Well, Marvin Cleave of Pelly Crossing isn’t laughing anymore.

Not since he and his wife, Sussie Silverfox, and friend Danny Edwards saw what they truly believe was a Bigfoot between Pelly Crossing and Stewart Crossing -- and they have photographs to prove it.

Cleave, 47, said he was driving between Pelly and Stewart two weeks ago when Silverfox and Edwards pointed out something ahead, off the road and on top of the bank.

Approaching to within 100 metres, Cleave, a 25-year resident of Pelly Crossing, estimated they had “bigfoot” in view for about two or three minutes.

“As soon as I slowed the car down, he just put his arm up, turned around and went back in the bush.

“I went up the bank to have a look and see what it was and then I spotted his tracks. I got scared s---less and came right back out.” cleave said sincerely in an interview this morning.

“Like I got size nine (shoe) eh, and I put mine right inside of his.” Cleave said he doesn’t have photographs of Bigfoot itself. But he’s got plenty of photographs of the tracks with a tape measure that shows them to be 17.5 centimetres (seven inches) wide and 37.5 centimetres (15 inches) long.

An avid bear hunter, Cleave said this was no bear. It was Bigfoot.

“I had three beer, my wife don’t drink and Danny Edward don’t drink and it was no bear. I know that, said the community’s plumber.

“ ... This is a human.”

Cleave said they spotted Bigfoot about 1.5 kilometres this side of Crooked Creek, which is about three-quarters of the way to Stewart from Pelly.

Many of the Pelly residents have gone to seek the tracks, said Cleave, and many are coming to his door to see the photographs.

Patty Isaac, the office secretary for the Selkirk First Nation, said in an interview this morning that some people laugh, while others believe it.

How do the pictures look?

“They look real, I guess,” Isaac replied.

“A couple of pictures look like an animal bear foot and the other pictures look like actual human beings’ foot, and some are faded.”

Cleave said Bigfoot stood about 2 1/2 metres high, and his arms hung down to his knees.

He’s returned to the area four or five times to hunt the Bigfoot, a couple times with a friend and twice alone. Cleave said he does not want to kill it, but to shoot it in the leg and knock it down so he can capture evidence that it does exist.

Although he’s not had any sightings during his hunts, he said he has come across older Bigfoot tracks further into the bush.

Cleave is a semi-believer of Bigfoot after seeing television footage from a horseback rider claiming to have filmed the creature running away from him. Now, after his own experience, there’s no doubt in Cleve’s mind.

“But I can’t say why one would be way up here and how they stand the winters -- I do not know.”

Cleave said there are stories of a Bigfoot seen many years ago at the hot springs in the MacArthur Game Sanctuary, located between Pelly Crossing and Stewart Crossing east of the highway.

Around the world there are many legends and stories of the existence of a large, man-like ape, whether it be Bigfoot, Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, or Sasquatch, of the famed beer television commercial.

Though there’s never been any undisputed proof, it hasn’t been for lack of trying, as many reputable science and research institutes have taken a shot at proving to the world the creatures exists, or does not.