WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:09.599 I was nineteen and in the Navy when this incident occurred. Some of my 2 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:13.359 friends and I from the ship like to hang out at a bar where we 3 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.640 were close friends with the night manager. If you gave us a free drink, 4 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:21.960 we could be very useful. We would man the entrance to the place, 5 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:27.480 discouraging the troublemakers and checking IDs, weeding out all the underage drinkers. 6 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:33.399 After closing time, we would escort the lady employees to their vehicles. There 7 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:37.560 were always a few customers who got a little wasted and tried to push themselves 8 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.439 on the female staff. Our job was to make sure that these women got 9 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:47.719 out of the bar safely, unmolested. One night, the manager asked me 10 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:51.920 to take home a woman named Heaven because her car was in the shop. 11 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.960 Isn't that a great name? Yes, that is a great name. I 12 00:00:56.039 --> 00:01:00.640 never thought about naming a girl Heaven, or even a boy Heaven. That's 13 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.200 a great name. Anyway, back to the story. It was after eleven 14 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.799 PM, and Heaven lived twenty miles west of Jacksonville in a small town. 15 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.799 I asked my friend Terry to go with me so that I could have someone 16 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:17.879 to talk to on the drive back. After Heaven got out of my vehicle 17 00:01:17.959 --> 00:01:22.920 and safely into her house, Terry moved up to the front passenger seat and 18 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.959 we headed back to Jacksonville. As soon as you get past the city limit 19 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:32.840 of Heaven's small town, there's nothing but a small two lane highway with woods 20 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:38.239 on both sides. Ten minutes into the drive with the radio one, Terry 21 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:44.599 dozed off. What an entertaining travel companion, I thought to myself. Well, 22 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:48.680 while Terry snoozed, I zoned out to some good tunes in my own 23 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:53.799 company. A thick fog began moving in and I flipped on my high beams 24 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.239 and I saw something dart across the left side of the road. This thing 25 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:02.040 was huge, is about eight feet tall, and it was the width of 26 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:07.719 a kitchen table. It was covered in fur, and it looked like Chewbacca 27 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:14.039 with two steps that swept across the highway and disappeared into the woods. I 28 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:19.000 slammed on my brakes and Terry nearly collided with the dash. Dude, I 29 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:22.719 yelled at him, did you see that huge, hairy creature walk across the 30 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:27.400 highway just now? I had my eyes closed. He muttered, I think 31 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.319 I just saw a bigfoot. I said, if you want me to drive, 32 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:36.400 why didn't you just say so? Was Terry's disinterested response. He didn't 33 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:39.840 believe me. We went back to the bar, where the manager proceeded to 34 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:45.319 serve me the first of several Long Island ice teas, with only a hint 35 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:50.120 of the cola he uses for color. As the alcohol loosened me up, 36 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.800 I couldn't tell if anyone else believed me either. I hadn't had a drop 37 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:59.400 to drink that day. Now, I guess with Bigfoot encounters, your reputation 38 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:07.039 proceeds right or wrong. Terry drove me home from the bar. I know 39 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:10.919 firsthand from serving in the military that there are certain things that blur the line 40 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:16.960 between fact and fiction. It's what separates the believers from the skeptics. I 41 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:25.879 saw what I saw long before Bigfoot, or what is also known as Sasquats 42 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:32.960 in the northwestern United States and Canada, was North America's most popular legendary monster. 43 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.680 My late father, Lewis would tell of an experience he had with a 44 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:44.240 similar creature when he was a young boy living on Bayou Lafouche. I think 45 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:47.840 that's how you pronounce that in southern Louisiana. My father was ten years old 46 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:52.680 at the time, and his younger brother, Lloyd, was approximately seven. 47 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:55.599 My father was born in nineteen thirty two, so this would have occurred in 48 00:03:55.639 --> 00:04:01.080 the early nineteen forties, a quarter of a century before the Patterson Gimlin film 49 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:08.319 that made Bigfoot a common phenomenon. My father would vividly recall this day in 50 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:13.800 great detail. He said he could remember how it was a beautiful sunny morning 51 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.319 and my grandmother had sent him and his brother to pick snap beans along the 52 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:23.439 levee near the bayou for dinner. He and his brother both quickly gathered their 53 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:27.319 buckets from off the back porch, glad to be able to get away from 54 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:32.600 home and enjoy a beautiful sunny morning away from their mother's watchful eye. While 55 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.680 they picked snap beans along the rows of the levee, they began to smell 56 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:42.759 a horrible stench. My father remembered it to be similar to the smell of 57 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:47.439 rotten eggs, only worse. My father and uncle Lloyd decided that the horrible 58 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:54.000 smell was more than likely the decaying remains of an animal, Because unpleasant odors 59 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:58.920 were commonplace on the farm. This did not initially set off any alarms of 60 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.759 what would soon become on one of the most terrifying moments of their young lives. 61 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:08.800 They knew their mother wanted them to fill their buckets with snap beans and 62 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:12.920 return home in sufficient time for her to prepare them to cook for dinner. 63 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:16.360 They decided they would pick more than enough so there would be no need for 64 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:20.600 them to return to the levee. They were enjoying their time together, but 65 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:27.360 that awful stench was becoming unbearable. When they decided they had picked enough snap 66 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:32.879 beans to sufficiently satisfy my grandmother's needs for dinner and possibly supper, they picked 67 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:38.680 up their overflowing buckets and headed home. All of a sudden, they heard 68 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:44.040 a frightening guttural growl. My father said it sounded like someone who was heavily 69 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:48.720 congested clearing their throat, but much deeper. The rotten egg stench was now 70 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:55.160 even thicker in the air. Suddenly, a manlike creature covered in long, 71 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:59.879 stringy, dark brown, matted wet hair walked out of the wooded area near 72 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:04.680 the by you and stood right in front of my father and uncle. My 73 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:10.519 father said he could distinctly remember that this creature was only about thirty to fifty 74 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.839 feet away. And he could clearly see that it had a face that looked 75 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:19.279 human, but with huge, jagged teeth. The creature then let out a 76 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:25.480 terrifying, piercing scream and turned and jumped into the bayou, and it swam 77 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:30.680 away. My father said it was as if everything from that point was in 78 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:35.399 slow motion. He remembered dropping his full bucket of snapbeans and grabbing his brother 79 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:41.680 by the arm, as if all in one movement. Uncle Lloyd then dropped 80 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.879 his full bucket, spilling all the contents on the ground. The two of 81 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:50.519 them started running as fast as they could back towards the house. My grandmother's 82 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:55.920 version of the events of that faithful mourning made it all the more credible because 83 00:06:55.959 --> 00:07:00.319 my grandmother was never one to embellish a story. She said she looked out 84 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:04.959 the window and saw my father and uncle running towards the house that she knew 85 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:10.399 instantly they were not playing a game, but that something terrible had happened. 86 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:15.560 She initially believed that they had been threatened by white men, as this was 87 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:20.920 southern Louisiana and lynching of blacks were not uncommon at that time. She ran 88 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:26.839 out of the house to meet them. They were both shaking and crying uncontrollably. 89 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:30.920 She quickly sent one of my aunts to the field to get my grandfather 90 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:35.480 to let him know that something terrible had happened to the boys. By the 91 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:41.680 time my grandfather reached the house, my father and uncle had calmed down sufficiently 92 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.000 enough to talk. My grandmother was confident that whatever happened, they would not 93 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:50.720 dare lie to their father. When my grandfather asked them to tell what had 94 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:57.560 happened, they recounted seeing a hairy manlike creature near the by you. They 95 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.839 described how this by you beast had walked out of the trees and screamed at 96 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:05.519 them with a high pitched scream, and jumped in the bayou and swam away. 97 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.560 Because they had none of the snap beans they had spent all morning picking, 98 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:15.160 and they both were still visibly shaken, my grandfather was confident they were 99 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.439 telling the truth. My father would often end this story by saying that he 100 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:24.720 did not know what he feared the most, the hairy man like creature with 101 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:31.199 a loud piercing scream, or my grandfather not believing him. My father said 102 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.120 he was so relieved when my grandfather turned to my grandmother and said, these 103 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:41.159 boys aren't lying they saw some type of creature. I'm certain of it. 104 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:46.240 It is my father's vivid recounting of this encounter that made me know that sosquatch 105 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:50.159 is real. Oh, yes, he's real. I also recently missed having 106 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:56.720 my very own daytime encounter. On January twenty eight, twenty nineteen, my 107 00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.480 sister and I both met up on a connecting flight of Armingham, Alabama for 108 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.480 my son's wedding. We picked up our rental car at the airport and began 109 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:11.960 our hour and a half trip to Huntsville, Alabama. This journey was one 110 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:16.320 I have made many times by car, as I lived in Huntsville, Alabama 111 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:20.480 for over ten years. However, this particular day, I was turned around 112 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:24.240 as to how to leave the airport and connect with the highway to take me 113 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:28.879 to Huntsville. After driving for about thirty minutes, we decided to stop and 114 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.240 get a bite to eat. My sister was bewildered as to how I could 115 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:39.320 be so turned around and unable to get my bearings. I'd only been gone 116 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:43.720 from this area for six years. She was growing impatient. Finally, we 117 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:48.960 were on the correct exchange and headed to Huntsville. We even talked about what 118 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.360 possibility made me so scatterbrained and confused. We both had a good life and 119 00:09:54.440 --> 00:10:00.000 chalked it up to old age, not that we would be considered that old. 120 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.720 Laughed it off and looked forward to the next few days at my son's 121 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:09.360 wedding. Just as we made the exchange on to Interstate five sixty five leading 122 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:13.480 into Huntsville, I decided to call my soon to be daughter in law to 123 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:18.320 let her know that we would be at her house. Shortly. I was 124 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:22.519 driving and talking to her via bluetooth, so I knew exactly what time it 125 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:28.240 was. It was three zho five pm. My sister then looked at me 126 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.840 and said, with this really blank look on her face, I just saw 127 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:37.039 a sisquatch. I looked at her and initially thought she was talking about a 128 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:43.519 billboard or a sign for a business. I ended my phone call and turned 129 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.480 to her and said, what did you say. She repeated, I just 130 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:52.799 saw a sisquatch. I said, you're joking right. Strangely, my sister 131 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:58.240 and I have never discussed the topic of sasquatch or bigfoot. She then said, 132 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:01.759 no, I was looking at this thing crouched down off the side of 133 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.279 the road as if it were trying to conceal itself in the trees. You 134 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.600 were driving slowly so you could enter the highway and I could clearly see it. 135 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:15.159 First, I thought, what is an orangutane doing out there? And 136 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:20.080 then I realized I was looking at a subsquatch. There are no words to 137 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:26.960 explain how I, being a bigfoot enthusiast, felt realizing that I had missed 138 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.679 having my own daylight sighting in the safety of a car. I told my 139 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.399 sister, apparently that is what all my confusion was about in trying to leave 140 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:41.919 Birmingham, because had we not had all of that trouble leaving Birmingham, you 141 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:46.080 would never have had your sighting. We had a quick visit with my son 142 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:50.039 and his soon to be wife, and I told them about my sister's sighting. 143 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.200 They found it to be extremely humorous, but I was a bag of 144 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:58.720 nerves because I knew she was telling the truth. I couldn't wait to check 145 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:03.840 into the hotel so she could give me even more details of what she could 146 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:09.200 remember in that brief moment. She did say the creature was pale skinned and 147 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:13.720 had a face that looked more Neanderthal than ape, and it had long, 148 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.159 stringy red hair. It had a thick brow ridge and a really huge face. 149 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:24.039 The head was cone shape, but not really as pronounced as the Patterson 150 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.440 Gimlin film. She said it looked more manlike than ape. Of course, 151 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:33.679 I reminded my sister of our father's encounter on the Bayou. She said she 152 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.639 remembered it and that she had always believed my father was telling the truth, 153 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:43.480 but now she was certain of it. I really hate that there appear to 154 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:46.600 be so many encounters all over North America and other parts of the world, 155 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:52.000 and people have been made to keep their sightings and encounters to themselves. I 156 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:56.600 do believe that more people that share their encounters, the more it will minimize 157 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:03.440 the stigma around it, and mayxtreme scientists will have to take this subject more 158 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:11.679 seriously. In nineteen sixty seven, when I was seven years old, my 159 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:16.200 family moved to White Spring, Florida. Dad was a pipe fitter at a 160 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:20.480 nearby chemical plant. He found us an old country house to live in that 161 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.840 sat about two hundred yards from the Sewanee River. We were surrounded by woods. 162 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:30.120 It was a veritable paradise for a kid like me. I didn't see 163 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:33.759 trees and bushes. I saw forts and treehouses. I walked through. The 164 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:37.600 woods was never going to be a simple day hike for me. It was 165 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:41.919 a safari, like a journey the likes of the travels of Marco Polo. 166 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:48.240 Likewise, the river held endless possibilities there. I had visions of Huck Finn 167 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:52.919 and the Lewis and Clark expedition. One evening, while I was sitting on 168 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:58.559 the back porch checking out the woods and planning my next adventure, when I 169 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:03.720 heard a strange noise. It was coming from the backwoods that was my domain. 170 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:07.360 I couldn't quite place the sound. I'd never heard it before, nor 171 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:13.080 could I figure out quite where it was coming from. I looked all around, 172 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:16.879 but I didn't see anything, And then I looked up sitting in a 173 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:22.559 tree was a monkey or a chimpanzee. That was the only way my seven 174 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:26.440 year old mind could identify it. To a kid like me, all the 175 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:31.600 primates were monkeys or chimps. I watched it for a few seconds while it 176 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:35.960 sat up there watching me back. Then it started to climb down the tree. 177 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:41.039 That was when I saw the dark brown figure at the base. It 178 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.919 was much larger than the little one up in the tree and when the little 179 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.879 one got low enough, it climbed onto the larger one's back. A minute 180 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:54.399 later, they had disappeared into the dense woods. Earlier this year, I 181 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.799 saw the same thing in a video that's been going around the internet. When 182 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:01.840 I saw that video, it sent a cold chill down my spine, and 183 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:07.720 I said to myself, Oh my God, I've seen this before. Once 184 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:11.559 the creatures were gone, I turned around and ran inside, and I asked 185 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:13.919 my older brother and dad if there were any monkeys around there, and they 186 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:18.440 said that there weren't. I was sure they were wrong, so I told 187 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:22.000 them I had just seen one that didn't go over very well. They teased 188 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:26.600 me about it endlessly. They could be pretty cruel about it at times. 189 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:31.399 I had put it in the back of my head and forced myself not to 190 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:35.320 think about it. I probably wouldn't have thought about it again if not foreseeing 191 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:39.480 that video. It brought it all back like a flood. I didn't play 192 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:43.440 in those woods much after that. I guess even Lewis and Clark might have 193 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:48.080 given a little extra thought to exploring this country if they had seen what I 194 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:52.639 saw. It wasn't all bad. Dad and I floated the Swanee on some 195 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:58.240 pretty cool fishing trips. It was a fascinating and beautiful place back then, 196 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:03.080 and it still is. It contributed to some pretty amazing memories from my childhood, 197 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:07.720 But I can't help but wondering now if maybe we weren't always alone out 198 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:08.759 there on that river.