people had gone to the jail to
view Jacko, but that the “only wild man visible” was a man, presumably
Tilsbury, who they laughingly called the “governor of the goal [jail], who
completely exhausted his patience” answering questions from the crowd. He is said to have told them the injured
Jacko escaped just prior to the arrival of the townsfolk.
During the 1950s, a BC news reporter named Brian McKelvie
became interested in Sasquatch reports of his current day that were being carried
by his local papers. McKelvie searched for reports from the beginnings of the
locality and found the Colonist article. McKelvie then told researchers John
Green and René Dahinden. At that time
it was believed that this was the only record of the event due to a fire that
had destroyed other area newspapers in archive.
John Green continued digging, however, and discovered microfilm
of British Columbia newspapers from the 1880s in the University of British
Columbia, as listed above. He then spent
several years interviewing old-timers in Western Canada about their earlier
Sasquatch encounters. One of the
interviewees was August Castle, who confirmed the story had been popular in his
youth.
Later, Dr. Myra Shackley conducted research on hominoids and
it has been widely reported that Dr. Shackley “did perhaps the most exhaustive
effort in the search for Jacko.” Her work,
however, is simply an overview of the work of John Green. The claim that it is
hers shows a failure to do actual research. The Castle interview was conducted
in 1958, by Green, when Castle was 80 years old. At that time, Dr. Shackley was 13 years old
and living in England. While her research
on Neanderthal populations in Mongolia might warrant the title “exhaustive”,
those who attribute the Jacko findings to her are mistaken.
Some enthusiasts continue to retell the story of Jacko as if
it was a real report, but most serious researchers have labeled it “news
fiction”, not unlike our modern day tabloid stories.
