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Speaker 1: One summer morning a few years back, two friends Dan

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and Josiah went hiking deep into a canyon just outside

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of town. Their plan was to build a large teepee

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like structure using fallen timber. It would be a gift

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to the area's Sasquatch people. They arrived at their destination

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about three miles out of town and pulls to look around.

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By the looks of things, they'd probably need to venture

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a bit farther up the mountain and deeper into the

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woods for enough material for the structure. They blazed a

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trail as they made their way, adding another quarter to

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half a mile to the track before they came upon

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a fairly level clearing with a tree stump near the

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middle of it. It was the perfect location for their gift.

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They split up and started collecting skinny ten to fifteen

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foot tall timber two erect into the structure around the

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tree stump. The stump would act as a table within

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the teepee. The door or the opening was about five

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or six feet tall. Once the structure was in place

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and standing on its own, they filled the gaps with

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smaller sticks and branches and leaves to help keep the

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rain out. When they were done, they left a granola

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bar on the stump and headed back down the mountain.

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After they arrived at their car, they packed up and

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began their slow drive back out of the canyon. Just

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when they were about to make the bend in the road,

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something moving up on the ridge caught their attention, and

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it was the ridge that they were just on. There

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running on the ridge was a reddish, brown haired sisquatch,

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quickly making its way down the mountain towards them. When

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the creature reached the edge of the hill and saw

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the car, it stopped and just looked at them. As

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they looked back at it, and as if it realized

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they'd seen it, it morphed into a tree, blending into

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the rest of the hillside. One second, it was standing there.

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In the next instant, it was a small pine tree.

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Was it a sort of defense mechanism or camouflage technique.

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Was it something they used to remain unseen from prey

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in humans. It really didn't matter at that point, as

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they'd already seen it. It would be a while before

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Dan went camping in that canyon. Everything seemed normal until

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one morning he awoke to find a small blue marble

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lying next to his sleeping bag. The marble had a

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piece of reddish brown hair embedded inside. What did this mean?

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Was it a gift from a sosquatch? Months later, Dan

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decided to venture out alone for an evening hike up

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another forest service road and then head off the trail

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to find a remote camping spot. As the crow flies,

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the location of this trip's camp site would be no

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more than four miles from the clearing him and Josiah

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had built that teepee. He didn't have to venture off

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the trail for too long before coming upon a nice

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level spot perfect for his two person tent. He was

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surrounded by tall trees, which served to block out any

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noise from town, which was less than a mile below.

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It wasn't long before camp was made and his dinner

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was gone. For good measure, he backtracked through the woods

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to find a tree branch to hang a small bag

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of garbage that would hopefully keep any nosy bears distracted

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and away from his tent. As he slept. Before turning

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in for the night, he pulled a canister of bear

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spray out of his pack and grabbed a book for

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some light reading. Nearly an hour later, he rolled over

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and turned out the light and went to bed. Sometime

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during the early morning hours, he was jolted away by

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a deep rumbling feeling coming from the ground and the

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sound of a bulldozer crashing through the trees. It sounded

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like it was about fifty yards away and coming towards

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his campsite. The rumbling wasn't like an earthquake, but more

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like a stampede of horses or cattle running right at him.

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But how could that be? He was nestled deep in

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the woods and far away from the road, and he

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wondered were their free range cattle in the area and

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where they possibly spooked or attacked, causing them to run

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away from a predator and unknowingly towards him. As the

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approaching violence got closer and closer, his sleepy brain was

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simply overcome by the trembling ground and loud crashing sound

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of the large trees right outside his tent. As he

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clenched his bear spray, he closed his eyes and he

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braced for an impact, and then everything stopped. Everything suddenly

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went quiet and peaceful. He opened his eyes and focused

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his hearing as he could sense something at the edge

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of the campsite. To the left of his tent. There

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was no way he was going to look outside, so

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he continued to listen for any clue to what was

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out there. It took less than a minute for whatever

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was outside to turn around and slowly walk away in

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the direction in which it had come. Dan lay in

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his sleeping bag, holding his breath. He could feel the

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heavy thuds from its feet as whatever it was walked

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away on two legs. Needless to stay, Dan didn't go

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back to bed. He couldn't sleep. He laid helpless in

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his mind, replaying every second of the event over and

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over again, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

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Come morning, he cautiously unzipped his tent and slowly and

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quietly climbed out. With every inch, he paused all body

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movement and held his breath to scan the left into

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the right before climbing out. He was pretty shook up up.

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Whatever it was it was gone. There was no visible

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destruction within the campsite, and even more alarming, the trail

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back to the road was clear of any sign of

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violence he'd both heard and felt. Even the garbage bag

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was still tied above from the branch. Dan gave a

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lot of thought to what happened before telling me about

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that wild night. Whatever it was. Once it found me

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asleep with the campfire put out properly, it turned around

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and it let me be. He said, I hadn't been

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making a lot of noise and my fire had been small,

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so I'm not sure how it knew where I was.

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Dan wasn't the only one to have follow up experiences

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During a solo hike. Josiah found himself about a mile

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or more outside of town, on the opposite side of

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town from where him and Dan had built that teepee.

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It was early evening when he set out. As he

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hiked parallel to a river, he eventually came upon a

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batch of similar tpee tree structures. They had been created

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by boy Scouts and varied in sizes and distance from

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the trail. Hikers and campers used them as shelters. After

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he passed the first structure, he suddenly felt like something

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was circling him. It was such a strong feeling it

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made him pause to look around to see if he

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could see anyone or anything nearby. That's when he felt

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the need to look down. There in front of his

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feet was an arrowhead, but it wasn't a normal arrowhead.

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Josiah is part Native American and has seen a lot

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of arrowheads and knows how to make them. This one

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was different. Whereas they're usually created using a chipping or

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flaking method known as flint napping, this one seemed more

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like it was rubbed into shape. By this time, it

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was getting dark, so he hiked up to one of

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the tea and climbed inside to rest and examine the arrowhead.

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While inside, he heard small stones being tossed at the teepee.

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He leaned over and stuck his head outside, but he

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didn't see anyone. The sound of stones hitting the structure continued,

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so he decided to take the hint and move along.

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Obviously someone didn't want him there. That's when things got

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a bit more strange. As he retreated back down the

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slope towards the trail, the stones continued to land all

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around him at the trail, and after stopping to look

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for the culprit once more, a large piece of tree

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bark suddenly manifested from thin air right in front of him.

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He said it wasn't there, and then it was. He

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watched as it hovered in front of his face briefly

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and then fell to the ground. It was as if

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someone dangled it in front of him for a moment

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and then simply let it fall to the ground. This

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freak come out, so rather than continue up the trail,

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he decided to quickly backtrack towards town Aways down the trail,

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he realized he dropped the cap to his camera. Reluctantly,

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he turned back up the trail and used his flashlight

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to scan the ground ahead of him. Just as he

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spotted it and bent over to pick it up, someone

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threw something very large and heavy in his direction. When

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it made an impact with the ground, he literally jumped

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and yelled, I'm just coming back for this. Josiah then

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hastily made his way back into town into his cabin.

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That was the last time he's hiked that area alone.

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I've been mountain biking my entire life. I love the outdoors.

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I had a customed mountain bike made by Seven Cycles

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in Massachusetts. It had a titanium frame, a belt drive,

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and a fourteen speed roll off gearing. It was very

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light and it was incredibly strong. I could ride this

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bike anywhere. I decided to do an overnight hammock camping trip.

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I thought I would use the mountain bike right out

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of my house, and five miles down the road is

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a two hundred acre wildlife refuge laid in the fall.

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The woods in Connecticut are very beautiful, so this would

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be a gorgeous trip. People drive from all over the

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country to see the golden display of the fall leaves.

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I loaded my bike with twenty pounds of gear, food, water,

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and my camera and a carbon tripod. I had thought

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that I would try some low light photography and see

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how it came out. It was getting dark in another

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ninety minutes, so I brought my helmet and handlebar led lights.

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The handlebar light is seventeen hundred lumens, and I can

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ride at night just as fast as I can during

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the day. The helmet is nice because it always points

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where you're looking. I rode into the woods, and I

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took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get far

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enough in so that I wouldn't have to worry about

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anyone seeing me. After, I dragged my bike and my

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gear up a big hill to get more than a

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three hundred feet off the trail to find a good spot.

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By that time it was dark. There were two trees

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twenty feet apart with no widow maker dead limbs on them,

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and I strung my hammock between them. I put a

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tarp above the hammock. It was a nice night, so

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I tied the sides of the tarp up so I

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could see three hundred and sixty degrees. I heeded some

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water to make coffee. After twenty years in the Navy,

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I just can't live without my coffee. And then I

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had a snack and it was pitch dark. There was

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no moon and no stars to be seen that night.

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If I turned off my head lamp, I couldn't see

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my hand in front of my face. It's not a

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good night for photography regardless. I set up the camera

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and took some long exposure shots and got just what

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I expected. A picture of black by camping is zero impact.

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There is no fire, and I leave the site exactly

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as if I had never been there. On past trips,

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I learned that the animals know you were there. It

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seems to disturb them that a human is hanging out

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in their home in the middle of the night, usually

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just after dark. The woods come to life and everything

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is moving. Some animals are curious and will come close

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to see what is hanging between the trees. It tends

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to keep you up, but I found it very interesting

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because it is amazing how well animals communicate with each other.

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The ones that came close would always give out some

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kind of sound that was responded to by more than

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one distant animal. Small rodents would scurry through the leaves

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right underneath you. The dry leaves made it so that

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you could hear anything moving well. I climbed into my

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hammock and I covered up, and I was comfortable and warm.

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My head was on an inflatable pillow so I could

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see out. I hung my seventeen hundred loomin handlebar light

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just above my head on a ridge line in case

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something big came in close. This night was different. There

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wasn't a sound. I was in the middle of a

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wildlife refuge and I couldn't hear a thing. My ears

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are very good. I was a sonar technician and my

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ears were tested quarterly by the Navy. My hearing tests

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indicate that when I retired, my ears were just as

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sensitive as they were when I was seventeen years old.

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The unusual quiet was disturbing. Well, I got bored and

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I closed my eyes and I dozed off. I was

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awakened a few hours later by movement. There was something close,

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rustling in the leaves. I heard a distant chattering to

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the south, which was answered by the same to the north,

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and then the third chatter that was close to the west.

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After many minutes of quiet, a fear suddenly came over me.

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It was a fear that I never in my life

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have experienced. I've served on submarines. I survived an onboard

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fire and a couple of loss of depth controls close

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to test depth, and I can tell you that the

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fear that I felt that night brought back those memories

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because it was so strong. The difference was that this

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time was the fear in my head and it was

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not in my gut. It gave me goose bumps all

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over my body. I retrieved my hanging light from the

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ridge line and made sure my thumb was on the

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switch whatever was out there. If it got too close,

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it was going to get blinded by that light. I

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was unarmed, so the light and my leathermen were all

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I had. The next thing I knew I heard steps approaching.

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There were two steps at a time, approaching from the

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east and then there was a long pause the paws

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between the steps, and adrenaline through my veins. This time

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they were walking right toward me, and I knew it

249
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was there. This went along for what seemed like forever,

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and then I heard two steps followed by what sounded

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like a massive log hitting the ground hard enough to

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reverberate the earth underneath, making it sound hollow. I managed

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to stay in my hammock after I was startled by

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that thump, and then I was wondering if I had

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the courage to let this thing get any closer. I'm

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guessing the first thump was fifty yards away. Each additional

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step were followed by the same loud thump. This thing

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was trying to get a start out of me. The

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camera was on the bag on my bike, and I

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00:15:54,919 --> 00:15:57,600
was too clumsy to use my phone at the same

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time as the light. I would be dropping my light

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and I decided against getting the shot. When I got

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to the point that I felt it was six steps

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from me looking into my hammock, I turned that light on.

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It was so bright that I could see the dust

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floating in the air. I saw two eyes. They were

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red and they were really high off the ground. The

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eyes drop low and then swung back and forth. All

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I could see was the eyes, no antlers, no tann fir,

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just eyes. The eye swung back and forth, seeming to

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try to get out of the intense light. It seemed

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like forever, but after a few seconds, I decided to

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give the animal one out and I shut the light off.

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Whatever this was, it took off like a rocket. I

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could hear every massive, powerful footstep and branches snapping as

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it blindly trudged to the north. In seconds, this thing

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was at least a half a mile away before I

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could no longer hear it. Well, it got quiet and

279
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I calmed down, and I thought wow, and then I

280
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dozed back off. I woke up just after sunrise. I

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never sleep long. I was surprised it was being light already.

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I checked the area out where the creature had approached.

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There was a huge bush in that direction with no

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leaves left on it. Whatever this thing was, there was

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no place for it to hide. Therefore, I am perplexed.

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While I only saw the eyes. Looking at my camp

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area for the first time in daylight, I realized that

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I had hung my hammock right in the middle of

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a very heavily traveled animal path. Honestly, I can't say

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what those eyeballs belonged to. I still go hammock camping,

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and I've never had any experience like this again. When

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I was nine, my sister and I, along with two

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of our aunts who were our age, decided to explore

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or a concrete ditch that ran alongside my great grandmother's

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house near Memphis. We used a rope to propel down

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and then walked along until we came to a covert.

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We looked inside, but couldn't see daylight from the other end,

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just a black, empty space. I wanted to explore this

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cave like structure and maybe get a good scare on

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the girls at the same time, as kids will do,

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I dared them to go in to see who would

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go the farthest or stay the longest. They dared me back,

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and with pride on the line and no one wanting

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to be the one who chickened out, we all stepped inside.

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The eerie feeling we all had was overpowering. I was

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certain the girls wouldn't last long in this environment, and

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I would surely win. After fifty yards, one of my

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aunts said Jim, what's that. I looked deeper into the

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darkness and I saw a set of glowing red eyes

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walking in our direction. A reasoned that it must be

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a cat or a dog, and that the eyes were

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catching the light from the opening behind us. But I

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also knew that if I made it out to be

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bigger than it was, the girls would run and i'd win.

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I was done exploring this place anyway. I just needed

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to turn the fear up a little bit and I

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would be the victor. It was working. The closer the

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eyes got, the more frightening they became. And then I

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noticed that whatever was connected to those eyes was getting

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bigger and bigger. I think it was on all fours

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at first, and then it began to stand up. Okay,

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I thought dogs and cats don't walk on two legs.

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That was when my sister and ants gave up the ghost.

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They spun around and they ran screaming from the cave,

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yelling back to me to run. I just stood there.

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I guess I was waiting for them to get further away.

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I knew I could outrun them, and I didn't want

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one of them to get I just kept standing there,

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hoping to stall it. Or something. I waited longer than

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00:20:07,039 --> 00:20:10,400
I should have, and it came at me, quickly, overtaking me.

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As I ran backwards towards the entrance, I could hear

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the girl screaming somewhere behind me, and I screamed back

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for them to get help. This thing, so tall it

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had to stand hunched over to keep from hitting its

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head on the ceiling of the colvert, towered over me,

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shrouding me in the heavy mist of its breath and

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stench of its fur, and it glared down at me.

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I'm dead, I thought. I stood still, and my eyes

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were closed, my arms and legs were shaking, and I

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was waiting to become this thing's next meal. And then

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it made a rattling noise, almost like a coup or

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a purr. The fear started to subside. I found it

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00:20:56,799 --> 00:21:00,400
in me to start backing away slowly that furs, and

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then a little faster. When I backed far enough, I

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turned and bolted as fast as I could, and I

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hit daylight like a runner breaking through a ribbon. At

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the end of the race, the girls were up ahead,

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scurrying up a rope that we'd use to climb down.

349
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I grabbed it and pulled myself to safety. I was

350
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frantic to get away from this thing. I wasn't sure

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if I was going to make it. We ran to

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our parents hysterically telling them about the culvert, the red eyes,

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and the four legged animal that stood up on two feet.

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You stay out of that ditch, was all they said.

355
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They didn't believe us. Years later, I must have been

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00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:47,960
thirteen or fourteen, it was carnival time in Memphis. The

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00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,480
Mid South Fair was a big deal and I went

358
00:21:50,599 --> 00:21:54,720
every year. A couple of weeks before it started, I

359
00:21:54,799 --> 00:21:56,920
checked out a book at the library that was all

360
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:02,000
about the lock Ness Monster and other cryptid After my experience,

361
00:22:02,079 --> 00:22:05,799
I was fascinated with this subject. In the back of

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00:22:05,799 --> 00:22:08,279
the book was a story and a picture of the

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00:22:08,319 --> 00:22:13,920
Patterson Gimlin Bigfoot. My jaw dropped at the sight, even

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though I'd been too afraid to look up that day

365
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,039
in the culvert, it seemed like this is what I

366
00:22:19,079 --> 00:22:22,480
had seen. It made me wonder how many people have

367
00:22:22,599 --> 00:22:26,160
ever seen these things, and without any form of reference,

368
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,720
they just never knew what they were looking at. That year,

369
00:22:30,759 --> 00:22:33,720
at the fair, the freak show was boasting one particular

370
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:38,599
exhibit claiming to be a dead Bigfoot on ice. Most

371
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,519
people don't remember or maybe even know that until recently,

372
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as the nineteen eighties, freak shows were a common element

373
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of carnivals, fairs, and circuses around the world. These attractions

374
00:22:51,559 --> 00:22:56,519
were always fakes, a mix of plaster, makeup, costume, and

375
00:22:56,599 --> 00:23:00,559
lighting designed to extract money from the fairgoers, post and

376
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,640
nothing else. I had no doubt that the Bigfoot behind

377
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,440
this curtain was as fake as the mermaid behind the next.

378
00:23:09,319 --> 00:23:12,119
Curiosity got the best of me, though, and I paid

379
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,599
for my ticket and I went in to have a look.

380
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The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was bad.

381
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I looked around and I saw others holding their noses.

382
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,920
I recognized it. Looking at this thing, I began to

383
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:31,559
reason with myself. It had to be fake. If a

384
00:23:31,599 --> 00:23:35,400
man had shot it, he'd be in jail. This thing

385
00:23:35,559 --> 00:23:39,920
is just a big, hairy humanoid. I focused on the

386
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:45,720
bullet wound visible in its chest. It all looked too real. Well,

387
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,559
my time was up and I had to move on,

388
00:23:48,079 --> 00:23:52,039
but what I had seen was disturbing. I couldn't forget it.

389
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,119
The next year, the fair was back, and I was

390
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,400
still obsessed. This year, I brought a magnifying glass with

391
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,000
the hope that the Bigfoot exhibit would be there. I

392
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:08,839
was not disappointed. First, I examined the bullet wound. I

393
00:24:08,839 --> 00:24:12,079
could clearly see through the ice and the jagged tear

394
00:24:12,319 --> 00:24:16,079
where it had entered the creature's chest. It all looked

395
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:20,559
very real. Its skin appeared to have poorers, the hair

396
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,720
seemed to sprout from individual follicles. There was dirt under

397
00:24:24,759 --> 00:24:29,319
the fingernails and toenails. It was even quite obviously a male.

398
00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,319
I would pay to see this thing three more times

399
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,920
that year. The next year it was back, and so

400
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,519
was I. This time, I'd used a set of medical

401
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:46,799
encyclopedias to familiarize myself with the effects of gunshot wounds,

402
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,039
dermal layers, hair growth, and anything else I could learn

403
00:24:51,079 --> 00:24:54,480
about anatomy that might prove this to be a fake.

404
00:24:55,559 --> 00:25:01,519
On the other hand, I also studied makeup artistry in prosthetic. Again,

405
00:25:01,839 --> 00:25:05,519
I paid to see the thing multiple times, and again

406
00:25:05,839 --> 00:25:09,599
I could not find a flaw. Even the fingernails and

407
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:14,960
the toenails had lateral ridges with cuticles. I'm convinced it

408
00:25:15,079 --> 00:25:15,599
was real.