WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:01.600 Today, I want to tell you about a journey that 2 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:03.879 I've been on for most of my life. Ever since 3 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:05.799 I was a kid, I've heard tales of bigfoot and 4 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:08.320 wild men while spending time with my friends and family. 5 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:11.439 As I grew older and read more about the paranormal, 6 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.679 my interest in encryptids and other things strange only deepened. 7 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:17.160 That's why I'm so excited to share with you what 8 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:21.640 I've personally become involved with the Untold Radio Network. The 9 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:25.280 Untold Radio Network is a live streaming podcast network that 10 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.359 airs a new show every day across all podcast platforms, YouTube, 11 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.119 and more. They have eight different shows on all sorts 12 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:36.119 of exciting topics such as bigfoot, cryptids, UFOs, aliens, and 13 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.479 much more. I even have my own show called Weird Encounters, 14 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:42.439 where I talk about all things strange. This is more 15 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:45.280 than just a podcast network. It's a community that allows 16 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:47.759 me to meet so many amazing people who share their 17 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:51.520 stories and experiences with strange. If you're interested in hearing 18 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:53.880 more of these stories and learning more about the paranormal 19 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:56.679 and encryptids, make sure you check out the Untold Radio 20 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.640 Network for all kinds of exciting shows. It's free to subscribe. 21 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:04.400 So what are you waiting for visit www dot untold 22 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:06.560 radionetwork dot com today. 23 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:09.680 Now, what are your reporting? I got a screen going 24 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:12.120 on here. Something just kid with my dog, something to 25 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.280 kill your dog? My dog. We're flying through there over 26 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:20.079 the tree. I don't know how it did it? Okay, Damn, 27 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.640 I'm really confused. All I saw was my dog coming 28 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:24.480 over the fence and name was dead once you hit 29 00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:26.560 the grill. I didn't see any cars. All I saw 30 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:45.120 was my dog coming over the fence. Sat, what are 31 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:49.959 you reporting? We got some wonder or something crawling around 32 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:58.640 out here? Did you see what it was? It was 33 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:01.439 enough out here? Look him new the window now and 34 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:03.439 I don't need anything. I don't want to go outside. 35 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:12.199 It's fright. Hello, hit the boddy out here? What quin? 36 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.159 I'm out there? I thought of a venus about text nine. 37 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:17.719 I don't know easy him out there? Yeah, I'm walking 38 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:18.240 right heady. 39 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:21.719 My name is Thomas, and I've spent my whole life 40 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:26.000 hearing stories about my grandfather Jim. Though I never met him, 41 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:29.719 his legend looms large in our family. He disappeared in 42 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.719 the dense forests of the Appalachian Mountains back in nineteen 43 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:36.840 seventy two before I was born. The official report says 44 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:39.560 he was just another moonshiner who met with an accident 45 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.039 in those treacherous hills, probably fell down a ravine or 46 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.639 got lost in a sudden storm. But my father, Samuel 47 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:51.039 told me different stories, stories he swore were true, passed 48 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.240 down from my grandfather himself. This is what I know. 49 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:58.199 Jim wasn't just any moonshiner. He was a mountain man 50 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:02.159 through and through. Knew those hills better than anyone. He 51 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.360 could navigate blindfolded through the thickest parts of the forest, 52 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.400 even in the dead of night. A man like that 53 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:12.360 doesn't just get lost, And according to my father, Jim 54 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.840 didn't meet his end from any normal mountain danger. What 55 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.879 took my grandfather was something else, entirely, something that most 56 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.319 folks would dismiss as mountain folklore or the ramblings of 57 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.680 a whiskey addled mind. But my father never touched a 58 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.400 drop of alcohol in his life, and he wasn't one 59 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:32.800 for tall tales. He believed every word he told me, 60 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:36.479 right up until cancer took him last year. Now I'm 61 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.439 the only one left who knows the full story, not 62 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:42.479 just about how Jim disappeared, But about all the years 63 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.199 leading up to it, his encounters with something that shouldn't exist, 64 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:49.960 something that most people would call a sasquatch or bigfoot. 65 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.639 This is his story, as told to my father and 66 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.360 then to me, a story about Whiskey Mountains and the 67 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.120 shadows that move between the trees when no one's look. 68 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:03.639 Jim was born in nineteen o eight in a small 69 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.479 cabin tucked away in the hills of western North Carolina 70 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.919 near the Tennessee border. His people had been there since 71 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:13.319 before the Revolutionary War, scratching out a living from the 72 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:18.160 unforgiving mountain soil. Like most mountain families, they supplemented their 73 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.600 income however they could, and for our family, that meant 74 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.360 making moonshine. My great grandfather taught Jim the art of 75 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:28.560 distilling when he was just twelve years old. By the 76 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:32.279 time prohibition hit in nineteen twenty, Jim was already familiar 77 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:35.439 with every step of the process, from fermenting the corn 78 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:39.480 mash to distilling the clear potent liquor. When my great 79 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.279 grandfather died from pneumonia in nineteen twenty six, eighteen year 80 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:46.199 old Jim took over the family business without missing a beat. 81 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:50.120 Your grandfather wasn't just any moonshiner. My father would tell 82 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.079 me he had a gift for it. People would come 83 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:55.279 from three counties over just to get a jar of 84 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:58.480 our shine. He knew exactly when to make the cuts, 85 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:01.240 how to get that smooth finished that didn't burn your 86 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:04.720 throat like cheap hooch. He could have gone legitimate after 87 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:07.560 prohibition ended, but he was stubborn as a mule and 88 00:05:07.639 --> 00:05:10.680 hated paying taxes to a government he never felt did 89 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:15.680 anything for him. Jim married my grandmother Martha in nineteen thirty. 90 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.639 They had their only child, my father, Samuel, in nineteen 91 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:22.879 forty two. From what my father told me, they were 92 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:25.800 happy in their little cabin, even if life was hard. 93 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:29.279 Jim would disappear into the mountains for days at a time, 94 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:33.240 tending to his stills or delivering his product, while Martha 95 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.480 kept a small garden and taught at the local one 96 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:39.920 room schoolhouse. He loved those mountains, my father said, used 97 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:42.079 to tell me they were in his blood. Said he 98 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:46.079 could feel them breathing sometimes, like they were alive. I 99 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.279 thought it was just talk until I got older and 100 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:52.439 realized he meant it literally. My father's earliest memories were 101 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:55.480 of sitting on Jim's knee by the fireplace, listening to 102 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:59.279 him tell stories about the mountains, stories about strange lights 103 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:02.959 in the distance, unusual rock formations that seemed to move 104 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.519 when you weren't looking, and sounds in the night that 105 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.319 couldn't be explained away as any known animal. He never 106 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:12.600 mentioned the creatures at first, my father explained, I think 107 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:15.160 he wanted to ease me into it, not scare me 108 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:18.399 right off. But looking back, I can see now that 109 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.800 all those stories were building up to something. The first 110 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.759 direct encounter happened in the summer of nineteen forty seven. 111 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.079 My father was five years old, and Jim had taken 112 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.399 him along to check on a still for the first time. 113 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:33.720 It was just a short trip, less than a mile 114 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.600 from their cabin, but deep in the woods of Booger Holler, 115 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:40.399 where no casual hiker would stumble upon it. I remember 116 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.399 it was hot, real hot, my father told me, the 117 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:45.519 kind of day where the air feels thick enough to 118 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.600 cut with a knife. We'd been walking for maybe twenty 119 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:52.279 minutes when your grandfather suddenly stopped. I crashed right into 120 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:54.519 the back of his legs, and before I could say anything, 121 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:58.399 he put his finger to his lips and pointed through 122 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:00.600 a gap in the trees about fifty year yards away. 123 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.480 Something large and dark moved between the trunks. My father 124 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.720 said he thought it was a bear at first, there 125 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:09.480 were plenty of black bears in those hills, but then 126 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:11.399 it stood up on two legs and reached for a 127 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:14.800 high branch. It must have been eight feet tall at least, 128 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.319 he said, covered in dark hair, with arms that hung 129 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:21.240 down past its knees. I only saw it for a 130 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.879 few seconds before your grandfather pulled me down behind a 131 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:28.120 fallen log. We stayed there, quiet as church mice for 132 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:31.079 what felt like hours but was probably only fifteen minutes. 133 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:34.639 Then Jim picked me up and we went home. Never 134 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:37.680 even made it to the still that day. On the 135 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:41.240 way back, Jim swore my father to secrecy. Not a 136 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:43.759 word to your mama, He said, she'll never let you 137 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:47.120 come with me again if she knows. That night, after 138 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.720 my father was supposed to be asleep, he heard Jim 139 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:53.560 and Martha talking in hushed tones by the fireplace. I've 140 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.560 been seeing it for years, Martha, Jim said, always at 141 00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.079 a distance, never this close. I thought maybe it was 142 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:03.439 just shadows playing tricks, or my mind, making shapes out 143 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.839 of nothing. But today Sam saw it too. You shouldn't 144 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.959 have taken him. Those things are dangerous, Jim. My daddy 145 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:14.560 told me stories about them when I was little, said, 146 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:17.240 his grandfather lost two hunting dogs to one back in 147 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:21.360 the eighteen eighties, tore them clean in half. It didn't 148 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.720 seem aggressive, Jim argued, It was just there minding its 149 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:30.360 own business for now. Martha said, but that's their territory, Jim, 150 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:34.960 you're the trespasser, my father said. Jim went quiet after that, 151 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:38.919 and eventually they went to bed. The next morning. No 152 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.679 one mentioned the creature and life continued as normal. But 153 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:46.080 from then on, Jim always carried his old Winchester rifle 154 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.480 when he went to check on his stills, something he 155 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.679 hadn't done before. Over the next few years, the sightings continued, 156 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:56.279 though they were rare and always at a distance. My 157 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.440 father accompanied Jim more frequently as he got older, and 158 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:03.320 occasionally they would spot the creature, or perhaps different creatures, 159 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:07.919 moving through the trees. Sometimes they would find footprints, enormous 160 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:10.840 impressions in the soft earth that couldn't belong to any 161 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:15.000 known animal in those mountains. Your grandfather started marking them 162 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.519 on a map. My father told me he wanted to 163 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:22.279 figure out their territory, their habits. He was fascinated by them, 164 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:26.240 not scared like most folks would be. By nineteen fifty three, 165 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.440 Jim had developed a theory. They're a family group, he 166 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:32.240 told my father during one of their trips. At least 167 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:35.000 three of them by my count, they migrate through these 168 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:39.240 hills seasonally following the game. Probably they're not much different 169 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.440 from bears in that way. Did you ever tell anyone 170 00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:45.480 else about them? I asked my father. He shook his head. 171 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.919 Jim swore me to secrecy, and I kept that promise 172 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:52.440 until now. Mountain folk might believe in such things more 173 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:55.960 readily than city people, but even so, claiming to have 174 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.759 seen a Sasquatch would have gotten us labeled as crazy. Besides, 175 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:03.159 your grandfather liked having a secret, said it gave him 176 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.279 an edge. By the mid nineteen fifties, the moonshine business 177 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.840 was getting more competitive. Legitimate alcohol was widely available, and 178 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:15.320 the revenue agents were cracking down hard on illegal distillers. 179 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.600 Many of Jim's contemporaries either went legitimate, moved on to 180 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:24.279 other endeavors, or got arrested, but Jim adapted. He moved 181 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:27.320 his stills deeper into the mountains, into an area that 182 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.559 locals had always avoided. According to my father, there had 183 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:34.320 been stories about that part of the forest for generations, 184 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.799 Tales of hunters who went in and never came out, 185 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.679 of strange screams in the night that didn't sound human 186 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:45.559 or animal, and of rocks thrown from unseen assailants. Most 187 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.639 folks called it booger holler. My father said no one 188 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:51.919 would go there willingly. The revenue agents wouldn't even venture 189 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:55.159 that far into the mountains, not even with armed escorts. 190 00:10:55.720 --> 00:11:01.000 They were superstitious, many of them being local boys themselves. Jim, however, 191 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:04.519 saw an opportunity. If he could operate his stills in 192 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.000 an area that no one else dared to enter, he 193 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.799 would have virtually no competition and no interference from the law. 194 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.799 He was playing a dangerous game, my father said. He 195 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.120 knew those creatures were real, knew they lived in those parts. 196 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.480 But he figured if he stayed alert and careful, kept 197 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:24.240 his wits about him, he could work there without trouble, 198 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:29.000 and for many years he did. Jim established certain rules 199 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:32.879 for himself. He would only visit the stills during daylight hours. 200 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.039 He would never stay overnight in that part of the forest. 201 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:39.480 He would make noise as he approached, so nothing would 202 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:43.600 be startled by his presence. It sounds crazy, my father admitted, 203 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:48.320 but it worked. The business thrived. While other moonshiners were 204 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:52.000 getting caught or giving up, Jim was expanding. He had 205 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:55.519 buyers as far away as Charlotte and Atlanta. People said 206 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.240 our shine was worth the premium because it was so smooth, 207 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.000 but they had no idea that they were paying extra 208 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:05.600 for whiskey made in Sasquatch Country. Whenever other moonshiners would 209 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:08.960 ask Jim about his secret locations, he would just smile 210 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:12.399 and tap his nose. There are places in these mountains 211 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:16.279 that belonged to something else, he'd say, cryptically. I tread 212 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:20.000 careful there, but you might not be so lucky. This 213 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.559 reputation actually helped insulate Jim from competition. No one wanted 214 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:27.120 to follow him too closely or encroach on what they 215 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:32.120 believed was his territory. The few who tried reported strange experiences. 216 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.799 Tools gone missing, stills destroyed by what looked like enormous hands, 217 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.000 terrifying screams in the night that sent them running back 218 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:43.840 down the mountain. Did the creatures actually protect his stills? 219 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:47.600 I asked my father once he shrugged. I can't say 220 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:51.080 for sure. Maybe Jim damaged those stills himself to scare 221 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:54.480 off competition, But I do know he genuinely believed he 222 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:57.399 could work in their territory if he was careful. He 223 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:01.279 respected their space, didn't make a nuisance of himself. But 224 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:05.399 he never forgot they were wild animals, dangerous ones. He 225 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:09.080 never let down his guard. Those instincts would serve him 226 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.000 well as the years passed, though in the end they 227 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.679 wouldn't be enough. By the early nineteen sixties, my father 228 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:18.639 was a young man of twenty working alongside Jim in 229 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:22.480 the family business. The sightings had become more frequent and 230 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:26.440 sometimes more concerning. The creatures seemed to be getting bolder, 231 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:29.919 my father recalled. We'd catch glimpses of them watching us 232 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.600 from a closer distance than before. Sometimes we'd hear wood 233 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:36.360 knocking or strange whistles that Jim said was their way 234 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:39.720 of warning each other of our presence. In the spring 235 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.039 of nineteen sixty three, they found one of the stills destroyed, 236 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.039 not just tipped over or damaged, but completely torn apart. 237 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:51.679 The copper coils twisted like pretzels. The wooden fermentation barrel 238 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.799 splintered to pieces. No human could have done that, my 239 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.679 father said. It would have taken three or four strong 240 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:00.320 men with tools, but this looked like it had been 241 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:03.720 done with bare hands. Your grandfather just stood there looking 242 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:07.879 at the destruction, then said, they're warning us. They want 243 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:12.240 this territory back. Jim decided to abandon that particular side 244 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:15.679 and move the operation elsewhere, still within Booger Holler, but 245 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.159 in a different section. For a while, things calmed down. 246 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:23.519 The sightings continued, but at a distance. Then came the 247 00:14:23.559 --> 00:14:27.720 summer of nineteen sixty seven. It was unusually hot and 248 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:31.120 the forest was dry from lack of rain. Food would 249 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:34.200 have been scarcer for all the mountain creatures, including the 250 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:38.000 Sasquatch family. We were checking on the most remote still, 251 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.679 my father told me, when we heard a commotion ahead 252 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:43.440 of us, Jim motioned for me to stay back while 253 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:46.799 he crept forward to investigate. I didn't listen, of course, 254 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:50.840 I was twenty five and thought I was invincible. What 255 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.519 they saw through the trees was something My father said 256 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:57.919 he would never forget. Two creatures, both well over seven 257 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:00.720 feet tall, were fighting over the car of a deer. 258 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:04.639 Stay tuned for more sasquatch oat to see. We'll be 259 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:12.080 right back after these messages. The sounds they made were 260 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:16.639 unlike anything he'd ever heard, not quite human, not quite animal, 261 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:20.679 but something in between grunts and roars that seemed to 262 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:24.039 contain meaning. They were so focused on each other that 263 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.039 they didn't notice us at first. My father said we 264 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:30.799 should have backed away immediately, but we were transfixed. Then 265 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.399 one of them threw the other into a tree, just 266 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:35.480 picked it up and threw it like it weighed nothing. 267 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:39.600 The tree cracked from the impact. The sound of the 268 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:43.240 breaking tree caught the creature's attention. Both heads snapped toward 269 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:46.759 where Jim and my father were hiding. Your grandfather grabbed 270 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:48.120 my arm and said, one word. 271 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:49.120 Run. 272 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.279 They ran faster than they ever had before, crashing through 273 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:57.000 the underbrush with no attempt at stealth. Behind them, they 274 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.960 could hear the creatures giving chase, moving through the forest 275 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.320 with surprising speed for their size. We made it to 276 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.879 a creek and splashed across, My father continued. Jim said 277 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.399 they didn't like water, that it might slow them down. 278 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:10.639 He was right. 279 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:13.600 They stopped at the edge of the creek, pacing back 280 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:17.440 and forth making those awful sounds. We didn't stop running 281 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:22.039 until we reached the truck. That night, Jim was unusually quiet. 282 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:25.039 When my father asked if they should move the stills again, 283 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.879 maybe even out of Booger Holler entirely, Jim shook his head. 284 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.759 They could have caught us if they wanted to. He said, 285 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.919 they're faster than us, stronger than us. The fact that 286 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:38.120 they stopped at the creek means they were just warning 287 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:42.440 us off, not truly hunting us. But they're getting more territorial. 288 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.240 The food scarce this year. We need to be more careful. 289 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:50.600 My father wasn't so sure. I suggested that maybe it 290 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.039 was time to get out of the moonshine business altogether. 291 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.360 He told me the country was changing, there were more 292 00:16:56.440 --> 00:17:00.080 legitimate opportunities. I'd met your mother by then and was 293 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:02.720 thinking about starting a family. I didn't want to keep 294 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:06.359 risking my life in those mountains. But Jim was adamant. 295 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.799 This is what our family does. He said, this is 296 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.440 our heritage. I'm not giving it up because of a 297 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:16.559 couple of hairy beasts. From then on, my father limited 298 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.119 his involvement in the business. He would help with the 299 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.759 distribution end, driving the product to buyers and nearby towns, 300 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:26.079 but he rarely ventured into Booger Holler with Jim anymore. 301 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.359 I had a bad feeling, he confessed to me, like 302 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.440 something was building up, Like we were heading towards something 303 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:35.799 we couldn't turn back from. I tried to tell your grandfather, 304 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:39.359 but he wouldn't listen. He'd been operating around those creatures 305 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.000 for twenty years by then. He thought he understood their patterns, 306 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:46.000 thought he knew how to avoid trouble. But I think 307 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:49.839 he was underestimating them their ferocity when pushed too far. 308 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.720 Looking back, my father believed that the summer of nineteen 309 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.519 sixty seven marked a turning point. The creatures that had 310 00:17:57.559 --> 00:18:01.759 tolerated human presence at a distance were becoming increasingly hostile, 311 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:07.240 increasingly territorial. The late nineteen sixties brought changes to the mountains. 312 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:10.920 More people were moving into areas that had once been isolated, 313 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.559 building vacation homes or looking to get back to nature 314 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:18.200 as part of the counterculture movement. The increased human presence 315 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:23.440 put pressure on all the wildlife, including presumably the Sasquatch family. 316 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:27.160 Jim noticed they were becoming more aggressive my father said 317 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.599 he'd find his truck scratched up, like something with massive 318 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.279 claws had run down the side of it. Twice he 319 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:37.400 found dead animals, a fox once, a raccoon another time, 320 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.920 placed very deliberately on the path to one of his stills. 321 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:44.039 I told him they were warnings, but he just saw 322 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.839 them as territorial markers, like a bear might leave. Despite 323 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:51.960 these signs, Jim became more determined than ever to maintain 324 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.680 his operation in Booger Holler. He began carrying two guns 325 00:18:55.720 --> 00:18:58.680 instead of one, and would sometimes fire shots into the 326 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:02.559 air before approaching stills, thinking the noise would scare the 327 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.759 creatures away. It was pride, my father said, simply, He'd 328 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:09.680 spent too many years thinking of that land as partially his. 329 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:13.279 He couldn't accept that the creatures wanted him gone completely. 330 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.000 In the summer of nineteen seventy, there was an incident 331 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:20.559 that shook even Jim's confidence. He had hired a local boy, 332 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.160 nineteen year old Billy, to help him with some of 333 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.839 the heavy lifting around the stills. Billy disappeared one day 334 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.000 while checking on a fermentation batch. Jim found the still untouched, 335 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:35.000 but Billy was gone without a trace. An extensive search 336 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:37.960 was organized, with dozens of locals combing the mountains for 337 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.400 any sign of the young man. After a week, they 338 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:43.799 found one of his boots, nearly three miles from where 339 00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:46.839 he had last been seen, the leather torn and covered 340 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.480 in dark stains that looked like dried blood. Nothing else 341 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:54.119 was ever found. The official explanation was that Billy had 342 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.720 been attacked by a bear or fallen from a cliff 343 00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:59.920 and been dragged off by scavengers. But Jim knew better, 344 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.359 and so did my father. That was the first time 345 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:06.039 I saw real fear in your grandfather's eyes. My father 346 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.359 told me he came to our house, your mother and 347 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:11.720 I were living in town by then, and he just 348 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.119 sat at our kitchen table with his head in his hands. 349 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:17.559 I got that boy killed, He kept saying, they took 350 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:21.559 him because of me. For a few months after Billy's disappearance, 351 00:20:21.880 --> 00:20:25.000 Jim stayed away from Booger Holler. He focused on his 352 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:27.920 stills in the safer parts of the mountains, even though 353 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:31.599 they were more vulnerable to discovery by revenue agents. My 354 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.799 father thought he might finally be ready to leave the 355 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.240 dangerous area for good, but by the spring of nineteen 356 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:40.799 seventy one, Jim was back to his old ways. The 357 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:43.839 lure of the isolated territory and the protection it offered 358 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:47.720 from law enforcement was too strong to resist. He told 359 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.519 me he had a new strategy. My father said. He'd 360 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:53.480 reduced his operation to just two stills in Booger Holler, 361 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:58.200 and he changed his patterns constantly, different days, different times. 362 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:01.400 He thought if he was unpredicted, the creatures wouldn't be 363 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:03.599 able to ambush him like they might have done with Billy. 364 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.559 My father told me Jim had become almost obsessive about 365 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:11.000 safety during this period. He set up trip wires with 366 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:14.160 bells around the steals, not to hurt anything, but to 367 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:17.559 warn him if something large approached. I think he knew 368 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.279 his time and Booger Holler was running out, my father said, 369 00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:23.279 but he couldn't bring himself to leave. It was like 370 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:25.519 a game of chicken with creatures that didn't know they 371 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:30.920 were playing. As nineteen seventy one turned to nineteen seventy two, Jim, 372 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:34.400 now sixty four years old, showed no signs of slowing 373 00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:38.279 down or retiring from the moonshine business. If anything, he 374 00:21:38.359 --> 00:21:41.799 became more entrenched in his routine, more determined, to prove 375 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.240 he could outwit the increasingly hostile creatures of Booger Holler. 376 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.559 The last time I saw him, my father said, his 377 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:52.599 voice catching slightly, was in April of seventy two. He 378 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.000 came by the house to meet you. Your mother was 379 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.839 eight months pregnant with you. Then he brought a jar 380 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.960 of shine for me to save for when you were grown. 381 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:05.319 He seemed jumpy, looking over his shoulder, checking the door 382 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:08.160 was locked. I asked him what was wrong, and he 383 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:11.359 just shook his head. My father still had that jar, 384 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.480 kept it all these years. He showed it to me 385 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:16.799 on my twenty first birthday, but wouldn't let me drink it. 386 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.440 This is the last thing your grandfather ever made, he said. 387 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.759 We're just going to look at it and remember him. 388 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.359 As I held that jar, I wondered what Jim had 389 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:28.640 seen or heard in those final weeks that had made 390 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:32.480 him so nervous. Had he known somehow that his time 391 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:37.000 was almost up. On May seventeenth, nineteen seventy two, Jim 392 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:39.039 drove his old truck up the mountain road for the 393 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:42.119 last time. He told my grandmother he was going to 394 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:44.720 check on both his Stills and Booger Holler and would 395 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:47.720 be back by dinner. When night fell with no sign 396 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.599 of him, she called my father, who organized a search party. 397 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:54.799 We waited until morning. My father said no one wanted 398 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:58.160 to go into those mountains at night, especially not Booger Holler. 399 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.599 We found his truck park at the usual spot at 400 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.519 the end of an old logging road. His rifle was 401 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:07.720