1 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:15,039 My name is Michael, and my story happened in two and thirteen in the 2 00:00:15,119 --> 00:00:20,640 little town of Miami, Oklahoma. I was driving a delivery truck for a 3 00:00:20,679 --> 00:00:25,320 company based out of Carol, Iowa, along with my ride along and his 4 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:30,160 name is Josh. It was three thirty a m. And we had just 5 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:34,359 finished our route and we were headed back to the warehouse where we were running 6 00:00:34,399 --> 00:00:40,520 trucks out of an old abandoned BF Goodrich plant. From our last stop, 7 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:45,479 we pulled out on a street when a thin, pale man dressed in black 8 00:00:45,719 --> 00:00:51,000 with a wide brim black hat began dancing across the street right in front of 9 00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:57,039 the truck. It was creepy and it caused me to stop. He stopped 10 00:00:57,039 --> 00:01:00,000 halfway across the street and he looked up at us from that brim of his 11 00:01:00,119 --> 00:01:06,280 hat, and then he continued his creepy little dance across the street. When 12 00:01:06,359 --> 00:01:10,439 he reached the sidewalk, he dropped down to sit with his legs crossed, 13 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,680 and he sat there looking like he was comfortable. I couldn't see him anymore 14 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,400 because of the height of the truck. What's he doing, I asked, 15 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:23,599 He's looking right at me with that weird smile. The damn thing is weird. 16 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,079 Let's get the hell out of here, said Josh. We got back 17 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:32,680 to the warehouse and started talking about it as we unloaded the trailer. We 18 00:01:32,799 --> 00:01:36,200 agreed that the old, creepy, pale man looked like the old man from 19 00:01:36,239 --> 00:01:41,200 the Poultergeist movies with the skill to looking face in the big yellow teeth. 20 00:01:41,799 --> 00:01:47,319 You know, the old man who said you're all gonna die after we get 21 00:01:47,359 --> 00:01:51,079 finished here. Let's go back and see if he's still there, said Josh. 22 00:01:51,359 --> 00:01:55,280 Sounds good to me, I said. We drove back after work, 23 00:01:55,319 --> 00:01:59,319 and of course the old man was gone, and we drove around the adjacent 24 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:04,200 blocks, but we never saw him again. Josh was still freaked out, 25 00:02:04,599 --> 00:02:07,480 so I drove him home and I dropped him off and I headed back to 26 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:13,719 my house. Three years went by and Josh had left the company. I 27 00:02:13,759 --> 00:02:17,280 didn't see him for years, and then I ran into him and we talked 28 00:02:17,319 --> 00:02:21,759 and we caught up with each other, and then the topic of that old 29 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,280 man in that dark coat and black hat came up. The sight of that 30 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:30,080 old man still creeps me out. Josh said, I've had nightmares about that 31 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:36,120 night. That old man spooked me. Well, we set our goodbyes, 32 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,960 and I never saw Josh alive again. Not long after that, Josh tragically 33 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,520 passed away from a strange illness. I too think about that night sometimes and 34 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:52,719 how it scared him so bad. I watched a program last year about paranormal 35 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,439 incidents and one of the stories was about a man in all black clothing and 36 00:02:57,479 --> 00:03:00,680 he wore a wide brim black hat, and he's been seen in many places 37 00:03:00,759 --> 00:03:07,000 across the country. People call him the hat Man, and they warned that 38 00:03:07,039 --> 00:03:12,360 he is an evil entity. I wonder if anyone listing has any knowledge of 39 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:20,439 the hat Man. Hey, y'all, welcome to another podcast. My name's 40 00:03:20,479 --> 00:03:23,919 Cameron Buckner. This is a Dixie cryptod podcast, also known as the what 41 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,240 If It's True? Podcast out on the podcast network. That means you can 42 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:36,240 find me on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google podcast Stitcher. iHeart any podcast 43 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,759 app. If you search for what If It's True Podcast, it'll be rought 44 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:44,360 up there at the top. Thanks for joining me. Hope you liked that 45 00:03:44,439 --> 00:03:47,879 first story. Let's get on with some more all right, here we go. 46 00:03:53,159 --> 00:03:59,159 I had an encounter in twenty twenty was something that shook the foundations of 47 00:03:59,199 --> 00:04:02,919 my knowledge of the outdoors. And what resides beyond our walls of masonry and 48 00:04:03,039 --> 00:04:09,879 wood, and my world caved in. The ridicule I received from friends and 49 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,360 family overseeing a swamp lucky didn't bother me as much as it probably would have 50 00:04:14,479 --> 00:04:19,759 others. It was my mom's cancer that broke me after two years of something 51 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:24,519 I hope neither you or any of your listeners ever have to go through. 52 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:30,560 My mother broke through and has been cancer free for almost a year. During 53 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,399 that period, however, I didn't do any fishing or honey, and while 54 00:04:33,439 --> 00:04:36,959 the rest of the world was in the throes of madness with the virus, 55 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:43,360 I was stressed to my breaking point, making road trips up Stake to hospitals. 56 00:04:44,399 --> 00:04:46,319 When I finally got my freedom, I went back into the woods. 57 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:53,600 I waited until November, when the twenty twenty two deer season opened. The 58 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:58,399 day before, I had placed my Nyline pop up blind in an area that 59 00:04:58,439 --> 00:05:04,279 I hadn't hunted. It had been untouched since the two seventeen season. That 60 00:05:04,439 --> 00:05:08,680 day, I headed out with my head lamp and a small pack with water 61 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,560 and some junk food. I had a single shot two forty three and a 62 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,920 thirty eight Special in my pocket. I had started lugging that revolver as a 63 00:05:16,959 --> 00:05:21,560 deterrent against people during all those long miles of taking my mother to her doctor 64 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:29,360 appointments and surgeries and multiple chemotherapy treatments. It has become second nature to put 65 00:05:29,399 --> 00:05:32,680 it in my pocket now when I leave the house. I got into the 66 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,480 tent well before daylight, and I sat down on a bucket and I listened 67 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:43,279 to the dark silence of the pre dawn. Sitting there alone in the gloom, 68 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,120 I started to get a bad feeling. I pulled out my phone to 69 00:05:46,199 --> 00:05:50,040 check for messages. I had placed it on silent, so I wouldn't have 70 00:05:50,079 --> 00:05:56,199 heard any of it if any had come through that little bit of light inside. 71 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,079 The blind set off a series of events. First and began to hoot, 72 00:06:00,439 --> 00:06:04,720 and then a second owl joined in. Pretty soon it was a whole 73 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,959 flock of owls. And although this was normal for that patch of the woods, 74 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:14,800 I've heard it many times, but that morning something was different. It 75 00:06:14,879 --> 00:06:17,800 sounded like a pack of code. He's joined in. After that, it 76 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,439 was the awfulesh racket you can imagine, just before sunrise, and at that 77 00:06:23,519 --> 00:06:28,439 moment the blind lurched forward with me in it. I couldn't understand what was 78 00:06:28,519 --> 00:06:31,920 going on. Were those codies out there fighting in the dark. I was 79 00:06:31,959 --> 00:06:36,560 disoriented and I was shook up and confused. In an effort to make it 80 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:42,040 all stop, I shouted, get the hell out of here. It was 81 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,399 already bad, but it was about to get worse. The hoots and howls 82 00:06:46,439 --> 00:06:51,360 and snarls, everything got louder. The blind was shaking violently, and in 83 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:56,399 the chaos, I dropped my phone and the light from the screen illuminated the 84 00:06:56,439 --> 00:06:59,920 corner of the blind where it looked like something had a hold of it. 85 00:07:00,439 --> 00:07:03,920 So without thinking, I pulled my revolver and I fired two quick shots into 86 00:07:03,959 --> 00:07:09,360 that corner. It left my ears ringing, so I couldn't hear anything for 87 00:07:09,439 --> 00:07:14,120 a couple of minutes, but the tent shaking had stopped. I don't know 88 00:07:14,279 --> 00:07:16,800 if there was ever a moment in all my thirty five years when I was 89 00:07:16,879 --> 00:07:23,639 more afraid that weight for daylight was worse than sitting in the surgical waiting room 90 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,600 when my mother was having one of her lungs removed. I was lathered in 91 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,519 sweat, sitting there in a blind with my rifle on my lap. It 92 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:36,560 was loaded and cocked. My hand shook as I replaced the two spent thirty 93 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:42,920 eight cartridges and my handgun. When it finally got light enough out to see 94 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,720 properly, I crawled out of that blind as cautiously as I could, handgun 95 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:53,120 at the ready. I forced myself up onto my feet and stuffed the pistol 96 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:57,360 into my pocket and did a hasty skip out of there with my cane in 97 00:07:57,439 --> 00:08:01,920 one hand and my rifle in the other. I left the little pack behind. 98 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,519 I left the deer calls, the dough yeurine, the slim gems, 99 00:08:05,519 --> 00:08:09,120 and that pop up blind right there where they sat, to hell with all 100 00:08:09,199 --> 00:08:11,920 that it could rot. For all I cared, And I had no intention 101 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,319 of searching for blood, footprints or anything, and I have no desire to 102 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:20,639 go back and do so now. I could have shot Et and left him 103 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,360 lying there, but I wouldn't have known, nor do I still care to 104 00:08:24,399 --> 00:08:31,120 know. I'm shaking right now even as I write this. A lot of 105 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,120 stuff has fallen into place since that last encounter. When I first started hunting 106 00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:39,320 the creek way back in my teens, I found a dead fox in a 107 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,559 fork of a tree directly behind my ladder stand. Peanut butter Bates would go 108 00:08:43,639 --> 00:08:50,080 missing without explanation every time I'd put them out. I think the fox was 109 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,679 a warning to keep me out of the area. And when physical ailments prevented 110 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,000 me from hunting the area for a few years, no one else bothered going 111 00:08:58,039 --> 00:09:03,399 back in there. And then I suddenly showed up again. I know what 112 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:09,919 nature does to wounded and sickly animals. I'm a crippled A predator would target 113 00:09:09,039 --> 00:09:13,840 me first, but I'm a mean cripple. And that morning, whatever was 114 00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:18,960 outside my blind found that out. I'm not saying it was a sasquatch, 115 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,720 but I never knew a flock of owls or code. He used to call 116 00:09:20,799 --> 00:09:26,320 that kind of a nightmare. And meanwhile, if anyone is ever bumping around 117 00:09:26,399 --> 00:09:31,000 in the Nine Runs and finds a dilapidated dear blind with a pack and a 118 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,039 bucket seat, know this. I wish you the best of luck, and 119 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:37,960 I hope you make it out without issues. And if by some chance you 120 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:45,399 have your foundations rocked by something that you're having trouble explaining, remember that you're 121 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,480 not alone. You've got at least one person who believes there are things out 122 00:09:48,519 --> 00:09:56,759 there that other people scoff at at the mention of I'm from the North Texas 123 00:09:56,799 --> 00:10:01,360 area near the Red River, about sixty five miles north of Dallas, and 124 00:10:01,399 --> 00:10:05,840 I've lived there most of my life. One of my major hobbies, besides 125 00:10:05,919 --> 00:10:11,519 playing the guitar, is bow hunting for mature trophy deer. And when I 126 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:16,360 say bow hunting, I mean with a recurve bow with no sights. I 127 00:10:16,399 --> 00:10:20,480 have bow hunting now for forty years, and while I have experienced many different 128 00:10:20,519 --> 00:10:26,519 things in the woods that are rarely seen or experienced with known wildlife, the 129 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:33,840 experiences that follow defy any type of conventional explanation. Now, I've taken multiple 130 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,879 book deer over the years, which means they are older and more savvy animals 131 00:10:37,919 --> 00:10:41,879 that are difficult to hunt, and since I hunt with a recurve, I 132 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,960 have to get extremely close to seal the deal, and as a result, 133 00:10:46,399 --> 00:10:50,279 I have to use all my knowledge of the woods, the animals, and 134 00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:56,279 the wind behavior to get a chance at a big mature buck. Only relay 135 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:01,480 this to illustrate that I'm experienced with the woods and the animals that reside there. 136 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,720 I must add that over my hunting career, I have seen and heard 137 00:11:05,919 --> 00:11:11,120 all of the known animals native to Texas Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado, 138 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:16,759 so I'm very familiar with the habits and vocalizations of the indigenous species. Ironically, 139 00:11:16,879 --> 00:11:20,960 I have never killed a deer with a rifle, not that I have 140 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:26,720 anything against that, It's just not my thing. I have earlier experiences, 141 00:11:26,799 --> 00:11:31,159 and some as recent as the fall of twenty twenty two in other locations, 142 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:35,399 but I chose to send these series of occurrences that took place over a fifteen 143 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:41,799 year period at my farm in south central Oklahoma. As for my thoughts on 144 00:11:41,919 --> 00:11:46,320 Bigfoot, based upon the Patterson Gimblin film, along with all the historic reports 145 00:11:46,399 --> 00:11:52,080 from the indigenous Native Americans, I feel that the creatures must exist. However, 146 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:58,120 I had always believed that they were probably very few roaming North Texas and 147 00:11:58,159 --> 00:12:03,960 Oklahoma. I'd heard of the contemporary reports of the sightings in our area prior 148 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,799 to the Internet, and the published reports were extremely rare, so I had 149 00:12:07,799 --> 00:12:11,879 the mindset that I was more likely to get struck by lightning than encounter a 150 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:16,440 bigfoot in this region of the country. In recent years, I have found 151 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:22,320 more and more reports on the Internet of sightings in North Texas and South Oklahoma. 152 00:12:22,919 --> 00:12:26,360 Again, I kept these thoughts well in the back of my mind while 153 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:31,039 out in the woods. This is an occurrence and observation in Coal County, 154 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:37,080 Oklahoma. In two thousand and four, I purchased a property in Coal County 155 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:41,960 for investment and for bow hunting. The rural two hundred and seventy acre property 156 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:46,799 was wild and isolated and with one hundred and seventy to one hundred and eighty 157 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:52,039 acres of woods, with the remainder intillable acres in pasture. The woods were 158 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:56,240 not what you typically think of. While it did have oaks and ash trees, 159 00:12:56,799 --> 00:13:01,159 it was stick with brush. It also had large numbers of coin and 160 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:07,279 per cemon trees, along with several acres of dewberries. All of the neighboring 161 00:13:07,399 --> 00:13:13,159 farms consisted of similar mix of woods and pasture. Two and the property was 162 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,120 located off of Gravel County Road and then one had to turn down a one 163 00:13:18,159 --> 00:13:22,879 mile gravel two track road shared by myself and a neighboring landowner to get to 164 00:13:22,919 --> 00:13:26,600 our normal light gate, and from the gate, it was another two thirds 165 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:31,519 of a mile down to another gravel drive which entered the woods at the foot 166 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,639 of a large wooded hill. In order to get to the barn on my 167 00:13:35,759 --> 00:13:39,440 place. There was a good white tailed deer population, along with hogs and 168 00:13:39,519 --> 00:13:45,519 codys and bibecats and turkeys. I even saw a badger on the property one 169 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:50,000 year. The first two years that I hunted there, I would make the 170 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:54,320 one point five hour drive from my home in Texas, leaving well before daylight 171 00:13:54,399 --> 00:13:58,639 to get into the woods before sun up, hunting until after dark, I 172 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:03,639 would walk out and then make the one and a half hour drive home and 173 00:14:03,799 --> 00:14:07,840 would get up and do it all over again the next day. I tried 174 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,399 using a tent to stay overnight a few times, but that usually took too 175 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:15,799 much time to set up and take down over a weekend hunt. For most 176 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,519 of the two thousand six hunting season, I put up a pop up line 177 00:14:18,639 --> 00:14:22,320 in the bed of my truck and I slept in that with my sleeping bag. 178 00:14:24,279 --> 00:14:26,799 This made for some chilly nights in November and December, when the night 179 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:33,240 temperatures would be in the low twenties. In two thousand and eight, I 180 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,440 put a small twelve by twenty foot metal prefab cabin on it. Since it 181 00:14:37,519 --> 00:14:41,039 was only eighty nine miles one way from my home in Texas. There was 182 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:46,399 no electricity or running water in the cabin. However, I had a propane 183 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,440 stove for heat, along with two hundred and seventy acres of bathroom. In 184 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:54,440 the barn, I kept my tractor and implements, and I would drive up 185 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,240 a couple of times per month in the spring and summer to shred and take 186 00:14:58,279 --> 00:15:01,120 care of the place with the coach of early fall, and I would put 187 00:15:01,159 --> 00:15:05,720 in small food plots for the deer. A power line ran through the place 188 00:15:05,799 --> 00:15:11,039 about five or six hundred yards right away across the property. On the large 189 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,519 wooded hill where my cabin was, I kept a three quarter mile tractor track 190 00:15:16,559 --> 00:15:18,960 where I could drive my tractor through the woods, and when hunting, I 191 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:24,919 could walk through the extremely brushy woods. Shortly after buying the place, several 192 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,840 times a year when I would go up to work or hunt, there would 193 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,360 be leg sized to chess sized diameter trees across the road to the cabin and 194 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:39,240 across the tractor paths in the woods. For the first few years I didn't 195 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:43,399 think too much about it. However, I would have to move at least 196 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:48,120 a couple of dozen or so trees every year out of those primitive roads and 197 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,320 through my woods or on or up to the cabin. Almost every trip that 198 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:56,399 I made up there, I would find three to six of these down trees 199 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:00,559 across the road driving into the cabin, or in my track or track in 200 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:06,000 the woods. And then one year I came to the realization that the same 201 00:16:06,039 --> 00:16:11,399 percentage of treefall did not seem to be occurring off the roads in the actual 202 00:16:11,519 --> 00:16:17,240 woods. Even commented to my wife that statistically speaking, that all the trees 203 00:16:17,279 --> 00:16:22,320 that fell seemed to all fall in the roads one weekend, and upon my 204 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:26,840 return the next weekend, there would be multiple trees down across the pass, 205 00:16:26,879 --> 00:16:30,799 despite their not being a storm or high winds in the area prior to my 206 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,639 arrival. It was rare, but I would hear a large tree falling in 207 00:16:34,679 --> 00:16:38,440 the woods while I was hunting, but never the amount that seemed to be 208 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:44,679 down across the pass that I used to travel through my woods. I also 209 00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:48,919 observed that the bases or stumps of a lot of the down trees were not 210 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:52,080 in the ground, and many of the trees did not have the associated stumps 211 00:16:52,559 --> 00:16:59,639 even near the actual down tree. I learned from some Bigfoot reports that they 212 00:16:59,639 --> 00:17:07,359 would sometimes placed trees and roads to discourage intrusion by humans my mental wheels began 213 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:11,920 to slow the gain traction, as too, could I actually have these creatures 214 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:18,000 ranging across my property. In all the animal tracks that I routinely observed on 215 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:22,519 this place, I had never found a bigfoot track. I must mention, 216 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:26,839 though, that on various areas on my place I had set aside three different 217 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:32,599 five to fifteen acre areas of sanctuaries for the animals, where I never intruded 218 00:17:32,839 --> 00:17:37,839 unless I had to enter to recover a deer. These areas were really thick 219 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:41,880 with brush, and the intention was that these areas would be where the game 220 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,559 would feel safe without encountering the scent of a human, so that they would 221 00:17:45,599 --> 00:17:51,279 hopefully stay on my property when spook alarmed, or just to serve as a 222 00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:56,319 safe betting area. In the middle of November of twenty eleven, I was 223 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,000 hunting in a tree stand that I had placed fifty yards down from the ridge 224 00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:03,880 top of the same large hill that my cabin was on. The stand was 225 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,880 twenty yards inside the tree line along the power line right of way. This 226 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:15,359 morning was overcast with fog with occasional short bouts of mist. At a thirty 227 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:22,200 am, a loud scream or a drawn out shriek sounded five hundred yards from 228 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:27,079 my position. Now. The screaming continued on and off for twenty minutes and 229 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:33,400 came from my bottom land, which contained twenty acres of an extremely thick brushy 230 00:18:33,519 --> 00:18:37,880 area that I had set aside as a sanctuary bedding area for the deer. 231 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:42,160 The scream sounded just like a woman screaming for her life, and they would 232 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:48,599 last thirty seconds to a minute in length. This went on for twenty minutes. 233 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,119 Even as far away as they seemed to be from me, they were 234 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,680 still very loud, and the sounds made the hair on the back of my 235 00:18:56,799 --> 00:19:00,279 neck stand up. And as I sat in my tree stand, I was 236 00:19:00,319 --> 00:19:04,720 going through the mental debate as to getting down and going there to possibly see 237 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:10,160 what it was, or to hold tight my tree stand, but the staying 238 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:15,319 put option prevailed. I've heard cougars and bibcats, both in the wild and 239 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:19,559 vocalizing on TV, but this was nothing like that, And while I could 240 00:19:19,559 --> 00:19:23,960 believe a cougar might pass through the area, I had never heard that sound 241 00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:30,920 coming from any animal. Later that afternoon, after the fog and mist were 242 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:34,960 long gone, I cautiously went down to where I thought the sounds came from, 243 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,680 but I could not find any tracks or sign that might indicate what had 244 00:19:38,759 --> 00:19:45,480 made the noise. On June eighteen, twenty nineteen, at the age of 245 00:19:45,599 --> 00:19:51,160 sixty five, I had what is called the widow Maker heart attack. At 246 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,680 five foot nine and one hundred and fifty two pounds, I ended up with 247 00:19:53,720 --> 00:20:00,720 two stints in a ballooning dilation procedure on the third artery in my The recovery 248 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,680 from this was tough, and I predicted that I would not see my seventieth 249 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:10,440 birthday. However, I told my wife that no matter if it finished me 250 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,359 off, I was going to spend as much time in the woods that fall 251 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:17,599 as my body would allow. Well. I was wrong, though at the 252 00:20:17,599 --> 00:20:22,200 time of this riding, I have celebrated my seventieth birthday a few weeks back. 253 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:26,240 So after four months of recovery in the fall of two thousand nineteen, 254 00:20:26,559 --> 00:20:32,200 on Friday November eight I went up for a three day hunt. There was 255 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,319 a large timber thick brushy area on the northwest side of the large timbered hill 256 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,400 where my cabin was located, and despite owning and hunting the property since two 257 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:47,079 thousand and four, I had never thoroughly explored or scouted this twenty or so 258 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:52,720 acres that lay west of my cabin after my morning hunt on Saturday the ninth, 259 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,240 in another area of the farm. On my way back to my cabin, 260 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:02,039 I passed by the edge of this area west to my cabin. As 261 00:21:02,079 --> 00:21:07,279 I walked along the tractor track adjacent to the area, I discovered some encouraging 262 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,960 buck sign including a large buck rub on a cedar tree the size of my 263 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:17,799 thigh. A few feet from this rub was a curious collection of three to 264 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:22,680 four large tree branches or trunks lying in the fork of another tree. The 265 00:21:22,759 --> 00:21:29,000 branches were four to six inches in diameter, and they had been placed horizontally 266 00:21:29,079 --> 00:21:33,400 in the fort and then pushed downward on both sides to form a chevron pattern. 267 00:21:34,319 --> 00:21:38,079 And with a number of branches and the symmetry of the pattern, it 268 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,359 appeared to me that they had been brought there and deliberately placed in the fort 269 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:48,920 by someone. After thoroughly exploring and scouting this area, I ended up hanging 270 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:55,240 a stand thirty yards west of the rub and the old tree stack. In 271 00:21:55,279 --> 00:21:57,839 the fall of twenty eighteen, I had been told by some of my Amish 272 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:03,759 neighbors that several break ends had occurred in the area and I should keep watch 273 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:08,480 for suspicious activity. Since I never carried or even took a firem with me, 274 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:15,079 I decided to buy a nine millimeter pistol for security. I probably should 275 00:22:15,079 --> 00:22:18,480 have had one with me all those years prior to this. Also, I 276 00:22:18,519 --> 00:22:22,200 sold a place in twenty eighteen to a neighbor and he was nice enough to 277 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:27,640 give me hunting rights there as long as he owned it. I subsequently bought 278 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:33,279 another place one mile from Red River and only seventeen miles from my home. 279 00:22:33,039 --> 00:22:37,839 It is just as wild as my previous place, but I have no plans 280 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:42,599 for a cabin on that place yet. Now back to Saturday, November nine, 281 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:48,400 twenty nineteen. I turned into bed about nine thirty pm that night after 282 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,400 exploring the area west of my cabin and hanging a stand and I will soon 283 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:59,519 sound asleep due to the news of the break ends the previous year, and 284 00:22:59,519 --> 00:23:02,920 when I went to bed, I would place my nine millimeter pistol on my 285 00:23:03,039 --> 00:23:07,559 dresser next to the bed, along with a flashlight. My extended cab truck 286 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,480 was parked next to the west side of my cabin with close access to the 287 00:23:11,519 --> 00:23:18,599 cabin door, which was located in the southwest corner of the cabin. At 288 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,160 two fifteen am that night, I was suddenly awakened by a loud sound of 289 00:23:22,279 --> 00:23:29,200 something dragging across the small porch on the cabin. Before I could get awake, 290 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,519 this dragging sound was immediately followed by an extremely loud bang or blow on 291 00:23:33,559 --> 00:23:38,119 the cabin door. It was so loud that I thought the lock metal door 292 00:23:38,279 --> 00:23:44,079 might actually bust open. At the sound of this crash, I set up 293 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:48,480 in bed and grabbed my pistol and flashlight, leaving the flashlight off but ready 294 00:23:48,519 --> 00:23:53,720 just in case. I was now totally awakened. On high alert. I 295 00:23:53,759 --> 00:23:57,680 sat there pointing the pistol at the door, along with the flashlight pointing at 296 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:02,559 the door. If something reached the door, I planned to click on the 297 00:24:02,599 --> 00:24:07,640 flashlight and send around from my pistol. A few seconds passed and I heard 298 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,319 it again, dragging or shuffling on the porch, giving me the impression that 299 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:18,279 whoever or whatever it was had left the porch and moved west. I continued 300 00:24:18,319 --> 00:24:22,480 to sit there on the bed in the dark with my pistol and light for 301 00:24:22,559 --> 00:24:29,000 what seemed like a good five minutes, and I listened closely hearing nothing else, 302 00:24:29,039 --> 00:24:32,960 I got up and looked out the curtain on the cabin window facing my 303 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:37,400 truck, but I didn't see anything. I went back to bed, and 304 00:24:37,599 --> 00:24:41,160 I was surprised to be able to go back to sleep. Despite replaying the 305 00:24:41,319 --> 00:24:45,519 strange currents in my mind, I could not shake the possible conclusion that a 306 00:24:45,559 --> 00:24:52,000 bigfoot had just slapped my cabin door. If a human trespasser had been out 307 00:24:52,039 --> 00:24:55,160 there prowling around, they would have seen my truck, and they would have 308 00:24:55,240 --> 00:25:00,680 certainly not wanted for me to know that they were out there. Next morning, 309 00:25:00,799 --> 00:25:03,119 I got up as usual, well before daylight, and I went out 310 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,400 to hunt the newsstand west of my cabin. The whole time were playing the 311 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:12,240 events from the night before. When I returned to the cabin later that morning, 312 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,920 I carefully examined the screen door and the metal door on the cabin, 313 00:25:17,319 --> 00:25:21,720 but I couldn't find anything on the doors of the porch to show any indication 314 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,759 of anyone or anything messing with it. However, on the ground a few 315 00:25:26,799 --> 00:25:30,839 feet from the porch was a spot where the grass had been dug up, 316 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:37,160 exposing the bare earth. This area was roughly rectangular, twenty two inches long 317 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:42,000 and eight to ten feet wide. It did not appear to be a scrape 318 00:25:42,039 --> 00:25:48,079 from a buck, and it was not there the previous afternoon. Was it 319 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:53,640 connected to the two fifteen am bang on the door. Despite not finding any 320 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,759 tracks or sign, I still couldn't escape the thought that it must have been 321 00:25:57,759 --> 00:26:02,799 a big foot, what with finding all the trees down through the years and 322 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:07,880 finding the strange tree structure, and my invading a new area of the day 323 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,640 before, not to mention the screaming several years earlier, combined with the quantity 324 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:18,400 of wild game and what was the dragging sound on the porch. However, 325 00:26:18,799 --> 00:26:22,839 in the new area, the oaks were really dropping acorns, and I had 326 00:26:22,839 --> 00:26:26,440 a great time hunting in the area over several weeks, sometimes seeing as many 327 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:33,880 as seventeen bucks in a set dining on these acorns, while the giant buck 328 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,480 that I imagine made the big rub never appeared. I had fun hunting that 329 00:26:37,599 --> 00:26:45,240 area through December up through mid January when bowseason ended. Nothing else occurred during 330 00:26:45,279 --> 00:26:48,279 these later hunts after the night of the bang, but I packed my pistol 331 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,039 to the stand with me and kept it handy at night in the cabin. 332 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:57,960 The only thing that did continue were the down trees on my roads and trackways, 333 00:26:59,319 --> 00:27:04,359 and they can still. While I never experienced the visual sighting or found 334 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,839 any tracks, I believe that all the weird stuff was due to a bigfoot 335 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:14,759 or multiple creatures that probably passed through my place to do the same thing that 336 00:27:14,799 --> 00:27:18,960 I was there for. They were hunting for game. On a side note, 337 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,839 you hear from any reports that most of these creatures hide and try to 338 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:29,279 stay away from human contact. Also, they will often discourage humans from being 339 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:33,799 in their area. Most wild animals are shy, yet curious, and I 340 00:27:33,839 --> 00:27:41,119 believe these shy creatures would also be curious since they possibly possess higher intelligence. 341 00:27:41,279 --> 00:27:45,839 I have to also think that, perhaps a couple of hundred years ago, 342 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:52,240 that they too could have experienced similar genocide as the Native Americans who succumbed to 343 00:27:52,319 --> 00:27:56,680 all the European diseases for which they carry no immunity, and this too would 344 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:03,119 contribute to the creature's desire to stay away from humans. And that's the end 345 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:08,079 of the email. The man's name is Wayne. This is not a you 346 00:28:08,079 --> 00:28:14,920 know, one of these exciting bigfoot attacks or I killed a bigfoot type stories. 347 00:28:15,839 --> 00:28:18,799 But I enjoyed this story and I wanted to get it to you because 348 00:28:18,799 --> 00:28:22,799 this man is very reflective and he's methodic and how he thinks about this stuff, 349 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:29,720 and he's listed a lot of anecdotal I guess you'd call it evidence that 350 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,279 to him makes perfect sense that this could possibly be a bigfoot. It's it's 351 00:28:34,759 --> 00:28:41,240 a smart email anyway. I just wanted you guys to hear it because I 352 00:28:41,279 --> 00:28:45,599 think there are a lot of people who own property that may see things that 353 00:28:45,079 --> 00:28:49,559 normally you wouldn't see on a piece of property like this, like the trees 354 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:56,119 down tree structures like he described near that big rub on a cedar tree. 355 00:28:56,359 --> 00:29:00,319 I've never seen a rub six And I think he said that rub that he 356 00:29:00,359 --> 00:29:03,359 found on that cedar tree was a six inch round trunk. Good grief, 357 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,519 that must be that must be a moose of a deer. This is kind 358 00:29:07,559 --> 00:29:12,920 of a fred bear hunter. He's probably very keen on everything going on in 359 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:18,599 the woods. You can tell by the way he writes and how he explains 360 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:23,319 this stuff that he's a recurved primitive bow hunter. Those guys spend a lot 361 00:29:23,359 --> 00:29:26,920 of time, I mean a lot of time in the woods. They do 362 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:32,839 a lot of stalking. They're just really good hunters, and it kind of 363 00:29:32,839 --> 00:29:38,279 hearkens back to again primitive hunting techniques that I've always envied. I've never I 364 00:29:38,319 --> 00:29:41,720 think I could do it, probably if I was younger. I don't know 365 00:29:41,759 --> 00:29:45,880 if I'm patient enough to do that, but I think I could physically do 366 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:51,240 it in that I think I could be quiet enough and observant enough to do 367 00:29:51,319 --> 00:29:53,720 it. I just never had the patience. I was like, you know, 368 00:29:53,839 --> 00:29:57,599 I want to take a compound bow and just let that thing go, 369 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,279 or squeeze off around from my rifle, collect my deer, and get back 370 00:30:03,319 --> 00:30:07,400 home and watch football. So I'm not really, you know, one of 371 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:12,400 your hardcore rawhide type hunters, but this guy is, and so he knows 372 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:17,079 what he's talking about, and he's got other stuff, and Wayne, I'd 373 00:30:17,119 --> 00:30:21,440 love to hear your other experiences. Again, this is all anecdotal stuff, 374 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:26,920 but it's very interesting to me. When I was eight, I started spending 375 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,880 my summers with my grandparents. There was only about a ten mile drive between 376 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:37,240 both sets on either side of the North Carolina Tennessee state line, so I 377 00:30:37,319 --> 00:30:41,839 split my summer between them and various aunts and uncles in the area. Mom 378 00:30:41,839 --> 00:30:45,839 and Dad popped in every few weeks to make sure my grandparents hadn't lost their 379 00:30:45,839 --> 00:30:52,279 minds taking care of me. People in that area know and understand about buggers. 380 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,640 My grandparents were no exception. When you spend your life pulling roots and 381 00:30:57,759 --> 00:31:03,519 hunting game and guying herbs in those hills, you learn where the buggers live. 382 00:31:03,279 --> 00:31:07,279 They seemed to be territorial. They know their boundaries, and they respect 383 00:31:07,319 --> 00:31:12,400 their neighbor's turf. All those summers I spent growing up there taught me these 384 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:18,440 things as well. My grandfather and I decided to go for a hike up 385 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:22,680 the creek it fed into a river that ran through town. An older cousin 386 00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:26,920 came with us. My grandfather was a big man. He stood six foot 387 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:32,480 three anyway two hundred and fifty pounds. He was strong as a mule and 388 00:31:32,559 --> 00:31:37,799 tough as they come. He was a World War two marine corvette who fought 389 00:31:37,839 --> 00:31:41,519 the Japanese, but inside he was a teddy bear, especially when it came 390 00:31:41,599 --> 00:31:48,799 to his family. Since our hikes were actually hunting trips in disguise, we 391 00:31:48,799 --> 00:31:52,599 were all armed. As we worked our way up the creek. It was 392 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,079 a beautiful day. There weren't many clouds in the sky, and an ice 393 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,359 breeze was blowing down the creek bed into our faces. We knew we had 394 00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:06,319 the down wind advantage for anything we might come across upstream, And as we 395 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,480 proceeded up the creek, we started getting whiffs of a foul odor. Now 396 00:32:09,519 --> 00:32:16,720 and then it happened whenever the wind shifted directions to the right. Grandpa slowed 397 00:32:16,759 --> 00:32:20,440 us down, and he put his finger to his lips, and he led 398 00:32:20,519 --> 00:32:24,240 us quietly onward. The creek made its own noise, which helped to cover 399 00:32:24,319 --> 00:32:29,359 the sound of us walking, and every now and then Grandpa would stop, 400 00:32:29,839 --> 00:32:32,279 he'd take in several long, deep breaths, and then he'd look around. 401 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:38,119 He was trying to detect any sense in the air. We had traveled an 402 00:32:38,119 --> 00:32:42,519 hour from the house when we came to a hard right bend in the river. 403 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,519 Now I called us a river because at that point in the creek it 404 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:51,160 had widened to a small, shallow river. As we made that curve, 405 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,680 Grandpa suddenly stopped us before dropping down to his knee and looking up to the 406 00:32:54,759 --> 00:33:00,559 hill to our left. After what felt like an eternity, he took a 407 00:33:00,599 --> 00:33:05,519 small step back to my cousin and pointed up the ridge. I followed his 408 00:33:05,599 --> 00:33:09,000 finger to where he was pointing as my cousin raised his twenty two rifle to 409 00:33:09,119 --> 00:33:14,839 his shoulder and fired, and fifty yards away a rabbit took one hop forward 410 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,519 and tumbled down the hill four or five feet. Great shot, cousin, 411 00:33:19,839 --> 00:33:23,759 I said. Grandpa gave him a pat on the shoulder before telling him to 412 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,400 head up there and collect his game, And with the big grin, he 413 00:33:28,519 --> 00:33:31,839 turned to me and said, the next one's years. My cousin brought the 414 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:36,920 rabbit back and dropped it into Grandpa's hip bag, and we continued up the 415 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:42,920 creek. Another half hour passed and we were approaching another bend in the river. 416 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,480 Over the years, this bend had carved out a swimming hole that was 417 00:33:46,559 --> 00:33:51,920 thirty yards in circumference. Grandpa said, we ought to take a break and 418 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,519 go for a swim when we got there. It had been a hot day 419 00:33:54,559 --> 00:34:00,319 and we were two young boys. He didn't get an argument from us. 420 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:06,240 The swimming hole was bowl shaped, with a current that swirled along the left 421 00:34:06,279 --> 00:34:09,559 bank and followed it to two large rocks where it spilled out and continued on 422 00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:15,239 down the hill to where we were. All around it were large rocks that 423 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:21,119 added to the picturesque quality of the scene. We got closer and we heard 424 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:23,920 some kind of noise coming from the other side of the two big rocks. 425 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:30,599 Grandpa stopped immediately. He turned and whispered to us to stay where we were, 426 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:32,840 and then he crept up to the edge of the rocks and he peered 427 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:37,280 in, and then he backed up for a second, and he looked again, 428 00:34:37,039 --> 00:34:40,639 and another second passed before he turned in motion for us to come up 429 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:45,679 to where he was. We moved as quietly as we could, and from 430 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,960 the other side of the rocks, we could hear the sounds of splashing and 431 00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:54,639 squeals of what sounded like children laughing. I got a surprise for you, 432 00:34:54,920 --> 00:35:00,679 Grandpa whispered, so quietly that we could barely hear him. I don't be 433 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:07,239 scared. I slowly look around this rock into that swimming hole right away. 434 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,480 My cousin backed up in motioned for me to go first. We moved up 435 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:15,320 to the rock and we looked around. What I saw there changed my view 436 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:21,760 of things for the rest of my life. Two little boogers were swimming and 437 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,920 playing in the water. Now I had already seen one of these things the 438 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:30,000 day it stole my Grandpa's pie. But there was something about that second sighting 439 00:35:30,079 --> 00:35:36,480 that changed things. Maybe it was the confirmation that I wasn't crazy for seeing 440 00:35:36,519 --> 00:35:39,760 it the first time, or maybe it was the nature of their activity, 441 00:35:40,159 --> 00:35:46,159 being so human like. I just can't explain it. I had only watched 442 00:35:46,159 --> 00:35:50,280 them for a second or two when one of them began to sniff the air, 443 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,280 and then it looked straight at me. Immediately the second one turned and 444 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:59,800 looked too, and they both let out a very loud yell that sounded something 445 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:05,079 like a cougar and a chimpanzee mixed. I jumped back and would have fallen 446 00:36:05,119 --> 00:36:07,920 if Grandpa hadn't have caught me, and we heard them go up the hillside 447 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:14,199 on the other side of the swimming hole. We entered the swimming hole area 448 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:19,480 and listened to them breaking branches and knocking down trees as they went. They 449 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,960 were moving so fast. I never saw anything moved that fast before. I 450 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:29,039 looked at my grandfather and he and my cousin began to laugh, and I 451 00:36:29,159 --> 00:36:32,159 gasped out, stunned. What are you laughing at? I wanted to say 452 00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:37,239 more, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. Grandpa said that the one 453 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:42,119 we saw was the one that was stealing the pie the week before, and 454 00:36:42,159 --> 00:36:45,800 the one with him was his sister. I was trying to speak, but 455 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:50,079 my mouth and my brain wouldn't connect. I was eight years old at the 456 00:36:50,079 --> 00:36:53,519 time, and I was having trouble processing what had just happened. And Grandpa 457 00:36:53,559 --> 00:36:58,800 and my cousin were still laughing, and Grandpa asked if we still wanted to 458 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,400 go for a swim. My cousin had seen them before, so he wasn't 459 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:07,119 as shaken up as I was. I couldn't stop trembling, and I began 460 00:37:07,199 --> 00:37:12,239 to feel dizzy, to the point that I was falling down. My grandfather 461 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,559 caught me and he helped me sit down. He could see that I was 462 00:37:15,639 --> 00:37:21,320 scared and then shocked. It wasn't funny anymore. They both quit laughing and 463 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,719 started trying to calm me down, but all I could hear was that loud, 464 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:30,400 weird yell echoing in my head. Grandpa handed me the canteen and I 465 00:37:30,519 --> 00:37:34,960 dropped it. He picked it up and put his arm around my shoulders and 466 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,400 he gave me a hug, and then he quietly explained that we just saw 467 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:44,280 the children of the family of Boogers that lived up there. He said they 468 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,360 wouldn't hurt me, and eventually I began to calm down and I was able 469 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:52,559 to take a drink. I told him I didn't feel like swimming and I 470 00:37:52,679 --> 00:37:55,840 just wanted to go home. He understood, and he asked my cousin to 471 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:00,920 lead us back down the hill. We had a good iron half walk ahead 472 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:06,119 of us. We all stood up to leave, and another loud, growling 473 00:38:06,199 --> 00:38:08,840 yell came from above us, where the two young buggers had run off to. 474 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:15,280 Grandpa spun around and dropped down to one knee. He raised his rifle 475 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:20,400 to his shoulder and began to scan the hillside. Then he quickly removed the 476 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,119 clip in his rifle and replaced it with one from his pouch, And once 477 00:38:24,159 --> 00:38:28,519 he chambered around, he raised the rifle back up and he scanned the hill 478 00:38:28,599 --> 00:38:32,559 again. My cousin was the first to see it. He pointed up the 479 00:38:32,639 --> 00:38:37,519 hill and a little to the right, unless than two hundred feet away from 480 00:38:37,599 --> 00:38:40,719 us stood a larger, scarier looking version of the two young ones we'd seen 481 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:46,000 swimming. Grandpa set his sights on it, but he didn't fire. I 482 00:38:46,199 --> 00:38:52,119 was frozen in fear. This thing was so much bigger, than the first 483 00:38:52,159 --> 00:38:57,519 two. Even partially hidden behind a tree, he looked intimidating. He looked 484 00:38:57,519 --> 00:39:00,960 from one to the other of us before fixing his gaze on Grandpa, and 485 00:39:01,039 --> 00:39:05,719 for what felt like an hour, we all stood there in a face off. 486 00:39:07,559 --> 00:39:12,079 It was only thirty seconds or so. My cousin whispered into my ear 487 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,639 that this was the father of the two that were swimming. It didn't growl 488 00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:21,199 or yell, It just stood there looking at us. Finally, Grandpa lowered 489 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,440 his rifle and he stood up. After scanning our immediate area. He told 490 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:29,280 my cousin to take the rabbit eye of the pouch and walked forward, holding 491 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,519 it in front of him, lay it on the rock that was directly in 492 00:39:31,599 --> 00:39:37,199 front of my grandfather. While my cousin did as he was told, I 493 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,639 moved closer to my grandfather, and as I bumped into him, he put 494 00:39:40,639 --> 00:39:45,880 his hand on my shoulder and he said, we're gonna be okay. Even 495 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:50,239 as Grandpa spoke, that creature turned his gazed on me, and it sent 496 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:54,360 a chill down my spine. Grandpa told my cousin to lead the way back 497 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:59,480 down the hill. He said not to run, but don't go slow either. 498 00:40:00,159 --> 00:40:02,320 I was in the middle, with Grandpa taking up the rear. He 499 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:07,360 kept his rifle in a ready position and instructed us to do the same, 500 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:12,440 but do not shoot at anything. That was the longest walk of my life, 501 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,119 all around us on both sides, all the way back up the ridge. 502 00:40:15,159 --> 00:40:20,199 We heard noises in the woods, and they escorted us all the way 503 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:24,119 back to the upper edge of the garden at Grandpa's house. We never saw 504 00:40:24,199 --> 00:40:29,639 them, but they made sure that we knew they were there. We were 505 00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:32,719 halfway down to the garden when the large mail let out a not so loud 506 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:38,599 growling yell. Grandpa stopped and turned around wave at the neighbors. Boys, 507 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:44,360 he told us and say goodbye. Well, we all waved, and my 508 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:49,239 grandfather and my cousin called out their goodbyes. I couldn't speak a word, 509 00:40:50,599 --> 00:40:53,079 and then Grandpa chuckled and he said, well, boy, how do you 510 00:40:53,159 --> 00:40:58,039 like our neighbors. I didn't say anything. I was just glad to be 511 00:40:58,079 --> 00:41:01,519 out of those woods and home. I went in the house and went in 512 00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:06,639 the bathroom and took a shower. After I got cleaned up and had some 513 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:10,199 fresh clothes on, Grandma came in with a cup of her homemade hot chocolate. 514 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:15,880 She put her arm around me and handing me the cup. It smells 515 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,519 so good, and it was made with dark chocolate and sugar and cream with 516 00:41:19,559 --> 00:41:22,440 a little love. It was the best cup of hot chocolate I had ever 517 00:41:22,519 --> 00:41:28,000 tasted. She never said anything, She just held me in her arms as 518 00:41:28,039 --> 00:41:31,280 I sipped at my drink. After a while, she began to hum a 519 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:37,159 Bible song to herself, and sometime after that I drifted off to sleep in 520 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:45,760 her arms. I appreciate you listening thus far to this Mississippi redneck recite stories 521 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:51,440 from real people, claiming they have real experiences. I've always enjoyed reading other 522 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:53,800 people's stories. I hope you're enjoying it too. If you did and you 523 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,400 think it's worth it, give me a thumbs up. Maybe hit the subscribe 524 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,760 button, leave a comment if you want to, and come back. Mainly 525 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:05,239 come back for the next podcast. I appreciate you, and we'll see you 526 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:06,599 guys on the next one. Thanks.