1 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,880 This email is from Lily. I think that's how you spell her name l 2 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,879 I. I spell it differently, but it looks like Lily. But here's 3 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,399 what she writes. There Once was a line from a play written by poet 4 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:32,840 William Concreve in sixteen ninety seven that states music hath charms to soothe a savage 5 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:38,280 beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oh. The phrase ended 6 00:00:38,359 --> 00:00:43,159 up in the movie King Calm, and roughly translated, it means music has 7 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:49,479 the power to calm even the angriest of beasts, including Bigfoot. I grew 8 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:54,000 up in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, and I've acquired what some would 9 00:00:54,039 --> 00:01:00,200 describe as a lifetime of unusual encounters. Some stories involve wild animal they're easy 10 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:06,680 to identify, while others are chilling and difficult to put into words. I 11 00:01:06,799 --> 00:01:10,519 often joked that I could write a fiction story and it would not be as 12 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,040 crazy as my actual life experiences. My family camped a light when I was 13 00:01:15,079 --> 00:01:21,760 a small child, although very rarely in campgrounds. We packed in and packed 14 00:01:21,799 --> 00:01:26,879 out, hopeful to eat fish and otherwise forage for our meals, but we 15 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:32,319 also came prepared with rice and other staples. If necessary, We hiked into 16 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:38,079 places that had fresh water sources clean enough to drink. I was curious about 17 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,719 the tibetanetti from a very young age, even before I could read. My 18 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,480 father told me about sasquatch and suggested to me that they are likely the same 19 00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:52,239 species. When I was fourteen, my mother and I went to a week 20 00:01:52,319 --> 00:01:57,120 end bigfoot seminar hosted by a well known indigenous elder. In addition, I 21 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,640 happened to be seated next to another their popular researcher in the field of cryptid 22 00:02:01,719 --> 00:02:07,920 studies, and I found out that both men had a longstanding working relationship. 23 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:13,360 Their stories fascinated me and kind of colored the way I see cryptids in general. 24 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,879 Years later, I was in Sedona, Arizona, enjoying my youngest child's 25 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:23,560 first camping trip. We were at a place that was really an RV resort 26 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:29,520 with a tent camping area that was beautiful and wild. I surveyed our surroundings. 27 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:34,919 There was a fence that was mostly overgrown with scrub oak. The meadow 28 00:02:35,039 --> 00:02:39,680 on the other side was a vibrant and seemingly untouched green, flourishing and impressive. 29 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:45,400 I could see a huge living cottonwood about two hundred yards away, and 30 00:02:45,479 --> 00:02:49,639 there was a thick and wild forested area to the east, rich with remnants 31 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,879 of cave dwellings that remained from a First Nations tribe that disappeared without a trace 32 00:02:54,039 --> 00:03:00,919 centuries ago. But we carried on until about ten pm. My dog, 33 00:03:00,039 --> 00:03:06,159 a Sharpie codey mix that I named Aggie, had run off from the area. 34 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,719 As we were the only tent campers in the place. I could hear 35 00:03:09,759 --> 00:03:15,240 the jingle from her tags, and I decided to pull out my didjuradue? 36 00:03:15,759 --> 00:03:19,800 I think that's how you pronounced that that I had required on one of my 37 00:03:19,879 --> 00:03:25,360 many adventures. Now, did you adu? Did you adue? Did you 38 00:03:25,439 --> 00:03:29,960 adu? That's how you said? Did you adu? Is a flute like 39 00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:35,360 musical instrument that produces a long, single note drone. The sound can be 40 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,319 high or low in tone, depending on the length of the instrument. It 41 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:45,080 was developed by the Aboriginal people in Northern Australia a thousand years ago. If 42 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:49,520 you're really good at it, you can add vocal textures to it, similar 43 00:03:49,599 --> 00:03:53,719 to an animal sound, and it takes a lot of oxygen through the mouth 44 00:03:53,719 --> 00:04:00,199 and knows. They refer to the technique as circular breathing. I play eat 45 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,319 and suddenly her to Augie, running into the campsite at full tilt. She 46 00:04:04,439 --> 00:04:09,439 curled up in a tight ball at my feet as close as she could get 47 00:04:09,479 --> 00:04:14,400 to the fire. This was abnormal. Something definitely had spooked her, and 48 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,040 she expected me to protect her. I went back to playing my music. 49 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:24,680 After fifteen minutes, I smelled something that resembled a skunk, and usually a 50 00:04:24,759 --> 00:04:28,720 skunk scent does not bother me, but this was offensive, and it was 51 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:34,240 faint on the wind. The odor became stronger, and playing the Digiadu requires 52 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:40,680 one to breathe in deeply through the nose. Close to midnight, I heard 53 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:45,639 some snapping in the scrub oak about fifty feet away. Perhaps my music was 54 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:50,000 being appreciated by whatever was keeping watch on my camp site. Now obliged heartily, 55 00:04:50,079 --> 00:04:55,439 but after a while decided fifty feet was close enough. I moved my 56 00:04:55,519 --> 00:05:00,120 kiddo into the tent and went to extinguish the fire, and a chill and 57 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,319 through me, so I decided to allow the fire to burn down, and 58 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:08,319 I went back inside the tent and I zemped only the mosquito netting so I 59 00:05:08,319 --> 00:05:13,000 could keep an eye on the flames. I lie down and close my eyes, 60 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,040 and at that moment I became aware of a distant drum beat with a 61 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:21,439 rhythm resembling the steady pulse of a heartbeat. It was emanating from across the 62 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:26,720 meadow, and the drum beat did not waver or stop until sunrise, when 63 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,800 it ended. I have never known a human to keep a simple beat for 64 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:34,800 four or five hours without a pause or a break, and I felt like 65 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:40,480 it was in response to the music that I had offered earlier. It didn't 66 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:45,160 occur to me what I had experienced that night until I documented it many weeks 67 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:50,079 later in my journal writing it was like a skunk but predatory. I looked 68 00:05:50,079 --> 00:05:54,639 at my sentence and then drew an arrow down to the bottom of the page 69 00:05:54,639 --> 00:05:59,199 and wrote, in big letters, skunk ape. Oh, that's very cool, 70 00:05:59,399 --> 00:06:02,480 She lay a, did you redu? Did you redu? I've heard 71 00:06:02,519 --> 00:06:05,839 that word many times before. I just never paid attention how to say it, 72 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,079 but I actually phonetically sounded it out and got it right as I was 73 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:15,120 reading this email, So you kind of get to see my system on how 74 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:19,120 I pronounce words. It's not very sophisticated, but sometimes it works and sometimes 75 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:24,519 it doesn't. But she was playing this thing and she attracted what she thinks 76 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:29,160 might be a skunk ache or a bigfoot. So I thought that was really 77 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,319 cool. A great story, Lily, thanks for sending it. Howdy Howdy, 78 00:06:33,399 --> 00:06:38,759 Welcome to the Dixie Crypted What If It's True? Podcast. If you're 79 00:06:38,759 --> 00:06:42,040 listening on YouTube, I want you to know you can also find us out 80 00:06:42,079 --> 00:06:46,680 on the podcast app world, like on Apple, Google, Stitcher, Spotify. 81 00:06:46,959 --> 00:06:51,279 iHeart any podcast app that you enjoy using. Do a search for what 82 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,480 If It's True. We'll be right up there at the top, So if 83 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,920 you want to listen that way, there's an option. If you like good 84 00:06:58,959 --> 00:07:01,319 stories. You found your people, so welcome. All right, let's get 85 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,279 on with this second story. I hope you enjoyed the first one. I 86 00:07:04,319 --> 00:07:10,920 thought it was pretty cool. Let's do the second one. This rider doesn't 87 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,319 say whether to use their name or not, so I won't. Here's what 88 00:07:14,399 --> 00:07:17,800 they write. I can still remember the exact date of my first encounter. 89 00:07:18,639 --> 00:07:24,639 It was January twenty eight, twenty nineteen. It was ten thirty at night, 90 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,120 and I was taking my son's friend home. The two of us crammed 91 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,639 into my cheap little Toyota. Outside, it was drizzling and cold, and 92 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:36,560 we were cruising along a slick clay dirt road. We pulled up behind a 93 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:42,279 truck that was moving much slower than we were. The truck eventually turned left, 94 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:46,480 and I was following right behind, creeping along as not to end up 95 00:07:46,519 --> 00:07:49,160 in one of the six foot deep ditches that ran parallel with both sides of 96 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:55,920 the road. I was barely gaining traction in the mud. Through the dark 97 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,639 and the rain and the glare of the headlight. Something appeared to be standing 98 00:07:59,639 --> 00:08:03,759 on the left side of the road. What happened so fast? But it 99 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,120 cleared the ditch in one stride and stepped in the path of my car before 100 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,120 going down on all fours, where it then sprang over the ditch on the 101 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:16,199 opposite side before it vanished into the night. It was so close that I 102 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:22,319 could see the red clay in its auburn colored hair. Had my little four 103 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:28,120 cylinder Toyota been traveling any faster, I would have hit it. It wasn't 104 00:08:28,199 --> 00:08:31,399 big and broad at all. I remembered it as more tall and lanky, 105 00:08:31,639 --> 00:08:37,080 like a teenager who's growing too fast and hasn't filled out or mastered the movement 106 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:43,000 of its own body. Its arms were unusually long, and they hung way 107 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:46,919 down, almost to its knees. I think my brain took a good thirty 108 00:08:46,919 --> 00:08:52,320 seconds to process what had just happened. I didn't hit the brakes or pull 109 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:54,799 over for fear of getting stuck in the mud, or more likely, I 110 00:08:54,879 --> 00:09:00,679 was putting a safe distance between us and whatever that thing was. And when 111 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,360 I finally did stop, I looked over at the fifteen year old with me. 112 00:09:05,159 --> 00:09:09,480 Did he see something too? Could he corroborate my story? I'm never 113 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,879 walking into these woods again at night, he muttered. I needed to hear 114 00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:20,360 his assessment to prove I wasn't seeing things. I just saw something seven feet 115 00:09:20,399 --> 00:09:22,440 tall across the road in front of us, and it was covered in hair 116 00:09:22,759 --> 00:09:26,639 and walking like a man. Well, that just about covers it, I 117 00:09:26,759 --> 00:09:33,639 reaffirmed. We lived fifteen miles out of town. I've been in tree stands 118 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:37,600 at five am filming deer on grass patches since I was ten years old. 119 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,279 Now, I loved nature in the outdoors, and my son's buddies had grown 120 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,519 up in these same woods that I was raised to be a survivalist, and 121 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:52,480 we're both very familiar with all the wildlife in our area. When we pulled 122 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:54,519 up at the house, he looked at me and he said, when you 123 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,960 get home, run inside, but call to let me know that you made 124 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:03,480 it. I knew he meant well, but I was really thinking, dude, 125 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,840 I've got to dry five miles of slick dirt roads with no shoulders back 126 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,720 to my house in the middle of the night, and I basically just saw 127 00:10:11,759 --> 00:10:16,440 the freakin' boogey man. Of course I made it, or I wouldn't be 128 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,879 telling the story now. I ran inside and locked my door for the first 129 00:10:20,919 --> 00:10:24,519 time in a long while, and for three days I was afraid to leave 130 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:30,279 my house at night. I assumed that whatever I saw was stalking the woods, 131 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:35,559 and then it probably prefers the area because it isn't highly populated. I 132 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,320 figured that after living in this close proximity to humans, they don't appear to 133 00:10:39,399 --> 00:10:43,399 mean any harm because I have meat on my bones and would make a nice 134 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:48,440 snack if it wanted to eat me. Now, I've done tons of research 135 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:52,759 since then, and I've had one other encounter. Each incident made me fear 136 00:10:52,799 --> 00:10:58,840 the woods when I formerly used to consider it a safe haven. I believe 137 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:03,200 every size watch legend, myth or fable is built on a kernel of truth. 138 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,120 I used to think they lived in California, far away from northwest Florida, 139 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:13,720 where I live, not too far from Panama City. Honestly, don't 140 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,679 care one away or the other, if people believe me or not. I 141 00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:22,799 saw what I saw with my own baby brown eyes. We did go back 142 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,279 the next morning once the weather broke, and of course there were no tracks 143 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:28,799 at all. I think the only reason it came into view that night is 144 00:11:28,799 --> 00:11:33,080 because the truck ahead of me was loud, and once it passed by, 145 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:37,480 the creature stepped out, not realizing my quiet little Toyota was lagging right behind. 146 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:43,600 A few seconds either way and we would have never seen it, And 147 00:11:43,759 --> 00:11:48,480 that in itself is unnerving to me. I believe the government is aware of 148 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,720 their existence and for the most part, know where the colonies are located. 149 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:58,559 They've dedicated so many thousands of acres across America to our national forest where the 150 00:11:58,639 --> 00:12:05,759 highest concentration of these animals reside. Are they a critically endangered species? And 151 00:12:05,879 --> 00:12:09,799 would the government dare shut down all logging and mining in the name of not 152 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:15,799 destroying their natural habitat Meanwhile, thousands of people continue to go missing without a 153 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:20,679 trace every year in parks and forests, while the government continues to deny, 154 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:26,440 deny, deny. That's a very good story. And the way he figures 155 00:12:26,519 --> 00:12:30,240 this thing stepped out in front of his truck makes perfect sense to me. 156 00:12:30,919 --> 00:12:33,919 Allowed truck goes by, he's creeping up behind it in a smaller, more 157 00:12:35,039 --> 00:12:39,279 quiet vehicle. I guess that's how something would cross the road by thinking it's 158 00:12:39,279 --> 00:12:43,679 going to cross the road behind a big allowed truck. Boom, there's a 159 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:46,759 little toyota with headlights shining right on you. It makes perfect sense. I 160 00:12:46,799 --> 00:12:50,480 don't know about the government knowing or not knowing, and I don't know about 161 00:12:50,519 --> 00:12:56,399 the forests being created to protect these creatures. I don't know. A lot 162 00:12:56,399 --> 00:13:00,080 of people say they understand, like they act like they fully understand, and 163 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:05,200 what the federal and state governments are doing in regards to Sasquatch, I don't 164 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:09,440 really know if they ever think about Sasquatch at all, or if it's real 165 00:13:09,519 --> 00:13:13,360 high up on their priority list. Maybe someday the truth will come out. 166 00:13:13,639 --> 00:13:16,320 Either way, this was a good story, and I appreciate the writer. 167 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,000 Thank you for listening to the podcast. I really appreciate you and we will 168 00:13:22,039 --> 00:13:24,000 see you guys on the next one. Thank you.