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Speaker 1: If you were following along with it What If It's

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True podcast and listening to the archived audio that I'm

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posting from four three, four, five years back, you have

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probably gotten used to a certain cadence and the way

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I read stories. None of it has thought out. It's

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just that over the years I've gotten more comfortable doing it.

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It's a funny thing turning this microphone on. Even though

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you're alone in a room, you still feel like you're

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talking in front of a big audience. And that's the

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way I felt when I first started this podcast. And

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to be honest, the podcast is kind of a fluke.

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I just did it as fun, and I discovered that

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people actually liked hearing these stories, so I just kept

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doing it. I had no plans, there was no plan

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at all. I just wrote a couple of bigfoot stories

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that I had heard through my life, and I read

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them and put it out on YouTube, just as kind

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of a gag. Not a gag. It's just something crazy

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to do, and out of nowhere, people really started liking

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this well, this podcast, which is archive number eighty seven

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or two of the earliest stories I ever did, probably

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in the first three months, I don't remember what episode

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they were, but you will hear almost how nervous and

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monotone I am as I read these, and I thought

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I would warn you before you get into this podcast.

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So now you've been warned. This is going to be

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kind of cheesy. However, the stories are really good, and

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I'm almost sorry that I didn't do them justice, but

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they're still told. They're understandable. I've redone the audio. That's

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what I'm doing with all of these archived audio files

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as i'm reading, trying to remaster as an amateur audio editor,

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just to make them sound a little better. Put a

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few more spaces. But you know, I used to read

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stuff just so fast that I don't know, It's just

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the way my brain worked. Anyway, I just want to

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let you know that this is going to sound not

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very good, but the stories are great and I hope

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you enjoy it. Thank you for following along with these

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archived podcasts. I'm having a ball doing them. This is

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eighty seven. I was just going to do about one hundred,

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but they're pretty easy to do, and I can do

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them quick. I can go back into my files and

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just pick random stories that I think are good and

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put them up as archive, so I'll thank you again

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when I get to one hundred, because that's kind of

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a milestone. I don't know. I just want to let

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y'all know that I appreciate you listening to this podcast.

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It's very it's very encouraging to me to look at

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the numbers on my statistics just on the podcast app.

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It's just encouraging and I appreciate you listening. So thanks,

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and here we go with another archive number eighty seven.

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Hope you enjoy it.

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Speaker 2: Bo is my dog and my best friend in the

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whole world. I'm a single man who travels all over

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to fish secluded lakes. Bo has been with me since

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the age of six months old. I got Bow from

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a dog rescue shelter. Here is what most people call

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a sooner or a mutt. Those are the best kind

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to have in my book. Bo was six years old

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at the time of this event. I've trained Bow very well.

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He is a very well mannered dog, unless you mess

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with his boat, his truck, or meat. I picked a

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lake located way back in the hills of East Tennessee

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for this trip. Bo and I loaded up our gear

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and then headed out for a three day weekend from

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the information I could find about this lake, it was

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fished very little, and not many people ever went there.

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Sounded like the perfect place to go, right, or so

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I thought from the map showing a small town to

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be the last place to stop for gas and food.

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Before heading the last fifteen miles into the hills, we

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stopped for a bite to eat at a small country restaurant.

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Bo jumped into the bed of the truck and stood

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guard over his property while I went inside to order

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us something to go. So we sat out in the

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parking lot and ate our lunch. After we finished eating,

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I pulled across the road to the only gas station

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in this town to fill up the truck and the boat.

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It was one of those old time full service stations

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that you very rarely see anymore. This elderly man came

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walking out and asked, fill her up. Check your year all.

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I replied, yes, sir, I need both truck and boat

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filled with gas please. As he was filling the last

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tank up, he turned and asked, looks like you're going

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on a camping trip. I replied, yes, sir, we're heading

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up to the lake for a couple of days. He

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turned and gave me a very strange look and then

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asked what lake the one just up the road. He

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then asked, I see you from out of state. Have

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you ever been up there before? I said, no, sir,

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this is our first time being up here. This put

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a weird expression on his face, looking at me like

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I was crazy or something. He then asked, what do

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you know about this lake? Nothing other than I could

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find on the internet that it was not fish very

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much and not a very popular place. Why is that,

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I asked, Is the fishing that bad up there? He said, Oh,

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there's a lot of fish in that lake, just no

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one goes up there anymore. Before I could ask any

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more questions, a car pulled into the other side of

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the gas pumps for service. So the man finished, took

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my money and thanked me and told me good luck

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as he proceeded to help the other customer. As I

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was pulling out, I had this strange feeling inside that

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this old man wanted to tell me something. I shook

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it off and went on my way. Once we got

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to the lake, I found a real nice spot right

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by the water to set up our camp. After unloading

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and setting our camp up, the sun was starting to

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set I figured it would be best to wait until

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morning to get the boat undone and lost. It's a

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good thing I did. I turned the radio on for

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some music while I got the campfire going. Bow was

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checking things out around the camp. He seemed to be

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happy with our spot, but he was acting kind of strange.

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He kept sniffing the air and then making groaning sounds.

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It was like he knew something was not quite right.

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I had never seen him act like this. I would

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give him a pat on the head and ask, what

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is it, boy, what are you smelling? I was not

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picking up any strange smell, so I didn't think anything

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else about it. A little later that evening, I put

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a pot of stew on the fire to get us

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some dinner going. It was not long before you could

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smell the aroma of stew cooking. There's nothing better than

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food cooking on an open campfire. Everything was so nice

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and peaceful with Bow and I sitting by the fire

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chilling out, when all of a sudden, Bow jumped up

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with the hair standing up on his back and started drowling.

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I couldn't see anything, but I heard something messing around

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in the brush. I kept asking, what is it? Bo,

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what is it. I got the flashlight and shinded around

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the area Bow was pointing at, and then I saw it.

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It was a raccoon. I guess he smelled food and

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came looking for a free meal. I told Bow it

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was okay and to leave the coon alone. That was

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going to happen. After a little bit of letting the

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raccoon know who was boss, he then laid back down

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and the raccoon made his way off into the woods.

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I figured he would be back later in the night

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to plunder through our stuff or to find a snack.

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Bo and I had our dinner and then cleaned everything

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up and put away to make it as raccoon proof

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as possible. I then threw some bread out away from

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the main camp with hopes that the raccoon would find

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it and leave our stuff alone. It was getting a

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bit late and I wanted to get an early start,

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so I figured it was time for us to call

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it a night. But Bou didn't want to go in

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just yet and kept sniffing the air. I figured it

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was that raccoon still messing around. I put the fire

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out and then we got into our tent. I got

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undressed and then crawled into my sleeping bag and shut

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the lantern off. Later into the wee hours of the morning,

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Bo woke me up, growling, and then he started barking.

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I figured, once again it was that raccoon had come back,

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and Bow heard him messing around. I spoke up, saying,

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it's okay, Bo, it's just that raccoon, and I told

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him to lie back down. He refused, and he kept growling.

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I said, fine, let's go take a look. I opened

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up the tent and a rank smell hit me in

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the face. This was something I had never smelled before.

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Before I could get out of the tent, Bow blasted

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past me full charge. I grabbed the flashlight while commanding

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Bow to stop and wait for me. Bo stopped but

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kept his stand growling like a mad dog. I shined

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the light in the direction Bou was looking, and there

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it was tall, hairy, long arms, short legs. This thing

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was huge. When the light shined on its face, this

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thing let out a snarling sound at us that sent

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chills to my spine. This sent Bow into attack mode.

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Bow charged the creature. I yell stop, Bow stop, but

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it was too late. When Bo got to this thing,

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it grabbed Bow up like a twig and had him

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by his throat. I screamed, please let my dog go.

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I could see Bow was now motionless and thought this

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thing had broke Bow's neck. I kept pleading, please don't

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kill my dog. He's all I have in my life.

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Over and over, I said, please don't kill my dog.

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The creature just looked at me as I kept pleading

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with it not to kill the dog. Then the creature

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let go of Bow and he dropped to the ground motionless.

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I could see Bow was still breathing, meaning he was

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not dead. So I was trying to figure out how

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to get him away from this creature when it dawned

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on me what this creature might be. So I spoke

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in a lighter tone, saying, you're a sasquatch. It just

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stood there looking at me while I kept talking. I said,

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we are not here to do you any harm, and

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if you will please let us go, we will leave

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right now. Just please don't kill my dog. Just let

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the dog go and we will be gone. I don't

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remember how I felt at the time. I know I

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was terrified, but I was more concerned for Beau than

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I was for myself. The creature raised its arm and

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made a motion with its hands as if to tell

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us to go. Then it stepped back a few feet,

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allowing me to grab Bow up and put him into

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the truck. I then ran to the tent and grabbed

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my pants that had my truck keys and wallet. Then

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ran to the truck and fired that motor up and

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hauled out of there. As I was leaving, I could

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see from my tail lights the creature was still standing there.

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By the time I got to the hard road, Bou

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had come to and started trying to get up. I

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told him to lie still as I paid his head.

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Once I made it out to the main road, I

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figured we were far enough away to stop so I

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could check Bo out. He seemed to be doing okay.

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I take it this creature had choked Bow to the

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point of passing out, but not to kill him. I

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stepped out of the truck with my pants in hand.

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I was wearing nothing but my underwear. I pulled on

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my pants, jump back in the truck and hit the road,

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knowing I left all my camping gear behind and knowing

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I would never return for it. When I got back

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to the small town, it was shut down tight not

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a soul was around, not even a light on anywhere.

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I kept going and did not stop until I was

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clean out of that state. You can bet I will

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never return to that place, no matter what I had

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left behind. I would only become a laughing stock to

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those locals if I did. I have no doubt they

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know of this creature, but we're not going to let

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anyone know about it, which I can understand. In our area,

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we had a bad flood in nineteen fifty five. The

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government decided it was going to dam the Delaware River

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and started the Tos Island Dam project. They bought thirty

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miles of river bottom, bulldozed two hundred year old homes,

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displaced businesses, and created a real mess. There was squatting

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and protesting, and then they found out that geologically they

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couldn't put the dam in. My wife and I started

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dating back in nineteen eighty three, and we didn't have

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much money, so we went camping a lot. We used

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the old church camp I went to as a kid,

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which is located in the middle of what the government

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is now calling a wild and scenic area. There isn't

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a house for ten miles in any direction from where

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we were. I decided to drive through the chest deep

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thistles we walked through the previous year. My wife told

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me not to do it because she was sure we

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were going to get stuck. Five hours of jacking and

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stuffing wood under the car and I finally got the

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car unstuck. She is still mad at me today. We

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set up camp on a bluff over a forty foot

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drop to the water. We created the fire and pitched

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our tent. We got our food safely hung in a

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tree because we were in bear country. In fact, I

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hunt there still today. Anyway, about nine thirties, just as

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it was starting to get good and dark, something walked

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up on our camp site. It proceeded to go from

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the top of the bank around our site, just outside

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of the firelight, to the top of the adjacent bank.

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This went on for an hour until it broke a stick,

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loud enough that my wife turned to me and said,

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what was that. I said I didn't know, and she says,

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what do you mean you don't know? Now? I had

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been fishing since I could hold a ride, and hunting

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since I was four years old. I spent more time

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sleep being outside than inside when I was a kid,

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So she knew something was up. I said again, I

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didn't know, and it's been out there about an hour.

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She asked why hadn't I told her, and I said

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I didn't want to scare her. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there

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with a hatchet under one leg, and if it lay

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knife under the other, you only need to see the

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movie Deliverance once to know we could be in big trouble.

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After another hour, we couldn't stay awake anymore and went

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in our tent to lay down. She fell asleep right away,

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and I'm laying on top of my bag with my

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knife and my hatchet. Ten minutes after we lay down,

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this thing starts screaming at us. We both sit bolt upright,

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and she says, what in the hell is that? I said,

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I didn't know, and I'm not staying in here. This

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scream was so loud it went right through you. It

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had such resonance that it blurred my vision. It was

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definitely territorial, and it was directed at us. I went

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out of the tent and stood with the fire at

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my back. There is literally nothing in that valley, and

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there is no light pollution. I stood looking into the

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inky blackness and said to myself, well, I know what

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the problem is here. I stoked that fire up big,

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went back into the tent and tried to sleep. In

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the morning, I looked for an hour for tracks, but

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there had been a really dry weather system that summer

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and there was little sign left. That started thirty five

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years of study. I have met nearly thirty people that

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have had encounters, and just as many that know someone

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who has had an encounter. I have lectured locally about

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what I have found. I really don't care what people

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think about what I say. They weren't in the tent

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with me that night. I was in the Coastguard at

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the time and quite sober. I'm a successful doctor and

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mayor of my town for many years. I don't shy

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from telling my story because folks, I don't know what

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I know. There are woods in Pennsylvania where you could

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stand twenty feet from me with the road flare in

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each hand, and I wouldn't be able to see you.

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Encounters like this change your life. I played that night

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through my head on hundreds of nights, and I have

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told that account to many people, many times