Speaker 1: If you've had a bigfoot sighting and would like to
be a guest, please go to bigfootewitness dot com and
let me know. If you listened to last week's show,
you heard Mike and Christina from Squatching fl come on
with their kids to tell us about their sasquatch experiences
they've had down in Florida. Well, they had so many
experiences to share that we didn't have time for me
to ask any questions. With that in mind, ask them
if they'd be willing to come back to do a
Q and A tonight on tonight's show, and luckily they agreed.
So here we are, Mike and Christina, thanks so much
for coming back.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having us. Were You're happy to be here,
my friend?
Speaker 1: Yep, you know you're welcome. It's great, haven't you. Mike?
You and Christina have been investigating sasquatch for some time now.
How often do you audit yourselves and the way that
you do things to look for new ways of doing
things that might be more effective, that might be more efficient.
Speaker 2: Well, we've been together, we've been doing it for about
almost three years now, and we kind of brainstorm when
we're at the house together and We're just like, all right, well,
let's see we've been to this area, been to that area,
and actually, to be honest, it kind of just falls
on Christina's lap, like where do you want to go, honey,
And I kind of just all right, well, I'd maybe
I'd rather go here, and I'll get on the map
and I'll just kind of figure out, like that's one
of we have our routine areas, and then we have
our areas that we want to go check out that
are new, and I'm usually the one that's finding.
Speaker 3: Those when you say, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Christina, When you guys head out to a new place
to investigate, do you look at topo maps and does
that measure into the equation or do you strictly go
by sightings? Is it a hot area or not? And
if it's not, then we'll just take it off the
list of potential places to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean basically, Mike's the map guy. He kind
of looks at the map and sees like which areas
like funnel in. We don't necessarily follow around where there's
been sightings and stuff like that. We kind of stick
to finding on our own spots to go. I mean,
there has been a couple of people that have come
up and wanted us to check out an area or
so forth and so on. But for the most part,
Mike does his own mapping and finding these new places.
Speaker 2: I kind of like look at the map and figure
out the areas that stand out to me the most,
and then I usually just go and try to find
the easiest ways to get closest to him. I can
the closest access points to them. Some of them are
inside of park, some of them aren't. But I just
have to make sure it's not private property I'm going into. Yeah,
I mean, if it's state property or county property, I'm okay,
But I don't want to trespass into somebody's private property.
What are you out there doing, uh looking for sasquatch?
I'm okay. No, I don't want to have to deal
with anybody on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that wouldn't go over all that well.
Speaker 2: We actually met one of our team members, Mike Noga.
We met him from that. He actually reached out to
me on messenger last year and we ended up becoming
really good friends with him. He took me to where
he had his encounter and where he had his second
encounter and I'm like, well, what's in the middle. And
in the middle ended up being where we had our
encounter with the family, and it's been one of our
active research areas. That's less than twenty minutes from our house.
Speaker 1: Wow, so you networked with him. I'm glad it worked
out so well.
Speaker 2: It worked out very well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure sounds like it, Mike. When it comes to
you using maps to pick out areas to head to
you to investigate, how much of an act do you
seem to have for that?
Speaker 2: Now I've gotten pretty good at it. I mean some
of it is. There's some things with these that I
can't explain, Like I feel like I'm being drawn to
certain areas, but also looking for certain things on the map,
Like I look for the most dense green vegetable vegetation areas,
which are usually big sand down here. It's usually the
darker green areas are going to be your cypress heads.
And when you're looking around the because our forest, when
you've got those dark green looking areas, it's usually a
cypress head in the middle of a rainforest basically is
what it looks like in the middle of a swamp,
or I call them our tropical rainforest down here.
Speaker 1: Sounds like you do have this all worked out, Christina.
A lot of investigators when they're looking at topo maps,
they're looking for moving water. If they see areas with
a lot of moving water, they tend to key in
on that as more than likely a hot spot or
a likely hot spot for sasquatch since in Florida. Since
Florida is so flat, it seems like there won't be
nearly as many areas where you've got an appreciable amount
of moving water compared to other parts of the country.
With that in mind, do you two avoid places if
there isn't much at all in the way of moving
water or with skunk apes? Do they seem to be
just fine drinking out of stagnant water sources?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean the areas that we've been researching a
lot here close to home, you'll find lots of springs
out in this area, so there is quite a bit
of moving water. And I mean, I guess if you're thirsty,
you're thirsty, you're gonna you're gonna drink and use whatever
resources you have if you're you know, moving through different areas.
But I would say I haven't really heard, we haven't
really talked too much about our actually moving water in
relation to the different areas that we go. We know
that there's usually a water source, and like I said,
a lot out here in our area, there's lots of
springs that pop up.
Speaker 1: Huh, I didn't know there are that many springs in
the area. That definitely helps.
Speaker 2: We're actually the area where, and in particular, is the
most springs in the probably close to the most amount
of springs in the state. The with the Lacouchie Forest
and the with Lacouchi Forest and the Chasahouiska Forests both
have some of the most spring systems in the state.
And it has the chaz has two of the deepest
spring systems in the state of Florida that directly go
into the aquifer. So the forests that we're actually going
into have some of the most most connected and deep
aquifer systems in Florida.
Speaker 1: Oh that's convenient.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it goes for it goes down like there's Eagle's
Nest is one of the most dangerous cave systems in
the state of Florida. People go down and dive and
it's taken a lot of lives from people. And then
if you come away from that area and go towards
the east side of where we go. There's there's actually
a lot of caves over there. A lot of people
don't know it that Florida has certain areas like Citrus
County with a lot of hills and cave systems in them.
And that's some of the areas we've been targeting. We
kind of take turns going from tropical to cave type
of areas. But there's absolutely a lot of deep water
in these areas that I'm learning about. I didn't even
know that we had the deep water that we have
around these cave systems, and I'm learning that from our caveman,
Robert Brooks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you touched on that last week, the fact that
you really wouldn't think Florida would have much in the
way of hills, But yeah, I guess from what you said,
you do in some places.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's mind boggling some of these hills and the
and the how deep the sinkholes. We have a ton
of sinkholes, especially this area, and some of these sinkholes
open up and there's a new like depression. It'll open
up and then there'll be caves in the sinkhole. That
open up, and so a lot of them are. That's
how you get to them now, they're old sinkholes that
opened up cave systems.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a scary thought, Christina. When you're out and
about looking for sasquatch, aren't you afraid of just being
out in the middle of nowhere and having a sinkhole
open up underneath you or the kids or Mike.
Speaker 3: To be honest, no, I enjoy being outdoors. I'm not
really I don't get scared too easily. I mean, unless
I'm like walking around the house and somebody jumps around
the corner and or you know, I'm trying to mess
with a spider, kill a bug or something and it
leaps at me. But in general, I mean, I don't
really get too scared. I I don't like to like
paranoid or overly concerned. But I'm also very prepared and
intuitive in a sense and know when when to go,
when to stay, you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Listening to inner voice, then that's always a good idea.
Speaker 3: Definitely, if we ever feel like, you know, the we
shouldn't go in one direction or with the kids, especially
when we have the kids with us. If we start
to feel any sense of we might not be safe
or which we really never get that feeling. You know,
we just kind of.
Speaker 2: Go by our last night startled us a little bit.
Speaker 3: But well, and yeah, that's what I was going to
add to that too, is that honestly, during the day,
I have no no real like concerns or years now,
when it starts to get dark, that's when it kind
of starts to set in just a little bit. You know,
I feel like, you know, we're the we're the underdog
at that point, and things that were not not We
are not nocturnal, so it's hard to see at night,
and we're kind of at a disadvantage. But that's when
I started to get a little bit afraid.
Speaker 1: Well, I can understand, Mike. Here's a question I guarantee
you've never been asked before. A lot of investigators, even
up north, will stay out of the woods during the
summertime months and just head into the winter to avoid
all the problems that you have to deal with with
regards to insects, ticks, and mosquitoes, et cetera. Well, you guys,
you live in the bud capital of the United States.
How do you deal with that? I mean, it sounds
like because of the weather, just going in the winter
time's not going to save you from those problems because
all those critters are still going to be active. Then, So,
like I said, how do you deal with those problems?
Speaker 2: Uh, we are just a little different in Florida. For one.
We deal with a lot of stuff on a regular basis,
like we're immune to some of it. But there are
some things like certain times a year, it's just like
this time, like just coming out of spring, like oh man,
the yellow flies, deer flies will are ridiculous, and this
has been the worst tix season ever. But we just spray.
I mean we have to spray. I spray down my
clothes was with permuthene, and then I have heard you
say it properly.
Speaker 1: I think I said that right, permethrone.
Speaker 2: Permethrone. There, you got that, We got it. Eventually. I
do spray my boots down real heavy with that and
my pants and then I'm usually just an outer spray
on top. There is no What we're looking for is
a little different than going out deer hunting and everything too,
you know, I mean, I'm not trying to hide when
I'm coming out looking for them. I don't do that
no more so. I spray kind of heavy when I
need to. That's about our best defense. I mean, there's
not too many other things you can really do with it,
and the heat is just something you can't deal with either.
I mean, but honestly, like as far as what I've
found out too is going in the middle of the
day is the best time. Everybody wants to go at
night and do this and that when they're active. I've
had a lot of encounters happen when I've caught them
when they're not active, walking in, walking right in on them.
So I like going there in the middle of the
day when it's hot. It's miserable, But it also is
when things are betting down and you walk in on
a lot of things like deer and hog and sasquatch.
Speaker 1: If they're bedded down in the middle of the day,
doesn't that tip the favor in their hand, because if
they're not moving, wouldn't it be more likely to hear
you stalking in?
Speaker 2: I don't know, because I've caught them off guard the most.
The craziest encounters I've had, which they didn't appreciate too
often or too much, was me catching them off guard,
being real quiet walking into these areas is when I
had my first two I would say bad encounters. Was
right in the middle of the day, and I figured
if they were going to be relaxing and betted down
that I could probably walk up on them. And that's
what happened, And I think I caught I think I
caught them off guard. And that was the very first
stories I ever talked to you about were because of
that reason. When I was being quiet by myself.
Speaker 1: Walking up on a grizzly, like, that's bad enough, but
you walk up on the wrong sasquatch, I think that
could get pretty ugly pretty quick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't. They don't seem to like it. They
don't like being uh, they don't like you catching them
off guard. So I kind of announce our presence now
anytime we walk into an area, just to kind of
let them know what's going on.
Speaker 1: I can't say I blame you. There probably a good idea, Christina.
In most of the lower forty eight, after the sun
goes down, you don't have too much to worry about
in the way of dangerous animals. But back to the
whole same thing with you guys living where you do
after the sun goes down in Florida, there's a laundry
list of things out there that could really India or
if not India puts you in a real big hurt locker. Well,
with that in mind, do you two just swear off
ever heading into the woods after dark? Or do you
still go? But with all sorts of precautions.
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't ever say like, oh, we better
not go. If we have a chance to go, We're
always going to go out, depending on the day or
whatever this scenario may be. But honestly, I feel like
when we're out there and we're doing our research and
we're going through the trails, there's so many different leaves
and palmetos and just so much stuff that we're walking
on that anything and everything basically can hear us coming.
And I feel like, in some weird way that we
are protected. There's some type of beings I don't you
know fully I want to dive into that just now,
but I feel like we are protected as a whole,
and as we're coming through, anything that hears us will
kind of like scamper off. Nothing's really like drawn to us,
you know, Like I don't feel like we're bait when
we're out there or we're being hunted or anything like that.
I feel like we're just out there and whatever noise
we may make is gonna like deter any predators that
may be out there. That's my opinion.
Speaker 1: I didn't think about that. If you walk through the woods,
there's all sorts of things to make noise when you
do it. So that's a really good point, Mike. When
you're out there, out and about at nighttime, after nightfall, what,
more so than any other critter, are you on the
lookout for.
Speaker 2: As far as worrying about what I could run into?
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: Wild hogs. Definitely. Wild hogs. We have a lot of them,
and they're one of the few things that will charge
you and you know they could actually hurt you pretty bad.
We've got something, I mean, we've in the force that
we go into. I've had I had an FWC officer
tell me to be careful back there that he had
seen a twelve hundred pounds hog back there in this area. Wow,
that is a that is a gigantic hog. And I
don't want to run into something that big, especially at night.
Just last night we were walking through and we're not positive,
but I think it was a group of hogs that
we walked by and they didn't come out, but I
heard something kind of I don't know either it was
grunting or growl, and I don't know which one it was.
But I'm like, Christina, we need to keep on moving.
We're pretty safe. I mean I don't. I pretty much
just carry my my knives on me and I'm I'm
pretty close combat comfortable, and I'm if I'm gonna deal
with something, I'm just gonna have to deal with it.
But for like she said, for the most part, it's
almost like we feel protected. Sometimes we don't have a
lot we deal with at night. It's really surprised you.
I've come across a few things here and there I
wouldn't want to come across. I heard about a five
hundred pound black bear in the forest across the street
from us. I don't want to come across him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you've never taken me there, Yeah, since you
found out with the kids either.
Speaker 2: I don't. Yeah. I went in there one time with
my children, and once the guy sent me pictures, I
was like, I'm not bringing you guys back here, And
I went in there with Michael into this area and
there's supposed to be a very aggressive sasquatch in there.
That's how I learned about the area. This sasquatch. Apparently
the guy called me and he said that it took
his hog trap that he brought in four loads to
bring this hog trap in, and it took it and
wrapped it around a tree forty yards away from where
he put it in at wow And and in the
middle of the night with him and his wife were hunting,
and it pushed a tree over at their their hunting
blind that they were they were on and they came
back then a couple days later and every tree around
it was broken six foot off the ground. Like he's
he said, it's very intimidating creature back there. And I
haven't ran into The picture of the bear was enough.
This bear was gigantic for Florida. But I went back
there with Mike and we had something following us out
of there just right at dark that made both of
us really nervous. Mike had his hand on his gun like, hey,
I'm armed, just so you know. This thing was breathing
at us, and the lung capacity of it sounded like
it was a thousand pounds, like just just loud deep.
It was a creepy feeling. Man, that's the most creeped
out I've been in quite a while. Was that thing
that night?
Speaker 1: Well, I can understand why I've said it a thousand times.
When these guys want to make an impression on you there,
master is it doing that. So it's no wonder it
affected you that way. Oh yeah, Christina. For all the
listeners who listened to last week's show, I'm sure some
of them were listening to you to talk about taking
the kids out with you, which I think is wonderful,
but they were probably turning their noses up, probably thinking
that it's an irresponsible thing to do. It's not safe
to take the kids out to the places where you
go to try to investigate SASQ watch. What's your take
on that, Well.
Speaker 3: I mean people are going to form their own opinions
based on what they hear and not being there and
not knowing. However, Mike and I are incredibly responsible parents,
not just to our kids, but to any kid anywhere
that we go, birthday parties, just randomly going to the beach.
You know, we're always watching out for Like I said,
not only our kids, other kids, and we go prepared.
We make sure the kids have their snake boots on,
we have all of the proper things that we need
when we go. We also don't go to areas where
we think that there could be something some sort of
potential of something bad happening or unsafe. We use our
best judgment and we would never put our kids in
harm's way. And I know people will say, oh, well,
you never know, there could be a bear, there could
be this, there could be that. Okay, well, also you
could easily get into a car accident, just you know,
taking your kids to school on the way here, on
the way there. They're just you just never know. Anything
could happen at any time. So as a parent, be prepared,
use your best judgment. And I mean people are always
going to have something to say. But at the end
of the day, we know that we're responsible and our kids.
We're teaching our kids how how to observe different things
when we're out, like what to listen for, what to
look for, what to do if like a hog charging,
what do you do. We're trying to teach them awareness
of being outside. Nowadays, you know, all the kids are
just so stuck to their screens, and we just really
like to get them outside and teach them.
Speaker 1: And I think it's wonderful you do that too. Yeah,
there is such a thing as sheltering kids too much.
If a kid is sheltered too much, it just leaves
them in a bad spot to handle life, all the
things that life is going to throw at them. And yeah,
I think what you two are doing, I think it's great.
I really do. Christina. When you and Mike had that
experience on Beer Island, do you think it still would
have happened if that hawk wouldn't have let out those
alarm calls?
Speaker 3: Hmm, that's a good question. I mean, I don't know.
I feel like in some ways, you know, they kind
of alert, or maybe they're just calling. It could have
been calling to a mate, or I really don't. I
don't know, do you what do you think? I mean?
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: I think regardless, our experience would have happened, whether the
hawk was calling out or not. It's just kind of
interesting that he was following us along. What do you think?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that we were in their area no
matter what. And I just think that he I think
that bird sounded off just tipped the hat a little
bit to him, you know, like, hey, they're here. It
was weird the way that thing kept going off the
way it did. It was really really weird. And it
happens in a lot of different places too, right the
birds and.
Speaker 1: I know it's not lost on you two that these
guys are so tuned into the forest around them that, yeah,
that's like reading the paper. So it's no wonder than you.
If they didn't already know you were there, then they
knew then, Right, Mike, you told us about that print
you found. Was it filled with water or on firm ground?
When you found it?
Speaker 2: It was right in the middle of one of the
game trails that was about a half mile off trail
as you off the main trail. There's only there's not
that many main trails coming out of the Bear Island,
but there was one that kind of went back and
then it went into a regular game trail. Looked like
somebody had been walking back there and it was right
in the middle of it. But it looked like it
was weird. It was like kind like at an angle,
like it was a misstep. It was like it was
because it was going at an angle across the trail,
which was kind of odd.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like they do all they can to
avoid stepping on trail, so it makes you wonder why
it did that. Although about I guess eight years ago,
maybe ten years ago, my brother and I were in
the big woods here and I was heading down this
trail and I don't know what was going on. I
was lost in my thoughts or something, but at the
time he was about forty feet behind me, and all
of a sudden he stopped me and called me back
to take a look at something. Well, as I'm turning
around and looking at him, he's just staring at the ground,
and I'm wondering, what's he looking at? Why is he
calling me back? So I come back and there's a
squatch print right there in the middle of the trail
I had stepped right over. So apparently they do step
in trails. You're a proof of that, and I guess
I'm proof of that as well.
Speaker 2: It's funny, like if I'm really looking for him, I'm
Usually it's funny they're either dead in the middle of
the of these back where little trails and roads, or
they're directly off to the side of it. It's not
usually right where we're walking, especially in hiking areas, it's
usually just off to the right or left of the
trails where you'll find the steps, or I've caught a
bunch of them cutting across the trails at an angle
like where they've just took in one or two steps
and went into the woods.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that trail that you found that one
print on, I'm sure it wasn't close to being too
wide for a sasquatch to jump over without touching, was it.
Speaker 2: No, it could have easily walked over it. But I
wonder if that trail, that trail could have been underwater also,
and it had dried up when we were there, because
the water level down in the Everglade changes a lot.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, that's a good hypothesis there. That would make
a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: There was a pretty deep footprint, like it could have
been a soft spot, you know. I mean, I'm sure
they're not perfect either, and they don't know every where
it'll put their feet, so you miss miss a step
and it goes down. That footprint was about a foot deep.
It was down in there. It was like like it
missed a step and hit a soft spot.
Speaker 1: Well, that is deep well then again, they're awfully heavy too,
so the two combined. No wonder, Mike, when Keelan saw
that eight foot sasquatch obviously made quite the impression on them,
and you know, understandably sill. But with that said, were
you still more excited than he was or vice versa.
Speaker 2: It was such a cool moment because we had Ryan
and his children. I was out with him and it
was just the way he stopped and I'm like, I
didn't even know what was going on until I got
up next to him and I looked at his face
and he's just crying and he's like I just saw
him And like that really touched that kid. Like me
and him bonded more, even though we were like really
connected already, you know, we're very, very connected, Like that
did it even more. And like he was like he
felt like he was more connected to the whole deal. Also, like,
oh my god, Like I thought I'd seen things before,
but that was real. He couldn't stop talking about it,
So I don't know, man, I think we're even on that.
I was so excited because he got the be one
hundred percent experiencer, even though I knew he had seen
things before. This was different. He saw it clear as
day and he was giving me more details that day
and like, but it definitely changed him. He was very,
very excited after that happened, but not not in like
a freaked out way like I said. He was literally
crying because he was just like, oh my god, it's.
Speaker 1: Real Ookline and Sinker. He was addicted. Then, Yeah, yeah,
that's great. Christina. What do you think of the chances
of the kids growing up to be investigators themselves, and
if they do become investigators, would that make you happy?
Speaker 3: Well, honestly, I don't know if they'll continue to do
it as they get older. I feel like the teenage
years are upon us here pretty soon, and they may
not always enjoy going out with us at some point,
which is fine. But if they do want to go,
then that's awesome. I'm always going to encourage them to go,
just to get out of the house and to be
out there and do that. But as long as they're
doing something thing productive, I'll always you know, support them.
I think there's a pretty good chance that they're going
to continue down this road, especially if we keep having
experiences and encounters and sightings and cool stuff happening I
think they're gonna want to stick with it. I don't know,
of like long term, I can't really say. I don't know,
but I remember being a teenager and you know, at
some point, you know, hanging out with my friends and
that sort of thing starts to become more important, which
you know may happen. But either way, anytime that we
get to spend doing anything that we love together is important.
Speaker 1: Oh it's great. Yeah, Like I said, I love the
fact that you all do that have the sasquatch that
you and Mike have seen over the years meant the
description of being more or like skun keeps in appearance,
or would you say they look more like the traditional
sasquatch you'd find elsewhere in the lower forty eight.
Speaker 3: Well, the only only like real visuals I've seen, I
would say a more traditional sasquatch bigfoot like large. It's
it's hard to say, just because they have not like
seen each one. I mean, obviously I can compare to
the different videos and stuff like that, but I would
definitely say it was like more of like a I mean,
who's I don't know, I'm five ten and uh so
to see something pretty large regardless it's it's large, it's big,
it's not human, and it's not you know, no.
Speaker 1: I think I follow you, Mike, from listening to you
talk about the sasquatch that you and your family members
have seen. It sounded to me like there are some
variances in their appearance, but I don't want to jump
to conclusions. So with that in mind, were there many
variances and how they looked, And of course you can
jump in on that as well, Christina, if you'd like to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they I've had class A sightings more during the day.
Christina's had the nighttime mostly the eye shine. She's she's
been close to things, but she hasn't had that middle
of the day or clear, crystal clear picture. Just the
eye shine. That was no doubt. She's seen that, and
she's how big it was. It was wild. But I've
had a few different ones, and I can tell you
that like it went by the region and it kind
of makes sense. So the one that we had, the
one I saw in Homosassa first was reddish brown and
had pretty long hair, but I wasn't close to it.
I was from a distance, but I know it was
cinnamon colored. The next one I saw was in the
green swamp, and I was extremely close to that one.
It was at night, had my head lamp on, and
when I turned my head lamp on, it was standing
beside a tree with its back to me, and its
hair looked very rough, and I could actually see it
and see its skin was almost like a purple as
black color and it looked kind of like oily. And
he looked rough, like his hair was kind of matted more.
And then that one, I would say fits that, that
being in the swamp version. But up here the one
we saw, the juvenile, that one a couple months ago
had the most beautiful, well groomed looking hair I've ever
seen on anything. Like it was almost had like a
sheene to the black hair, and it was beautiful, like
when that thing took off, like it was just beautiful.
So there's definitely some variances in I don't know if
it's regions. I would say, you know, if if you
live in a swamp all your life, you're gonna not
be as well maintained as if you're living up in
hills and caves.
Speaker 1: You know, that's true. That's a really good point. And
talking about the appearance thing people wonder why sasquatch are
commonly reported is having long hair down in Florida. Well,
something to keep in mind is that's a very good
adaptation to deal with heat. But as long as your
hair is set up a certain way. What I'm getting
at is certain animals, like camels, for example, they've grown
long hair long fur to keep the radiant heat off
of their skin. That's an advantage in hot areas. As
long as the fur the hair is open enough where
airflow heat exchange can take place, then having long hair
or long fur is a benefit, not a drawback. Now,
if you have a dog that's got a dense coat,
long dense fur, then that's a problem. That's a drawback
because it traps heat. But with skunk apes, with other
sasquatch down in Florida, it would make sense that they
would be reported with long hair because they're here is
normally reported as being pretty clean, from what I've heard,
pretty tidy. And if that's the case, then it is
going to block the radiant tee of the sun off
their skin but still allow breezes to get in and
heat transfer. Does that all make sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And also something else that it
does that beautiful hair also is an insect repellent. I mean,
if you're in the middle of a swamp and you've
got that hair the way it is, it's really hard
for mosquitoes and biting flies to get in there through
that thicker hair.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a really good point. That does make a
lot of sense, Mike. I don't think I ever heard
you answer this question before you had that first sighting
in twenty seventeen. Were you interested in sasquatch or was
it just in passing.
Speaker 2: It was mostly just a I may believe it's real,
I may not. It wasn't like something I worried about
all the time. It was just like I enjoyed Harry
and the Henderson's. I loved the thought of Bigfoot and sasquatch,
you know, I just had never dialed into it too much.
I think it was something that's been a part of
me when I was young, and I never knew it though.
The area I grew up in, down in Wesley Chapel,
Pasco County, Florida, there's a preserve back there that as
a teenager, I was in there every day fishing and
constantly being watched and followed by something, and I never
realized what it was till later in the years after
i'd had that sighting.
Speaker 1: See, that's the thing. People have encounters with a squatch.
You they tell me that they've spent their whole lives
in the woods. Well, they have an encounter when they're
thirty or forty or fifty and they're freaked out. But
I tell them, well, if you've been in the woods
all of your life, just think about all the times
these guys have followed you, watched you, monitored you, and
they never hurt you. So that definitely counts for something.
If they were monsters, and that definitely wouldn't be the case.
So something not to lose sight of. Christina, you too,
have turned squatching into a family thing. Have you ever
thought about how lucky you guys are to be able
to share these great experiences with your children.
Speaker 3: Oh, definitely. We count our blessings all the time without
a doubt.
Speaker 1: Well that's great, Yeah, you really are lucky going to
fireworks and things like that. That's fun. But yeah, I
wouldn't stack that up against the times that you and
the kids have going out there with Mike and doing
all this squatching. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3: Well, and you know, like he explained before, you know, mine,
my two are not exactly outdoorsy. I grew up outdoorsy,
but I also spent you know, a good amount of
my childhood up in Illinois, so you know, it was
the climate was a little bit different. You could go
outside and ride a bike and you know, play all
day without nearly dying. So but you know, I think
my kids are starting to learn to love to go.
They're starting to learn to deal with the mosquitoes and
the bugs and the deer fly. I mean, no one
really likes.
Speaker 2: That part of it.
Speaker 3: No one, no one enjoys that part of it. But
the more you do it, the more uh comfortable. Yes,
I could say you get or you just accept it.
It's just part of It's just a part of being
out there and going to do what we gotta do.
Yeah we're all hot, Yeah we're all sweaty, and there's
bugs and everything else. But take a look around, like
just look around at the beauty of nature. Like you know,
when we go out, we don't always necessarily just snap
pictures and videos of you know, sasquatch stuff or skunk
cape stuff that we think could be some evidence or
proof of them being there. We also look at the
just the natural beauty of the way the trees grow
and the leaves and just it's just so nice to
get out and just see what they see. Because you know,
even Mike and I when we go, I'll see something
and he'll see something, and we we pointed out and
it's just it's just really nice to take in all
the beauty around us while we're out there swatting buzzugs
and you know, wiping sweat and guzzling water doing all
those things. But it's just really nice to kind of
get a kid's perspective of, you know, what they see
in what they notice.
Speaker 2: It's a it's a it's very much. I'm not going
to tell you it's easy to get your children to
go to get that many little different acting and different
way of thinking, little minds, and you know, four of
them that are all different little people, and to try
and make all four of them happy outside in the
heat with the bugs is a challenge. It tests you
at times, but we also you know, we push them
through it a little bit. We're like and then you know,
they all complain, they all, but we always have enough water.
We always have enough this and that. Jesse, you know,
we've learned to he wants gloves now, and you want gloves, fine, buddy,
take gloves. He don't like getting bit, so he's he's
wearing his gloves, and he was happy as he could
be wearing gloves. So each one has to adapt to
where they're at to make them happy, and we work
around it, and then it turns out to be more
adventurous because of that. But after they're done and they've
sweated and they've been bug bit, they love coming back
and telling their little stories of what they saw for
that day.
Speaker 1: I love it. That's great. Yeah, as long as you
can say that, then you can tell they're really enjoying themselves.
And a bad day in the woods beats of pants
off a good day in the office anytime. So I'm
so glad you do that. Another thing I like so
much is most of the time you go out, you're
not going to have any activity, but you guys are
still enjoying the woods and enjoying nature. So as long
as that's the case, it's always going to be a win.
Speaker 2: I always have people comment on random pictures that I
post and I'm like, oh, there's nothing there I'm just
admiring beauty because I'm a nature lover first, and Florida
is one of the most beautiful places on earth that
they would ever just finally stop destroying it and building
it up. Like I'm trying to bring people into that
part of Florida, like taking pictures and showing you things.
I'm showing you things from two to three miles deep
in the forest that nobody goes into and not nearly
as many people get to see. That's the real beauty
of Florida, man, it is. It's such a beautiful place,
not the.
Speaker 3: Overcrowded beaches and Disney World and it's all of that.
Like we're trying to hold on to that original wild Florida.
That's what we love.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like Mike said, they're cutting down wild Florida more
and more every year. So it is sad, it really is. Christina.
I know Mike has gone into the field by himself
to investigate, but how about you. Have you ever done that?
If not, different plan to do that someday.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I have ever gone out in
the field to research by myself.
Speaker 2: You've gone on. When we first met, you were always
hiking bile yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I did go for some walks by myself. I
mean not in not in the areas that we go,
although I did go back by Uford Springs once in
the preserve, but it was more I would go on
like a marked, like known walking trail in places like that.
I wasn't like out looking for sasquatch or you know,
doing anything like that. I don't really have any reason
to go by myself, so but I would. I'm definitely
not opposed to it. I mean probably not at night.
I'm not gonna lie. I would not go by myself
at night. I don't really like to go anywhere at
night by myself, just being a woman. But uh, yeah,
I'm not against it, but I'd rather go with somebody else,
Mike for my kids, or you know, another Keey member
or however it worked out well.
Speaker 1: As adventurous as you sound, I wouldn't be surprised if
some day you head out by yourself. But it's got
to be so much more fun when you tour together anyway,
So I don't blame you for not having gone out yet.
Speaker 3: Oh it is. We have so much fun when we're
out there, so much fun.
Speaker 2: I don't know, we need to start doing outtakes and
like just because those are funny. Like we are very
genuine people, Like I don't change because I turn the
camera on or if I have a recorder on. I
have to remind myself constantly that I am doing something
because I'm just no filter. And that's probably what makes
it humorous and personal to other people, is because we
how we are with everyone.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good thing. Christine. From one understand you're
recently invited to speak at a bigfoot conference. Please expand
on that for us.
Speaker 3: I am. I have been. It's going to be at
the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference that they host every year
and in O'calla, Florida at the World Crust Free and
Center Expo one and that's on June thirteenth. But yeah,
actually there was there was a post on Facebook. Well
I've attended the last two years. It's been great as
a part of our other research team that we were
a part of. But this year we're actually doing our
own thing, like we kind of touched on last week
and so anyway, they were looking for some researchers to
join the Skunk Ape round Table. It's kind of like
an open discussion as a portion during the conference, and
I was the people's choice. People nominated me suggesting that
I would be a good person to go up there,
and so when I was invited, I happily accepted. Of course,
I'm quite nervous. I not exactly. I don't like being
in front of the camera or I don't like talking
too much about this. However, the more I do it,
the easier it gets, I'll say. So, I am pretty
excited about it. Definitely nervous, but it's gonna be great.
Super excited.
Speaker 1: Well you should be. You're gonna knock it out of
the park.
Speaker 2: And she happens to have two of our teammates with
her up there on stage, so that's going to help
out a lot too.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, that definitely helps. Do you have the
Squatch and fl shirt you're gonna we're picked out already
or is that a work in progress?
Speaker 3: It's on order. It is on order where we got
our merchandise order in. It's just going to take some
time for production, but it shall be here prior to
the conference, and uh, we'll have some stuff up for
sale here soon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're prepared then that's great, Mike. When you and
Christina had those three Class A sightings in two days.
Do you think the fact that you had them was
more to do with the things that you did or
just dumb luck.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it was a little bit of both.
The Friday night one was we had nothing to do
and the kids wanted to go for a jeep bride,
like we had just her kids and my kids were
with their with their mom, and her kids were like,
we want to go for a jeep ride, and I'm like, well,
let's go over here and maybe we'll do a little
squatching at the same time. And it just couldn't have
worked out better. We were in there for thirty seconds,
didn't even have a chance to turn a camera on,
and boom, there's those giant eyeballs looking at us. And
then I think that was a little bit of luck
in that. But the next time I think was more
it was not as much luck because I followed the
trail right to where Well, it was a little bit
of luck on that one too, because I got lost.
But I happened to get lost almost before dark, waiting
for the cast to dry, And if I wouldn't have
got lost, I probably wouldn't have ended up in that
little valley where we saw that juvenile go from two
legs to four legs, but so a little bit of both.
Speaker 1: He didn't get lost, he just got turned around right
right exactly. That's it, Mike. What's the main mission of
squatching FL.
Speaker 2: We want to just have an open, fun, educational platform.
We want to show that you can take kids out
and do this in the woods. Other than just the research,
you can do that teaching the kids to be outdoors,
learning camping, learning how to take care of themselves. We're
going to be doing group things like that, helping to
We love doing that. We love teaching kids how to
do stuff. That's part of it. The other part, in
the long run would be to hopefully show proof. One
day we could be the organization that shows proof that
maybe the government and everybody else finally recognizes us as Okay,
these things are real. They are family groups, and we're
going to try and protect them and their families and
the forests that they live in.
Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like you're on the right track to
seeing that happen. And speaking of that, how big do
you want this thing to grow? Talking about squatching FL.
Speaker 2: I would love for I would love for it to
get as big as we can get it. I would
love to be whenever you think about Florida, Hey, oh
Squatch an fl that's we know who that is. It'd
be cool if it this became like a household name.
And but and it was always directly linked to the
type of people and personalities we are. And then we're
going to always have a great organization and no matter
how big or small it is, we're always gonna be
the same. We're always gonna be kind and courteous. I'll
always reach out and talk to anybody who needs help.
We eventually have have future plans that we want to
work with RPG and some other play other people, maybe
helping veterans, helping children, helping people with mental illness. There's
a lot of different things in different directions. We want
to go other than just Sasquatch. Sasquatch is just the
the piece of the puzzle that that connect that makes
the puzzle complete.
Speaker 1: Well, you're both awfully nice people, and of course I
wish nothing but the best for you. I hope this
thing grows wings and really takes off. I really do.
But oh, you're welcome, and we're.
Speaker 3: Just not even necessarily trying to build a brand or
name or like, we're just trying to like a community
where we can all come together like minded people and
just open their minds and here, you know, hear us out,
hear them out, tell stories, share different things. Everyone has
so much that they can contribute towards, you know, the research,
the exploration, just the whole big community. Like I said
to everybody, come together, work together to make the world
a happier place.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we work together, we get so much more done.
That's a good goal to have if it really is, well,
we're almost out of time before we get out. If
you're a guys, would you like to take this opportunity
to promote squash and fl one more time and let
anyone in Florida who had a sighting there know where
they can get a hold of you. What's the best way?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, we actually we know we cover everything on
our own and we're not trying to make money doing it.
But at the same time, if you can make a
little bit of money doing what you love to do
and you're putting out a great product which people seem
to love. They love our brand and the logo, So
we decided to start doing the merchandise, and that helps
us fund our adventures and little trips we do with
the kids too. That's what we're trying to work towards.
As you imagine, with four kids, it costs a lot
to do that. But we just literally today just put
up the pre order forums on Facebook and on my
face book page which I still use as a spatch
NFL and on the group page. But there's a link
on there that you can go to and you can
pick out whatever you want. We're also offering if you
go on there and you do find something you like,
we're gonna for the pre order stuff, We're gonna give
away a gift card for bass Pro for twenty five
bucks just for the pre order stuff either right, just
for the pre order stuff, and you're gonna get each
You're gonna get decals with that too, So if you
do a pre order, you're gonna get a decal of
your choice or whatever color you want, and every twenty
five dollars you spend gets a raffle ticket for the
gift card. But that being said, if you want to
get in touch with us, probably the easiest all around
method right now is to go through Messenger on Facebook
Messenger and reach out. I do have my personal number
linked to my Facebook account also, that's probably the best
ways to get a hold of us. And you know,
if you have stories, or you have areas that you
want want to research and check out, you want someone
maybe you are afraid to tell someone that you had
an encounter. I love hearing about that type of stuff
and I'd love to tell you, you know, anything you
need to hear that or you know, some people don't
want to reach out to people like that, but I'm
lucky and have quite a few people come to me
and say, hey, you know, I've had this happen, I've
had that happen. Would you mind talking to me tell
me about your experiences. I'm always here for it.
Speaker 1: Well, that's awfully admirable, And for everyone listening who wants
to contact you or check out squatching fl to find
out more about your organization, I'm going to put your
contact info in the description for tonight's show. That'll make
it really easy for them to find that. But having
said that, Mike and Christina, I can't thank you enough
for coming on to do these shows, to tell us
about your experiences and of course to answer all these questions.
I really appreciate it, of course, that's pleasure.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having us. You've been been great,
you know, ever since we met you, you've been nothing
but great. And thank you for being behind us and support.
Speaker 1: Paul, You're welcome. Yeah, you too are some of the
good people in this community. So however I can help,
glad to do it. Please remember that too. But having
said that, thanks again so much for your time. It's
been a lot of fun. And have a great night.
That's it for another episode of Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio with
Vic Kundiff. If you've had a sasquatch encounter and would
like to be a guest on the show, please go
to Bigfoot Eyewitness dot com and submit a report. We'd
love to hear from you. Thanks for listening, have a
great night.