1 00:00:05,879 --> 00:00:07,839 Speaker 1: I want to start by saying that I have never 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,400 had an eyewitness encounter. I guess that means I'm not 3 00:00:11,439 --> 00:00:14,960 a true believer in bigfoot. I'm here to learn more 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,600 information about other people's encounters, but I do have an 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,559 open mind about their existence, and I've heard personally encounters 6 00:00:22,559 --> 00:00:26,559 from people that I trust with all my being. I 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,879 am an avid hiker in East Tennessee and I've hiked 8 00:00:29,879 --> 00:00:32,799 all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 9 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,960 I've logged more than thirty five hundred miles in the 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,079 back country. Many of these miles were solow now I've 11 00:00:40,079 --> 00:00:45,200 had hundreds of barren wild boar encounters. I'm not easily spooked, 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,159 nor do I feel uneasy being alone in the woods. 13 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,719 But I will admit though, that one incident left me 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,560 feeling a bit weird. I was hiking a trail in 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,280 the Great Smoky Mountains near treemont In towns and Tennessee 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,439 in of twenty nineteen. It was an unusually warm morning 17 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,560 and the wind was blowing. I could tell a storm 18 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:09,719 was coming, but I thought I could get a ten 19 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,239 mile hike in before it got here. The trail I 20 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,319 was hiking with steep there was a good sized creek 21 00:01:16,359 --> 00:01:18,680 I would have to cross that was about knee deep. 22 00:01:19,359 --> 00:01:21,400 I was keeping a close eye on the weather and 23 00:01:21,439 --> 00:01:24,760 making pretty good time. At about three quarters of a 24 00:01:24,799 --> 00:01:28,560 mile from my turnaround point, I heard brush breaking above 25 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,959 me on the side of the mountain. Well, it sounded 26 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,400 more than one of something or someone was walking, not running. 27 00:01:37,439 --> 00:01:39,840 I stopped to listen, but the wind picked up so 28 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,439 I couldn't hear anything. When the wind died down, I 29 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,680 heard brush breaking again. The side of the mountain was 30 00:01:46,719 --> 00:01:50,200 covered with rhododendron, so I couldn't see more than thirty 31 00:01:50,239 --> 00:01:53,719 yards up the mountain side. The wind picked up again 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:56,359 and I headed on, thinking it was probably a bear, 33 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,200 a hog, a deer, or maybe even a person. But 34 00:02:00,239 --> 00:02:02,840 by the time I reached the turnaround and started back 35 00:02:02,879 --> 00:02:05,920 down the trail, the weather was getting worse, and when 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,199 I reached the spot where I had heard the brush 37 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,840 breaking earlier, I heard what sounded like people talking gibberish. 38 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,479 I thought, okay, it was people breaking brush on the 39 00:02:16,479 --> 00:02:21,639 mountain side. That's no big deal. I've heard this gibberish before, 40 00:02:22,159 --> 00:02:24,759 and most times I will eventually meet with a group 41 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,039 of people somewhere on the trail. But as I came 42 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,879 around the bend in the trail where my mind said 43 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,719 I should have seen people, there was no one there, 44 00:02:33,879 --> 00:02:37,319 and I stopped again to listen. The wind began to 45 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,360 pick up again, but I could faintly hear the gibberish. 46 00:02:41,199 --> 00:02:43,639 I waited a minute for the wind to die down again, 47 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,080 and when I did, I could hear the gibberish much clearer. 48 00:02:48,039 --> 00:02:50,919 Even so, it was like listening to a conversation that 49 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,360 was just far enough away not to be able to 50 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,439 make out the words, but it was close enough that 51 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,159 I felt like I should have been able to. I 52 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,240 was puzzled at the point where I turned around. There 53 00:03:03,319 --> 00:03:07,439 is an old man way or unmaintained trail that goes 54 00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:10,840 to an old fire tower site. I thought maybe someone 55 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,439 had tried to follow it and gotten turned around. Most 56 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,719 people go there in the winter months because it's so overgrown. 57 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:20,960 I thought that maybe I should yell at them to 58 00:03:21,039 --> 00:03:24,319 let them know where the trail was. This whole time, 59 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:26,919 the wind was gusting at twenty miles an hour in 60 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,360 my face. If I yelled at that point, no one 61 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,960 would hear me anyway, so I waited for a break 62 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,159 when I could hear the gibberish again, and I yelled hey. 63 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,319 The second I did that, the jibberish stopped. The distance 64 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,319 I was covering was ten yards up and down the trail. 65 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:47,599 I was facing up the mountain side with my right 66 00:03:47,759 --> 00:03:50,919 up the trail and my left down the trail. There 67 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:53,479 was a small creek behind me that was little more 68 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,759 than a trickle, and as soon as the gibberish stopped, 69 00:03:57,039 --> 00:04:00,400 I heard movement to my right up the mountain side, 70 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,560 I moved that direction, looking up the hill, I was 71 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:06,319 thinking I should bark like a dog. I've done this 72 00:04:06,439 --> 00:04:09,960 many times while hiking, and it has always successfully scared 73 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,800 the crap out of people. I have a hell hound 74 00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:18,319 sounding park. That's a good prank. I'm sorry, y'all. As 75 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,639 soon as I did, I heard something to my left, 76 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,360 something coming through the tree canopy, and a rock landed 77 00:04:24,399 --> 00:04:27,439 in the creek behind me. I could hear more than 78 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,279 one of whoever or whatever this was up there moving 79 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,720 above me. That rock made me mad, and I thought 80 00:04:33,759 --> 00:04:37,600 these knuckleheads were throwing rocks at me. I moved down 81 00:04:37,639 --> 00:04:40,360 the trail to where the rock landed. The water was 82 00:04:40,399 --> 00:04:43,120 still muddy there. I picked up the rock and threw 83 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,959 it back, yelling, stopped throwing rocks at me. I was 84 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,199 looking up the hillside to my right, near where I 85 00:04:50,199 --> 00:04:52,800 had just been. I heard a whistle and I quickly 86 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,480 ran back over to try to catch the culprit, and 87 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,439 the brush right above where I had just been standing 88 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,199 exploded with a loud crash. I turned and ran back 89 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,600 that direction. As soon as I did, something loud crashed 90 00:05:06,639 --> 00:05:09,160 through the brush to my right again and around the 91 00:05:09,199 --> 00:05:13,079 bind from where I was. Something had crossed the trail 92 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,439 from the creek and was headed up the mountain side. 93 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,839 I ran up the trail as fast as I could 94 00:05:18,879 --> 00:05:21,560 to try to see what it was, but I wasn't 95 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,480 fast enough. I couldn't see any tracks, but the hillside 96 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,720 was alive with activity. Brush was breaking like crazy, and 97 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,079 I could tell it was moving. I've always thought that 98 00:05:33,319 --> 00:05:36,399 should I ever come across something I couldn't explain or see, 99 00:05:36,439 --> 00:05:38,879 that I would try and track it down. But that 100 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,920 was not the case. I didn't want to follow this thing, 101 00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:44,240 nor could I have kept up with it if I 102 00:05:44,319 --> 00:05:48,560 had wanted to. I remember standing there thinking that I 103 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,000 had just been played. I didn't know which way was up. 104 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,399 For a moment, something inside me said that I should 105 00:05:55,439 --> 00:05:58,199 move on down the trail. So I did, and from 106 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:00,639 then on I didn't see anything. I guess it could 107 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,839 have been people. If so, they were very good at 108 00:06:03,879 --> 00:06:07,639 disorienting a body. I guess I'll never know, but whatever 109 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,319 it was, it could whistle and throw rocks. Every time 110 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,160 I'm hiking alone now and I hear the gibberish ahead 111 00:06:15,199 --> 00:06:18,120 of me, I think about that incident, and I think 112 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:24,600 to myself, here we go again. It was a hot 113 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,800 June night in that old trailer my ex husband and 114 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,240 I were living in behind my parents' house. It was 115 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:35,240 still and quiet that night, with no air conditioning. We 116 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,000 had windows open in hopes of catching a breeze if 117 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,199 one should happen by. I was on the couch listening 118 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,319 to the buzz of the light bulb glowing overhead. Now, 119 00:06:44,319 --> 00:06:47,920 I asked my husband, can you hear this? Hear what? 120 00:06:48,439 --> 00:06:52,040 He said, listen? I said, it's so quiet out that 121 00:06:52,079 --> 00:06:55,399 I can hear the light bulb glowing. He listened for 122 00:06:55,439 --> 00:06:57,680 a minute and agreed that he could hear it too. 123 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,600 My parents taught me to be aware of my surroundings, 124 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:03,879 and one of the things they always said to look 125 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,120 for was when it got real quiet. It meant one 126 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,959 of two things, either there was a predator nearby or 127 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,680 there was a big storm brewing. Mack's husband, being a 128 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,839 city boy, I thought it was something he needed to know. 129 00:07:18,959 --> 00:07:21,839 Even with the windows open that night, we couldn't hear 130 00:07:21,839 --> 00:07:25,759 crickets or tree frogs or anything else, only that light 131 00:07:25,759 --> 00:07:29,600 bulb buzzing. At the time, we had a permanent house 132 00:07:29,639 --> 00:07:32,879 guest named Tony. He was fifteen years old, and he 133 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,879 was one of those situations where he came to visit 134 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:37,639 and the store and made a career out of it. 135 00:07:38,439 --> 00:07:41,399 I knew his parents, and they lived back in the county, 136 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,240 six miles away. Now. I don't know how they felt 137 00:07:44,279 --> 00:07:46,519 about him moving in with us, or if they even 138 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:51,319 knew about it, but he stayed for months. Tony had 139 00:07:51,319 --> 00:07:53,800 a crush on my friend Becky, and that night he'd 140 00:07:53,839 --> 00:07:57,800 taken his motorcycle to see her. Becky lived way out 141 00:07:57,839 --> 00:08:00,240 on a gravel road that went through the swamp and 142 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:03,759 passed my grandfather's house and through a whole lot of woods, 143 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,800 with maybe only one or two other houses in between. 144 00:08:08,199 --> 00:08:11,319 It was about as isolated as a person could get, 145 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,920 and driving down to her house at night, even in 146 00:08:13,959 --> 00:08:16,920 a car was enough to give a person the creeps. 147 00:08:17,759 --> 00:08:20,480 He hadn't been gone long when I noticed how quiet 148 00:08:20,519 --> 00:08:23,360 it had gotten. A few minutes passed and I heard 149 00:08:23,439 --> 00:08:27,399 Tony's motorcycle barreling back up the road and down our driveway. 150 00:08:28,319 --> 00:08:31,120 He wasn't slowing down for the turn or when he 151 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,360 approached our trailer, and through the window I could see 152 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,240 his light tracing his path. He jumped off his bike 153 00:08:38,279 --> 00:08:40,600 and he threw it down without shutting off the engine 154 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,679 of the light, and a second later the door burst 155 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,080 open and he fell through onto the floor, where he 156 00:08:46,159 --> 00:08:49,159 curled up in a fetal position. He was shaking and 157 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,759 whimpering like a baby. Well. I jumped up and got 158 00:08:52,799 --> 00:08:55,039 down beside him, and I was trying my best to 159 00:08:55,039 --> 00:08:59,120 find out what was wrong, but he couldn't talk. I 160 00:08:59,159 --> 00:09:01,320 could tell he was going going into shock, and I 161 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,519 was about to slap him to try and bring him 162 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,879 out of it when he finally responded to yelling at me, 163 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,919 saying what's wrong. Tears streamed down his face as he 164 00:09:12,039 --> 00:09:15,399 told us what happened in a quivering voice. He said 165 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,519 he was on his way back from Becky's and had 166 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,679 made it past Grandfather's house, where the road dipped into 167 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,919 a steep hill heading into the swamp. His motorcycle was 168 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,279 beginning to shimmy on the loose gravel With all that vibrating, 169 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,840 his light was jumping all over, but he still managed 170 00:09:31,879 --> 00:09:35,039 to see something huge standing on the old wooden bridge 171 00:09:35,039 --> 00:09:38,120 at the bottom of the hill. It was big enough 172 00:09:38,159 --> 00:09:40,519 that he thought about turning around and heading back the 173 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,480 other way, and if he thought his motorcycle would make 174 00:09:43,519 --> 00:09:46,200 it back up that steep hill, he probably would have. 175 00:09:47,759 --> 00:09:49,840 As he got closer to the thing, he made up 176 00:09:49,879 --> 00:09:52,919 his mind to gun the engine and pass it wide open. 177 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,000 A little closer, and he was able to make out 178 00:09:56,159 --> 00:09:58,399 that it had a body like a bear, but a 179 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,000 face of a man. It was too late to turn 180 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,320 back now, so he opened the throttle up and he 181 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,759 went speeding by. And that's when it gave out a 182 00:10:07,759 --> 00:10:10,519 big yell, and it reached out and tried to grab him. 183 00:10:11,039 --> 00:10:15,039 I saw his fingers in its nails. He sobbed thanked 184 00:10:15,039 --> 00:10:18,799 the good Lord that it didn't catch him. Well, I 185 00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:21,159 didn't know what to say. All I could do was 186 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,879 listen and try to comfort him. He wasn't drinking, and 187 00:10:25,039 --> 00:10:28,879 Tony didn't use drugs. He spent that night sleeping at 188 00:10:28,919 --> 00:10:31,720 the foot of our bed, and several times he woke 189 00:10:31,759 --> 00:10:35,480 me up whimpering like a baby. I never once called 190 00:10:35,519 --> 00:10:38,960 him crazy or accused him of telling us a tall tale. 191 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,639 I really do believe he saw something that night and 192 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,799 it gave him the scare of a lifetime. That night, 193 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,960 as I lay there between my broken sleep, I remembered 194 00:10:50,039 --> 00:10:52,120 what my sister told me after I had gone to 195 00:10:52,159 --> 00:10:55,840 see the Legend of Boggy Creek. They showed the Patterson 196 00:10:55,879 --> 00:10:59,440 Gimlin film that night too, and after I finished telling 197 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,000 her all about out the movie, she told me that 198 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:05,240 our grandfather had seen something back in the nineteen thirties 199 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,240 when he was going through the gravel pits. He described 200 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,720 it as having the body of a bear, but the 201 00:11:11,759 --> 00:11:15,200 face of a man. I never told anyone what my 202 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,919 sister told me about our grandfather. There was no way 203 00:11:19,039 --> 00:11:22,240 Tony could have known, but he described that thing the 204 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,559 same way my grandfather did. He said it was the 205 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,159 body of a bear and the face of a man. 206 00:11:29,879 --> 00:11:32,879 A few months passed and my husband and I separated. 207 00:11:33,399 --> 00:11:35,600 It was October and I was eight and a half 208 00:11:35,639 --> 00:11:39,480 months pregnant. Tony had gone back home by then, so 209 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,080 it was just me living in the trailer. My friend 210 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,960 Becky had come to stay the night with me. We 211 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,200 were bored stiff. That was back when you could only 212 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:53,679 get three major networks on the television. I've always been active, 213 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,240 and having a baby didn't slow me down. So we 214 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,200 decided we'd head over to visit some friends who rented 215 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,639 a space in a field my mom and dad owned. 216 00:12:02,759 --> 00:12:05,039 It was eleven o'clock that night and I didn't have 217 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,000 any gas in my car, but we didn't care. We 218 00:12:08,039 --> 00:12:11,360 took out walking without a flashlight or any form or protection. 219 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,399 We were going down that same gravel road that led 220 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,000 to the bridge where Tony had his incident, but we 221 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,000 weren't thinking about that. We had to go down to 222 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,519 the swamp and then take a left after passing my 223 00:12:23,639 --> 00:12:27,960 brother's driveway, but before the bridge that took us up 224 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,840 over a hill and into the field where their house was. 225 00:12:31,519 --> 00:12:34,080 It was the weekend, so we knew they would be awake. 226 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,480 The night was very nice and the weather was perfect. 227 00:12:39,039 --> 00:12:42,159 We passed my parents' house laughing and talking and having 228 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:45,360 a good time, and then we passed my brother's driveway, 229 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:49,399 still acting like a couple of kids, and shortly after that, 230 00:12:49,519 --> 00:12:52,360 I heard something in the woods beside me. It was 231 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:56,360 matching every step we made. We were on the gravel 232 00:12:56,399 --> 00:12:59,600 and making the sounds feet make on gravel, but this 233 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,840 was lunching dead leaves and breaking twigs out in the woods. 234 00:13:04,519 --> 00:13:07,440 I reached over and I touched Becky's arm to stop her. 235 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,759 Do you hear that? I asked? What She said, Oh, 236 00:13:11,799 --> 00:13:15,919 it's nothing, I said. After listening for a second, we 237 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,080 started walking again. Up ahead, we could see the bridge 238 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,200 in the moonlight. I heard it again, so I stopped 239 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,559 and asked again, did you hear that? Becky? This time 240 00:13:25,639 --> 00:13:29,120 she had heard it. Yes, she said, we need to 241 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:33,159 get running, I yelled. We took off, running back up 242 00:13:33,159 --> 00:13:36,000 the road, with me being eight and a half months pregnant, 243 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,279 waddling like a penguin. We got as far as my 244 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,200 brother's driveway and I said, come on, let's get to 245 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,879 the house. Well, his driveway was steep, as the hill 246 00:13:45,919 --> 00:13:48,799 Tony had to go down that night, but my brother's 247 00:13:48,879 --> 00:13:53,559 driveway was straight up, and somehow we made it to 248 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,639 his door and we began banging and yelling to be 249 00:13:56,759 --> 00:13:59,919 let in. It was midnight by then, and he was 250 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,679 and exactly jumping for joy at the sight of us. 251 00:14:03,519 --> 00:14:05,799 We told him we were out walking and that something 252 00:14:05,919 --> 00:14:08,519 was stalking us, and we begged him to take us home. 253 00:14:09,639 --> 00:14:12,360 He could have shot fired us through his eyes that 254 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,600 he was so mad, but I didn't care. It was 255 00:14:15,639 --> 00:14:18,159 the first time I'd ever been frightened while out walking 256 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:22,399 at night. Two weeks later, I gave birth to a 257 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,159 healthy seven pound, fourteen ounce twenty one and a half 258 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,360 inch son. I lost touch with Tony for years, and 259 00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:34,159 then one day at the grocery store, I ran into him. 260 00:14:34,759 --> 00:14:37,639 I asked him if he remembered that incident on the bridge. 261 00:14:38,279 --> 00:14:40,399 He said he did, but that he didn't like to 262 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,120 talk about it. And then I asked if he would 263 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,919 listen to a vocal I'd captured on my phone. He 264 00:14:46,919 --> 00:14:49,159 held it to his ear and he listened, and I 265 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,679 watched his muscles draw up and tighten, and his eyes 266 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,600 were wide and his teeth were clenched. He was reacting. 267 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,279 He was having a flashback to that night. He made 268 00:15:00,279 --> 00:15:03,039 a vulgar statement about how much it was scaring him 269 00:15:03,039 --> 00:15:05,480 to hear that sound, before lifting his hand up and 270 00:15:05,519 --> 00:15:09,159 staring at it. I saw its hands and its fingers, 271 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,480 he said, in a shaky voice, I even saw its 272 00:15:12,559 --> 00:15:20,919 fingernails in nineteen seventy six when I was saying I 273 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,080 can't even get my mouth to work here. In nineteen 274 00:15:24,159 --> 00:15:27,159 seventy eight, when I was eight years old, we went 275 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:31,159 to one of those old fashioned fire breathing Pentecostal church 276 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,159 meetings that scared me to the core. The church was new, 277 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,440 and so was the building. It was mostly blocked with 278 00:15:38,519 --> 00:15:41,799 no paint or air conditioning. No place on Earth ever 279 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,480 feels so close to Hell is the inside of a 280 00:15:44,559 --> 00:15:47,399 church building on a hot summer day, when the preacher 281 00:15:47,559 --> 00:15:51,080 is spewing fire and brimstone with every verse he quotes. 282 00:15:51,879 --> 00:15:53,919 The man at the pulpit that day was an older 283 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,919 evangelist who was speaking on the future events and the 284 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,919 end times. He had me on the edge of my sea, 285 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,000 not knowing whether to run or hide or sit and listen. 286 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,759 My dad's belt held me firm. I guess his primary 287 00:16:07,799 --> 00:16:11,200 subject was the second Coming of Christ, but he talked 288 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,559 about things that no one could have known back then 289 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,240 everything we have today. He touched on even how folks 290 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,080 would act, and then he said it would be like 291 00:16:21,159 --> 00:16:24,399 unto the days of Noah, and there would be monsters 292 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:29,039 and rumors of monsters. If he was trying to scare me, 293 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,759 he was about as successful as a man can be. 294 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,440 And I've never forgotten his sermon all these years later. 295 00:16:36,279 --> 00:16:39,559 And I understand now how Satan wants to be God, 296 00:16:39,679 --> 00:16:42,519 so he tries to create things like God, but he 297 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,399 never quite gets it right because he lacks the ability 298 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:50,159 to give things a soul, and that's how bloodlines get tainted. 299 00:16:51,519 --> 00:16:54,480 There is one area called the Green Swamp where I 300 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,519 like to hunt. Back when I was eighteen, I hunted 301 00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:01,039 there alone quite a bit. This morning, I was out 302 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,640 on a powder grade close to the northern fence line. 303 00:17:06,039 --> 00:17:08,559 I'd walked several miles and I decided it was time 304 00:17:08,559 --> 00:17:11,200 to have a rest. I found a spot where I 305 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,440 could look out over at least one hundred acres of 306 00:17:13,519 --> 00:17:16,519 cleared land, where the palm meadows were coming back through 307 00:17:16,559 --> 00:17:20,359 the charred earth and were about a foot high. Bay 308 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,960 Head swamps are pretty dry, most the only half an 309 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,720 inch of water or so. I was looking out over 310 00:17:26,759 --> 00:17:29,400 the landscape when I saw what I took to be 311 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,240 an otter. I've had a lot of years to think 312 00:17:32,279 --> 00:17:35,279 about that, and I've come to realize that no otter 313 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,960 that far away could ever look that big and where 314 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,880 he was heading. There was no major water source for miles, 315 00:17:43,559 --> 00:17:45,960 but I was pretty sure there were deep fire breaks 316 00:17:46,039 --> 00:17:49,920 cut with the big turnplows in that direction. They create 317 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,400 ditches and they're up to two feet deep on one side. 318 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,400 At the time, I wrote about what I saw, and 319 00:17:57,480 --> 00:17:59,759 I put it down as an otter that looked more 320 00:17:59,839 --> 00:18:03,000 like a sea lion doing a watermelon crawl at a 321 00:18:03,039 --> 00:18:06,880 pretty good pace. Now that I realized it couldn't have 322 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,880 been an otter, I've tried to figure out what it was. 323 00:18:10,839 --> 00:18:14,440 No pig would crawl like that for over one hundred yards. 324 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:17,680 I guess I'll never know what it was. I had 325 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,400 another incident a mile from there while I was hunting 326 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,519 with my brother in law. It was an afternoon hunt 327 00:18:23,559 --> 00:18:25,599 with me and the stand on one side of the 328 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,839 road and him on the other. Between the heat and 329 00:18:28,839 --> 00:18:31,960 the mosquitoes. I wasn't having much fun and he was 330 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,720 a good mile away, so I started thinking about riding 331 00:18:34,759 --> 00:18:38,160 home when something screamed so loud it darn near made 332 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:42,200 me fill my pants. It sounded like some lady was 333 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,279 out there getting killed. A million thoughts went through my 334 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,599 mind as I climbed down out of that stand. Should 335 00:18:49,599 --> 00:18:52,680 I get down and help her? I thought it wasn't 336 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,400 my fault that she was out there in the middle 337 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,640 of nowhere. While my mind was telling me that I 338 00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:59,880 ought to be brave and go help that poor woman, 339 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,960 my feet were already carrying me to my truck. I 340 00:19:04,039 --> 00:19:06,200 was half a mile from it when I realized whatever 341 00:19:06,319 --> 00:19:09,599 was making that sound was not human and it was 342 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,720 only about fifty yards away from me. Now, I kicked 343 00:19:13,839 --> 00:19:16,599 my eighteen year old legs into overdrive and I got 344 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,839 myself back to the truck. Of course, my brother in 345 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,039 law didn't hear it, so I had to endure a 346 00:19:22,039 --> 00:19:25,279 lot of teasing from him over it. This area has 347 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:27,480 had a lot of sightings and a lot of people 348 00:19:27,519 --> 00:19:31,000 have come out to investigate. These woods have it all 349 00:19:31,039 --> 00:19:34,440 from old river basins and swamp to sand hill pines, 350 00:19:34,519 --> 00:19:38,359 so I'm not surprised. Once I was fishing on the 351 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,079 east side of Crescent Lake in Florida when we started 352 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:44,960 hearing a loud noise coming from the bank, and we 353 00:19:45,039 --> 00:19:47,559 looked up in time to see a huge ten point 354 00:19:47,599 --> 00:19:51,160 buck jump into the water at full speed. He had 355 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,279 at least a two mile swim ahead of him, and 356 00:19:53,319 --> 00:19:56,960 he wasn't wasting time getting there. We didn't think much 357 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,160 of it until the next year, when we learned that 358 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,119 he'd come out of the water at the other end 359 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,839 and ran several ran through several neighborhoods, and then he 360 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:10,799 went right on downtown. Considering how far he swam to 361 00:20:10,839 --> 00:20:13,160 get there in the three or four miles of running 362 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,160 he did. Once he got out, I think something must 363 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,000 have spooked him pretty bad. I'm just glad whatever it 364 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:23,000 was didn't come out of the woods and come after us. 365 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:27,279 After thirty years of connecting the dots and applying them 366 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,559 to what that evangelist said that day, I have some 367 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,640 theories on what bigfoot and dog men and even aliens are. 368 00:20:35,519 --> 00:20:38,480 I believe they will all tie into the time of 369 00:20:38,559 --> 00:20:42,240 the rapture. For now, I believe no Christian can be 370 00:20:42,319 --> 00:20:45,240 hurt by them. But as we get closer and closer 371 00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:47,880 to the end of days, we will see more and 372 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,279 more of them, and I truly believe Christians at least 373 00:20:51,559 --> 00:20:54,519 will all come to realize how truly demonic some of 374 00:20:54,519 --> 00:20:59,039 these creatures are. Well, I don't know. I better just 375 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:04,160 hold my tongue on these Pentecostal charismatic evangelist man, they 376 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,400 get so carried away. I've actually heard some of them 377 00:21:08,039 --> 00:21:11,839 one time when I was I was I was twelve 378 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:18,279 or thirteen, and I went to a private school in Memphis. 379 00:21:18,759 --> 00:21:23,039 At that time, bussing had started, and my dad he 380 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,880 hated it. He did not want us kids riding the 381 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,200 bus halfway across Memphis just to go to another school 382 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,839 because it was a political cultural thing to do, which 383 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:35,799 I had nothing to do with that. I just went 384 00:21:35,839 --> 00:21:38,319 wherever my folks told me to go. So we went 385 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:41,319 to a private school. Well, at that time, all the 386 00:21:41,319 --> 00:21:44,519 private schools in Memphis were just loaded up with people. 387 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,240 You couldn't get into one, and so they got us 388 00:21:47,319 --> 00:21:51,160 into a school that was just the first one they 389 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,359 could find to get us into. And it was a 390 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:57,000 good school. I liked going to school there, but we 391 00:21:57,039 --> 00:21:59,640 was a It was a church school. It was a 392 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,920 school started by a local charismatic church. I think it 393 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,559 was the Assemblies of God denomination, and we would have 394 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:12,440 these assemblies on Wednesday. I think they called it chapel. 395 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,759 I was not a particularly religious person. I wasn't raised 396 00:22:16,799 --> 00:22:20,680 in a religious home, and I'm not religious now. I 397 00:22:20,799 --> 00:22:24,680 remember the speaking in tongues thing and all the kids 398 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,160 who went to church there. They went to church and 399 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,480 the school. Many at the end of these services, they 400 00:22:31,519 --> 00:22:35,559 would have these I think they call them altar calls, 401 00:22:35,599 --> 00:22:39,279 and these kids would start jibber jabbering and stuff like that, 402 00:22:39,559 --> 00:22:42,319 and I remember thinking, I want to see if I 403 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,839 can do that. So you would go into another room. 404 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,400 It was like a prayer room. And I'm not criticizing 405 00:22:48,519 --> 00:22:51,559 any of this. I'm just so please, don't think that's 406 00:22:51,599 --> 00:22:54,799 where I'm going. But I thought I'd go in there, 407 00:22:54,839 --> 00:22:56,920 and I actually tried it two or three times. I 408 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,079 even went on Wednesday night to the church services to 409 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,839 see what it was all about with some friends, and 410 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:04,799 I would go into the prayer room and I tried 411 00:23:04,839 --> 00:23:07,880 and tried and tried to do that jibber jabber language 412 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,279 and I couldn't do it. And finally, this uh, this 413 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,079 evangelist that was in town. I would say his name, 414 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,240 but he was a he was an ex professional football 415 00:23:17,279 --> 00:23:19,519 player and he had turned evangelist and he was in 416 00:23:19,519 --> 00:23:23,079 that charismatic movement and he came around. He was going 417 00:23:23,079 --> 00:23:25,400 around talking to people and he was like touching them 418 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,240 and they would start shaking and they were talking tongues 419 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,200 and all this stuff, and he was coming to me 420 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,200 and I was like, all right, man, here we go 421 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,519 and we'll get to do this. And he got in 422 00:23:35,599 --> 00:23:38,319 front of me and he he prayed and he kind 423 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,480 of kind of popped me on the head and nothing. 424 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,319 And he goes, you're gonna you're gonna speak in tongues. 425 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,640 Do you really want to speak in tongues? I'm like, yeah, yeah, 426 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,039 I want to. He tapped me on the head again 427 00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:51,000 and nothing. I just sat there and looked at him. 428 00:23:51,039 --> 00:23:53,400 He goes, can you feel it? Is it coming? Is 429 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,720 the Holy Spirit gonna consume you? And I'm like, I 430 00:23:56,759 --> 00:24:00,079 don't think so. And he moved on to another per 431 00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:02,200 and there were four or five of us guys there 432 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,400 that kind of hung around together, and it was the 433 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,839 same one with all of us, and I just thought 434 00:24:06,839 --> 00:24:10,680 it was funny. But I'm not criticizing it. I've just 435 00:24:10,799 --> 00:24:14,720 never talked in tongues. There's some people who are not 436 00:24:15,079 --> 00:24:19,200 in charismatic denominations who believe that the people that do 437 00:24:19,279 --> 00:24:22,039 speak in tongues that it's genuine. I don't really know. 438 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,480 I really don't know, and I don't quite understand the 439 00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:29,519 purpose of it. I know that it's a thing that 440 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,839 happened in the Book of Acts, and my personal belief 441 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,839 is that it went on in the early Church and 442 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,160 it was there to be a sign for other people 443 00:24:39,279 --> 00:24:42,920 to know that Christians were set apart. There's a whole 444 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:48,119 theology behind all of the gifts, the gifts of the 445 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:53,319 Holy Spirit that people would just eat me alive explaining 446 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,039 it to me. And I'm not getting into a religious 447 00:24:56,039 --> 00:24:59,920 discussion here, but that was my experience with a career 448 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:03,319 evangelist and I've always looked back on it and kind 449 00:25:03,319 --> 00:25:05,079 of laughed at it. He couldn't get me to talk 450 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:08,079 in tones. But this was a great story. And I 451 00:25:08,079 --> 00:25:10,039 don't know about the end of times. I don't think 452 00:25:10,079 --> 00:25:15,480 anybody knows anything. There's a lot of theories around about 453 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:17,400 how it's all going to go down, but I don't 454 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,799 think any of us really know. I think we just 455 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,400 need to look for the one who came and paid 456 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,400 the debt for us, and that's good enough. I think 457 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,720 that's good enough. John, Thank you for that story. It 458 00:25:28,759 --> 00:25:29,279 was awesome.