1
00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 1: Back in October of two thousand and eight, I was

2
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,720
twenty eight and I was in love. I had known

3
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,519
her my entire life, but I didn't realize how I

4
00:00:13,599 --> 00:00:17,320
felt until after she moved away from Ontario, Canada, where

5
00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,399
we lived, to British Columbia. By the time I realized

6
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,719
that she'd taken my heart with her, it was too late. Now,

7
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,679
twelve years later, thanks to Facebook, we had reconnected and

8
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,119
she was coming home for a visit. I felt like

9
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,479
I'd waited a lifetime for that day to come. I'll

10
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:41,119
never forget how beautiful she looked when we met. Time

11
00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,560
passed two quickly, and days turned into weeks, and we

12
00:00:44,679 --> 00:00:48,320
spent as much time together as we could. Before we

13
00:00:48,399 --> 00:00:51,000
knew it, she would be leaving in a week, and

14
00:00:51,039 --> 00:00:53,520
I knew I couldn't let her go again, And to

15
00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,479
my surprise and great joy, she agreed to stay. Thanksgiving

16
00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,799
week of that year, we arrived I did in British

17
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,120
Columbia to get her things and officially move her back home.

18
00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,319
We flew in after spending a few days with her friends.

19
00:01:08,879 --> 00:01:13,239
We had a four day drive back home. Everything went

20
00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,799
well until the second day of our return trip. We

21
00:01:16,879 --> 00:01:21,079
got lost. How did I make this mistake, I wondered

22
00:01:21,079 --> 00:01:24,799
as I stared out over the landscape. We were almost

23
00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,200
out of the mountains by then, but it was getting late.

24
00:01:27,879 --> 00:01:30,359
I thought maybe if I drove a bit longer, we

25
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,400
could make up some ground. It was a thought I

26
00:01:33,439 --> 00:01:38,000
would soon come to regret. Night was falling fast when

27
00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,439
I saw a sign that indicated the next town was

28
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:46,079
sixty kilometers away. Dear God, another sixty kilometers, but I'm

29
00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,120
already so tired, I thought. Being the stubborn type, I

30
00:01:50,159 --> 00:01:53,519
pushed on. I can do this, I told myself, like

31
00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:58,120
the little engine that could. No sooner had I formed

32
00:01:58,159 --> 00:02:01,000
that thought than the first rain drive began to fall.

33
00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,159
I glanced upwards and whispered, how much more are you

34
00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,919
going to put me through? Lord? Ask a stupid question.

35
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,719
I tried to set aside my frustrations. The love of

36
00:02:14,759 --> 00:02:17,599
my life was sleeping comfortably in the next seat to me.

37
00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,759
Even though we were lost at the moment, we had

38
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,120
our whole lives ahead of us. I was a lucky man,

39
00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:26,680
and one day we would look back on this night

40
00:02:26,759 --> 00:02:31,560
and smile. Right. Five minutes later, the rain was coming

41
00:02:31,599 --> 00:02:34,159
down pretty steady, and we were no closer to finding

42
00:02:34,199 --> 00:02:37,879
our way back to where we should have been. One second,

43
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,759
we were traveling along the lonely road while the wiper

44
00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,759
blades swished away the rain almost as fast as it

45
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,719
blurred my view. And the next a pair of massive

46
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:52,159
antlers appeared in my path. It was a moose, and

47
00:02:52,199 --> 00:02:55,879
then another, and then another. They were being chased by

48
00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,919
something I could never have imagined. I slammed on the brakes,

49
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,719
but there was no time to stop. It was out

50
00:03:02,759 --> 00:03:06,240
of my hands. The tires slid across the wet pavement

51
00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:11,199
and crashed into the animals. The world spun wildly as

52
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,639
my car flipped over and over and over again, landing

53
00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,159
on all four wheels. I don't remember being ejected from

54
00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:21,879
the vehicle, but I awoke to find myself lying on

55
00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,960
the ground, being pummeled by the driving rain. I had

56
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,400
been knocked out at some point, and breathing hurt, but

57
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,280
not breathing wasn't an option, and I gasped for air

58
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,599
and winced at the pain with each breath, and then

59
00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:42,039
something growled. The memory of the last image before my

60
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,680
foot buried the brake pedal came back to me, and

61
00:03:45,759 --> 00:03:50,479
it growled again, followed by a sort of wailing wah sound.

62
00:03:51,719 --> 00:03:55,080
The pain in shock of the accident was overwhelming, and

63
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,759
as a former hockey player, I wasn't a stranger to

64
00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,680
the feeling. No one plays high without breaking something at

65
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,039
some point. But this pain felt like it was coming

66
00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,199
from every part of my body. And then I remembered

67
00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:13,639
my girlfriend. No, God, no, I cried. I couldn't pull

68
00:04:13,719 --> 00:04:16,399
myself up, so I had to inch around to the

69
00:04:16,439 --> 00:04:20,120
other side of the car, crawling on my belly. It

70
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,879
was an eternity during which I pleaded with God to

71
00:04:22,959 --> 00:04:27,079
let her be okay. As I rounded the passenger side,

72
00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,680
I saw her body on the ground thirty feet away,

73
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:34,079
with something strange standing over her. At nine feet tall.

74
00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,240
The hair covered being looked like an ape man with

75
00:04:37,399 --> 00:04:40,800
shoulders as white as my car. Get away from her.

76
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,480
I screamed at it, leave her alone, please. Through my yelling,

77
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,079
I heard a strange waw wail again. Now I knew

78
00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:54,360
what was making it. The creature went down on all

79
00:04:54,399 --> 00:04:57,319
fours like a gorilla would do, and placed its hands

80
00:04:57,319 --> 00:05:02,639
on my girlfriend's belly and that whah again. Now I

81
00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,800
couldn't understand what this thing was doing to my girlfriend.

82
00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,040
I just wanted it to get away from her. Leave

83
00:05:09,079 --> 00:05:13,680
her alone, I screamed. I grabbed a piece of broken

84
00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,000
fender in tent on throwing it at the beast, but

85
00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,680
my arm was broken and it wouldn't do what I

86
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,199
wanted it to do. All I knew was that I

87
00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:25,839
needed to chase this thing away before it hurt my

88
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,759
girlfriend any more than she already was. I wanted to

89
00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,560
hurt it. I wanted it to feel the pain I felt.

90
00:05:34,439 --> 00:05:37,480
It stood up and released a long growl before taking

91
00:05:37,519 --> 00:05:41,600
one long hop and landing right next to me, with

92
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,040
the ease of a child setting aside a discarded rag doll.

93
00:05:45,639 --> 00:05:48,759
It scooped me off the pavement, and it set me

94
00:05:48,959 --> 00:05:52,439
on the side of the road. It seemed to realize

95
00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,319
that I was hurt, because it didn't drop me. It

96
00:05:55,439 --> 00:05:59,279
placed me. Then it went back over to my girlfriend

97
00:05:59,319 --> 00:06:03,000
and carefully picked her up, cradled her in its arms

98
00:06:03,079 --> 00:06:06,279
like a newborn baby, and brought her over to set

99
00:06:06,319 --> 00:06:11,079
her beside me. I was trembling in pain and fear

100
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,519
as I looked into the face of my girlfriend. She

101
00:06:14,759 --> 00:06:19,199
wasn't awake. Her eyes were half closed in that terrible

102
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,360
way that said there was no one behind them now,

103
00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,920
And I turned my gaze back to the creature. We

104
00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,240
locked eyes for a moment, and I saw compassion there.

105
00:06:29,879 --> 00:06:33,360
I burst into tears, crying out her name over and over,

106
00:06:33,639 --> 00:06:37,160
unable to bear the physical pain or to understand the

107
00:06:37,199 --> 00:06:41,600
mental anguish. I was angry at the world and frustrated

108
00:06:41,639 --> 00:06:44,879
with my inability to fix this, and all I could

109
00:06:44,879 --> 00:06:49,000
do was cry all the while. The strange ape man

110
00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,120
stood over me and patiently waited, and finally it spoke,

111
00:06:53,759 --> 00:06:57,240
not in English or anything like a language I ever

112
00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,839
knew or heard. It wasn't yelling now. It knelt down

113
00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,240
and placed a hand on her leg and looked back

114
00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,199
over at me. Somehow, I think it knew that the

115
00:07:08,199 --> 00:07:12,680
love of my life was gone. Lights were coming from

116
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,120
somewhere in the distance, and darkness fell over me. That

117
00:07:17,279 --> 00:07:19,560
was the last thing I remember until I woke up

118
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,240
in the hospital. Police were all around me, and my

119
00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,560
mother had flown in from Ontario along with my brother.

120
00:07:27,519 --> 00:07:31,800
They were in the room. My girlfriend's mother was there too.

121
00:07:31,959 --> 00:07:36,160
An officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said, sir,

122
00:07:36,319 --> 00:07:39,040
you were in a terrible accident. I want you to

123
00:07:39,079 --> 00:07:43,160
try to be calm now. I looked at my mother,

124
00:07:43,639 --> 00:07:47,319
hoping against hope, as I asked. The only question I

125
00:07:47,399 --> 00:07:51,519
needed to have an answer to is she did she

126
00:07:51,639 --> 00:07:55,240
make it mo The look on my mother's face told

127
00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,639
me all I needed to know. I spent the next

128
00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:04,800
three year months recovering my leg required sixty two staples.

129
00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:09,800
My arm, wrist, and several ribs were broken. The official

130
00:08:09,879 --> 00:08:13,439
police report doesn't include the part about the Bigfoot. I

131
00:08:13,519 --> 00:08:17,560
left that out. It wasn't until five years ago that

132
00:08:17,639 --> 00:08:20,800
I shared this with anyone. At that time, I sat

133
00:08:20,839 --> 00:08:23,879
down with both my family and hers, and I told

134
00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:28,360
them everything I had to get it out of my system.

135
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,959
Keeping it hidden was making me sick now, worried that

136
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,399
people would laugh at me, but bundling up inside was worse.

137
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,200
I look back now, I can imagine that the bigfoot

138
00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,480
was chasing the moose and they just happened to cross

139
00:08:43,519 --> 00:08:46,759
the road at the same point we were. I don't

140
00:08:46,799 --> 00:08:51,399
harbor any hard feelings toward these creatures. He showed me

141
00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:56,639
empathy by placing my girlfriend beside me one last time. Now,

142
00:08:56,639 --> 00:08:59,840
this story doesn't have a happy ending, but I hope

143
00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:04,200
it will encourage others to share theirs. Keeping it inside

144
00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,919
does no good. I've wanted to give up many times

145
00:09:07,919 --> 00:09:12,159
since that awful night. The images and memories are always

146
00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,039
with me, but I keep moving forward, trying to live

147
00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,679
my life as best I can. I think my girlfriend

148
00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:24,799
would have wanted it this way. I was playing a

149
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,200
game of creek jumping with four of my friends when

150
00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:32,240
I was twelve years old. We lived in Independence, Kentucky,

151
00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,360
and creek jumping was a game we played often back then.

152
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:38,960
It was really just follow the leader, but it involved

153
00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,519
jumping over creek, so that's what we called it. We'd

154
00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:44,840
been out in the woods playing our game for over

155
00:09:44,879 --> 00:09:47,919
an hour when we heard something walking somewhere behind us,

156
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,080
like it was following us. We'd gone pretty deep into

157
00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:53,879
the woods, but we figured it with some of the

158
00:09:53,879 --> 00:09:57,639
neighborhood kids who had followed us there well. Figuring that

159
00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,000
there was going to be an ambush, we picked up

160
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,879
some sticks and began hitting them on the trees and yelling,

161
00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:04,799
if you want to play, come out and open you

162
00:10:04,879 --> 00:10:10,440
big chickens. Everything went quiet, maybe a little too quiet,

163
00:10:10,799 --> 00:10:14,919
but we were kids, we wouldn't have noticed that. After

164
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,759
a few minutes, we figured that we had chased them off,

165
00:10:17,799 --> 00:10:20,039
and we went back to our game of creek jumping.

166
00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,159
Minutes later, we were a little deeper into the woods

167
00:10:24,159 --> 00:10:28,039
when a massive roar rang out that vibrated in our chests.

168
00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,720
I grew up in the Kentucky woods, and this was

169
00:10:31,879 --> 00:10:36,159
nothing like anything I'd ever heard. We froze in our

170
00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,480
tracks with two of my friends on one side of

171
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,320
the creek and the rest of us on the other,

172
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,919
and we looked up the hill on our side of

173
00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,279
the creek to see a nine foot tall nightmare standing

174
00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:51,000
between two trees at the top, shaking and growling at us.

175
00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,000
Fear shot through us as one of my buddy's gasped,

176
00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,360
what the hell is that? My other buddy on the

177
00:10:58,399 --> 00:11:00,759
other side was so scared that he pee his pants.

178
00:11:01,399 --> 00:11:03,279
Come on, let's get out of here. One of the

179
00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:06,399
other friends yelled from across the creek, and the three

180
00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,240
of us on our side sprang into action, and we

181
00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,799
jumped across to the other side. As soon as our

182
00:11:12,879 --> 00:11:16,480
feet hit the ground, it let out another ear shattering roar,

183
00:11:17,039 --> 00:11:19,759
and then it snapped the tree off like they were twigs,

184
00:11:19,799 --> 00:11:23,799
and they threw the trees at us. We were panicked

185
00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,399
and terrified and ran as fast as we could with

186
00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:30,159
this thing following behind us. Well. No one looked back,

187
00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,159
but we could hear it crashing through the trees like

188
00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:36,039
a bulldozer. We didn't stop running until we came to

189
00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,039
a country road, where we had to stop and catch

190
00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,840
our breath. By then we were all crying. Now I

191
00:11:42,879 --> 00:11:44,840
have to admit I thought I was going to die

192
00:11:44,919 --> 00:11:48,639
that day. We knew it wasn't far behind us, so

193
00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:51,200
we started walking up the road as fast as our

194
00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,120
exhausted lungs would allow, and our only hope, we thought,

195
00:11:55,399 --> 00:11:58,960
was if someone came along and gave us a ride.

196
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,360
All the way up that road, it paralleled us, but

197
00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,639
we didn't see it. It stayed inside the tree line,

198
00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,000
but we could hear it huffing and puffing and tearing

199
00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,279
up trees. We finally came to a gas station where

200
00:12:12,279 --> 00:12:14,320
one of my friends called us mother to come and

201
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,399
pick us up. We told her what happened, but she

202
00:12:17,519 --> 00:12:20,960
didn't believe us. When I got home, I told my

203
00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,279
mother and father, but they didn't believe me either, and

204
00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,879
after that we never spoke about it again. My friends

205
00:12:28,919 --> 00:12:31,559
still don't speak about it, except to admit that it

206
00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,559
gave them all nightmares. But we didn't play in the

207
00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,759
woods after that. It was another four years before I

208
00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:42,120
stepped foot inside that tree line. One thing I do

209
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,960
know is that that thing wasn't human, and if it

210
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,720
had wanted to kill us, it could have easily caught

211
00:12:47,799 --> 00:12:54,480
us and done just that. My siblings called me Buckshot.

212
00:12:55,159 --> 00:12:57,120
I guess you can tell by that name that I've

213
00:12:57,159 --> 00:13:00,120
spent most of my life in the woods hunting everything

214
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,799
from white tailed deer to turkey, to coyotes and hogs.

215
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,840
Because of that, I've also spent many an early morning

216
00:13:06,879 --> 00:13:11,080
and night listening to the sounds of mother nature. Where

217
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,559
I'm from, coyotes are pretty common and black bears aren't

218
00:13:14,639 --> 00:13:19,440
unheard of. We also have black panthers or black cougars here,

219
00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,120
but don't tell the authorities. They ain't figured it out yet.

220
00:13:24,039 --> 00:13:26,360
I know I haven't seen or heard everything, but I've

221
00:13:26,399 --> 00:13:29,679
always been pretty comfortable with my knowledge of Mother Nature.

222
00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:32,879
That's why I was so shook up by what I

223
00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,159
heard one night a few weeks back. I was sitting

224
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,200
in my barn taking a rest before heading to the house,

225
00:13:40,519 --> 00:13:43,279
when out of the blue, I heard an extremely loud

226
00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:47,159
roar or I guess you might say it was a yell. Well,

227
00:13:47,159 --> 00:13:49,879
whichever it was, it was something I've never heard before.

228
00:13:50,919 --> 00:13:53,919
I've heard everything that might have come close to it,

229
00:13:54,039 --> 00:13:56,399
but this wasn't any of them. I'm sure of that.

230
00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,759
There's something else. I'm sure of. Whatever made that noise

231
00:14:01,039 --> 00:14:06,159
was huge. The sound repeated itself three more times. With

232
00:14:06,279 --> 00:14:09,840
each successive yell, my heart beat a little faster, until

233
00:14:09,879 --> 00:14:12,320
it felt like it was beating out of my chest.

234
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,960
I retreated to the house as quickly as I could,

235
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,399
since then I carry whenever I step outside, especially late

236
00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,840
at night, So naturally I told my dad and sister

237
00:14:24,919 --> 00:14:28,919
and nephew about it, and just as naturally, they laughed

238
00:14:28,919 --> 00:14:32,519
and picked fun at me for it. After a week

239
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,159
of being mocked by them, we were all sitting out

240
00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,799
in the yard one night, enjoying the evening air. It

241
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,559
was getting to be around eleven forty pm, and I

242
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,440
was half listing for another yell and half hoping I

243
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,120
didn't hear one. Just as my dad opened his mouth

244
00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,639
to say something, that loud, bellowing howl came from the

245
00:14:51,639 --> 00:14:56,000
woodline along the backfield of my property. In the daylight,

246
00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,159
we could have seen where it came from, but at

247
00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:03,840
night it was too dark. As that sound echoed across

248
00:15:03,879 --> 00:15:08,399
the barnyard, everyone went still. My dad frozen midward, and

249
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,200
his eyes bulged from his face. We all sat looking

250
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,080
at each other as that same sound came from the

251
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,519
bowels of the woods a few more times over the

252
00:15:17,559 --> 00:15:21,679
next several minutes, and no one spoke a word, probably

253
00:15:21,759 --> 00:15:26,279
because no one needed to. That effectively ended our night.

254
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,000
The next night, we regrouped in the barnyard, with everyone

255
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:35,159
anxious to talk about what happened the night before. As

256
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,759
my dad and siblings discussed the loudness and the possible

257
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,120
source of the sounds, my nephew and I searched the

258
00:15:42,159 --> 00:15:46,279
Internet on our smartphones, looking for animal sounds that might

259
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,559
explain what we'd heard. We searched for several hours, but

260
00:15:50,639 --> 00:15:55,080
we came up empty. Nothing came close to what we'd heard.

261
00:15:55,919 --> 00:15:59,279
Then we stumbled across the site that had bigfoot sounds.

262
00:15:59,759 --> 00:16:04,159
They were remarkably close to what we'd heard. After hearing

263
00:16:04,159 --> 00:16:06,879
those recordings, we all looked at each other and came

264
00:16:06,919 --> 00:16:10,840
to the same collective conclusion that thing roaring in my

265
00:16:10,919 --> 00:16:15,039
woods had to be a bigfoot. A few days after that,

266
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,519
my nephew and I were walking in a field on

267
00:16:17,559 --> 00:16:21,000
my property when he came across an unusual track in

268
00:16:21,039 --> 00:16:24,159
the soil. He called me over to look at it.

269
00:16:24,759 --> 00:16:27,080
What I saw led me to conclude that it was

270
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:32,080
definitely a bigfoot. The print was very human in appearance,

271
00:16:32,519 --> 00:16:35,320
except that it was six or seven inches wide at

272
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:37,960
the top and four to five inches wide at the heel.

273
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,000
I could see the toes and the curve of the

274
00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,759
arch and the foot. My heart was racing as fast

275
00:16:44,759 --> 00:16:48,279
as it was that first night. I've always believed in

276
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,200
the possibility of their existence, but I never thought I

277
00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,720
would actually see a print or hear one yell. A

278
00:16:56,759 --> 00:16:59,240
few nights passed and I was standing out on my

279
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,639
front porch to catch a bit of fresh air before

280
00:17:01,679 --> 00:17:04,799
turning in for the night, and from the woods across

281
00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,880
the road from my house, I heard that roar again.

282
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:12,720
Having heard it several times now, I wasn't so quick

283
00:17:12,759 --> 00:17:16,480
to retreat. It was a little different this time, more

284
00:17:16,559 --> 00:17:18,720
like a squeal of pain with a hint of a

285
00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:22,240
roar in it. Fear gripped me, but I was determined

286
00:17:22,279 --> 00:17:25,400
to stand my ground. My wife heard it and came

287
00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,400
outside to see what it was. This was the first

288
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,119
time she'd heard it, and I could see fear and

289
00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,319
worry in her eyes as she stood there and shot.

290
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,640
Two nights later, my son and I were out checking

291
00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,079
my grapes at eight pm, and I was studying how

292
00:17:42,079 --> 00:17:45,119
many grapes were producing when I heard that familiar sound

293
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:48,880
in the distance. I marveled at the power it had,

294
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,359
even from so far away. With white eyes, my son

295
00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,680
looked at me and he said, is that what you've

296
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,920
been hearing? And I nodded my answer as he turned

297
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,119
to run for the house. Come inside, he called over

298
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,720
his shoulder, and I followed on his heels. A couple

299
00:18:05,759 --> 00:18:08,519
of more days went by with no unusual sounds from

300
00:18:08,519 --> 00:18:12,839
the woods. I had just gotten comfortable with the idea

301
00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,000
that we wouldn't hear any more of those yells when

302
00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:18,720
as my wife and I were lying in bed that night,

303
00:18:19,079 --> 00:18:23,000
somewhere between awake and dream land, and a loud bellow

304
00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:27,480
came through our bedroom window and rattled our walls. We

305
00:18:27,599 --> 00:18:30,480
both immediately sat up right in bed and looked around,

306
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,160
neither one knowing what to say. All we could do

307
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,400
was stare at each other when another loud roar shook

308
00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,480
the window glass. After that, all was silent for the

309
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,400
rest of the night. It was just enough to keep

310
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,880
either one of us from getting a good night's sleep,

311
00:18:47,319 --> 00:18:49,480
and we spent the rest of the night, sitting up

312
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:54,519
waiting and listening. By now I was contemplating looking for

313
00:18:54,640 --> 00:19:00,160
more evidence despite my internal struggle between fear and curiosity,

314
00:19:00,599 --> 00:19:03,200
I decided to take a walk along my property line

315
00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,720
at the edge of the woods. This time I found

316
00:19:06,759 --> 00:19:11,200
two different sets of prints. One was fifteen inches long

317
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:15,319
and the other was ten inches. Both were very wide,

318
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:17,960
and I realized then that I was going to have

319
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,240
to accept that whatever this was, it had chosen to

320
00:19:21,279 --> 00:19:25,119
make my property its home. Judging by the size of

321
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,880
the Prince and the strength of its roar, there wasn't

322
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,200
going to be much I could do about it. I

323
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,519
told my siblings about the Prince the first chance I got.

324
00:19:35,079 --> 00:19:36,839
They all ran over to look at them, but I

325
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,680
could tell that they were struggling with the same internal

326
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:44,480
battle between curiosity and fear that had me tied at knots.

327
00:19:45,279 --> 00:19:48,160
I've lived on this property for the last six years.

328
00:19:48,839 --> 00:19:51,960
Before that, I left five miles from here. Now I've

329
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,240
lived in this general area my entire thirty one years.

330
00:19:55,799 --> 00:19:59,559
Never have I heard anything like this. I'm sure my

331
00:19:59,559 --> 00:20:04,160
siblings could all say the same. That night, after I

332
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,480
showed my siblings the Prince, we all decided to wait

333
00:20:07,599 --> 00:20:11,160
up to see if we might hear it again. The neighbor,

334
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,759
who was living three houses down, was having a shin

335
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,119
dick that night, and around nine pm the creature in

336
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,440
the woods let loose with a long, bellowing yell, and

337
00:20:20,519 --> 00:20:23,519
the neighbor heard it. How do I know that he

338
00:20:23,519 --> 00:20:27,599
heard it? Not two seconds later all of his friends

339
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:32,440
started leaving in a hasty manner. The fire went from

340
00:20:32,599 --> 00:20:35,680
lighting up his yard to darkness, and I laughed a bit,

341
00:20:35,799 --> 00:20:39,920
but I understood their fear. So far, it's the last

342
00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:41,319
time I've heard that yell.