Mount St. Helens, Bigfoot, and the Miners Who Were Never the Same

Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift · May 15, 2026 · 9m

Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, and it did not blow its top. It blew its side, and the wall of water and debris that followed changed everything for everyone below it.

In Canada, ash fell on cars in Kamloops and the cloud reached Lethbridge. Victoria and Vancouver felt a shockwave through their homes. Harry R. Truman, 83 years old, had refused to leave his lodge on Spirit Lake. In March, he said you couldn't pull him out with a mule team. He and his 16 cats were buried under 150 feet of volcanic debris.

USGS scientist David Johnston was on the mountain that morning. His last four…