1
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,320
Speaker 1: You can't choose your neighbors if you're moving to a

2
00:00:13,359 --> 00:00:17,199
new home. You can, to a degree, while shopping for

3
00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:19,519
a new place. If you will pay attention to the

4
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,039
area around the neighboring homes, you might know what sort

5
00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,839
of neighbors you'll have for the foreseeable future. Unkept property,

6
00:00:27,879 --> 00:00:30,879
along with various other signs, will clue you in to

7
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,799
what life will be like in the neighborhood. However, after

8
00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,159
you buy the place and move in, you never know

9
00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,759
who's going to move in next door a year later.

10
00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,520
This is what happened to us after buying a home

11
00:00:43,679 --> 00:00:47,320
in a rural area with a few acres in Mississippi

12
00:00:48,679 --> 00:00:51,079
in two thousand and eight. My wife and I wanted

13
00:00:51,119 --> 00:00:54,000
to get away from the city. The city we loved

14
00:00:54,039 --> 00:00:58,840
all our lives had turned violent. The politics, the violent crime,

15
00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,399
the traffic, and the devaluing of homes all over the

16
00:01:02,439 --> 00:01:06,200
county left us with no choice, so we began to

17
00:01:06,239 --> 00:01:08,760
look for a quiet place to live out our middle

18
00:01:08,799 --> 00:01:12,840
age years in peace. My wife was a bit apprehensive

19
00:01:12,879 --> 00:01:16,239
about moving away from good health care and family, but

20
00:01:16,359 --> 00:01:19,680
the desire to get to a peaceful place overrode all

21
00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,680
those concerns. We were in our early fifties. I was

22
00:01:24,719 --> 00:01:27,640
not retired and my job allowed me to work from

23
00:01:27,719 --> 00:01:32,280
anywhere as long as the internet was available. We settled

24
00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,680
on an existing home on five acres of land. Our

25
00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:40,719
nearest neighbor was within eyesight, but the distance was such

26
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,920
that we didn't feel like that they were close. The

27
00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,079
place next to us was well taken care of, and

28
00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,040
after meeting our neighbors, we knew we had chosen a

29
00:01:50,079 --> 00:01:54,920
good place to live. Within six months, however, that property

30
00:01:54,959 --> 00:01:58,680
went up for sale and it sold quickly. Within a

31
00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,439
month of the for sale sene coming down, our new

32
00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:05,560
neighbors moved in that weekend. Gave us a good idea

33
00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,799
of how life would be for us for the next

34
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:12,520
three years. They threw a party in the backyard. Rap

35
00:02:12,599 --> 00:02:16,360
music blared all night. Cars were in and out until

36
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,400
the early morning, and we didn't get much sleep, and

37
00:02:19,479 --> 00:02:23,639
our two dogs barked at the noise all night. The

38
00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,280
next day, I rode my ATV over to meet these

39
00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:28,599
people and to let them know that my hope was

40
00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,360
that these parties would be few. My first trip over

41
00:02:32,479 --> 00:02:36,520
produced no interactions. I knew the hangovers would be bad

42
00:02:36,599 --> 00:02:39,840
for these people, and I gave them some time. By

43
00:02:39,879 --> 00:02:43,280
three o'clock that afternoon, there was life stirring around the house.

44
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,599
All went back over and there's no need to describe

45
00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:50,479
the conversation that followed, but it was not pleasant. I

46
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,120
was told that this was their property and they would

47
00:02:53,159 --> 00:02:56,159
do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and that I

48
00:02:56,199 --> 00:03:00,479
needed to f off. I didn't need a confrontation, so

49
00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,080
I left. But it would have been my great pleasure

50
00:03:03,199 --> 00:03:06,319
to put this punk in the hospital for a few days.

51
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,199
But I'm a grown man now, and I learned a

52
00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:14,280
while back to avoid these conflicts unless I have no choice.

53
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,639
The new homeowner or tenant I would later discover, was

54
00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,120
a twenty something white male who had an affection for

55
00:03:22,199 --> 00:03:27,439
the urban gangland lifestyle, music, and wardrobe. It has amazed

56
00:03:27,599 --> 00:03:30,520
me that some of the younger generation want to appear

57
00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:34,680
as stupid looking as possible. The fact that this kid

58
00:03:34,759 --> 00:03:38,000
was a redneck from a small town in Mississippi made

59
00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,960
him look even more ignorant. My guess is that if

60
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,439
he had been transplanted immediately to an actual urban gangland environment,

61
00:03:47,919 --> 00:03:51,439
he would have folded in a second. I figured that

62
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:53,719
he would soon find out that he was not as

63
00:03:53,759 --> 00:03:55,919
bad as he thought he was, because there was no

64
00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,919
doubt that he would soon be a convict at Parchment

65
00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,000
before he was inmates. There have a way of sorting

66
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,599
out the misfits, but that was none of my business.

67
00:04:06,919 --> 00:04:09,120
I just hope that we would have no more trouble

68
00:04:09,159 --> 00:04:13,120
for them, and I will say now that we personally didn't.

69
00:04:13,639 --> 00:04:16,199
There were a few times over the following months when

70
00:04:16,199 --> 00:04:19,399
they deprived us of sleep, but it was not often

71
00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:24,360
and the situation was bearable. Later, checking the records in

72
00:04:24,439 --> 00:04:27,959
the courthouse, it appeared the property was owned by his father,

73
00:04:28,519 --> 00:04:33,199
a wealthy North Mississippi businessman. I didn't know, and I

74
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,480
didn't care, who the actual property owner was. The records

75
00:04:37,519 --> 00:04:39,839
for the property was down the hall from the tax

76
00:04:39,879 --> 00:04:43,680
collector's office, so while buying tags from my car one day,

77
00:04:44,079 --> 00:04:47,399
I walked down and I looked them up. This has

78
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,279
no relevance to this story other than to give you

79
00:04:50,319 --> 00:04:52,519
a feel for the kind of person that we were

80
00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,560
dealing with at the time. The new neighbors moved in

81
00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,439
during December, and by May a new chain link fence

82
00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,920
had been installed behind their house. Four large pit bull

83
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,959
dogs were now being kept inside the fence. The fence

84
00:05:09,079 --> 00:05:12,519
was tall six feet tall, and we never worried that

85
00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,800
the dogs would escape. That was not the problem. By July,

86
00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,480
there were fifteen or twenty pit bulls inside this fence.

87
00:05:21,959 --> 00:05:24,879
They were all staked to a short, heavy chain with

88
00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:29,959
no shelter. The dogs appeared healthy. I saw the tenant

89
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,040
feeding and watering the dogs each morning, but it was

90
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,680
hot that summer and those dogs were roasted in the

91
00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,240
sun during the hot months. My wife and I love dogs.

92
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,680
We have two. One is actually a pit bull rescue.

93
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:46,399
He's a big teddy bear, and we take great care

94
00:05:46,439 --> 00:05:49,439
of our dogs. But my neighbor, on the other hand,

95
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:54,040
looked to be training these dogs for something else. On

96
00:05:54,079 --> 00:05:57,519
the other side of their place, a privacy fence went up.

97
00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,839
It was not a large area, and first I thought

98
00:06:00,879 --> 00:06:04,560
they built it to conceal the trash cans. I noticed

99
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,720
my neighbor and two other men taking two dogs into

100
00:06:07,759 --> 00:06:11,360
that fenced area, and soon I could hear dogs fighting.

101
00:06:12,199 --> 00:06:15,120
The men would be screaming at the dogs, provoking them

102
00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,439
to attack each other. I never saw it happen, but

103
00:06:18,519 --> 00:06:22,360
it was obvious what they were doing. And then during

104
00:06:22,399 --> 00:06:24,879
the fall, I would see the tenant was out among

105
00:06:24,959 --> 00:06:28,480
the fifteen or twenty chained dogs. He would pick a

106
00:06:28,519 --> 00:06:30,920
few of them out and beat them with a limber

107
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,319
stick until they became aggressive with him. Some would cower

108
00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,519
in fear, and those were taken to his car and removed.

109
00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:42,120
I supposed they were given away or just dropped out somewhere.

110
00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,240
I thought he just got a kick out of being

111
00:06:45,319 --> 00:06:48,560
cruel to animals. But a friend visiting me one day

112
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,800
told me that the guy was raising fighting dogs and

113
00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:56,240
he was probably selling them. Allow me to stop here

114
00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,600
and qualify that at that time, there were no laws

115
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,079
in this county that made anything he was doing illegal.

116
00:07:04,199 --> 00:07:06,920
I once saw the sheriff at a local restaurant and

117
00:07:06,959 --> 00:07:09,879
I asked him about it. He straight up said there

118
00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,120
was nothing he could do and suggested that I contact

119
00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,759
one of the national groups that handled these things. I

120
00:07:16,839 --> 00:07:19,879
did that, and I never heard from the organization again.

121
00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,600
In addition, those were his dogs, they weren't mine. It

122
00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,839
was not my place to tell him what to do

123
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,000
with his property. If there was something I could have done,

124
00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,519
I would have done it. There were two instances where

125
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,399
dogs escaped and they found their way to the back

126
00:07:36,439 --> 00:07:40,800
of my house. I armed myself and approached them slowly,

127
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,319
only to find that these dogs were just happy to

128
00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:47,399
have some general human reaction. They were not well mannered,

129
00:07:47,519 --> 00:07:50,040
meaning that they jumped all over my wife and I

130
00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:52,639
and one got pretty rough with me, but at no

131
00:07:52,839 --> 00:07:56,680
time did they seem aggressive. Both of those dogs were

132
00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,319
taken to a shelter many miles away in another date.

133
00:08:00,639 --> 00:08:04,160
I never returned them to the owner. Maybe that is

134
00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,399
the best I could do, and I hoped more would

135
00:08:06,519 --> 00:08:08,879
escape and make their way to my house, but none

136
00:08:08,959 --> 00:08:13,399
ever did. Since that time frame, the city and county

137
00:08:13,439 --> 00:08:19,120
have passed animal cruelty ordinances and officials strictly enforced them.

138
00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,360
Dogs on chains are forbidden inside the city limits and

139
00:08:23,399 --> 00:08:26,480
in the county. The dogs must be well cared for

140
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:31,600
with shelter, water, and food. The owners get one warning.

141
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,879
After that the dogs are removed and taken to an

142
00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:39,360
adoption service, and I'm pleased that my county now sees

143
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:44,440
that these animals need protection. Now to the topic of bigfoot.

144
00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:48,480
I have known that bigfoot exists since I was a child.

145
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,399
My grandfather showed them to me in Arkansas on his

146
00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:56,639
land years ago, but that is an entirely different story.

147
00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,720
As a child and a teenager, my grandfather showed me

148
00:09:00,759 --> 00:09:03,679
how to draw the creatures near to me. It takes

149
00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,200
a lot of time. So when we moved to the country,

150
00:09:07,279 --> 00:09:09,960
my first thought was to see how many, if any

151
00:09:10,039 --> 00:09:15,480
Bigfoot inhabited the forests around us. With the steps I took,

152
00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:20,279
gifting and leaving subtle signs behind our home, finally I

153
00:09:20,399 --> 00:09:24,039
confirmed that a clan did indeed live in our woods.

154
00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,679
We never saw them, but we knew they were there.

155
00:09:28,399 --> 00:09:31,600
They let us know they were there in no uncertain terms.

156
00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,519
I know your stories are about Bigfoot, and in the

157
00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,200
stories you share we get to hear about all the

158
00:09:38,279 --> 00:09:42,360
typical behaviors that Bigfoot exhibits, but I will leave that

159
00:09:42,519 --> 00:09:45,799
out of the story. My goal here is to tell

160
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:50,720
you how Bigfoot handles cruel animal owners. However, I will

161
00:09:50,799 --> 00:09:54,480
mention that it is my experience that the big alpha males,

162
00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:59,279
or the fathers of the clans usually stay in the background.

163
00:09:59,799 --> 00:10:03,320
They do not reveal themselves unless they need to as

164
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:07,559
a show of dominance to other animals. We never saw

165
00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:10,399
signs of a huge alpha, but we knew he was there,

166
00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,960
lurking in the shadows, watching everything his clan did. The

167
00:10:15,039 --> 00:10:19,360
stories you hear over and over regarding children and animals

168
00:10:19,399 --> 00:10:24,519
being saved from critical situations that is typically the result

169
00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,919
of a female bigfoot intervening in the natural course of things.

170
00:10:29,799 --> 00:10:33,159
Males generally never do this, and it is my opinion

171
00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:38,240
that the patriarchal males probably disapprove of the female's intervention

172
00:10:38,519 --> 00:10:43,919
into human activities, but it happens anyway. I believe that

173
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,080
a female seeing a dire situation will pull on the

174
00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,960
breeches in the family and take matters into her own hands,

175
00:10:52,039 --> 00:10:56,480
no matter what the male thinks. Back on the farm,

176
00:10:56,759 --> 00:11:00,320
the dog training and whipping seem to get more serious

177
00:11:00,399 --> 00:11:04,679
as the fall months set in. The temperatures were cooling down,

178
00:11:04,759 --> 00:11:08,200
and by Thanksgiving it was chili. My neighbor had begun

179
00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:12,159
doing his beating and training at night. They had installed

180
00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,480
two lights on each side of their fighting pin. I

181
00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,399
supposed this was to conceal what they were doing from

182
00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,279
neighbors like me. Maybe they just enjoyed the cooler nights.

183
00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:28,360
I don't know. Whatever the reason, the training intensified on

184
00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:30,960
moonlight nights. I would go to the edge of my

185
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,440
property after hearing noises from the creatures in the woods.

186
00:11:35,159 --> 00:11:38,240
It was a regular thing I did. When I knew

187
00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:40,759
the bigfoot were close. I would set in the yard

188
00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,080
close to the trees and just talk to them. Even

189
00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,240
though my wife believed in these creatures, she still thought

190
00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:49,879
that I was nuts for doing this, But I knew

191
00:11:49,879 --> 00:11:53,639
they were there. On some nights, there would be three,

192
00:11:53,759 --> 00:11:56,799
maybe four creatures just beyond the light of my house.

193
00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,360
I could see movement in trees moving, and I could

194
00:12:00,399 --> 00:12:03,519
hear them breathing, especially when I would pitch a half

195
00:12:03,519 --> 00:12:05,879
a pone of corn bread into the woods or other

196
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,559
table scraps that we didn't eat that night. I just

197
00:12:09,639 --> 00:12:11,879
knew they were there, and I felt like the last

198
00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,759
year had been productive in developing a relationship with our clan.

199
00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,320
In addition, I always knew when the creatures were behind

200
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,639
my neighbor's house. The distance from my back porch was

201
00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,559
a long way, but I could clearly see the dogs

202
00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,480
in the moonlight. Every dog chain to the ground would

203
00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,759
get up and stretch that chain to the limit, looking

204
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:39,399
into those woods. Every tail would be wagging, and all

205
00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:44,360
barking would instantly stop. By this time, there were between

206
00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:48,399
twenty and thirty dogs inside that fence. I wish you

207
00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,399
could have seen it, because it would have given you

208
00:12:50,519 --> 00:12:54,559
great joy seeing those happy tails wagging. Now I think

209
00:12:54,639 --> 00:12:57,759
I know what they were looking at. The creatures knew

210
00:12:57,759 --> 00:12:59,799
what was going on at that house, and it is

211
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,879
I feeling that, even though they did not like it,

212
00:13:03,159 --> 00:13:08,399
that Big Alpha forbid his clan from intervening. This went

213
00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,960
on for several weeks, and the tenants training method grew

214
00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:17,679
more violent. The beatings became even more frequent. On a

215
00:13:17,759 --> 00:13:21,440
chilly night in March, I was awakened by a gunshot.

216
00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,200
It was not unusual for neighbors all around the area

217
00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:28,320
to shoot guns on their property, but I had never

218
00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,639
heard a gunshot. At two in the morning. I got

219
00:13:31,639 --> 00:13:34,360
out of bed and I dressed quickly and was soon

220
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,720
out on our back porch under the canopy. Rain fell

221
00:13:38,799 --> 00:13:42,279
in a steady shower. I tightened up the collar around

222
00:13:42,279 --> 00:13:45,960
my neck and I walked towards my neighbor's house. The

223
00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,519
whole backyard was lit up by lights attached to the house.

224
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,799
He had a dog by the chain and was beating

225
00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,639
it unmercifully. I could hear the yelps and the squeals

226
00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:00,360
from the poor animal. The closer I got, the more

227
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:04,440
clear the scene became visible. In the misty conditions. He

228
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,879
had a pistol in his hand and he would shoot

229
00:14:06,879 --> 00:14:10,440
it in the air on occasion. It didn't make sense

230
00:14:10,519 --> 00:14:13,919
to me. I think he wanted to shoot those dogs,

231
00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,440
but he thought better and he would shoot around off

232
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,519
in the air. Then he would go to another dog

233
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:23,399
and start the process all over again. I had had

234
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,519
it with this guy, and against my best judgment, I

235
00:14:26,639 --> 00:14:29,000
yelled to him to knock this crap off and leave

236
00:14:29,039 --> 00:14:32,080
the dogs alone. It was not the smartest mood that

237
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,639
I ever made. He did have a firearm and was

238
00:14:34,679 --> 00:14:39,039
probably under the influence of who knows what. He heard me,

239
00:14:39,159 --> 00:14:41,360
but he kept beating the dog he had in his

240
00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,759
hand until it began to fight back, at which point

241
00:14:44,799 --> 00:14:48,159
he released the dog and he moved to another I

242
00:14:48,279 --> 00:14:50,799
yelled at him again, and this time he heard me and

243
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,320
came to the fence and he yelled something back that

244
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:57,919
I did not understand, and then he went back inside.

245
00:14:58,159 --> 00:15:00,919
I returned home. I dried off, and I discussed the

246
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,679
event with my wife. She wanted to do something, but

247
00:15:04,759 --> 00:15:08,159
still there was nothing we could do. If we stole

248
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,200
the dogs or release them while he was away, we

249
00:15:11,279 --> 00:15:14,039
would be the criminals. That's what we wanted to do.

250
00:15:14,559 --> 00:15:19,759
It was frustrating for both of us. The nightlya beatings continued.

251
00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,360
On a comfortable night in May, I sat on my

252
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:26,720
back porch and I watched him head out to the

253
00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,679
large pen with his stick and opened the gate. It

254
00:15:30,759 --> 00:15:35,080
was a few minutes past eleven PM. I knew his pattern.

255
00:15:35,559 --> 00:15:38,679
He always started with the dogs closest to the gate.

256
00:15:39,159 --> 00:15:42,120
But for some reason we will never know, he went

257
00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:44,879
to the back of the enclosure, and I suppose he

258
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,120
was planning to work his way forward. Every dog cowered

259
00:15:49,159 --> 00:15:51,559
and laid flat to the ground as he walked through

260
00:15:51,559 --> 00:15:55,480
the area. There was no barking and no excitement. There

261
00:15:55,559 --> 00:16:00,159
was not a sound. They knew he was coming. He

262
00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:02,879
made it to the back of the enclosure, and instead

263
00:16:02,879 --> 00:16:05,840
of starting on the dogs, he leaned his back against

264
00:16:05,919 --> 00:16:09,360
the chain link fence and let a cigarette. I remember

265
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,240
seeing the orange glow on his face when he would

266
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:16,480
take a long draw. I just watched him. He was

267
00:16:16,559 --> 00:16:20,399
bouncing against the fence, leaning back into the give of

268
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,919
the chain link, and letting it push him forward. Over

269
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,480
and over. He used the fence as a lateral trampoline,

270
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,720
bouncing a bit harder each time, until I could hear

271
00:16:30,759 --> 00:16:34,679
the fence creaking. He was letting the dogs feel his

272
00:16:34,799 --> 00:16:39,360
anger and getting them afraid of him even more. He

273
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,320
thumped the cigarette but at the closest dog, and I

274
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,639
saw sparks settle on the animal, burning its hide. While

275
00:16:45,679 --> 00:16:48,840
it moved to relieve the pain. There was a short yelp.

276
00:16:49,639 --> 00:16:52,679
He bounced himself off the fence one last time and

277
00:16:52,759 --> 00:16:56,519
leaned forward to commence this night's beating. But before he

278
00:16:56,559 --> 00:17:00,840
could take the first step, a massive black arm reached

279
00:17:00,879 --> 00:17:03,879
over the fence, and the last thing I saw was

280
00:17:03,919 --> 00:17:06,720
his legs being dragged over the top of the six

281
00:17:06,799 --> 00:17:11,440
foot high top rail. No scream, no noise at all.

282
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:16,319
He just vanished into the woods. I stood there for

283
00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,440
a minute in shock. What should I do? Should I

284
00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,319
call the police? Should I go knock on their door

285
00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,599
to see if anyone was home? I had never seen

286
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,839
anyone living there, even though he did have visitors all

287
00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,960
the time. I reached for my cell phone and was

288
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,920
about to dial nine to one one, and I stopped

289
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,799
when the officer showed up. What was I going to

290
00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,720
tell them a family a bigfoot took him. Hell, they

291
00:17:42,759 --> 00:17:46,640
would put me in jail and probably consider me a suspect.

292
00:17:47,559 --> 00:17:50,440
I put the phone in my pocket and I walked inside.

293
00:17:51,319 --> 00:17:54,599
My wife was already in bed. I undressed and crawled

294
00:17:54,599 --> 00:17:57,640
in beside her, kissed her neck, and I went to sleep.

295
00:17:58,079 --> 00:18:02,440
It was a good night's sleep at that The next day,

296
00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:06,079
I saw that nothing had changed at his house. The

297
00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,880
dogs were still there, The overgrown grass still annoyed me,

298
00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:12,720
and I wonder if I had dreamed all of this.

299
00:18:14,079 --> 00:18:17,079
I decided that I had been fully awake when it

300
00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,559
all happened, so I relaxed. I ate breakfast, and I

301
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,400
started on a project that I had been planning to

302
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,519
do for months. I was going to plant fast growing

303
00:18:27,599 --> 00:18:31,000
trees at the edge of my property adjacent to his house,

304
00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:33,519
so that I wouldn't have to look at the meanness

305
00:18:33,559 --> 00:18:37,599
after the trees grew large enough. However long that took,

306
00:18:39,039 --> 00:18:42,079
I finished late in the day, and soon it was dark.

307
00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,319
No one had showed up at that house. No one

308
00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,759
knew he was gone. I did see one car pull

309
00:18:48,839 --> 00:18:51,640
in the drive that night, but they turned around and

310
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:56,119
left after seeing the tenant was not home. It was

311
00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:00,000
the fourth day after the incident that things began to happen.

312
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,599
That morning, sometime before lunch, I saw two sheriffs cars

313
00:19:04,599 --> 00:19:08,440
in the driveway from my office window. I saved my

314
00:19:08,599 --> 00:19:13,200
work and I leaned out and watched. Two deputies walked

315
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,480
around the house several times and then stood by their cars.

316
00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:21,160
Soon a civilian drove up. I assumed it was the father,

317
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:23,680
and the deputies talked to him for a while and

318
00:19:23,799 --> 00:19:27,759
they all went inside the house. Not long after, there

319
00:19:27,839 --> 00:19:30,559
was a knock on my front door, and when I answered,

320
00:19:30,599 --> 00:19:33,160
one of the officers stood there with a pad and

321
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,119
a pen. He asked me the usual questions, and I

322
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,000
told them the last time I saw the tenant he

323
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,359
was in the backyard three nights ago beating his dogs,

324
00:19:43,599 --> 00:19:46,000
and that I paid no attention, and that I went

325
00:19:46,039 --> 00:19:50,519
to bed I had not seen him since. The officer

326
00:19:50,599 --> 00:19:54,440
seemed perplexed about the dog beating statement and asked about

327
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,799
that further. I explained what I had seen the man

328
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,000
do for the last few months, and that I had

329
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,319
I told the sheriff about it. It seemed to ring

330
00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:06,000
a bell with the deputy, and he mumbled something about

331
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,240
wishing they had the authority to stop the animal abuse

332
00:20:09,279 --> 00:20:14,200
in our area. I actually believed him. He asked if

333
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,039
I had seen any activity at the house since, to

334
00:20:17,079 --> 00:20:19,720
which I replied no, but that I had not really

335
00:20:19,759 --> 00:20:23,680
been paying attention and that was the truth. I then

336
00:20:23,759 --> 00:20:26,319
asked the deputy if I could go over and feed

337
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,920
the dogs. If this guy had been missing for three days,

338
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,680
I was sure the dogs were starving. He agreed that

339
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,319
that was a good idea, and I headed over. I

340
00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,279
made my way into the garage to find the dog feed,

341
00:20:40,319 --> 00:20:43,920
and I saw several large bags in a utility room.

342
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,799
Rats that chewed holes in all the bags and I

343
00:20:46,839 --> 00:20:49,640
didn't know how old the dog food was, but it

344
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,000
would be something for the animals until something got figured out.

345
00:20:53,839 --> 00:20:56,039
I found a two and a half gallon bucket, I

346
00:20:56,079 --> 00:20:58,599
filled it with feed, and I walked into the fence.

347
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,200
None of the dogs were aggressive with me. Some cowered away,

348
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,680
but that was to be expected. Most were happy to

349
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,279
see me. A few trips later and I had all

350
00:21:10,319 --> 00:21:14,039
twenty four dogs fed and water. As I walked through

351
00:21:14,079 --> 00:21:16,960
the garage to leave, I heard the father saying something

352
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:21,519
about drug deals and gangs, etc. I didn't catch enough

353
00:21:21,559 --> 00:21:24,079
to know what they were talking about, but I thought

354
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,400
to myself, if they get on that trail, they wouldn't

355
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,160
even investigate around the house. Maybe that would keep them

356
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,839
out of the woods and away from the Bigfoot clan.

357
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:39,279
That is exactly what happened. In the news, I read

358
00:21:39,319 --> 00:21:41,720
that the man had been tied to a local drug

359
00:21:41,759 --> 00:21:46,559
distribution ring and had been under surveillance by local authorities.

360
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,200
I didn't have any idea he was under surveillance while

361
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,279
I lived there, and of course that he was missing,

362
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,480
and if anyone had any information to please call the

363
00:21:56,559 --> 00:22:00,599
number below. To my knowledge, no one ever recall that

364
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:06,039
number with anything of value to the investigation. Almost a

365
00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,319
year later, I was walking through the woods behind our house.

366
00:22:09,759 --> 00:22:13,240
I was looking for signs of the Bigfoot clan. I

367
00:22:13,279 --> 00:22:15,799
had not seen or heard from them since the night

368
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:20,359
Tupac disappeared. I walked through the thick patch of briars,

369
00:22:20,519 --> 00:22:23,839
a place I had never explored, and I saw something

370
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:27,960
that didn't belong. I approached the object, and I saw

371
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,240
a white Nike running shoe. It was dirty now, and

372
00:22:32,319 --> 00:22:34,599
it looked as if it had not been moved since

373
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,599
it fell there. Small new plants grew through the laces

374
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,440
which were still tied. I saw nothing else of interest,

375
00:22:42,599 --> 00:22:44,599
and so I walked back out the way that I

376
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:49,240
had come in. We sold that property a while back,

377
00:22:49,279 --> 00:22:51,880
and I have moved to another larger town in a

378
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,240
neighboring state. I am retired now and enjoying my days

379
00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,599
with my wife. Oh yes, about the dogs. I worked

380
00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:05,400
with our local rescue organization, and every dog, all twenty four,

381
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:10,000
were eventually adopted out to families far away from Mississippi.

382
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,200
Some actually live in Manhattan in New York City. One

383
00:23:15,319 --> 00:23:18,720
even lives with us now. She's an old dog now

384
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,960
in short on time, but she's very comfortable. We gave

385
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,640
her a good life after that ordeal. Believe me, she

386
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,839
earned it. It was six years before I began to

387
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,839
see evidence that the Bigfoot were back. Maybe it was

388
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,720
the same clan, maybe it was a new clan. Maybe

389
00:23:38,759 --> 00:23:41,640
they never left and just kept a very low profile

390
00:23:41,759 --> 00:23:46,720
around my house. I will never know. I never stopped

391
00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:50,359
occasionally leaving them gifts through the years, but most of

392
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,160
the time when I would come check back the next day,

393
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,960
the gifts were still there, unless it was food, but

394
00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:01,160
even then, any animal could have taken that food. During

395
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,640
the last years that we lived there, I knew the

396
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,279
young ones and the females were close. They were always

397
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,720
present when I had the dogs out in the back

398
00:24:09,799 --> 00:24:13,559
playing with them. I think they liked that kind of thing.