1 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:16,320 Here's a story from Dale, or an email from Dale with the story in 2 00:00:16,359 --> 00:00:21,039 it. Here's what Dale writes. I watch your videos and I decided to 3 00:00:21,039 --> 00:00:26,000 share my own. It was the fall of nineteen seventy three. I lived 4 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,679 in a small town called Floyd, Arkansas. There was a group of guys 5 00:00:30,719 --> 00:00:34,159 I hung around with and we hunted and fished and camped, and we rode 6 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,479 dirt bikes together. And we did this the whole time we were growing up. 7 00:00:39,439 --> 00:00:42,880 We had a game that we played on our dirt bikes, an advanced 8 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,880 version of follow the Leader. And one day in the late summer, I 9 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,439 was the leader. I went up into that area that was about as remote 10 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:57,200 as any area around. As I topped the climb on White Rock Mountain, 11 00:00:57,439 --> 00:01:02,679 I discovered an old town. Were old ruins of several buildings, even the 12 00:01:02,719 --> 00:01:06,879 false front of an old saloon with one old swinging door still hanging on the 13 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:11,120 rusty inges. The other guys caught up with me, and we were all 14 00:01:11,159 --> 00:01:15,319 staring in disbelief. We couldn't believe what we had found. We found one 15 00:01:15,359 --> 00:01:19,359 old cabin that was well preserved and decided that it would be cool to fix 16 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,439 it up use it for deer camp and we spent the next couple of weeks 17 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:29,120 hauling building materials up the side of the steep slopes, and when deer season 18 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,760 finally rolled around, all six of us had our gear loaded on our bikes 19 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,879 and headed up the mountain to our new camp. We arrived at the old 20 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:44,159 cabin a few hours before dark, and we busied ourselves gathering firewood for the 21 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:49,280 old fireplace. We spent the rest of the night playing poker and telling lies 22 00:01:49,359 --> 00:01:53,840 about our hunting skills. Around midnight, all the guys were asleep in their 23 00:01:53,879 --> 00:01:59,000 sleeping bags on the floor in front of the fireplace, except me and my 24 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:04,239 buddy Big We were the oldest of the group, and we quietly talked about 25 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,960 where we would position the rest of the guys at daylight. Around one am, 26 00:02:09,159 --> 00:02:13,400 Big Steve told me that he was going to get some sleep. I 27 00:02:13,439 --> 00:02:15,159 told him I was right behind him. After I threw a couple of more 28 00:02:15,199 --> 00:02:21,360 pieces of wood on the fire, Steve had begun snoring. As I stared 29 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,479 at the flames and enjoyed the feeling of being there with my best friends on 30 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:30,680 this hunt. All of a sudden, all hell broke loose. It sounded 31 00:02:30,719 --> 00:02:35,520 like the old cabin was going to fall down around us. It sounded like 32 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,879 boulders were hitting the walls in the roof, and the whole cabin started shaking. 33 00:02:40,039 --> 00:02:44,400 Steve leaped up out of his bag and grabbed a shotgun off the wall 34 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:49,159 pigs. I already had my Marlin lever action in my hand and my big 35 00:02:49,199 --> 00:02:53,520 spotlight in the other. Big Steve was scared, and he asked me what 36 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:59,240 the hell was going on. We positioned ourselves in front of the door and 37 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,439 we pulled the door open and turned on the big light. The whole cabin 38 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:07,759 was surrounded by a ring of huge red eyes. All of them looked like 39 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,000 they were ten feet off the ground. I slammed the door shut and yelled 40 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,400 at Steve to get everyone up and get their gear packed while I guarded the 41 00:03:15,479 --> 00:03:19,840 door. And after everyone was ready, one of the guys volunteered to strap 42 00:03:19,879 --> 00:03:23,080 the gear on the bikes and start all the bikes while the rest of us 43 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:28,960 stood with our rifles and shotguns pointed at the red eyes that surrounded us. 44 00:03:29,759 --> 00:03:32,280 I told them that this is what we're gonna do, and on my count, 45 00:03:32,599 --> 00:03:37,240 everyone but Big Steve and I are going to open fire with everything you 46 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,800 have and then jump on your bikes and haul ass out of here, Steve 47 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:46,599 and I'll cover you as long as we can. As the bikes roared down 48 00:03:46,639 --> 00:03:51,280 the dark path, Big Steve and I emptied our weapons into the dark and 49 00:03:51,319 --> 00:03:53,759 as soon as we ran out of Ammo, we jumped on our bikes and 50 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:59,680 we flew down the path after the rest of the guys. We never went 51 00:03:59,759 --> 00:04:02,879 back there, and we never told anyone what happened to us on that mountain 52 00:04:02,919 --> 00:04:08,759 that night. We didn't even know what to call him. The Boggy Creek 53 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:13,759 Monster came out shortly after that. All we knew was that we had been 54 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,160 run off the mountain by monsters. Who was going to believe a bunch of 55 00:04:17,199 --> 00:04:23,000 high school boys with a story like that? Very good story, Dale, 56 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:26,600 I loved it. Thanks for sending it, man. I hope this is 57 00:04:26,639 --> 00:04:30,360 true because whoo, what a memory and what an adventure. I appreciate the 58 00:04:30,399 --> 00:04:36,079 story, buddy. Thanks. Let's see, this man doesn't say whether to 59 00:04:36,199 --> 00:04:39,720 use his name, so I won't, But here's what he writes. This 60 00:04:39,879 --> 00:04:45,360 is pretty cool. Back in the nineteen seventies and eighties here in East Texas, 61 00:04:45,399 --> 00:04:49,079 bigfoot stories were just that. There were stories, and they always took 62 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:54,959 place in the Pacific Northwest. There was no way we could expect to see 63 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,519 one here or even look for signs of them. When we did see things 64 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,759 that we could explain, Bigfoot was the last thing on our mind. I've 65 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:10,279 walked uncountable miles through the woods. My company owned over five thousand acres of 66 00:05:10,399 --> 00:05:14,839 land in the Natchez River bottom. It was always flooded in the winter, 67 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,920 and it had to be cruised before the end of the year. We'd always 68 00:05:17,959 --> 00:05:21,360 wait as long as we could for the river to crawl back into its banks, 69 00:05:21,399 --> 00:05:27,639 but it never did. One day, our supervisor said that he would 70 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,759 cruise it if someone would volunteer to go with him. That meant waiting in 71 00:05:30,879 --> 00:05:34,800 water that would likely be chess deep. Like a fool, I said I 72 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:39,920 would go. We mapped out our plan when we got there before heading out 73 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:45,360 in the water that was already knee deep. We crossed sloughs that were necked 74 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:47,879 deep at times, and by the time we got within a quarter a mile 75 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:53,680 of our turnaround point, the water was only knee deep. Again. There 76 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,680 were no trees in the huge flat except for some small tupelo gum trees and 77 00:05:58,759 --> 00:06:04,160 bottom whellows. We were looking for marketable sized trees to measure. At the 78 00:06:04,199 --> 00:06:09,120 spot that we were to turn north. We turned around and were surveying our 79 00:06:09,199 --> 00:06:14,600 surroundings when something roared at us. Now I've heard lions at the zoo, 80 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,279 but nothing living that I knew of had a roar that loud. It was 81 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:23,959 like a train horn if you were standing right next to it. Whatever this 82 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,959 was, it lasted a good three or four seconds before tapering off for another 83 00:06:28,079 --> 00:06:31,680 two seconds more. I was standing behind my supervisor, so I got a 84 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,519 good view of the hair on the back of his neck, and it was 85 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:40,199 standing straight up. You could have gone all day without doing that, he 86 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:44,199 said, in a quiet voice that made me think he might be struggling to 87 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,720 keep his composure, and then he added, if that wasn't you, I'd 88 00:06:47,759 --> 00:06:53,399 suggest you get your knife out and get it open. We didn't waste any 89 00:06:53,439 --> 00:06:58,120 time getting out of there. Surrounded by hundreds of yards of knee deep water. 90 00:06:58,519 --> 00:07:00,839 You'd have thought that we'd have seen something, but we never did. 91 00:07:01,879 --> 00:07:06,199 We didn't hear anything else either. We worked our way through half a mile 92 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:12,480 of water without stopping. We were working our way west to get back to 93 00:07:12,519 --> 00:07:16,079 the road. Halfway there, a six foot long white oak that was six 94 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:21,360 inches in diameter hit the ground between us. At the time, we were 95 00:07:21,399 --> 00:07:26,000 in too much of a hurry to give it any real fault. And it 96 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,319 wasn't until years later when I heard stories of bigfoot throwing logs and limbs and 97 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:35,399 rocks at people that I looked back and I remembered the one detail that stood 98 00:07:35,399 --> 00:07:42,000 out for me. That tree was broke off at both ends. We never 99 00:07:42,199 --> 00:07:46,279 finished cruising that section. Management found a way for us to fill our quota 100 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,600 elsewhere. I don't know what was out there screaming at us or throwing trees 101 00:07:50,639 --> 00:07:56,560 at us, but I have my ideas. You'll have to decide for yourself. 102 00:07:58,279 --> 00:08:01,439 We had a thirty five hundred acre company hunting club in that same river 103 00:08:01,519 --> 00:08:05,560 bottom. To the west of that place, My wife and my twelve year 104 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:11,680 old son were in deer stands on a pipeline once when my son saw something 105 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:16,360 huge standing on the edge of the pipeline. He pointed it out to his 106 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,160 mom and they watched it as it crouched low to the ground and crossed the 107 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,079 pipeline. It was on the other side and it stood upright again, and 108 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,800 then it walked into the woods. Then I had a friend whose wife had 109 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:33,600 a stand over the hill from where my wife and son had their encounter. 110 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,279 A few weeks before that, she claimed she saw a bear. It was 111 00:08:37,279 --> 00:08:41,799 the last time that she came out there hunting. I also know of an 112 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:46,399 older man who had a stand in that same area, and he saw something 113 00:08:46,519 --> 00:08:52,399 once that he never talked about whatever it was, though it ended his deer 114 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,000 hunting. He would come out to camp with us, but he would never 115 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:01,519 leave the campsite. In the nineteen ninety s, at the same hunting club, 116 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,159 I would set trotlines in the slews and backwaters during the winter months. 117 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,519 The bottoms, of course, were flooded and the water was cold enough to 118 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:15,639 use soap as bait. It was February and the temperature was dropping into the 119 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:18,440 twenties at night, and if I caught a mud cat, i'd throw it 120 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:22,519 in the live well on my boat and use it to bait my lines. 121 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:28,279 I generally left the boat sitting in the water, but something started rating it 122 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,919 for the mud cats. I was sure it was raccoons, so I figured 123 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,639 i'd keep them out by placing a couple of bricks on the lid at night, 124 00:09:37,159 --> 00:09:41,240 but that didn't work. Each day, I'd find the bricks in the 125 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:45,360 bottom of the boat, and the live bait would be gone. Raccoons are 126 00:09:45,399 --> 00:09:48,919 crafty devils, but I still doubt that they were the culprits. I figured 127 00:09:48,919 --> 00:09:52,080 the best way to keep them out was to bring a cinder block down and 128 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,679 put it on the lid. That day, I caught some more mud cats 129 00:09:56,679 --> 00:10:00,200 and I placed them in the live well and I set the cinder block on 130 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:05,000 top. Problem solved, I thought, But the next day the cinder block 131 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,879 was sitting in the middle of the road. I was baffled by what could 132 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,639 have done that, so I began to investigate. And that was when I 133 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:18,679 found muddy, human looking tracks in my boat. I didn't look at them 134 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,080 and say to myself, man, maybe these are bigfoot tracks. They looked 135 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:26,080 like very large human tracks, and I figured maybe they belonged to someone living 136 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:31,960 off the land. That made perfect sense to me until I ran my boat 137 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:37,360 across that flooded flat and I saw the tracks coming out of the water over 138 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,360 the next ridge and back into the water. Now that got my attention, 139 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,279 and I stopped running the trot lines and I started going around the ridges and 140 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:52,360 following the tracks. I followed them until whoever or whatever this was, swam 141 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:58,000 the river and went up the bank on the opposite side. Man. I 142 00:10:58,039 --> 00:11:01,960 thought that must be one crazy man to be swimming in this cold water. 143 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,840 I had to reconcile it some way. I didn't want to ruin my fishing. 144 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:11,759 In twenty and eighteen, I went to a bigfoot seminar that featured some 145 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:18,960 famous keynote speakers. Bobo and Cliff from Finding Bigfoot might have been two of 146 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:24,080 them. There was another speaker there who interested me more. He talked about 147 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:28,799 having similar encounters at his fish camp on the Sabine River. I ask him 148 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,279 point blank what the footprints look like, and to my surprise, he described 149 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:39,480 them as being very human like, but much bigger. Now I may never 150 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:43,080 have seen a bigfoot, but the things I have seen and heard in East 151 00:11:43,159 --> 00:11:50,519 Texas has convinced me that they exist and that they live in Southeast Texas. 152 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,240 Sometimes it isn't what we see in the woods that matters. I've hunted all 153 00:12:00,279 --> 00:12:05,799 my life. I'll probably keep right on hunting until I'm too old and crippled 154 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,159 to get myself out there. To be honest, I have never seen anything 155 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,200 that I couldn't explain. I can't say the same for the things I've heard. 156 00:12:15,159 --> 00:12:18,120 There are always going to be dead trees that fall over, And then 157 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:24,679 there are the smaller critters that make noises outside of their own chatter. Squirrels 158 00:12:24,759 --> 00:12:30,120 drop nuts, and raccoons and rabbits scurry around and make scratching sounds. Even 159 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:33,240 deer can make a lot of noises. I know that every hunter knows that, 160 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:41,159 and anyone who knows anything about the woods knows what silence means. Usually 161 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:45,720 that means a predator is nearby. It could be any kind of predator, 162 00:12:45,759 --> 00:12:48,679 depending on where you are. In my neck of the woods, it means 163 00:12:48,759 --> 00:12:54,200 bears. So I can explain most of the sounds I hear when I'm sitting 164 00:12:54,279 --> 00:12:58,399 twenty five feet up a tree in my deer stand. The first time I 165 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,960 began to think there might be something out there in the woods that I didn't 166 00:13:03,039 --> 00:13:07,480 know about was years ago, during a shotgun season. It was one of 167 00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:11,759 those frosty late fall mornings when every step I took walking out to my stand 168 00:13:11,879 --> 00:13:18,600 was accompanied by the crunch of frozen grass and sticks and acorn shells and leaves. 169 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,960 It was take a step and wait all the way in. Stalking in 170 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:28,159 is generally the best policy but when there's frost on the ground, it always 171 00:13:28,279 --> 00:13:31,440 sounds twice as loud, no matter how nimble footage you try to be. 172 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,679 I got up in my stand just as the sun was breaking over the horizon, 173 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,639 and I took a long, deep breath of cool air. There's nothing 174 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:46,440 quite like being alone in the woods. At least I thought I was alone. 175 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,399 I was looking out over a meadow, waiting for that trophy book that 176 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:52,840 I knew was going to step out and give me a perfect shot, when 177 00:13:52,879 --> 00:13:56,679 I happened to notice this tree in the woods on the other side that looked 178 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:01,600 like it was rocking back and forth. It was a tall tree, and 179 00:14:01,639 --> 00:14:05,559 I couldn't swear to it, but judging by its height, I'm guessing it 180 00:14:05,639 --> 00:14:09,960 must have had at least a little girth to it. But that thing was 181 00:14:11,039 --> 00:14:16,039 rocking back and forth like it was nothing more than a sapling. And then 182 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:20,039 I heard it crack. And there's a sound that a dead tree makes when 183 00:14:20,039 --> 00:14:24,600 it snaps. It's different from a healthy, live tree. This wasn't that 184 00:14:24,759 --> 00:14:28,600 sound. The tree I watched sway back and forth, then topple over like 185 00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:35,600 it was nothing was green and alive. I had a lot of questions running 186 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,960 through my mind at that moment. I've since come up with a lot of 187 00:14:39,039 --> 00:14:43,720 answers. Time does things to our memories. You forget things, you remember 188 00:14:43,799 --> 00:14:48,919 things wrong. Sometimes you add things that weren't there. And the farther you 189 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:54,159 move from that moment, the more likely your memory is to be unreliable. 190 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,200 And this was a good thirty years ago. So I can't say, or 191 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:03,600 I won't say, what pushed that tree. Over All I know is it 192 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:09,480 left me with a lot of questions. A year later, I was sitting 193 00:15:09,559 --> 00:15:13,720 in that same stand when I heard a loud grunt from somewhere below me that 194 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:18,799 I also couldn't explain. It wasn't a deer snorting or any other animal that 195 00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:22,559 I knew For one thing, it sounded larger than anything I'd ever heard before. 196 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,039 I wriggled around in my stand and tried to see as far around the 197 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:33,120 tree as possible from both sides. I was limited on how far I could 198 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:37,200 see, but I still managed to look quite a ways around. There was 199 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:39,840 nothing out of the ordinary that I could see. But it was at that 200 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,840 moment that I recognized a dead silence that comes with a predator's presence. Not 201 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:52,279 even the bugs were chirping that was followed by footsteps through the leaf matter that 202 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,559 littered the forest floor. I could tell it was on two feet, so 203 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:02,879 I immediately thought that maybe another hunter was coming through. That didn't make sense 204 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,799 because I was on my uncle's property and I knew darn good and well that 205 00:16:06,879 --> 00:16:10,559 I was the only person who had permission to be there, and if it 206 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:15,159 was another hunter, he was trespassing. So I called out, hey, 207 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,279 you down there, you got permission to be out here. I didn't get 208 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:23,759 an answer, and the footsteps stopped. Hey, I yelled again. Still, 209 00:16:23,759 --> 00:16:29,840 I didn't get a reply. I said as quiet and as still as 210 00:16:29,879 --> 00:16:33,960 I could for several long minutes, waiting for someone to acknowledge me, and 211 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:37,600 hoping it was my uncle. After what must have been five minutes or more, 212 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:42,399 I heard the footsteps again. They were moving away from me now, 213 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:47,679 and I figured whoever it was they must have thought they'd been caught. They 214 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:52,480 decided to move out and avoid a confrontation. I settled back into watching the 215 00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:59,639 meadow and had almost forgotten about that person when three distinct knocks that I recognized 216 00:16:59,639 --> 00:17:04,359 as being wood on wood echoed through the woods from somewhere behind me. What 217 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,480 the hell, I mumble to myself as I swiveled around and tried to get 218 00:17:08,519 --> 00:17:12,480 a look in the direction of those knocks. What kind of game was this 219 00:17:12,519 --> 00:17:18,599 guy playing with me? Anyway? But before I could even finish the thought, 220 00:17:18,759 --> 00:17:22,680 another distinct set of knocks came from the other side of the meadow, 221 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:27,000 and I spun my head around so fast it almost made me dizzy, and 222 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:32,079 for a minute I expected to look over at a tree line across the way 223 00:17:32,599 --> 00:17:37,319 and see a horde of marauders pouring out. Another round of knocks from my 224 00:17:37,519 --> 00:17:41,759 side of the meadow had me spinning around again, and then another, and 225 00:17:41,799 --> 00:17:47,720 then another, and this went on for a good half hour. I don't 226 00:17:47,759 --> 00:17:51,519 know if it was because I couldn't identify who or what was doing it, 227 00:17:52,039 --> 00:17:56,279 or if it was something else altogether. I only know that I began to 228 00:17:56,359 --> 00:18:02,200 feel sick right about then. Things quieted down a bit, and I stayed 229 00:18:02,279 --> 00:18:06,200 up in the stand for a while to get a grip on myself before climbing 230 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,680 down and packing up and heading out. I didn't finish hunting that day, 231 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:15,359 and I never hunted that spot again. Years later, I was squirrel hunting 232 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,880 on another fall day. It was earlier in the year, and it was 233 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:23,440 a lot warmer. Squirrel hunting hadn't been on my agenda that morning when I 234 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,920 got up, but I managed to get done with all my honey dews a 235 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,599 little early, and it was such a pretty day I couldn't help myself. 236 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,319 The sun was already beginning to set in the west when I began to feel 237 00:18:36,319 --> 00:18:40,559 like someone was watching me. I stopped at my tracks, and I felt 238 00:18:40,559 --> 00:18:44,799 the skin on the back of my neck crawl and prickle, and my heart 239 00:18:44,839 --> 00:18:49,799 began to beat a little faster from the increased adrenaline flow. I looked around 240 00:18:49,839 --> 00:18:55,000 me, scanning closely to see if maybe a deer had snuck up on me 241 00:18:55,279 --> 00:18:59,359 and was checking me out, or maybe a coyote or some other critter. 242 00:19:00,559 --> 00:19:04,839 Late afternoon shadows cut deep into the foliage, forming a million pockets for curious 243 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:10,640 eyes to look out from, and I couldn't see anything unusual, so after 244 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,720 a minute, I started walking again. This time I heard footsteps that didn't 245 00:19:15,759 --> 00:19:21,480 belong to me. They were so nearly perfectly timed to my own steps that 246 00:19:21,559 --> 00:19:26,279 at first I thought it was an echo. But there was always one more 247 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,519 step that I hadn't taken. When I stopped, I listened carefully. I 248 00:19:30,599 --> 00:19:34,880 was able to pinpoint the sound as coming from somewhere to my left, and 249 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:40,359 I stopped and I scanned the forest. The night was moving in and the 250 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:44,920 shadows were getting darker, and the undergrowth was too dense to make out anything. 251 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:49,079 I decided that it would be a good idea not to take my time. 252 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:55,000 I didn't want to run and trigger any kind of predator instinct, but 253 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:59,279 I didn't want to lose any of the quickly fading daylight either, and I 254 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:03,920 cursed my for not grabbing a flashlight or a headlamp before I left the house. 255 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:08,680 The steps continued, with me speeding up as I sped up, slowing 256 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,920 down as I slowed down. Now, I looked at my watch, and 257 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:18,000 I calculated that I had maybe fifteen minutes of daylight left if I hurried, 258 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,799 and I'd be at the edge of the pasture leading to the house in ten 259 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:27,400 minutes. I just needed to keep calm and keep walking. When I started 260 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:32,240 seeing bits and pieces of the field between the woods and my house, I 261 00:20:32,279 --> 00:20:37,480 began to feel easier. I even slowed my pace. I figured if whatever 262 00:20:37,599 --> 00:20:41,599 was following me had not attacked me yet, it wasn't going to and I 263 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:47,119 stepped into what was left of that daylight with a huge sigh of relief, 264 00:20:47,759 --> 00:20:52,079 and I glanced one time over my shoulder, ten feet from the tree line, 265 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:56,200 and at that moment I was hit by a loud scream that radiated through 266 00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:02,880 me like a shock wave. Logic and reason left me as I broke into 267 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:07,559 a dead run across that field. I don't even remember stopping to open the 268 00:21:07,599 --> 00:21:11,240 gate to the fence that surrounded the house. Maybe I jumped over it, 269 00:21:11,519 --> 00:21:15,000 I don't know. I took the steps up into the porch too at a 270 00:21:15,079 --> 00:21:19,119 time and slammed so hard into the front door that I thought I cracked the 271 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:23,359 glass in the windowpane. I had shut the door, and I was leaning 272 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,319 hard against it, trying to catch my breath when I looked down at my 273 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:33,160 dog. And maybe it was my imagination, and maybe I was projecting my 274 00:21:33,279 --> 00:21:37,920 own emotions on that dog. I'll never know for sure, but when he 275 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,119 looked up at me, I was certain that he was as scared as I 276 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:48,160 was. Looking back, it may have been a panther, the biggest damn 277 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:52,880 panther that ever walked on two feet. But it might have been, or 278 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,480 it could have been some other animal that naturally lives in those woods. I 279 00:21:56,519 --> 00:22:02,440 never saw anything to indicate one way or the other. There's a reason God 280 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:07,160 gave us five senses. If we had to rely solely on our eyesight, 281 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:14,200 we might already be extinct as a species. I've hunted a million times on 282 00:22:14,279 --> 00:22:18,799 that land since that day, and I've never had another issue. I've heard 283 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:23,000 tree knocks and tree falls, and occasional footsteps that sound by pedal and an 284 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:29,039 occasional loud huff. And when I do, I quietly leave the woods and 285 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,839 let whatever is out there do whatever it does. I don't need to see 286 00:22:33,839 --> 00:22:37,720 it. I don't think I want to, all right, I think that's 287 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:42,039 gonna wind this podcast up. Thank you for listening. A little bit of 288 00:22:42,079 --> 00:22:48,039 announcement. After this podcast releases, I am going to be gone for about 289 00:22:48,079 --> 00:22:52,680 a week, and here's what I'm doing. I've got to go get some 290 00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:56,680 work done on my truck tomorrow, which is Tuesday. I don't know when 291 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,160 I'm going to post this, but it's Tuesday. I'm actually going out of 292 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,759 town to get it done. I'll be back Wednesday. At that point, 293 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:08,039 I'm shutting my phone off, I'm getting off the internet, and i'm going 294 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:12,960 to finish the next two chapters of Steve Lilly, and then I'm going to 295 00:23:14,079 --> 00:23:19,480 record finish recording Blood Eagle, so you guys will shut the hell up and 296 00:23:19,599 --> 00:23:27,559 quit asking me where is Steve. I'm joking. I'm just joking with y'all. 297 00:23:27,599 --> 00:23:33,039 I feel so so lucky that y'all like those stories and you like Da 298 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:37,160 Roberts books. Da is such a good writer, So I'm going to work 299 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:41,279 on that. So you're I can only do one thing at a time, 300 00:23:41,319 --> 00:23:44,880 so you're gonna have to do without a podcast for about a week before I 301 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,039 get one or two or all those things done. In the week, I'm 302 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:52,119 kind of taking a hiatus from the podcast and doing these emails that people send 303 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,720 in. So in the next couple of weeks, I can't project a day 304 00:23:56,759 --> 00:23:59,160 because I don't know how long it's going to take me to get all that 305 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:03,000 done. There's a lot of work. Recording audio books takes a lot of 306 00:24:03,039 --> 00:24:07,240 time. I mean, they're hard to read because you're talking NonStop for like 307 00:24:07,279 --> 00:24:12,319 an hour or two hours at a time, and then if the chapter is 308 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:18,599 forty five minutes or an hour, it takes about three hours to edit that 309 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,119 chapter to get it right, get the sound right, get all my screw 310 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,079 ups out of it. So they take a long time. I get about 311 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:30,160 three or four chapters done a day on a good day. I think that 312 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:36,119 Blood Ego book may have twenty eight chapters. So you do the math. 313 00:24:36,559 --> 00:24:40,000 But that's what I'm doing. I want to let you know I may take 314 00:24:40,039 --> 00:24:42,000 a break and just throw up a single story here and there, because I 315 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:48,279 love doing these email stories. They're the best. They're just the best, 316 00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:52,079 and I love it when people send these in. And I've made a promise 317 00:24:52,079 --> 00:24:53,400 to you and I'm going to try to get to all of them. And 318 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,680 that's what I'm doing. So I thought i'd make that announcement. That's only 319 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,559 two and a half minutes to do that. Usually it would take me like 320 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:06,160 eight. All Right, thank y'all for watching, and we'll see you soon 321 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:22,000 on the Dixiecrypted podcast. I appreciate you. See you on the next one.