WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:16.559 But this email is from Sarah. She lives in the UK. I live 2 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.480 in andover in the United Kingdom. I have a story for you that I 3 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:24.559 have only told just two other people, and I don't think they believe me. 4 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:30.079 I moved into my bungalow four years ago and I've been complaining that someone's 5 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.719 been coming into my garden at night. I can hear footsteps, thinking it 6 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.079 was one of my neighbors where an ex boyfriend. I put a lock on 7 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:43.719 my gate. I don't sleep well and I'm up most nights when everyone else 8 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:48.240 here seems to be in bed by ten pm. Here in the UK, 9 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:53.320 the local council turns the street lights on and off as a cost cutting measure 10 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.799 on the housing estate. I have a strange, unavoidable feeling someone has been 11 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.320 watching me. I put up a blanket on my kitchen window so I wouldn't 12 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.640 feel uncomfortable. My friend, who lifts twenty feet away from my front door, 13 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:11.680 got curious and asked me why. I was honest with her, but 14 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:15.680 it was awkward. I didn't want her to think I was blaming her or 15 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:21.799 her husband, so I reluctantly took down the blanket. It was a few 16 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:26.519 months later deep into December, and as usual, I was awake in the 17 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:30.719 middle of the night because I couldn't sleep. There was a full moon and 18 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:34.519 it was a little windy outside. I walked into my kitchen to make myself 19 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:40.879 a drink when I spotted something that rendered me speechless. Across the way, 20 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:45.400 peering into the window of my next door neighbor's kitchen, there was some sort 21 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:51.319 of a small gray being with a faint shimmering light around it. The stream 22 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:56.599 whistling from my kettle must have startled it. The being turned and it looked 23 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:00.359 at me and proceeded to conceal itself inside the bush next to the fence that 24 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:06.760 separated our properties. I lost sight of it when the street light went off. 25 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:10.360 The bushes were rustling, as if a wild animal had gotten itself tangled 26 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:15.520 up within its branches. The street light came back on, and I swear 27 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:21.919 I spotted this thing struggling to get free, when suddenly it vanished from view, 28 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:27.039 as if it had turned invisible. It ripped the bush right out of 29 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:31.680 the ground and carried it along, scurrying right over the fence, still entangled 30 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.840 well. The next morning, I followed the trail of dirt out of my 31 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:40.599 yard and found the bush blowing around in the alleyway. I started to pick 32 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:45.360 it up, thinking I could replant it, but thought better of it. 33 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.840 What if there was some sort of alien residue on the leaves? And if 34 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:53.960 there was, I didn't want any on my clothes or my skin. I 35 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:58.879 left the bush for the rubbish men in their gloved hands. My next door 36 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:04.319 neighbor's front door has a motion sensor next to it. They owned two massive 37 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.599 dogs, but on that night, when I saw whatever I saw, they 38 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:14.479 didn't bark and the motion censors didn't come on. I'd clearly seen something, 39 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:17.039 but I didn't know what to do. If I call the police, what 40 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:23.199 would I say. I went on the Internet and first reported it to the 41 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:28.199 Mutual UFO network in the States, and then the British equivalent, but no 42 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:31.759 one ever got back to me. In the interim, I developed a phobia 43 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:37.680 about entering my kitchen after dark, and for six months I couldn't go to 44 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:42.520 sleep at night. It might have happened again a couple of months later, 45 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.479 when I heard something scamper across the roof. I have never been afraid of 46 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:51.439 the dark, but now I keep a night light on I'm so full of 47 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.759 anxiety these days that it's hard to cope. Am I excited to have possibly 48 00:03:55.879 --> 00:04:02.360 seen something alien? Believing in them and watching UFO movies and documentaries and hearing 49 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:08.479 all the stories and viewing the odd UFO flying over a pasture is all well 50 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:13.919 and good. But seeing a day glow being in real life just inches from 51 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:19.360 your unlocked door is a different thing altogether. Oh man, this thing didn't 52 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:23.839 hurt you. I hope you're I hope you've let go of your anxiety. 53 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:28.000 I don't remember when I got this story, but I kind of feel bad 54 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.879 for folks like this because they're just scared to death. You know, the 55 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:35.560 things showed no aggression towards you or your neighbors, and if it is something 56 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:42.600 from outer space or some whatever, who knows what it could be, it's 57 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:46.600 obviously not after you, so I would just I would let it go. 58 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:53.120 Sorry to comment on that story, but I I just kinda felt sorry for 59 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:58.720 this lady. But anyway, thanks for the story, Thank you for clicking 60 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.680 on the video, and welcome to of the Dixie Cryptid Podcast. I appreciate 61 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:05.519 you. Let's get rolling with these stories. I think I've got four total. 62 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:14.519 Three more left to go. All right, here we go. This 63 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:18.240 writer doesn't give his name, but this is Bigfoot related and I think there 64 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:23.959 are several stories in this account. So get ready, get ready to strap 65 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:28.120 in. This is a collection of true stories that happened to me when I 66 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.199 was growing up in the Los Casas area of Tennessee, fifteen miles outside of 67 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:38.920 Murphosborough. From day one, my grandfather was my favorite person in the world 68 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:43.319 and my best friend. He didn't officially raise me, but I spent every 69 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:47.000 summer there, Thanksgiving in spring, and even Christmas break, as well as 70 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:51.519 weekends at his house. As I got older, I pretty much knew every 71 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:56.079 inch of the hundred acres that he owned, as well as the surrounding land 72 00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:00.319 of his neighbors. My grandfather claimed for years that someone was building a barn 73 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:04.959 and hammering nails somewhere in the woods. On nights, I heard the sounds 74 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.439 of tool striking wood. The noise seemed to come from different directions. It 75 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:14.759 was odd because there weren't any lights to be seen through the trees, and 76 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.360 nothing to the naked eye that would suggest laborers out there hard at work. 77 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:24.079 His advice to us was that if we ever heard anything that sounded like a 78 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:28.199 woman screaming in the woods to get out of there, because it was probably 79 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:34.079 a bobcat. He thought all of these unusual occurrences were somehow connected. I 80 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:39.480 spent a lot of time hunting deer and squirrels in those woods. His land 81 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:43.720 was split up into two different parcels, the smaller one he lived on and 82 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.399 the larger one that stretched out to his property line at a mile from where 83 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.399 his home sat. A lot. Chose to hunt on the parcel he lived 84 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:57.800 on because of its proximity to the house. I was following a trail from 85 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:00.720 the bottom of the yard through a large open field, past his old log 86 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:06.040 barn and into some thick woods. There was an access logging trail two hundred 87 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:12.720 yards long that ended by my grandfather's sage grass field. I would walk the 88 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:15.480 length of the field to a deer stand. It's not a good idea to 89 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.120 tramp through the area where you're going to hunt, but I didn't know that 90 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:26.519 at the time. I had a twenty gage single shotgun with a quail load, 91 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:30.560 and there was one in the chamber and two in my pocket. I 92 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:33.759 known this movement coming out of the thick woods on my right, I saw 93 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:39.879 the outline of a very large man, seemingly dressed in all brown boots, 94 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:45.439 gloves, and coveralls and topped with a toboggan hat. Encased in all that 95 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.800 brown, he resembled a walking hershey bar. The air around him seemed to 96 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:57.079 shimmer like the rising heat from a hot tar road. There was a janitor 97 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:01.720 at my school who was seven foot three is tall, and he was the 98 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:05.519 largest man that I had ever seen. I realized then that the Good Lord 99 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:09.920 made people this big, but maybe not a lot of them. Well, 100 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:15.759 this man I was watching walked slow and deliberate, and his enormous arms stretched 101 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:20.759 almost to his knees, and he swung them in an exaggerated motion. There 102 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:24.240 was an unusual arch to his back, and he seemed to almost fall forward 103 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:30.600 with each step. His necklace head was wedged between his shoulders like it was 104 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:35.879 a jammed despenser on a liquid soap bottle. When he looked up at me, 105 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.759 I realized it wasn't a man at all. It was four o'clock in 106 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:46.200 the afternoon, and this human light creature was bathed in sunlight. His hairy 107 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:50.360 body glistened as he stared back at me. His manner suggested that we could 108 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.679 both be passive with each other, or that we could go to war. 109 00:08:54.679 --> 00:09:00.559 While I watched the beast walk across my grandfather's field, and when he vanished 110 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:03.720 into the horizon, I ran the half mile back to my grandfather's house, 111 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:09.960 all junior. My grandfather Josh, when I described the man beast in the 112 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:15.840 woods, you just saw slew foot. I went back to that same field 113 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:20.639 during deer season. My curiosity was greater then than any fears that lingered from 114 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.799 my initial encounter. This time, I chose to carry my Marlin thirty thirty 115 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:31.960 with one in the chamber and five more rounds in the magazine. I was 116 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.679 deep in the woods when I heard voices coming from somewhere ahead of me, 117 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:39.360 and because of the trees in the distance, I could only make out a 118 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:45.200 few bits of what sounded like a conversation between two very guttural sounding males. 119 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:50.720 The dialect wasn't like anything I'd ever heard in Tennessee. Four years later, 120 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:56.039 when I was sixteen, I sold my fourteen foot v bottom boat to a 121 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:01.240 neighbor named Benny. He was thirty, and he was a ugged outdoorsman who 122 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:05.480 wasn't afraid of anything, or so it seemed. I was more interested in 123 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:09.360 cars and girls than I was fishing. Benny and I put in the boat 124 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:15.600 below Guy James Bridge on a chilly night in April, and we drifted down 125 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:20.399 toward Brown's Mill Dam fishing for smallmouth. That night we camped on a gravel 126 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:24.639 bar two miles away from any roads or houses, and I was familiar with 127 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:30.000 the place because we used a limb line for catfish and stay the night there. 128 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:35.519 My buddy's dad once hooked something there that suggested an object larger than a 129 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:39.720 fish. It was late in the evening Benny and I were catfishing with no 130 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:45.159 luck. Now about the time he turned to me and uttered, shears quiet 131 00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:48.000 out tonight, as if on que, the biggest splash I ever heard in 132 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:52.919 my life broke the surface of the water sixty feet away from us. We 133 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:58.879 sprang to our feet, alive with the adrenaline coursing through us, and Benny 134 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:01.519 grabbed the flash Now I followed him to the end of the gravel bar, 135 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:07.240 where the rocks along the edge were wet with splash marks. His flashlight battery 136 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.679 was dying and had all the power of a live firefly with its butt pointed 137 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:18.240 in a given direction, but we pressed onward. Benny leaned out and pointed 138 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:22.360 its fading light at something massive in the water. It looked like the top 139 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:28.200 portion of a half submerged head with two glowing red eyes the size of bicycle 140 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.519 reflectors. Benny started muttering under his breath, it's a monster. It's a 141 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:39.200 monster. You're crazy. I encountered that's a cow. A cow's come down 142 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.879 here to get in the water. Well, it was obvious, judging by 143 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:48.240 the size of this thing, that this was no Mama heifer. A shiver 144 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:52.480 went up my spine as I realized it was turning its enormous head in our 145 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.720 direction and it was checking us out. I knew that the water surrounding the 146 00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:01.720 gravel bar was eight feet deep. Well, this thing pushed off from the 147 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:05.000 rocks towards the middle of the river and went down the stream and his zig 148 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:09.480 zag pattern and it outpaced the current. It didn't appear to be swimming, 149 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:15.120 but taking measured steps, like an adult slashing through a kid's waiting pool. 150 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:20.679 Benny had his twelve gage loaded with buck shot, and he put it to 151 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:24.639 his shoulder and took aim as the thing duck beneath the surface of the water. 152 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.600 It's got to come up for air, he whispered, and his hands 153 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.279 were shaking. After fifteen minutes of waiting for the beast to resurface, Benny 154 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:39.240 suggested that we take turns sleeping at night with the shot gun. I think 155 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.840 could come back up out of the water and kill us, he said, 156 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:48.720 his eyes nervously skinning the black river. I slept through my turn at guard 157 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.320 duty, and when I woke the next morning, Binny was still holding a 158 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:56.799 shot gun. He was staring at the river. It never came up for 159 00:12:56.919 --> 00:13:01.399 air, was all he muttered. It was a quiet ride home that day. 160 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.840 I'm fifty three years old now, and I've never had any experience as 161 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:11.320 quite like what Benny and I encountered that night. A friend of mine, 162 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:16.200 heavily into Cryptid's, played me some audio once, something he referred to as 163 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.279 the Sierra Sounds, and it reminded me of what I heard when I was 164 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:24.120 a kid, way back when stalking the deer in the backwoods of my grandfather's 165 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:30.679 place. Benny was a genuinely good man who was dealing with a lot of 166 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:35.240 demons. I have no idea how he chose to process what he saw that 167 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:39.480 night on the gravel bar. I was sixteen and two, naive to recognize 168 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:45.399 the signs of PTSD, and about a year and a half later, Benny 169 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.799 took his own life. That's the end of the story. Man, that 170 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.440 ended sad, poor Benny, Dad Gum. Anyway, this was a great 171 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.000 story. I don't know. This story seems familiar. I don't know if 172 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:03.759 I've gotten this twice and pulled it up and read it again. A matter 173 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:07.399 of fact, I know I've read this story before. Anyway, maybe I 174 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:13.200 did it justice better justice the second time. Sometimes that happens. People send 175 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.200 the same story, sometimes several times, and they think I'm not getting their 176 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.840 emails. But I get them. I just have I have a thousand to 177 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.480 do, so it takes a little time to get to them all. But 178 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:26.639 I'm almost sure I did this one before. Anyway, you got to enjoy 179 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:35.080 it again. This email is from Buddy. Here's what he writes. I've 180 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:41.240 had two sidings that I believe or bigfoot or Bigfoot related. Both occurred while 181 00:14:41.240 --> 00:14:45.639 I was hunting, and luckily for me, neither of the encounters escalated into 182 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:52.000 something violent. The first happened just outside of Donaldsville, Ohio, where I 183 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:56.399 was positioned inside a twenty foot tree stand. The stands were all high because 184 00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:01.480 of the train and the deer trails. There were five in the area, 185 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:05.240 close to the bedding and feeding areas. It was late in the afternoon when 186 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:09.639 I saw the largest thing I believe I have ever seen in all my days 187 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:15.759 as a hunter, and I struggled to identify it. Whatever the heck it 188 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:20.080 was. It was seventy five yards to the right of me, rooting through 189 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:26.080 the grass behind me and walking on all fours. Not having a clue as 190 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:28.559 to what it was, I kept an eye on it until I got distracted 191 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:33.360 by noise coming from my left. I spun and aimed my rifle, thinking 192 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:37.080 there might be a deer coming out to feed, but I saw nothing. 193 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.559 By the time I turned back to look at this big creature on my right, 194 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:48.120 it was gone. After much research, I came to the conclusion that 195 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:52.159 the large beast I saw was a big foot. I'm sure the thing was 196 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:58.320 familiar with our locations out there, it just didn't see me that evening until 197 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:03.080 the noise on the left got the attention of both of us. I honestly 198 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:07.559 think it left me alone because it thought that it was interfering with my hunt. 199 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:14.120 My second encounter was much the same. I was in the Rockies elk 200 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:18.159 hunting. One thing I remember clearly was the stench in the air. It 201 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:23.919 burned my nostrils. It was that bad. I set about fifty yards above 202 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:29.039 a fire road, making various cow calls when I heard a limb crack above 203 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:33.279 me. I looked up and saw something huge running down the hill away from 204 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:37.639 me. I caught a better look this time. The week before was gun 205 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:41.480 season, and I'm sure the soul boy had seen the damage a hunter could 206 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:45.240 do with a gun, so he chose to run for safety. I think 207 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:51.240 in both cases it was simply a bigfoot walking around in my hunting area and 208 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:56.120 decided to leave me alone. I'm afraid that had I intruded into a bigfoot 209 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:02.200 hunting ground, it might have been a different story. If someone broke into 210 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:08.319 your home to take your food, wouldn't you defend it too. This email 211 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:14.400 is from Bill. Here's what Bill writes. My name is Bill, and 212 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:18.319 the stories I'm going to relate can be considered a twofer. One is a 213 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:23.000 UFO story and the other is well, I don't know what to call it. 214 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:27.599 I have allowed myself to think it was a screech owl or a bobcat, 215 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:33.200 but my best instinct says that it was something else, maybe a bigfoot. 216 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:37.960 We owned property in southwest Arkansas that has been in the family since the 217 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:45.160 eighteen fifties. It was farmed until my grandfather retired around nineteen sixty eight. 218 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:49.359 After his death in nineteen seventy two, my grandmother moved into town to be 219 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:55.720 near her children, but the farmhouse and the acreage remained intact in the family. 220 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.519 Half of the total acreage is planted with pine tree thanks to the USDA 221 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:06.839 incentives offered at the time. However, as the property is located along the 222 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:11.799 Gulf Coastal Plain, which marked the edge of the Gulf Coast in prehistoric times, 223 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:15.599 the sandy lone quality of the soil is unfit to grow anything but cedar 224 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:21.480 trees. In fact, for many years, families from our area harvested their 225 00:18:21.559 --> 00:18:26.680 Christmas trees from our property. Now I say all this because I spent much 226 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:30.920 of my time growing up on this land and I know it well. Some 227 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:34.839 years ago I had decided to camp in this cedar covered area over several weeks 228 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:41.000 to determine the feasibility of building an off gred cabin. The site was way 229 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:45.119 off the main road and way out of sight. This event occurred on the 230 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:51.119 first night that I camped there. It was in April of two thou and 231 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:56.200 sixteen. Sometime after three am, I woke for no apparent reason, and 232 00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:00.279 I sat up in my cot. I looked around the tent. I saw 233 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:04.200 that everything was in order, and then I heard four heavy wax or thuds 234 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:08.599 on the ground very near the tent. Imagine the sound if you hit the 235 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:12.359 earth with a baseball bat as hard as you could, only it was much 236 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:18.960 louder than that. Next there came a scream unlike anything I've ever heard. 237 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:22.839 Not only was it so loud that it made my ear drums distort, but 238 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:27.720 it generated an immediate fear in me that I can only describe as primal. 239 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:33.920 It wasn't like I felt like I was in danger, but rather the scream 240 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:40.079 produced an authentic fear that I have never known. I imagined a banshee mask 241 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:44.559 I made in the third grade during a study of myths and legends. The 242 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:48.200 phrase she screamed like a band shee came to mind. Had I heard a 243 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:56.480 bandsheet? Immediately after I heard what could only be described as bipedal steps running 244 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.000 away from the ridge, and in an effort to rationalize at all, I 245 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:04.359 assumed it was a screech owl that produced the scream, and the flappings of 246 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:11.039 its large wingspan was what produced the sound of rapid footsteps. But that explanation 247 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:17.319 provides no rationale for what was thumping the ground. Now, bobcats can scream, 248 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:19.359 for sure, but that doesn't fit with the other things I heard. 249 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:25.799 I have come to terms with the fact that whatever I experienced that night was 250 00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:30.440 meant to inform me that I wasn't welcomed there. Now. I understand territorial 251 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:36.240 mentality, but that's my family's land, so if I decide to build there, 252 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:41.200 we'll have to learn to coexist with whatever that thing is. I know 253 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:44.960 I can gladly go the rest of my life without having to hear that scream 254 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:49.720 again. Though. Next is UFO related, and it happened around the year 255 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:56.039 two thousand on this same property. Like many families who share land out in 256 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.559 the Sticks, we would often gather over a weekend of fish and out and 257 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:06.039 mow grass, or just sit around a bonfire and hang out. The farmhouse 258 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.880 could get a little crowded when bedtime rolled around, so my crew would put 259 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.160 a large tent in the back pasture. On this night, I was snoozing 260 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.039 inside the tent with my middle school daughter when we both awoke to a fairly 261 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:26.039 loud sound. It was vaguely mechanical, like a turbo charger on a semi 262 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:32.079 pulling a load uphill, but big riggs don't travel on our highway. Feeling 263 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.759 a heavy drowsiness, I went back to sleep, but when I woke again, 264 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:38.400 the sound was still there. My daughter was standing at the door of 265 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.440 the tent and she said, Dad, you need to come see this. 266 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:48.720 But I couldn't rouse myself from my cozy dream state. You fathers who have 267 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.960 daughters will understand this. As a dad, there's absolutely nothing you won't do 268 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:57.599 for your daughter. No one reflection. This should have been my first indicator 269 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:02.559 that something was going on. Why did I not get up out of that 270 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:07.119 sleeping bag and go look at what my daughter wanted me to see. It 271 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:11.920 almost felt like the twilight sensation during an anesthesia procedure, just before the doctor 272 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:18.359 tells you to count backwards from one hundred. When I woke the next morning, 273 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:22.720 my daughter was safely tucked inside her sleeping bag. All was well with 274 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:26.039 the world. But later that day she said, Dad, you really should 275 00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:30.960 have seen that thing over the pond last night. Well what did you see? 276 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:36.400 I asked her. My daughter is very observational and painted a vivid picture 277 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:40.799 of what drew her attention while I was dead to the world. The sound 278 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:45.440 we heard was coming from this thing that was really moving slowly over our pond 279 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:48.680 at about tree top level. She said. I couldn't really make out the 280 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:52.279 shape of it, but it had two big red round lights at the back 281 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:56.279 of it. It moved over the pond and kept going toward the north over 282 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:02.680 the highway. As a point of reference, the pine is fifty yards from 283 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:07.759 the farmhouse and where we were sleeping that night. I wondered if that sound 284 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:11.559 we heard had the hypnotic effect of neutralizing me. Yet it didn't seem to 285 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:17.599 affect my daughter in the same way. I've heard of abduction stories, but 286 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.960 she had no recollection of anything other than watching the craft ease its way to 287 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.799 the north. She remembers getting back in her sleeping bag and dozing off, 288 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:32.200 but no one in the house heard or saw anything unusual. Well, those 289 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:34.839 are my stories, and they're probably too long to use, but I feel 290 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:38.880 better for having written them down while the details are still fresh in my mind. 291 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:44.440 And I think it's important to share our experiences in a safe environment. 292 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.160 It's not only therapeutic, but it builds a community that we all desperately need 293 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:52.559 during these strange times. You know, I've never thought of it that way, 294 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:57.480 but I agree with that for people who have had strange events in their 295 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:03.680 life. I guess to have a community like this is comforting. I guess 296 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:07.559 for no other reason other than you know, see you don't feel like you're 297 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:11.799 the only crazy person out there. But now, these stories weren't too long. 298 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:15.839 We uh, sometimes we edit these and cut out some you know, 299 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:22.519 people write these stories and sometimes there'll be things added that really don't have much 300 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.039 to do with the story, and we'll take those out. And that's not 301 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.279 a punitive action on our part. It's just that for the for the purposes 302 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:34.839 of the podcast, we just want to get right to the story and share 303 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:40.079 your tale to other people. I don't know if the story was long when 304 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:44.640 we got it, but it's it's eleven hundred words. That's a perfect length 305 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:49.079 story. Nioma who edits ninety five percent of the stories I do may have 306 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:53.079 cut some stuff out anyway, I'm just rambling on, but no, it 307 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:57.720 wasn't too long. It's a great story, very interesting stuff. And I 308 00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:02.720 almost want to say, what a cool experience your daughter had. She doesn't 309 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:07.160 seem to be afraid. She just got to see something really interesting. So 310 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:11.440 and last, I understand what you're talking about. You'd do anything for your 311 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.519 daughter. And it's like you're getting caught in a nightmare, like your daughter's 312 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:18.559 in trouble, but you can't move, you know, it's like a nightmare 313 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:22.720 scenario. That's what you know. You're running but you're not moving, or 314 00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:26.240 you can't get up, or you're trying to get up a hill and you 315 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.400 keep sliding back. Those are I have those dreams. I don't much anymore, 316 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:33.839 but I used to. Anyway, I'll shut up here, but I 317 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:37.799 thought these were great stories. Thank you, thanks for hanging with me on 318 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.400 this podcast, and we'll see you guys on the next one.