WEBVTT 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.