Certain areas of the U.S Mexico border could be considered ecologically one in the same. Therefore a question arises when considering the Sasquatch.
Are there any reports all be it historical that could represent a population of Sasquatch existing in northern Mexico?
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| Newspaper clipping from 1930 |
Answering this question is not as straight forward as a google search and answering it is one of this blogs main goals. As such this first entry on the subject will focus on compiling sources from available newspapers as well as analyzing recently popularized attestations.
Please refer to the useful research resources page and the reference list to conduct your own research!
To begin with this process of identifying a historical precedent for Sasquatch in northern Mexico we must begin by looking at any pre-columbian records of such a creature, while to the north this subject is well documented and a strong oral and written tradition survives in native communities, the same cannot quite be said for latin America.
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| Totem of thunderbird & Dzunukwa (Vancouver) |
It is important to note that a discrepancy can exist with how native beliefs are framed and represented historically. This could have led to a lot of genuine beliefs having been interpreted as simple folklore when they might have, at one point, represented literal belief in physical phenomena.
Looking through historical newspaper archives one can find references to the skeletons of 'giants' particularly in the deserts of sonora in northern Mexico, though the trend seems to have been widespread across Mexico.
An article in the Imperial Valley Press from December 13, 1930 describes such findings which are archived in formatted text below:
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SCIENTISTS FIND FIVE MORE
GIANT SKELETONS IN MEXICO
CHARLES HOLLOWAY
United Press Staff Correspondent SOYOPA, Sonora, Mex., Dec. 13. (U.P)—Five large skeletons, the first, evidences that a race of supermen once roamed this vast waste land, were unearthed today by an international expedition of scientists.
Working rapidly for two nights and a day, the little band of American and Mexican archaeologists unearthed the petrified remains of a youth six feet, eight inches tall the skeletons of four other children of lesser stature and several jars filled with human ashes.
The importance of these discoveries was the fact they definitely established our scene of operations as a great burial ground, according to Dr. Byron R. Cummings, dean of the University of Arizona archaeology department and leader of the expedition.
Their confidence renewed by the discoveries, the scientists at once turned their attention to uncovering the skeletons of adults—the relics upon which they will rely to establish their belief in the existence of a hitherto mythical race of "cyclops”. J. L. Coker, the Sonora mining man who guided us to the excavation site and pointed out the three giant skeletons he found a few weeks age, surveyed a wide area which he said held possibilities for added discoveries.
The roving band of wild Yaqui Indians are our only source of worry. They all are armed and we are compelled to keep a sharp look out for them at all times. -Ashes Prove Puzzle- Dr. Cummings and Professor San Domingo agreed that a young man in his teens who had attained a height of six feet, eight inches was an indication of what we may expect when the adult skeletons are leached. the three skeletons found by Coker, those of a man and two women, all were more than eight feet tall, and we are confident of finding many more.
Irrespective of the success of our search for skeletons, Dr. Cummings said the discovery of the ash filled jars and other potteries was of first importance. The jars contained what had been human ashes and were an entirely unexpected find. The jars themselves, of beautiful design and workmanship, were at least 2,000 years old and possibly more. Dr. Cummings said. The significance of human ashes buried with the skeletons thus far has puzzled the scientists. One theory was that they may be the key to a strange religious rite practiced by those long dead people.
No one knows yet the mental plane reached by the people, but judging from the pottery and trinkets al ready is believed they were in no sense savages.
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| Byron Cummings at Rainbow Bridge, 1909 |
Firstly, when interpreting the subject matter of the article, one might infer that documentation regarding the expedition, its discoveries, and the physical artifacts retrieved should be available for further study. However, this is not the case. Beyond contemporary newspaper reporting, no substantial archaeological documentation of the expedition appears to survive. This absence may point to a broader pattern of misplaced or unverified “giant” evidence—a topic that will be explored in future articles.
I find historical references to these discoveries quite interesting since even though one could infer that the race of 'cyclops' could be a case of misidentification or chimera, possibly describing extinct fauna from the early holocene, e.g. a mammoth. It would be strange for such a misidentification to occur since the bones where part of broader skeletal remains found with jewelry and pottery.
Secondly, had the expedition members not been so dissuaded from interacting with native populations and conducted an ethnographic study they could have learned about descriptions of creatures said to have previously inhabited the area by the Yaqui. A tribe of small hairy human that according to the natives lived in harmony with nature or depending on the translation and source, were nature. These small people were known as the Surem and are still part of Yaqui traditional beliefs to this day.
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| A Yaqui 'Surem' mask |
A popular historical report used as a precedent for the existence of a Sonoran Sasquatch population is a description of a 'bear' by Jesuit missionary Ignaz Pfefferkork written in the late 1700's in his work. Sonora: A description of the province
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Bears are a special menace to stock raising, for they eat many a calf, and, if no smaller prey falls into their clutches, they will attack even horses, cows, and oxen. They delight especially in eating maize as long as it is still tender and soft. Woe to the field if a hungry bear breaks into it at night. He eats as much as he can and makes off with as much as he can grasp and carry in his mighty arms. In so doing he ruins even more of the field by breaking it down and treading upon it. The inhabitants of the country assert that a bear defends himself by throwing stones when one attempts to chase him away and that a stone hurled from his paws comes with much greater force than one thrown from the hand of the strongest man. This seems the more remarkable because the bear is supposed to throw the stones backwards.
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Unless one assumes that the Indigenous inhabitants of Sonora possessed no observational capacity and were profoundly mistaken, an alternative interpretation must be considered. That alternative is that Pfefferkorn was relaying a description of a large, furry being using the closest familiar term "bear" based on his European experience.
This account has striking similarities to modern reports of Sasquatch behavior. Given that bears are not historically common in Sonora, one must reasonably question what creature was actually being described as stealing crops and throwing stones.
There are many such stories and reports from Mexico, Central America, and South America that warrant independent examination. As such, this article serves as the first in a series exploring the wild man phenomenon in Latin America.
References Cited:
Pfefferkorn, I. (2016). Sonora: A Description of the Province. University of Arizona Press.
Totem image retrieved from: https://wandering-through-time-and-place.com/tag/big-foot
(1930, December 13) Imperial Valley press. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn92070146/1930-12-13/ed-1/.
Yaqui legends, myths, and stories. (n.d.). In Native Languages of the Americas. Retrieved January 7, 2026, from https://www.native-languages.org/yaqui-legends.htm
Byron Cummings. (2025, October 27). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 7, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Cummings
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