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Speaker 1: I lived in a ranch house about ten miles south

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of Eldorado, Texas, or As at Elderado, Texas. Eldorado, Eldoredo,

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who knows. My wife and I liked sitting on a

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screened in porch at night. One night we were out

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there when my wife said she saw something move across

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the driveway in a bank of trees. There were two shadows,

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both eight feet tall. They were moving around a mountain.

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Lion had been spotted near us, so I always carried

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a forty caliber pistol with me. I turned on my

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tactical light and pointed my gun toward the figures, but

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it still couldn't make out what it was. I thought

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about shooting into the trees to spook them into the open,

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but something told me not to. We went to bed

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not long after that, and I wondered what it had been.

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A week or two later, I woke up one morning

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and happened to look out my bedroom window toward a

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chicken coop. There, standing in the broad daylight was a creature.

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He had the outline of Chewbacca, and he stood eight

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feet tall, with long hair from head to toe. He

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was staring right at me like he'd been waiting for

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me to wake up and see him, wanting me to

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know that he was there. My friends and family think

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I'm crazy, but there was no mistaking what I saw.

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We moved from that house, not because of Bigfoot, and

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I left there a believer. Okay, a little short story

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to kick this podcast off. Thank you guys for joining me.

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Just an announcement. I uploaded a new Steve Lily story.

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There will be a link in the description if you

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want to listen to it. It's about an hour or

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a little bit over an hour long. I thought it

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was a pretty decent story, but I haven't done with

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Steve Lily in over a year and I needed to

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get one out. So I spent the last week kind

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of polishing up a story I'd been working on for

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six months. Could never get it right, and it's probably

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still not right, but it's the best I got. So

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new Steve Lily ouse, Steve Lilly Number nineteen is out,

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and if you're not familiar with that series, it's on

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another channel called the Steve Lily Journals. It's just fiction,

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fun fiction, lot of humor, story about bigfoot hunters who

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are hired by the government to exterminate the Bigfoot all

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over North America. They're mainly focused in the South. But

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it's just a fun thing to write, so that's all

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it is. So if you get a chance, go over

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and look at it. Otherwise, let's move on with this podcast.

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I really appreciate you being here. All right, here we go.

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I am a retired US Army chaplain and I was

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based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I owned six acres

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of mountain property in Spring Cree, just south of Hot Springs.

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It was off a road near a place called Dave's

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two O nine Highway. Too. O nine was known as

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the Rattler by local MC riders because of its many

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twists and turns through the Pisca National Forest. This area

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is known for paranormal phenomenon, the brown lights, the UFOs,

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the ghostly events, and of course, Bigfoot paraphernalia is available

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in the local shops. I had built a twenty four

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foot diameter yert on my property, perfect for getting away

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from Bragg and all the ministry work. Every week. I

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had a little wire table where I could nestle pretty

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stones and crystals so they would not fall out or

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blow away. Every time I was up there usually about

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once a month. I'd place objects on that table, pebbles

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and sparkly crystals and things of that nature. This way

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they would not blow away while I was gone. When

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I came back on the next visit, the items would

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be gone, and in their place I would see new

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pebbles and stones. This might have been a teenager tramping

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over the land in my absence, because I doubt they

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leave any rocks for me. Around the property, i'd find

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interesting tree structures, such as two thirty foot long trees

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twisted and wound together and wedged horizontally between two trees

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twenty feet apart. It all looked so intentional. I half

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expected to find a swing hanging from it. Not far

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from there, something had built a teepee like structure out

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of broken branches. I made sure to keep my distance,

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and I continued to enjoy my polite company firm Afar,

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and I hope that they did too. On my last

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trip to the property before I sold it, someone or

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something had left me a large blue glass marble. It

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was an inch and a half in diameter, and it

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was sitting on that wire table. I love that. In

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twenty fourteen, I was dog sitting for a friend of mine,

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having a beer on the porch on the summer solstice.

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It was around midnight and the dogs were snoozing beside me.

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The house sent on fifteen acres, and halfway to the road.

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The three acres from the house stood a street light.

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I was gazing out at the grass under that light,

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enjoying the peaceful night, the clear sky, in the great weather,

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when a black panther, plain as day meandered slowly through

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the light. I was stunned. I'm a biologist and I

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know my cats. It was a panther. There was no

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mistaking that I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The

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dogs quickly got the scent of it and took off

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in pursuit, so I knew I wasn't making it up.

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They came back thankfully ten minutes later, exhausted and very

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proud of themselves. Black panther sightings might not sound impressive,

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but the way their existence in America is denied by authorities,

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you're led to believe you'll see a bigfoot before you'll

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see a black panther. Thanks for your channel and for

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hearing my very gentle stories. And he signs the rev

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army chaplain. That's pretty cool. I've never met an army chaplain.

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I wonder what that job is like. I wonder what

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that job is like in the military. My son was

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in the Marine Corps. He never mentioned the chaplain I know,

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I know he ran into some but I've always been

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curious what those guys actually do. What do they do

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all day? I don't know. But anyway, this is a

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great story. He had an episode of gifting that he

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thinks could possibly be a bigfoot. He didn't say that,

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but I think that's what he's alluding to. Very interesting.

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And then the black panther sighting. Everybody sees a black panther,

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I believe they're here. I think I tend more to

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believe that black panthers are here more than I would

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say bigfooter here, at least around my proper because I

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see big tracks. I can tell a cat of a

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feline track over a canine track. The lobes in the

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back of the foot are a little different, and the

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way their tracks look her different. I actually looked it

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up one time. I looked it up because I had

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a friend of mine who In this Steve Lily story,

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there is a seventy nine year old man who lies

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all the time. He's just kind of a fun character,

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I added to the story. But this person I saw

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her posting. She lives out in the country, posting stuff

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on Facebook, and she is a big liar. She lies

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about everything. I've known her for years and years and years,

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and I like her. She's fine. She just tries to

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make a huge deal lot of everything she sees. And

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she puts some pictures of tracks on I think it

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was Facebook, and she was saying it was a mountain lion.

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Well I looked at them. They were dog tracks. I

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didn't know that at first, but looked up the difference

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between dog and cat tracks and it was absolutely a

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dog track. So that's how I know. And I never

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confronted her whether it just confirm what I know that

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she's just a big liar, she's an attention hog. We're

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still friends. Everything's fine. But that's the way some people are. Anyway.

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Let's move on to a next story. Okay, here's a

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short little story about a Mexican bigfoot. Twenty five years ago,

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the youth group of the church I attended went on

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a retreat to Busta Monte Nuevo Leon in Mexico. Bust

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de Monte has a spring in the canyon. It has

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several pools and lots of nature to enjoy. It's also

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known for its legends and tales about witches and goblins.

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One day, I went with a group of girls for

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a height and we took our time ascending the trail,

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taking breaks often and in no real hurry. At one point,

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I want I need to catch up with a different

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group that had left us behind, So while the girls

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sat and drank water, I ran ahead, promising that I

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would wait for them further up the trail. I climbed

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and kept an ole on where my group was for

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as long as I could, and after a while I

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stopped looking back and kept moving until I reached the

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side of the canyon. In the distance, I saw my

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group still talking and hydrating, so I kept going. Not

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long after that, I reached a point that jutted out

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over a hill to one side. I walked a few

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meters out to the point and I heard something loosely

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resembling laughter in women's voices. I figured it was my group,

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who had somehow managed to catch up with me in

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a short time, so I shouted out that I heard

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them and that I wasn't far away, and when I

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turned to walk back on the trail, I saw a

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figure on the other side of the rock that I

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had passed. It had a round head and bulb like shoulder,

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and it was covered in thick red hair and was

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at least two meters tall. I stayed silent. I turned

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my back on it, and I felt a chill. I

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didn't know what to do besides slowly backing out. The

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strange women's voices and laughter stopped, and when I turned

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to steal another glance, the figure was gone. A couple

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of minutes later, I heard the distant sound of my

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group catching up to me. I didn't know what to think.

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I'd like to say that it was bigfoot, but I

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haven't heard reports of them in Mexico. It couldn't have

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been a bear because the shape of its head and

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shoulders was all wrong, and the sound it made it

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was totally unnatural. And whenever I talk about it, even now,

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even writing about it now, I get chills. Oh man,

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that's cool. That's one of those brief moments that people

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have when they're all alone out in the wilderness and

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they see something they know, they see something they know,

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they didn't imagine it. They turn around and it's gone.

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There are so many stories like this, and it really

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intrigues me because I can't think of anything in particular

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like that that's happened to me, but I know it has.

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It's like you look, you look, you see a deer,

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You think you see a deer, You see a deer,

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You see a deer, You turn your heads, you look

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back in just a fraction of a second, and the

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deer's not there. Or a turkey or a skunk, or

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an armadilla or a raccoon, doesn't matter. That's happened to

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me before. So why couldn't that happen, Whether cryptid like

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a bigfoot or some other creature, I don't know. This

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story was just interesting me. I thought it was great. Okay,

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this story is a little bit strange, a little bit strange,

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but I think you're gonna enjoy it. So let's go.

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Let's go. Let's get on with the story. I was

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in Dougway, the High Plains desert of Utah and the

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spring of next year. It was late and I had

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just gotten off work and I was headed to my

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vehicle for the long drive home. I noticed it was

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a new moon, so i'd need my brights to see

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the road out there. It got even darker as I

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pulled away from the work site. I drove carefully, my

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eyes peeled to avoid hitting any local wildlife. As the

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lights faded behind me, I saw a figure rise through

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the road's surface at the edge of my high beams.

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I blinked and I shook my head. I had to

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be seen things. It didn't come from either side of

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the road. It just rose straight up from the asphalt.

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It startled me enough to slam on the brakes and

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veer into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting it. I

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caught it silhouette as I drove past. It looked like

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a pale, fleshy, large and naked person sitting on its heels,

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hugging its legs with its head resting on its knees.

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As if that weren't disturbing enough. In the three seconds

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it took me to drive past, I watched it morph

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into a large canine and disappear again, right back into

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the asphalt. Well. I chalked it up as weird, though

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not the weirdest thing I've experienced out there, not long

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after this, my headlights lit up in adolescent coyote next

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to the guard rail on the side of the road.

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I slowed down in case it darted in front of me,

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but it stayed put, staring at my car as I passed.

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Its mouth stretched open as wide as it could go.

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It looked like there was an invisible stick prying its

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jaw open, or like I'd caught it in mid yawn,

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jaw stretched wide and unmoving, except theyng did not end.

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Its mouth just stayed wide open, unnaturally so, and its

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eyes were fixed on me the whole time. There was

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nothing I could do besides keep driving, so I chalked

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it up as another weird thing and I kept going.

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But the night wasn't done with me yet. A little

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while later I saw another codey on the side of

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the road, and it's jaws stretched open as white as

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they could go, just like the first one, and its

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eyes were fixed on me as I slowly drove past.

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I made it home okay that night, but I'll never

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forget those images and get them out of my head.

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Oh man, I bet you won't get those images out

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of your head. That is so cool, That is Oh

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that story just good. I could just see all that

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happening as I'm reading it. I can see it. I

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don't know, it's just that's creepy. What a great story,

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great story, thanks for sending it. The other day, I

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was on the front porch listening to your podcast when

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my great grandfather Elijah walked by. He heard you talking

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about Bigfoot, sat down in the rocker next to me

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and listened to the entire story. Our family tends to

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get into the late nineties before age catches up with us,

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but ninety four, my great granddad is still sharp and

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has all his wits about him. After the podcast ended,

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he asked me if I believed in Bigfoot. I told

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him I had never seen one, and I asked him

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the same. He answered me with a tail from his youth,

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one I'd never heard before. When great granddad Elijah was

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a boy, he was glued at the hip to his

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two best friends, Thomas and James. The three of them

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had befriended a hermit whom the town nicknamed Crazy Joe,

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who lived two miles away near the Swampland. Joe would

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occasionally come to town to trade herbs and hides and carvings

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that he had made. The boys would make multiple trips

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each week to his shack, where he taught them to trap, fish, hunt,

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and gather wild plants save to eat. Joe taught them

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to tan hides and make Indian buckskins, as well as

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some words of a far away native tongue. One day

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in the early spring, when all three boys were about

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to turn sixteen, Joe disappeared. The door of his shack

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was open, the floor was busted up, all the furniture

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was pushed against the walls, and his wagon and mule

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were gone. Four weeks later, a man rode into town

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right up to the inn. His hair and beard were

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long and unkempt, but his clothing and his two horses

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were top of the line. He asked for the best

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room and the largest steak and potato the keeper could

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stir up, and when the meal was ready, the stranger

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came out of his room, a clean shaven new man.

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The next morning, all three boys were sitting on the

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steps of the Sheriff's office across the street from the inn,

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to catch a glimpse of the stranger. He came out,

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and he looked at them, and he walked straight over.

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Elijah stood up and greeted him, and then nearly fell

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over when the familiar voice of Joe greeted him back,

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and good morning to you, boys, Joe said. The boys

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made a ruckus and jumped up and celebrated their friend's return.

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And then the questions poured out. Where had he gone?

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Where did he get the fancy clothes and the horses?

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Joe told them to meet him at his shack after

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their chores that day, and not to tell anyone about

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his return. Later. When they got there, they found him

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sitting on the back of a new buckboard wagon, and

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in the corral nearby were two large mules and three

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more horses, just as striking as the two he'd brought

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into town. Joe reached into his saddle bag and tossed

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each boy a nugget of gold the size of a thumb.

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While they stood around, slack jawed, Joe told them the story.

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When he was a younger man, he headed west with

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two of his friends in search of gold. When they

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made it all the way to Idaho, they walked up

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to three on kemped harry trappers and buckskins whipping. A

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young Native American male nearby, tied to a wagon wheel

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was a young Native female screaming and crying. Without hesitating,

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Joe and his companions took the trapper off guard. One

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of the trappers was shot, and the other two held

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at gunpoint, were tied to the wagon. Joe and the

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others freed the captives and led them to safety. That night,

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they set up camp, and they cared for the young man,

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intended to his wounds. The next morning, they woke up

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surrounded by a pack of Native warriors. Just as Joe

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and his companions thought their lives were over, a statue

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of a man, a great war chief Pocatello, walked forward.

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Another man stood behind him. Speaking broken English. He told

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them the young man and the woman that they had

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saved were the chief's son and bride to be. When

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the translators asked why had trespassed on Shoshone land, Joe, Samuel,

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and Arthur apologized profusely, explaining that they had no idea

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and meant no disrespect, and were just searching for gold.

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The chief seemed satisfied by the answer and asked to

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be taken to the two remaining trappers. Joe and the

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others stood by as the chief and two of his

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warriors sliced the trapper's abdomens open, threw a rope around

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each of their necks, and then drabbed them off into

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the forest. Once the war party had left, the translator

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introduced himself as long Tooth and said the chief instructed

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him to take them to the valley of the Ancient Ones.

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After two days of traveling, Long Tooth led them through

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a hidden passage in a mountain side to an open valley,

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and while Joe and the others tied up their horses

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and gathered wood for a fire, Long Tooth walked to

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the center of the valley and began to sing and

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dance until well after dark. When he returned, he explained

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that he was asking the Ancient Ones for permission to

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hunt there and to search for the shiny rocks. They

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stayed there for months, chopping down trees for a cabin

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and building a corral and a small barn for the

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animals They gathered and stored hey for the winter. They

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hunted every few days and learned to skin and tan

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the animal fur for insulation and heavy coats for the

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coming cold months. When spring came, Long Tooth returned to

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his people, sure that Joe and the others could manage

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in the valley without him. Before he left, he told

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them never to harm the ancient one and never to

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pursue them, and if they saw one, they were to

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turn their eyes away. Long Tooth returned on the next

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full moon with several others from the tribe. They brought

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along a bull in, three cows, mules, chickens, and other supplies.

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The next morning, Joe cooked for the visitors, making sure

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to heave a serving of the meal on the rock

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where they'd received the elk. The next morning, the food

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was gone and three gold nuggets sat on that rock.

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Almost every day after that, gold nuggets were left for

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them on the rock, a gift exchange that continued for

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the next three winters. Long Tooth and the three travelers

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became good friends. Joe, Samuel, and Arthur learned to speak

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Shoshone and learned the dance Long Tooth performed each time

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he returned to the valley. Eventually, the three men said

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goodbye to Long Tooth and the valley, promising to return

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one day. There were different men on their journey home.

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They had become long bearded, weathered trappers. Their goal stored

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in the false floor of the wagon covered by a

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layer upon layer of furs and buckskin. When they had

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reached the Missouri, Arthur grew deathly ill, forcing Joe to

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ride to the nearest town to fetch a doctor, and

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while Samuel and Author waited for them to return, a

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group of men from the Southern States had found them.

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When Joe returned with the doctor, he found them both dead,

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hanging from a nearby tree, their backs whipt raw. The

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00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:22,440
murderers had taken the best of the fur Pelts, but

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rode off without the wagon or mules. Joe buried his

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friends and proceeded on to Tennessee with the wagon, his

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world in disarray. He was so depressed he took his

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wagon of gold, rode out to the swamplands and buried it.

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He built a shack on top of it and rarely

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spoke to anyone after that. One day he woke up

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and decided that he was done grieving. Tennessee no longer

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felt like home, and he was going back west, back

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to the valley of the ancients. He tore his shack apart,

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gathered his gold, and decided to start new. When Joe

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finished telling Elijah and the other boys this story, he

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00:23:03,559 --> 00:23:07,359
made a proposal. He was heading west the next morning,

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and he invited them to come. They unanimously agreed, and

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they left notes for their families and started the long

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journey with Joe. They took a steamboat all the way

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to Saint Paul, and then a train to Montana and

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horseback there all the way to Fort Hall, which had

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become a reservation for the Shoshawone. Shortly after their arrival,

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a Shoshone man greeted Joe with hugs and tears of joy.

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Joe introduced him to the boys's Long Tooth and told

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him he was going to show them the ways of

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the valley. The next morning, the five travelers set out

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00:23:45,559 --> 00:23:48,200
for the Valley of the Ancients, and when they finally

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00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,839
made it, they found the cabin almost as Joe had

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00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,640
left it. While Elijah and the others settled in and

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00:23:54,759 --> 00:23:57,720
found the wood for a fire, Long Tooth and Joe

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went to the center of the valley and began down

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and singing, and when dinner was prepared, two of the

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00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,839
boys placed a large portion of meat on the rock

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00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,640
for the ancient ones. The next morning they found several

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00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:15,079
gold nuggets, and they started a renewed gift exchange with

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00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:19,400
the ancient Ones. Once, during a hunt with Joe and

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00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,440
Long Toooth, Elijah heard a loud crack of a tree

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00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:27,160
limb being snapped off and hurled into another tree. It

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00:24:27,279 --> 00:24:31,480
was followed by tree knocks and screams. Joe told him

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00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,480
to get ready that the ancient Ones had joined the hunt,

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00:24:34,839 --> 00:24:38,640
and within minutes a herd of elk came barreling toward them.

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00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,839
Joe and Long Toothed down three of them, but only

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00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,720
carried one back to the cabin. The other two, Long

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00:24:45,759 --> 00:24:50,519
Tooth explained were for the ancient Ones. Over the next

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three winters, Elijah and the others lived in the valley,

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learning the ways of Long Tooth and occasionally getting short

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00:24:57,559 --> 00:25:02,119
glimpses of the ancient Ones. They were a giant harry butch,

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00:25:02,279 --> 00:25:06,519
and they kept their distance, and they weren't aggressive. On

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00:25:06,599 --> 00:25:09,359
the day that Elijah and the other boys said goodbye,

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00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,799
they saw an entire tribe of Ancient Ones towering over

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00:25:12,839 --> 00:25:17,359
the corral and gathered to watch them leave. They made

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00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,319
it back to Tennessee, each of them nearly twenty years

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00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,680
old by then, pulling a wagon full of gold and hides.

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00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,599
Looking like weathered mountain men, they split their fortune, and

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00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,599
my great grandfather Elijah used his share to buy land

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00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,400
and become a farmer. James moved to New York and

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00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,880
became a wealthy merchant, and Thomas moved to California to

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00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,559
invest in new gold operations. They never spoke of Joe

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00:25:44,799 --> 00:25:47,839
or long Tooth, and they never saw each other again.

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00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,680
When my great grandfather finally finished his story, I asked

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00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:57,119
him if he really expected me to believe him, After all,

428
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,160
I was getting too old to believe in tall tales.

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00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,880
He smiled, and he told me to hold that thought,

430
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,519
and he walked into the house, and he came back

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00:26:06,559 --> 00:26:09,880
with a small canvas bag and a leather notebook, saying

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00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,519
I was finally old enough to see them. It was

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00:26:13,559 --> 00:26:17,400
a detailed journal from his travels, The papers worn thin

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00:26:17,559 --> 00:26:21,000
with age, and the bag was full of gold nuggets.

435
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,680
I read every line of that journal, the details of

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00:26:24,759 --> 00:26:28,480
his journey, exactly as he had told me, the words

437
00:26:28,519 --> 00:26:32,079
too plain and genuine to have been made up. Our

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00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,599
home is one of the largest private farms in Tennessee

439
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,440
and has been since the eighteen eighties, when my great

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00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,960
grandfather Elijah first bought it. It has been in the

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00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,400
family for six generations. Now. Since then, I've become more

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00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,880
dedicated than ever to spending sundays on the front porch

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00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,680
talking with my elders. I look forward to sitting on

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00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,240
that old rocking chair one day, just like my great granddad,

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00:26:59,599 --> 00:27:05,240
sharing incredible stories with my children and grandchildren. Thank you

446
00:27:05,279 --> 00:27:07,880
for joining me on this podcast. Hope you enjoyed it.

447
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,000
Don't forget. I've got Steve Lily nineteen up. If you're

448
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,440
look in the description below, there'll be a link to it.

449
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:16,240
I think I can put it on an end screen.

450
00:27:16,279 --> 00:27:18,119
I'll put it on an end screen right here if

451
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:19,920
you want to go listen to it. If you go

452
00:27:20,039 --> 00:27:23,079
over there and listen to a Steve Lilly episode. And

453
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,319
I don't ever ask this, but it would help me

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00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,799
if you would subscribe, maybe even leave a comment, even

455
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,920
be critical, you know, constructive criticism for things I write

456
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:38,279
is happily accepted. And I think about it, I really

457
00:27:38,319 --> 00:27:40,680
think about it. Go over there and take a listen.

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00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:45,519
If you like good fun fiction. It's probably not for kids.

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00:27:46,039 --> 00:27:47,640
I know the men enjoy it, but a lot of

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00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:49,759
women do enjoy it. So anyway, go check it out.

461
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,559
All right, I'm gonna shut up about Steve Lily and

462
00:27:52,559 --> 00:27:54,880
I'm gonna let you guys get back to your date.

463
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,400
Thank you for listening to this podcast, and we'll see

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00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:02,519
you on the next one. In Need It in cant