WEBVTT 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.