WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.759 For decades, people have disappeared in the woods without a trace. 2 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:10.279 Some blame wild animals, others whisper of creatures the world 3 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:14.160 refuses to believe in. But those who have survived they 4 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:18.679 know the truth. Welcome to Backwoods Bigfoot Stories, where we 5 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:22.839 share real encounters with the things lurking in the darkness bigfoot, 6 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:28.239 dog man UFOs, and creatures that defy explanation. Some make 7 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:32.320 it out, others aren't so lucky. Are you ready, because 8 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.640 once you hear these stories, you'll never walk in the 9 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.920 woods alone again. So grab your flashlight, stay close and 10 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.840 remember some things in the woods don't want to be found. 11 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:46.240 Hit that follow or subscribe button, turn on auto downloads, 12 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.399 and let's head off into the woods if you dare. 13 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.879 They say, some inheritances come with strings attached. Mine came 14 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:10.719 with something else entirely. I've spent twenty seven years trying 15 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:12.799 to forget what happened at that cabin in the summer 16 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.680 of nineteen ninety five. Twenty seven years of therapy sessions 17 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.560 where I dance around the truth of waking up at 18 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:22.319 three in the morning with my sheets soaked through with sweat, 19 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:24.879 of never being able to look at a dark tree 20 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:28.599 line without feeling my chest tighten. My therapist thinks I 21 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:31.640 suffered some kind of trauma related to my grandfather's death. 22 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:33.079 She's half right. 23 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:36.200 There was trauma, but it had nothing to do with 24 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:40.200 losing Grandpa Roy. The truth is something I've never told anyone. 25 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:43.359 Not the sheriff who found us on Highway two seventy 26 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:46.599 eight that August morning, our truck's engine blown and our 27 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:50.040 face as white as fresh cotton. Not my ex wife 28 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:52.640 who left me because I refused to take our kids camping. 29 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.159 Not even my son Tyler, who's thirty nine now and 30 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:58.719 still asks why we left Alabama and never went back. 31 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.879 Sixty eight years old, and my doctor says, my heart's 32 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:05.319 not what it used to be. If I don't tell 33 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.000 someone what really happened at that cabin in Cleeburn County, 34 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:11.199 the truth dies with me. Maybe that would be for 35 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:14.199 the best. Maybe some truths are meant to be buried. 36 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.120 But every time I close my eyes, I can still 37 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:19.919 smell that thick animal stench that used to seep through 38 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:23.400 the cabin walls. I can still hear those massive hands 39 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:25.919 slapping against the wooden siding, and the dead of night, 40 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.039 I can still see those eyes reflecting red in the darkness, 41 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:34.039 watching us through Tyler's bedroom window. So I'm going to 42 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:37.840 tell you everything exactly as it happened. Not because I 43 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:40.400 expect you to believe me, held there are days when 44 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.599 I barely believe it myself, but because maybe, just maybe 45 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.479 it might save someone else from making the same mistake 46 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:50.560 we did. Maybe someone else will inherit a piece of 47 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:53.719 property in the deep woods of Alabama, and they'll remember 48 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:56.360 this story, and they'll have the good sense. 49 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:57.680 To stay away. 50 00:02:57.719 --> 00:02:59.960 We should have known something was wrong from the beginning. 51 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.560 The signs were all there, But grief has a way 52 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:06.840 of blinding you to danger, and desperation can make even 53 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:11.120 the most obviously cursed gift seem like a blessing. The 54 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.560 call came on a Tuesday morning in May of nineteen 55 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:16.919 ninety five. I was working at the paper mill in Montgomery, 56 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:20.159 standing near the digester tanks when my supervisor tapped me 57 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:23.599 on the shoulder and pointed toward the office. The plant 58 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.599 manager was holding the phone, his face arranged in that 59 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:30.879 particular expression people where when they're about to deliver bad news. 60 00:03:31.479 --> 00:03:35.159 Grandpa Roy had died in his sleep, eighty three years old. 61 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.120 Heart gave out peaceful as could be. The lawyer said 62 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:40.840 he'd left me something in his will, and could I 63 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:43.879 come to Heflin for the reading. I hadn't seen Grandpa 64 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:47.039 Roy in probably five years. He'd become something of a 65 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:50.400 recluse after Grandma died in eighty seven. Hold up in 66 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.560 that little house in town, only coming out for groceries 67 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.560 in church. We'd exchange Christmas cards, maybe a phone call 68 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.039 on birthdays, but that was about it. The distance wasn't personal. 69 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.080 That's just how the Brennan men were, spread out across Alabama, 70 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:09.840 like seeds scattered by an indifferent hand. Sarah took it 71 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.759 harder than I did. She'd always liked the old man, 72 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:16.680 said he had character. Tyler barely remembered him at all, 73 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:20.120 which somehow made it worse. A twelve year old boy 74 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:23.600 shouldn't have so few memories of his grandfather. When I 75 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.879 told them about the will, Sarah insisted we all go together. 76 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:30.639 Make it a family trip. She said, show Tyler where 77 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:34.360 his daddy grew up. The drive from Montgomery to Heflin 78 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:37.519 took three hours, winding through the kind of small towns 79 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:40.040 that seemed to exist solely to slow you down on 80 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:43.399 your way to somewhere else. Tyler had his face pressed 81 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.199 against the back window most of the way, watching the 82 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:49.680 hills roll by. Sarah kept touching my hand on the 83 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:52.879 gear shift, that gentle way she had of showing support 84 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.959 without saying anything. The lawyer's office was above the hardware 85 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:00.399 store on Main Street, up a narrow staircase that with 86 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:04.199 every step. Mister Pemberton was older than Moses and moved 87 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.879 about as fast, shuffling papers with liver spotted hands, while 88 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.360 we sat in chairs that probably came with the building. 89 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:14.839 The will was simple enough, a few thousand dollars in savings, 90 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:18.959 some tools his truck, and then Pemberton adjusted his glasses 91 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:23.040 and read the part that changed everything. The cabin forty 92 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:26.639 acres of woodland, a place I'd never even known existed. 93 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:30.519 Pemberton pulled out a Manila envelope thick with documents and 94 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.160 old photographs. The picture showed a log cabin that looked 95 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.639 straight out of a frontier museum, tucked into a hillside 96 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.240 and surrounded by massive pines. There was Grandpa Roy in 97 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:44.839 one photo, maybe thirty years younger, standing on the porch 98 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.680 with a rifle, looking proud as could be. The deed 99 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:52.959 went back to nineteen twenty four. Roy's father, my great grandfather, 100 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.000 had built the place with his own hands. It had 101 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.160 been in the family ever since, though Pemberton said Roy 102 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.240 hadn't been out there in nearly a decade. Too remote, 103 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:05.680 too hard to maintain. The old man had kept paying 104 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:08.720 the taxes on it, though, year after year, like he 105 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:12.160 couldn't quite let it go. Sarah grabbed my hand when 106 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.759 Pemberton showed us the location on a county map, forty 107 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:19.800 acres of pristine woodland. He called it only accessible by 108 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:23.839 an old logging road, no power lines, no phone service, 109 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:26.839 but there was a well and a septic system installed 110 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:30.160 in the seventies. The nearest neighbor was three miles away. 111 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:33.439 To understand why this mattered so much, you have to 112 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.800 understand where we were in our lives. The paper mill 113 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:38.680 had been laying people off for two years. 114 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:40.000 Every Friday. 115 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:42.920 We'd hold our breath until the shift ended, grateful to 116 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.480 have survived another week. We were behind on the mortgage, 117 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:49.920 behind on the truck payments, behind on everything except the 118 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:52.160 urgent business of keeping our heads above water. 119 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:55.480 Tyler needed braces. The roof leaked. 120 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:58.959 The transmission in Sarah's car was making sounds that promised 121 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:03.319 expensive repairs. And here was forty acres of land, free 122 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:07.439 and clear. Here was a place to start over. We 123 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.319 drove out to look at it that same afternoon. The 124 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.879 logging road was exactly as advertised, a rough cut through 125 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.639 the forest that had our truck's suspension groaning. It went 126 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.680 on for two miles, winding through stands of pine and 127 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:23.519 oaks so thick you couldn't see more than twenty feet into. 128 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:25.319 The woods on either side. 129 00:07:25.399 --> 00:07:28.279 The trees seemed to press in on us, their branches 130 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.399 scraping the truck's roof like fingers testing for a way in. 131 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.160 But then the road opened into a clearing, and there 132 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:38.560 it was. The cabin sat on a rise, looking down 133 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.279 into a hollow where a creek ran, clear and cold. 134 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:45.199 It was bigger than the photos suggested, maybe twelve hundred 135 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:48.240 square feet, with a stone chimney and a covered porch 136 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:51.680 that wrapped around two sides. The logs had weathered to 137 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.319 a silver gray, and the metal roof was rusty but intact. 138 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:58.959 Behind it, the forest rose up the hillside, thick and 139 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:00.680 dark even in the after afternoon sun. 140 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:02.399 Tyler was out of. 141 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:05.319 The truck before I'd fully stopped running toward the creek 142 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:07.680 with the kind of pure joy only a twelve year 143 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:11.519 old can muster. Sarah stood beside me, her arm around 144 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:14.319 my waist, looking at that cabin like it was a mansion. 145 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:19.000 We spent two hours exploring. The inside was rough but livable, 146 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:23.040 two bedrooms, a main room with a stone fireplace, a 147 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:26.000 kitchen with an ancient wood stove, and a bathroom that 148 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:30.839 miraculously still worked when we primed the pump. The furniture 149 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.600 was covered in dust and mouse droppings, but it was 150 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.639 solid stuff, hand built pieces that had lasted seventy years 151 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.759 and might last seventy more. Tyler found a shed full 152 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:45.799 of old tools, each one wrapped in oiled cloth. Sarah 153 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:49.440 discovered a root cellar stocked with empty canning jars. I 154 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.360 stood on that porch, looking out at land that belonged 155 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:55.639 to me, to us, and felt something I hadn't. 156 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.039 Felt in years. Hope. 157 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.080 We should have wondered why Roy had stopped coming. We 158 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:03.399 should have asked why a perfectly good cabin had sat 159 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:06.360 empty for a decade. We should have noticed that there 160 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:09.440 were no bird sounds in those woods, no squirrels in 161 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:13.559 the trees, no deer tracks by the creek, but we didn't. 162 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:16.759 We saw salvation where we should have seen warning. We 163 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:19.960 moved in three weeks later. It took everything we had. 164 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:23.240 I cashed out my retirement from the mill, such as 165 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:26.080 it was. We sold everything that wouldn't fit in the 166 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:29.799 truck or the U haul trailer. Sarah's mother called us crazy, 167 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:32.919 said we were dragging that poor boy into the wilderness 168 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:36.039 like some kind of mountain hermits. My brother down in 169 00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:39.279 Mobile said I'd lost my mind giving up a steady 170 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:42.440 job to play pioneer. But every night Sarah and I 171 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.679 would sit at our kitchen table in that rental house 172 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:49.360 in Montgomery, going over the numbers. No rent, no mortgage, 173 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:53.120 no utility bills except propane for the stove and generator 174 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:56.840 fuel for the few appliances we absolutely needed. We could 175 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:00.039 make it work. We had to make it work. The 176 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.360 move itself was a nightmare. The logging road, which had 177 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:07.120 seemed rough but passable in Pemberton Sedan, became a genuine 178 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.679 obstacle course with a loaded U haul trailer. Twice we 179 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:14.360 had to unhook it and clear fallen branches. Once the 180 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.919 truck got high centered on a ridge of exposed rock, 181 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:19.360 and it took two hours with the jack and boards 182 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:22.720 to get free, But finally, as the sun was starting 183 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:25.679 to set on that first Saturday in June, we pulled 184 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:30.000 into the clearing home. We worked until well past dark, 185 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:34.399 hauling boxes by flashlight, Tyler helping despite clearly being dead 186 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:37.639 on his feet. Sarah had thought ahead and packed sleeping 187 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:40.279 bags and pillows in the truck cab, so at least 188 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:43.440 we had somewhere to sleep that first night, I remember 189 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.159 lying there on the floor of the main room, Sarah 190 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:49.120 on one side and Tyler on the other, listening to 191 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:54.120 the absolute silence. No traffic, no neighbors, no hum of 192 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:57.799 electrical wires, just the soft whisper of wind in the 193 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.320 pines and the distant gurgle of the creek. Tyler fell 194 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:06.159 asleep almost instantly, exhausted from the move. Sarah took longer, 195 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.320 but eventually her breathing deepened and slowed. But I stayed awake, 196 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:14.120 staring at the ceiling beams in the darkness, wondering if 197 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:17.919 I'd just made the best or worst decision of my life. 198 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.799 Sometime around midnight, I heard the first rock hit the roof. 199 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:24.000 It wasn't loud, just a solid thunk that could have 200 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.279 been a pine cone or a branch. I barely noticed it, 201 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:31.039 but about ten minutes later there was another, then another, 202 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:36.200 irregular intervals, but deliberate, somehow, like someone was standing out 203 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:39.360 there in the darkness, tossing stones onto our metal roof. 204 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:43.039 I got up carefully, not wanting to wake Sarah and Tyler, 205 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.519 and crept to the window. The moon was nearly full, 206 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:50.759 casting everything in silver light and black shadows. I could 207 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:53.720 see the truck, the trailer, the edge of the forest. 208 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:55.200 Nothing moved. 209 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:57.120 The rock stopped after a. 210 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:59.480 Few more minutes, and I convinced myself it had been 211 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:04.679 branches falling from the trees. Old forest, old trees, dead 212 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:09.000 branches falling natural as could be. I should have known better. 213 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.480 Nothing about those woods was natural. The next morning, Tyler 214 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:17.120 was up with the sun, eager to explore. Sarah started 215 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:20.200 the monumental task of unpacking and organizing while I worked 216 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:23.840 on getting the generator running. It was an old diesel unit, 217 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:27.039 probably from the sixties, but it fired up after I 218 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:30.639 changed the fuel filter and bled the lines. We had power, 219 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:35.080 limited but sufficient. Tyler spent the morning down by the creek, 220 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:38.279 building a dam with river rocks. I could see him 221 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.120 from the kitchen window, knee deep in that cold water, 222 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.759 happy as I'd ever seen him. Sarah hummed while she 223 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:48.759 worked arranging our few pieces of furniture, hanging pictures on. 224 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:49.600 The log walls. 225 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:52.080 For a few hours, it felt like we'd made the 226 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.159 right choice. The rock started again that second night. This 227 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.600 time I was ready for them. When the first one hit, 228 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.320 around eleven o'clock. I grabbed the flashlight and headed for 229 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:06.440 the door. Sarah stirred but didn't wake Tyler was dead 230 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:09.519 to the world in his small bedroom. I stood on 231 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:13.600 the porch, flashlight beams sweeping the tree line. The rocks 232 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:16.559 were coming more frequently now, not just hitting the roof, 233 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:20.320 but the walls. Too small ones, maybe the size of 234 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.000 golf balls, but thrown with enough force to make a 235 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:27.679 solid impact. Then I saw eyes shine, just for a second, 236 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:30.279 two points of red light at the edge of the forest, 237 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.799 maybe seven feet off the ground. When I swung the 238 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:38.320 flashlight toward them, they vanished. A deer, I told myself, 239 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:41.759 had to be a deer, But deer don't throw rocks. 240 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:45.639 I stayed out there for another hour, but nothing else happened. 241 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.559 The rocks stopped as suddenly as they'd started. The forest 242 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.080 was silent. Even the creek seemed to have quieted its voice. 243 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:56.919 When I finally went back inside, I found Tyler standing 244 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.639 in the hallway, pale and wide eyed in his Superman pajamas. 245 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:05.440 He said he'd heard something at his window, scratching like branches, 246 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:10.080 but rhythmic, deliberate. I told him it was just the trees, 247 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:12.480 that we were surrounded by forest and would have to 248 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:15.799 get used to the sounds. He nodded, but I could 249 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.000 see he didn't quite believe me. I didn't believe me either. 250 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.320 By the end of our first week, the pattern was established. 251 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:26.519 During the day, everything was perfect. We worked on the cabin, 252 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.919 Tyler played in the creek. Sarah started a vegetable garden 253 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:32.759 in a sunny spot near the shed. The sun made 254 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:36.360 everything feel safe and normal and possible. But at night, 255 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.320 the woods came alive with something that had no name. 256 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:43.120 The rocks were every night now, starting around eleven and 257 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:46.600 continuing for an hour or more, but it was escalating. 258 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.879 By the fourth night, it wasn't just pebbles, but stones 259 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:54.600 the size of baseballs, hurled with impossible force. One shattered 260 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:57.080 a window in the kitchen. I boarded it up and 261 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:00.480 told Sarah a branch had fallen. Then came the slaping. 262 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:04.279 Stay tuned for more Backwoods Bigfoot stories. We'll be back 263 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:09.080 after these messages. The first time it happened, I shot 264 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:12.919 straight up in bed, heart hammering. The sound was massive, 265 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:14.759 like someone had hit the side of the cabin with 266 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.360 a telephone pole. The whole structure shook. Sarah grabbed my arm, 267 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.759 her nails digging in deep enough to draw blood. It 268 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:26.679 came again, a tremendous slap against the wall, this time 269 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.879 on the opposite side of the cabin, then the back wall, 270 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.879 then right above our heads on the roof, an impact 271 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.039 so powerful that dust filtered down from the rafters. Tyler 272 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.919 appeared in our doorway, crying. He was twelve years old, 273 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:44.799 trying so hard to be grown up, but this had 274 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.519 broken through his defenses. Sarah pulled him into bed with us, 275 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:51.799 and we lay there, the three of us, as something 276 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:55.279 circled our cabin, striking the walls with what could only 277 00:15:55.320 --> 00:16:01.200 be enormous hands. It lasted for twenty minutes, then silence. 278 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.240 The next morning I found handprints in the mud outside. 279 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.360 They were human in shape, but wrong in size. The 280 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:11.480 palm was as wide as a dinner plate. The fingers 281 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:15.559 were proportionally too long, almost delicate despite their size, and 282 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.120 they were everywhere, dozens of them, pressed into the dirt 283 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:23.799 around the cabin's foundation. I showed Sarah. Her face went white, 284 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:27.159 and she asked the question I'd been avoiding. What could 285 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:30.559 make prints like that? I didn't have an answer, or 286 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:34.240 rather I had an answer, but it was impossible. It 287 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:37.240 was the kind of answer that belonged in supermarket tabloids 288 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:42.080 and grainy documentaries on cable TV, not in real life, not. 289 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:43.679 In our life. 290 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:47.200 That afternoon, I drove into town alone. Heflin wasn't much, 291 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:49.919 but it had a library, and the library had old 292 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:53.840 newspapers on microfilm. I told Sarah I was getting supplies. 293 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:56.679 I think she knew I was lying, but she didn't 294 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.679 call me on it. The librarian was a widow named 295 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:03.159 missus Henley, who remembered my grandfather. She set me up 296 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:05.519 at the microfilm reader and showed me how to work it, 297 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.559 then left me alone with sixty years of the Cleborne 298 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:11.359 County News. It didn't take long to find what I 299 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:16.160 was looking for. August nineteen fifty three, local farmer reports 300 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:21.960 livestock missing. Giant footprints found near Chokaloco Creek. October nineteen 301 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.759 sixty one. Hunters claim encounter with wild man and National 302 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:32.079 Forest sheriff investigates finds no evidence. July nineteen sixty eight, 303 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:37.759 family abandons homestead after reported harassment by unknown persons. Strange 304 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:42.240 prints photographed it scene, and then from April nineteen seventy one, 305 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:46.480 a longer article, a family named the Washburns had lived 306 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.200 about five miles from where our cabin sat. They'd reported 307 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:54.599 weeks of harassment, rocks thrown at their house, livestock killed, 308 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:58.400 their children, terrorized by something that watched them from the forest. 309 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:03.880 The father, Dale Washburn, had finally had enough. He sat 310 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.759 up one night with a rifle, determined to kill whatever 311 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:10.440 was tormenting his family. The sheriff found him the next morning, 312 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.960 wandering on Highway nine, catatonic. His hair, the article said, 313 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:18.720 had turned completely white. The family moved to Tennessee the 314 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:22.759 next week. Dale Washburn never spoke again. He died in 315 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.599 a state mental hospital three years later. The last paragraph 316 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.720 was what made my blood run cold. The sheriff, a 317 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:33.079 man named Buford Hayes, was quoted as saying, sometimes the 318 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:36.799 old forest don't want neighbors. Smart folks learned to listen 319 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:40.160 when they're not welcome. I was rolling through more articles 320 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:43.680 when missus Henley appeared at my shoulder. Your granddaddy used 321 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:47.599 to come in here, she said, same research, same articles. 322 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:51.599 This was maybe fifteen years ago. He'd bought that cabin 323 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.240 from the Tillman estate, you know, thought he could make 324 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:57.079 a hunting lodge out of it. I asked her what happened. 325 00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:59.359 She looked at me for a long moment, and I 326 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:01.720 could see her deciding whether to tell me the truth 327 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:05.880 or the polite version. He lasted one summer, she finally said, 328 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:09.359 never would talk about why he left. But I remember 329 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:13.079 him returning those microfilms. His hands were shaking so bad 330 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.319 he could barely hold them. You fixing to stay out there, 331 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.440 I told her we were. She nodded slowly, like she'd 332 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:24.319 expected that answer. Your granddaddy tried to burn that cabin down, 333 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:28.720 she said, back in eighty five. Sheriff stopped him, said 334 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:30.039 it would start a forest fire. 335 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:31.559 But Roy tried. 336 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:35.559 Said some things ought not to exist, said some places 337 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:38.680 ought to be left alone. I thanked her and left 338 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.079 my mind spinning. When I got back to the cabin, 339 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:44.599 Sarah had dinner ready and Tyler was showing off an 340 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.960 arrowhead he'd found by the creek. We ate and laughed 341 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:51.480 and pretended everything was normal. But after Tyler went to bed, 342 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:55.359 I told Sarah what I'd learned. She listened without interrupting, 343 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:56.440 then asked what. 344 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.119 I wanted to do. 345 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.920 We had nowhere else to go, money to start over, 346 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:04.799 no jobs to return to. We were trapped by poverty 347 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:07.000 as surely as if we'd been chained to that cabin. 348 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:11.640 We'll be careful, I said, We'll respect the forest. Maybe 349 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.599 if we don't bother it, it won't bother us. Sarah nodded, 350 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:18.160 but I could see the fear in her eyes. We 351 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:21.640 both knew I was lying. Two weeks into our stay, 352 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.519 Tyler saw it at his window. I woke to the 353 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:28.480 sound of his scream, high and terrified, cutting through the night. 354 00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:29.799 Like a blade. 355 00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:32.079 Sarah and I burst into his room to find him 356 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.039 pressed against the far wall, pointing at the window with 357 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:39.000 a trembling hand. There's nothing there, I said, But even 358 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:41.480 as the words left my mouth, I could smell it. 359 00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:46.000 A thick animal stench, like a wet dog crossed with 360 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:50.359 rotting vegetation. It was seeping through the walls, so strong 361 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:54.079 it made my eyes water. Tyler was sobbing, trying to 362 00:20:54.160 --> 00:21:00.160 explain a face, he said, massive covered in hair, with 363 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.640 eyes that were almost human, reflecting red in the moonlight. 364 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:08.160 It had been watching him sleep, just standing there, face 365 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:12.519 pressed against the glass, watching. I grabbed the flashlight and 366 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.079 the shotgun i'd started keeping by the bed. Outside. The 367 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:19.079 smell was even stronger. There were tracks in the dirt 368 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:23.839 beneath Tyler's window, the same massive human like prince, but 369 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:28.160 deeper this time. Whatever had made them was heavy, heavier 370 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:32.079 than any man could be. And there on the window glass, 371 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:37.160 lit by my flashlight beam, were smudges, hand prints, and 372 00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:40.400 the oily impression of a face pressed against the pane, 373 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:43.880 like a child at a candy store window. We moved 374 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:45.240 Tyler's bed into our room. 375 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:45.720 That night. 376 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.000 None of us slept. The next day, I drove back 377 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:53.119 to town and bought plywood, nails, and a rifle, a 378 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.279 thirty six, the most powerful thing I could afford. The 379 00:21:57.319 --> 00:21:59.599 man at the sporting goods store, a good old boy 380 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:02.400 named Rick, asked if I was planning to hunt elk 381 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:03.759 something like that. 382 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:04.480 I told him. 383 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:07.319 He gave me a long look, then threw in an 384 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:08.559 extra box of ammunition. 385 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:09.759 For free. 386 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.000 You're Roy Brennan's grandson, aren't you living out at the 387 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.039 old Tillman Place? 388 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:15.359 I nodded. 389 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.759 Rick leaned in close, dropping his voice, even though we 390 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.559 were alone in the store. My uncle lived out that 391 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.200 way in the fifties. Said there were things in those 392 00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:27.599 woods that ain't got no business existing. Said, they mostly 393 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:31.440 leave folks alone, if folks leave them alone, but sometimes 394 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:33.039 they take a dislike to someone. 395 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:34.720 And when that happens. 396 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:39.440 He trailed off, shaking his head. You got family, wife 397 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:43.440 and kids, I nodded again. Get them out of there, 398 00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:47.000 he said, whatever it costs, whatever you have to do, 399 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:51.160 get them out. Some places ain't meant for people. But 400 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:54.880 I couldn't. We had nowhere to go, no money for rent, 401 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:58.319