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<v Speaker 1>Now one of your pudding. I got a string going

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<v Speaker 1>on here, something just cause my dog. Something killed your dog,

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<v Speaker 1>my dog. We're flying through the air over the tree.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know how it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>really confused. All I saw was my dog coming over

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<v Speaker 1>the fence and he was dead. And once you hit

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<v Speaker 1>the ground like, I didn't see any cars. All I

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<v Speaker 1>saw was my dog coming over the fence. Sat, what

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<v Speaker 1>are you putting? We got some wonder or something crawling

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<v Speaker 1>around out here? Did you see what it was or

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<v Speaker 1>was it was? Standing enough? I'm out here looking through

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<v Speaker 1>the window now and I don't see anything. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>want to go outside. Jesus Quice, you better hello, get

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<v Speaker 1>the body out here when I'm out there. I thought

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<v Speaker 1>of a bitch about tex forty nine. I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>easy ann out there? Yeah, I'm walking right. Hey.

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<v Speaker 2>You know that feeling when you're alone in the woods

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<v Speaker 2>and suddenly everything goes quiet. That moment when every bird

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<v Speaker 2>stops singing, every squirrel stops chattering, and even the wind

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<v Speaker 2>seems to hold its breath. That's when you know you're

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<v Speaker 2>not alone, not really. Tonight, I'm sharing six stories from

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<v Speaker 2>people who experienced something in those silent moments, people who

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<v Speaker 2>saw things they can't explain, heard sounds that shouldn't exist,

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<v Speaker 2>and encountered something in the places where our world meets

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<v Speaker 2>the wild. These come from regular folks. A wildlife biologist,

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<v Speaker 2>a school bus driver, a teenager dealing with family troubles,

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<v Speaker 2>a retired teacher, a lifelong hunter, and a solo camper.

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<v Speaker 2>Each of them went into the wilderness expecting one thing

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<v Speaker 2>and found something else entirely, something that changed how they

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<v Speaker 2>see the world. What you're about to hear might challenge

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<v Speaker 2>what you think you know about what's out there in

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<v Speaker 2>the deep woods. These people didn't go looking for mystery.

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<v Speaker 2>It found them, and once you've heard their stories, you

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<v Speaker 2>might find yourself listening a little more carefully the next

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<v Speaker 2>time you're out there away from the safety of city lights.

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<v Speaker 2>So settle in, get comfortable, and remember, just because we've

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<v Speaker 2>mapped the world doesn't mean we know everything that lives

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<v Speaker 2>in it. Let's start with Ted, a wildlife biologist who

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<v Speaker 2>thought he understood the forest better than most until the

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<v Speaker 2>day he realized something in the forest understood him. I'm

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<v Speaker 2>a wildlife biologist. I've been doing this for fifteen years.

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<v Speaker 2>I know what elk looked like. I know what bears

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<v Speaker 2>look like, I know what people look like when they're hiking.

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<v Speaker 2>What I saw up on that ridge last October, I

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<v Speaker 2>still don't have a good explanation for it. I was

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<v Speaker 2>doing the annual elk survey up in the Cascades, same

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<v Speaker 2>area I've been covering for six years running. You get

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<v Speaker 2>to know a place pretty well when you spend that

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<v Speaker 2>much time there. Every game trail, every clearing, every spot

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<v Speaker 2>where the herds like to bed down. The ridge I'm

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<v Speaker 2>talking about runs along the north side of the valley,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe eight hundred feet up from where I usually set

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<v Speaker 2>up my observation post. First time I noticed them was

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<v Speaker 2>a Tuesday morning, real early sun was just hitting the

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<v Speaker 2>tops of the trees. I had my spotting scope trained

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<v Speaker 2>on a bachelor group of bulls when something moved up

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<v Speaker 2>on the ridge line, just a flash of dark against

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<v Speaker 2>the lighter sky. When I swung the scope up there,

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<v Speaker 2>I saw what looked like three figures standing at the

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<v Speaker 2>edge of the tree line, standing, not moving, just watching. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>hunters aren't supposed to be up there. It's restricted land

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<v Speaker 2>research area only, but people don't always follow the rules, right,

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<v Speaker 2>So I made a note in my field journal possible

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<v Speaker 2>trespassers on north Ridge and went back to counting elk.

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<v Speaker 2>Next morning, same thing, three figures, same spot, same time.

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<v Speaker 2>This time I got a better look. They were tall,

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<v Speaker 2>really tall, and dark like they were wearing all black

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<v Speaker 2>or dark brown. But here's the thing. They never moved

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<v Speaker 2>like people move. You know how hikers shift their weight,

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<v Speaker 2>adjust their packs, that kind of thing. These figures just

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<v Speaker 2>stood there, perfectly still for the entire forty minutes I

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<v Speaker 2>watched them. Then when I looked away to write something

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<v Speaker 2>down and looked back, they were gone. Third day, I

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<v Speaker 2>brought my good camera with the telephoto lens. Sure enough,

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<v Speaker 2>right on schedule, there they were. I started snapping photos,

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<v Speaker 2>but even zoomed all the way in, I couldn't make

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<v Speaker 2>out details. The autofocus kept hunting like it couldn't lock

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<v Speaker 2>onto them properly. The pictures came out blurry, just dark

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<v Speaker 2>shapes against the trees. By the end of the week,

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<v Speaker 2>I was getting frustrated and honestly a little unnerved. These

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<v Speaker 2>things people whatever were there every single morning, always in

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<v Speaker 2>the same spot, always watching down into the valley where

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<v Speaker 2>I was working. I mentioned it to my supervisor over

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<v Speaker 2>the radio, and he said, if I was really concerned

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<v Speaker 2>about trespassers, I should go check it out. But here's

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<v Speaker 2>the thing about that ridge. There's no easy way up.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a brutal climb through thick undergrowth and fallen trees.

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<v Speaker 2>Would take me half a day to get up there

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<v Speaker 2>and back, and I had work to do. That's when

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<v Speaker 2>I remembered i'd brought my drone. I'd been using it

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<v Speaker 2>to survey areas I couldn't easily reach on foot. Good

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<v Speaker 2>little unit, about two thousand dollars worth of equipment, HD camera,

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<v Speaker 2>thirty minute battery life, GPS tracking. I figured i'd fly

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<v Speaker 2>it up to the ridge, get some clear footage of

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<v Speaker 2>whoever was up there, and that would be that. The

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<v Speaker 2>next morning they were there again. I got the drone ready,

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<v Speaker 2>did all my pre flight checks. Weather was perfect, no wind,

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<v Speaker 2>clear skies. I sent it up, keeping an eye on

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<v Speaker 2>the video feed on my phone. The drone climbed smooth

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<v Speaker 2>and steady. I could see the valley dropping away below

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<v Speaker 2>my truck, getting smaller and smaller. At about four hundred feet,

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<v Speaker 2>still well below the ridge, the video feed started getting

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<v Speaker 2>choppy static lines across the screen. I figured maybe I

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<v Speaker 2>was pushing the range, so I stopped the ascent and

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<v Speaker 2>just tried to hold position. That's when things got weird.

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<v Speaker 2>The drone started drifting, not with the wind, there wasn't

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<v Speaker 2>any wind. It was moving sideways toward the ridge, like

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<v Speaker 2>something was pulling it. I tried to bring it back,

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<v Speaker 2>but the controls weren't responding properly. The video feed was

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<v Speaker 2>cutting in and out. In one of the clear moments,

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<v Speaker 2>I swear I saw something moving fast through the frame,

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<v Speaker 2>large and dark than nothing, complete signal loss. The controller

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<v Speaker 2>showed an error message aircraft disconnected. I never saw that

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<v Speaker 2>drone again. I spent three hours hiking around the base

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<v Speaker 2>of the ridge, hoping it had crashed somewhere I could

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<v Speaker 2>retrieve it. Nothing gone. Two thousand dollars of equipment just vanished.

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<v Speaker 2>That afternoon, I was pissed, I mean really angry. I

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<v Speaker 2>decided to check my trail cameras, thinking maybe they'd caught something.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe whoever was up on that ridge had come down

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<v Speaker 2>into the valley at some point. I had twelve cameras

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<v Speaker 2>set up throughout my study area, all in metal security boxes,

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<v Speaker 2>all locked with heavy duty padlocks. Every single one was gone,

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<v Speaker 2>not broken, not vandalized gone. The trees where they'd been

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<v Speaker 2>strapped showed marks like someone had used bolt cutters on

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<v Speaker 2>the security cables. But here's what really got me. Some

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<v Speaker 2>of those cameras were fifteen feet up in the trees.

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<v Speaker 2>I used climbing sticks to install them that high, specifically

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<v Speaker 2>so bears and people can't mess with them. Whoever took

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<v Speaker 2>them didn't leave any ladder marks on the trees, no

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<v Speaker 2>rope marks, nothing. I radioed my supervisor immediately. This was

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<v Speaker 2>way beyond un trespassing, now, this was theft of government property.

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<v Speaker 2>He told me to pack up and come back to

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<v Speaker 2>the station, said we'd send a team up there in

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<v Speaker 2>a few days to investigate. I started packing my gear,

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<v Speaker 2>trying to shake this feeling that I was being watched.

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<v Speaker 2>The sun was getting low, maybe an hour of daylight left.

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<v Speaker 2>As I was loading my truck, I heard this sound

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<v Speaker 2>from up on the ridge. Not a call exactly, more

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<v Speaker 2>like have you ever heard a tree fall in the forest,

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<v Speaker 2>that deep groaning crack. It was like that, but rhythmic,

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<v Speaker 2>three long groans, then silence. I looked up with my binoculars.

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<v Speaker 2>The three figures were there, but now they were moving,

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<v Speaker 2>walking along the ridge. Line, staying just inside the tree line.

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<v Speaker 2>They moved so smoothly, like they were gliding. No up

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<v Speaker 2>and down motion you get with a normal walk, just

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<v Speaker 2>this fluid movement. They covered what must have been a

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<v Speaker 2>quarter mile in less than a minute, then disappeared into

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<v Speaker 2>the thicker forest. I got in my truck and left.

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<v Speaker 2>Didn't even finish packing my gear properly, just threw it

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<v Speaker 2>in the back and drove the whole way down the mountain.

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<v Speaker 2>I kept checking my mirrors, half expecting to see something

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<v Speaker 2>following me. The team that went up there the next

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<v Speaker 2>week didn't find much. Some broken branches up on the ridge,

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<v Speaker 2>a few partial prints that were too degraded to cast.

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<v Speaker 2>They said it was probably just hunters messing with me,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe some anti government types who don't like researchers on

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<v Speaker 2>public land. But hunters don't move like that, Hunters don't

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<v Speaker 2>take secured trail cameras from fifteen feet up without leaving

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<v Speaker 2>a trace, and hunters sure as hell don't make a

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<v Speaker 2>drone just disappear out of the sky. I put in

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<v Speaker 2>for a transfer to a different study area after that.

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<v Speaker 2>My supervisor approved it without asking too many questions. I

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<v Speaker 2>think he could see something had shaken me up pretty bad.

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<v Speaker 2>I still do Elk surveys, just in a different part

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<v Speaker 2>of the state now, nice open meadows, good sight lines,

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<v Speaker 2>no high ridges overlooking my work. Sometimes other biologists ask

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<v Speaker 2>me about that area in the Cascades, whether I have

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<v Speaker 2>any tips for working up there. I tell them to

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<v Speaker 2>stay out of the valley below the north Ridge. When

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<v Speaker 2>they ask why, I just say the terrain is difficult

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<v Speaker 2>and leave it at that. Most of them take the hint,

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<v Speaker 2>but every now and then someone will come back from

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<v Speaker 2>that area with a strange look on their face. They'll

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<v Speaker 2>pull me aside and ask if I ever noticed anything

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<v Speaker 2>unusual up there. I tell them, no, I never saw

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<v Speaker 2>anything unusual, just shadows on a ridge, probably nothing. It's

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<v Speaker 2>easier than trying to explain what those shadows actually did.

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<v Speaker 2>Ted never returned to that valley. He continues his research

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<v Speaker 2>in a different part of the state, where the ridges

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<v Speaker 2>are lower and the sight lines are clear. But sometimes

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<v Speaker 2>when he's analyzing data late at night, he thinks about

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<v Speaker 2>that drone footage that never came back. What did it

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<v Speaker 2>capture in those final moments before the signal cut out?

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<v Speaker 2>What did those figures on the ridge not want him

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<v Speaker 2>to see. Our next story takes us to the Pacific Northwest,

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<v Speaker 2>where morning fog is as common as rain. Sarah drove

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<v Speaker 2>the same school bus route for twenty three years, knew

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<v Speaker 2>every turn, every stop, every kid, But in her final

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<v Speaker 2>months behind the wheel, the fog started carrying something more

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<v Speaker 2>than just moisture, something that would make her quit the

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<v Speaker 2>only job she'd ever loved twenty three years. I drove

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<v Speaker 2>that route twenty three years, same kids, same families, same houses.

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<v Speaker 2>You get to know every pothole, every turn, every dog

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<v Speaker 2>that likes to bark at the bus. Route forty seven

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<v Speaker 2>out past Salmon Creek, through those thick woods before you

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<v Speaker 2>hit the Turner Farm. I retired two years ago, but

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<v Speaker 2>I still think about those last few months. Still wake

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<v Speaker 2>up sometimes thinking I hear those whispers. It started in

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<v Speaker 2>early November. We get these thick fogs out here in

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<v Speaker 2>the Pacific Northwest, especially in the valleys. Visibility drops to

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<v Speaker 2>maybe fifteen feet. You crawl along at ten miles an hour,

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<v Speaker 2>hoping nobody stupid enough to pass you. That morning, the

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<v Speaker 2>fog was the worst I'd seen in years. Couldn't even

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<v Speaker 2>see the yellow line. I was running late because of

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<v Speaker 2>the weather had already picked up the Martinez kids and

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<v Speaker 2>the Johnson's. We were heading into that stretch of woods

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<v Speaker 2>before the Turner Farm when I heard it. Voices, but

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<v Speaker 2>not really voices, more like you know when you're almost

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<v Speaker 2>asleep and you think you hear someone calling your name

210
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:35.279
<v Speaker 2>like that, but outside the bus. I stopped, thinking maybe

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00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:38.879
<v Speaker 2>some kid was out there lost in the fog, opened

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00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:44.600
<v Speaker 2>the door, called out nothing. The Martinez boy Diego. He

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00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:48.120
<v Speaker 2>was sitting right behind me. Kid was always chatty, but

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00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.159
<v Speaker 2>that morning he was dead quiet. I asked him if

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00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:54.039
<v Speaker 2>he heard anything. He just shook his head, but his

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00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:58.639
<v Speaker 2>eyes were huge. Started driving again. The whispers came back,

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00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:02.320
<v Speaker 2>seemed like they were moving alongside the bus. Not words

218
00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:06.159
<v Speaker 2>I could make out, just this constant murmuring, like several

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00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:09.600
<v Speaker 2>people having a conversation just out of earshot. The kids

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00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.600
<v Speaker 2>were all silent. That never happens usually I'm telling them

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<v Speaker 2>to keep it down every five minutes. This went on

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00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.279
<v Speaker 2>for three mornings, always in the same spot, always in

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<v Speaker 2>thick fog. The fourth morning, I was ready for it,

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00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:27.320
<v Speaker 2>had my phone recording windows cracked so it could pick

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00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.480
<v Speaker 2>up outside sounds. But when I played it back later,

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00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.440
<v Speaker 2>all you could hear was the engine in this weird static.

227
00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:36.960
<v Speaker 2>Then came the morning we hit something. I was going

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<v Speaker 2>maybe fifteen miles an hour, super careful, like always in

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<v Speaker 2>the fog. We were right at that same spot when

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00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:47.360
<v Speaker 2>there was this thud, not hard but solid, like hitting

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00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:50.879
<v Speaker 2>a hay bale or something. The whole bus shuddered. I

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00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:54.639
<v Speaker 2>slammed the brakes, heart pounding. My first thought was a deer,

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00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:58.159
<v Speaker 2>but it hadn't felt like a deer, too soft, but

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00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.360
<v Speaker 2>also too big. I put on my hazards, grabbed my flashlight,

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00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.720
<v Speaker 2>told the kids to stay put. When I got out,

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00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:07.679
<v Speaker 2>the fog was so thick I could barely see the

237
00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:11.320
<v Speaker 2>front of the bus. No damage to the bumper, no blood,

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00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:15.919
<v Speaker 2>no fur, nothing. I walked back along the road checking

239
00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:19.679
<v Speaker 2>for whatever we'd hit. Nothing, not even skid marks from

240
00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.440
<v Speaker 2>my brakes. The road was too wet from the fog.

241
00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:25.720
<v Speaker 2>When I got back on the bus, every single kid

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00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:29.039
<v Speaker 2>was staring out the windows. On the right side. Emily,

243
00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:32.000
<v Speaker 2>sweet little first grader. She looked at me and said,

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00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.559
<v Speaker 2>the tall man went into the trees. I asked her

245
00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:38.440
<v Speaker 2>what tall man. She just pointed into the fog and

246
00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:42.840
<v Speaker 2>went quiet. That afternoon, kids started bringing me pictures. You

247
00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.240
<v Speaker 2>know how kids draw stick figures, crayon houses, that kind

248
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:49.879
<v Speaker 2>of thing. But these pictures, they all showed the same thing.

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00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.919
<v Speaker 2>A tall, dark figure standing in gray scribbles that I

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00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:57.120
<v Speaker 2>guess was supposed to be fog, way taller than the

251
00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:00.960
<v Speaker 2>trees they'd drawn. Some kids gave it red eyes, some

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00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.360
<v Speaker 2>didn't give it a face at all, but it was

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00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:08.759
<v Speaker 2>always the same proportions, impossibly tall, long arms standing just

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00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:12.639
<v Speaker 2>at the edge of visibility. And stay tuned for more

255
00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.759
<v Speaker 2>sasquatch ott to see. We'll be right back. After these messages,

256
00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:23.240
<v Speaker 2>I took the pictures to the principal, doctor Jones. She

257
00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:27.039
<v Speaker 2>looked through them, got this concerned look. Asked if maybe

258
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.320
<v Speaker 2>the kids had watched something scary on TV, or if

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00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:33.159
<v Speaker 2>someone had been telling ghost stories on the bus. I

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00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:35.720
<v Speaker 2>told her no, but I didn't mention the whispers or

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00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.399
<v Speaker 2>what we'd hit. Didn't want to sound crazy. The next

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00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:42.799
<v Speaker 2>few days were clear, no fog, The kids went back

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00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:46.519
<v Speaker 2>to being loud and normal. I started to relax, figured

264
00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:49.080
<v Speaker 2>maybe it had just been a weird week. Then the

265
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:53.159
<v Speaker 2>following Monday, another thick fog rolled in. This time I

266
00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:56.519
<v Speaker 2>was determined to take a different route, told dispatch I

267
00:15:56.600 --> 00:16:00.159
<v Speaker 2>was detouring around some flooding that didn't exist. I had

268
00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:03.080
<v Speaker 2>twenty minutes to the morning run, but I didn't care.

269
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.879
<v Speaker 2>The kids complained, especially the older ones who were worried

270
00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.399
<v Speaker 2>about being late, but I noticed Diego and Emily and

271
00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:13.840
<v Speaker 2>some of the others who drawn those pictures they looked relieved.

272
00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.039
<v Speaker 2>Took the long way for three days, no whispers, no

273
00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:22.559
<v Speaker 2>weird feelings, nothing. Started to feel silly about the whole thing.

274
00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:27.519
<v Speaker 2>Then Thursday morning, Despatch called me out, said a parent

275
00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:30.600
<v Speaker 2>had complained about the extended root time told me there

276
00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:32.960
<v Speaker 2>was no flooding reported and I needed to stick to

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00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:37.840
<v Speaker 2>my assigned route. Friday morning, thick fog again, had no

278
00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:41.120
<v Speaker 2>choice but to take the regular road. As soon as

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00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.600
<v Speaker 2>we entered that stretch of woods, the bus went quiet,

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00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:47.360
<v Speaker 2>like the kids knew. The whispers started up right away,

281
00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:50.919
<v Speaker 2>but this time they were louder, and I swear some

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00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.360
<v Speaker 2>of them were saying names, not clearly, but like when

283
00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.799
<v Speaker 2>someone calls you from another room and you can't quite

284
00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:00.480
<v Speaker 2>make it out, but you know they're calling you. Almost

285
00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.799
<v Speaker 2>through the woods, when the engine died, just cut out completely,

286
00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:09.119
<v Speaker 2>no warning, no sputtering, just silence. In twenty three years

287
00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:11.400
<v Speaker 2>of driving, I'd never had that bus die on me.

288
00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:16.599
<v Speaker 2>I tried the ignition nothing radio was dead too. Even

289
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.359
<v Speaker 2>my cell phone was showing no signal, which was weird

290
00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.359
<v Speaker 2>because we usually had at least two bars there. The

291
00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.359
<v Speaker 2>whispers got louder. The kids started crying, not all of them,

292
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:29.680
<v Speaker 2>but the young ones. Diego was gripping the seat in

293
00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.680
<v Speaker 2>front of him so hard his knuckles were white. That's

294
00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.359
<v Speaker 2>when we all saw it. A shape in the fog

295
00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:39.119
<v Speaker 2>off to the right side of the bus, tall, so

296
00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:41.759
<v Speaker 2>tall that even sitting in the bus, we were looking

297
00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.640
<v Speaker 2>up at where its head should be. It wasn't moving,

298
00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.359
<v Speaker 2>just standing there. The fog was swirling around it in

299
00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.720
<v Speaker 2>this unnatural way, like it was giving off heat or something.

300
00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:56.400
<v Speaker 2>Nobody screamed. It was like we were all frozen. The

301
00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:59.319
<v Speaker 2>thing took a step toward the bus, just one step,

302
00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:02.559
<v Speaker 2>but it covered so much ground it was maybe ten

303
00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:05.599
<v Speaker 2>feet away. Now I could see texture through the fog,

304
00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:10.200
<v Speaker 2>not fur exactly, but not smooth either, like rough bark

305
00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:14.079
<v Speaker 2>or thick hair matted with mud. Then the engine turned

306
00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:18.759
<v Speaker 2>over by itself. I hadn't touched the key. The radio

307
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.920
<v Speaker 2>burst back on static at full volume. The kids all jumped.

308
00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:26.440
<v Speaker 2>When I looked back to the window the thing was gone,

309
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.480
<v Speaker 2>just fog. I drove out of there so fast I

310
00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:32.759
<v Speaker 2>probably should have gotten fired. Didn't stop at the Turner farm,

311
00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:36.279
<v Speaker 2>didn't stop at any of the regular stops, went straight

312
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.079
<v Speaker 2>to the school and told the kids to call their

313
00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:41.359
<v Speaker 2>parents for rides home. That afternoon, I went to doctor

314
00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.240
<v Speaker 2>Jones' office and quit on the spot. She tried to

315
00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:47.079
<v Speaker 2>talk me out of it, asked what had happened. I

316
00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:49.799
<v Speaker 2>just told her I was done. That twenty three years

317
00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.119
<v Speaker 2>was enough. She could see I was shaken up. Didn't

318
00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:57.160
<v Speaker 2>push too hard. The district found a replacement driver pretty quick,

319
00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:02.480
<v Speaker 2>young guy, military veteran, very professional. I heard he lasted

320
00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:06.319
<v Speaker 2>three weeks quit after reporting mechanical issues on that same

321
00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.519
<v Speaker 2>stretch of road. The driver after him made it two

322
00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:13.079
<v Speaker 2>months before requesting a different route. Last I heard, they

323
00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:16.519
<v Speaker 2>changed the route entirely, added another bus to split up

324
00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:18.880
<v Speaker 2>the stops so nobody had to go through those woods.

325
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:23.680
<v Speaker 2>Official reason was optimization of resources or something like that.

326
00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:28.039
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes I run into those kids around town, well they're

327
00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:31.880
<v Speaker 2>teenagers now. Diego's in high school. When he sees me,

328
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.079
<v Speaker 2>he always nods this serious adult nod, like we share something,

329
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:40.400
<v Speaker 2>which I guess we do. Emily still draws, her, mom

330
00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:44.160
<v Speaker 2>told me, but she doesn't draw tall figures anymore. Doesn't

331
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:48.240
<v Speaker 2>draw fog either. I still dream about it sometimes, that

332
00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:51.880
<v Speaker 2>shape in the fog, how it moved, How the whispers

333
00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:55.680
<v Speaker 2>sounded almost like language, but not quite. I've lived here

334
00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:58.400
<v Speaker 2>my whole life, and I know these woods have stories.

335
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:01.519
<v Speaker 2>Native folks have worries about things in the forest that

336
00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:04.759
<v Speaker 2>go way back. I never used to believe them. I

337
00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:08.920
<v Speaker 2>believe them now. Sarah's story reminds us that these encounters

338
00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:12.799
<v Speaker 2>don't just happen to people alone in remote wilderness. Sometimes

339
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:16.119
<v Speaker 2>they occur right along our daily routines, in places we

340
00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:19.200
<v Speaker 2>think we know. The kids on that bus drew what

341
00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.880
<v Speaker 2>they saw, processing their experience the only way they knew how.

342
00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:26.200
<v Speaker 2>But what about a young person facing their own struggles.

343
00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:29.559
<v Speaker 2>How do they process something impossible when their world is

344
00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:33.480
<v Speaker 2>already falling apart. Our next account comes from someone who

345
00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:37.400
<v Speaker 2>is just fifteen when it happened. They've asked to remain anonymous,

346
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:41.000
<v Speaker 2>but their story about finding an unexpected connection during the

347
00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:44.039
<v Speaker 2>worst summer of their life might be the most unusual

348
00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:47.640
<v Speaker 2>one you'll hear tonight. I was fifteen when this happened.

349
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.519
<v Speaker 2>Mom and dad were going through their divorce that year,

350
00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:54.759
<v Speaker 2>and it was ugly. Every night, was screaming matches about money,

351
00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:59.640
<v Speaker 2>about custody, about who cheated first. I'd put on my headphones.

352
00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:02.000
<v Speaker 2>You could still feel it through the walls, you know,

353
00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.240
<v Speaker 2>that tension that makes your stomach hurt. Our house backed

354
00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.920
<v Speaker 2>up to woods, not like a little patch of trees,

355
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:12.839
<v Speaker 2>but real woods that went on for miles. My bedroom

356
00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:16.119
<v Speaker 2>window looked right out into them. I'd spent years playing

357
00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:19.640
<v Speaker 2>in those woods, building forts, catching frogs in the creek.

358
00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:23.640
<v Speaker 2>But that summer I started noticing something different. It was

359
00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:26.400
<v Speaker 2>late July when I first saw it. I was lying

360
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:29.880
<v Speaker 2>in bed around midnight, parents going at it downstairs, when

361
00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:33.279
<v Speaker 2>movement outside caught my eye. There was this shape at

362
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.839
<v Speaker 2>the edge of our backyard where the grass meets the

363
00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:41.799
<v Speaker 2>tree line, huge, like impossibly huge, just standing there watching

364
00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:44.319
<v Speaker 2>the house. At first I thought it was a bear.

365
00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.960
<v Speaker 2>We got black bears sometimes raiding garbage cans, but bears

366
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.119
<v Speaker 2>don't stand that long on two legs, and bears don't

367
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.440
<v Speaker 2>just watch. This thing stood there for an hour, perfectly still,

368
00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.720
<v Speaker 2>before melting back into the woods so smoothly I almost

369
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:04.319
<v Speaker 2>thought I'd imagined it. Next night, same thing, and the next,

370
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:09.400
<v Speaker 2>always around midnight, always in the same spot. After a week,

371
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.960
<v Speaker 2>I started leaving my window open, trying to hear if

372
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:16.880
<v Speaker 2>it made any noise. Nothing, silent as fog. Here's the

373
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.960
<v Speaker 2>weird part. I wasn't scared. I should have been terrified, right,

374
00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.039
<v Speaker 2>But there was something about the way it just stood there,

375
00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:28.240
<v Speaker 2>patient and still while chaos was exploding in my house.

376
00:22:29.079 --> 00:22:32.160
<v Speaker 2>It felt like it understood somehow, like it knew what

377
00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:35.720
<v Speaker 2>it was like to not belong. Two weeks in I

378
00:22:35.799 --> 00:22:39.400
<v Speaker 2>did something stupid. Mom had made this big dinner, trying

379
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:43.359
<v Speaker 2>to pretend everything was normal, but Dad didn't show up again,

380
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:48.279
<v Speaker 2>so there was all this extra food, roast chicken, mashed potatoes,

381
00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.160
<v Speaker 2>the works. Mom locked herself in her room crying, and

382
00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:55.119
<v Speaker 2>I couldn't stand being in that house. So I grabbed

383
00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:57.240
<v Speaker 2>a plate of food and walked out to the backyard.

384
00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:00.759
<v Speaker 2>It was there, of course, watching from the tree line.

385
00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:03.839
<v Speaker 2>I set the plate down at the edge of our property,

386
00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:07.480
<v Speaker 2>maybe thirty feet from where it stood. Then I backed

387
00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:10.440
<v Speaker 2>up to the porch and waited. It didn't move for

388
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:14.799
<v Speaker 2>the longest time, then so slowly I almost missed it.

389
00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:20.000
<v Speaker 2>It came forward, not walking exactly, more like flowing, smooth,

390
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:23.799
<v Speaker 2>and silent. When it reached the plate, it crouched down,

391
00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:27.400
<v Speaker 2>and even crouched it was taller than me. I couldn't

392
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.759
<v Speaker 2>see details in the dark, just the bulk of it.

393
00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:33.720
<v Speaker 2>The plate disappeared somewhere in that mass of darkness, and

394
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.799
<v Speaker 2>then it flowed back to the trees. The next morning,

395
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:40.839
<v Speaker 2>the plate was back on our porch, clean, not washed clean,

396
00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:45.680
<v Speaker 2>but licked clean, every tiny scrap of food gone. So

397
00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:48.839
<v Speaker 2>I started feeding it. Every night. I'd sneak out whatever

398
00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.759
<v Speaker 2>I could leftover, sandwiches, fruit, anything. Sometimes I'd buy extra

399
00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.440
<v Speaker 2>food with my allowance and hide it in my room.

400
00:23:56.680 --> 00:23:58.440
<v Speaker 2>The thing would wait at the tree line until I

401
00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:01.839
<v Speaker 2>left the food and backed away. Then it would come forward,

402
00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:06.240
<v Speaker 2>take it, and fade back into the darkness. After two

403
00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:09.640
<v Speaker 2>weeks of this, it started coming closer, not to me,

404
00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:13.279
<v Speaker 2>but to the house. It would take the food, then,

405
00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:17.759
<v Speaker 2>instead of leaving immediately, it would stand there watching my window,

406
00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:21.960
<v Speaker 2>and I'd watch back. Two creatures in the dark, neither

407
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:25.240
<v Speaker 2>one belonging where they were. Mom and Dad's fights were

408
00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:27.359
<v Speaker 2>getting worse. Lawyers were involved.

409
00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:27.599
<v Speaker 1>Now.

410
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:30.640
<v Speaker 2>Dad had moved into a motel, but kept coming back

411
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:34.200
<v Speaker 2>to get things, and every visit turned into a screaming match.

412
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.000
<v Speaker 2>One night, they were in the driveway, really going at

413
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:40.960
<v Speaker 2>it when I saw the thing move closer than ever before.

414
00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:44.759
<v Speaker 2>It stood just inside the tree line, maybe fifteen feet

415
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:49.119
<v Speaker 2>from them, invisible in the darkness. They never noticed two

416
00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:52.039
<v Speaker 2>wrapped up in their anger, but I saw it, and

417
00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:55.799
<v Speaker 2>I swear it was agitated, swaying slightly, like it was

418
00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.599
<v Speaker 2>upset by the yelling. That's when I started talking to it,

419
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.000
<v Speaker 2>expecting answers, just talking. I'd sit on the porch while

420
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.799
<v Speaker 2>it ate, telling it about school, about the divorce, about

421
00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:09.799
<v Speaker 2>how I couldn't wait to be old enough to leave.

422
00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:13.880
<v Speaker 2>It never responded, obviously, but sometimes it would tilt its

423
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:17.519
<v Speaker 2>head like it was listening. The night everything changed was

424
00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:20.880
<v Speaker 2>in late August. Mom and Dad had their worst fight yet.

425
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.839
<v Speaker 2>Dad shoved Mom, she threw a glass at him. Neighbors

426
00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.759
<v Speaker 2>called the cops. It was after one in the morning

427
00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:31.839
<v Speaker 2>when things finally calmed down. Dad was gone, Mom was

428
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.480
<v Speaker 2>passed out on the couch, and I was exhausted but

429
00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:37.960
<v Speaker 2>too wired to sleep. I went out with food, like always,

430
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:42.039
<v Speaker 2>but the thing wasn't at the tree line. I waited, confused.

431
00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:46.200
<v Speaker 2>Then I heard it a soft tap on glass my

432
00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:50.119
<v Speaker 2>bedroom window. I nearly had a heart attack. I crept

433
00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:54.079
<v Speaker 2>back inside, up to my room. There it was, face

434
00:25:54.119 --> 00:25:58.079
<v Speaker 2>pressed against my second story window. I say face, but

435
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:02.680
<v Speaker 2>it wasn't really a face, more like a suggestion of features.

436
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:07.039
<v Speaker 2>Dark eyes that reflected light like an animal's, no clear

437
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:10.799
<v Speaker 2>nose or mouth, just shadows where they should be. The

438
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:14.839
<v Speaker 2>glass fogged around where it breathed. It tapped again, so

439
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.440
<v Speaker 2>gentle for something so large. I don't know what possessed me,

440
00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:21.920
<v Speaker 2>but I opened the window. The smell hit me first,

441
00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:26.440
<v Speaker 2>not bad, but wild, like wet earth and pine needles

442
00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:29.599
<v Speaker 2>and something musky. It didn't try to come in, just

443
00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:33.519
<v Speaker 2>stayed there, filling my entire window frame. Then it made

444
00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:36.240
<v Speaker 2>a sound, the first sound I'd ever heard from it,

445
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:42.000
<v Speaker 2>this low thrumbing vibration, almost below hearing, like a cat purring,

446
00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:47.599
<v Speaker 2>but deeper, comforting. Somehow I reached out, god knows why,

447
00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:51.519
<v Speaker 2>and touched it. The hair or fur or whatever. It

448
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:56.240
<v Speaker 2>was felt coarse but warm. The thrumbing got stronger. We

449
00:26:56.279 --> 00:26:58.839
<v Speaker 2>stayed like that for maybe a minute, me with my

450
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.440
<v Speaker 2>hand on this impossible thing, both of us just existing

451
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:06.559
<v Speaker 2>in the quiet. Then it left, climbed down or jumped down,

452
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:10.960
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, Silent as always, but it left something

453
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:15.279
<v Speaker 2>on my windowsill, a river rock, smooth and round, still

454
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.880
<v Speaker 2>wet from the creek. After that night, it stopped coming

455
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:22.559
<v Speaker 2>for food. I'd wait at the usual time, but nothing.

456
00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:26.680
<v Speaker 2>I left plates out that went untouched. After a week,

457
00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:29.920
<v Speaker 2>I was convinced I'd scared it off somehow, or maybe

458
00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:32.640
<v Speaker 2>it had gotten what it needed and moved on. But

459
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:35.720
<v Speaker 2>then about two weeks later, I was walking home from

460
00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:38.359
<v Speaker 2>school through the woods. There was a short cut I

461
00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.279
<v Speaker 2>sometimes took. I was on the trail when I heard

462
00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:45.519
<v Speaker 2>branches breaking off to my left, heavy footsteps keeping pace

463
00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:49.799
<v Speaker 2>with me, but staying hidden. I knew it was the thing, somehow,

464
00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:54.359
<v Speaker 2>I just knew. I stopped and said, hey, it's okay,

465
00:27:54.920 --> 00:27:59.000
<v Speaker 2>I know you're there. The footsteps stopped too, for a

466
00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:03.240
<v Speaker 2>long moment, nothing, then that thrumbing sound, just for a

467
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:08.240
<v Speaker 2>second and acknowledgment. Then the footsteps moved away, fading into

468
00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:11.559
<v Speaker 2>the deeper woods. I saw it maybe three more times

469
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:16.599
<v Speaker 2>that fall, always at a distance, always watching. When winter came,

470
00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.519
<v Speaker 2>the sighting stopped. Mom and I moved to an apartment

471
00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:23.039
<v Speaker 2>in town after the divorce was finalized, never saw it again.

472
00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:26.680
<v Speaker 2>I'm thirty two now, and I still think about that summer.

473
00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.759
<v Speaker 2>I've read all the Bigfoot stuff online, watched the documentaries,

474
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:34.720
<v Speaker 2>but none of it captures what I experienced. The intelligence

475
00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:38.079
<v Speaker 2>of it, the loneliness, the way it seemed drawn to

476
00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:42.839
<v Speaker 2>human pain, like it recognized something familiar. Sometimes I dream

477
00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:45.799
<v Speaker 2>about it in the dreams. It's still out there in

478
00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:49.640
<v Speaker 2>those woods, watching houses from the tree line, looking for

479
00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:52.319
<v Speaker 2>another broken kid who needs to know they're not alone

480
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.680
<v Speaker 2>in the dark. And sometimes when I'm going through my

481
00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:58.720
<v Speaker 2>own rough patches, I find myself wishing I could leave

482
00:28:58.759 --> 00:29:01.400
<v Speaker 2>out a plate of food and have something understand without

483
00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:04.359
<v Speaker 2>words that life is hard and strange and full of

484
00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.759
<v Speaker 2>things that don't quite fit. I know how crazy this

485
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.440
<v Speaker 2>all sounds, but I also know what I experienced. That

486
00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:14.599
<v Speaker 2>thing was real, and for one month, when everything else

487
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:19.200
<v Speaker 2>in my life was falling apart, it was there, watching, waiting,

488
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:23.000
<v Speaker 2>being whatever it was I needed it to be. I

489
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:25.559
<v Speaker 2>still have that river rock, keep it on my desk.

490
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.759
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes when I hold it, I swear I can still

491
00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:32.400
<v Speaker 2>smell pine needles and wet earth. That story always gets

492
00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:35.559
<v Speaker 2>to me, the loneliness on both sides of that encounter,

493
00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:40.440
<v Speaker 2>a troubled kid and something else finding comfort in each

494
00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:45.240
<v Speaker 2>other's presence. But not all encounters are so benign. Sometimes

495
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:49.519
<v Speaker 2>what's out there doesn't want connection. Sometimes it just wants

496
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:53.079
<v Speaker 2>us gone. Martha was a retired high school teacher who

497
00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:56.000
<v Speaker 2>thought she'd found her perfect piece of paradise in West Virginia,

498
00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:00.599
<v Speaker 2>forty acres of mountain solitude for her golden years. But

499
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:03.480
<v Speaker 2>something else had already claimed that land, and it wasn't

500
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:07.880
<v Speaker 2>interested in sharing. And stay tuned for more sasquatch ot

501
00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:14.640
<v Speaker 2>to see. We'll be right back after these messages. I

502
00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:18.640
<v Speaker 2>bought that property in West Virginia, sight unseen, forty acres

503
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:22.160
<v Speaker 2>of mountain land for thirty thousand dollars. The realtor said

504
00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:25.119
<v Speaker 2>it was priced low because of the access road four

505
00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:27.920
<v Speaker 2>miles of rough dirt track that would need work. I

506
00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:31.640
<v Speaker 2>didn't care. I was sixty three years old, newly retired

507
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:34.839
<v Speaker 2>from forty years of teaching high school, and I wanted quiet.

508
00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:38.799
<v Speaker 2>Lord knows I got more than I bargained for. The

509
00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:42.559
<v Speaker 2>first week was paradise. Little two bedroom cabin needed work,

510
00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:46.200
<v Speaker 2>but had good bones, solar panels already installed by the

511
00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:50.440
<v Speaker 2>previous owner. The water from the well tested clean. I'd

512
00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:52.400
<v Speaker 2>sit on the porch with my coffee and watch the

513
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:55.519
<v Speaker 2>sun come up over the ridge, thinking I'd finally found

514
00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:59.279
<v Speaker 2>my place. The knocking started on day eight, middle of

515
00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.839
<v Speaker 2>the night, three loud knocks on the east wall of

516
00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:08.240
<v Speaker 2>the cabin, not the door, the wall itself. Bang bang, bang,

517
00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:11.920
<v Speaker 2>hard enough to shake the pictures i'd hung. I grabbed

518
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:17.559
<v Speaker 2>my flashlight, went outside, circled the whole cabin. Nothing, no footprints,

519
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:22.039
<v Speaker 2>no marks on the wall. Nothing. Next night, same thing,

520
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.279
<v Speaker 2>this time on the north wall. Three knocks, evenly spaced.

521
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:29.640
<v Speaker 2>I was ready with my shotgun this time, burst out

522
00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:32.039
<v Speaker 2>the door, ready to confront whoever was messing with me.

523
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:36.480
<v Speaker 2>The motion light i'd installed lit up the whole area empty,

524
00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:40.640
<v Speaker 2>but the woods were dead silent. You know that's not natural.

525
00:31:41.079 --> 00:31:45.680
<v Speaker 2>Should always be some noise, crickets, owls, something, But it

526
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:49.400
<v Speaker 2>was like everything was holding its breath. Third night, I

527
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:53.119
<v Speaker 2>stayed inside. The knocks came from the roof. I could

528
00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:56.319
<v Speaker 2>hear whatever it was walking up there. Heavy footsteps that

529
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.200
<v Speaker 2>made the rafters creak. Then three massive strikes that scent

530
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.559
<v Speaker 2>dust drifting down from the ceiling. I called the Sheriff's

531
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:06.680
<v Speaker 2>department on my satellite phone. They said they'd send someone

532
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:09.440
<v Speaker 2>in the morning. The access road was too rough for

533
00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:13.839
<v Speaker 2>night driving. Deputy showed up around noon, looked around, took

534
00:32:13.880 --> 00:32:17.720
<v Speaker 2>some notes, suggested maybe it was a bear or mountain cats.

535
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:22.160
<v Speaker 2>I taught biology for twenty years before switching to general science.

536
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:26.920
<v Speaker 2>I know what wildlife sounds like. This wasn't wildlife, but

537
00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:28.680
<v Speaker 2>I could see in his eyes he thought I was

538
00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:33.079
<v Speaker 2>just some city woman spooked by country noises. After he left,

539
00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:36.119
<v Speaker 2>I found the first gift. That's what I called them,

540
00:32:36.279 --> 00:32:40.839
<v Speaker 2>though gift isn't really right. A pyramid of stones, perfectly balanced,

541
00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:43.640
<v Speaker 2>right in the middle of my garden, not there that

542
00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:47.079
<v Speaker 2>morning when I'd watered the tomatoes. Each stone was bigger

543
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:50.440
<v Speaker 2>than my head, and they were stacked five high. Would

544
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:54.359
<v Speaker 2>have taken equipment to move them, or something very very strong.

545
00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:59.960
<v Speaker 2>That night, no knocks, but the screaming started from the woods,

546
00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:04.039
<v Speaker 2>maybe two hundred yards out. Not human screaming, but not

547
00:33:04.119 --> 00:33:07.880
<v Speaker 2>any animal I knew either, long ascending whales that went

548
00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:11.000
<v Speaker 2>on for minutes at a time. My nearest neighbor was

549
00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:15.160
<v Speaker 2>six miles away, but I called him anyway. Chuck lived

550
00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:18.240
<v Speaker 2>there all his life. When I described the sounds, he

551
00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:21.960
<v Speaker 2>got quiet. Then he said, Martha, you might want to

552
00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:25.200
<v Speaker 2>consider staying in town for a few days. I asked

553
00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:28.759
<v Speaker 2>him what he meant. He hemmed and hawed, then finally said,

554
00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.400
<v Speaker 2>that land you bought. There's a reason it was so cheap.

555
00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:38.000
<v Speaker 2>Things up there don't like company, things plural. I'm stubborn,

556
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.240
<v Speaker 2>always have been told myself. I wasn't going to be

557
00:33:41.319 --> 00:33:44.799
<v Speaker 2>run off by some local nonsense, probably just people trying

558
00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:48.079
<v Speaker 2>to scare me into selling. But that night changed my mind.

559
00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:53.680
<v Speaker 2>Started with rocks hitting the roof, not thrown, dropped from height.

560
00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:56.720
<v Speaker 2>I could hear them rolling off and hitting the ground.

561
00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:00.759
<v Speaker 2>Then the walls, stones the size of base falls, hammering

562
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:04.839
<v Speaker 2>the cabin from all sides. The windows didn't break miraculously,

563
00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:08.280
<v Speaker 2>but they rattled in their frames. This went on for

564
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:13.159
<v Speaker 2>an hour. When it stopped, I heard breathing, heavy rhythmic

565
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:17.679
<v Speaker 2>breathing right outside my bedroom window. The curtains were drawn,

566
00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:20.599
<v Speaker 2>but I could see the shadow of something massive blocking

567
00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:24.440
<v Speaker 2>the moonlight. It stood there, breathing for maybe five minutes.

568
00:34:25.119 --> 00:34:30.239
<v Speaker 2>Then it spoke, not words exactly, but vocalizations that had

569
00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:33.360
<v Speaker 2>the cadence of speech, like it was trying to talk

570
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:37.199
<v Speaker 2>but didn't have the right equipment for it. Guttural, deep,

571
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:41.519
<v Speaker 2>but with inflection, almost poleting. I grabbed my phone to

572
00:34:41.559 --> 00:34:44.800
<v Speaker 2>record it, but the screen wouldn't turn on, not dead.

573
00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:48.440
<v Speaker 2>It would flash for a second then go dark. My

574
00:34:48.519 --> 00:34:51.760
<v Speaker 2>flashlight did the same thing. Even the led clock on

575
00:34:51.800 --> 00:34:55.559
<v Speaker 2>my nightstand was flickering. The breathing thing outside made more

576
00:34:55.559 --> 00:34:59.400
<v Speaker 2>of those speech like sounds, then moved away. As soon

577
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:02.440
<v Speaker 2>as it was gone, all my electronics came back to normal.

578
00:35:03.159 --> 00:35:06.000
<v Speaker 2>I didn't sleep the rest of the night. Next morning

579
00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:08.840
<v Speaker 2>I found tracks all around the cabin and the soft

580
00:35:08.920 --> 00:35:12.519
<v Speaker 2>dirt I've been preparing for a flower bed. Not quite human,

581
00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:17.840
<v Speaker 2>not quite animal. Five toes, but two spread out and huge,

582
00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:22.440
<v Speaker 2>maybe eighteen inches long. The stride length suggested something over

583
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:25.840
<v Speaker 2>eight feet tall. I took pictures sent them to a

584
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:28.760
<v Speaker 2>friend who worked at the university. He said they looked

585
00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:32.119
<v Speaker 2>like the fake bigfoot prints people make for hoaxes, But

586
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:36.079
<v Speaker 2>these weren't fake. The depth, the way the dirt was compressed,

587
00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:39.280
<v Speaker 2>the dermal ridge is visible in some of them. These

588
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:43.239
<v Speaker 2>were real prints from something heavy and alive. That day,

589
00:35:43.559 --> 00:35:46.559
<v Speaker 2>I drove to town and bought trail cameras, six of them,

590
00:35:47.079 --> 00:35:49.920
<v Speaker 2>best ones. They had set them up all around the

591
00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:53.360
<v Speaker 2>property that afternoon. If something was going to harass me,

592
00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:57.199
<v Speaker 2>I was going to get proof. The cameras lasted exactly

593
00:35:57.239 --> 00:35:59.639
<v Speaker 2>one night. I found them the next morning in a

594
00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:03.639
<v Speaker 2>neat lie line on my porch, all six removed from

595
00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:08.360
<v Speaker 2>their mounting straps without breaking anything, arranged from smallest to largest.

596
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:13.800
<v Speaker 2>The memory cards were missing. Message received. The harassment escalated

597
00:36:14.360 --> 00:36:18.280
<v Speaker 2>wood knocks from multiple directions, sometimes seeming to communicate with

598
00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:22.800
<v Speaker 2>each other. Calls and screams at all hours. More rock throwing,

599
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:27.360
<v Speaker 2>more stone pyramids appearing in impossible places, balanced on my

600
00:36:27.400 --> 00:36:31.039
<v Speaker 2>truck hood, blocking the access road, once even inside my

601
00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:35.800
<v Speaker 2>locked shed. Two weeks into this, I was exhausted, hadn't

602
00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:37.840
<v Speaker 2>slept more than an hour or two at a time.

603
00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:41.199
<v Speaker 2>I was making coffee one morning when I saw them,

604
00:36:41.559 --> 00:36:45.000
<v Speaker 2>three figures at the edge of the clearing, tall covered

605
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:48.599
<v Speaker 2>in dark hair, built like linebackers, but the proportions were off.

606
00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:52.880
<v Speaker 2>They just stood there, watching the cabin. I walked out

607
00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:55.599
<v Speaker 2>onto the porch. We stared at each other for maybe

608
00:36:55.639 --> 00:36:59.599
<v Speaker 2>thirty seconds. Then the middle one, the tallest, raised its

609
00:36:59.719 --> 00:37:03.559
<v Speaker 2>arm and pointed, not at me, pass me down the

610
00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:08.679
<v Speaker 2>access road. The message was clear. Leave. I went inside,

611
00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:11.400
<v Speaker 2>packed what I could fit in my truck and left.

612
00:37:12.199 --> 00:37:14.119
<v Speaker 2>Spent a week in a motel trying to figure out

613
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.360
<v Speaker 2>what to do. Called a real estate lawyer. Explained I

614
00:37:17.400 --> 00:37:20.679
<v Speaker 2>needed to sell the property immediately. He found a buyer.

615
00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:23.440
<v Speaker 2>Within a month, some hunting club from out of state

616
00:37:24.119 --> 00:37:27.280
<v Speaker 2>sold it for twenty thousand, ten thousand less than I paid.

617
00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:32.559
<v Speaker 2>Didn't care. The closing was weird. The buyer's representative asked

618
00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:37.639
<v Speaker 2>strange questions. Had I noticed any unusual wildlife, any areas

619
00:37:37.639 --> 00:37:41.159
<v Speaker 2>that seemed active? I said no, just wanted to be

620
00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:44.320
<v Speaker 2>done with it. I found out later that hunting club

621
00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:47.159
<v Speaker 2>only owned the land for three months before selling it

622
00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:50.840
<v Speaker 2>to a conservation group. The conservation group then sold it

623
00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:54.679
<v Speaker 2>to the state. It's now part of a wildlife management

624
00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.480
<v Speaker 2>area that's closed to the public. No camping, no hunting,

625
00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:03.760
<v Speaker 2>no hiking. Closed. I'm in Arizona now, little condo in

626
00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:08.320
<v Speaker 2>a retirement community, swimming pool, book club, bingo on Wednesdays.

627
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:11.400
<v Speaker 2>Everything I thought I didn't want. But I sleep through

628
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:15.599
<v Speaker 2>the night. No knocks, no screams, no shadows at the windows.

629
00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:19.400
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes I google that area in West Virginia. There are

630
00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:22.519
<v Speaker 2>forums discussions about the high number of missing hikers in

631
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:26.920
<v Speaker 2>that region, about sounds people here, about things people see

632
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:31.000
<v Speaker 2>but can't quite describe. I never contribute to these discussions.

633
00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:34.039
<v Speaker 2>What would be the point? But I know what's up there,

634
00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:37.639
<v Speaker 2>and I know it doesn't want us around. Forty acres

635
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:40.400
<v Speaker 2>in a cabin seemed like such a good deal. But

636
00:38:40.519 --> 00:38:43.800
<v Speaker 2>some land isn't meant to be owned. Some places belong

637
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.400
<v Speaker 2>to older things that were there first and will be

638
00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:50.239
<v Speaker 2>there long after we're gone. They ran me off, plain

639
00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:54.800
<v Speaker 2>and simple, and looking back, I think they showed remarkable restraint.

640
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:58.679
<v Speaker 2>They could have done worse, much worse. They just wanted

641
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:03.719
<v Speaker 2>me gone. They made that abundantly clear. I was the trespasser.

642
00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:07.079
<v Speaker 2>Took me losing ten thousand dollars in my dream retirement

643
00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:11.239
<v Speaker 2>to understand that, But I understand it now. Some lessons

644
00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:14.440
<v Speaker 2>are more expensive than others. But at least I left alive.

645
00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:19.000
<v Speaker 2>Martha learned something fundamental about boundaries, that some of them

646
00:39:19.039 --> 00:39:22.119
<v Speaker 2>aren't marked on any map. But what about those who've

647
00:39:22.119 --> 00:39:25.280
<v Speaker 2>spent their whole lives in these forests, those who think

648
00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:29.920
<v Speaker 2>they know every tree, every trail, every sound. Sometimes the

649
00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:33.280
<v Speaker 2>most unsettling encounters happened to people who thought they understood

650
00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:37.679
<v Speaker 2>the wilderness completely. Tom comes from five generations of hunters

651
00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:41.119
<v Speaker 2>in eastern Tennessee. His family has walked those mountains for

652
00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:44.679
<v Speaker 2>over a century, but three years ago he met someone

653
00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:48.360
<v Speaker 2>who knew those woods in ways that defied explanation, and

654
00:39:48.440 --> 00:39:51.239
<v Speaker 2>learned that some valleys are off limits for reasons older

655
00:39:51.280 --> 00:39:54.440
<v Speaker 2>than memory. I've been hunting since I was eight years old.

656
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:58.039
<v Speaker 2>My dad taught me, his dad taught him, and so

657
00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:02.280
<v Speaker 2>on back five generations. I know these mountains in eastern

658
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:07.079
<v Speaker 2>Tennessee like most people know their neighborhood. Every holler, every ridge,

659
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:10.119
<v Speaker 2>every game trail. So when I met someone up there

660
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:13.199
<v Speaker 2>who knew them better, it stuck with me. This was

661
00:40:13.239 --> 00:40:17.400
<v Speaker 2>three years ago, early November. I was bow hunting, setting

662
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.480
<v Speaker 2>up in a valley i'd hunted for twenty years, good

663
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:22.679
<v Speaker 2>spot where two ridges funneled the deer down to a

664
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:26.559
<v Speaker 2>creek crossing. I'd been there since before dawn, hadn't seen

665
00:40:26.599 --> 00:40:29.800
<v Speaker 2>anything worth taking a shot. At around noon, I was

666
00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:32.039
<v Speaker 2>thinking about moving to a different stand when this guy

667
00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:35.880
<v Speaker 2>walks right up the trail. No hunter, orange, no pack,

668
00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:39.360
<v Speaker 2>no weapon. I could see, just walking through the woods

669
00:40:39.400 --> 00:40:41.440
<v Speaker 2>in old jeans and a flannel shirt, like he was

670
00:40:41.480 --> 00:40:45.000
<v Speaker 2>taking a stroll through a park, moving quiet though I

671
00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:48.559
<v Speaker 2>barely heard him coming, and I've got good ears. He

672
00:40:48.599 --> 00:40:51.679
<v Speaker 2>stopped about twenty yards from my tree stand, looked right

673
00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:56.800
<v Speaker 2>up at me. Older guy, maybe sixty, gray beard, weathered face,

674
00:40:57.480 --> 00:41:01.480
<v Speaker 2>Native American features, but I couldn't place the specific heritage.

675
00:41:01.639 --> 00:41:06.199
<v Speaker 2>After noon, he said, voice quiet but carrying clear. I

676
00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:09.599
<v Speaker 2>nodded back, a little irritated. You don't walk up on

677
00:41:09.639 --> 00:41:12.400
<v Speaker 2>someone's hunt like that. But something about him made me

678
00:41:12.440 --> 00:41:15.800
<v Speaker 2>hold my tongue. You're wasting your time here, he said,

679
00:41:16.480 --> 00:41:19.960
<v Speaker 2>Deer haven't used this crossing for three days now. I'd

680
00:41:19.960 --> 00:41:23.159
<v Speaker 2>seen fresh tracks that morning, clear prints in the mud,

681
00:41:23.639 --> 00:41:25.760
<v Speaker 2>but when I look down to point them out, they

682
00:41:25.800 --> 00:41:30.400
<v Speaker 2>seemed different, somehow older than i'd thought. Storm coming in

683
00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:34.280
<v Speaker 2>change their pattern, he continued. They're using the northern Pass now,

684
00:41:34.719 --> 00:41:37.760
<v Speaker 2>about a mile that way. He pointed up the ridge.

685
00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:41.440
<v Speaker 2>There was no storm in the forecast. I'd checked that morning,

686
00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:45.360
<v Speaker 2>clear skies for a week, But the way he said it,

687
00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:47.400
<v Speaker 2>so matter of fact, made me look at the sky

688
00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:51.880
<v Speaker 2>still blue. But there was something in the air, a feeling.

689
00:41:52.719 --> 00:41:56.000
<v Speaker 2>You hunt this area, I asked. Climbing down from my stand,

690
00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:00.440
<v Speaker 2>he made this sound, not quite a laugh. I don't.

691
00:42:01.119 --> 00:42:06.039
<v Speaker 2>I just walk and watch watch what He studied me

692
00:42:06.079 --> 00:42:10.400
<v Speaker 2>for a long moment. You've been coming here twenty years right, ever,

693
00:42:10.480 --> 00:42:12.880
<v Speaker 2>wonder why you never see anyone else hunting this valley?

694
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:18.800
<v Speaker 2>I had, Actually it was odd, perfect habitat, easy access

695
00:42:18.840 --> 00:42:22.239
<v Speaker 2>from the logging road, but I'd never encountered another hunter here.

696
00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:26.480
<v Speaker 2>Just figured I was lucky. The others protect it, he said,

697
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:30.000
<v Speaker 2>this valley and three others nearby. They don't like the

698
00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:30.639
<v Speaker 2>killing here.

699
00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:32.039
<v Speaker 1>Others.

700
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:36.800
<v Speaker 2>The way he said it made my skin prickle. Bear cougars,

701
00:42:36.840 --> 00:42:39.639
<v Speaker 2>I asked, though I knew that wasn't what he meant.

702
00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:44.960
<v Speaker 2>He smiled. Slightly older than bears, smarter than cougars. They

703
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:49.360
<v Speaker 2>were here before the Cherokee, before the people, before the Cherokee.

704
00:42:49.400 --> 00:42:52.599
<v Speaker 2>They'll be here after we're all gone. I wanted to

705
00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:55.280
<v Speaker 2>laugh it off, but something in his eyes stopped me.

706
00:42:55.880 --> 00:42:58.760
<v Speaker 2>He wasn't trying to scare me or impress me. He

707
00:42:58.840 --> 00:43:03.039
<v Speaker 2>was just stating facts. You've seen them, he continued. It

708
00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:07.920
<v Speaker 2>wasn't a question. Glimpses movement that wasn't quite right, felt

709
00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:10.760
<v Speaker 2>them watching when you were field dressing a kill. He

710
00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:14.440
<v Speaker 2>was right. There had been times, moments when the woods

711
00:43:14.440 --> 00:43:17.519
<v Speaker 2>felt too quiet, when I'd had the overwhelming urge to

712
00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:20.760
<v Speaker 2>leave a kill and get out fast. Times I'd felt

713
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:24.440
<v Speaker 2>eyes on me, but could never spot the watcher. They

714
00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:27.800
<v Speaker 2>tolerate some hunting, he said, those who respect the land

715
00:43:28.119 --> 00:43:31.480
<v Speaker 2>take only what they need. But this valley and the others,

716
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:36.199
<v Speaker 2>these are sanctuary, safe places where nothing hunts and nothing

717
00:43:36.280 --> 00:43:40.079
<v Speaker 2>is hunted. You're telling me to leave. I'm telling you

718
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:44.679
<v Speaker 2>what is. What you do with that information is your choice.

719
00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:48.119
<v Speaker 2>He turned to go, then stopped. But if you're smart,

720
00:43:48.440 --> 00:43:51.920
<v Speaker 2>you'll pack up now. Storm will be here in three hours,

721
00:43:52.239 --> 00:43:55.559
<v Speaker 2>and after the storm they'll be checking their territories. You

722
00:43:55.599 --> 00:43:58.320
<v Speaker 2>don't want to be here for that. I watched him

723
00:43:58.320 --> 00:44:01.239
<v Speaker 2>walk away, moving through the un to growth without disturbing

724
00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:04.880
<v Speaker 2>a branch. When I looked at the sky again, clouds

725
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:08.960
<v Speaker 2>were forming on the western horizon, dark ones. I should

726
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:12.199
<v Speaker 2>have left. Every rational part of my brain said to

727
00:44:12.199 --> 00:44:15.320
<v Speaker 2>pack up and go, but I'm stubborn and I don't

728
00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:18.000
<v Speaker 2>like being told what to do. So I moved to

729
00:44:18.039 --> 00:44:20.360
<v Speaker 2>a different part of the valley, set up near an

730
00:44:20.360 --> 00:44:23.440
<v Speaker 2>oak stand I knew the deer liked. The storm hit

731
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:27.519
<v Speaker 2>exactly three hours later, came out of nowhere, violent and

732
00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:33.159
<v Speaker 2>sudden lightning, thunder rain, coming sideways. I took shelter under

733
00:44:33.159 --> 00:44:36.400
<v Speaker 2>a rock overhang, watched the creek turn into a torrent.

734
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:40.440
<v Speaker 2>The storm passed as quickly as it came, leaving everything

735
00:44:40.519 --> 00:44:44.480
<v Speaker 2>dripping and fresh. That's when I heard them moving through

736
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:50.480
<v Speaker 2>the valley, multiple somethings, big, deliberate. I could hear branches breaking,

737
00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:54.079
<v Speaker 2>not like something pushing through carelessly, but like they were

738
00:44:54.079 --> 00:44:59.320
<v Speaker 2>being moved aside purposefully. I pressed myself deeper under the overhang,

739
00:45:01.079 --> 00:45:02.960
<v Speaker 2>stay tuned for more sasquatch out to see.

740
00:45:02.960 --> 00:45:03.880
<v Speaker 1>We'll be right back.

741
00:45:03.920 --> 00:45:11.519
<v Speaker 2>After these messages. Through the rain misted air, I saw shapes,

742
00:45:12.079 --> 00:45:17.400
<v Speaker 2>three maybe four tall, bipedal covered in dark hair that

743
00:45:17.440 --> 00:45:21.079
<v Speaker 2>looked almost black when wet. They moved along the creek,

744
00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:25.639
<v Speaker 2>stopping occasionally. One bent down examined something in the mud.

745
00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:29.760
<v Speaker 2>Another stood perfectly still, head tilted like it was listening.

746
00:45:30.519 --> 00:45:34.280
<v Speaker 2>They knew I was there, had to, but they didn't approach,

747
00:45:34.920 --> 00:45:38.440
<v Speaker 2>just went about whatever they were doing, checking their territory,

748
00:45:38.760 --> 00:45:42.000
<v Speaker 2>like the man had said. One of them, the largest,

749
00:45:42.440 --> 00:45:45.880
<v Speaker 2>turned in my direction. Even from one hundred yards away,

750
00:45:46.199 --> 00:45:49.239
<v Speaker 2>I could feel its attention on me. It made a sound,

751
00:45:49.559 --> 00:45:52.400
<v Speaker 2>low and rumbling that I felt in my chest more

752
00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:56.480
<v Speaker 2>than heard a warning. I stayed frozen until they moved

753
00:45:56.519 --> 00:45:59.800
<v Speaker 2>on upstream and out of sight. Then I grabbed my

754
00:45:59.800 --> 00:46:04.119
<v Speaker 2>gear and got out of there. Ran honestly didn't stop

755
00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:07.400
<v Speaker 2>until I reached my truck. When I got home, my

756
00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:10.199
<v Speaker 2>wife asked if I'd had any luck. I told her no,

757
00:46:10.800 --> 00:46:13.800
<v Speaker 2>the weather turned bad. She looked at me strange and

758
00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:16.000
<v Speaker 2>said the weather had been perfect all day in town,

759
00:46:16.519 --> 00:46:19.519
<v Speaker 2>just ten miles away. I went back to those woods

760
00:46:19.559 --> 00:46:23.320
<v Speaker 2>a week later, not to hunt, just to look. My

761
00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:28.199
<v Speaker 2>tree stand was gone, not damaged, not knocked down, gone,

762
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:31.880
<v Speaker 2>no sign it had ever been there. The trail I'd

763
00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:35.400
<v Speaker 2>used for twenty years was blocked by falling trees, big

764
00:46:35.400 --> 00:46:38.000
<v Speaker 2>ones that would have taken a crew to move. The

765
00:46:38.039 --> 00:46:42.159
<v Speaker 2>message was clear. I found other places to hunt, good places,

766
00:46:42.679 --> 00:46:47.039
<v Speaker 2>successful hunts. But sometimes I think about that man walking

767
00:46:47.119 --> 00:46:51.360
<v Speaker 2>those protected valleys, watching, and I think about the others

768
00:46:51.960 --> 00:46:55.760
<v Speaker 2>maintaining their sanctuaries, keeping some small part of the world

769
00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:59.599
<v Speaker 2>wild and untouchable. Last month I ran into another old

770
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:03.559
<v Speaker 2>time the sporting goods store. He was buying ammunition, mentioned

771
00:47:03.559 --> 00:47:06.119
<v Speaker 2>he was heading up to hunt that area. I told

772
00:47:06.199 --> 00:47:08.679
<v Speaker 2>him about the storm patterns up there, how they made

773
00:47:08.760 --> 00:47:13.679
<v Speaker 2>hunting unpredictable, suggested some other valleys better access more dear,

774
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:18.400
<v Speaker 2>he thanked me. Took my advice. Later, I wondered if

775
00:47:18.400 --> 00:47:20.920
<v Speaker 2>that's how it works, if there are those of us

776
00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:24.199
<v Speaker 2>who've been warned, who pass along just enough information to

777
00:47:24.280 --> 00:47:28.679
<v Speaker 2>keep others away without sounding crazy, protecting the protectors in

778
00:47:28.719 --> 00:47:32.840
<v Speaker 2>a way. I still hunt, still love it, but I'm

779
00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:36.000
<v Speaker 2>more careful now about where I go. I pay attention

780
00:47:36.079 --> 00:47:39.760
<v Speaker 2>to the signs, the two quiet forests, the valleys that

781
00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:43.840
<v Speaker 2>seem empty of human sign despite being perfect habitat. I

782
00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:47.559
<v Speaker 2>leave those places alone. Some boundaries aren't marked on maps,

783
00:47:47.960 --> 00:47:51.599
<v Speaker 2>some no trespassing signs aren't written in words, And some

784
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:55.760
<v Speaker 2>hunters carry no guns because they're not hunting animals, they're

785
00:47:55.800 --> 00:48:01.039
<v Speaker 2>watching us. Tom's encounter speaks to something ancient, a negotiated

786
00:48:01.079 --> 00:48:05.119
<v Speaker 2>coexistence that most of us never know about, secret agreements,

787
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:10.400
<v Speaker 2>unspoken boundaries, protected places. But our final story tonight is

788
00:48:10.440 --> 00:48:14.199
<v Speaker 2>perhaps the most disturbing because it suggests something else entirely,

789
00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:21.719
<v Speaker 2>not coexistence, not protection, but mimicry learning practice. Jake was

790
00:48:21.719 --> 00:48:24.840
<v Speaker 2>an experienced solo camper who thought an isolated island in

791
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:29.840
<v Speaker 2>Minnesota's boundary waters would give him the perfect peaceful getaway. Instead,

792
00:48:30.119 --> 00:48:32.760
<v Speaker 2>he discovered that something out there is paying very close

793
00:48:32.800 --> 00:48:36.440
<v Speaker 2>attention to how we live too close. I need to

794
00:48:36.480 --> 00:48:39.519
<v Speaker 2>tell someone about this, even though I know how it sounds.

795
00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:44.079
<v Speaker 2>This happened last September in the Boundary Waters northern Minnesota.

796
00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:47.559
<v Speaker 2>I was doing a solo trip, something I'd done dozens

797
00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:51.800
<v Speaker 2>of times before. Five days, four nights, just me in

798
00:48:51.840 --> 00:48:55.280
<v Speaker 2>the wilderness. Third night, I was camped on a small

799
00:48:55.280 --> 00:48:57.960
<v Speaker 2>island in the middle of a lake, maybe one hundred

800
00:48:58.039 --> 00:49:02.639
<v Speaker 2>yards of shoreline total of pine trees, some rocks. I

801
00:49:02.639 --> 00:49:06.320
<v Speaker 2>picked it specifically because I wanted isolation. No bears to

802
00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:09.400
<v Speaker 2>worry about on an island, no other campers stumbling into

803
00:49:09.400 --> 00:49:13.519
<v Speaker 2>my sight, just peace. I'd gone to bed around nine,

804
00:49:13.719 --> 00:49:16.760
<v Speaker 2>clear night, no wind, so quiet you could hear fish

805
00:49:16.840 --> 00:49:19.880
<v Speaker 2>jumping half a mile away. I was in that almost

806
00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:22.559
<v Speaker 2>asleep state when I heard it, the sound of my

807
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:27.519
<v Speaker 2>tent zipper, slow deliberate. Someone was unzipping my tent from

808
00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:32.880
<v Speaker 2>the outside. I froze, heart hammering. The zipper kept moving

809
00:49:33.159 --> 00:49:36.599
<v Speaker 2>tooth by tooth like whoever was doing it was trying

810
00:49:36.599 --> 00:49:39.760
<v Speaker 2>to be quiet but wasn't quite managing it. I grabbed

811
00:49:39.760 --> 00:49:42.880
<v Speaker 2>my knife and flashlight, ready to confront whoever this was.

812
00:49:43.679 --> 00:49:47.719
<v Speaker 2>The zipper stopped about halfway down. I waited five seconds

813
00:49:48.079 --> 00:49:53.039
<v Speaker 2>ten twenty nothing. I flicked on my flashlight, yanked the

814
00:49:53.119 --> 00:49:55.760
<v Speaker 2>zipper the rest of the way down, myself, burst out

815
00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:59.159
<v Speaker 2>of the tent ready for a fight. Nobody there. The

816
00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:01.840
<v Speaker 2>island was tying. I could see every inch of it

817
00:50:01.880 --> 00:50:05.840
<v Speaker 2>in the moonlight. I was completely alone. Checked the zipper.

818
00:50:06.280 --> 00:50:09.440
<v Speaker 2>It was definitely half undone, not something that could happen

819
00:50:09.480 --> 00:50:13.400
<v Speaker 2>by accident. Walked the entire shoreline looking for another boat,

820
00:50:13.719 --> 00:50:18.480
<v Speaker 2>someone swimming anything. Nothing. I convinced myself it was some

821
00:50:18.639 --> 00:50:22.239
<v Speaker 2>kind of weird equipment failure. Maybe the zipper was defective.

822
00:50:22.599 --> 00:50:26.039
<v Speaker 2>Came apart on its own, zipped it back up, double

823
00:50:26.119 --> 00:50:29.880
<v Speaker 2>checked it, went back to bed. Took forever to fall asleep,

824
00:50:30.280 --> 00:50:33.320
<v Speaker 2>but eventually I did woke up at maybe three in

825
00:50:33.360 --> 00:50:37.159
<v Speaker 2>the morning to the sound again, but this time the

826
00:50:37.239 --> 00:50:40.760
<v Speaker 2>zipper was moving up closing, But I was inside the

827
00:50:40.800 --> 00:50:44.000
<v Speaker 2>tent and nobody was in there with me. The zipper

828
00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:46.960
<v Speaker 2>pool was on the outside. It was impossible for it

829
00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:49.760
<v Speaker 2>to be zipping closed from the outside, but that's what

830
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.960
<v Speaker 2>was happening. I watched the zipper poll moving up the

831
00:50:53.000 --> 00:50:56.599
<v Speaker 2>track by itself, tooth by tooth, until my tent was

832
00:50:56.639 --> 00:51:00.760
<v Speaker 2>completely sealed. I sat there until dawn knife in hand,

833
00:51:01.079 --> 00:51:04.039
<v Speaker 2>trying to make sense of it. When the sun came up,

834
00:51:04.239 --> 00:51:06.559
<v Speaker 2>I packed my stuff and paddled to a different site

835
00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:10.639
<v Speaker 2>on the mainland, big established campground with other people around.

836
00:51:11.079 --> 00:51:14.400
<v Speaker 2>Spent the fourth night there no issues. But here's the

837
00:51:14.440 --> 00:51:17.239
<v Speaker 2>part that really messes with me. When I was packing

838
00:51:17.320 --> 00:51:19.400
<v Speaker 2>up to leave on day five, I found something in

839
00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:23.239
<v Speaker 2>my pack. A tent, not my tent I was still

840
00:51:23.320 --> 00:51:27.639
<v Speaker 2>using that, A different tent, same model as mine, same color,

841
00:51:27.920 --> 00:51:34.199
<v Speaker 2>but older, worn, smelled like mildew, and something else, something musky.

842
00:51:34.280 --> 00:51:36.480
<v Speaker 2>It was stuffed in my pack under my food bag.

843
00:51:37.280 --> 00:51:39.000
<v Speaker 2>I know for a fact it wasn't there when I

844
00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:44.000
<v Speaker 2>started the trip. I'd packed everything myself checked it twice.

845
00:51:44.039 --> 00:51:46.800
<v Speaker 2>This tent appeared sometime during that night on the island.

846
00:51:47.480 --> 00:51:50.000
<v Speaker 2>I left it at the ranger station, told them I'd

847
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:52.920
<v Speaker 2>found it at a camp site. They looked at it

848
00:51:52.920 --> 00:51:56.760
<v Speaker 2>got quiet. The older ranger asked exactly where I'd found it.

849
00:51:57.280 --> 00:51:59.760
<v Speaker 2>When I told him which island, he exchanged a look

850
00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:03.000
<v Speaker 2>with the partner. We've had some reports from that area,

851
00:52:03.119 --> 00:52:08.360
<v Speaker 2>he said, carefully, unusual activity. We're recommending people avoid that

852
00:52:08.440 --> 00:52:11.320
<v Speaker 2>chain of lakes for now. I asked what kind of

853
00:52:11.360 --> 00:52:15.639
<v Speaker 2>activity he wouldn't elaborate, just said they were investigating. But

854
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:18.159
<v Speaker 2>when I was leaving, the younger ranger followed me out

855
00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.920
<v Speaker 2>that tent. He said, We've had three other people turn

856
00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:25.920
<v Speaker 2>in the exact same tent this summer, same model, same age,

857
00:52:26.360 --> 00:52:29.760
<v Speaker 2>same smell, all founded in their gear after camping in

858
00:52:29.800 --> 00:52:32.960
<v Speaker 2>that area. What do you think it means, I asked.

859
00:52:33.440 --> 00:52:36.239
<v Speaker 2>He shook his head. I don't know, but two of

860
00:52:36.280 --> 00:52:38.440
<v Speaker 2>those people said something tried to get into their tent

861
00:52:38.519 --> 00:52:43.599
<v Speaker 2>at night, heard zippers, breathing, footsteps, but never saw anything.

862
00:52:44.440 --> 00:52:46.840
<v Speaker 2>I did some research when I got home, found some

863
00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:50.760
<v Speaker 2>old reports from that area going back decades. Disappearance is

864
00:52:50.800 --> 00:52:55.000
<v Speaker 2>sure that happens in wilderness areas, but also weird stories

865
00:52:55.599 --> 00:52:59.960
<v Speaker 2>duplicate camp sites appearing overnight, people finding their exact setup,

866
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:06.000
<v Speaker 2>tent gear, everything replicated on a nearby island, always empty,

867
00:53:06.519 --> 00:53:11.519
<v Speaker 2>always perfectly arranged, like someone was practicing being human. There

868
00:53:11.559 --> 00:53:13.840
<v Speaker 2>was one story from the eighties that really got to me.

869
00:53:14.480 --> 00:53:17.440
<v Speaker 2>A group of boy scouts camping in the area. One

870
00:53:17.519 --> 00:53:19.400
<v Speaker 2>kid woke up in the middle of the night to pee,

871
00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:22.679
<v Speaker 2>saw another tent near theirs that hadn't been there when

872
00:53:22.719 --> 00:53:27.000
<v Speaker 2>they went to sleep, looked inside and saw himself or

873
00:53:27.039 --> 00:53:29.960
<v Speaker 2>something that looked like him, sleeping in the same position

874
00:53:30.039 --> 00:53:34.400
<v Speaker 2>he'd just been in. He screamed, woke everyone up, but

875
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:38.079
<v Speaker 2>when they looked, the extra tent was gone. I haven't

876
00:53:38.079 --> 00:53:41.079
<v Speaker 2>been back to the boundary water since, can't bring myself

877
00:53:41.119 --> 00:53:43.960
<v Speaker 2>to do it. I keep thinking about that zipper moving

878
00:53:43.960 --> 00:53:47.280
<v Speaker 2>by itself, about someone or something trying to get into

879
00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:50.679
<v Speaker 2>my tent. But worse, I think about that other tent

880
00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:54.199
<v Speaker 2>in my pack. Why leave it there? What was the point?

881
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:58.079
<v Speaker 2>My theory? And I know how insane this sounds, is

882
00:53:58.079 --> 00:54:02.039
<v Speaker 2>that something up there is learning, watching us, copying us,

883
00:54:02.519 --> 00:54:06.519
<v Speaker 2>trying to understand how we work the tents, the zippers,

884
00:54:06.920 --> 00:54:10.840
<v Speaker 2>the mimicry. It's like it's practicing. I still have nightmares

885
00:54:10.840 --> 00:54:13.239
<v Speaker 2>about waking up to find another tent next to mine,

886
00:54:13.880 --> 00:54:17.239
<v Speaker 2>identical in every way, and looking inside to see something

887
00:54:17.320 --> 00:54:21.320
<v Speaker 2>that's almost me but not quite, something that's learned to

888
00:54:21.360 --> 00:54:24.599
<v Speaker 2>look like me, act like me, but doesn't understand the

889
00:54:24.599 --> 00:54:27.159
<v Speaker 2>why of any of it. The sound of a tent

890
00:54:27.280 --> 00:54:30.280
<v Speaker 2>zipper used to mean safety to me, getting sealed in

891
00:54:30.360 --> 00:54:33.760
<v Speaker 2>for the night, protected from the elements. Now it makes

892
00:54:33.800 --> 00:54:37.199
<v Speaker 2>my skin crawl because I know that sometimes the thing

893
00:54:37.280 --> 00:54:40.840
<v Speaker 2>operating that Zipper isn't human, and it's trying to understand

894
00:54:40.880 --> 00:54:44.280
<v Speaker 2>what we are by copying what we do. That tent

895
00:54:44.360 --> 00:54:47.079
<v Speaker 2>that appeared in my pack, I think about it a lot.

896
00:54:47.880 --> 00:54:51.559
<v Speaker 2>Wonder where it came from, Wonder who it belonged to originally.

897
00:54:52.280 --> 00:54:55.280
<v Speaker 2>Wonder if they ever made it home. Wonder what happened

898
00:54:55.320 --> 00:55:00.360
<v Speaker 2>to them if they didn't. Six stories, six encounters people

899
00:55:00.360 --> 00:55:03.360
<v Speaker 2>whose lives were changed by something they can't fully explain.

900
00:55:04.320 --> 00:55:07.079
<v Speaker 2>You might be wondering if these stories are connected somehow,

901
00:55:07.800 --> 00:55:10.039
<v Speaker 2>If the watchers on the ridge are the same beings

902
00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:13.800
<v Speaker 2>that protected those Tennessee valleys. If the creature that young

903
00:55:13.840 --> 00:55:17.559
<v Speaker 2>person fed is related to whatever ran Martha off her land,

904
00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:20.480
<v Speaker 2>If the mimicry in the boundary waters is the same

905
00:55:20.519 --> 00:55:24.559
<v Speaker 2>intelligence that creates those voices in the fog. The truth is,

906
00:55:25.119 --> 00:55:28.400
<v Speaker 2>we don't know, And maybe that's the point. We live

907
00:55:28.440 --> 00:55:31.800
<v Speaker 2>in an age where we think we've discovered everything, mapped everything,

908
00:55:32.159 --> 00:55:36.679
<v Speaker 2>explained everything. But these stories remind us that mystery still exists,

909
00:55:37.280 --> 00:55:39.480
<v Speaker 2>that there are still things out there that don't fit

910
00:55:39.519 --> 00:55:43.360
<v Speaker 2>into our neat categories of known animals, things that watch

911
00:55:43.400 --> 00:55:47.920
<v Speaker 2>us from the edges of our world, sometimes curious, sometimes protective,

912
00:55:48.480 --> 00:55:53.880
<v Speaker 2>sometimes hostile, but always other. Each person who shared their

913
00:55:53.920 --> 00:55:56.199
<v Speaker 2>story with us tonight had to make a choice about

914
00:55:56.199 --> 00:55:59.760
<v Speaker 2>what to do with their experience. Some, like Marcus and

915
00:55:59.760 --> 00:56:03.639
<v Speaker 2>said Era, simply moved on, filing their encounters away as

916
00:56:03.679 --> 00:56:08.360
<v Speaker 2>things they'll never fully understand. Others like Tom became quiet

917
00:56:08.360 --> 00:56:12.480
<v Speaker 2>guardians of dangerous knowledge, subtly steering people away from places

918
00:56:12.480 --> 00:56:16.480
<v Speaker 2>they shouldn't go, And some like Martha and Jake were

919
00:56:16.559 --> 00:56:19.360
<v Speaker 2>left with a fundamental shift in how they see the wilderness,

920
00:56:19.880 --> 00:56:22.440
<v Speaker 2>no longer a place to escape to, but a place

921
00:56:22.440 --> 00:56:26.280
<v Speaker 2>where we're merely tolerated guests. If you take anything from

922
00:56:26.320 --> 00:56:30.239
<v Speaker 2>these stories, let it be this respect the wild places.

923
00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:33.480
<v Speaker 2>Listen to that ancient instinct that tells you when you're

924
00:56:33.519 --> 00:56:37.559
<v Speaker 2>not alone, pay attention when the forest goes silent. And

925
00:56:37.599 --> 00:56:40.119
<v Speaker 2>if you ever find yourself in a situation where every

926
00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:43.159
<v Speaker 2>fiber of your being is telling you to leave, leave,

927
00:56:44.039 --> 00:56:47.119
<v Speaker 2>because somewhere out there, in the spaces between what we

928
00:56:47.239 --> 00:56:49.840
<v Speaker 2>know and what we don't, in the deep forests and

929
00:56:49.880 --> 00:56:55.440
<v Speaker 2>remote mountains, something is watching, something is listening, Something remembers

930
00:56:55.519 --> 00:56:59.159
<v Speaker 2>when the world was theirs alone, And sometimes in those

931
00:56:59.280 --> 00:57:02.400
<v Speaker 2>rare moments and our world's overlap, we get a glimpse

932
00:57:02.440 --> 00:57:05.440
<v Speaker 2>of something that reminds us we're not the only intelligence

933
00:57:05.480 --> 00:57:09.000
<v Speaker 2>on this planet. We're not even the oldest. The next

934
00:57:09.039 --> 00:57:11.159
<v Speaker 2>time you're out in nature and you get that feeling,

935
00:57:11.639 --> 00:57:14.119
<v Speaker 2>that prickle on the back of your neck, that sense

936
00:57:14.159 --> 00:57:18.760
<v Speaker 2>of being observed, remember these stories. Remember that the unknown

937
00:57:18.880 --> 00:57:22.880
<v Speaker 2>isn't always hostile, but it's always worthy of respect. And

938
00:57:22.920 --> 00:57:26.519
<v Speaker 2>maybe just maybe give a small nod to the shadows

939
00:57:26.559 --> 00:57:31.360
<v Speaker 2>between the trees, an acknowledgment, a sign of respect, a

940
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:34.559
<v Speaker 2>recognition that we share this world with mysteries we may

941
00:57:34.599 --> 01:00:46.440
<v Speaker 2>never fully understand. After all, they're watching us, aren't they.

942
01:00:35.519 --> 01:00:35.559
<v Speaker 2>In