1 00:00:10,279 --> 00:00:13,279 Speaker 1: My first contact was Sasquatch was when I was twelve 2 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,679 years old. I was playing in the deep woods one 3 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,640 hundred yards from my back door. Back in those days, 4 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,000 there weren't a lot of expensive toys to occupy my time, 5 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,000 so I was playing army all by myself. I was 6 00:00:28,079 --> 00:00:32,439 in a location where there was an ovular ovular ovular. 7 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,560 I can't pronounce that word. I was in a location 8 00:00:35,679 --> 00:00:40,479 where there was an ovular ovular ring of trees, and 9 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,520 when they shed their needles, they made an ovular build 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:48,320 up around their bases. Inside this shape, there was also 11 00:00:48,399 --> 00:00:52,200 a pile of dried needles that made a nice cushy spot. 12 00:00:52,679 --> 00:00:55,320 Anybody new to this podcast, there are some words that 13 00:00:55,359 --> 00:00:58,359 I can't pronounce, so I just throw something out there 14 00:00:58,439 --> 00:01:01,280 and look for people in the common section to correct me, 15 00:01:01,359 --> 00:01:04,200 because I know you will. But the word is ov 16 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,239 u la r ovuler. I think that's maybe that's what 17 00:01:08,359 --> 00:01:11,840 it is. Anyway, Sorry to get hung up on that. 18 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,400 Back to the story. I was playing soldier there and 19 00:01:15,439 --> 00:01:18,000 decided I needed to do a quick hid and cover, 20 00:01:18,599 --> 00:01:20,920 and I dove into this bed of needles like I 21 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:25,079 had many times before, but this time I startled a 22 00:01:25,239 --> 00:01:29,680 large animal when I landed, something big and heavy took 23 00:01:29,719 --> 00:01:33,480 off and ran away. It felt like thunder in the ground, 24 00:01:33,879 --> 00:01:36,640 even on that bed of needles, and I felt every 25 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,439 step it took vibrating through the earth. I had never 26 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,560 heard about sasquatch, but at that moment, all I could 27 00:01:43,599 --> 00:01:46,000 think was that I had snuck up on some kind 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:51,079 of a giant and then it ran away. My second 29 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,599 contact was during a hunting trip with my brother. At 30 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,519 that time, I was thirty years old, and we were 31 00:01:57,599 --> 00:02:01,359 hunting in the hills of North Goldendale, Washington, near the 32 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:06,439 Yakima Indian Reservation border. We had been hunting for about 33 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,960 an hour when I broke into a large clearing where 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,800 the sun had started to shine. There was a big stump, 35 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,680 so I sat and leaned against it with my rifle 36 00:02:15,759 --> 00:02:18,719 in my lap to watch the clearing. But the sun 37 00:02:18,879 --> 00:02:21,560 was so warm, and I was so tired from working 38 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:25,800 the graveyard shift the night before that I soon fell asleep. 39 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,840 I must have napped for an hour, and when I woke, 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,240 my eyes focused across the clearing at the timberline, and 41 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,960 there it was a bigfoot in a squatted position, and 42 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,879 he was studying me as soon as it noticed that 43 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,960 I was awake. It stood up, and it turned and 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,879 it walked away. I was so stunned that I didn't 45 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,599 even get up to try to follow it. It was 46 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,400 two minutes later when my brother called my name and 47 00:02:54,479 --> 00:02:57,800 asked if I had seen anything. I sure as hell did, 48 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,319 I felt like saying, but instead I laughed and I 49 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,800 said I hadn't. The third contact happened while I was 50 00:03:05,879 --> 00:03:09,280 hunting in the hills of the Columbia River. I was 51 00:03:09,319 --> 00:03:12,599 watching a ravine that was filled with scrub oak trees. 52 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:17,479 It was bushy at the top but open in the ravine. 53 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:19,960 I was sitting there and I heard a noise coming 54 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,639 down the ravine, like an entire herd of deer was 55 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:26,319 headed my way. I got ready to pick a target, 56 00:03:26,759 --> 00:03:30,599 but no deer ever came. Instead, a stampede of gray 57 00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:35,240 squirrels raced through the treetops like Satan himself was on 58 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,439 their heels. At one point, when the stampede passed by me, 59 00:03:39,639 --> 00:03:44,120 there was an intense stinky horse sweat body odor smell 60 00:03:44,199 --> 00:03:48,400 that filled the area. When the stampede passed me, so 61 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,319 did the smell. Never saw anything, but I did feel 62 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:57,000 like that I was not alone. My fourth contact happened 63 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,520 when I took my grandson camping on the side of 64 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,400 mountain near in the White Pass. The first evening, I 65 00:04:03,439 --> 00:04:07,120 heard a sasquatch call. It was impressive how much air 66 00:04:07,159 --> 00:04:11,360 of this thing's lungs could load. His below lasted for 67 00:04:11,439 --> 00:04:15,039 twenty full seconds. I tried to emulate it, but I 68 00:04:15,159 --> 00:04:19,079 ran out of air after about eight seconds. My fifth 69 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,959 contact happened when I took my wife camping in the 70 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,160 White Pass. The first day we were there, we walked 71 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,720 along the rocky beach of the river that we were 72 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,759 camping next to. The river. Rock was not easy to 73 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,279 walk on, but was apparently great for making Okay, here's 74 00:04:35,319 --> 00:04:41,319 another word, Carns Cairns Cairns. Never heard that word before 75 00:04:41,319 --> 00:04:45,600 in my life. These are man made piles of flat stones. 76 00:04:46,319 --> 00:04:49,279 There were two at the time. I added a small 77 00:04:49,399 --> 00:04:51,560 rock at the top of one stack, and the next 78 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,040 morning the stacks had all been leveled. I think Bigfoot 79 00:04:55,079 --> 00:04:58,560 walked through there and said, not today, hippie, y'all seeing 80 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,720 those videos where people are not those down, I think 81 00:05:02,759 --> 00:05:05,920 they're funny. The second night we were there, a sasquatch 82 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,040 came into our camp while we were sleeping, ran a 83 00:05:09,079 --> 00:05:11,920 finger along the side of our tent, right against my 84 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,199 wife's back, startled her awake, but she didn't tell me 85 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,839 until we were home from the camping trip. And the 86 00:05:19,959 --> 00:05:25,399 sixth and final encounter who six in his life? Unbelievable. 87 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,759 The sixth and final account encounter was when my wife 88 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,120 and I were camped in the upper click atat Valley. 89 00:05:34,439 --> 00:05:39,759 This time I had taken gifts. I had taken silk flowers, marbles, 90 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:45,680 a large plastic toy soldier, and a box of apples. Unfortunately, 91 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,560 I became ill the first night there and decided that 92 00:05:48,639 --> 00:05:51,720 we needed to sleep in my pickup truck. The apples 93 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,279 were left in the bed of my pickup truck. My 94 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,519 wife's little yapper Mutt was along with us, and I 95 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,839 had the windows down a couple of inches for Fini. 96 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,839 We heard nothing the entire night, and the dog never 97 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,439 barked or growled once. But the next morning the entire 98 00:06:08,639 --> 00:06:13,000 box was gone. The debris on the forest floor prevented 99 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,879 me from seeing any tracks, but we were the only 100 00:06:15,959 --> 00:06:20,040 campers for miles. I think a sly bigfoot was laughing 101 00:06:20,079 --> 00:06:22,839 at us while he ate the apples throughout the night. 102 00:06:23,519 --> 00:06:26,720 Oh that's a good story. I don't know I guess 103 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,480 I'm jealous of these people that have encounter after encounter 104 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,199 after encounter. They see them all the time. I can't 105 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:38,879 even see a footprint. I never see anything. What is 106 00:06:38,959 --> 00:06:42,360 it about me that keeps me from seeing a bigfoot? 107 00:06:42,399 --> 00:06:45,519 I want to see a bigfoot. Everybody else sees them. 108 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,439 Everybody that writes me sees them and encounters them, some 109 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,120 people multiple times through their lives. Not me. I know 110 00:06:52,199 --> 00:06:54,800 I'm kind of acting like a baby, but I kind 111 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,639 of feel a little pissed about it. Anyway, I'm glad 112 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,480 y'all see bigfoot, but I'm not glad. I don't so 113 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,839 how yak gat? Anyway, this was a very good story, 114 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:06,879 well put together, and I appreciate the writers sending it 115 00:07:06,959 --> 00:07:14,240 because it is very interesting. Thank you. This was an 116 00:07:14,279 --> 00:07:18,240 ongoing encounter that went on for a month or two. 117 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,839 This event happened in nineteen ninety four in the Midwest. 118 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,920 I worked nights doing custodial work, and my family lived 119 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,160 out in the country. Wasn't all that remote, just a 120 00:07:29,279 --> 00:07:33,639 rural part of a small town. Each time I arrived 121 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:35,920 home and got out of my car after work, I 122 00:07:35,959 --> 00:07:39,720 started noticing lights in the sky. They seemed lower and 123 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,759 brighter than the other stars and much closer. It was 124 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,720 a bright white light, but I also saw blue and 125 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:51,399 red flashes with pulsating lights. The light didn't move across 126 00:07:51,439 --> 00:07:54,240 the sky like an airplane, or I would have just 127 00:07:54,319 --> 00:07:57,199 assumed that it was that and I would have moved on. 128 00:07:58,439 --> 00:08:01,279 There were at least two, sometimes up to four of them, 129 00:08:01,399 --> 00:08:05,199 spaced out in different directions. The lights seemed to be 130 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:09,600 observing somehow. When I saw them, it was like they 131 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,600 moved in closer to me, zooming in on my location. 132 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,040 They would remain in the same spot for hours and 133 00:08:16,079 --> 00:08:19,680 then drift away slowly, but sometimes it was as if 134 00:08:19,759 --> 00:08:24,680 they shut the light off. Stars don't do that. We 135 00:08:24,759 --> 00:08:27,839 had an outdoor barn light on a pole in the backyard. 136 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:31,879 When these lights in the sky appeared, the backyard light 137 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,279 would get brighter, as if someone was slowly turning up 138 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,799 the intensity. I noticed that if a car went down 139 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,480 the road, the light would gradually dim back to normal, 140 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,440 and then when the car was gone, the light would 141 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,840 gradually intensify again. The barn light would be so bright 142 00:08:48,919 --> 00:08:51,480 that it looked like early morning, right before the sun 143 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:56,759 came up. When I went inside, every lamp or electronic 144 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,919 device the stereo, the numbers on the digital alarm clock, 145 00:09:01,399 --> 00:09:04,279 and anything with the light got more intense, just like 146 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,759 the barn light, and then would slowly go back to normal. 147 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,200 The lights would all be in sinc and would all 148 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,879 do it at the same time. I got an uneasy 149 00:09:14,919 --> 00:09:18,360 feeling while this went on. I felt like whatever was 150 00:09:18,399 --> 00:09:22,639 causing this was waiting for me to come home. One night, 151 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,399 I waited in my car and sunk down in my seat. 152 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,919 I just waited and watched for the lights to intensify. 153 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,320 Now this freaked me out, so I waited for the 154 00:09:32,399 --> 00:09:35,200 lights dim when the car went up the road, and 155 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,639 then ran for the house and hid behind the recliner 156 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:41,360 for a few hours. I did this for several nights. 157 00:09:42,039 --> 00:09:44,360 Of course, no one else in the house saw anything, 158 00:09:44,399 --> 00:09:47,919 and I started to think I was losing it. I 159 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,679 was no longer curious as to what was causing this. 160 00:09:51,279 --> 00:09:54,240 I just wanted it to go away. I would come 161 00:09:54,279 --> 00:09:56,639 home and walk in and turn off the lamp my 162 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,440 family had left on for me, and I'd find my 163 00:09:59,519 --> 00:10:02,480 way through through the dark. I felt like something or 164 00:10:02,759 --> 00:10:06,600 someone was looking for me, and paranoia started to set in. 165 00:10:07,879 --> 00:10:11,879 During this time, I also had trouble sleeping. Several times 166 00:10:11,879 --> 00:10:15,600 I had sleep paralysis. I'd be in that state in 167 00:10:15,639 --> 00:10:19,600 between sleep and awaken. I couldn't move my body. The 168 00:10:19,639 --> 00:10:22,360 only thing I could move was my eyes. I didn't 169 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,080 see a thing, but I felt this terrible dread and 170 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,679 uneasiness come over me. I couldn't speak at all, even 171 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,159 my tongue was numb. Eventually I was able to force 172 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,559 a word out. If I forced the name of Jesus out, 173 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:42,879 it would stop. The light shows seemed to escalate over time. 174 00:10:43,519 --> 00:10:46,039 One night, while making my way to my bedroom in 175 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,799 the dark, I walked past the door to my parents' room, 176 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,399 which was open. Out there window, I saw what looked 177 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:56,840 like search lights, like the extremely bright white light you 178 00:10:56,919 --> 00:10:59,879 see on a police helicopter searching for someone on the 179 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,519 It was shining the light back and forth across the driveway, 180 00:11:04,879 --> 00:11:07,679 then the yard, and then into their window. But I 181 00:11:07,759 --> 00:11:10,799 knew there was no helicopter. There was only a low 182 00:11:10,879 --> 00:11:14,159 rumble that went on all night, like the gentle rumble 183 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,559 of an air conditioner kicking on, but deeper and so 184 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,559 heavy you could feel the vibration of it. I hid 185 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:26,240 in my bed until I eventually fell asleep. That next morning, 186 00:11:26,279 --> 00:11:29,320 after my family had all left for work, I could 187 00:11:29,399 --> 00:11:33,720 still hear that low rumble. After a while, whatever it 188 00:11:33,879 --> 00:11:38,440 was finally left and the rumbling sound drifted above the clouds. 189 00:11:39,519 --> 00:11:42,080 I saw nothing outside, but I had the TV on 190 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,600 the morning news, and while I was watching out the 191 00:11:44,639 --> 00:11:48,279 screen door, the TV turned off. Well that was it 192 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,360 for me. I was totally freaked out, and I drove 193 00:11:51,399 --> 00:11:55,840 to my boyfriend's apartment that weekend. While hanging out with him, 194 00:11:55,919 --> 00:11:59,120 I swore I still heard the low rumble above the 195 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:03,759 clouds above apartment, as if it was following me. I 196 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,080 was a basket case for a while. One morning, my 197 00:12:07,159 --> 00:12:10,080 mother got up and found me crouched behind the reclining 198 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,559 chair hiding from the lights. Eventually I had to start 199 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,159 ignoring the blinking lights in the sky or I was 200 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:20,320 going to be committed. I have no doubt about that. 201 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,159 I started going inside when I got home, not looking up, 202 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,799 and straight to bed or doing sit ups until I 203 00:12:27,879 --> 00:12:30,559 was so exhausted and I had to go to sleep. 204 00:12:32,159 --> 00:12:35,799 To my relief, my then boyfriend and now husband saw 205 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,759 the lights too. One time, he flipped one off from 206 00:12:39,799 --> 00:12:42,759 his car while he was driving, and in front of 207 00:12:42,799 --> 00:12:47,120 our eyes it literally shut off. We both saw that happen. 208 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:52,039 Even today, I occasionally noticed the blinking lights every now 209 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,720 and then, but I ignore them. I live in a 210 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,080 different state. Now, I decided it was not just me. 211 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,399 They were watching and observing. They were waiting for someone 212 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,600 to notice them. My husband is the only other person 213 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,679 who has heard this entire story. I didn't dare share 214 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,480 all of it with others, and we all know why. 215 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,759 Oh wow, that's kind of scary. I'm assuming she shared 216 00:13:17,759 --> 00:13:21,440 the whole story with us. I've heard of stories like this. 217 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:25,039 I've gotten stories like this where people are just tormented 218 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,320 by something and they never know what it was. My 219 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:34,759 thought and always goes to well, like she said, I'm 220 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:38,559 just repeating what she said. I'm not accusing her of 221 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,799 this or diagnosing this problem that she was just paranoid. 222 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:47,720 But this letter seems perfectly legible. It doesn't wander all 223 00:13:47,759 --> 00:13:50,639 over the place. Seems like a person who has their 224 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:56,000 thoughts together and that who knows what they saw. It's scary. 225 00:13:56,159 --> 00:13:59,600 I'm glad to find out that this is eased up 226 00:13:59,639 --> 00:14:02,600 quite a bit. A lot of people will say, you've 227 00:14:02,639 --> 00:14:06,799 probably been visited by whatever these things are, and you know, 228 00:14:06,919 --> 00:14:10,799 the longer time goes on, the more evidence. We just 229 00:14:10,879 --> 00:14:15,480 saw videos on the news of some kind of craft 230 00:14:15,919 --> 00:14:19,600 flying over the top of the ocean and the I 231 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,639 can't even remember where it was, somewhere in the Middle East. 232 00:14:22,679 --> 00:14:27,279 I think I believe the Americans shot a hellfire missile 233 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,799 at it and hit it, and the missile just like 234 00:14:29,879 --> 00:14:32,679 either went through it and a couple of three little 235 00:14:32,679 --> 00:14:36,840 pieces broke off of this whatever this UFO was, but 236 00:14:36,879 --> 00:14:39,399 they didn't fall in the water. They just kept going 237 00:14:39,559 --> 00:14:42,519 with the craft. I know hundreds of people have seen 238 00:14:42,559 --> 00:14:45,200 this video, and I don't even know if you haven't 239 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,120 seen it, what to tell you to search for. I 240 00:14:48,279 --> 00:14:50,440 just kind of flipped through these shorts a lot of 241 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,840 times and it popped up, and I thought, man, that's crazy. Anyway, 242 00:14:53,919 --> 00:14:57,360 here's what I'm getting at. This stuff is becoming more 243 00:14:57,559 --> 00:15:02,559 and more and more evidence, much more than Bigfoot. There's 244 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:09,559 one hundred times more evidence for paranormal beings from another realm, 245 00:15:09,639 --> 00:15:14,720 another planet. There's one hundred times more evidence of that 246 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,240 than there is for Bigfoot. And people aren't interested, at 247 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,960 least on this channel as much as in these UFO stories. 248 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,360 But it really intrigues me because it seems more real 249 00:15:27,039 --> 00:15:30,080 because there's more evidence. And I know people say, hell, 250 00:15:30,159 --> 00:15:33,480 there's pictures and videos of Bigfoot all over the place. 251 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,919 Ninety nine percent of are hoaxes, and they're obviously hoaxes. 252 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:42,559 But this stuff, right hear, these lights and these crafts 253 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,919 flying around and under the ocean, in the ocean, we 254 00:15:46,039 --> 00:15:50,120 got videos of all these things by military. The people 255 00:15:50,279 --> 00:15:53,159 in the federal government are coming out and saying it's real. 256 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,840 It's everywhere. So what is all this stuff? Some people 257 00:15:56,879 --> 00:16:00,279 say it's demonic. Can't Why would a demon you a 258 00:16:00,399 --> 00:16:03,279 UFO to try it? Just doesn't None of that make sense. 259 00:16:03,679 --> 00:16:05,720 I'm not saying I know what it is, but I'm 260 00:16:05,759 --> 00:16:08,279 saying there's a lot of stuff. If you just use 261 00:16:08,399 --> 00:16:11,399 critical thinking skills, you can rule out a lot of 262 00:16:11,399 --> 00:16:14,639 things that people think it is. This was an interesting story, 263 00:16:14,679 --> 00:16:17,080 and I'm glad to hear that she is doing better 264 00:16:17,159 --> 00:16:20,440 and not as tormented as she was. Thank you for 265 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,720 sharing the whole story. I assume it's the whole story. 266 00:16:22,799 --> 00:16:25,320 Thank you for sharing it with us. Thank you to 267 00:16:25,399 --> 00:16:33,600 the writer. In two thousand and two, I was freshly divorced. 268 00:16:34,279 --> 00:16:37,000 I had very little money, and the time I spent 269 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,840 with my children was precious. I wound up doing a 270 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,840 lot of things outdoors in order to tire them out 271 00:16:43,919 --> 00:16:48,240 and get them away from their computers. My kids had 272 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:50,960 a limited time to spend in the hot weather of 273 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,919 central Florida, so I used to take them for bike 274 00:16:54,039 --> 00:16:57,320 rides at the local park. One time, we were two 275 00:16:57,399 --> 00:16:59,919 miles into the park on our bikes when my daughter 276 00:17:00,159 --> 00:17:04,039 started sobbing and yelling are we going now? Daddy? Can 277 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:07,920 we go now? She kept it up until we turned 278 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,480 around and headed back to the parking lot. My son 279 00:17:11,519 --> 00:17:14,480 and I were concerned and a bit overheated, but we 280 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:19,200 still giggled at her with her theatrical shouts. I was 281 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,519 a bit upset to end the ride so early, but 282 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:24,759 looking back, who knows what was really going on or 283 00:17:24,799 --> 00:17:30,000 if she had seen something that scared her. In twenty fifteen, 284 00:17:30,039 --> 00:17:32,799 I was riding my bike alone in the same part, 285 00:17:33,279 --> 00:17:37,559 enjoying being outdoors and having the place to myself. An 286 00:17:37,559 --> 00:17:40,640 hour into my ride, I had gotten about six miles 287 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,640 in when the rain shower started. I was peddling through 288 00:17:44,799 --> 00:17:47,440 sugar sand and it was burning the heck out of 289 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,160 my legs, so I decided to get off my bike 290 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,960 and walk instead. I got to a place that I 291 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,559 had passed on the way in. It was off the 292 00:17:56,599 --> 00:17:59,559 beaten path and had legs and swamps and a clear 293 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,799 path along the power lines. I decided to leave my 294 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,279 bike and look around the swamps and the wetland for 295 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,920 a bit. The rain was tapering off, but it was steady, 296 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:12,079 and it made the whole area look like it was 297 00:18:12,079 --> 00:18:15,960 in the shadows. To my left or swamps, and on 298 00:18:16,079 --> 00:18:18,880 my right was a saturated open field that led to 299 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,720 the lake, with a power line in between the two. 300 00:18:22,839 --> 00:18:25,359 I walked along the power line path and I heard 301 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:30,079 the distinct sound of something plunking away at bicycle spokes. 302 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,680 It's a metallic sound that I knew from my children's 303 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,880 bikes and mine when I was a kid. The sound 304 00:18:38,039 --> 00:18:40,839 stopped about twenty five feet from me, right where I 305 00:18:40,839 --> 00:18:44,279 had left my bike, and I stopped walking. There was 306 00:18:44,319 --> 00:18:47,599 no other sound but the rain. In Florida, if you're 307 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,640 near the swamps, there always seems to be frogs and 308 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:54,079 other critters making a fuss, but at that moment, there 309 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:58,039 was nothing. I stood there for a moment listening, and 310 00:18:58,079 --> 00:19:02,759 I heard someone whisper was almost unintelligible. It sounded like 311 00:19:02,799 --> 00:19:06,279 a little girl's voice talking to someone. She was asking 312 00:19:06,319 --> 00:19:10,599 a question. Now I was confused. I was not in 313 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,279 a place where a child should be, and even if 314 00:19:13,319 --> 00:19:16,880 there were other people, I would have seen them. I 315 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,480 waited another moment, and then I said hello again. I 316 00:19:21,519 --> 00:19:25,440 heard more whispers from this little girl's voice. This time 317 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,200 I heard her clearly, and she asked, when are we 318 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:33,720 going to leave? I was really confused. I couldn't see anything. 319 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,720 The voice was coming from directly in front of me, 320 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,039 but there was nothing there. It was just a little 321 00:19:40,079 --> 00:19:46,160 girl's distressed voice, pleading to go home. I'm always comfortable 322 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,160 in the forest, but I was starting to get a 323 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:52,079 bit freaked out. And then the girl's voice screamed, are 324 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:56,200 we going home now? Daddy? The end of her sentence 325 00:19:56,279 --> 00:19:58,559 built up to a high pitched scream that made my 326 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,000 gut hurt. I was stunned and scared. My first instinct 327 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,640 was to get the heck out of there, but for 328 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,559 some reason, my mouth betrayed me, and again I said hello. 329 00:20:11,559 --> 00:20:14,759 I took a step forward and betrayed my feet. This time, 330 00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:18,480 whatever was with me in the woods shot away from 331 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,359 me at a speed that was supernatural, like it had 332 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,279 been attached to a cable and was being pulled away, 333 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:29,720 shooting across the wet, boggy Florida wetlands. I stood there 334 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,000 with my head reeling, thinking I was about to throw up. 335 00:20:33,799 --> 00:20:36,720 I stayed where I was for ten minutes, collecting my 336 00:20:36,839 --> 00:20:40,400 thoughts about what I had just experienced. I had seen 337 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,359 nothing but the voice and the scream and the metallic 338 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,200 sound of the bicycle spokes were stuck in my head. 339 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,559 I eventually gathered myself and headed to the parking lot 340 00:20:50,759 --> 00:20:55,119 without any other incident. Oh man, that's kind of spooky. 341 00:20:55,599 --> 00:20:57,680 I don't know. This may sound weird, but it's kind 342 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,880 of intriguing to me. I don't think there was anything 343 00:21:01,039 --> 00:21:03,839 there that he felt was after him, but he was. 344 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,279 I don't know. What do you guys think? What was 345 00:21:06,279 --> 00:21:10,160 he hearing? A lot of people say ghosts or demonic 346 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,079 I tend to go that route. I don't. I'm a 347 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,279 Bible believer, and I believe, you know, we're either here 348 00:21:17,519 --> 00:21:20,119 or we're with the Lord and the only thing left 349 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:25,359 on earth or living humans and demons. And I don't know. 350 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:27,319 I could be wrong about all that. I don't make 351 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:31,759 real y'all know, I never talk about spiritual stuff or 352 00:21:31,799 --> 00:21:36,440 political stuff too much. Never political stuff. Good Lord, man, 353 00:21:36,599 --> 00:21:39,359 what a world we live in with this political junk, 354 00:21:40,079 --> 00:21:45,839 but this supernatural stuff, spiritual stuff. Sometimes it perplexes me. 355 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,680 And I was talking to my wife the other day 356 00:21:48,759 --> 00:21:53,720 about it was nothing about this, but what I've learned 357 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,759 in my life is that usually with big problems or 358 00:21:57,839 --> 00:22:04,240 big incidents, there's always the one thing. People try to 359 00:22:04,319 --> 00:22:07,480 complicate it and spread it out and make it about 360 00:22:07,519 --> 00:22:10,759 a bunch of things. It's usually the one thing. But 361 00:22:10,839 --> 00:22:13,680 here's what I'm getting at. I think the one things 362 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,319 the one thing is in these type situations is that 363 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,720 it's probably a demonic presence somewhere that you've encountered. It's 364 00:22:22,839 --> 00:22:27,000 just my opinion. I'm not making a categorical statement or 365 00:22:27,039 --> 00:22:30,359 a singular statement. That's just what I think it is. 366 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,599 And it kind of goes along with my one thing theory. 367 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,759 There's always that one thing. Anyway, I thought i'd share 368 00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:40,599 my thoughts with you on that. I'm not sure why 369 00:22:40,599 --> 00:22:43,200 I did, but I just kind of popped in my head, 370 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,240 so I thought i'd say it. So there you go. 371 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:47,839 Thank you to the writer for sending the story. It 372 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,319 was really good, really good, kind of spooky, but very intriguing. 373 00:22:52,599 --> 00:22:58,680 Thank you. I grew up in the wild and wonderful 374 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:03,279 state of West by God, Virginia. Now I live in Kentucky, 375 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,799 just across the Big Sandy River. I don't know if 376 00:23:06,839 --> 00:23:10,519 I believe in cryptids, aliens, or anything ghost related, but 377 00:23:10,599 --> 00:23:13,240 I am one hundred percent sure that I believe in 378 00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:16,960 shadow people because I encountered one when I was eight 379 00:23:17,039 --> 00:23:21,039 years old. This happened in a small town in West 380 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,480 Virginia named Fort Gay and Wayne County. We lived in 381 00:23:25,519 --> 00:23:28,839 an old, two bedroom, one bath house rented to my 382 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,079 family by a man named Frank. He owned dozens of 383 00:23:33,079 --> 00:23:36,000 rental homes and hundreds of acres of property in our 384 00:23:36,039 --> 00:23:41,440 little town. According to several neighbors and other town residents. 385 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,079 In the nineteen fifties, Frank used our house to meet 386 00:23:45,079 --> 00:23:48,119 with some other men in town to drink, gamble, and 387 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:51,000 do things that were publicly frowned upon back in those 388 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,839 days in a small religious town. One night, back in 389 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,119 the nineteen sixties, Frank and his friends were drinking and 390 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:05,119 playing poker. Someone accused another of cheating at cards. Tempers flared, 391 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,559 somebody pulled a gun and blew a man's brains out 392 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,359 right there in that very house. My big sister and 393 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,079 I had to share the second bedroom, which wasn't a 394 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,960 problem since we were just little kids at the time. 395 00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:21,359 My aunt and uncle hadn't seen our new place yet 396 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:23,519 and they were coming to spend the weekend with us 397 00:24:23,559 --> 00:24:27,160 in the new house. My mom set up our room 398 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,200 for them, and that meant one of us had to 399 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,440 sleep on the couch and the other got to sleep 400 00:24:31,519 --> 00:24:34,440 with Mom and dad. I don't know if you remember 401 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:38,119 sleeping with your parents at this age, but I absolutely 402 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,039 dreaded it. Always got stuck between them and got pinned 403 00:24:42,039 --> 00:24:44,839 down by the covers. Plus I had to listen to 404 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,960 my dad's snoring and sleep talking. I had been lying 405 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,240 in bed with them for about an hour or so. 406 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,000 My parents were already fast asleep, and the house was 407 00:24:55,079 --> 00:24:59,480 dead quiet. I was burning up under those covers as usual, 408 00:24:59,559 --> 00:25:02,279 and I was wishing like crazy. I had used the 409 00:25:02,319 --> 00:25:06,039 bathroom before I went to bed, because my eyeballs were floating. 410 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,519 I dreaded going because I knew I had to crawl 411 00:25:09,519 --> 00:25:11,799 over one of my parents and take the chance of 412 00:25:11,839 --> 00:25:15,240 waking my dad, who was definitely not someone you wanted 413 00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:18,920 to disturb out of a deep sleep. I decided my 414 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,480 best option was to dig out from under the covers 415 00:25:21,519 --> 00:25:25,559 and crawl over my mother. What happened after that was 416 00:25:25,559 --> 00:25:29,160 a pure nightmare, fuel especially for an eight year old kid. 417 00:25:30,519 --> 00:25:32,880 I began the task of trying to get over my 418 00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:36,519 mother without making too much noise and avoiding waking my 419 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,200 dad at all costs. I had my right leg flung 420 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,480 over my mom, looking for the floor with my toes, 421 00:25:43,799 --> 00:25:47,240 and holding onto the bedpost with my left arm, when 422 00:25:47,279 --> 00:25:50,559 all of a sudden, the worst most hair raising feeling 423 00:25:50,759 --> 00:25:54,880 came over me and went up and down my spine. 424 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,480 Every hair on my neck and body stood on end. 425 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,680 I could feel a presence behind me at the bedroom doorway, 426 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,680 and I could feel something was there and that its 427 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,400 eyes were on me. My mind started racing and my 428 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,799 heart started pounding, and I was completely frozen in that 429 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,440 awkward position. I didn't want to, but I knew I 430 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:19,480 had to look at the dark doorway. I turned my head, 431 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,119 praying that it would be just my sister. I couldn't 432 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,599 have been more wrong. I can only describe it as 433 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,319 a shadow person. It had the basic form and size 434 00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:33,680 of a human, but it was featureless. It had no 435 00:26:33,759 --> 00:26:36,920 discernible face. When I say it was black, I mean 436 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,440 it was darker than the darkest corners of the room. 437 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:43,799 It was highlighted by the hallway light that my mom 438 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,039 had left on for anyone who might get up in 439 00:26:46,079 --> 00:26:49,160 the middle of the night, which made it seem even darker. 440 00:26:50,319 --> 00:26:53,640 It was a shadow, but deeper and darker than a shadow, 441 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,960 like black silk or a black hole. Many people who 442 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,160 suffer from a CONDUCTIONH call sleep paralysis often report seeing 443 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,400 a shadowy man they called the hat man. This thing 444 00:27:07,559 --> 00:27:10,119 did seem to be wearing a hat, but I was 445 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,359 completely awake, and this was not a case of sleep paralysis. 446 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,279 This thing didn't move or speak a word. It was 447 00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:22,599 just standing there, peeking around the doorway at me. To 448 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,599 say that I almost had a heart attack would be 449 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,799 a severe understatement. I didn't know what to do. Should 450 00:27:28,839 --> 00:27:31,640 I scream and wake my parents in hopes they would 451 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:36,119 see what I'm seeing? No? Instead, I slowly slipped back 452 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,680 over my mother, and I slid under the covers and 453 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,319 I pulled them completely over my head. I didn't dare 454 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,759 peek out or try to look at this thing again. 455 00:27:45,599 --> 00:27:47,759 I just knew if I pull those covers down, that 456 00:27:47,799 --> 00:27:50,359 thing would be closer right at the foot of the bed, 457 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,720 or worse, face to face with me. At this point, 458 00:27:54,799 --> 00:27:57,720 I completely forgot about needing to go to the bathroom, 459 00:27:57,759 --> 00:28:00,759 and honestly, I don't know how, oh I didn't wet 460 00:28:00,799 --> 00:28:04,640 myself After I saw what I saw. I was stuck 461 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,880 there under the covers, afraid to move, afraid to look again, 462 00:28:08,279 --> 00:28:11,559 heart pounding in fear. I don't know when, but at 463 00:28:11,599 --> 00:28:15,119 some point I must have finally fallen asleep, probably out 464 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:19,759 of exhaustion. When I woke up, that experience and the 465 00:28:19,759 --> 00:28:22,880 fear of it were still fresh on my mind. Now. 466 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,319 I could hear my parents, sister, my aunt in the 467 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,240 kitchen getting breakfast ready, and I was glad I was 468 00:28:28,279 --> 00:28:31,839 still alive to wake up at all. I jumped out 469 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:33,960 of bed and ran with all I had to the 470 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,039 safety of my family in the kitchen, and I told 471 00:28:37,079 --> 00:28:40,799 my parents everything. Of course, they chalked it up to 472 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,799 a bad dream by a kid with a wild imagination. 473 00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:48,480 We lived in that house for four years, and everyone 474 00:28:48,519 --> 00:28:52,200 in my family would eventually go on to have weird experiences, 475 00:28:52,599 --> 00:28:57,000 which are stories for another day. Something about that old, 476 00:28:57,039 --> 00:29:00,640 creepy house just never did feel right to me. I 477 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:05,680 believe something evil was living there. I'm an adult man, 478 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,160 I'm a husband and a father now. But I will 479 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,000 swear to my grave that this was real and was 480 00:29:11,079 --> 00:29:15,839 not a dream or my imagination. I've never had anything 481 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,559 like that happen to me since, and I pray that 482 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,160 it never does again. I wouldn't wish something like that 483 00:29:22,319 --> 00:29:27,200 on anyone, not even on my worst enemy. Oh what 484 00:29:27,319 --> 00:29:32,559 a great story. Man. I didn't read this. I zip 485 00:29:32,599 --> 00:29:34,319 a lot of these up and I send these to 486 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,039 Rebecca and Rebecca Lee Wesson, who, by the way, is 487 00:29:38,079 --> 00:29:41,359 a great author and has books out on Amazon. Look 488 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,960 up for Rebecca Lee Wesson. She's editing all these stories 489 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,519 that you hear. But what I was going to say is, 490 00:29:47,599 --> 00:29:50,000 I don't know if this guy wrote this this well 491 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:54,599 or or if Rebecca put her magic on it. But man, 492 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,079 it was just so fun to read and so well 493 00:29:57,079 --> 00:30:00,400 put together. I don't know. It's probably not going to 494 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,279 go down in historical literature by any stretch. But sometimes 495 00:30:05,319 --> 00:30:09,759 the stories are great, but the way they're written is, oh, man, 496 00:30:09,839 --> 00:30:12,920 it just sets them off. He doesn't say whether to 497 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,000 give his name or not, but he lives in Kentucky, 498 00:30:16,039 --> 00:30:19,880 born in West Virginia. I got this story a while back. 499 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,240 I hope he hears this because man, what a great story. 500 00:30:23,759 --> 00:30:26,680 Thank you so much for sending this. If anybody else 501 00:30:26,759 --> 00:30:30,200 has stories about the paranormal or whatever, I have a 502 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,680 lot of them to do right now. I've just got 503 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,880 a big backlog. But if you send me a really 504 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,000 good one, I'm liable to pull it up and just 505 00:30:38,039 --> 00:30:41,759 do it right away. So I really appreciate you all 506 00:30:41,799 --> 00:30:46,000 sending these stories. They're so fun to read, and anyway, 507 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:52,680 I appreciate it. Thanks to the writer Ghost of Tula 508 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,480 by Shane Brown. I remember being a little kid and 509 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:02,440 Mama walking around videoing anything and everything she could. She 510 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:06,039 would use that camera all day. She said that she 511 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:10,200 never had anything that neat before. I think she believed 512 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,640 that she would have each moment forever. When she hit 513 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,799 the record button. That camera was huge and it hurt 514 00:31:16,839 --> 00:31:19,400 your shoulder to hold it propped up for a minute. 515 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,920 I guess it didn't bother her. She gleamed with it. 516 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:28,079 She was getting something new and recording her babies. Recently, 517 00:31:28,119 --> 00:31:30,799 I watched a video of us at my grandmother's house 518 00:31:30,839 --> 00:31:35,000 having lunch one day. Leanne and Billy Ray were fighting 519 00:31:35,039 --> 00:31:39,079 while Mama was in the background frying chicken and bacon biscuits. 520 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:43,759 Dad was leaned back in a chair, watching everyone. Mama 521 00:31:43,799 --> 00:31:46,160 threw the camera on him and asked him about the 522 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,839 ghost story from a call he got the night before 523 00:31:49,119 --> 00:31:52,279 while he was on duty at the fire station. A 524 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,799 dad was wearing a navy blue Firebuster shirt, and he 525 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:58,960 leaned his head down and his eyes got big. He 526 00:31:59,039 --> 00:32:01,440 twisted the sides of his ear with a finger and 527 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,519 a thumb as he chuckled. Then he shivered. He told 528 00:32:05,519 --> 00:32:08,400 the story of what he saw that night on a call. 529 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,839 I don't believe him as surely as I study every 530 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,839 word that he said. I didn't believe in ghosts at 531 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:20,240 nine years old. Now Webster says that ghosts are the 532 00:32:20,319 --> 00:32:23,559 soul of a dead person, thought of his living in 533 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,119 an unseen world or his appearing to the living people. 534 00:32:28,119 --> 00:32:32,160 Webster can't describe what I know, but he is close. 535 00:32:33,599 --> 00:32:36,400 Maybe Webster is telling me I know a soul that 536 00:32:36,559 --> 00:32:40,400 still lives that it's appearing to me. I think I 537 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,519 know his feelings too. From spending time at Tula, I'm 538 00:32:44,519 --> 00:32:48,839 starting to know instead of only wondering. At forty three, 539 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,440 I don't know if I truly believe in ghosts yet 540 00:32:51,519 --> 00:32:55,920 or not. I've never seen one. I have never considered 541 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,240 for one second that my eyes witnessed a ghostly motion. 542 00:33:00,079 --> 00:33:04,079 But I feel things. I wonder if ghosts can make 543 00:33:04,119 --> 00:33:07,960 you feel things. If they can, then I believe in them. 544 00:33:08,559 --> 00:33:11,920 That's something that happens to me often, especially at Tula 545 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:17,160 or somewhere my father frequented. I am sitting on the 546 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,640 docks of Tula right now, and it's almost haunting. Not 547 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:25,240 a scary haunting, but a gut wrenching one. Crickets are calling, 548 00:33:25,279 --> 00:33:28,720 and the bullfrogs are loud. They echo off the trees 549 00:33:28,759 --> 00:33:32,359 and through my body. There's a white cloud of fogs 550 00:33:32,359 --> 00:33:36,079 sitting on this pond as its glow dances from the moonlight. 551 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:39,920 The moon's cast is wrapped in a fog, which shows 552 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,799 the pond's general shape. The moon's light runs about six 553 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,359 or seven feet to the bank and up the trees 554 00:33:46,799 --> 00:33:49,319 into their tops as it shines up the back end 555 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,960 of the sky. The white fog just sits in a gloom. 556 00:33:53,559 --> 00:33:57,920 It doesn't move, and neither do I. There's a presence here, 557 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:03,799 present makes me want to write stories. Maybe this is 558 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,680 the presence that makes me want to be like my dad. 559 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,159 I'm not for sure yet, but I like both of 560 00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:13,400 those thoughts. I know I'll never be the writer that 561 00:34:13,519 --> 00:34:16,880 he was. I'm okay with that, But if I can 562 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,480 be a writer with a connection to him, that it's 563 00:34:19,519 --> 00:34:24,039 all worth the sacrifice. There's a presence over me and 564 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,199 under me. I feel it in both of my sides too. 565 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:29,800 It's the truck I got to pick out from my 566 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:31,960 dad one day when he said he wanted to pick 567 00:34:32,039 --> 00:34:35,760 up with air conditioning, a CD player and powered windows, 568 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,719 as he sent me in mom to Tupelo to buy it. 569 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,880 It's the presence that I feel when I'm asleep at 570 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:46,159 the old tool of store he owned that's been renovated 571 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:50,840 into an apartment. It's the store he wrote about in Joe, 572 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:55,159 where the protagonist would pick up his workers. But the 573 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:58,199 feeling down on the pond at Tula is more powerful 574 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,840 than any I've ever felt. It's a feeling where I 575 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,679 start to believe in ghosts. I don't see it, but 576 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:12,599 I believe it. All Right, here's the story I got. 577 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:16,400 I'm gonna call this fiction because it just feels like 578 00:35:16,559 --> 00:35:20,320 it's fiction, but I guess it could be true. The 579 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,519 writer did not say if it's true, and I'm calling 580 00:35:24,559 --> 00:35:28,679 it fiction, and the writer gets upset with me, just don't. 581 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:34,199 It just just feels fictiony the way it's written and 582 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,480 the story in itself. However, it's a really good story, 583 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,639 so let's duteous. Nineteen months ago, I awoke from a coma, 584 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,800 unable to move, speak, or even see what was happening 585 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,360 around me. I had a vague awareness of who I was. 586 00:35:50,039 --> 00:35:53,639 I had a family, a job, a portfolio, and a name. 587 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,119 I knew something terrible had happened to me, but I 588 00:35:57,119 --> 00:36:00,840 couldn't remember what it was. I remember remembered the frantic 589 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,559 and helpless sensation of trying to escape and then being 590 00:36:04,599 --> 00:36:08,760 thrown through the air. I remembered a great crippling fear, 591 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,679 but the details were beyond me. I searched the darkness 592 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,480 in my head, but it was useless, like looking through 593 00:36:15,559 --> 00:36:19,719 foggy glass. I knew the facts of my life and 594 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:21,880 what had happened to me were on the other side, 595 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,280 but I couldn't see them. I couldn't see them yet. 596 00:36:26,199 --> 00:36:28,480 I could hear the voices in the distance, and the 597 00:36:28,519 --> 00:36:32,840 footsteps approaching and fading away, and I could hear the 598 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,719 slow beep of a heart monitor as it started to 599 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:39,920 pick up speed. The footsteps approached me again, and they 600 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,800 ran away, summoning a doctor and a team. He's away, 601 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,639 Get the team here, a woman said in an excited voice. 602 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:52,480 There were multiple footsteps in the room now, each set 603 00:36:52,679 --> 00:36:57,000 hurried and shuffling around the bed. The team was talking 604 00:36:57,039 --> 00:37:00,159 about me in hush voices, though I didn't understand the 605 00:37:00,199 --> 00:37:03,920 medical terms they used. One of them was instructed to 606 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:09,760 notify my family, Jonathan, I remembered my name was Jonathan. 607 00:37:10,519 --> 00:37:13,599 That felt like a wind. It was a minuscule maybe, 608 00:37:13,599 --> 00:37:18,320 but a win. Nonetheless, the sudden burst of energy after 609 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,679 what felt like an endless idle rest put a strain 610 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,840 on me, and I fell back to sleep. And when 611 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,440 I woke, I heard hush voices again. This time I 612 00:37:28,519 --> 00:37:32,320 recognized one of them. It was my wife. Her name 613 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:36,880 was Madison. That's another win, I told myself. She was 614 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,880 reading from the Book of Proverbs. I fell in love 615 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,039 with her all over again. It was the voice I 616 00:37:43,119 --> 00:37:47,639 needed to hear. My eyes opened in the room erupted 617 00:37:47,679 --> 00:37:51,159 in excitement. I could make out colors and the details 618 00:37:51,199 --> 00:37:54,679 of my surroundings. I was unable to move my head, 619 00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:57,760 but able to turn my line of sight. I could 620 00:37:57,800 --> 00:37:59,840 see a woman to my right, and I studied her 621 00:38:00,079 --> 00:38:03,480 features and her long gray hair and her familiar smile. 622 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:07,840 It was my Madison. She was older. Now now I 623 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:12,400 was confused. A young man and two younger women stood 624 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,920 beside her, one of them holding a baby. They were 625 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:19,599 my children, but they had grown one at a time. 626 00:38:19,679 --> 00:38:22,639 They came to the bedside and hugged me. They told 627 00:38:22,639 --> 00:38:25,679 me they loved me, and they missed me. I realized 628 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:27,639 then that I must have been in a coma for 629 00:38:27,679 --> 00:38:32,280 some time and kept alive by machines. But for how long. 630 00:38:32,519 --> 00:38:36,480 I had no clue. My family had grown up without me, 631 00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:41,119 and the realization was overwhelming, and I had a thousand questions. 632 00:38:42,599 --> 00:38:46,400 This routine went on for days, deep sleep for hours, 633 00:38:46,599 --> 00:38:49,679 and awake for a few minutes. Day in and day out, 634 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,960 the medical team would tug on my leg and bend it, 635 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,320 shine a flashlight in my eyes, and stick needles in 636 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,920 my right foot and fingers. There was a brace around 637 00:39:00,159 --> 00:39:03,199 my neck and back, preventing me from moving, and at 638 00:39:03,199 --> 00:39:05,760 one point the doctors told me that my left leg 639 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,119 had been so severely damaged they had had to remove 640 00:39:09,159 --> 00:39:14,039 it to save my life. Well. I was devastated. The 641 00:39:14,079 --> 00:39:17,400 realization about my leg sparked something in me, like an 642 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,840 approaching siren. I had a memory, not in images, but 643 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:26,199 in sound. It was a roar, and it terrified and 644 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:30,800 confused me. It was real. It was too real, like 645 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,480 it approached, and it faded back into the darkness of 646 00:39:33,519 --> 00:39:37,199 my mind. I hoped it would stay there. That was 647 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,920 wishful thinking. I would soon find out. My improvement was 648 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,960 marked by tiny daily successes, and in time I gathered 649 00:39:46,039 --> 00:39:48,320 enough air in my lungs to push out the words 650 00:39:48,599 --> 00:39:52,360 thank you to Madison. Within a minute, the room was 651 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,880 filled with medical personnel checking my statistics, and soon my 652 00:39:57,039 --> 00:40:00,920 hands and right leg regained feeling and to move them, 653 00:40:01,199 --> 00:40:05,960 and I finally could speak fluently again. Communication with my 654 00:40:06,079 --> 00:40:09,000 wife was what I wanted the most. I learned I 655 00:40:09,039 --> 00:40:13,960 had been comatose for five years and four months. Brain 656 00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:16,440 trauma was the cause, and I was lucky to be 657 00:40:16,519 --> 00:40:20,400 alive at all. Five years had gone by. I had 658 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:25,239 been gone all that time. My son Nathan was now 659 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,960 seventeen and in his junior year of high school. He 660 00:40:29,039 --> 00:40:31,239 was playing football and he was quite good at it. 661 00:40:32,119 --> 00:40:35,800 My daughter Susie was a mother and in college, while 662 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,320 my youngest daughter, Brittany was twelve years old. I had 663 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,519 missed so much, and I hadn't seen my son playball, 664 00:40:43,039 --> 00:40:45,079 I didn't walk my daughter down the aisle, and I 665 00:40:45,119 --> 00:40:49,360 had missed my grandchild's birth. I missed BRIT's first days 666 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,440 of school. By then I remembered who I was. I 667 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:57,000 was a Harvard graduate with a PhD in business, a 668 00:40:57,079 --> 00:41:01,719 chief financial officer for a fortune five hundred company. We 669 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:05,119 had a home in Upstate, New York, a penthouse apartment 670 00:41:05,159 --> 00:41:08,239 in New York City, and a vacation home in the Keys. 671 00:41:09,039 --> 00:41:11,320 My wife broke the news to me that my life 672 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:15,000 as I remembered it was over. I had lost my job. 673 00:41:15,639 --> 00:41:18,360 My family was forced to sell our house up state 674 00:41:18,599 --> 00:41:21,760 and the wood in the Keys. They kept the penthouse 675 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:23,880 in the city and sub leased it to a guy 676 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:27,480 who took over my position at work. They had moved 677 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:31,840 to North Carolina and had been living off our life savings. 678 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,840 At one point, two gentlemen came to see me, one 679 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,599 from the Forestry Department and the other from the police department. 680 00:41:40,599 --> 00:41:43,760 They asked me questions for hours about what happened and 681 00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:47,599 what I remembered. I couldn't recall anything from the incident. 682 00:41:48,599 --> 00:41:51,800 They showed me pictures of a campsite that had been ravaged, 683 00:41:52,119 --> 00:41:54,719 a tenth that was torn to pieces, and a backpack 684 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:59,280 with a metal frame bent completely in half. They presented 685 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:03,519 photographs taken by the hikers who found me. The picture 686 00:42:03,599 --> 00:42:06,920 showed me in a blood soaked sweatshirt and my head 687 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,480 looking like it had been hit with a sledgehammer. There 688 00:42:10,559 --> 00:42:12,960 were other pictures of me from when I arrived at 689 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:16,599 the hospital, my chest and my shoulder full of strange 690 00:42:16,639 --> 00:42:21,559 scratches and scars. I had four deep lacerations on my chest, 691 00:42:21,679 --> 00:42:25,559 spaced two inches apart, and one deep laceration on the 692 00:42:25,559 --> 00:42:29,440 back of my shoulder below my neck. A photograph of 693 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:33,840 my left leg had multiple lacerations, as if something massive 694 00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:37,119 had grabbed onto it and sunk its claws through the 695 00:42:37,159 --> 00:42:41,800 skin and muscle. I looked at the pictures objectively, having 696 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,599 no recollection of any of this, nor any explanation for 697 00:42:45,679 --> 00:42:50,760 how it happened. After over a year of therapy, both 698 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:54,920 mental and physical, I was sent home. It wasn't my 699 00:42:55,079 --> 00:42:57,719 home though. It was a small place and a quiet 700 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:01,880 subdivision with no sidewalks, But there was a porch where 701 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,079 I could sit and read and look at pictures of 702 00:43:04,119 --> 00:43:06,760 my family and see what I had missed over the 703 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,559 last five years while I tried to get my mind 704 00:43:09,639 --> 00:43:14,079 in better shape. We attended most of my son's football 705 00:43:14,119 --> 00:43:17,199 games during his senior year, and I got to see 706 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:20,639 him take his girlfriend a homecoming. My life was coming 707 00:43:20,679 --> 00:43:25,000 back together. My walking improved with the prosthetic leg I 708 00:43:25,039 --> 00:43:27,599 had been fitted with, and I was working on my 709 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:32,639 dance moves for Brittany's father daughter dance at school. When 710 00:43:32,639 --> 00:43:35,599 Thanksgiving rolled around, my brother in law, Jeremy, came to 711 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:39,320 visit us. He burst into tears and apologies when he 712 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:43,239 saw me. I had to sit down. Seeing his face 713 00:43:43,519 --> 00:43:46,800 brought back a float of memories. I should have been there, 714 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,719 I should have stayed, he said, over and over again. 715 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:54,960 You had to go home, I said, suddenly remembering he 716 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,320 and I had planned a week long vacation to hike 717 00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:00,079 a section of the Appalachian Trail, with the goal of 718 00:44:00,119 --> 00:44:04,199 completing the entire trail within the next several years. We 719 00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:07,119 left my car at the end where we would finish 720 00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:10,199 our trek and took his car to the trailhead where 721 00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:15,320 we would begin. We arrived late the first evening, just 722 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:17,800 a half hour before dark, and decided to put some 723 00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:20,519 miles on the boots before we called it a night. 724 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,480 We hiked several hours before setting up camp and turning in, 725 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,719 and we slept like two tired puppies before the sun's 726 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,519 light and singing birds woke us up. The next morning. 727 00:44:31,639 --> 00:44:34,400 We planned to hike sixteen to twenty miles that day 728 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:37,760 and had one hell of a pace going. The beauty 729 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,920 was breathtaking, and the birds were singing, and the deer 730 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:45,880 were plentiful and unbothered by our presence. As evening approached, 731 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,599 the sounds of nature began to die down, and the 732 00:44:48,679 --> 00:44:51,960 satisfaction we had from our hard work that day slowly 733 00:44:52,039 --> 00:44:56,199 gave way to an unsettling awareness that we were not alone. 734 00:44:57,039 --> 00:45:01,679 Something was stalking us in the woods. We called out 735 00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,480 that we were armed, though we didn't have anything other 736 00:45:04,559 --> 00:45:08,199 than pocket knives and hatchets. We decided that it must 737 00:45:08,199 --> 00:45:10,719 have been a couple of locals with a shine operation 738 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:15,079 or a marijuana grove nearby, and we were being chaperoned. 739 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,760 We stopped for the night and pitched our tent, wondering 740 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,360 if our chaperones had gone home or if they had 741 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:25,360 stayed nearby to patrol through the night. As we settled in, 742 00:45:25,639 --> 00:45:28,519 small pebbles began to hit our tent, and we did 743 00:45:28,519 --> 00:45:30,800 our best to ignore it and we tried to sleep. 744 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,320 The next morning, Jeremy got a call that his mother 745 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,320 had been rushed to the hospital. I told him to 746 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,800 head on back and that I would continue onto my 747 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,880 car so he wouldn't have to backtrack and waste time. 748 00:45:44,199 --> 00:45:46,559 He tore down the trail like a cat with its 749 00:45:46,679 --> 00:45:49,800 tail on fire, and I packed up and headed out 750 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:53,880 in the other direction. The better part of the day 751 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,679 was uneventful, with no sign of our chaperones from the 752 00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:01,280 night before, but later that evening they came back. I 753 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:04,599 remembered walking to the last possible minute before pitching my 754 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,599 tent and climbing into sleep. After that, there was nothing. 755 00:46:09,199 --> 00:46:13,519 My next memory was waking up in the hospital. Over 756 00:46:13,519 --> 00:46:16,679 the next several months, I spent countless hours browsing the 757 00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:20,000 TV and the Internet for anything that sparked my interest, 758 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:24,000 as I had more time than anything else. I stumbled 759 00:46:24,039 --> 00:46:27,079 upon a Bigfoot documentary and found it to be very 760 00:46:27,079 --> 00:46:31,079 interesting until they played a recording of the creature's roar. 761 00:46:32,159 --> 00:46:34,440 I felt my knees bend to my chest and I 762 00:46:34,519 --> 00:46:38,599 lay sideways on the couch, holding myself like a terrified child, 763 00:46:39,559 --> 00:46:44,119 and then I remembered everything. I had just climbed into 764 00:46:44,119 --> 00:46:47,559 my sleeping bag when rocks were pelted into the side 765 00:46:47,559 --> 00:46:51,360 of the tent again. I was growing frustrated at the 766 00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,519 thought of losing another night of sleep to the locals 767 00:46:54,559 --> 00:46:57,920 and their pranks. They poked the side of the tent, 768 00:46:58,119 --> 00:47:00,360 even touching my arm or time or two, and they 769 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,440 prodded me through the side of the tent. I could 770 00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:07,280 see a figure standing in the moonlight. By then, I 771 00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:10,519 was fed up. I wanted to teach those clowns a lesson, 772 00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:14,280 so I grabbed my hatchet. When one of them prodded 773 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:16,840 me again, I swung it with all my might. I 774 00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:20,119 struck his hand with the backside of the hatchet. I 775 00:47:20,159 --> 00:47:24,320 realized that whatever had been pestering me was not human. 776 00:47:25,199 --> 00:47:27,880 It roared like a freight train, and it grabbed the 777 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:30,000 tent and it ripped it out from over the top 778 00:47:30,119 --> 00:47:33,400 of me. I jumped to my feet, ready to bolt 779 00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:36,039 down the trail, but something grabbed me by the shoulder 780 00:47:36,079 --> 00:47:39,400 and leg and lifted me above its head. And then, 781 00:47:39,519 --> 00:47:42,239 with the force of a car crash, I was thrown 782 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,559 against a tree on the other side of the trail, 783 00:47:45,199 --> 00:47:50,280 and everything went black. I have no idea what attacked 784 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:53,480 me or why. I have my suspicions, but I have 785 00:47:53,559 --> 00:47:57,440 no evidence. Part of me wished I didn't remember what 786 00:47:57,599 --> 00:48:01,360 happened along for the time when the details were beyond me, 787 00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,239 when I was in the dark, and when the facts 788 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:06,280 of my life and what had happened to me were 789 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:10,400 on the other side of the foggy glass. But now 790 00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:13,800 I could see clearly something terrible had happened to me. 791 00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:16,719 Lying there on the couch in the safety of our 792 00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:20,519 new home, I felt the frantic and helpless sensation of 793 00:48:20,599 --> 00:48:25,719 trying to escape. I relived the fear, the great crippling fear, 794 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:29,599 and I knew that my nineteen month old recovery was 795 00:48:29,639 --> 00:48:36,639 only just the beginning. How about we wind this podcast 796 00:48:36,679 --> 00:48:40,000 down with a dog story. I asked for them a 797 00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:42,320 couple of months ago, and I've got six or eight 798 00:48:42,519 --> 00:48:45,679 that people have sent. I've done one, I've got a 799 00:48:45,679 --> 00:48:47,599 few to do, and I'm going to just drop them 800 00:48:47,599 --> 00:48:51,519 in periodically in a podcast, and then after this story, 801 00:48:51,639 --> 00:48:54,239 I'm going to put two archives at the end of 802 00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:57,039 this to give the video a little more length and 803 00:48:57,320 --> 00:49:01,360 for people who haven't heard these stories to enjoy. So 804 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:05,880 let's get into this dog story. I really like this one. 805 00:49:06,039 --> 00:49:08,719 I'm a cat lover, but I've enjoyed the company of 806 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:12,519 more dogs than cats in my life, some of the 807 00:49:12,519 --> 00:49:15,880 best friendships anyone can ever enjoy, or with the pups 808 00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:19,920 and kitties that'll allow us to come near. My first 809 00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:23,360 love was a hound dog named Joe. He was dark 810 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:27,880 brown with black markings. My mom called him Hines fifty seven. 811 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:31,719 That meant he was a mutt. In all these years, 812 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:34,599 I've never forgotten Joe, and I've often used his name 813 00:49:34,679 --> 00:49:38,320 to answer the old question, which was your favorite pet? 814 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,480 I love that dog, and I can remember hugging his neck, 815 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:46,239 But he used to infuriate me because he wouldn't allow 816 00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:49,599 me to go down the driveway to the street. If 817 00:49:49,639 --> 00:49:52,880 I started toward the street, he stood sideways in front 818 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,320 of me, and if I tried to move around him, 819 00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:59,320 he just moved with me. Eventually I'd get mad at 820 00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:03,639 him or crying. This brought my mother and grandmother out 821 00:50:03,719 --> 00:50:07,039 to see why I was upset. Either way, I ended 822 00:50:07,119 --> 00:50:09,880 up getting my butt busted for going on the street 823 00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,599 when I wasn't supposed to, and I was made to 824 00:50:12,599 --> 00:50:14,960 stay on the back porch for the rest of the day. 825 00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,719 I never stayed mad at Joe for long. After all, 826 00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:23,159 he was just looking after me. He died when I 827 00:50:23,199 --> 00:50:26,920 was five years old, just before I started school. I 828 00:50:27,039 --> 00:50:31,159 was devastated. His passing taught me what death was and 829 00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:34,559 the permanence of it. His leaving may have left a 830 00:50:34,599 --> 00:50:37,280 hole in my heart, but my heart was bigger and 831 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:40,960 warmer for having known him. I've been listening to you 832 00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:42,719 for quite a few months now, and I want to 833 00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:45,920 thank you for your stories. I love your even toned 834 00:50:46,039 --> 00:50:49,119 voice and your comforting comments about your readers and the 835 00:50:49,159 --> 00:50:52,800 authors of the stories you read. Thank you for sharing 836 00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:56,079 my little story and memory of my first true love, 837 00:50:56,360 --> 00:51:01,639 Joe the hind fifty seven of the Hound, Well, you're welcome. 838 00:51:02,119 --> 00:51:04,559 Thank you for that nice paragraph there at the end 839 00:51:04,639 --> 00:51:06,840 of your at the end of your story. But that's 840 00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:11,639 a great dog story. You know. Dog stories are just good. Uh, 841 00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:14,760 they don't have to be long. Obviously, this was a short, 842 00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:18,079 little story, but I felt it. I felt she's thought 843 00:51:18,119 --> 00:51:20,920 about what this dog did for her life all the 844 00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:23,920 way back before she would turn five years old. She 845 00:51:24,039 --> 00:51:27,119 remembers that dog was keeping her, trying to keep her 846 00:51:27,119 --> 00:51:30,320 out of that street. And they're smart that way. They're 847 00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:33,719 put in our lives for a reason. Just another great 848 00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,840 dog story. And I want to tell the writer. She 849 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:39,679 doesn't leave her name, but hopefully she'll hear this and 850 00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:42,440 this is this is a great story, so thank you.