WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:15.320 This is an email from Betty. Miss Betty, this is quite unusual. 2 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.600 I've never read a story like this. I think you'll enjoy it. Miss 3 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:25.760 Betty writes, I spent most of February twenty eighteen in the hospital in central 4 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:31.359 Louisiana. The Red River runs behind that hospital. I was on the fourth 5 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:35.200 floor, and with the floor to ceiling windows in my room, I had 6 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:40.000 the perfect view of the flooding that was occurring at that time. Every day 7 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:45.119 I watched the river rise a little more. It left its bank and flooded 8 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:48.920 a small park, leaving just the tops of the tree sticking out of the 9 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.960 water, and then it flooded the parking lot and the road that went to 10 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:57.679 the park. I sat there for hours watching the river traffic until it was 11 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.880 shut down due to high water. And then I watched as all sorts of 12 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:06.480 debris floated down the river. There were pieces of buildings and trees of all 13 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:11.879 sizes. I even saw a car float by close to the bank, or 14 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:17.000 what was supposed to be the bank was a whirlpool. It must have been 15 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:21.840 eight feet across, and it spun round and around, sucking in anything that 16 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.959 got close to it. And I often wonder where that stuff went once it 17 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.599 got pulled under. One day, my husband was there and we were watching 18 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.319 the river as usual. Since I was bedbound, there really wasn't anything else 19 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:38.280 to do, and as we watched, we saw a huge pile of debris 20 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:44.079 coming down the river. It floated over toward our side, and by the 21 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.120 time it reached us, it was hitting the tops of the trees and the 22 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:52.560 park and it started breaking up. First I saw a big tree break off 23 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:57.680 from the pile and moved toward the whirlpool. And then something else broke off. 24 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:01.400 As it started moving in the same direction as the tree, it turned 25 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:06.840 in slow circles. I saw the end of it and then the side, 26 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.599 and I could tell what it was, but the part that was sticking up 27 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:15.199 out of the water looking like long red hair. The part in the water 28 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:19.680 was moving with the floe and was darker in color. And then it turned 29 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:23.199 to the other end, and this end was bobbing up and down in the 30 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:27.360 water, and when the top broke the surface, it looked kind of pointed. 31 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.960 This thing was long and big. I would say it was nine feet 32 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:37.919 long. And that's when it hit me what this thing could be. My 33 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:42.120 husband thought maybe it was a cow, and then he suggested that it could 34 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:45.680 be a horse, and I pointed out how it looked like it was on 35 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:50.240 its belly with its arms and legs stretched out. He said he knew it 36 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:53.599 was big and it had long hair, but he just wasn't sure what it 37 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:58.599 was. But I was sure. As the tree was being sucked into the 38 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:02.960 whirlpool, this thing stopped circling and it turned. It started down the river, 39 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.080 and at that moment the nurse came in and drew our attention away long 40 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:13.479 enough that we barely turned back in time as it floated away. My husband 41 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:16.199 will only say that it was very big, and Harry, he won't commit 42 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:21.199 himself to say one way or another what it was. But as for me, 43 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:23.919 I was in the hospital and I was on painkillers. But I know 44 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:30.560 what I saw and nothing will change my mind. And that's the end of 45 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:34.840 her email. And she tells this whole story, but she never says the 46 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.960 word. She never says that she thought it was a bigfoot. I can 47 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:43.439 only assume that that's what she thought. It was. Red hair swirling in 48 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.719 the water, nine feet tall. Something pointy kind of rises out of the 49 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:52.560 water. Maybe it's a conical shaped head who knows, but this is very 50 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:57.879 interesting. I've never read anything like this. And you never hear stories about 51 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:02.080 dead bigfoots ever. Ever, you'll never hear a story about a dead bigfoot. 52 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:05.599 I'm not talking about a kill to bigfoot. I'm talking about just a 53 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:11.199 dead bigfoot someone finds and she saw one floating down the river from her hospital 54 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:14.599 room. I thought that was really interesting. I hope you guys enjoyed it. 55 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:18.959 I know I did. In the late nineteen sixties and continuing through most 56 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.639 of the seventies, there was a great influx of Haitian people into the Miami 57 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:30.399 area. A youth pastor was working missions in those community. His name was 58 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:36.600 Bob. The Haitian immigrants practiced a mixture of Catholicism and traditional Voodoo, so 59 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:44.519 the Baptist Church in South Miami sent missionaries into that community to evangelize. A 60 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:49.480 close bond formed between the groups. A young man in the Haitian neighborhood who 61 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:56.120 was involved in the outreach program had passed away. Bob went to the funeral 62 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:00.399 along with two others in their group. The service was unusual, with burning 63 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:06.240 incense and other rituals. Bob spoke the French creole language, but the people 64 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:12.079 were speaking too fast for him to keep up and fully understand. There was 65 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.839 a woman there who was dressed in white a funeral clothes. Bob knew her 66 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:21.480 as the boy's mother. She was inconsolable, crying and mourning the loss of 67 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:27.439 her son. There were men who tried to restrain her. Maybe they were 68 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:30.360 her brothers or even a husband, but they did no good in calming the 69 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:35.319 woman. The service was coming to an end, and the pastor walked back 70 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:42.279 to the casket to close the lid. The boy's mother, still wailing uncontrollably, 71 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.560 broke free from the men who surrounded her, and she rushed the casket, 72 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.439 screaming the boy's name. The crowd all stood up, and the pastor 73 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.439 and her family rushed in behind the mother and tried their best to pull her 74 00:05:55.480 --> 00:06:00.959 away, but she could not let go of her son. Climbed onto the 75 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:05.040 casket and began screaming to her son, wake up, Wake up. The 76 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:09.240 men held on to her and tried to pull her from the platform, but 77 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:14.199 her grip on the casket was too firm. She began kicking and screaming at 78 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:17.639 those trying to help her, all the while asking her son to wake up. 79 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:23.759 In the scuffle, the casket fell from the platform, and down came 80 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:29.240 the mother, the casket and her son on the floor lay her and her 81 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:32.519 son halfway laying out of the box, which was now laying on its side. 82 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:38.639 The scene got very quiet, and everyone took a few steps back. 83 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:44.120 When the boy woke and reached for his mother's hand and spoke these words in 84 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:48.720 Creole, It's okay, Mama, I'm home now. The body of the 85 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:55.639 young man slacking then back into death. The mother fainted and went slack on 86 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.920 the floor. The crowd suddenly all ran from the building. The church was 87 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:04.319 empty except for Bob, the pastor, and a couple of male family members. 88 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:10.600 Bob and the other men turned the casket upright and reposition the corpse. 89 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.040 Bob then held the boy's wrist in check for a pulse, but the boy 90 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.439 was dead, cold dead. Bob left before the coffin was moved to the 91 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:25.560 grave site. No one could explain the event. Bob later told me that 92 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:29.000 these are just some of the things that we see in this line of work 93 00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:35.000 with third world cultures. Here's another story Dave sent me last week, and 94 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:39.759 I thought this one was great. He says, this is about a resident 95 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:45.120 at a hospital where I worked. Mister Greene was a schizophrenic, and he 96 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:48.680 was medicated because of his condition. He was a harmless old man, and 97 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:53.680 most of the time he went about his life in a happy stupor. But 98 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:58.040 every now and then he would request paper and pencil, and he would write 99 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:05.720 pages of algebraic expressions or diagrams of some device so sophisticated that I had no 100 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:11.519 idea what they were. When he was finished, he would turn the papers 101 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:16.399 back into us, telling us to call the boys. We had to monitor 102 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:20.759 the paper closely. If we gave him five sheets, he had to return 103 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:26.160 all five sheets and the pencil. We were then to take those sheets without 104 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:31.360 reading them, and place them in a Manila folder and write mister Green on 105 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:35.399 the outside, and then put them in a lockbox. We were then to 106 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:41.519 call a phone number on his chart, instructing them that mister green had something 107 00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:46.360 for them. Soon after the call, two men would show up and barter 108 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:50.679 with mister green for the package. The price was usually a trifle, a 109 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:56.799 box of Kfcat chicken, a milkshake, or a box of snack cakes. 110 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:01.559 When an agreement was reached and the transactions had been made. We opened the 111 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.519 lot box and gave them in the envelope and they were on their way. 112 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:13.879 These guys were all business, very serious operators. The question that would end 113 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:18.679 their time with us was always have you given us everything he wrote? I 114 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:24.279 once jokingly asked what did he draw this time with the cold look? Their 115 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:31.159 response was that is classified. Mister Green's health began to fail and we had 116 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:37.080 to transfer him to a geriatric unit, one that was more suited to his 117 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.799 needs. Now that mister Green was moving, we had to call the number 118 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:46.039 to inform whoever these men were about the move. That day, they arrived 119 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.639 and searched mister Green's room, looking for scraps of paper he might have picked 120 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.879 up or left behind. I guess they found something because they were not happy 121 00:09:54.919 --> 00:10:00.759 when they left. I had a chance to look over mister Green's chart before 122 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:03.919 we transferred it over to the new ward. I found that when he was 123 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.720 first admitted, which was long before I went to work there, some of 124 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:16.120 the notes on expressed delusions stated that the patient believes the Department of Defense is 125 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:20.480 out to kill him. The patient believes he worked for lockeed Martin. The 126 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:28.200 patient believes he worked on UFOs. The list was quite extensive. We had 127 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.840 guys on that ward that believed they were Jesus Christ, some thought they were 128 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:37.559 the Devil, and everything in between. So mister Green's delusions were dismissed as 129 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:43.879 just that delusions, and pretty tame ones at that. But looking back now, 130 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:48.559 I have to wonder were they really delusions at all. I have a 131 00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:52.679 buddy that I grew up with in my neighborhood. I moved to a neighborhood 132 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:56.320 when I was seven or eight. Of course, you meet all the kids 133 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:58.240 in the neighborhood and you play ball together, and you ride bikes all the 134 00:10:58.279 --> 00:11:01.240 time. You stay out out till the street lights come on, or in 135 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.600 the summer you got to stay out till like ten o'clock. And I remember 136 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:13.559 when I first saw the Patterson Gimblin footage. We were at the Bristol Theater 137 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:18.679 on Summer Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. I can't remember the movie we were 138 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.000 there to see. It may have been The Boggy Creek Monster, whatever the 139 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.240 name of that movie was, but the prequel to that, or the Teaser 140 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.759 or you know. They used to play cartoons in front of movies at the 141 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:37.559 drive in and they would play a cartoon or some little bit of footage before 142 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:43.000 the feature film. Before the movie started. There was a segment on the 143 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:50.440 Patterson Gimblin Patty, the Patty footage that didn't even get me necessarily interested in 144 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.320 Bigfoot, but I remember it, and you know, as kids, we 145 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:58.360 were ten or twelve years old, and that was that was the big talk 146 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.080 around the neighborhood all summer. You know how big hey man, he's real. 147 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.519 This friend of mine, I was talking to him about a month ago 148 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:09.480 and he said, I want to share with you a story that my grandmother 149 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:15.000 shared with me. I had no idea. We never talked about this. 150 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.879 Here we are pushing sixty and he reveals to me he knows a little bit 151 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:22.840 about Bigfoot, and he's given me permission to share this on the channel, 152 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:26.159 and I want to share it with you now. It's really a cool little 153 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:31.679 story. He writes. The other night, when after we talked, it 154 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:37.120 made me reminisce about stories I heard in my youth from my grandmother, who 155 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.159 was half Cherokee Indian. Her mother, my great grandmother, was full blooded 156 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:46.200 Cherokee, we think born in or around eighteen forty two. On the Tennessee 157 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:52.600 and North Carolina border and the area known as the Great Smoky Mountains. My 158 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:56.360 great grandmother married a white French trapper who had stumbled into the area in his 159 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:01.679 trapping adventures. I guess so I we'll get on with the story which has 160 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:05.960 been passed down from my youth but now has pretty much been set aside and 161 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:11.200 forgotten. In my great grandmother's youth, it was told that what we now 162 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:16.120 know and call as Bigfoot was another inhabitant of the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountain 163 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:22.559 area. According to my grandmother. Her mother said, the Native Cherokees call 164 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:30.320 them suel kaloo giesa ney live he roughly translated as the sloping giant brother. 165 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:35.360 It was told that these creatures stood almost twice as tall as humans, covered 166 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:41.240 in brownish coarse hair, with large shoulders, long bodies, large dark eyes, 167 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:46.679 and a sloping, almost conical head. It is said that these Bigfoot 168 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:52.879 lived and in ways associated with the indigenous Native Cherokee people of the Appalachian region. 169 00:13:54.039 --> 00:13:56.960 The story told down from my great grandmother was that one evening, as 170 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:03.039 the fires were burning down, a soft moaning noise was heard from an area 171 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:07.679 not far from the tribal settlement. It was coming from near a large creek, 172 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.399 and several of the elder males took torches and began walking down a trail 173 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:16.759 towards the creek where the moaning noise was coming from. Supposedly a couple of 174 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:22.519 the women followed behind by several paces. Upon coming to the creek, everyone 175 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:28.440 stopped to listen for the noise again. After a few minutes, the moaning 176 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.279 was heard, and as the men walked up on the location, it was 177 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:37.000 then they realized the source of the moaning. It was an almost grown human 178 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:43.879 sized creature, but obviously a young, juvenile bigfoot. It had obviously been 179 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.639 separated from its mother, which to them was highly unusual, as with any 180 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:54.000 human or animal with young The Cherokee elders looked on holding their torches up, 181 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:58.799 lighting the area, as a couple of the women made their way down to 182 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:03.600 the men. It was said that the women instinctively knew something wasn't right about 183 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:09.120 the situation and convinced the men to allow them to bring the young bigfoot back 184 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:16.120 to their encampment. It was said the young bigfoot was obviously scared and lost, 185 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:18.879 almost like a human child lost from its mother. And the dark. 186 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.960 The women stayed up all night with the young bigfoot, giving it food and 187 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:31.039 drink. The story was that it stayed mostly in a coward posture and moaning 188 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.279 almost like the form of crying, most of the night, obviously wanting its 189 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.000 mother. The fires of the camp seemed to frighten the young creature, but 190 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.840 the women of the encampment did their best to comfort him during the night. 191 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:48.679 By morning, the young creature had fallen asleep for a short time and awoke 192 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:56.080 scared being surrounded by humans. The women again stepped into comfort the young creature, 193 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:00.879 which seemed to work. I'm guessing the nurturing of a mother transcends all 194 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:06.600 boundaries and species. Later in the day, after the cooking fires had been 195 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:11.039 lit, some young Cherokee children came running into the camp, saying that a 196 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:15.320 bigger creature like the young one, was following them from the creek. It 197 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:21.679 was then on the outside of the encampment a loud roaring was heard. It 198 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:26.840 was said that the verbalization of this larger creature sent shivers through every animal and 199 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:32.559 human in the near area. The larger creature entered into the outer brush surrounding 200 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:37.679 the camp, making its verbalizations The young creature began whimpering and stood to its 201 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:42.360 feet and ran into the brush to the larger one. They were seen by 202 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:48.919 all in the camp to embrace, similarly to human mother and child. Then 203 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:52.919 in the background, another even larger creature was seen, not making a sound, 204 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:59.200 but watching over the apparent mother and child and protecting them. A few 205 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:03.759 of the elders up and walked towards the creatures as men and hunters would, 206 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.720 but there are no signs of aggression displayed by either the creatures or the eldermen 207 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:12.759 of the tribe. There was nothing but silence as both the creatures and humans 208 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.720 looked upon each other. The creatures, as an apparent family group, turned 209 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:22.599 and walked back into the dense forest, and then silence covered the mountains. 210 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:30.519 After that time, there were numerous times that contact was made between the tribespeople 211 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:36.559 and these creatures throughout the mountain forests. Each time all passed as though friends, 212 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:40.720 would pass without having to say a word, but each knew that each 213 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:45.480 had the back of the other. This was supposedly how the creatures gained the 214 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:52.960 name Seouel Calloo se Guy knee live Heat the sloping giant brother. As I 215 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:56.559 said, I do not know if this story is true, but it was 216 00:17:56.599 --> 00:18:00.799 handed down through my great grandmother to my grandmother and eventually to me. I 217 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:04.440 did do some research. In the name of these creatures has spoken by the 218 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:10.759 Cherokee Indians in the story, does actually translate the same as in the story 219 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:15.400 of my great grandmother. I give you permission to tell my great grandmother's story 220 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:18.960 because too many stories of yesterday year get lost in time, and I feel, 221 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.319 whether true or not, it is part of all of our history. 222 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:30.640 I guess thanks and God bless Signed Martin again, this is a good friend 223 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:36.599 of mine. I really appreciate him taking the time to actually write some memories 224 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:42.640 down from his grandmother. I don't know who the writer is of this email. 225 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:45.079 In other words, he doesn't give me his name, but that doesn't 226 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.279 matter because this is really, really a cool story, he writes. I 227 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:53.200 grew up hunting, fishing, and running tripelines, so it was only natural 228 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:57.240 that I get a job working for the California Fishing Game while I was in 229 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:03.720 college. Later, I spent two decades working for the US Forest Service. 230 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:08.559 One morning in September nineteen ninety three, while I was working for the Forestry 231 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:14.160 Service, I arrived at a small clear cut located in the middle fork of 232 00:19:14.279 --> 00:19:19.640 Feather River at eleven thirty am. It was a wild and scenic spot above 233 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:25.880 the town of Oraville, California, and very remote. It had taken me 234 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:30.200 two hours to get there. It was the last of three small clear cuts 235 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.279 done on that ridge just before it dropped down to the scenic river. We 236 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:38.920 call those cuts Mountain Lion cuts, after a lion that had been seen there 237 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.960 several times. The last cut was nine acres that headed east up the slope. 238 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:48.960 At the bottom was a twenty foot circle of brush that had no trees 239 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:55.240 worth harvesting, so it had been spared. I crawled into the brush with 240 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:59.440 my lunch and decided to be quiet and hidden as I ate, so that 241 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:04.240 maybe I could see the lion come through. After twenty five minutes, nothing 242 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:08.720 had come by, and I was finished with lunch. As I was packing 243 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.759 up, I heard a large limb or a small tree snap a couple of 244 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:17.240 hundred yards across the clear cut. I thought it must be a range cow, 245 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:22.240 so I didn't even bother looking up. The clear cut had been replanted 246 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.319 in the spring. My job that day was to take twenty four foot plots 247 00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:32.480 and count how many trees survived in every third plot. I walked out a 248 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.000 few yards into the clearing and poked my tape measure into the ground, pulled 249 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:41.880 out twelve feet and started making a circle, counting each tree within the circumference 250 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:45.000 as I did so. When I was done, I walked one hundred and 251 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.759 twenty paces maybe one hundred and ten yards to the lower section and completed the 252 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:55.079 second plot. And then I looked across and decided I could fit one more 253 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.920 plot along the bottom, so I took off, counting one hundred and twenty 254 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:03.400 paces. I was thirty yards from the brush on the opposite side when I 255 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:08.599 heard another large limb being snapped off a tree. This time it was done 256 00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:12.599 close enough that it startled me, and I snapped my head up and looked 257 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:18.519 through the manzanita through a three foot hole in the brush. I saw a 258 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:22.880 leg, or a back of a leg anyway from the knee down. It 259 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:26.880 was forty yards away, the sun was shining on it. The sunlight lit 260 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:32.000 up the two inch long red hair that covered the leg. It was close 261 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:37.440 to the color of an orangutang's hair. The calf muscle was large and lean, 262 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:41.119 and I stared at it, thought to myself, how well this thing 263 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:45.880 was built. It took a couple of steps up the hill and I saw 264 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.079 the muscle flexing up and down in its leg. I stopped. Until that 265 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:53.640 moment, I hadn't thought much about whether or not they were real, but 266 00:21:53.799 --> 00:22:00.599 just then I was thinking they do exist. I started walking up the hill 267 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.799 in a calm, no rushed manner that gave me time to observe it, 268 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:07.160 and at eighty yards away, I could see all the way up the left 269 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:11.559 leg, I could see the butt about halfway down the right leg. The 270 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:17.759 hair was all the same light colored red, and its butt was pronounced and 271 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:22.880 muscular. Seeing it from the waist down, I thought it was built very 272 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.759 much like a professional football player, larger and taller, but not by much. 273 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.200 At a hundred yards away, I got my first glimpse of the entire 274 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:37.000 backside of the creature, from the neck down. From the waist up, 275 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:41.759 it was massive. The shoulders were seven feet off the ground and five feet 276 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:45.599 across. Ahead of it was a dense, dark patch of tan oaks, 277 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:52.200 and it stepped into the trees and it was gone. I stood there, 278 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:56.799 fascinated by what had just happened. I did not take a step during this 279 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:03.160 entire encounter. I just stood there in amazement. Above this dark patch of 280 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:07.079 tan oaks stood a single tree that was six inches in circumference. It was 281 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:11.960 cut off and bent one hundred and eighty degrees at six feet off the ground. 282 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:15.720 The creature stepped out of the oak patch and put its left arm on 283 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:19.920 that tree, and as it leaned in, the tree dropped seven more inches. 284 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:25.359 It turned its head and it looked at me. Now I could see 285 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:27.400 the left part of the body in a little bit of its head. The 286 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:32.799 only feature I could see was that it was not covered in long red hair 287 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:36.680 like the rest of the body. It was too far away now to make 288 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:40.680 much else out, and I noticed there was no hair at the elbow of 289 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:45.799 the left arm either. It looked as if it had been scraped or worn 290 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:51.000 off, and the skin was dark black. I don't know how long this 291 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:55.240 lasted, It was long enough that I wondered how the creature was such red 292 00:23:55.319 --> 00:24:00.119 hair could have such dark skin. We stood there, staring at each each 293 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:03.039 other for a bit, and then it straightened up and turned and took two 294 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:07.880 steps before it was gone. I did not see it or hear it again. 295 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:12.400 In fact, I never heard it except for the two times it broke 296 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:18.480 large limbs or small trees. I never felt fear or anxiety. It was 297 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:23.359 never aggressive toward me, nor seemed threatening in any way. I didn't smell 298 00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:26.640 any odor, and sadly, I never got to see the front of the 299 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:32.960 creature or its entire head. I don't know its sex or anything about its 300 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.400 facial features except for the lack of hair, but I do know it was 301 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:41.480 very curious. It wanted to observe me as much as I wanted to observe 302 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:47.279 it. I no longer work for the Forestry Service, but I wish I 303 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:51.920 could have another encounter, and as an employee of the US Forestry Service, 304 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.440 I did not share this story with anyone other than a few family members until 305 00:24:56.519 --> 00:25:00.880 two thousand and twelve, when I finally went online to the f R and 306 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:06.160 submitted my first report. Since then, I've done some of my own research 307 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:10.400 and watched what I could. I've met a few others willing to speak about 308 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:14.200 their encounters, and I'm more than happy to meet and speak with anyone who 309 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:18.680 has had an encounter. I believe there was more than one that day. 310 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:22.000 As I sat hidden in that brush putting my lunch away, it broke a 311 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:26.599 large lamb or tree. I was over two hundred and forty yards away. 312 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:30.319 I don't believe it was just telling me that it was there. I think 313 00:25:30.359 --> 00:25:36.519 it was also telling the others that I was there. Fantastic story to the 314 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:41.119 writer. Again, I don't know the man's name. I think I know 315 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:44.119 because of his email address, but I'm not going to share it because he 316 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.119 didn't really say anything about it. But this is these guys in the Forestry 317 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:52.440 Service or in a position and in locations to see these things, not just 318 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.039 these things, but all the things that go on in the forest, and 319 00:25:56.119 --> 00:26:00.519 they're used to it. They know it. They're very absurd. They know 320 00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:03.319 what's out of place, they know what's in place, they know what's usual, 321 00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:07.400 they know what's odd. If you spend any time in the woods, 322 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:12.839 even you don't have to be a forestry Service employee to learn these things. 323 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.559 Just go in the woods and be quiet. Like I know, this is 324 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:22.680 probably a little too much commentary, but there are a lot of images out 325 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:30.720 on social media Facebook and Twitter and Instagram of blurry things in the background of 326 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:37.799 a forest. And have you ever sat in the woods for just sit there 327 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:42.079 for three hours and don't move, just sit there and relax and kind of 328 00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:47.680 focus in on one area of the woods. And if you do that, 329 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:52.200 you'll notice that the light has a lot to do with what you see, 330 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:56.680 and the earth is spinning and the sun is shining light at different angles, 331 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:00.880 and every ten or fifteen minute, it's that spot you're looking at will look 332 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:06.440 totally different, and your mind can make out shapes and all kinds of things 333 00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:11.400 in that background as light penetrates through the forest and shines on things that are 334 00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:15.640 that are behind what you're looking at. And these guys know these things. 335 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:19.400 I mean, I began to notice that deer hunting many years ago. I'm 336 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:22.200 not a big deer hunter. A matter of fact, I don't really even 337 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:26.839 go to kill. I don't really like killing deer. I have killed several, 338 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.279 but not many, and I've never glad. I did kill one buck, 339 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:33.640 anyway, it's another big deal. I'm just not that interested in killing 340 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:37.680 deer. But I love to be in the woods and just watch and look 341 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.440 at all the wildlife, and the deer is just icing on the cake. 342 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:47.160 It's great meat. It's good clean nutrition for me and my family and my 343 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:51.119 friends. And but The big thrill is to sit there and just watch what 344 00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:53.640 goes on. And you're seeing what happens in the woods when you're not there, 345 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:57.559 because if you're quiet, you don't make any noise, and you just, 346 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:02.880 you know, just minimize your presence in the woods. It goes right 347 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:06.599 back to normal within about fifteen or twenty minutes, and you get to see 348 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:11.119 what happens when you're not there. It's an amazing thing. Listen and look 349 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:15.519 and smell, and you get to see all the things that ninety nine percent 350 00:28:15.559 --> 00:28:21.079 of the people on this planet do not get to see. So I don't 351 00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:23.200 know why I got off in that, but it kind of I know some 352 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:30.680 of these forestry guys and these timber cruisers and people that work for timber companies, 353 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:33.400 and they know the woods. They know what's natural, they know what's 354 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:38.039 not. They're very observant, and they can tell you right away that's kind 355 00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:41.400 of weird over there, and this is what happened here, and this is 356 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:45.759 what happened here. Anyway, it's just an interesting it's an interesting topic. 357 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:48.400 I've always thought was fascinating. But me, I'm a people watcher, and 358 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:52.119 I notice what people say and do and why they say and do what they 359 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:56.359 do, and it's always been really interesting to me. Thank you to the 360 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:59.559 writer for sending this. I really appreciate it, and I believe the story 361 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:00.559 one hundred percent believe this story.