WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:10.080 I am sixty one, and I believe my first bigfoot encounter happened only recently. 2 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:15.279 I'm an avid wildlife photographer. It's a passion of mine and came about 3 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:21.160 after a nasty breakup with a girlfriend a decade ago. Taking pictures motivated me 4 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.640 and helped me cope with my issues at the time. I stalked the forest 5 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:30.359 with my camera lens, and when I'm in the woods, my perceptive hunting 6 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:35.880 techniques become sharpened. I slow my walking speed, which helps to control my 7 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:40.520 breathing, and I hide within the shrubs. And when hiking down a trail, 8 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.880 I use its edge instead of its center. I hunt for tracks and 9 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:50.079 listen to the silence around me. I've loved exploring the wood since I was 10 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:54.240 eleven years old. Many a time I was miles from my house, but 11 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:58.640 my home was the wilderness. I would never tell my parents where I was, 12 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:02.759 even though I would be gone for hours. They knew me and just 13 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:07.879 accepted it. Those were more innocent times. There were numerous occasions in the 14 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:14.239 woods that I heard suspicious sounds and smelled putrid odors. I once found a 15 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:19.200 fifteen inch human track in the midsummer within the sugar sand in one hundred degree 16 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:23.879 heat. That sand is blistering hot at those temperatures, and I could only 17 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:29.200 wonder what bubble would be miles in the woods, barefooted, walking on fire 18 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:33.760 sand. At the time, I lived in a small town named Lake Helen, 19 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.159 the population of thirteen hundred, and it surrounded by thick woods and swamps. 20 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:44.359 There were stories around Lake Helen concerning a creature who the locals had given 21 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:49.680 the nickname the Moleman. It allegedly was ripping the heads off of cattle and 22 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.680 leaving the bodies, and it had been seen on several dirt roads darting between 23 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:59.519 the orange pros, and it was described as a very tall creature with red 24 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:04.359 glowing eyes. I was going to kill the mole Man, and I warned 25 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:07.920 my mother that if I ever saw that monster, I would stab it with 26 00:02:07.080 --> 00:02:13.680 my Indian headed, dear antlered handle hunting knife. Unbeknownst to me, my 27 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:20.240 mother and my uncle had concocted an elaborate prank on me. My uncle snuck 28 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.319 into my bedroom walk in closet. He was wearing a dark coat and a 29 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:28.960 cheap dime store monster mask, and with a flashlight under his coat. He 30 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.680 was patiently waiting for me to add an extra element to the joke. He 31 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:38.680 had unscrewed the lights in my bedroom ceiling under the pretext of retrieving a new 32 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:44.919 radio she claimed she had stashed inside my closet. My mother sent me upstairs 33 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.360 to my bedroom and I fumbled with the light switch and nothing happened. I 34 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.039 felt around in the dark for the knob to my closet door, and when 35 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:58.199 it flew open, and my uncle let out an unearthly scream. He had 36 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:02.120 a flashlight shining across his masked face. Need lunch for me, but I 37 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:06.840 slammed the door on him and ran from the room and flew down the stairwell, 38 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:09.879 bouncing off the wall at the bottom, where I then staggered down two 39 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:16.319 more steps and fell to the floor, totally freaked out. My uncle came 40 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:21.240 down the stairs and tore off his mask, and then he revealed himself. 41 00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:25.120 I guess it was funny, judging how everyone in the room nearly wet themselves 42 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:30.159 from laughing so hard. Needless to say, I was humiliated, and I 43 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:34.759 left the house for a few hours, not caring if the real moman was 44 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:38.680 lying in wait for me. A few weeks later, I was asked to 45 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:44.560 go camping with my brother Rick, his girlfriend, and another couple. I 46 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:47.919 was told of a campsite they chose, and I loved that area. There 47 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:53.199 was a doctor that lived nearby on one hundred acres of prime land. The 48 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.879 place was surrounded by dense woods with a ten acre swamp. He owned a 49 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:03.439 very large and very mean Rhodesian ridgeback dog that was known to run loose on 50 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:09.479 the property, and I was assured that the doctor kept the massive dog inside 51 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.800 at night while I tended to our camp fire. The two couples took off 52 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.560 on a nighttime height. The fire was intense and the light from it made 53 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:25.920 me feel somewhat safe from any advancing wildlife. My uncle's moleman prank was still 54 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:30.279 fresh on my mind. The area was within a few miles of the supposed 55 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:35.360 cattle mutilations, but I was skeptical that any such thing had happened. What 56 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:41.720 kind of animal could pull the head off a cow's body. After an hour, 57 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:45.240 I thought I heard the others coming back, and I saw a tall, 58 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:47.839 shadowy figure off in the dark on the other side of the fire, 59 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:51.680 and I thought it was my brother Rick, and I called out to him 60 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:58.199 A few times he turned and walked toward the swamp and disappeared into the darkness. 61 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.560 I heard his footstep descend into the water. When the others finally returned, 62 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:09.920 Rick swore that whatever I saw it was not him. Not long after, 63 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:16.279 reward posters appeared around Lake Helen. The doctor's beloved Rhodesian ridgeback had gone 64 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:23.600 missing, and the dog was never seen again. As we inch closer to 65 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:27.600 adulthood, my friends and I would joke about the possibility of the Moleman. 66 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:32.480 Like most legends, celebrated by one generation and ignored by the next, the 67 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:39.279 stories eventually die out, and in the end it's only the historians that remember. 68 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:45.519 There are exceptions. My friend Pam was an avid equestrian in the late 69 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:49.720 nineteen seventies, and Pam loved to go riding bareback on the trails around Lake 70 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:55.000 Helen. When she shared her story with me, she seemed ill at ease. 71 00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:59.959 She was on her horse in some deeper woods on the far out skoe 72 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:04.600 of Lake Helen. She described something on the trail resembling a massive manlike creature 73 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:10.680 with a huge head and very tall with big hands. It had a rank 74 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:15.319 odor, something she believes made her horse skittish minutes before she spotted the monster 75 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:19.920 in the clearing and Pam dug the heels of her cowboy boots into the rib 76 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.720 cage of her horse and they took off in the opposite direction. Now I'm 77 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:29.079 a bit of a cynic. I didn't believe her, or at least I 78 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:33.399 didn't believe that whatever she had seen was something as camera shy as a cryptid. 79 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:39.199 I began to wonder if my uncle had a second career standing out in 80 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:45.319 the woods in a homemade bigfoot suit, scaring the innocent. In twenty thirteen, 81 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:48.439 I ventured into the Everglades to do some primitive camping for a month. 82 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:53.839 It was the first day of May and I wanted to fast and read my 83 00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:00.839 Bible and to hopefully photograph an endangered Florida panther. After set up my tent, 84 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:04.000 I left to go on a ride with my mountain bike. Two miles 85 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:08.560 into it, I noticed what appeared to be a deer in the center of 86 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:12.160 the road. Well, I was excited to see some wildlife, and I 87 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:15.600 used my binoculars to get a better view, and to my surprise, the 88 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:23.399 deer was actually the Florida panther. These panthers are rare. There are maybe 89 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:28.160 one hundred and eighty or so left in the state. It sensed my presence 90 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:31.000 and it vacated the road, slipping into the pal meadows to my left. 91 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:35.879 I rode a few hundred feet down the road in the direction I believed the 92 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.959 cat to be traveling, and I stopped and laid down my bike in the 93 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.120 grass, and I stood behind a power pole on the right side of the 94 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:48.360 road. I could hear the squirrels chattering at the panther as it approached. 95 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:54.879 Judging by the sounds it was turning in my direction. Well, it came 96 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:58.959 into view between another clump of pal meadows, and I shot off at least 97 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:03.680 one hundred photos in one rapid fire motion. Now I returned to camp extremely 98 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.319 pleased. A week into my stay, I had seen bears, snakes, 99 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:15.199 a bobcat, two panthers, and a huge thirteen foot alligator walking on the 100 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:20.199 road in front of me. Whatever came into my campsite this particular night, 101 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.839 it gave me ample reason to leave. I was getting ready for bed after 102 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:30.759 reading my Bible. I had just turned the led lantern off at nine thirty 103 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:35.320 pm and laid my head on the pillow. There were only two roads in 104 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:39.639 and out, but the land was mainly made up of large alligators, swamps, 105 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:45.120 and cypress trees. I was alone out there, or so I thought. 106 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.120 I was suddenly jarred away by the thud of a crashing tree to my 107 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:54.000 left of my tent, and I realized a second later that something had exited 108 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.120 the pial meadows at the swamp's edge to the right of me. Was it 109 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.039 a bear? Had it climbed in to the withered tree limb and both had 110 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:05.440 fallen together. I laid there with my bible on my chest and a small 111 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:11.080 twenty two handgun ready to fire. The sounds outside of my tent came all 112 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:18.679 at once, human like whistles, some soft and some loud. They changed 113 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.840 in tone from high to low. There were guttural grunts followed by growling. 114 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:28.639 It was like the demented choir from Hell. I asked God to protect me 115 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:35.320 and stayed huddled inside that tent until daybreak. When everything grew quiet, I 116 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:39.679 un zipped the tent flap and took a quick peek outside. Whatever had terrorized 117 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:45.360 me half of the night was apparently gone. The tree that had fallen by 118 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:50.200 my tent was a healthy pine with no trace of rot or disease. There 119 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:54.000 were tracks all over the camp, and as I stared down at the ground, 120 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.320 I thought back to the giant footprints and the sugar sand that I had 121 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:03.000 uncovered when I was eleven and a fearless explorer. Maybe all the stories and 122 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:07.039 legends were beginning to have an effect on me as I neared retirement. There's 123 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:13.559 no fool like an old fool, they say. I can't bring myself to 124 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:18.399 admit the existence of such creatures like the mole man out there in the wilderness 125 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:24.840 until I literally capture one with my camera or see one in person. Unfortunately, 126 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.320 since that night, I haven't touched the camera or gone camping, so 127 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:37.960 it's likely to be some time before either happens. I became interested in bigfoot, 128 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:43.679 yetti, latness, and all things cryptied in the mid nineteen seventies shows 129 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:48.360 like Boggy Creek and In Search of Come to Mind. I grew up in 130 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:52.399 central Indiana, in a small town about an hour from Indianapolis, Cincinnati, 131 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:58.279 and Dayton. I was what my family called an east side river rat. 132 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:03.200 We ran the swampy area in the Whitewater River and played in the woods all 133 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:07.080 the time. Okay, when we weren't playing baseball or football, riding bikes 134 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:11.720 are in the old barn property. In grade school, I recall going to 135 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:16.440 the library at the school and then later to the county library to find books 136 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:22.080 on Bigfoot and other cryptids. So I really believed in these creatures at a 137 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:26.600 young age. In the late seventies, my grandparents moved down to Florida and 138 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:31.320 we would go down there a lot when I was a young boy. I 139 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:35.399 can recall playing outside and feeling like I was being watched. Numerous times we 140 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:39.679 walked down toward the old sawmill and I would just get the creeps and could 141 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:45.320 not get the nerve up to explore that area. It had been shut down 142 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:50.399 for a long time and was overgrown. Just a few hundred yards down the 143 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.240 road, the swamps in the forest began. It was super thick and dark. 144 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.879 We never really went in at all. I say this because in Indiana 145 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:03.200 I ran the woods and the river all the time, so the outdoors never 146 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:07.840 bothered me. I'm just not sure if it was the creepy feeling fear of 147 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:13.240 the gators or rattlers that kept us out, but we never went too far 148 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:18.600 in those woods. During the spring of nineteen eighty or eighty one, a 149 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:22.639 local newspaper had some stories of the Bigfoot swamp eight near my grandpa's house. 150 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:28.639 The Orlando news station also had a TV report. If I recall, I 151 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:33.360 mentioned to my grandpa that I thought it was true and wondered if the creature 152 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:37.799 could use the old mill and the swamp areas for a home. The whole 153 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:41.399 family had stayed up and I had gone to bed about eleven PM. I 154 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:46.240 stayed in a room at the front of the house by myself. I can't 155 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:50.320 recall if I was awake or trying to sleep, or was awakened, but 156 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:54.480 I could hear a noise outside of my window. I'm guessing it was around 157 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:58.360 twelve or twelve thirty or in that time frame. I could tell something was 158 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.000 walking around in the front yard. I thought it was my dad or my 159 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.360 grandpa. I could hear different sounds from growling, guttural noises, and snorting. 160 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.440 I knew my family did not sound like that, but I didn't look. 161 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:15.960 I wished I could have mustered the courage to look, but I was 162 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:20.960 terrified. The noises only lasted about five or ten minutes. I can remember 163 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:26.799 hearing dragging sounds, and like something touching the house. It was pacing back 164 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:31.200 and forth. The sounds got louder, and then they got softer. I 165 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:35.519 remember the primal fear to this day. I was so scared to look out 166 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.639 the window, even though I wanted to. I remember just staying in bed, 167 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:45.440 awake and scared. I went outside as soon as I woke up in 168 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:50.080 the morning and found something interesting. There were two large footprints in the sandpile. 169 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:54.759 It almost looked like they were made by something jumping into our sandpile. 170 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:01.000 The piles were a couple of feet tall and wide. I showed the tracks 171 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:03.840 to my family and they all played it off as a fluke or a neighborhood 172 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:09.639 kid goofing around. I can't think of too many kids with feet that big. 173 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:13.960 They all had the five toes and were just plain big bear footprints. 174 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.639 I measured them with the tape and they were seventeen inches long and eight to 175 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:24.320 ten inches across. My foot today is a ten and a half long and 176 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:28.799 four and a half inches wide, and my foot could have fit in these 177 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:33.480 footprints twice. I can say I did not imagine these noises, nor the 178 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:37.879 actual footprints, but I cannot say, one hundred percent sure that it wasn't 179 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:43.840 a hoax or a family member kidding with me. No one ever claimed they 180 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.240 did it. I even asked my dad a few years back. He is 181 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.240 seventy seven now, and to this day he claims to have no knowledge of 182 00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:54.399 how the tracks got there. I even asked my grandfather when I was in 183 00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:01.879 college, and he says he doesn't know either. I grew up in a 184 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.960 suburban neighborhood in New Jersey. I had no experience with the real outdoors. 185 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:11.960 Growing up, all my activities took place inside the city limit. I never 186 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:18.320 considered the unseen world as anything more than fantasy. I'm not a believer in 187 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:24.639 conspiracy theories. I think most things can be explained by science or sound reasoning. 188 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:31.000 Sometimes two plus two really does equal four. After graduating from high school, 189 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:35.240 I became a little less sheltered, maybe even a bit more open minded. 190 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:39.159 Now I met my wife, who had a love for these topics I 191 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:45.960 either dismissed or had little interest in. She shared a few stories with me 192 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.240 that happened while she was growing up, like the abandoned garage where the neighbors 193 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:54.039 kids claimed a pair of bright red, glowing eyes would stare at them from 194 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:58.840 the window. The old two story house where she lived with her family had 195 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.519 a basement that had been dug out after the place had been constructed around the 196 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.879 year nineteen hundred. It had a dirt floor and the foundation was starting to 197 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:14.519 sag. There was a section that had an inlet crawl space. When she 198 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:19.120 aimed a flashlighting into it, she could see nothing but cobwebs. One day, 199 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:22.960 her mother sent her to the basement to retrieve some canned goods sitting on 200 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:27.759 a metal shelf. Her arms were loaded down with baked beans. When she 201 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:32.759 looked up and saw a pair of red, glowing eyes looking at her from 202 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:37.840 within the crawl space. She let out a scream, dropped the canned goods, 203 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.519 and fled to the safety of the first floor. Her father's response was 204 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:47.399 to hang a few more lights from the basement rafters. My wife and I 205 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:51.919 were visiting her mother one evening, shortly after we were married. The two 206 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:55.679 of them left to visit a relative on the other side of town, leaving 207 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:59.799 me alone to watch the television. Well, maybe it was a mix of 208 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:03.200 hearing my wife's scary stories and the power of suggestion, but I thought I 209 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:08.000 heard something rumbling around in the basement. There was a loud crash, and 210 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:12.799 I immediately thought about the metal shelf of canned goods, so I opened the 211 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:18.400 door leading to the basement and reached for the light switch. The lone bulb 212 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:23.240 hanging over the steps flickered and went out, and I peered down the stairwell 213 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:27.880 into the darkness, and I saw two red glowing eyes staring back at me. 214 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:32.160 And I slammed the door and ran to my car, and I fled 215 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:37.640 to a nearby fast food joint. My in laws were not bothered in the 216 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:42.680 least by my story. They righted the topple shelving unit, restacked the cans, 217 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:48.160 and changed the bulb over the stairs. Critters was all they said. 218 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:53.200 Since then, I've had what you call a heightened awareness of my surroundings. 219 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:59.000 I readily admit that there are things in life that can't be explained, though 220 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:07.279 I always believe that two plus two equals four mm hmm.