I heard this gralish grunt. I was like, what in the world was
that. I looked down and I looked back up and I seen it leaning
in and out, and I was like, oh my god, I still
have nightmared and think about it and stuff. Just looking at that thing.
I had sure fear over me. After I snagged that picture of this thing,
my phone died. It just died out of nowhere, and sure enough,
that thing just turned around and it went on the ridge there. I
mean, it was definitely a scary, eerie experience. I just sat there
and just shunk in this the leaf that I had actually, you know,
seen one. I think that that thing wanted me to see it. So
I went over and sat down. I just struck up conversation. Y'all ever
seen or heard anything that's not supposed to be here? And they just got
quiet, and I was like, what did you see? And I was
like this, and I showed them the picture and I showed them the tracks.
I let them listen to the audio that I got. They got They
got real quiet and they just looked at each other and they said, that's
a that's a devil monk. I said, so that's a Bigfoot and they
said Mountain Giant. It's all the same thing, just passed down from generation
generation, but they call them a devil monkey. This is Bigfoot Crossroads.
My name is Matt and I am joined by Harley Owens. Harley emailed me
with quite the story of an encounter, and unlike some people out there,
which no fault of their own, but Harley actually had some photographs to kind
of support his story. I found it really interesting. I'm glad to have
him on. Harley. How you doing, man, I'm doing extremely well,
Matt. Yeah. I mean if you'd have told me that three years
after a preacher that I didn't think for a reality and me now being out
in the field researching for these things, I probably would have told you you
were crazy. But you know, sure enough, here here I am three
years later after this counter and I'm out here looking for him. So it's
definitely it's definitely had a big impact on my life. And you know,
first thinking about it, I was kind of scared at first, you know,
but I'll save those details for talking about it. But it's definitely an
interesting story and there's been a lot of people support me from my encounter.
It's really remarked, I mean, because I know if I didn't collect evidence
to say to have my back for what I mean, I would have been
ridiculed like no other. But I still got that anyway. But you know,
it's just human nature. Yeah, that's just part of the ballgame.
I mean, if you are willing to put yourself out in the public eye
with your story, there's gonna be people that support it. There's going to
be people that understand it because they've experienced similar things, and then there's going
to be a whole slew of people that are just going to try to tear
it apart just for the sake of tearing it apart. Oh. Absolutely,
absolutely. It's kind of baffling to me why people find so much joy and
entertainment out of just doing that to others. But I mean that's the way
it is. I don't mind people asking questions. I ask questions, oh
absolutely, you know, but just to go after somebody and attack them just
for the sake of attacking them, it's just kind of ridiculous. Man.
So oh yeah, what made you take that leap of faith and finally publicly
tell your story. Well, because one of the big things for me was
you know if I'm going through what I was going through, being ridiculed by
my friends and family, not really having any friends after my encounter because I
quote unquote crazy, or it's just a shadow, or those are bear tracks,
or those are coyotes, or even elk. I got people tell me
the recordings that I captured were ELK. I knew instantly what I was looking
at when I seen it. I knew it wasn't a bear, and I
just I knew that if I was going through this, somebody else in this
world has seen one of these creeks have never talked about it, sure,
because I mean that was that was me. I mean, I was just
gonna keep it sheltered up inside of me, you know. And then I
was like, well, I've gotta tell it. I've gotta tell it.
I mean, maybe about my encounter will lead to somebody else sharing theirs.
Well, let's get into it. For anybody that hasn't heard your story,
if you don't mind, just kind of walk us through it from the beginning
what you experienced. Oh yeah, sir, absolutely, So It's happened in
September of twenty twenty. I was working for an auction company at the time,
he traveled around tearing out old sawmills and stuff, and we auctioned them
off, all the equipment and the hand tools and all that stuff. And
we were up there for two weeks. The week before it was me and
some other boys, and then the week after by myself, and that's when
I actually had the encounter and such. But I remember the week before we
got up there and we with the owner of the mill and stuff, and
we talked with him and he was telling us about this bear that was getting
into the dumpsters, shout and just in the place. And and then I
was like, yeah, is he pretty good sized bear? And he's like,
he's pretty good sized, and he said, but there's far worse things
than him in these mountains. He said, yeah, there's aches, coyotes
and all the other natural wildlife, you know, but he said there's far
worse things in these mountains, and that that's what really really stuck with me.
You know. I was like, what's what's worse than that? And
I mean I instantly joked around in my mind like black panthers or something.
So going going on to the rest of that week there, nothing really happened
with me and the other guys were there and the auction was on Saturday,
and the boss came up to me. He said, well, can you
stay up here next week? He said, I want to send these guys
somewhere else again another auction work ready. I was like, yeah, I'll
stay here that next day. It was a Sunday. I went out and
it was raining and stuff. I wasn't going to sit in a hotel all
day. I was just gonna go out there and sit make sure nobody was
coming in there and stealing stuff. But I got very and I was just
walking around the wood line there and where where it was raining. I could
see a couple of the tracks me. I was like, man, look
the looks human. And then I joked in my mind that's big foot and
not even it's see Monday, nothing happened. It was Tuesday, nothing happened.
Wednesday came around. Uh. There was a guy in there that morning
and I helped him load up a couple of things in the pallets and stuff
that he got. And I was taking me a lunch break and I went
over to the service truck and I grabbed my Coca cola and the sandwich,
and as I heard this Gralish grunt. I was like, what in the
world was that. I looked towards the wood line. Nothing, and I
looked up on the ridge because it's where the saw mill was. Was a
flat and there's a cliff back in the valley where the cliff goes up.
I seen a flash of black going across the cliff. I was like,
what's that A bear? I looked down and I looked back up and I
seen it leaning in and out and I was like, oh my god,
I'm not seeing this. I was like, that's a bigfoot. These things
are real. People aren't crazy. And the only thing that I knew of
to do was a snap of picture, because I was like, as sure
as I don't snag a picture of this thing, it's going to be gone
and I'll never have any proof to show that I've seen what I seen.
And I mean it was it was it. I still have nightmares and think
about it and stuff. I ain't it. It's just looking at that thing.
I had just pure fear over me. And after I snagged that picture
of this thing my phone. There was a brand new phone at the time,
I believe it was an iPhone eight plus, and it just died.
I had seventy something percent battery because I'd been keeping it on charge and a
truck and I got it in a Caboda skitster that I was in, plain
bluetooth and stuff. And it just died out of nowhere, and I sitting
there, still walking, staying close to the truck just in case I had
to go, you know, and sure enough, that thing just turned around
and it went on the ridge there. I mean it it was probably one
hundred yards away. I mean it wasn't real close. I mean I assumed
I could to get the picture, but it was definitely a scary, eerie
experience because I mean that thing was leaning out and looking at me. I
mean, it wasn't a bear. This thing was super intelligent. I mean
that thing was I'd say it was easily over seven foot. I mean it
was just to be as far away as it wasn't so how big. I
mean, the really thing that stuck with me was the sheer width of it.
I mean that thing was four by eight. She'd apply wood and it
was it just turned around, walked away, and then I just sat there
and just shunk and just the leaf that I had actually, you know,
seen one and that it aumatized in. I was just like, nobody's ever
going to believe me. I just when my phone came back, looked and
then sure enough I had had the picture and I just sat there and looked
at it and I was like, that's amazing. Later on that evening came
and that's when I started to get the vocalizations. Let me tell you,
they will send hills down your spine. What kind of vocalizations did you hear?
For long drawn out howls and whoops? Could you tell if there was
more than one? Uh? At the time, I wasn't thinking about it.
There was more than one because of that clos But I actually had the
audio sent off and some people determined that there was more individual and I had
a spectrogram done of the audio, and these things made a vocalization all the
way up to two thousand hurts. Wow, if you don't mind me asking,
could you say who did the analysis on the audio for you? Tinsley?
He done the spectrogram of the audio. You're there by yourself, You're
just there on a work trip. Now you've had your whole world rocked.
Yeah, what kind of thoughts were you having after the fact, Like,
after the events over and everything. Maybe on your way back home, how
did you process it? I just I went to the hotel and I just
sat there and looked at the picture and I just kept looking just kept looking
at it, I mean, and then I just kept just thinking about it,
because I mean, that thing, if it wanted to, it easily
could have just came down here and grabbed me up. And I've never been
seen again. But if that creature didn't want me to know it was there,
it would have made those noises. I mean, I think that that
thing wanted me to see it. It was letting me know that, hey,
this is where I live. You know, you stay where you're at
and you'll be cool. I think it's interesting that nothing happened until after you,
after everybody left, and you were there by yourself. Well, and
I mean, yeah, that's that's one thing that people have told me,
you know, And I believe that these creatures can since your intentions or whatnot.
But I mean, yeah, me being there by myself, but it
is fish and there's people told me that. But I mean, I have
no intentions on twenty body's leg or whatnot, you know. I mean,
I was not a believer in this stuff. I mean, that was the
last thing on my mind, is you know, Bigfoot being a reality,
So could you get any details from it being that far away, like what
color hair was, how long the hair was, the shape of the head,
things like that. It had like a the cone shaped head. And
actually I actually thought that it was black, but somebody enhanced the image and
the hair appeared to be reddish brown. I mean, I guess from the
foliage and stuff, it could have looked black. Yeah. I mean there's
some people who have had sightings where it appeared black and then was back dropped
by like sunlight or something like that, and they could see kind of a
reddish tint to the hair as it shined through the edges of the hair.
So yeah, that's not uncommon at all. And I just want to clarify
whenever I mentioned that it waited until you were by yourself or anyone listening,
I wasn't calling into question whether it had happened or not. It's just interesting
that it waited until everybody was gone before it started becoming more active and let
itself be seen like that. And I think that's very intentional. Right,
It wanted it wanted me to know, yeah, it wanted it wanted me
to know it was there. And I told I told, uh. One
of the guys I worked with. I was like, do you remember hearing
anything when we were out here? And he's like, I don't. I
don't remember hearing nothing. I let him listen to the audio. He's like,
no, he said, that's coyote. And I was like, okay,
whatever. And the next the next day I walked around and sure enough,
that's when I when I found the trackway and that thing. There was
a trailway that led up to that ridge where I saw the creature. It
came down into the sawmill on that the flat down. I mean that I'm
six six and I could I could do between those tracks if I tried.
I mean, and it's they're huge, and I mean, I've got my
boot to comparisons, you know. And people were like, oh, well,
why is all the leaves and stuff dead around there? I'm like,
it's summer, you know. I mean, and you can see where that
thing was stepped and it hit slid, you know, from coming across the
creek. You can see the dried up creek bed and it stepped and it
slid coming across the creek and it definitely definitely crazy, and that I actually
got the vocalizations from the first night and then the next even after I saw
the next set of vocalizations and they were fifteen minutes apart. Now three years
later me doing my field research and all that, it's definitely definitely interesting.
How how long did all that activity go on? Like how many do you?
Were you there? And did the activity last the entire time until you
left? The week that we got up there, and then the week that
I was there, it was two days. I mean, first I found
the tracks in the rain. Monday, nothing happened, Tuesday, nothing happened,
Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was when I saw the creature, and then
Wednesday evening was when the sound started. And then that Thursday found the tracks,
and that evening I heard the other sets of vocalizations and I was ready
to go home. I just left. I just told it. I came
up with the reasons just sleep. I wasn't going to tell my boss I
seen Bigfoot. Yeah, he had probably frown on that. Well, there's
one there's one little detail I want to talk about, and the term that
I will never forget. So Friday on my way home, I stopped that
little drive in diner called Robos, went in there and I grabbed me something
neat, and so I went over and sat down. I just struck up
conversation like y'all ever seen or heard anything that's not supposed to be here?
And they just got quiet and it was like, what did you see?
And I was like this, and I showed them the picture and I showed
them the tracks, and I let them listen to the audio that I got.
They got. They got real quiet and they just looked at each other
and they said, that's a that's a devil monkey. A devil monkey,
yeah, And I was like, that's that's I said, so that's a
bigfoot and they said mountain giant. It's all the same thing. They just
passed down from generation generation, but they call them a devil monkey. So
what made you decide to get into research? I knew one day, sooner
or later that I would have to overcome my fear, you know, because
I have an outdoorsman. I used to hunt fish all the time, and
after that encounter, I quit. I didn't go back. This past Thanksgiving
was the first time that I had been deer hunting in three years, I
actually killed a buck and it was super emotional, and you know, I
had conquered my fear. You know, I got back and doing what I
love. And you know now that I've been doing my research and stuff and
it's it's helping me overcome my fear, you know, because these these things
are are real, you know, and I want I want to do things
the community here in Tennessee, you know. I mean Scott Carpenter, uh
is actually who I looked up to and doing this. You know, I
looked up Bigfoot researching Tennessee and flow and behold, Scott Carpenter's name pulled up.
And I started watching the YouTube videos and all that I've been going out
and recording. Behind me as I walked down the trails, there's bigfoot,
sure enough, and a great smoky now Mountains. National People's going on this
crew at me, you know, doing my field research or whatnot and saying
that's not there or that's just a blur or whatever. I mean, there's
some images that I've got to the sea there there's that's nothing else but a
big foot. And you know, I've actually had two more close encounters that
I haven't talked about yet, you know, and one of one of these
encounters was that's pretty scary. Was it like an aggressive encounter? I think
that they were more or less twin with me. I was hiking up the
trail and sure enough, I looked over to my left and I'm gonna go
down through here and look, and I'm walking down this trail and I keep
walking and there's a big flat I kept hearing it moving over to my right
and I walk for maybe ten yards and I turned and I look and I
see this. I see it coming out from around a tree, and it
just oh wow. And it was a lot closer than my first encounter.
I'm talking, this thing was like thirty yards away from me. Man,
and it lifted out and went back behind a tree. And I had my
backpack on my back, and I had a big I had my big night.
I didn't have a gun, and it was it was on my right
hand side. So I turned facing back towards the trail and I'm making eye
contact with it because it keeps peeping in and out. Then all of a
sudden, to my left there was a loud snap. There was one stomping.
It was dumping its feet. I didn't I didn't turn around a look,
but it was behind me and it was just standing or just stomping,
and I booked it back to the main trail. Yeah. I think that's
a good idea to get out of there in that situation. You're just going
out there by yourself. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm doing it by myself.
Uh. I have my back camera recording the whole time as as I'm
doing it. But you know, sometimes I don't know if they're electromagnetic field
and here or what, but the phones just they they's that. I mean,
they they're just drained of energy. And I believe that there's an electromagnetic
field and relationship with the Bigfoot, you know. I mean some people are
going to say that they're an ape or whatnot. I personally believe that they
are descendants of Nefilin. I'm not saying they are the Netiluin. I believe
that they are descendants of them. You know, my face is a big
part of my life and it helped me a lot to get through my my
encounter. You know, I went through anxiety depression, wouldn't need or sleep
because of that encounter. A lot of people that see them have that reaction
me, me telling and sharing my story. I just hope that it somebody
else coming out and telling theirs, because I mean, only way that the
mystery is going to really be solved, you know, coming forward and sharing
their encounters. But I don't. I don't think that the mystery will ever
be solved. But I could be wrong. Do you think that you know
there's powers that be that are suppressing the discovery? Oh? Yeah, absolutely,
absolutely, just for beefs and all that stuff. I mean, that
could be wrong, but you know, everybody is entitled to their own opinions.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, have you ran across anything strange?
Have you seen any unmarked vehicles or been approached by anybody or anything? Yes?
Yeah, I've actually had had black vehicles outside of the house sometimes the
middle of the night. And I mean obviously, but just for clarification,
that wasn't something you noticed happening prior to you doing this. That never ever
happened until I did in my field research send everything on Facebook on my Facebook
group. I mean, does that spook you a little bit to keep on
going? You know, you're talking about your YouTube channel and you know,
and I've seen that you've you know, you've got the Facebook page going.
You're doing some things, You're getting out there in the public eye. Do
you have any apprehension about doing that because of what might happen? If something's
going to happen to me, I just hope that I have good enough friends
to get see going. I mean, I'm not I'm not scared. I
mean, I want the truth to be revealed and I want to replay or
another. I mean, people can think I'm crazy, you know, but
there's a connection. You know, it's not a natural creature. You know.
I've definitely heard some things over the years that have made me scratch my
head in terms of, uh, maybe it's not a good idea to talk
about this stuff publicly. But I just want to, you know, point
out that I I do a podcast, I've been doing a podcast for a
long time. Before that, I was a field researcher, and I have
never had anything happen to me directly. I've known people that have been approached
by some unsavory characters that wouldn't identify themselves. Well, I've packed them.
I've had them unsavory phone calls, very very vulgar phone calls. Really yeah,
stick restick in numbers, making threat to me and my family. Yeah,
what did they say? Uh, there was one happened a couple of
weeks ago to stop posting when I'm posting, and they hung up. And
then before that, you know, they called me my first encounter that happened
in Virginia and they's like, did you see something? And I was like
yeah, I was like I've got the evidence. There's like, well,
just keep your mouth shut. And it's just been really weird. I've been
getting these odd phone calls. They're restricted numbers, you know, and they're
it's it's really starting to scare me a little bit now you know that they've
they've actually been outside the house, brand brand new black, unmarked tahoes and
such. You know, they're in our town. They're you're just Ford Explorers,
you know. Then they don't have any tahoes or nothing like that in
this town. Small town, you know, I mean, I mean that
can definitely work to your advantage. Though, being in a small town like
that, it's hard for people that don't belong there to go unnoticed, you
know, without somebody seeing them and saying something, Oh absolutely, yeah,
And uh, you know you're you're, in my opinion, your best defense
against that sort of thing is just keep on doing what you're doing. Be
public, be open, post your evidence, you know, uh, be
out there in the open where everybody is watching. And absolutely absolutely notice.
I've noticed that that the dog Man was actually a reality, you know.
I mean I thought that was just a load of b it. I found
some unexplained tracks, you know, I try. I was going to try
and cast them, but you know, the ground wasn't good enough. But
sure enough they were big three told Canehine tracks with a five foot stripe to
one. I mean that that really made my That really made me scratch my
head. And I haven't publicly talked to the other encounter, but I went
into this gifted area that I've been gifted in, you know, and I
make that with h in an eye out of sticks and the big Foot they'll
they'll rearrange it, and they don't. They don't like Granny Smith's. I
learned that really they like they like red apples. They don't like they like
red ones. And I was sitting there and I was putting putting the apple
up in the tree. All of a sudden, running up the hill,
I was like, oh gosh, I was like, I've got right here,
and I went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I wasn't
filming that, oh why? But I squatted down and that I reached back
and I turned the camera back and I turned around and I didn't I don't
remember I've seen it. I seen it behind. I was like, okay,
I thought it was a big foot. I just said, whoa,
whoa, whoa, I'm a friend, I'm a friend. But whenever I
got home, I looked at it. It wasn't a big foot. But
the weird thing that happened was he'll I I got to my knees I had.
I just had this old woman force and I thought I was going to
die because I had my if I didn't have my inhaler on me, because
at the time I had a really bad ussurtory infection, I shouldn't have been
out there. But now if I hadn't had minehaler, I would have died
because it was just it felt like my lungs were collapsing and it was horrible.
But as soon as I got home, when I started walking through the
footage, and I seen this thing and its head was peeking out of the
brush and it it it's definitely came like. It's not not ape or human
like. It's I have to send it to you. Is it's a it's
an unexplained being. I mean it literally looks like of a wolf's head.
Wow, So you mentioned that, you know, you believe that Bigfoot are,
you know, descendants of Nephelin. What do you think the dogmen are?
You know, I've been I've been thinking about that too, but I
really I really haven't come to a connection on that yet. I mean I've
been looking, you know, I think looking back into it some more.
I mean, maybe they could follow category some way somehow. I'm not really
sure. I just it makes me scratch my head about them. But I
can assure you that there are creatures that are in the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park. And I just encourage any listener, you know, if you can
check out my Facebook group Bigfoot Reports and Data. I mean, I take
credibility and accountability for what I capture, you know, I I take comparison
photos, you know, to show what actually supposed to be there and what's
not, you know. I mean, yeah, all the conditions might be
different, but you can still get a sense that, you know that object's
not there like one of these. I actually captured what I believe is a
white juvenile because I went into this other gifting area and there's a stump not
even twenty yards from where I gift at and this thing it was crouched down,
but whenever I was video on it, it kind of props up and
looked and it goes back down. Huh. I never imagined that I would
be doing big foot field research in I mean, I'm already I'm already getting
recognition, you know, and I've got some huge news coming. I actually
got an offered to come attend a conference, but I can't say which one
yet. And I'm me being an amateur field researcher and already getting recognition.
I'm really thankful and blessed. You know. I want to raise awareness.
You know, these creatures are real, and you know these the forests are
their home and people need to respect their home. Well, Harley, I
appreciate you coming on here and sharing your story. You mentioned your Facebook page.
What was the name of it again? It's Bigfoot Reports and data and
symbol or not. And just hang in there, man, you know,
keep on doing what you're doing. That's awesome that you're getting some attention and
recognition, and just keep it up. Man, absolutely, Matt, and
I can't thank you enough. And you had an encounter and you've been afraid
to share it, share it, get it off your chest, don't let
it corrupt you, because you can help piece together the pieces, you know,
just solving this mystery. And if you've had your own encounter with something
you can explain, send me an email at Bigfoot Crossroads at gmail dot com.
Check out the website Bigfootcrossroads dot com. You can find links to all
the social media past episodes, a contact form to reach me directly. Everything
you need, all in one place. And until next time, remember there's
something in the woods.