1
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:20,399
Thank you for joining me and welcome. I'm your host, Nick Ryan.

2
00:00:21,839 --> 00:00:27,440
This episode is brought to you by
my newest supporters Kimberly, Candas and Molly.

3
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:34,079
Thank you so much for making the
show possible. Our first experience of

4
00:00:34,119 --> 00:00:38,920
the night is short but fascinating and
it comes to us from John. And

5
00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:46,759
John's experience is called shadow Wolf.
John says, Hello, Hellove, your

6
00:00:46,759 --> 00:00:51,960
podcast and I have had some unexplained
experiences. I'm from a farm in the

7
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,640
Peak District, located in England.
I was about seven at the time and

8
00:00:56,679 --> 00:01:00,520
it was midsummer. The farm is
located on around seventy acres and there's a

9
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,200
nice hill that overlooks most of the
farm. I used to sit there for

10
00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:10,120
hours and just admire the view.
One day, I was watching the sunset

11
00:01:10,239 --> 00:01:12,799
when I noticed something was moving in
the tree line. As my eyes were

12
00:01:12,879 --> 00:01:19,359
drawn to it, a big,
shadowy wolf appeared. It stood still for

13
00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,079
a while, looking in the opposite
direction down the hill, and then I

14
00:01:23,159 --> 00:01:26,519
heard one of my brothers call my
name. At this moment, this wolf

15
00:01:26,599 --> 00:01:30,560
turned its head and looked straight at
me, and it had blue, fiery

16
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:36,359
eyes. My brother then called my
name again and it ran straight up the

17
00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:41,040
tree line and into the woods.
I ran down the hill to see if

18
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,159
he had seen this wolf before,
but that was when he told me that

19
00:01:44,239 --> 00:01:48,840
there are no wolves left in England
and we've never spoken about it again.

20
00:01:49,879 --> 00:01:53,640
If anyone knows what this means or
what I saw, please let me know.

21
00:01:53,879 --> 00:02:00,599
Thank you for listening. Our next
experience of the Night comes to us

22
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:08,120
from Phoenix, and their experience is
called Unidentified Creature. Hey, Nick,

23
00:02:08,439 --> 00:02:13,599
this isn't going to be very long, but here we go. This happened

24
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:15,840
late last year while I was living
alone in the country, and the mother

25
00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:21,039
of my child called me saying that
my daughter wanted mc donald's. It was

26
00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,680
ten thirty p m. But since
my daughter wanted it, I was willing

27
00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:28,280
to go. So I got dressed
and went out to my front door.

28
00:02:28,599 --> 00:02:31,000
And as soon as I opened the
front door, I heard something with huge

29
00:02:31,039 --> 00:02:36,240
wings fly away right above me,
as if it was waiting for me to

30
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,800
go outside. I looked up into
the sky to see what it was,

31
00:02:39,199 --> 00:02:44,800
but there was nothing but the moon
and the stars. A few seconds later,

32
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,080
I heard something hit the ground about
twenty feet away from me. But

33
00:02:47,159 --> 00:02:51,400
because of where I live, there
are no street lights, so I just

34
00:02:51,439 --> 00:02:55,240
stared in that direction until I saw
two yellow eyes that were about five feet

35
00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:00,719
off the ground and they were staring
back at me. As soon as this

36
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,639
thing and I made eye contact,
it let out a huge screech, so

37
00:03:04,759 --> 00:03:07,759
I turned right back around and I
went back into my house. I'm not

38
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,199
the type of person to be scared
of paranormal things, since I've seen shadow

39
00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,439
figures since I was four, but
this just didn't feel right, because I

40
00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:21,360
felt like it was waiting for me. If you know anything or anyone that

41
00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:23,360
could reach out to me that might
have an idea of what this could have

42
00:03:23,479 --> 00:03:30,080
been, that would be great.
Love the podcast and thank you. If

43
00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:35,080
anyone has any idea what Phoenix saw, please reach out to me and I'll

44
00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:40,159
get you in touch with them.
Our next Experience of the Night comes to

45
00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:49,240
us from Wembley, and Wembley's encounter
is called Cryptid Coyote. Wembley says,

46
00:03:50,199 --> 00:03:53,639
Hi, Nick, I'm enamored with
your podcast and I found it just a

47
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,560
few days ago, and I have
a story to share that happened very recently.

48
00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,280
The spring was closing in on summer
here in southern Georgia, and one

49
00:04:01,319 --> 00:04:05,680
afternoon I was out riding my lawnmower
and cutting the center of my long gravel

50
00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:10,719
and grass driveway. It's out in
the country with lots of woods around,

51
00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,560
the kind of area where deer are
common, and you know that you also

52
00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,839
might hear a woodpecker or two,
but there's no bear, elk, wildcats,

53
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:24,399
et cetera. So as I was
moving slowly down the driveway, an

54
00:04:24,439 --> 00:04:29,480
animal shot out unexpectedly from my left. My first knee jerk reaction was that

55
00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,160
it was a deer, but a
fraction of a second later I knew it

56
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,560
was no deer. It was deer
colored and solid grayish brown. Had to

57
00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:42,240
tail, but there was no variation
in the collar. It clipped along at

58
00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,800
a trot, and without stopping,
it turned its head to me and then

59
00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,000
disappeared into the woods on the right. I sow it for only three or

60
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:55,399
four seconds, but what registered astonished
me. It was shaped like a large

61
00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,160
dog. It was well proportioned,
but with a snout as long as a

62
00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:02,879
crocodiles. I was just speechless.
Later, I got on the web to

63
00:05:02,879 --> 00:05:06,680
look at coyotes, and it turns
out that they are significantly different from this

64
00:05:06,879 --> 00:05:13,399
animal. Coyotes have bushy tails,
whereas this thing's tail was thin, and

65
00:05:13,519 --> 00:05:18,160
coyotes have various colors in their coats, but this was solid. Most obvious

66
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:23,480
was the difference in leg length.
Coyotes have long, spinly legs that don't

67
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:28,439
always seem to be proportional, but
this dog creature was very well proportioned.

68
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,480
I asked Wembley if they could elaborate
on what the creature looked like, and

69
00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:38,199
Wembley said this. The most stunning
thing about the animal was that it trotted

70
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:43,040
along my path without skipping a beat. It had no fear and no aggression

71
00:05:43,079 --> 00:05:46,560
either. It turned to look at
me, but it didn't stop. It

72
00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,199
just kept going. I've never seen
it again. I don't know what it

73
00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:55,279
was. It was dear colored,
that is, it was gray as deer

74
00:05:55,319 --> 00:05:58,839
are in winter, and it was
larger than a dog, but it wasn't

75
00:05:58,879 --> 00:06:01,800
frighteningly huge. My heart did skip
a beat, though, because I think

76
00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:08,199
the primitive brain knew instantly that this
was unusual. The coat was short from

77
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,800
head to tail to legs, but
there was no bushy fur. As I

78
00:06:12,879 --> 00:06:15,800
said, the snout was frightening because
you knew right away that it was longer

79
00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,600
than it should be. I'd say
that it was ten or twelve inches long,

80
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:25,040
whereas with a coyote it would be
about eight inches. As a horse

81
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,600
rider, I have seen coyotes a
couple of times and they have always been

82
00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:33,319
ragged, undernourished, sloppy fur,
and even dirty. However, this animal

83
00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:40,079
looked healthy, clean, and well
fed. But it was definitely not domesticated.

84
00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:47,240
It was not a dog. Our
next bizarre beast experience comes to us

85
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:55,560
from Caitlin, and Caitlyn's experience is
called skin Walker. This story I'm about

86
00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:59,720
to share happened on July twenty sixth
of twenty twenty two. For a little

87
00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,160
content before we start, this happened
at my grandpa and Grandma's house. They

88
00:07:03,199 --> 00:07:08,199
live in the Oklahoma countryside. I've
been going to their house since I was

89
00:07:08,319 --> 00:07:14,040
very little, and I've never experienced
anything like this since they raised cows as

90
00:07:14,079 --> 00:07:18,079
well like many other people around them. So me and my family had gone

91
00:07:18,079 --> 00:07:21,800
to my grandparents' house for a little
bit. I had been outside playing on

92
00:07:21,839 --> 00:07:26,720
the swings when I heard a sound. It wasn't quite like a cow,

93
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,639
but it also wasn't like anything else
I had ever heard, and it sounded

94
00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,240
to be in distress. I initially
did think that it was a cow,

95
00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:38,000
and of course I thought nothing of
it, and I decided to look around

96
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,800
for this cow. The only reason
I did this was because there wouldn't have

97
00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,120
been any cows close enough for me
to hear, unless, of course,

98
00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,160
it had gotten out. So I
walked down the road and out into the

99
00:07:48,199 --> 00:07:51,879
middle of the field, and I
saw what looked like a cow and a

100
00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:58,360
deer mixed but not quite. Then
suddenly it made a sound again, and

101
00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:03,040
it snapped its head in my direction. But only then did I realize that

102
00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:07,680
it was standing on two legs.
Right then, my fight or flight response

103
00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:11,680
kicked in, and I walked slowly
inside, pretending as if I saw nothing.

104
00:08:13,319 --> 00:08:16,399
Once I got inside, I for
whatever reason, still thought that it

105
00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,800
must be a cow, and I
got my grandpa. I asked him to

106
00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:24,160
come outside because I thought that a
cow was loose. So we get outside

107
00:08:24,199 --> 00:08:28,399
and I take him to the spot. But this animal is gone. Now.

108
00:08:28,399 --> 00:08:31,560
Mind you, there were no trees
in the vicinity, and while cows

109
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,480
aren't necessarily slow, they're also not
fast enough to get to the trees that

110
00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,600
were around in the time that I
got my grandpa. At this point,

111
00:08:39,639 --> 00:08:41,960
he told me that I was probably
just seeing things and that I had heard

112
00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:46,679
a cow from down the road,
but keep in mind that these cows were

113
00:08:46,759 --> 00:08:50,799
almost a mile away. I knew
that what I had seen was not a

114
00:08:50,799 --> 00:08:54,919
cow, and it was the one
making those strange noises. And I still

115
00:08:54,919 --> 00:08:58,720
to this day am very scared to
be outside by myself. I had always

116
00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,879
been a afraid of going outside by
myself, and I think that was my

117
00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,000
intuition telling me that there were and
still are things that lurk out there that

118
00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:16,200
I don't want to see. Tonight's
list of bizarre beasts wouldn't be complete without

119
00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,240
at least one involving Bigfoot. And
I came across this particular story on Mysterious

120
00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:28,960
Universe, and it's entitled the Big
Blue Man. The article says, this

121
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:35,120
first account comes from the Ozarks,
a vast mountainous region spanning Missouri, Arkansas,

122
00:09:35,399 --> 00:09:39,720
Oklahoma, and the southeastern tip of
Kansas, which is full of legends

123
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:45,600
and strange mysteries. The story begins
in the winter of eighteen sixty five,

124
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:50,840
when a veteran hunter named Saul Collins
went deer hunting in a place called Spring

125
00:09:50,919 --> 00:09:56,720
Creek and he came across bear like
footprints. Collins was highly knowledgeable about bear

126
00:09:56,799 --> 00:10:00,759
tracks, but this one was unlike
anything that he had ever seen before.

127
00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:05,000
The footprints weren't just large, they
were oddly shaped and had strange markings along

128
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:09,840
them that looked like they were made
by large claws. The footprints aroused the

129
00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:15,919
hunter's curiosity. A light snow had
fallen the night before, making it easy

130
00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:20,440
for Collins, a veteran tracker,
to follow the tracks. The footprints snaked

131
00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:24,799
through the wilderness until they reached the
northern slopes of Upper Twin Mountain. In

132
00:10:24,879 --> 00:10:28,639
Its here where Collins learns that these
were not the footprints of a bear,

133
00:10:28,399 --> 00:10:35,120
but something much stranger. As Collins
followed the footprints up the slope, he

134
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,200
heard a noise above him. Two
boulders then rolled down the slope, and

135
00:10:39,279 --> 00:10:41,919
as he struggled to avoid them,
he briefly caught a glimpse of a giant

136
00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:48,120
figure. The creature was completely covered
in short, curly black hair that seemed

137
00:10:48,159 --> 00:10:52,519
to take on an odd, deep
dark blue colour when it was exposed to

138
00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,799
direct sunlight. Collins described the creature
as huge, no less than ten feet

139
00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:03,720
tall and covered in thick muscle.
The beast apparently also carried a large club,

140
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,360
which it swung in the air,
before setting the weapon aside and then

141
00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,200
picking up another rock and throwing it
at the frightened hunter. Collins ran away

142
00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:15,000
as fast as he could, and
as soon as he returned to town,

143
00:11:15,159 --> 00:11:18,919
he gathered other hunters and went in
search of the creature. For several days,

144
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,279
Collins and his group tracked the Big
Blue Man, who was said to

145
00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,960
have been seen several times, and
the group found sheep skins, pig skins,

146
00:11:28,279 --> 00:11:31,919
parts of dog skins, many bones, feathers, as well as other

147
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,679
items that were possibly kills by the
beast. At one point, they found

148
00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:41,240
a burrow filled with the remains of
a feast, but they were unable to

149
00:11:41,279 --> 00:11:46,559
capture or shoot whatever it was that
had caused this mayhem. Not long after

150
00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,639
this first encounter with the Big Blue
Man, other locals reported seeing the creature

151
00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,919
as well, or even hearing its
blood curdling roar echoing through the night.

152
00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,799
The incident caused a bit of hysteria
at the time, and newspapers were filled

153
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:03,480
with the reports of new sightings and
encounters with a strange creature. However,

154
00:12:03,759 --> 00:12:11,039
their popularity gradually faded and the Big
Blue Man was completely forgotten. In eighteen

155
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,919
seventy four, the beast resurfaced and
sightings were once again reported on the news,

156
00:12:16,279 --> 00:12:20,039
and more hunters began looking for it. An article in the Ridge Runner

157
00:12:20,039 --> 00:12:26,080
magazine said this. The next time
the Big Blue Man was seen was when

158
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:30,039
O. C. Collins was searching
for two lost lambs. He discovered the

159
00:12:30,039 --> 00:12:33,720
creature at Spring Creek, which was
four miles from Old Houghton. Two days

160
00:12:33,799 --> 00:12:39,279
later, Cap Turner came across the
Big Blue Man catching fish by hand at

161
00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,799
Indian Creek. The creature chased Turner
down a steep hill brandishing a huge axe,

162
00:12:45,039 --> 00:12:48,519
and a few days later, a
man by the name of cal Alslop

163
00:12:48,639 --> 00:12:52,159
followed the Big Blue Man into a
cave. As he stumbled through the darkness,

164
00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,320
he found what appeared to be dried
sheep's fur, which were the remains

165
00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:01,000
of what had been feeding the Big
Blue Man. He was also seen one

166
00:13:01,039 --> 00:13:05,559
more time after escaping his pursuers in
a cave, and at Abba Crossing it

167
00:13:05,639 --> 00:13:11,240
was seen catching crayfish from under rocks
and apparently eating their tails. By November

168
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:16,639
fifteenth of nineteen twenty four, fear
was widespread in northern Howell and Douglas Counties

169
00:13:18,159 --> 00:13:22,279
from tatter Hill to collins Ford.
From Blue back to Abba crossing people were

170
00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,759
looking for the Big Blue Man.
Cattle were not allowed to graze, sheep

171
00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,279
were guarded by rifle wielding herdsmen,
and livestock were confined. At night,

172
00:13:33,039 --> 00:13:37,759
people armed with rifles and shotguns scoured
the area for the Big Blue Man of

173
00:13:37,879 --> 00:13:41,519
Spring Creek. At some point,
apparently some of these hunters also found the

174
00:13:41,519 --> 00:13:46,159
monster's den and fired shots at it, and one report states that some hunters

175
00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:52,240
actually managed to drive the monster into
the trees, always mentioning its bizarre blue

176
00:13:52,279 --> 00:13:58,120
color. Apparently, though no actual
physical evidence could ever be obtained. After

177
00:13:58,159 --> 00:14:01,000
the next series of sightings, the
Big the Blue Man disappeared again, only

178
00:14:01,039 --> 00:14:07,039
to reappear in subsequent years. This
time, more reports of missing animals were

179
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,559
received, and it was also noted
that the creature appeared to be in poor

180
00:14:09,639 --> 00:14:15,559
health. One such report was published
in the Washington Times, which said this

181
00:14:16,879 --> 00:14:20,519
six weeks ago, a farmer noticed
that two of his lambs had not returned

182
00:14:20,559 --> 00:14:24,000
home with the rest of his flock. He searched the hillsides and eventually found

183
00:14:24,039 --> 00:14:28,679
their bloody fur in a hollow that
was deep in the forest. The next

184
00:14:28,759 --> 00:14:33,799
day, he saw the Big Blue
Man running over a pig in the woods.

185
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,279
Since then, several farmers have seen
the creature. His blue black coat

186
00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:43,320
was now described as being iron gray. His limbs aren't as muscular as they

187
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,720
once were, but few hardy Ozark
mountain folk would want to risk fighting this

188
00:14:46,879 --> 00:14:54,440
terrifying creature alone. Another article published
in the Sentinel describes an incident in which

189
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,320
two boys saw the big Blue Man
come out of the ground and begin chasing

190
00:14:58,399 --> 00:15:01,840
sheep. According to the ar article, they actually succeeded in capturing the Big

191
00:15:01,879 --> 00:15:07,720
Blue Man, and the article says
this. The boys acted as guides and

192
00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,279
when they arrived at the site,
they found a log and an entrance into

193
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:16,120
the ground that seemed to be well
used. One of the men had the

194
00:15:16,159 --> 00:15:20,440
courage to push a lantern into the
cave, which was of considerable size.

195
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:24,279
They entered the room, where they
saw a man crouching at the back of

196
00:15:24,279 --> 00:15:28,000
the cave. He was wearing nothing
except a loincloth made of something like animal

197
00:15:28,039 --> 00:15:33,519
skin. His body was completely covered
in short, bluish hair, and his

198
00:15:33,639 --> 00:15:37,039
head was covered with the two foot
clump of hair. The wild man tried

199
00:15:37,039 --> 00:15:41,639
to run away, but was caught
and handed over to the authorities. He

200
00:15:41,799 --> 00:15:46,440
was unable to speak. Wool,
hair, bones, and feathers were scattered

201
00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,240
deep inside the cave. There was
no evidence that he had cooked any of

202
00:15:50,279 --> 00:15:56,480
his food. After this, sightings
did continue, but they started to become

203
00:15:56,519 --> 00:16:00,000
a little more rare. That was
until nineteen twenty five, when the phenomenon

204
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:06,600
was revived. That year, a
postmaster received a question in a newspaper clipping

205
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,720
from a California man about the legend, and part of the answer was published

206
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:15,200
in the Nevada Daily News in March
of nineteen twenty five, which said this,

207
00:16:15,399 --> 00:16:19,679
The enclosed clippings state the facts.
However, although this man is now

208
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,240
dead, many of his children are
now living in the wild on the banks

209
00:16:23,279 --> 00:16:29,679
of Spring Creek. All of them
are blue. They live naked and feed

210
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,600
on wild animals such as bears,
feral cats, and mountain lions, which

211
00:16:33,639 --> 00:16:37,600
they devour raw. Many of them
are seven to eight feet tall and weigh

212
00:16:37,639 --> 00:16:41,960
between three hundred and five hundred pounds, and they are often seen carrying young

213
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,480
horses or even cows on their shoulders
as they go to burrows or large caves

214
00:16:47,519 --> 00:16:52,799
to live in. While bigfoot sightings
continue to this day throughout the Ozarks,

215
00:16:52,159 --> 00:17:04,960
the big Blue Man of Spring Creek
seemingly disappeared after the mid nineteen hundreds.

216
00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:11,000
Before I continue, please consider showing
your support by subscribing, sharing, and

217
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:15,119
giving the podcast a positive review.
You can also visit me on Patreon,

218
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,519
buy me a coffee or PayPal and
make a donation, or become a member

219
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:22,519
starting at just a dollar a month. You can even join my Patreon membership

220
00:17:22,559 --> 00:17:27,000
for free and get access to all
of my future updates. And of course,

221
00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:30,160
just listening to the show is the
best support of all, and I'm

222
00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:36,400
grateful to have you here. With
that being said, please stay tuned and

223
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:45,359
I'll be right back after these brief
messages. Our next mysterious creature report also

224
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,680
comes from the same article, and
to be honest, it's one that I

225
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,920
wasn't familiar with until tonight, and
I thought that you'd enjoy it. The

226
00:17:53,039 --> 00:17:57,680
article says this, The thick swamps
of Florida can be a spooky place,

227
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:03,720
to say the least, tangled with
cypress trees, vines and brush, clouded

228
00:18:03,759 --> 00:18:07,559
with mosquitoes, and infested by all
manner of insects and snakes. When the

229
00:18:07,559 --> 00:18:12,359
sun goes down, the swamps come
alive, with sounds not always immediately identifiable

230
00:18:12,839 --> 00:18:18,000
These include shrieks and squawks from unknown
sources, casting this place further into an

231
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:25,759
eerie ambiance that invites tales of strange
monsters prowling its darkest recesses. One of

232
00:18:25,759 --> 00:18:30,759
these is supposedly a hulking thing that
wades through the waters and crashes through everything

233
00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:36,240
in its path, a glowing eyed
beast known only as the moss man.

234
00:18:37,519 --> 00:18:41,279
The creature in question gets its strange
name from its rather unique appearance, humanoid,

235
00:18:41,599 --> 00:18:47,039
bipedal than standing about seven feet tall. At first, it may sound

236
00:18:47,039 --> 00:18:49,880
like a hairy hominid such as Bigfoot, but all of the odd details make

237
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:56,319
it all even stranger. The Mossman
earns its unusual name from the copious amounts

238
00:18:56,319 --> 00:19:00,279
of foliage and grass that seems to
either grow upon it or to be intertwined

239
00:19:00,319 --> 00:19:04,119
and entangled in its hair, making
it have a green cast to it and

240
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:10,079
helping to camouflage it nearly perfectly.
Some sightings even say that it was first

241
00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:15,759
mistaken for an overgrown tree or log
before it suddenly stood up to walk off

242
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,200
through the swamp. The eyes are
also said to glow an amber or reddish

243
00:19:19,279 --> 00:19:25,039
hue, with some reports even claiming
that they have an almost hypnotic quality to

244
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:30,279
them. According to some local lore, the mossman has allegedly been encountered in

245
00:19:30,319 --> 00:19:34,200
these wetland wildernesses since at least the
eighteen hundreds. One such report from this

246
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:38,480
era is that of a large manlike
beast with a rank odor and covered with

247
00:19:38,559 --> 00:19:44,119
swamp grass. This creature had been
terrorizing the swamps in the area of Clay

248
00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:48,039
County and raiding rabbit pens and the
livestock of residents, which prompted a local

249
00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:53,319
sheriff called Sheriff Peeler to organize an
armed posse of men expressly for the purpose

250
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:57,680
of hunting it down. They apparently
spent several weeks logging through the muck,

251
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:03,319
dodging alligators in venomous snakes in search
of it, but without success. Other

252
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:08,079
strange reports of the time sometimes described
fishermen being menaced or even attacked by an

253
00:20:08,079 --> 00:20:14,960
apelike brute with leaves and branches covering
it. Another even earlier legend might have

254
00:20:15,039 --> 00:20:18,480
sprung from the presence of the creature. According to this particular tale, in

255
00:20:18,519 --> 00:20:23,960
the fifteen hundreds, Spanish conquistadors supposedly
killed and beheaded a local native girl.

256
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:30,319
They allegedly then placed the girl's head
in a nearby tree. In response,

257
00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,680
the girl's family and her tribe called
on their most powerful medicine man, who

258
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,480
then used his magic to call upon
the spirits of the swamp to seek out

259
00:20:37,559 --> 00:20:42,160
vengeance, after which the girl's head
grew to be part of the wilderness and

260
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:48,200
took on a human form of weeds, branches, and other vegetation, going

261
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,160
on to hunt down any Spaniards that
she could find. In some variations of

262
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:57,000
this story, a witch doctor in
later years created his own gollum of foliage

263
00:20:57,039 --> 00:21:02,799
to keep the Spanish away, and
it continues to prowl the swamps to this

264
00:21:03,039 --> 00:21:07,240
day. While these reports and legends
are interesting, the moss man truly made

265
00:21:07,279 --> 00:21:11,720
its debut in the public consciousness in
nineteen seventy eight. In this year,

266
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,279
a couple claimed that they had been
taking a leisurely stroll along the beach in

267
00:21:15,319 --> 00:21:19,200
the city of Boca Ratone, which
was right up along the Everglade swampland,

268
00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,680
and this is when they spotted something
odd lying there upon the sand by a

269
00:21:23,759 --> 00:21:29,119
rocky outcropping. As they drew closer, they saw that it appeared to be

270
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,759
a person in a raincoat sprawled out
face down, However, as they passed

271
00:21:33,759 --> 00:21:37,319
it, what they had at first
taken to be a man eventually stood up

272
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:41,279
to stare at them with billful,
glowing red eyes, and they could see

273
00:21:41,559 --> 00:21:45,759
that this was no human being.
The interesting detail is that what they had

274
00:21:45,799 --> 00:21:48,880
thought was a raincoat was actually nothing
of the sort, and was in fact

275
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:55,319
what looked like a twisted mat of
thick moss, grass and leafy foliage.

276
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,680
The couple fled for their lives as
it loomed, glaring at them with those

277
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,799
fires eyes. When they went back
later to investigate, there was apparently some

278
00:22:03,839 --> 00:22:08,440
Spanish moss strewn about where the creature
had been, but there was no sign

279
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:14,720
of the beast itself. The most
famous of these reports comes from nineteen eighty,

280
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,039
when an elderly couple was visiting Red
Reef Park, a sixty seven acre

281
00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:23,359
coastal nature preserve. The couple purportedly
had been hiking through the scenic area when

282
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:29,240
they saw a green object through the
trees upon a branch. The woman approached,

283
00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:33,119
thinking that it was some type of
swamp bird perched upon a mossy tree,

284
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:37,480
but this bird then turned around and
showed itself to be the fierce looking

285
00:22:37,599 --> 00:22:41,079
face of the moss man. At
this point, she realized that what she

286
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:47,799
initially thought was a tree was actually
this creature's enormous body. The terrified woman

287
00:22:47,799 --> 00:22:52,039
had apparently been so close at this
time that she genuinely feared for her life.

288
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:56,119
However, the creature turned back around
and loped off into the wilderness.

289
00:22:57,319 --> 00:23:00,440
There have been sporadic sightings of the
mind most Man ever since, with the

290
00:23:00,519 --> 00:23:04,200
counts describing what seems to be a
flesh and blood animal, or on other

291
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:08,519
occasions claiming that the thing is more
ghostly or demonic in nature, with it

292
00:23:08,599 --> 00:23:14,119
being able to appear or disappear at
will, or to even shroud itself in

293
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,039
a cloud of mist. Considering the
details of the reports, theories have abounded

294
00:23:18,079 --> 00:23:22,200
on what the creature could be.
Some believe it to be some sort of

295
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,680
Bigfoot like creature, either covered with
vegetation that is grown upon it, or

296
00:23:26,839 --> 00:23:30,680
intentionally covering itself with this foliage as
a form of camouflage in order to allow

297
00:23:30,759 --> 00:23:36,279
it to blend into its environment.
Others think that it's some sort of humanoid

298
00:23:36,279 --> 00:23:41,039
plant, a forest spirit, an
interdimensional entity, an alien, or perhaps

299
00:23:41,079 --> 00:23:47,960
even an avatar of the swamp taking
a humanoid form. More rational explanations are

300
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,240
that it's merely a trick of the
light on the trees, a hunter in

301
00:23:51,279 --> 00:23:56,359
a gilly suit, or possibly just
an urban legend. Whatever it may be,

302
00:23:56,039 --> 00:24:03,480
the legend of the mysterious Moss Man
continue to live on. To read

303
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,440
the full article for yourself, please
visit the link in the show notes.

304
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:15,079
Our last encounter with a strange entity
comes to us from Sean and Shawn's experience

305
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:22,799
is called something Scary. Sean says, I love your podcast and I'm really

306
00:24:22,799 --> 00:24:26,400
glad I found it. I haven't
heard anything like this yet, but I

307
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:30,359
do have a lot of episodes to
catch up on. This experience took place

308
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,119
on August thirty, first of twenty
twenty three, during the blue moon.

309
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:40,240
I live in northeast Washington State,
and my Hispanic and Native American heritage believes

310
00:24:40,279 --> 00:24:45,519
that what I saw was a weendigo. I was having a bad day and

311
00:24:45,599 --> 00:24:48,720
I was upset, and I decided
to take a drive to the lake to

312
00:24:48,759 --> 00:24:53,319
sit under the moon and meditate.
I was highly emotional, depressed, overwhelmed,

313
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,319
and arguing with both my son and
my husband. I drove a couple

314
00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,559
miles outside of town and stayed in
the in the car for about five minutes.

315
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,160
I then got out to sit on
a rock that overlooked the lake.

316
00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:08,359
I remember sitting there on the rock, listening to the waves lapping the shore

317
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,920
and yelling at the moon while texting
responses to both my husband and my son.

318
00:25:15,039 --> 00:25:18,559
The next thing that I remember was
hearing a few buzzing pulses in my

319
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,599
head and ears, as well as
twigs breaking, which eventually morphed into squeals

320
00:25:22,839 --> 00:25:27,039
like it was some sort of a
small bird or mammal. That's what snapped

321
00:25:27,079 --> 00:25:30,960
me out of it. I kept
hearing these squeals as I slowly got up

322
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,559
and tried to focus on the area
the noises were coming from. At this

323
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,279
point, I felt clear headed and
I had no more anger as I had

324
00:25:38,319 --> 00:25:44,039
before. I slowly turned and walked
to the truck as quickly and quietly as

325
00:25:44,079 --> 00:25:48,720
I could, as I felt a
distinct urgency to hurry. I touched the

326
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,680
door button to unlock the truck,
and I climbed in. While looking out

327
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,279
the passenger window, I saw a
hulking, black scribble like form hunched over,

328
00:25:56,759 --> 00:26:00,200
but it was making its way up
the rocks and toward my truck.

329
00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:04,519
I then quickly started the engine and
I rolled up the window and I locked

330
00:26:04,559 --> 00:26:10,640
the doors. I then drove home, and I was scared to death that

331
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:18,279
it would follow me. As I
bring tonight's episode to an end, I'd

332
00:26:18,319 --> 00:26:22,440
like to thank John, Phoenix,
Caitlin, and Sean for coming forward with

333
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,480
their experiences. And if you'd like
to share your encounter with a bizarre beast

334
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,440
or unknown creature, or learn more
about supporting the show, you can find

335
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:37,079
all my contact and support information in
the show notes and at Paranormal Mysteries podcast

336
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,880
dot com. Until next time,
thank you again for being here, and

337
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,119
I hope you'll join me for my
next episode as we continue our journey into

338
00:26:45,160 --> 00:27:08,400
the unexplained right here on Paranormal Mysteries
sho