Speaker 1: Greetings, fellow seekers of the unknown. It's Brian and I'm
Speaker 1: here today to share something truly extraordinary with all of you.
Speaker 1: As you know, my journey to uncover the truth of
Speaker 1: all things strange has taken me on a wild ride
Speaker 1: filled with incredible experiences and encounters with the unseen, and
Speaker 1: today I want to share that journey with all of
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Speaker 2: Now are you reporting? Ah? I got a screen going
Speaker 2: on here. Something just kidding my dog? Something killed your dog?
Speaker 2: My dog. We're applying through here over the trade. I
Speaker 2: don't know how it did it? Okay, damn, I'm really
Speaker 2: confused now. All I thought was my dog coming over
Speaker 2: the fence and they would have dead. And when you
Speaker 2: hit the ground, I entertaining cars. All I thought was
Speaker 2: my dog coming over the fence. Reporting. We got some
Speaker 2: understuffing brawling around out here. Did you see what it was?
Speaker 2: I'm out here, look, I'm near the one noow now
Speaker 2: and I don't need anything. I don't want to go outside.
Speaker 2: He is quite Hello, hit the boddy out here? What
Speaker 2: quin on out there? I thought of a bit of
Speaker 2: about text nine. I don't know you see announce there? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm walking right heady.
Speaker 1: Hey there, and thanks for joining me for the show. Today,
Speaker 1: I'm sharing several incredible encounter stories from Alaska. These stories
Speaker 1: originally come from Fred of the Subarctic Alaskan Sasquatch YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: and I think it's important to address why I'm choosing
Speaker 1: to narrate these myself today. Fred's episodes have sparked quite
Speaker 1: the reaction. While many of you have appreciated hearing these raw,
Speaker 1: fascinating tales, I've also received more than my share of
Speaker 1: nasty emails and one star reviews about featuring them. Let
Speaker 1: me be clear, I believe it's vital for Fred's voice
Speaker 1: and these incredible stories, especially those involving indigenous perspectives, to
Speaker 1: be heard. That's why I've shared his content before. However,
Speaker 1: I've reached a point where I no longer care to
Speaker 1: sift through the negativity. Because of that, I'm choosing to
Speaker 1: do the extra work of narrating these stories myself. I
Speaker 1: want to ensure these encounters are told with the care
Speaker 1: and attention they deserve, while also sparing myself the frustration
Speaker 1: of fielding criticism that misses the point entirely. These stories
Speaker 1: are as important, if not more so, than many of
Speaker 1: the others I've shared. They offer perspectives and experiences we
Speaker 1: rarely hear, and I'm committed to bringing them to you. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: I'm just a podcaster, but I care deeply about this subject,
Speaker 1: and like many of you, I've had experiences I can't explain.
Speaker 1: I'm seeking answers, and stories like these from Alaska are
Speaker 1: a critical part of that search. Narration takes time, so
Speaker 1: I ask for your patients as I continue to bring
Speaker 1: these encounters to life. For those who've taken the time
Speaker 1: to send angry emails or leave harsh reviews about Fred,
Speaker 1: I challenge you to ask yourself what drives you to
Speaker 1: put others down? Is it truly helping? My goal has
Speaker 1: always been to make this podcast as fresh and innovative
Speaker 1: as possible. I work tirelessly to bring you something meaningful
Speaker 1: each week, whether it's eyewitness interviews, articles of interest, or
Speaker 1: chapters from my book, Born Wild Coda's Odyssey. And to
Speaker 1: everyone else, if you enjoy what you hear, I'd appreciate
Speaker 1: it if you could reflect that in your ratings and reviews. Now,
Speaker 1: let's talk about reviews for a moment. It's rare that
Speaker 1: someone takes the time to tell a podcaster or any
Speaker 1: business for that matter how much they enjoy the show
Speaker 1: or product. Statistically, people are far more likely to leave
Speaker 1: a review when they're unhappy than when they're satisfied. Research
Speaker 1: shows that negative reviews outnumber positive ones by up to
Speaker 1: three to one on most platforms. Look, I get it,
Speaker 1: it's human nature to vent frustration, but appreciation often goes unspoken.
Speaker 1: As a creator who pours heart and soul into this
Speaker 1: podcast every week, it's always refreshing to hear kind words.
Speaker 1: To quote Maya Angelo, people will forget what you said,
Speaker 1: people will forget what you did, but people will never
Speaker 1: forget how you made them feel. When someone takes a
Speaker 1: moment to leave a thoughtful review or a kind message,
Speaker 1: it's a reminder of why I do this To everyone
Speaker 1: who has reached out to share what this podcast means
Speaker 1: to you. Thank you. You keep me going Right now,
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of you are listening to this podcast
Speaker 1: on Apple or Spotify, but there are only eight hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty three reviews on Apple and six hundred ten
Speaker 1: on Spotify. That's less than one percent of the total
Speaker 1: number of you that listened to this show each month.
Speaker 1: It takes just a few seconds to leave a rating
Speaker 1: or maybe a minute to write a review, but that
Speaker 1: minute means the world to me and makes a huge
Speaker 1: difference for the show. So thank you for sticking with me.
Speaker 1: These stories are important and I'll keep bringing them to
Speaker 1: you because they matter. Now, let's dive into this week's
Speaker 1: encounters from North of the Border, haunting tales that deserve
Speaker 1: to be heard. This story comes from Thomas and Molly,
Speaker 1: not their real names, and it's set in a small
Speaker 1: village along the Couscokwim River. We'll leave it at that
Speaker 1: for privacy. In this village, there is still a strong
Speaker 1: belief in the supernatural, including entities like the Hairy Man,
Speaker 1: the Little People, and other cryptids. These beliefs, deeply rooted
Speaker 1: in the culture, are hard to overcome. Thomas inherited a
Speaker 1: piece of property from his grandfather near the edge of
Speaker 1: the village. For five or six years, he and Molly
Speaker 1: worked on the property, making small improvements whenever time allowed.
Speaker 1: The land was about one hundred yards from the tree line,
Speaker 1: and their progress was slow because they could only work
Speaker 1: in the after hunting season. They weren't wealthy, but they
Speaker 1: did what they could, bit by bit to prepare for
Speaker 1: building a house. One day after working on the floor
Speaker 1: of the house, they decided to head out and pick
Speaker 1: berries behind the property. They walked through a dense cluster
Speaker 1: of trees about four hundred yards thick, before emerging on
Speaker 1: the other side, where there were plenty of blackberries, low bush, blueberries,
Speaker 1: and more. It was a beautiful spot and they were
Speaker 1: in good spirits, laughing, joking, and enjoying the day. Thomas
Speaker 1: carried his thirty ought six rifle for safety because bears
Speaker 1: and moose were still active in the area during that
Speaker 1: time of year. As they were picking berries, Molly noticed
Speaker 1: something unusual. It's really quiet, she said. They stopped to listen,
Speaker 1: realizing just how silent it was. The usual background noise
Speaker 1: of birds, insects, and other wildlife was gone. An oppressive
Speaker 1: feeling hung over the area. When I later asked Thomas
Speaker 1: to describe it, he said it felt sinister, as if
Speaker 1: something was projecting a sense of danger directly on to him.
Speaker 1: He'd never felt anything like it before, this overwhelming sense
Speaker 1: of panic and dread. Despite the uneasy silence, they continued
Speaker 1: picking berries. Thomas was kneeling on a tuft of tundra
Speaker 1: with the tree line at their backs and open marshland
Speaker 1: stretching out in front of them. The area they were
Speaker 1: in was a large circular clearing with rolling hills in
Speaker 1: the distance. While scanning the landscape, Thomas noticed a dark
Speaker 1: speck moving on the far hills. At first, it was
Speaker 1: hard to pinpoint, appearing in one spot and then another,
Speaker 1: the dark figure seemed to be moving closer. Alarm, Thomas
Speaker 1: asked Molly to grab the binoculars from their backpack. As
Speaker 1: soon as he held them, the panicky feeling intensified. He
Speaker 1: scanned the hills but saw no movement. Turning his attention
Speaker 1: to the foreground, he began searching the wide open area
Speaker 1: ahead of them. The clearing was about three hundred to
Speaker 1: four hundred yards across, with small islands of black spruce
Speaker 1: and willows dotting the landscape. Finally, he spotted the dark
Speaker 1: figure again. It was low to the ground, moving closer
Speaker 1: but still at a distance, disappearing and reappearing as it
Speaker 1: moved through the uneven tundra. That's when the fight or
Speaker 1: flight instinct kicked in. Pack up, Thomas told Molly, we're going.
Speaker 1: They quickly gathered their things and headed back through the
Speaker 1: trees toward the property. Thomas initially thought it might be
Speaker 1: a grizzly bear heading for the town dump, so he
Speaker 1: figured the best thing to do was to avoid it entirely.
Speaker 1: When they reached the gravel pad on the property, a
Speaker 1: cleared area where a bulldozer had exposed the surface dirt,
Speaker 1: Thomas felt a brief sense of relief. However, as they
Speaker 1: prepared to leave on the four wheeler, they heard a
Speaker 1: chilling noise from the trees. It was a low, growling
Speaker 1: scream that lasted about ten seconds. Thomas described it as
Speaker 1: a mix between a pig squeal and a bear's growl.
Speaker 1: He assumed it was an injured bear and decided it
Speaker 1: was best to leave. As they rode back to the village,
Speaker 1: Molly noticed movement in the trees to their left. She
Speaker 1: pointed it out and Thomas slowed the fore wheeler. He
Speaker 1: saw a dark figure about eighty yards away, partially obscured
Speaker 1: by the trees. Grabbing his rifle, he looked through the
Speaker 1: scope and saw the figure moving away. He assumed it
Speaker 1: was the same bear, now retreating after possibly catching their scent.
Speaker 1: A week later, Thomas returned to the property with fresh
Speaker 1: supplies to work on the house. He had just finished
Speaker 1: part of the floor and was sitting on it sipping
Speaker 1: coffee when he noticed movement on the berm at the
Speaker 1: back of the property. Grabbing his rifle, he climbed onto
Speaker 1: the four wheeler for a better view. He saw a wide,
Speaker 1: brown figure moving through the trees. Assuming it was the
Speaker 1: same bear, he resolved to deal with it if it
Speaker 1: came back. Later that day, Thomas heard the sound of
Speaker 1: breaking trees. He grabbed his rifle and scanned the area,
Speaker 1: but didn't see anything. Immediately, as he approached the area
Speaker 1: where the noise had come from, he felt that same
Speaker 1: oppressive sense atmosphere. He spotted movement in the trees, a
Speaker 1: broad shouldered figure with no neck, partially obscured by shadows.
Speaker 1: It duck down when it noticed his rifle. The ringing
Speaker 1: in his ears grew unbearable, and he decided to back off.
Speaker 1: Molly arrived later on a four wheeler with their oldest child.
Speaker 1: As they approached the property, she noticed the figure standing
Speaker 1: near the trees. It threw a tree in their direction,
Speaker 1: landing it in a ditch beside the road. Molly turned
Speaker 1: the four wheeler around and sped back to the village.
Speaker 1: When Thomas returned home, Molly described what she had seen
Speaker 1: a large, hairy figure standing upright. The village elders advised
Speaker 1: Thomas not to engage with the creature or disturb the
Speaker 1: property until it moved on. He paused construction for a
Speaker 1: couple of seasons, but eventually he had to resume work
Speaker 1: due to their growing family. With help from friends, he
Speaker 1: brought supplies to the property. One day. While unloading materials,
Speaker 1: they spotted the creature again. It stood behind them the
Speaker 1: berm swaying back and forth. When Thomas yelled, it dropped
Speaker 1: to all fours, leaped over the berm, and disappeared into
Speaker 1: the trees. Despite seeing bear tracks in the area, Thomas
Speaker 1: and his friends were certain the creature wasn't a bear.
Speaker 1: Taking the elder's advice, Thomas performed a ritual to protect
Speaker 1: the property. He walked a large circle around the land,
Speaker 1: saying prayers for protection. He repeated the ritual several times
Speaker 1: over a few days, and the oppressive atmosphere seemed to lift.
Speaker 1: The construction continued without further incidents, and the family eventually
Speaker 1: moved into the house. However, things took another turn when
Speaker 1: they allowed a troubled relative to stay with them. This
Speaker 1: relative's behavior caused tension in the household, and Thomas believed
Speaker 1: it may have undone the protective prayers. The sinister presence
Speaker 1: returned and the creature began approaching the house, peering through
Speaker 1: windows and lingering near the porch. Thomas repeated the prayer
Speaker 1: ritual and the activity eventually stuck. Since then, Thomas has
Speaker 1: performed the ritual every spring to insure his family's safety.
Speaker 1: He shared his story in hopes that it might help
Speaker 1: others dealing with similar situations. He also warned about the
Speaker 1: importance of being mindful of who you invite into your home,
Speaker 1: as it could disrupt any protective measures in place. This
Speaker 1: is a story that comes from Dwayne and Roger. They
Speaker 1: live in Anchorage, and about twenty years ago, these lifelong
Speaker 1: best friends decided they wanted to try commercial salmon fishing together.
Speaker 1: They reached out to some people they knew and eventually
Speaker 1: landed deckhand jobs in Bristol Bay. It's a great place
Speaker 1: for salmon fishing, being home to the largest salmon return
Speaker 1: in the world. At the end of their first season,
Speaker 1: the boat captain they were working for, a local Native
Speaker 1: man from Togiak, took them up the Togiak River to
Speaker 1: Togiak Lake. The area was stunning and the experience left
Speaker 1: a lasting impression on both of them. Unfortunately, the captain
Speaker 1: passed away a few years later and stay tuned for
Speaker 1: more sasquatch ot to see We'll be right back. After
Speaker 1: these messages, still, Dwayne and Roger couldn't shake the memory
Speaker 1: of that place and decided to revisit it. They reached
Speaker 1: out to the captain's daughter, who remembered them. She agreed
Speaker 1: to let them use her late father's house as a
Speaker 1: base camp, though they'd need to pay someone to take
Speaker 1: them up the river. Dwayne and Roger made arrangements with
Speaker 1: a young local man who agreed to take them to
Speaker 1: Togiak Lake, dropped them and their gear off, and returned
Speaker 1: to pick them up a week later. They even left
Speaker 1: one of their VHF radios with them to coordinate the pickup,
Speaker 1: knowing the signal would work once he was nearby. This
Speaker 1: was about fifteen to twenty years ago, so while GPS
Speaker 1: units existed, they were expensive and unreliable in remote areas. Instead,
Speaker 1: Dwayne and Roger relied on maps and compasses. Their plan
Speaker 1: was solid, spend a week or two in the back country,
Speaker 1: enjoy the Alaskan wilderness, and they didn't take unnecessary risks
Speaker 1: bringing firearms because of the abundance of bears. The first
Speaker 1: few days were uneventful. They camped near the lake, venturing
Speaker 1: out to explore, but staying relatively close. On the second day,
Speaker 1: concerned about the heavy bear activity along the lake shore,
Speaker 1: they decided to move their camp further up the valley.
Speaker 1: About five hundred yards away. They found a clear, open
Speaker 1: spot surrounded by thick brush and decided it felt safer
Speaker 1: despite the nearby bear trails, it was a better option
Speaker 1: than staying by the lake. By day four of their
Speaker 1: seven day adventure, they planned a hike deeper into the valley.
Speaker 1: The weather was clear the visibility great, though the bugs
Speaker 1: were persistent. As they hiked, they decided to climb a
Speaker 1: hillside for a better view of the game below. After
Speaker 1: finding the vantage point wasn't as helpful as they'd hoped,
Speaker 1: they crossed the valley to the opposite side, where the
Speaker 1: terrain was slightly more open. While walking along the edge
Speaker 1: of the valley, they heard a stre distant scream. It
Speaker 1: was unlike anything they'd ever heard before. Dwayne and Roger
Speaker 1: stopped in their tracks, Confused but curious. The sound was eerie,
Speaker 1: but it was far enough away not to deter them.
Speaker 1: They chambered their ammunition and continued cautiously, determined not to
Speaker 1: let a mysterious noise ruin their trip. Roughly half a
Speaker 1: mile further, they climbed to another vantage point. They scanned
Speaker 1: the area, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise,
Speaker 1: when they heard the scream again. This time they spotted
Speaker 1: something moving in the distance, a dark speck traveling across
Speaker 1: the valley at an incredible speed. What is that, Dwayne
Speaker 1: asked Roger, both of them watching in disbelief. The speck
Speaker 1: moved with an unnatural speed and purpose, maneuvering toward their
Speaker 1: general direction. Feeling uneasy, they decided to retreat. The hillside
Speaker 1: was rocky and loose, so they carefully made their way
Speaker 1: down to the treeline for better footing. As they moved,
Speaker 1: the scream echoed again, this time much closer. It seemed
Speaker 1: to be within three hundred yards across the small valley,
Speaker 1: but below them in the thick brush. They froze adrenaline surging,
Speaker 1: the sounds of something large moving through the underbrush became clear.
Speaker 1: Dwayne and Roger fell into a leap frog pattern, one
Speaker 1: keeping watch while the other moved ahead. Their rifles were
Speaker 1: ready and their senses were heightened. At one point, as
Speaker 1: they were nearing a section of the trail, they recognized
Speaker 1: they heard trees being pushed over. Not far ahead, a
Speaker 1: small black spruce fell onto their path, followed by another.
Speaker 1: These weren't massive trees, but they were being deliberately pushed down.
Speaker 1: Dwayne stopped, confused, why are we stopping? Roger whispered, there
Speaker 1: are trees being pushed over up ahead, Dwayne replied. As
Speaker 1: they listened, they heard grunting and snorting sounds, like a
Speaker 1: mix between a pig and a low growl. The noises
Speaker 1: circled them, moving clockwise, staying at a consistent distance of
Speaker 1: about one hundred yards. The sheer size and speed of
Speaker 1: whatever was making the sounds terrified them. As the noises
Speaker 1: began to fade, Dwayne and Roger pressed on, leap frogging
Speaker 1: their way forward. They passed the fallen trees and stopped
Speaker 1: to regroup. Suddenly, the noises stopped entirely. Roger whispered, do
Speaker 1: you hear that? Dwayne didn't, lost in a state of shock,
Speaker 1: but Roger was certain the creature was moving closer. Then
Speaker 1: it appeared roughly sixty yards ahead. It stepped into the trail,
Speaker 1: squatted down like a linebacker, and stared directly at them.
Speaker 1: The creature was massive, ten to eleven feet tall, thickly
Speaker 1: built with dark, well groomed hair. Dwayne and Roger were stunned.
Speaker 1: Keeping low behind the fallen trees, the creature rocked back
Speaker 1: and forth, making snorting noises as it studied them. Not
Speaker 1: wanting to provoke it, they slowly backed away, keeping their
Speaker 1: rifles trained on it. The atmosphere became more oppressive, the
Speaker 1: tension unbearable. They retreated about forty feet before deciding to
Speaker 1: resume their leap frog strategy, one covering the other as
Speaker 1: they moved. Despite its intimidating size, the creature didn't act aggressively,
Speaker 1: merely watching them with keen interest. When they reached a hill,
Speaker 1: Roger led the way up while Dwayne kept an eye
Speaker 1: on the creature. As Roger climbed breaking branches, the creature
Speaker 1: stood up, walked to a dead black spruce, and snapped
Speaker 1: it in half with a loud crack. Dwayne shouted at
Speaker 1: Roger to stop breaking branches, realizing the creature might interpret
Speaker 1: the noise as a challenge. At the top of the hill,
Speaker 1: the creature was gone. Dwayne and Roger decided to return
Speaker 1: to camp, pack up, and head for the lake. Their
Speaker 1: VHF radio was at camp and they needed to use
Speaker 1: it to call for help. As they packed, they noticed
Speaker 1: their food bag, filled with neatly packed and taped canned goods,
Speaker 1: was missing. Following the trail back to the lake, they
Speaker 1: found pieces of the bag along the way, though all
Speaker 1: the cans were intact. Nearby, they discovered massive footprints around
Speaker 1: nineteen inches long. Dwayne, wearing size eleven and a half boots,
Speaker 1: measured the length and was struck by the sheer size
Speaker 1: of the tracks. At the lake, they saw two figures
Speaker 1: down the shore, one examining a piece of burlap from
Speaker 1: the missing bag. One figure, about six to seven feet tall,
Speaker 1: quickly disappeared into the brush. The larger figure, still holding
Speaker 1: the burlap, eventually stood and walked off with immense speed
Speaker 1: and perfectly silent. Shaken, Dwyane and Roger used the VHF
Speaker 1: radio to contact a passing plane, which relayed their message
Speaker 1: to the village. The young man who had brought them
Speaker 1: up river returned to rescue them when they told him
Speaker 1: what they'd seen, he calmly acknowledged it. That's Jekiah, he said,
Speaker 1: referring to the hairy Man as if it were an
Speaker 1: everyday occurrence. The casual reaction from their rescuer was the
Speaker 1: most shocking part for Dwyane. To him, it was a
Speaker 1: life changing event, but to the locals it seemed like
Speaker 1: just another day in the Alaskan wilderness. This next story
Speaker 1: comes from the Yukon River area, specifically south of Galena.
Speaker 1: Benjamin reached out some time ago, and he had a
Speaker 1: real hard time relaying his encounter. I told him not
Speaker 1: to worry, just tell me what happened. So Benjamin isn't
Speaker 1: his real name, and we'll just say he lives somewhere
Speaker 1: on the Yukon south of Galina. Galina is the nearest
Speaker 1: hub where he goes for supplies and the like. This
Speaker 1: event occurred in twenty eighteen, and nothing significant has happened since,
Speaker 1: just some distant squeals and houlers now and then. What
Speaker 1: happened was Benjamin had ordered a new outboard. The one
Speaker 1: he'd been using was his dad's. It ran well, but
Speaker 1: was outdated, losing power and when you're running the Yukon River.
Speaker 1: You want a good motor. The skiffs used in that
Speaker 1: region are those long, narrow types, so a reliable outboard
Speaker 1: is essential. Benjamin had been waiting months for this delivery.
Speaker 1: In morning, one of his neighbors stopped by for coffee
Speaker 1: and told him, Hey, you're out boards in. You need
Speaker 1: to go pick it up. Benjamin was relieved. His small cabin,
Speaker 1: situated along a smaller tributary of the Yukon, was fairly
Speaker 1: self sufficient. He had a battery bank, a generator, and
Speaker 1: no connections to any utility services. His dad had started
Speaker 1: the place decades ago, and Benjamin had kept it running
Speaker 1: after his dad passed. The cabin stood about half a
Speaker 1: mile up from where the tributary narrowed, marking the start
Speaker 1: of their property. It was a great spot for pulling
Speaker 1: up a skiff and accessing the river. That morning, as
Speaker 1: they sipped coffee, the neighbor mentioned hearing strange screams from
Speaker 1: across the river on the way in. The hairy Man
Speaker 1: was screaming, his friend said. Benjamin, familiar with the local tales,
Speaker 1: had heard his dad talk about the hairy Man. Though
Speaker 1: he believed in its existence, he'd never encountered it. Himself
Speaker 1: and didn't take it too seriously. He laughed it off,
Speaker 1: but his friend was serious. Don't mess with the hairy man,
Speaker 1: the neighbor warned, if you see it, leave it alone.
Speaker 1: Benjamin put the warning aside and prepared for his trip.
Speaker 1: He grabbed his day bag, the paperworked for his outboard,
Speaker 1: and set off down the tributary to the Yukon. As
Speaker 1: he neared the main river, he came around a bend
Speaker 1: where the sunlight filtered through the trees. In the corner
Speaker 1: of his vision, he noticed a dark silhouette. It could
Speaker 1: have been an old stump he'd never noticed before, or
Speaker 1: something else. He brushed it off and continued to Gallina.
Speaker 1: After retrieving his outboard and visiting friends, Benjamin headed back,
Speaker 1: Returning to the tributary, he throttled down as he approached
Speaker 1: his landing. That's when he noticed the smell. It was
Speaker 1: the distinct stench of something rotten, perhaps a dead animal nearby,
Speaker 1: assuming a bear had made a kill. He wasn't too concerned.
Speaker 1: He had his moose rifle with him and was prepared
Speaker 1: to deal with the bear if necessary. When he reached
Speaker 1: his landing, he tied off the skiff and shut down
Speaker 1: the outboard. The foul smell was overpowering. As he looked around,
Speaker 1: his sense of unease grew. Rifle at the ready, he
Speaker 1: carefully scouted the area. There were no signs of a bear,
Speaker 1: and nothing seemed to miss. He returned to the cabin,
Speaker 1: unloaded some supplies, and then came back down to the riverbank.
Speaker 1: That's when he saw it. In the spot where he'd
Speaker 1: stood just minutes earlier, there was now a decaying caribou carcass.
Speaker 1: The animal's head, antlers, and upper torso were intact, but
Speaker 1: one leg was missing. The body was severely decomposed. Benjamin
Speaker 1: was stunned. He had been standing right there only minutes ago,
Speaker 1: and now a half rotted caribou had appeared. Gripping his rifle,
Speaker 1: he scanned for any sign of the bear he assumed
Speaker 1: had brought it there. The tracks around the carcass were
Speaker 1: wet and looked like double bear steps. Assuming the bear
Speaker 1: was still nearby, Benjamin jumped back into his skiff, fired
Speaker 1: it up, and roared up and down the river, trying
Speaker 1: to scare off whatever predator might be in the area.
Speaker 1: After several passes, he returned to the landing, but this
Speaker 1: time tied up further down from the carcass. With his
Speaker 1: rifle ready, he approached the spot, but the carcass was gone.
Speaker 1: The residual smell remained, and the tracks led off into
Speaker 1: the brush. Benjamin thought the bear must have dragged the
Speaker 1: carcass away. He decided to retreat to the cabin, hoping
Speaker 1: the bear would move on. Later that evening, he came
Speaker 1: back to retrieve more supplies from his skiff. The smell
Speaker 1: returned stronger than before, and as he stepped into the skiff,
Speaker 1: his foot landed on something soft. It was the cariboo
Speaker 1: carcass now lying inside the boat. Disgusted and confused, Benjamin
Speaker 1: pushed the carcass into the river, where it floated for
Speaker 1: a while before the current carried it away. He scrubbed
Speaker 1: the skiff to remove the stench, still trying to make
Speaker 1: sense of why the carcass kept appearing. Tired and uneasy,
Speaker 1: he returned to the cabin, locked the door, and decided
Speaker 1: to wait until morning to deal with anything else. That night,
Speaker 1: he felt watched. He heard occasional sounds outside, but dismissed them,
Speaker 1: chalking it up to the bear. Still lingering. He put
Speaker 1: on a movie for background noise. Trying to distract himself.
Speaker 1: The next morning, he got up, prepared his coffee, and
Speaker 1: went to a small platform midway between the cabin and
Speaker 1: the river. He sat there, rifle in hand, waiting for
Speaker 1: the bear to appear. Just as dawn broke, Benjamin heard
Speaker 1: a deep grunt to his right. Shining his flashlight, he
Speaker 1: caught a glimpse of wide set eyes reflecting back at him.
Speaker 1: The shape was large and dark, but he still thought
Speaker 1: it was just a big bear. Determined to end the situation,
Speaker 1: he returned to the cabin to fetch his forty five
Speaker 1: seventy rifle. Back on the platform, he waited, he heard
Speaker 1: splashing down river, then rustling that moved closer, but no
Speaker 1: bear emerged. Frustrated, he moved toward the trail. He spotted
Speaker 1: a dark shape ahead, partially obscured by trees. It stood up,
Speaker 1: then dropped down repeatedly. Benjamin was ready to shoot, but
Speaker 1: something didn't feel right. The shape wasn't behaving like a bear.
Speaker 1: Suddenly he remembered his friend's warning about the hairy man.
Speaker 1: The realization hit him this wasn't a bear. Lowering his rifle,
Speaker 1: he backed away. Returning to his cabin, Benjamin locked the
Speaker 1: doors and drew the curtains. The noises continued for a while,
Speaker 1: including an eerie whistle that seemed to echo his own.
Speaker 1: He decided not to engage further. The next morning, he
Speaker 1: ventured down to the skiff and found the carcass gone.
Speaker 1: The air was quiet, the smell had faded, and the
Speaker 1: natural sounds of birds and wildlife returned. With his gear
Speaker 1: in order, he left the airy and stayed with a
Speaker 1: friend for a few days, letting things settle. To this day,
Speaker 1: Benjamin doesn't understand what happened. His friend advised him to
Speaker 1: avoid drawing attention to himself, to leave anything strange alone.
Speaker 1: Benjamin has since moved into more accessible accommodations and no
Speaker 1: longer spends winters in the cabin. The experience remains a mystery,
Speaker 1: a tale of something that doesn't fit into the usual
Speaker 1: patterns of the Alaskan wilderness. This last story I wanted
Speaker 1: to share with you comes from an older gentleman named Charles.
Speaker 1: He no longer lives in Alaska because his doctor is
Speaker 1: outside the state and he had to move for health reasons.
Speaker 1: We're going back fifty plus years, back to the time
Speaker 1: of oil exploration, when it was in its infancy. You know,
Speaker 1: they were planning the pipeline and doing that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Charles was an engineer and he came up here. He
Speaker 1: had a home near Trapper Creek. That's where he kept
Speaker 1: his family base, and he would work up on the
Speaker 1: slope and come home, you know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: He'd been at it for a while. The pipeline was
Speaker 1: being constructed and at the time he was on a
Speaker 1: three week on, one week off schedule. He was in
Speaker 1: the upper echelon of his field and had to dedicate
Speaker 1: his time. He was trying to build something for his family.
Speaker 1: They lived in a small cabin an a frame style house.
Speaker 1: His wife and their two daughters, who were five and
Speaker 1: six years old at the time, were there and stay
Speaker 1: tuned for more sasquatch Ott to see. We'll be right
Speaker 1: back after these messages. He was home for one of
Speaker 1: his weeks off and the house was simple, imagine a
Speaker 1: Monopoly house but double the height. A basic two bedroom
Speaker 1: with a kitchen and living area downstairs. Nothing extravagant. The
Speaker 1: girl's bedroom was in a loft style space, one on
Speaker 1: each end of the A frame, while he and his
Speaker 1: wife had a room where they could barely sit up straight.
Speaker 1: The girl's room, though, was just right for them. Their
Speaker 1: window was ten feet off the ground. It was the
Speaker 1: second night of one of his trips home. When he
Speaker 1: was home, he was a dedicated dad, reading to his
Speaker 1: daughters and encouraging them to learn something very important to
Speaker 1: him as an academic and an engineer. That first night,
Speaker 1: his daughters told him something that he dismissed at first.
Speaker 1: They said, there's a scary man who comes to our
Speaker 1: window and tries to talk to us. He asked, a
Speaker 1: scary man, what does he say? They explained, he wants
Speaker 1: us to come outside and play with his kids. Charles
Speaker 1: thought it was just their imagination. They were young, after all,
Speaker 1: but the way they described it, he didn't feel like
Speaker 1: they were making it up on the spot or being coached. Still,
Speaker 1: he left it at that. The next night, shortly before bedtime,
Speaker 1: he was drinking coffee and looking over blueprints engineer stuff,
Speaker 1: you know. He was engrossed in his work when he
Speaker 1: heard squeals from upstairs. At first, he thought the girls
Speaker 1: were playing, but the sound came again, along with a
Speaker 1: weird noise outside. He thought it was just the wind
Speaker 1: rustling the wild raspberry bushes near the house. Time passed
Speaker 1: and more squeals came from upstairs. He decided it was
Speaker 1: time to get the girls to bed. He went up
Speaker 1: to their room and the girls told him again that
Speaker 1: man was outside trying to talk to us. Charles asked,
Speaker 1: what does he look like? They described him in detail.
Speaker 1: His face is gray, he has black hair, big teeth,
Speaker 1: and sometimes his eyes glow red. This threw Charles off.
Speaker 1: Their description was so vivid, like they had studied this figure.
Speaker 1: He was proud of their imagination, but still didn't take
Speaker 1: it seriously. He started reading them a story, but he
Speaker 1: noticed they got very quiet, huddling together and staring not
Speaker 1: at him, but through him. That's when he felt it
Speaker 1: like he was being watched. He turned to the window
Speaker 1: and saw movement outside. Immediately he jumped, banged his head,
Speaker 1: grabbed the girls, and rushed them downstairs. He told his wife,
Speaker 1: grabbed a firearm, and went outside with a flashlight. By
Speaker 1: the raspberry bushes, he found a spruce tree leaning against
Speaker 1: the house like a ladder. Its branches had been broken
Speaker 1: off on one side, and it was positioned to reach
Speaker 1: the girl's window. Charles panicked. He thought, there's someone stalking
Speaker 1: my family. At the time, there were no solones and
Speaker 1: they lived miles from any neighbors. He told his wife
Speaker 1: to stay inside with the shotgun while he searched the property,
Speaker 1: but the person or thing was gone. The next day
Speaker 1: he found tracks near the house, huge barefoot prints about
Speaker 1: eighteen inches long. His wife then mentioned that she had
Speaker 1: seen a large figure in the tree line weeks ago,
Speaker 1: but dismissed it as a shadow. Charles was skeptical when
Speaker 1: she suggested it might be bigfoot, but later he called
Speaker 1: a native friend to help him investigate. This friend found
Speaker 1: smaller tracks alongside the larger ones near a creek. The
Speaker 1: friend told him that's the hairy man. It was after
Speaker 1: your kids. Charles moved his family to Anchorage soon after,
Speaker 1: unwilling to stay in a place he could no longer
Speaker 1: see a safe. But the last night he stayed at
Speaker 1: the cabin, he heard the tap tap tap again. This
Speaker 1: time he stayed in bed, unwilling to confront it. The
Speaker 1: fear and helplessness stayed with him for decades. When I
Speaker 1: tapped on the window during a story, it brought all
Speaker 1: of this back for Charles. It's a powerful reminder that
Speaker 1: these experiences are not something anyone should wish for. They
Speaker 1: can be life changing in ways you don't expect. They say,
Speaker 1: you don't gotta go home, but.
Speaker 3: You can't stay. No, I don't want.
Speaker 2: To be a.
Speaker 4: World out it.
Speaker 3: Chop this job, chid everything, Joy for me, Joy, stay right.
Speaker 3: You come in from a wayside.
Speaker 4: States still stays stay inside. In St. St. State still assist,
Speaker 4: understand passist as assists insist