1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:04,400 Speaker 1: The stories you will hear are from real people with 2 00:00:04,599 --> 00:00:09,640 real experiences with the unknown. Welcome to the Dixie Cryptid 3 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:14,080 What If It's True? Podcast? All right, here we go. 4 00:00:26,679 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 2: My name is Bernard. I'm a sixty five year old 5 00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:34,200 retired all filled worker from South Mississippi. I've lived my 6 00:00:34,399 --> 00:00:37,240 entire life in a small town about an hour south 7 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:43,159 of Jackson, Mississippi, called Bogacheetah. Bogacheetah is Chocktaw for Big Creek. 8 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,880 Many Native American tribes settled here in the late eighteen hundreds, 9 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,560 and many property owners discover burial mounds on their properties here. 10 00:00:53,719 --> 00:00:57,240 My family farmed all the land we owned, and as children, 11 00:00:57,359 --> 00:01:00,159 we would spend the summer searching for arrowheads after or 12 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,840 the fields were plowed. We probably found hundreds of them altogether, 13 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,319 and we still occasionally find them today. Once I graduated 14 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,359 high school, I set out to make a living in 15 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,120 the Gulf of Mexico all Patch. Looking back, I wish 16 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,760 I had continued to farm and kept up with my 17 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:22,680 family's dairy farm business. The hard manual labor of drilling 18 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,760 rigs took a toll on my body, but it allowed 19 00:01:25,799 --> 00:01:28,319 me to provide for my family and lived for the 20 00:01:28,359 --> 00:01:32,840 most part, an upper middle class life. Years ago, when 21 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,599 my son was seventeen years old, I called home to 22 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,319 check on him, as I did daily, and while I 23 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,640 was away at work, my mother and my sister looked 24 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,920 after him. On this day, he asked if he and 25 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,480 a friend could take a bigfoot researcher onto my property. 26 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,959 Apparently his buddy had seen a creature across the road 27 00:01:51,159 --> 00:01:54,359 and enter an area of my property the week prior. 28 00:01:55,519 --> 00:01:58,799 His friend reported the sighting to the BFRO and a 29 00:01:58,799 --> 00:02:02,400 man wanted to take a look around. Well, I laughed, 30 00:02:02,439 --> 00:02:04,280 and I told him that he could go and do 31 00:02:04,359 --> 00:02:07,599 whatever they needed to do. I had spent the majority 32 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:09,680 of my life in those woods and never saw a 33 00:02:09,719 --> 00:02:13,560 sign of a strange creature being there. The old men 34 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,360 in my town would tell tales of skunk apes that 35 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:20,520 lived in the Bogacheta River swamps, and a few years earlier, 36 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:23,840 a preacher's daughters said the creature jumped from a tree 37 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,400 and slapped her car late one night. I didn't know 38 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:29,759 if any of these stories were a fact, but I 39 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,120 later found out for myself that it was all too real. 40 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,240 The years passed, and fast forward to twenty twenty three, 41 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,560 I have a ten year old grandson who has become 42 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,639 the center of my universe. I wanted to spend all 43 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:46,520 the time I could with him and a couple of 44 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:50,719 COVID mandates. Later, I decided to retire and enjoy my 45 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:56,240 golden years. My son and grandson loved deer hunt. Knowing this, 46 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,520 I spent months preparing deer plots and getting them set 47 00:02:59,599 --> 00:03:02,879 up to have good places to hunt for the upcoming season. 48 00:03:04,199 --> 00:03:07,560 A few weeks before opening day, I started to notice 49 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,560 that hogs were destroying one of our plots near the 50 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,159 river swamp. I went to my local feed store and 51 00:03:14,199 --> 00:03:17,520 bought a hay ring, a net wire, a spring loaded 52 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,199 swing gate. I took these items in my welding machine 53 00:03:21,199 --> 00:03:25,360 and fabricated an indestructible hog trap to try and lessen 54 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,000 the population of these pests. We kill and eat these 55 00:03:29,039 --> 00:03:31,960 hogs all the time. Now I knew I had takers 56 00:03:32,039 --> 00:03:35,080 for any that I would catch, because properly cooked, they 57 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:39,240 were fine eating. I placed the trap beside the food 58 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,199 plot and attached the trigger wire for the spring gate 59 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,840 to a bucket of corn inside, and once those pigs 60 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,520 moved that bucket, the gates would close and they would 61 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,400 be trapped. My years in the oil field afforded me 62 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,120 some of the finer redneck things in life. Afore wheel 63 00:03:56,159 --> 00:03:59,360 drive pickup and a side by side and an arsenal 64 00:03:59,439 --> 00:04:03,520 of gun from pistols to some automatic ar style rifles. 65 00:04:03,919 --> 00:04:08,759 With many Wi Fi game cameras. I had one camera 66 00:04:08,919 --> 00:04:12,159 that had seen better days. It would take and send 67 00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:15,240 me pictures just fine during the day, but had lost 68 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,680 its ability to flash and take pictures at night, so 69 00:04:18,759 --> 00:04:21,360 it was the perfect candidate to watch my hog trap. 70 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,399 It would send me pictures the next morning to let 71 00:04:24,439 --> 00:04:26,759 me know if the trap had been sprung and if 72 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,720 I had any hogs to go and remove. I set 73 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,040 the trap up on Friday afternoon, and by early evening 74 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,800 I got a picture showing me I had four hogs 75 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,079 in the trap. The next morning, my son and I 76 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:42,759 pulled up to the trap just as the sun peeked out, 77 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,800 but we were greeted with an empty trap. The gate 78 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,560 was closed and there was no damage or holes dug 79 00:04:49,639 --> 00:04:52,800 under it. This trap was anchored to the ground using 80 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,360 six t posts, each with four fence tie wires fastening 81 00:04:57,399 --> 00:05:01,079 the trap, and all of them were intact. We found 82 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,839 hair on the top end of the net wire, which 83 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,480 was at my eye level and I'm six foot two. 84 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,319 Some of the hair was dark, it was almost black 85 00:05:10,759 --> 00:05:13,160 like the hogs I had seen in the photos, but 86 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,319 some of the hair was long and light brown. After 87 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,160 handling it, the smell on my hand was enough to 88 00:05:20,199 --> 00:05:24,560 make a maggot gag. It smelled like a crab house 89 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:30,399 on a tuna boat. Oh man, that's a classic. We 90 00:05:30,519 --> 00:05:34,319 reset the trap and headed back home, and just like clockwork, 91 00:05:34,399 --> 00:05:37,759 when it was early evening, I received another photo telling 92 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,720 me there were more hogs in the trap. But the 93 00:05:40,759 --> 00:05:43,439 next day I awoke to the photo from my game 94 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,240 cam of a hog sitting on top of my empty 95 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:50,639 sprung hog trap. I was baffled, how were these hogs 96 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,480 getting out? Again? We reset the trap and around four 97 00:05:55,519 --> 00:05:58,319 pm we arrived and found the empty trap with more 98 00:05:58,399 --> 00:06:01,879 hair stuck to the wire. This time, we took more 99 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,319 time to investigate, and we noticed the grass was beaten 100 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,680 down in a path leading from the woods. Well this 101 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,240 got me thinking was someone coming in and taking these hogs? 102 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,240 I pondered on this the rest of the night. If 103 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:18,759 someone was taking them, then how were they doing it. 104 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,199 There was no blood inside the trap or around it, 105 00:06:22,319 --> 00:06:25,959 and the hogs aren't exactly cooperative, so picking even a 106 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,600 small one up and handing it over to another person 107 00:06:28,639 --> 00:06:33,360 outside the trap would be damn near impossible. I decided 108 00:06:33,399 --> 00:06:35,560 to go back the next day and set the trap 109 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:38,519 and then get into my box doAnd with my thermal 110 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,920 scope equipped ar ten and see what I could see. 111 00:06:43,079 --> 00:06:46,519 A few hours later, two large hogs entered my trap 112 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,240 and the gate shut. Now I had the bait and 113 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:51,399 I was going to wait and see if anything took it. 114 00:06:52,879 --> 00:06:56,199 Night came and I scanned the woodline with my thermal. 115 00:06:56,759 --> 00:07:00,240 Around ten PM, I heard what sounded like whistles coming 116 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:03,920 from the woods where the grass trail had led. I 117 00:07:03,959 --> 00:07:07,000 pulled up my thermal again and I saw heat signals 118 00:07:07,079 --> 00:07:09,959 moving through the trees, and after a couple of minutes 119 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:13,040 I saw what sort of resembled a human emerged from 120 00:07:13,079 --> 00:07:16,800 the tree line and walked toward the trout. When he 121 00:07:16,879 --> 00:07:19,959 got there, he had his hands at waste level, with 122 00:07:20,079 --> 00:07:23,439 his palms straight out. I tried to figure out why 123 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,600 he was standing like that when I realized he was 124 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,399 so tall that his hands were resting on the net 125 00:07:29,439 --> 00:07:33,439 wire of the trout. The large hogs immediately went to 126 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,120 the opposite side of the troup, but I could see 127 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,360 that the top of their backs were just above this 128 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,160 thing's knee. It wasn't but a few seconds later that 129 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,399 I heard another series of whistles, and two more large 130 00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:48,399 figures emerged from the woods and walked to the trap. 131 00:07:49,199 --> 00:07:53,120 Once they arrived, the first creature gingerly climbed over into 132 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:56,399 the trap and grabbed one of the hogs, and within 133 00:07:56,519 --> 00:08:00,079 seconds its loud squealing stop and it was handed over 134 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:02,720 to one of the creatures on the outside of the trap. 135 00:08:03,879 --> 00:08:07,319 The second hog was silenced and handed over, and the 136 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,720 creature climbed back out and walked with the others back 137 00:08:10,759 --> 00:08:15,040 into the woods. Well, I couldn't believe my eyes. I 138 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,000 stayed up watching until the batteries and my thermal died, 139 00:08:18,519 --> 00:08:20,319 and then I lay down on the floor of my 140 00:08:20,399 --> 00:08:23,160 box stand and I tried to sleep, but there was 141 00:08:23,199 --> 00:08:27,879 no way I was climbing down until after daylight. About 142 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,360 an hour after daybreak, I climbed down and walked to 143 00:08:30,399 --> 00:08:32,840 my truck, and I called my son and I told 144 00:08:32,879 --> 00:08:35,159 him what I had seen, and he wanted to go 145 00:08:35,279 --> 00:08:38,200 back that night to see for himself, and that's what 146 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:43,039 we did, and the exact same thing happened again, only 147 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,080 this time three hogs were trapped, and instead of two 148 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:50,840 additional figures emerging from the woods, there were three. My 149 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:55,320 son watched in silence through my thermal binoculars while I 150 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,320 watched through my scope. After what we had witnessed, we 151 00:08:59,399 --> 00:09:03,120 both agreed that we weren't climbing down until daybreak, and 152 00:09:03,159 --> 00:09:05,559 when we climbed down that morning, we walked out to 153 00:09:05,639 --> 00:09:09,519 the trap. Those things have to be nearly ten feet tall, dad, 154 00:09:09,759 --> 00:09:13,000 my son said. Just as he said it, we heard 155 00:09:13,039 --> 00:09:16,679 something near the woods. A second later, a boar hog 156 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,159 with its nose to the ground, ran out. I quickly 157 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,960 shouldered my rifle and took it down, and my son 158 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,759 and I walked over to it. It was over two 159 00:09:25,879 --> 00:09:28,960 hundred pounds. We had about a half a mile to 160 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,600 walk to the truck, so we decided to leave it 161 00:09:31,639 --> 00:09:34,039 beside a tree stump at the base of our box 162 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:36,919 stand and then come back with the side by side 163 00:09:36,919 --> 00:09:40,360 to haul it out. We got back home, loaded up 164 00:09:40,399 --> 00:09:43,039 the side by side and came straight back to remove 165 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,200 the boar. But when we got there, it was gone. 166 00:09:46,919 --> 00:09:49,799 There were no drag marks, no pack of codes tearing 167 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:54,039 into it. It was just gone. That's when my son 168 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,919 noticed a pile of twenty or so pecans sitting on 169 00:09:58,039 --> 00:10:02,679 top of a tree stump. Each of them I'm perfectly shelled. Wow, 170 00:10:02,759 --> 00:10:07,000 they left us some pecans, Dad, my son said. I 171 00:10:07,039 --> 00:10:09,600 asked him what he meant. He explained that last dear 172 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,799 season he had been sitting in that stand eating pecans 173 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,399 and throwing the shells out the window onto the ground. 174 00:10:16,279 --> 00:10:18,919 So the bigfoot must have assumed that would be a 175 00:10:18,919 --> 00:10:24,559 good trade pecinds for pigs. My son collected the gifted pekins, 176 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,960 and from their smell, he didn't eat them, but he 177 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,080 took them with us. Nonetheless, we didn't set the trap again, 178 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,840 and a few days later I brought a trailer and 179 00:10:33,919 --> 00:10:38,559 removed it in preparation for deer season. In Mississippi, youth 180 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:42,080 deer season opens a few days earlier than rifle season 181 00:10:42,159 --> 00:10:46,919 for all ages. Opening morning, I took my grandson just 182 00:10:47,039 --> 00:10:50,279 after daylight. A six point buck and a doe walked out, 183 00:10:51,159 --> 00:10:53,679 and my grandson is a crack shot with a rifle, 184 00:10:53,879 --> 00:10:56,679 and before I could blink, he shot the buck and 185 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:00,960 then the dough with a Savage Youth Model two forty three. 186 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,840 We climbed down to assess his first kills of the season, 187 00:11:05,399 --> 00:11:07,480 and when I told him we had two to skin, 188 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,960 he told me, no, Pap Paul, just one. Let's take 189 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,200 the buck and leave the dough for them, you know, 190 00:11:13,399 --> 00:11:16,440 the big feats. Well, how could I argue with that. 191 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,720 We loaded the buck, pulled the dough over near our stand, 192 00:11:20,799 --> 00:11:24,159 and left and we got home and skinned his trophy, 193 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,679 and later that day we loaded up the corn to 194 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,000 take to a nearby feeder. My grandson asked if we 195 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,919 could ride to see if they had taken his gift, 196 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,720 and when we got there, we saw that they had 197 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,919 not only that, but on the stump laid a beautiful fox, 198 00:11:40,919 --> 00:11:45,240 squirrel tail and a large Indian spearhead. It's not like 199 00:11:45,279 --> 00:11:48,679 an arrowhead, it's bigger, and something we searched and searched 200 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:53,720 for as children, but we never found them. My grandson 201 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:58,159 was rightfully excited, and quite frankly, I was too, And 202 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,919 when I got him home, he told us father about it. 203 00:12:01,639 --> 00:12:04,720 Those things won't forget anything. My son said, what do 204 00:12:04,759 --> 00:12:07,840 you mean, I asked him, This isn't the first time 205 00:12:07,879 --> 00:12:10,600 my son has been down there near the swamp. Don't 206 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,639 you remember me taking him squirrel hunting down there last year. 207 00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:17,919 They were watching him harvest squirrels, and I bet they've 208 00:12:17,919 --> 00:12:20,840 been around so long that they remember you searching all 209 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:26,080 that area for arrowheads. My son's words replayed in my 210 00:12:26,279 --> 00:12:29,559 head the rest of that day. How long have these 211 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,840 things been watching us? How many of them are there? 212 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,120 Since that day, we have continued to hunt and gift. 213 00:12:37,879 --> 00:12:40,519 I recently put the hog trap back down there, and 214 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,919 I reseid it a couple of times a week for them. 215 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,799 I hope those hogs are feeding their group, maybe they're 216 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,200 young ones. Also hope that our friendship with them and 217 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,279 kindness carry on. Maybe when I'm gone, they will keep 218 00:12:54,279 --> 00:12:57,279 a watchful eye over my son and grandson and other 219 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:02,240 generations to come. Thank you for reading my letter, Signed 220 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:07,159 Bernard Oh. I just love that story. That's a story 221 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,559 from my home state. He's quite a few miles south 222 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:13,399 of me. I live in the north part of the state, 223 00:13:13,519 --> 00:13:17,799 and this man lives south of Jackson, Bogacheetah. I've never 224 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,039 I don't think I've ever been there, but I enjoyed 225 00:13:21,039 --> 00:13:24,039 reading this story so much, not just because it's from 226 00:13:24,039 --> 00:13:28,080 my state, but this man knows how to tell a story. 227 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:32,399 He knows how to recount the thing Lily, Lily, what 228 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:38,080 are you barking at? Lily? She thinks she's a junk 229 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:41,759 yard dog. Anyway, The point is I love this story. 230 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,879 I wanted to say one thing. I am real busy 231 00:13:44,919 --> 00:13:47,159 with work now, but it's only going to last about 232 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,759 another week. If you're commenting and you're noticing, I'm not 233 00:13:51,039 --> 00:13:53,360 letting you know that I read your comment like with 234 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,159 a heart, or with a thumbs up, or with a reply. 235 00:13:56,759 --> 00:14:02,519 It's just because I'm trying to Lily, Lily, She's every 236 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:06,399 time I talk to her, she just keeps barking. Anyway. 237 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,360 I'm just busy trying to put keep podcasts coming out 238 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,080 because I love doing these I love doing these stories, 239 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:14,519 and uh, I just don't have time to go through 240 00:14:14,519 --> 00:14:17,960 the comment section. But I will for the last three 241 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,679 or four videos, the last three or four short videos 242 00:14:20,679 --> 00:14:23,360 I've done, I will go back and read the comments, 243 00:14:23,399 --> 00:14:25,519 and I've kind of scanned through them a couple of times. 244 00:14:25,879 --> 00:14:29,639 But I'm working ten eleven hours a day, and uh, 245 00:14:29,679 --> 00:14:32,120 when that day's over, I just go in. I don't 246 00:14:32,159 --> 00:14:34,279 want to even look at my phone or my computer 247 00:14:34,399 --> 00:14:37,440 or anything. So I want to let you know that 248 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,440 thanks for listening to this podcast. I certainly appreciate you. 249 00:14:40,559 --> 00:14:43,159 Let me go over here and see. Uh, she's probably 250 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,679 barking out a butterfly or a spider. I don't know. 251 00:14:46,879 --> 00:14:49,960 She's she thinks she's pretty tough, and she'll she'll see 252 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,879 a butterfly. Sometimes she'll chase chicken feathers around the yard 253 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,720 and she'll bark at them. She's just a yacht She's 254 00:14:56,759 --> 00:14:59,960 a junk yard dog, that's all I'm saying. All Right, y'all, 255 00:15:00,039 --> 00:15:03,120 have a great weekend or week coming up. I appreciate you, 256 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:04,840 and we'll see you on the next one. Thanks.