A Whitehorse resident collected stories of sasquatch sightings for years. Now he's publishing them

For 25 years, only Red Grossinger's closest friends knew about his fascination with sasquatch.

But this fall,the Whitehorse man's interest in the hairy, human-like creature some people believe to be real,will be revealed as he prepares to publish a book of sasquatchstories.

Grossinger's interest goes back to a fly-fishing trip on the Takhini River in 1997, where he said he encountered a tall, two-legged, furry figure about 15 meters away.

He said the creature seemed to be playing hide and seek with him it would come up for a few seconds, then disappear again.

"That kept on for a good 10 minutes before he walked away," recalls Grossinger.

"I mentioned it to one of my friends from Teslin what that could be, and she said, 'Well, that's bush man. That's a sasquatch.' So from that day on, I was hooked."

"When a person experiences something out of the ordinary, whatever that may be, it is a normal reaction for most people, to try and find out more about that unusual occurrence, Grossinger said. "And that first encounter with Sasquatch in 1997 did just that. I simply had to find out what it is."

Grossinger said he began to read everything he could on the subject, and joined a few clubs in B.C. and Alberta where he heard others' tales about sasquatch.

After that, Grossinger started interviewing others about their sasquatch sightings.

"Most of them took me to the location where their experience occurred," Grossinger said.

Grossinger's sons would often come along for these trips too, he said.

About five years ago, he said he began compiling notes on everything he gathered. One story Grossinger heard was particularly baffling.

A man in his 60s told Grossinger he was driving in Crestview, Yukon, along Azure Road when he saw a sasquatch.

"He noticed something in the ditch on his right hand side. So he slowed his car down to crawling speed," Grossinger recounted.

"Indeed, he noticed there was a sasquatch walking in the manner that you describe as a man on a mission."

The man was about eight feet away from the sasquatch for about 90 meters, the creature did not even pay attention to him at all.

At one point though, the man told Grossinger the sasquatch became somewhat translucent. "He could almost see through, but not quite," Grossinger said.

"Then it became transparent, all he could see was the outline of this creature."

And then, a few seconds later nothing. "It had disappeared right in front of him," Grossinger said.

He said he's documentedthree other occasions where asasquatch disappeared in front of people.

The most frequent reports of sightingshe's heard about come fromthe Teslin area.

The book titled Nahganne, Northern Tales of the Sasquatchis set to be published in October.