Speaker 1: If you were following along with it What If It's
Speaker 1: True podcast and listening to the archived audio that I'm
Speaker 1: posting from four three, four, five years back, you have
Speaker 1: probably gotten used to a certain cadence and the way
Speaker 1: I read stories. None of it has thought out. It's
Speaker 1: just that over the years I've gotten more comfortable doing it.
Speaker 1: It's a funny thing turning this microphone on. Even though
Speaker 1: you're alone in a room, you still feel like you're
Speaker 1: talking in front of a big audience. And that's the
Speaker 1: way I felt when I first started this podcast. And
Speaker 1: to be honest, the podcast is kind of a fluke.
Speaker 1: I just did it as fun, and I discovered that
Speaker 1: people actually liked hearing these stories, so I just kept
Speaker 1: doing it. I had no plans, there was no plan
Speaker 1: at all. I just wrote a couple of bigfoot stories
Speaker 1: that I had heard through my life, and I read
Speaker 1: them and put it out on YouTube, just as kind
Speaker 1: of a gag. Not a gag. It's just something crazy
Speaker 1: to do, and out of nowhere, people really started liking
Speaker 1: this well, this podcast, which is archive number eighty seven
Speaker 1: or two of the earliest stories I ever did, probably
Speaker 1: in the first three months, I don't remember what episode
Speaker 1: they were, but you will hear almost how nervous and
Speaker 1: monotone I am as I read these, and I thought
Speaker 1: I would warn you before you get into this podcast.
Speaker 1: So now you've been warned. This is going to be
Speaker 1: kind of cheesy. However, the stories are really good, and
Speaker 1: I'm almost sorry that I didn't do them justice, but
Speaker 1: they're still told. They're understandable. I've redone the audio. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm doing with all of these archived audio files
Speaker 1: as i'm reading, trying to remaster as an amateur audio editor,
Speaker 1: just to make them sound a little better. Put a
Speaker 1: few more spaces. But you know, I used to read
Speaker 1: stuff just so fast that I don't know, It's just
Speaker 1: the way my brain worked. Anyway, I just want to
Speaker 1: let you know that this is going to sound not
Speaker 1: very good, but the stories are great and I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoy it. Thank you for following along with these
Speaker 1: archived podcasts. I'm having a ball doing them. This is
Speaker 1: eighty seven. I was just going to do about one hundred,
Speaker 1: but they're pretty easy to do, and I can do
Speaker 1: them quick. I can go back into my files and
Speaker 1: just pick random stories that I think are good and
Speaker 1: put them up as archive, so I'll thank you again
Speaker 1: when I get to one hundred, because that's kind of
Speaker 1: a milestone. I don't know. I just want to let
Speaker 1: y'all know that I appreciate you listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1: It's very it's very encouraging to me to look at
Speaker 1: the numbers on my statistics just on the podcast app.
Speaker 1: It's just encouraging and I appreciate you listening. So thanks,
Speaker 1: and here we go with another archive number eighty seven.
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Bo is my dog and my best friend in the
Speaker 2: whole world. I'm a single man who travels all over
Speaker 2: to fish secluded lakes. Bo has been with me since
Speaker 2: the age of six months old. I got Bow from
Speaker 2: a dog rescue shelter. Here is what most people call
Speaker 2: a sooner or a mutt. Those are the best kind
Speaker 2: to have in my book. Bo was six years old
Speaker 2: at the time of this event. I've trained Bow very well.
Speaker 2: He is a very well mannered dog, unless you mess
Speaker 2: with his boat, his truck, or meat. I picked a
Speaker 2: lake located way back in the hills of East Tennessee
Speaker 2: for this trip. Bo and I loaded up our gear
Speaker 2: and then headed out for a three day weekend from
Speaker 2: the information I could find about this lake, it was
Speaker 2: fished very little, and not many people ever went there.
Speaker 2: Sounded like the perfect place to go, right, or so
Speaker 2: I thought from the map showing a small town to
Speaker 2: be the last place to stop for gas and food.
Speaker 2: Before heading the last fifteen miles into the hills, we
Speaker 2: stopped for a bite to eat at a small country restaurant.
Speaker 2: Bo jumped into the bed of the truck and stood
Speaker 2: guard over his property while I went inside to order
Speaker 2: us something to go. So we sat out in the
Speaker 2: parking lot and ate our lunch. After we finished eating,
Speaker 2: I pulled across the road to the only gas station
Speaker 2: in this town to fill up the truck and the boat.
Speaker 2: It was one of those old time full service stations
Speaker 2: that you very rarely see anymore. This elderly man came
Speaker 2: walking out and asked, fill her up. Check your year all.
Speaker 2: I replied, yes, sir, I need both truck and boat
Speaker 2: filled with gas please. As he was filling the last
Speaker 2: tank up, he turned and asked, looks like you're going
Speaker 2: on a camping trip. I replied, yes, sir, we're heading
Speaker 2: up to the lake for a couple of days. He
Speaker 2: turned and gave me a very strange look and then
Speaker 2: asked what lake the one just up the road. He
Speaker 2: then asked, I see you from out of state. Have
Speaker 2: you ever been up there before? I said, no, sir,
Speaker 2: this is our first time being up here. This put
Speaker 2: a weird expression on his face, looking at me like
Speaker 2: I was crazy or something. He then asked, what do
Speaker 2: you know about this lake? Nothing other than I could
Speaker 2: find on the internet that it was not fish very
Speaker 2: much and not a very popular place. Why is that,
Speaker 2: I asked, Is the fishing that bad up there? He said, Oh,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of fish in that lake, just no
Speaker 2: one goes up there anymore. Before I could ask any
Speaker 2: more questions, a car pulled into the other side of
Speaker 2: the gas pumps for service. So the man finished, took
Speaker 2: my money and thanked me and told me good luck
Speaker 2: as he proceeded to help the other customer. As I
Speaker 2: was pulling out, I had this strange feeling inside that
Speaker 2: this old man wanted to tell me something. I shook
Speaker 2: it off and went on my way. Once we got
Speaker 2: to the lake, I found a real nice spot right
Speaker 2: by the water to set up our camp. After unloading
Speaker 2: and setting our camp up, the sun was starting to
Speaker 2: set I figured it would be best to wait until
Speaker 2: morning to get the boat undone and lost. It's a
Speaker 2: good thing I did. I turned the radio on for
Speaker 2: some music while I got the campfire going. Bow was
Speaker 2: checking things out around the camp. He seemed to be
Speaker 2: happy with our spot, but he was acting kind of strange.
Speaker 2: He kept sniffing the air and then making groaning sounds.
Speaker 2: It was like he knew something was not quite right.
Speaker 2: I had never seen him act like this. I would
Speaker 2: give him a pat on the head and ask, what
Speaker 2: is it, boy, what are you smelling? I was not
Speaker 2: picking up any strange smell, so I didn't think anything
Speaker 2: else about it. A little later that evening, I put
Speaker 2: a pot of stew on the fire to get us
Speaker 2: some dinner going. It was not long before you could
Speaker 2: smell the aroma of stew cooking. There's nothing better than
Speaker 2: food cooking on an open campfire. Everything was so nice
Speaker 2: and peaceful with Bow and I sitting by the fire
Speaker 2: chilling out, when all of a sudden, Bow jumped up
Speaker 2: with the hair standing up on his back and started drowling.
Speaker 2: I couldn't see anything, but I heard something messing around
Speaker 2: in the brush. I kept asking, what is it? Bo,
Speaker 2: what is it. I got the flashlight and shinded around
Speaker 2: the area Bow was pointing at, and then I saw it.
Speaker 2: It was a raccoon. I guess he smelled food and
Speaker 2: came looking for a free meal. I told Bow it
Speaker 2: was okay and to leave the coon alone. That was
Speaker 2: going to happen. After a little bit of letting the
Speaker 2: raccoon know who was boss, he then laid back down
Speaker 2: and the raccoon made his way off into the woods.
Speaker 2: I figured he would be back later in the night
Speaker 2: to plunder through our stuff or to find a snack.
Speaker 2: Bo and I had our dinner and then cleaned everything
Speaker 2: up and put away to make it as raccoon proof
Speaker 2: as possible. I then threw some bread out away from
Speaker 2: the main camp with hopes that the raccoon would find
Speaker 2: it and leave our stuff alone. It was getting a
Speaker 2: bit late and I wanted to get an early start,
Speaker 2: so I figured it was time for us to call
Speaker 2: it a night. But Bou didn't want to go in
Speaker 2: just yet and kept sniffing the air. I figured it
Speaker 2: was that raccoon still messing around. I put the fire
Speaker 2: out and then we got into our tent. I got
Speaker 2: undressed and then crawled into my sleeping bag and shut
Speaker 2: the lantern off. Later into the wee hours of the morning,
Speaker 2: Bo woke me up, growling, and then he started barking.
Speaker 2: I figured, once again it was that raccoon had come back,
Speaker 2: and Bow heard him messing around. I spoke up, saying,
Speaker 2: it's okay, Bo, it's just that raccoon, and I told
Speaker 2: him to lie back down. He refused, and he kept growling.
Speaker 2: I said, fine, let's go take a look. I opened
Speaker 2: up the tent and a rank smell hit me in
Speaker 2: the face. This was something I had never smelled before.
Speaker 2: Before I could get out of the tent, Bow blasted
Speaker 2: past me full charge. I grabbed the flashlight while commanding
Speaker 2: Bow to stop and wait for me. Bo stopped but
Speaker 2: kept his stand growling like a mad dog. I shined
Speaker 2: the light in the direction Bou was looking, and there
Speaker 2: it was tall, hairy, long arms, short legs. This thing
Speaker 2: was huge. When the light shined on its face, this
Speaker 2: thing let out a snarling sound at us that sent
Speaker 2: chills to my spine. This sent Bow into attack mode.
Speaker 2: Bow charged the creature. I yell stop, Bow stop, but
Speaker 2: it was too late. When Bo got to this thing,
Speaker 2: it grabbed Bow up like a twig and had him
Speaker 2: by his throat. I screamed, please let my dog go.
Speaker 2: I could see Bow was now motionless and thought this
Speaker 2: thing had broke Bow's neck. I kept pleading, please don't
Speaker 2: kill my dog. He's all I have in my life.
Speaker 2: Over and over, I said, please don't kill my dog.
Speaker 2: The creature just looked at me as I kept pleading
Speaker 2: with it not to kill the dog. Then the creature
Speaker 2: let go of Bow and he dropped to the ground motionless.
Speaker 2: I could see Bow was still breathing, meaning he was
Speaker 2: not dead. So I was trying to figure out how
Speaker 2: to get him away from this creature when it dawned
Speaker 2: on me what this creature might be. So I spoke
Speaker 2: in a lighter tone, saying, you're a sasquatch. It just
Speaker 2: stood there looking at me while I kept talking. I said,
Speaker 2: we are not here to do you any harm, and
Speaker 2: if you will please let us go, we will leave
Speaker 2: right now. Just please don't kill my dog. Just let
Speaker 2: the dog go and we will be gone. I don't
Speaker 2: remember how I felt at the time. I know I
Speaker 2: was terrified, but I was more concerned for Beau than
Speaker 2: I was for myself. The creature raised its arm and
Speaker 2: made a motion with its hands as if to tell
Speaker 2: us to go. Then it stepped back a few feet,
Speaker 2: allowing me to grab Bow up and put him into
Speaker 2: the truck. I then ran to the tent and grabbed
Speaker 2: my pants that had my truck keys and wallet. Then
Speaker 2: ran to the truck and fired that motor up and
Speaker 2: hauled out of there. As I was leaving, I could
Speaker 2: see from my tail lights the creature was still standing there.
Speaker 2: By the time I got to the hard road, Bou
Speaker 2: had come to and started trying to get up. I
Speaker 2: told him to lie still as I paid his head.
Speaker 2: Once I made it out to the main road, I
Speaker 2: figured we were far enough away to stop so I
Speaker 2: could check Bo out. He seemed to be doing okay.
Speaker 2: I take it this creature had choked Bow to the
Speaker 2: point of passing out, but not to kill him. I
Speaker 2: stepped out of the truck with my pants in hand.
Speaker 2: I was wearing nothing but my underwear. I pulled on
Speaker 2: my pants, jump back in the truck and hit the road,
Speaker 2: knowing I left all my camping gear behind and knowing
Speaker 2: I would never return for it. When I got back
Speaker 2: to the small town, it was shut down tight not
Speaker 2: a soul was around, not even a light on anywhere.
Speaker 2: I kept going and did not stop until I was
Speaker 2: clean out of that state. You can bet I will
Speaker 2: never return to that place, no matter what I had
Speaker 2: left behind. I would only become a laughing stock to
Speaker 2: those locals if I did. I have no doubt they
Speaker 2: know of this creature, but we're not going to let
Speaker 2: anyone know about it, which I can understand. In our area,
Speaker 2: we had a bad flood in nineteen fifty five. The
Speaker 2: government decided it was going to dam the Delaware River
Speaker 2: and started the Tos Island Dam project. They bought thirty
Speaker 2: miles of river bottom, bulldozed two hundred year old homes,
Speaker 2: displaced businesses, and created a real mess. There was squatting
Speaker 2: and protesting, and then they found out that geologically they
Speaker 2: couldn't put the dam in. My wife and I started
Speaker 2: dating back in nineteen eighty three, and we didn't have
Speaker 2: much money, so we went camping a lot. We used
Speaker 2: the old church camp I went to as a kid,
Speaker 2: which is located in the middle of what the government
Speaker 2: is now calling a wild and scenic area. There isn't
Speaker 2: a house for ten miles in any direction from where
Speaker 2: we were. I decided to drive through the chest deep
Speaker 2: thistles we walked through the previous year. My wife told
Speaker 2: me not to do it because she was sure we
Speaker 2: were going to get stuck. Five hours of jacking and
Speaker 2: stuffing wood under the car and I finally got the
Speaker 2: car unstuck. She is still mad at me today. We
Speaker 2: set up camp on a bluff over a forty foot
Speaker 2: drop to the water. We created the fire and pitched
Speaker 2: our tent. We got our food safely hung in a
Speaker 2: tree because we were in bear country. In fact, I
Speaker 2: hunt there still today. Anyway, about nine thirties, just as
Speaker 2: it was starting to get good and dark, something walked
Speaker 2: up on our camp site. It proceeded to go from
Speaker 2: the top of the bank around our site, just outside
Speaker 2: of the firelight, to the top of the adjacent bank.
Speaker 2: This went on for an hour until it broke a stick,
Speaker 2: loud enough that my wife turned to me and said,
Speaker 2: what was that. I said I didn't know, and she says,
Speaker 2: what do you mean you don't know? Now? I had
Speaker 2: been fishing since I could hold a ride, and hunting
Speaker 2: since I was four years old. I spent more time
Speaker 2: sleep being outside than inside when I was a kid,
Speaker 2: So she knew something was up. I said again, I
Speaker 2: didn't know, and it's been out there about an hour.
Speaker 2: She asked why hadn't I told her, and I said
Speaker 2: I didn't want to scare her. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there
Speaker 2: with a hatchet under one leg, and if it lay
Speaker 2: knife under the other, you only need to see the
Speaker 2: movie Deliverance once to know we could be in big trouble.
Speaker 2: After another hour, we couldn't stay awake anymore and went
Speaker 2: in our tent to lay down. She fell asleep right away,
Speaker 2: and I'm laying on top of my bag with my
Speaker 2: knife and my hatchet. Ten minutes after we lay down,
Speaker 2: this thing starts screaming at us. We both sit bolt upright,
Speaker 2: and she says, what in the hell is that? I said,
Speaker 2: I didn't know, and I'm not staying in here. This
Speaker 2: scream was so loud it went right through you. It
Speaker 2: had such resonance that it blurred my vision. It was
Speaker 2: definitely territorial, and it was directed at us. I went
Speaker 2: out of the tent and stood with the fire at
Speaker 2: my back. There is literally nothing in that valley, and
Speaker 2: there is no light pollution. I stood looking into the
Speaker 2: inky blackness and said to myself, well, I know what
Speaker 2: the problem is here. I stoked that fire up big,
Speaker 2: went back into the tent and tried to sleep. In
Speaker 2: the morning, I looked for an hour for tracks, but
Speaker 2: there had been a really dry weather system that summer
Speaker 2: and there was little sign left. That started thirty five
Speaker 2: years of study. I have met nearly thirty people that
Speaker 2: have had encounters, and just as many that know someone
Speaker 2: who has had an encounter. I have lectured locally about
Speaker 2: what I have found. I really don't care what people
Speaker 2: think about what I say. They weren't in the tent
Speaker 2: with me that night. I was in the Coastguard at
Speaker 2: the time and quite sober. I'm a successful doctor and
Speaker 2: mayor of my town for many years. I don't shy
Speaker 2: from telling my story because folks, I don't know what
Speaker 2: I know. There are woods in Pennsylvania where you could
Speaker 2: stand twenty feet from me with the road flare in
Speaker 2: each hand, and I wouldn't be able to see you.
Speaker 2: Encounters like this change your life. I played that night
Speaker 2: through my head on hundreds of nights, and I have
Speaker 2: told that account to many people, many times