The Partridge Creek Monster is one of the Yukon’s strangest and most debated cryptid sightings. First reported in 1903, this mysterious creature has captured the imagination of locals, cryptozoologists, and skeptics alike for over a century. Witnesses described a massive, dinosaur-like animal prowling the snowy landscape—a creature seemingly from prehistoric times that had no business existing in the modern world.

The first documented sighting occurred near the Partridge River in the Yukon Territory in 1903. The group of witnesses included French writer Georges Dupuy, gold prospector James Lewis Buttler, trapper Tom Leemore, Catholic missionary Father Pierre Lavagneux, and five First Nations individuals. They claimed to have seen a creature unlike anything they had ever encountered: a massive reptilian beast standing 12 feet wide and 30 feet long. Its skin was rough and dark, resembling that of an enormous lizard. The creature’s feet were five feet long, each tipped with razor-sharp claws measuring a foot in length. Its long tail, nearly 10 feet in length, dragged behind it, leaving deep impressions in the snow. Most notably, it bore a short, square horn on its snout and had the face of a dog.

The witnesses followed the creature’s tracks for hours, observing it from a safe distance as it crossed frozen rivers and plowed through deep snowdrifts with ease. Father Lavagneux, a respected member of the community, was particularly adamant about what he saw, insisting the beast resembled illustrations of theropod dinosaurs like Ceratosaurus.

Four years later, in 1907, Father Lavagneux claimed to have seen the creature again—this time accompanied by ten First Nations witnesses. Once more, the description matched the original sighting: the same massive body, the same horned snout, and the same lumbering gait through the snowy wilderness.

The reports of the Partridge Creek Monster spread quickly, sparking international intrigue. Newspapers across North America and Europe published accounts of the sighting, with some suggesting that the creature could be a surviving dinosaur species that had somehow endured in the remote Arctic. Skeptics, however, were less convinced. They argued that the footprints could have been left by a large moose or bear and that the witnesses were either mistaken or perpetuating a hoax.

The skepticism did little to dissuade believers, especially when new reports surfaced years later. In 1928, a group of Siberian hunters claimed to have seen a similar creature in the remote Russian wilderness. Then, in 1999, residents of Fairbanks, Alaska, reported spotting a massive, dinosaur-like creature moving through a riverbed.

Scientists remain unconvinced. The idea of a Ceratosaurus—or any large dinosaur—surviving into the 20th century defies everything we know about extinction and evolution. The harsh Yukon climate would make survival for such a creature virtually impossible. Yet, the detailed and consistent descriptions from multiple witnesses, spread across decades and continents, leave room for curiosity.

Was the Partridge Creek Monster a prehistoric survivor, an undiscovered species, or an elaborate hoax? And if it was a hoax, why have similar sightings persisted for nearly a century?

Join us as we explore the fascinating mystery of The Partridge Creek Monster in our latest episode of Unsolved Canadian Mysteries, available now on Spotify and YouTube.