Bush Pilot Crashed in a White-Out Near Whitehorse in 1973 — Says A Sasquatch Rescued Him
Bush Pilot Crashed in a White-Out Near Whitehorse in 1973 — Says A Sasquatch Rescued Him
WHITEHORSE, YUKON TERRITORY — For more than fifty years, a remarkable survival story has circulated among bush pilots, trappers, and wilderness guides throughout Canada’s Yukon Territory.
At its center is a man named Jack Morrison, a veteran bush pilot who claimed that after his aircraft crashed during a blinding white-out storm in 1973, his life was saved by something many people insist cannot exist.
According to Morrison, he survived nearly certain death because a Sasquatch found him first.
While skeptics dismiss the account as a product of trauma and exposure, Morrison never altered his story, even decades later.
Until his death in 2018, he maintained that the creature not only rescued him but remained nearby for several days until human help finally arrived.
The mystery remains one of the strangest legends ever to emerge from Canada’s far north.
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Trouble Above the Wilderness
On February 14, 1973, Morrison departed from a small airstrip outside Whitehorse to deliver supplies to an isolated trapping camp approximately 150 miles away.
The flight was considered routine.
Weather forecasts predicted light snowfall but nothing unusual.
By midday, conditions had deteriorated dramatically.
Strong winds swept across the mountains.
Visibility collapsed.
Within minutes, Morrison found himself flying inside a complete white-out.
Pilots describe white-outs as among the most dangerous conditions imaginable.
Sky and ground merge into a featureless wall of white, making orientation nearly impossible.
“You lose the horizon,” Morrison later explained during an interview. “Up looks like down and down looks like up.”
Realizing he could no longer navigate safely, he attempted an emergency landing.
The Crash
Morrison spotted what appeared to be a frozen river valley and descended.
Unfortunately, heavy snow concealed uneven terrain.
The aircraft struck the ground hard, bounced, and slid several hundred feet before coming to a stop.
The pilot survived.
The airplane did not.
The impact shattered a landing ski, damaged the engine, and left Morrison stranded in one of the most remote regions of the Yukon.
To make matters worse, the crash damaged his emergency radio.
Temperatures that night were expected to fall below -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
Without shelter, survival seemed unlikely.
The First Night
Morrison spent the afternoon salvaging supplies from the wreckage.
As darkness approached, he constructed a crude windbreak from aircraft debris and canvas.
The cold intensified rapidly.
Despite wearing winter gear, he later admitted that fear began to outweigh optimism.
“I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it until morning,” he said.
The storm continued throughout the night.
Snow accumulated around the wreckage.
Visibility dropped to almost zero.
Then, sometime after midnight, Morrison heard something outside.
Heavy footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Approaching through the storm.
The Visitor
At first, Morrison assumed a moose had wandered near the crash site.
The sound was too heavy for wolves.
Too deliberate for blowing debris.
Then a shadow emerged beyond the snow.
What he saw next would define the rest of his life.
According to Morrison, a massive upright figure stood only yards away.
The creature appeared covered in thick dark hair.
Its shoulders seemed extraordinarily broad.
Even through the storm, its size was unmistakable.
“It was taller than any man I’d ever seen,” he recalled.
Morrison reached for a survival flare.
Before he could use it, the figure turned and walked away.
The encounter lasted only seconds.
Yet it was enough to leave him shaken.
Following the Tracks
Morning revealed something unexpected.
Fresh tracks surrounded the crash site.
The impressions appeared remarkably large.
Each resembled a human footprint but measured significantly longer and wider than normal.
Curiosity overcame caution.
Morrison followed the trail.
The tracks led through dense timber to a rocky outcrop partially sheltered from the wind.
There, he discovered something extraordinary.
A natural cave.
More importantly, the cave was dry.
Compared with his improvised shelter at the wreckage, it offered dramatically better protection from the cold.
Morrison moved his supplies immediately.
Only later did he begin wondering how he had found it.
Or who had led him there.
Days of Survival
The storm persisted for nearly three days.
Search aircraft were unable to operate.
Rescue efforts remained grounded.
Meanwhile, Morrison struggled to survive.
According to his account, strange events began occurring around the cave.
Firewood occasionally appeared near the entrance.
Fresh animal carcasses were found nearby.
Several times he observed large tracks surrounding the shelter.
The footprints always arrived during the night.
Never during daylight.
At first, Morrison suspected coincidence.
Eventually, he became convinced otherwise.
Something was helping him.
Face to Face
The most dramatic encounter occurred on the fourth evening.
As sunset approached, Morrison spotted movement among nearby trees.
This time the creature emerged fully into view.
According to his description, it stood at least eight feet tall and possessed a powerful build unlike any animal known to inhabit the region.
Yet what struck him most was not its appearance.
It was its behavior.
The creature reportedly showed no aggression.
Instead, it simply watched from a distance.
For several minutes, neither moved.
Then it turned and disappeared into the forest.
“It wasn’t acting like a wild animal,” Morrison later insisted.
“It seemed curious.”
Rescue Finally Arrives
On the sixth day after the crash, weather conditions improved enough for search aircraft to resume operations.
A rescue plane eventually spotted wreckage and alerted ground teams.
Morrison was airlifted to safety later that afternoon.
Before leaving, he reportedly searched the surrounding area one final time.
The large tracks had vanished beneath fresh snow.
The creature was nowhere to be seen.
His ordeal was over.
The mystery was only beginning.
Nobody Believed Him
When Morrison described his experience, reactions were mixed.
Friends listened politely.
Authorities focused on the survival aspects of the incident.
Most dismissed the Sasquatch story entirely.
The pilot understood their skepticism.
After all, he possessed no photographs, no physical evidence, and no proof beyond his testimony.
Still, he never changed his account.
For the next forty-five years, he repeated the same details whenever asked.
Skeptics Offer Explanations
Wildlife experts remain unconvinced.
Many suggest that exhaustion, injury, isolation, and extreme cold may have influenced Morrison’s perceptions.
Survival situations often produce unusual psychological effects.
Others argue that large animal tracks can become distorted by snow and weather conditions.
Without physical evidence, the case remains impossible to verify.
Nevertheless, those who knew Morrison often emphasized one point.
He was widely regarded as practical, experienced, and deeply familiar with the northern wilderness.
“He wasn’t the type to invent stories,” one fellow pilot remarked.
A Mystery in the Snow
Today, more than half a century later, Morrison’s account remains part of Yukon folklore.
The exact crash location has never been publicly identified.
The cave still has not been located.
No additional evidence has emerged.
Yet the story continues because it raises an intriguing possibility.
What if, during one of the harshest storms of his life, a stranded bush pilot truly encountered something unknown?
Something intelligent enough to recognize a fellow creature in danger.
Something willing to help.
Whether Sasquatch exists remains one of North America’s greatest mysteries.
But according to Jack Morrison, the answer was never in doubt.
Because when a white-out storm left him alone in the frozen wilderness near Whitehorse, he believed something found him first.
And without it, he was certain he would never have come home.