Now, when what are your putting? I got a screen going on here,
something just because my dog. Something killed your dog? My dog.
We're flying through the or over the trade. I don't know how it did
it, okay, damn, and I'm really confused. All as I saw
was my dog coming over the fence, and they did when you hit the
ground. I didn't see any car and all I saw was my dog coming
over the fence. Damn, Why what are you're putting? We got someone
or something crawling around out here? Did you see what it was? It
was standing up. I'm out here looking through the window now and I don't
see anything. I don't want to go outside. Jesus, point you bet
hello, get the body out here? What foot on the out there?
I thought of a boot nine. I don't know he see him out there
yet. I'm looking right out. I knew that we had the recorders and
the cameras around, and I could only hope that they were recording everything.
At this point, I didn't know if Henry and I would survive this.
At least if something happened, the footage would be there. There wasn't anything
Henry and I could do if we came out. We would certainly be killed.
The big foot was drawn up here for some reason, and now it
had sparked a full on territorial war. I wondered how many more bigfoot would
come up here, and how many more dog men would come out. We
were sitting ducks. I looked over at Henry, and he was sitting with
his knees bent to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. He wore
the same fear on his face that I had. The knocks grew louder,
and it sounded like an army of large men were making their way to our
location. The ground vibrated with every step they took. We're not gonna make
it out here, our remark, Henry asked aside. We have to think
positive. I know that's hard to do surrounded by two very large creatures who
want to rip each other's throat out, but this is where we are right
now. If Connie taught me anything it's that you can't take yourself out of
a tough spot with a negative mind. It'll only make it worse. The
fire was going and the shadows were dancing along the sides of the tent.
We could see the legs of the dog man and hoped that it was the
only one. At that point, I'd only seen one big foot, but
the footfalls of the others were not far behind. The necklace glowed a bright
purple and began to shake. Henry quickly threw his pillow over it so it
wouldn't be seen or heard. We certainly didn't need any warning that they were
there. We knew that already if the necklace could make them go away,
then we would want to wait until the rest of them were here, and
not just one here near us. Loud shrieks rang out everywhere and echoed off
the sides of the rocks of the mountain. Then darkness shrouded the tent,
with only broken glimpses of wrestling shadows that we could see because of the glow
of the fire. Loud thuds and snarls were right beside the tent, and
I could only hope that they were too focused on each other and they weren't
going to rip the tin open and pull us out. We made our way
to the back corner of the tent and hopes that if one of these huge
animals fail, it wouldn't crush us. It would undoubtedly be like the weight
of a small car landing directly on top of us. If it did just
then, small drops of blood streaked across the sides of the tent. This
was first blood. The big Foot let out a boisterous yale, and then
more came thundering beside us. Then we heard more trees being pushed apart.
It was more dog men. I quickly went through what we had for protection
and found our most valuable asset, the walkie talkie, and the cavalry was
just on the other side of it. I leaned over and keeped up the
mic. John, Connie, come in, Are you there? I whispered,
what's up? Mark, John asked Henry and I are in quite a
jam, and we need a distraction, a big one. I need you
guys to be as loud as you possibly can. I can explain it all
when we get out of here, but right now you need to trust me.
Just be loud. I think I heard you right, Mark, but
there's a ton of background noises. Are you okay? I don't have time
to explain currently We're fine, but I don't know for how much longer.
Please hurry, I said Henry, and I said as still as possible.
Why the bodies fell around us. We could still see the glow of the
necklace just under the edge of the pillow. It was at its most vibrant
when the dog men were nearest us in the battle. I didn't quite understand
why they hadn't done anything with the tent. It was baffling me. Those
Bigfoot know that we're in here, and I'm sure the dog men do too.
It may have something to do with the necklace as well, Henry said,
But if I had to take a wild guess, I would say that
the Bigfoot are protecting us, whatever the cause. I was glad that we
were safe and still in one piece. I can't say how intact my sanity
currently was. However, we sat for what seemed like forever, waiting on
something to happen with John and Connie. I hope that it was them taking
a while because they were planning something. I just wished they would hurry up.
Shotgun blast rang out an air Horns screamed through the trees. With every
shot that was fired, we could hear footfalls retreating away from us. Loud
howls and screams were moving into every direction. Henry moved the pillow and saw
that the necklace had stopped glowing, proving that the dog men were gone,
but we had no idea what that meant for the big Foot. Then everything
seemed to go quiet, except for the airhorns. I cautiously end zipped the
tent and peeked out. It looked like a war zone. I motioned for
Henry to follow me out, and we carefully crawled out, looking all around
us. I had brought a small table to set up the recording devices,
and it was broken in half. Instinctively, I started searching for the recorders.
I couldn't find them, and I figured that it would be a lost
cause to be searching in the dark. A shadow moved in front of us,
and we froze. Henry looked back and saw the necklace lying on the
tent floor, but it hadn't started glowing. That's a big foot, Henry
whispered. I couldn't believe that I was getting ready to do what I was
about to do, but it only felt natural. I couldn't see the big
Foot fully, but I knew he or she could see me. We don't
want any trouble, okay, We just want to get out of here,
once we get some of our things we'll go, I said, into the
darkness. The airhorns did stop, and once again we felt like we were
alone. We grabbed the necklace and our flashlights and left the mess and destruction
behind. We ran as fast as our legs would carry us out of there.
We met John and Connie in the woodline, and we quickly got into
the truck and sped out of there. I don't know about y'all, Henry
said, as we walked in the door, but I need a beer or
two, hell, maybe even three. After that, we all sat in
the kitchen, and Henry and I were quiet for some time before we started
talking. We sat there and looked at each other as we drank our beers,
not believing what had just happened. I could almost guarantee that we were
thinking the same thought, so John said, as he cleared his throat,
do either you want to tell us what happened out there? We still sat
silent. I know they deserved to hear about what happened, but mustering up
the words to recount it had become more difficult than I thought it would be.
I choked the rest of my beer and opened my next one. My
adrenaline was still pulsing, and I was waiting for the effects of the alcohol
to set in, at least some to calm that. I told you some,
But the fighting was terrifying. It just walked into camp and that was
all it took. I began. Connie laid her hand on mine. What
walked into camp? Mark? Was it a dog man? I shook my
head, No, bigfoot. Bigfoot walked into the camp, but it was
almost as if it were caught off guard that we were there. We didn't
feel threatened by it at all. It didn't mean us any harm. I
know it knew we were there, but it didn't mess with us. Then
the dog man realized it was there and it was on from then. How
about the necklace, John asked, did the necklace glow again? Yeah,
the necklace glowed and it didn't stop until you guys started shooting and blasting the
air horn. That's how we knew it was safe to come out. Then
as we were leaving, a big foot was still there, just in the
shadows. Mark told it that we just wanted to leave. After that,
we tucked heel and ran. Henry said, I finished my third beer and
finally felt calm again being around Henry and that dog man at the same time
was almost painful. The anger I felt during the whole ordeal was unprecedented.
I was beginning to finally feel normal again. So what about this flash you
told me about with the necklace? I didn't quite understand it. Over the
walkee, Connie said, yeah, there's that. I told him the whole
thing. They were just as surprised as we were. They didn't understand it
either. Didn't Otis say that an old medicine man gave it to him.
Maybe that was something that added to it. Maybe if he didn't take the
hint. The final protection was to zap them out of there, John went
on. Henry laughed. Mark and I talked about that in the woods.
John, and I'll tell you the same thing I told him. In essence,
Otis was too afraid to stay outside long enough to realize that it did
that. Can't blame him. But all this had taken place for no reason.
John and Connie just shook their head. I felt the same. My
adrenaline had worn off now and I was exhausted. Henry looked like he would
fall asleep, sitting straight up in the chair. John left and we all
went to bed. Honestly, I think I was asleep before my head hit
the pillow. I woke up to the sunlight pouring into my window, and
I stumbled to the coffee pot. I was still tired from last night's events,
but today was a new day, and I was honestly thankful to be
able to see it. I walked outside and sit on the deck, taking
in the warm rays of the sun. Connie joined me shortly after. She
was my motivation in all of this, no matter how this ended, I
just wanted to be with her. So are we going to get the rest
of y'all stuff today? Connie asked, Yeah, we need to. I
only rented all that, so I need to see if there's any of it
that's salvageable for me to take back. Maybe there'll be something on the recording
devices that will be usable, as long as they didn't crush it. That
is, it looked like a war zone from what we could see when we
crawled out of the tent, but I'm sure in the daylight it'll be much
worse. Connie sipped her coffee and set her mug down on the table.
Well, I know this may sound odd, but I'm interested to see it
myself. Just to know this took place, i'llbit frightening. It's interesting.
We've seen remnants after normal animals that fought in the woods, but seeing the
aftermath of these two large creatures has to be astounding. She wouldn't be saying
any of that, honestly, if she had been there, she wouldn't want
to go out in the woods again. John came over and brought Marie with
him. She gave me and Henry both a hug. It was out of
character for her, but I knew that John had told her what happened,
and she was just glad that we were okay. So we're headed back into
the woods. I have to get the stuff that's still up there. That
other stuff I could care less about. I mean, I don't want to
junk up our property, but the devices of the main goal in getting back
out there today. The other stuff can be cleaned up later. I was
dreading it, though, and I could only hope that they were too tired
for her Round two. While we were out there. We made it to
the camp side and it was worse than I had thought. The only thing
that still stood was the tent. There were small trees and leaf litter laying
around everywhere, but the tent was untouched. It was like a tornado had
came through and turned everything else upside down. There was dried blood splattered all
over the ground, and the table was broken in half. It was a
toss up about whose blood it was, however, could have been either.
Connie and I just walked around and shook our head as we surveyed all the
damage. I walked around moving the loose branches looking for the recorders. This
could have been so much worse, she said, just look at this place.
I picked up all the cameras and stuff and I put them in a
bag and threw them over my shoulder. Yeah, I know, hone.
It absolutely could have been. But something was watching out for us. Bigfoot,
Henry said, smiling. It was Bigfoot. I told you, I
laughed. Henry was such a kook, but he was funny. Well,
that might be the case, but I also think that a higher power had
a hand in it as well. We walked out of the woods without incident
and made it back home. I spread everything out on the table. It
surprisingly looked to be in good condition. Considering now the question lies was there
anything good on these devices? I laid the recorder on the table and we
all sat around listening to it. There were a lot of pops and cracks.
I could only assume that that was the camp fire dwindling down. Then
we heard the footsteps coming into camp. Afterwards a growl and a screen,
then static. The hair raised up on mine in Henry's arms, and everybody
at the table was quiet. Connie stared hard at me, Marie sat with
their mouth open, and John just hung his head. I'd be interested to
see, even though that's just a small clip before it quits, if Ashton
has heard any of those noises, I said, I would go out on
a limb and think that he had. This can't be the only time there's
been a territorial battle. Connie reached over and grabbed the camera. Do you
think there's something on this, she said, handing it over to me.
I turned it on, and I was thankful when I saw the startup screen
light up. I pushed play, but the only thing that could be seen
was large shadows. We knew that these shadows were there, though we had
seen them in real time. Connie shivered when she all the size of what
I told her was the bigfoot that came into camp and crossed into their territory.
So you saw this, she asked, Did you see it full on?
Luckily no, I sighed, I saw it through the sides of the
tent in shadow. That's the size of the one that I saw with my
boys. You forget over the years how big these creatures really are. It's
really enough to make you question reality and everything that you've been taught. It
makes you question everything you've experienced from that point on. Yeah, Marie said,
monsters really do exist. I shivered at the sound of that. I
remembered my dad telling me when I was a young boy that monsters don't exist.
Maybe in his world they didn't, but in my world now they were
as real as ever, and I was living with them. Now. We
just had to figure out what to do. What's past the second creek,
Henry, I asked, Not too much, really, just more land,
some power lines, and then maybe a half a mile or so from there
is Otis's property. Well what used to be as property? Why do you
ask? I had been thinking about this all the while, I just hadn't
said anything to anybody. I was trying to piece it all together in my
mind. That one bigfoot came into camp, but it knew that Henry and
I were in the dog Man's territory. Why would the bigfoot go up there
knowing that we were there. They didn't want anything to do with the pack
of dog Man. I pulled out the papers from the Manila envelope and found
a map. This was the key. It had everything laid out, with
all the wood and property lines. It even showed the two creeks that are
on our property. If you followed the second creek we stayed at, you
run into the power lines and then you would hit Otis's house. They're following
the power lines, but they can't get to them any other way than through
the dog Man's territory. From what I've read and heard and what John can
confirm as well, they follow the power lines for hunting and communication. So
that must mean that the night he came into our camp, he had no
doubt just come from the power lines. It would have no other reason to
be up there. Honestly, this was probably just a regular occurrence for these
bigfoot, and the only reason the dog Man spotted it was because we were
there. It stuck around, like I had said, because it was curious
well, there's no question that everything that we've learned thus far will help us
in the long run. These dogmen on the upper part of the property are
the ones that need to go, As Henry said, the other ones are
controlled by the bigfoot on the property and the fact that he hadn't been here
to allow them to leave the woodline. So, even when this curse is
broken and these hell beasts sent back to where they came from, you guys
should still be okay with the other dog man here, John said, But
we still have to find a way to help Henry break this. Connie said,
yeah. Marie chimed in, where do we stand with that information?
Can't he just do what he did before and send them back? Henry side,
I'm afraid not, little lady. The only way to undo it is
by my own undoing. Marie gasped, What does that mean? Does that
mean you have to die to undo the curse? We all sat around the
table, quiet and almost mournful at what she had just said. We all
knew what he meant, but he hadn't been around here to be fully filled
in on that part. Well, we can't let that happen. We won't
let that happen. You're our friend, Marie said, Henry chuckled. I
appreciate it. I don't want that to be the end of my story,
but it would be a crazy, fantastical way to go. At least Henry
had a positive attitude about everything. I can't say that I would if I
had been in his shoes. I decided to take some time and poke around
online to look at ways to break curses. Most everything I found was people
trying to sell fake ingredients that would supposedly break curses, and even if I
wanted to buy them, the time they would take to reach us wouldn't help
us. Anyway. I decided the next day I would head to the library
and Henry came along with me. I figured that would be the best way
to find out what we needed to I was apprehensive because he had tweaked the
spell so much for his sons, but I thought maybe at least we could
find a way to break the main potion and the rest would just fall away.
Henry and I got to the library as soon as they opened and started
searching for anything that had to do with cryptids and curses. There were thousands
of books, and unlike any other library, I had seen before. This
library had two floors. Surely we could find something that would help us here,
even if it weren't exactly what we were looking for, Maybe it would
lead us to something that could help. We each gathered stacks of books and
took them over to the table to look through them. I was floored at
everything I was seeing, pages and pages of folklore, cryptids, curses,
spells, both fiction and nonfiction alike. Henry was like a kid in a
candy store, and I can't say that I blamed him. We poured over
page after pages for hours, it seemed. Over that period of time,
I learned about all kinds of things I've never heard before. Some of those
things I wish I could forget. I walked back over to the shelves to
put a majority of the books back that I'd selected, and Henry said at
the table. While I was there at the shelf, I found a book
about dog men, and I took it back to the table. What do
you have there, Henry said, as he glanced up. You know that's
a fiction book, right, We need nonfiction. I smirked. No,
I get it. I know we do. But from what I've heard,
though, there's always a touch of truth in every fiction story you read.
I'm just covering all my basis, that's all. Henry just shook his head
and stuck his nose right back into the book he was reading. It was
actually nice reading something that I knew wasn't real, pertaining to these creatures.
It helped me to relax, knowing that I could put the book down and
I could leave it there. Unfortunately, I had a real dog mantale going
on at my house. Sadly, I couldn't just close the book on that
one and go about my day. Henry got up and found a few more
nonfiction titles and brought him back to the table. How's your search going,
Henry, I ask, finding anything useful? Henry raised his head. I
think so more than I thought we would. Nothing concrete, though. I
think I'm going to ask the librarian if they have any older titles on this
subject. These all seem to have more of a modern twist. I need
something that goes back further, like something in the archives. I watched him
stand up from the table and put the books back, except for the one
that he was going to the desk to talk to the librarian about. She
walked around the desk with a key in her hand, and he followed behind
her. They walked to a door on the off side of the main shelves
and they went inside after she unlocked the door. I really hope there's something
inside that room that we can use. This may be his last chance.
I decided to move to one of the more comfortable chairs to wait on Henry
to return. Not long after, Henry came out with some dusty old books
in his hand. There were ragged in appearance. He had a smile stretched
across his face, so I could only assume that he had found what he
was looking for. She said, I could take these with me. I'm
almost positive this is what I needed the whole time, he said, grinning.
I couldn't follow him for his excitement, as he said those books could
be the undoing he was searching for. We went to the front and he
checked those out, and I checked out the one that I was reading as
well. It may be fiction, but it really had my attention and I
wanted to see how it ended. When we got back home, Henry set
out on the back deck, turning his pages constantly. He had come in
once and asked for a notebook and a pen, and I happily obliged.
He spent the rest of the afternoon reading and taking notes voraciously. I have
to say that once all this was over with, I was really going to
miss him being here. He had turned out to be a really good friend.
He told Connie and I that he had been staying with a friend not
far from our house, but I don't know for sure that that's true.
He could have been sleeping on the streets for all we knew. Wherever he
was staying, it had to be close to our property for him to be
able to walk here every night. I often wondered how this would have turned
out. Had we not set up those trail cams and found Henry sitting out
there, we would still be running around in circles doing the same thing to
solve this on our own, or worse yet, not hunting, hiking or
fishing, and possibly even having to move. But this had turned out to
be our story, our own adventure. We were all like characters in a
story someone else was telling. Pieces of a chess board being moved where we
needed to be at just the right time. Pretty ironic, if you ask
me. I just hope our story where he has a happy ending, we
said. At dinner later that night, just the three of us, all
talking and laughing, we had decided we were going to table the subject of
cryptids, even if it was just for one evening, so we could have
a normal dinner. It was nice. We all went to bed more relaxed
than we had been since this whole thing started. The next morning started early,
but mentally I felt better than I had in a long time. Stress
is hard to carry, and we had all been carrying it for long enough.
I sat on the deck and read my dog Man book and drank my
coffee. This was the piece that I needed. Connie stuck her head out
the door and told me that breakfast was ready. So I went back in,
almost eager to be able to go back outside and finish my book,
You're Living a dog Man Story, Mark, Connie chuckled, why are you
reading that? I had been waiting for that. I knew that she was
waiting for just the right moment to rib me about it. It's like I
told Henry, Connie, this one I can put down and walk away from
any time I want with our story, can't. Henry walked in with his
books and carried them to the table on the deck. He began telling us
about everything that he had read, and he thought that he had maybe found
the answer to the curse. That's great, Connie exclaimed, as he ate.
He went on to tell us that he would indeed have to go back
to the place in the woods where he performed the first one. He asked
our permission, because he knew how Connie felt about that. So what all
do you have to do for the reversal? I asked curiously. I don't
know what all you had to do the first time, but I would think
to undo it, you would have to do something different. He downed the
rest of his orange juice and said, yeah, it will be different,
herbs and such. Nothing too big, though apparently to break it it takes
less than it took to cast it. Strange, but according to this book,
that's what it says. Connie gathered all the dishes and took them into
the sink. Well, whatever you need, just let us know and we'll
help you get it. I sat with Henry on the deck as he went
through the books again, still taking notes. He was feverishly writing as fast
as he was reading. Imired his tenacity. More so, I admired his
patience through everything that he had been through, not just recently, but since
this whole thing started. Where did you perform the first ritual again, Henry,
I asked. He leaned back in his seat and laid the pen on
the notebook right there in the clearing where I was sitting. I'll have to
go back there to try to reverse it. I had completely forgotten about that.
If he were there when he performed it, that would make sense that
the dog man I shot was right there as well, so him reversing it
right there would hopefully be successful in making them go away. When do you
want to do the reversal, Henry, I asked, almost excitedly. I
would think soon, right, he laughed, Yeah, as soon as possible.
It's time that this has taken care of, one way or the other.
I know you said you would help me with anything I need, and
it turns out that I will need your help according to this book. Sure,
Henry, what can I help you with? I asked? He looked
at me hesitantly. Your blood. You don't gotta go home, but you
can stay. And no, I don't want to be alone the world out
that us trying to try that time everything come right back. Ride baby,
my joy for me. Try to stay right now. I'm coming right away.
Ssssssssssss bout time, bout boot for pots, things and muss us and
things and us. I have