Speaker 1: At a book.
Speaker 2: If you've had a dogman encounter that you need help
dealing with, or if you'd like to be a guest
on the show, please go to Dogmanencounters dot com and
submit a report. If you've had a bigfoot sighting, we'll
like to be a guest on one of my two
bigfoot podcasts. Please go to my Bigfoot Sighting dot com.
If you listened to last week's show, episode six twenty eight,
you heard tonight's guest come on and talk about a
dog man pop that she found wounded in the woods
one day. Of course, I'm talking about April. April, thanks
so much for coming back for this.
Speaker 1: Que Oh you're very welcome. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: Oh glad to do it, Glad to give you a
platform as well. So yeah, that goes two ways. Well, April,
for anyone who missed episode six twenty eight, please tell
us about yourself.
Speaker 1: So my name is April. I live in Pennsylvania, right
I'm in the Appalachian Mountains, right off of the trail.
I grew up in the mountains, so not even the
woods in the mountains. I had a pretty great childhood.
I was always in the woods, in the forest, that
we had a state park that puts up to our property.
We have natural waterfalls, caves that I explored, trails from
the time that I could sneak off, I was in
those woods. As I grew up, I traveled several places,
several different states. I wanted to explore and see what
all was out there. I had a large and small
I moved to Texas Canyon, Texas, and I owned a
large and small reproduction clinic for animals. And I made
my way slowly around and back to Pennsylvania. And I've had,
you know, several encounters now. And I reached out and
I started speaking with Vic, and I was so glad
that he was. He's helped me bring to light what
I haven't been able to express to anybody. And listening
to the other encounters, I know I'm not alone, and
I just I want to thank you for helping me
do that.
Speaker 2: Vic, Oh, glad to do it. Yeah, That's what I'm
here for. In April, I've got a ton of questions
for you. But before I do that, I guess there
have been some recent developments. Please tell us about them.
Speaker 1: Oh, yes, so last week we had noticed our property.
Let me start off by saying where where we maybe
only have five neighbors, so we have about somewhere. We
have a lot of property, That's all I can say.
But we have around our house is fenced in with
three acres, and then we have another paddock that's not
fenced about I don't know an acre and a half,
and then we have another connected to it. We have
another fenced in area that's also about almost three acres
fenced as well, and then it goes into the woods,
and right across the woods is the cemetery and then
to the left is a giant filled that we have
probably probably fifty acres cleared there. Around about we have
mine shafts. We have old coke ovens on our property
right now where we live, and we have a lot
of woods in the woods where i'd had one of
the encounters last year. Something there is also last week
I had my vehicle was urinated on at the corner
of our house. And I have a very large Neapolitan mastiff.
He he's pretty fearless. He's like he's a wonderful dog,
but he's a no bs kind of dog. He's very
protective and he loves his job well. Upon the urinating happening.
He will not go where urinated on the house. He
won't go near it. And he's a mill dog intact,
so it's his nature to want to market. He wouldn't
go near it. He wouldn't go near my vehicle where
it's also marked. So we had started smelling this. It
was the only way I can describe it was like
a sulfur and decaying smell, but the sulfur was more
like a sewer gas smell with decay. It's been you
know where I'm at right now today it's currently sixteen
degrees and we have a snowstorm. This morning, I had
taken my dog out and it was about it was
around four o'clock in the morning. I walked outside, it
was snowing. It was again below sixteen degrees with the
wind chill, and right away you got this whiff of
that sewer gas mixed with decaying animal and I'm like,
oh gosh. So we kind of we hurried up. He
did his business, We came in the house. Then my
partner he had went to work and he had texted
me he said, did you smell that this morning? I said, oh, yes,
and he had left it. I believe around seven thirty,
and he had asked me why didn't tell him. I
didn't want to wake him up at four o'clock in
the morning and tell him that I smelled something outside.
The atmosphere in the air was absolutely fine. There was
no charge, there was no Sometimes you'll get that light
or fight or that uneasy chill that goes up your spine.
There was nothing like that this morning, just that pungent
smell and then it was gone, which is really weird.
And that, like I said, that happened this morning.
Speaker 2: Holy call April. It's almost like, what's next with you? You
never asked for any of this. I just hate the
fact you have to deal with all this.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, but I feel like you know, I don't
ever preach to anybody about religion, but I feel that
the Lord has set us up for experiences. He moves
in mysterious ways, and anything he throws at us, he
knows that we're prepared to handle. Now. I've not come
out because he in general, what they fear they destroy
or you're labeled, and I wasn't. I didn't want to
become a mockery. As I told you know, just my
husband he knows and you do what I've been through.
But you know, right now it might where I stand.
I feel that everything is happening because it's supposed to,
because it's preparing us for something. And you know that's
that's where I always say, your belief in what is real,
whether an let me try to raise this, your belief
doesn't change whether something's real or not. Like you take
a copperhead, that copperhead is gonna bite you, whether you
believe in it or not. And I feel that, you know,
I believe it just prepares us for what's coming next.
I guess that's the easiest way to say it. I
didn't ask for it, but it's happening. And sometimes, you know,
these encounters that we have, we're told that they don't exist,
they shouldn't exist, and there's no way, but yet they
are happening, and it's more and more frequent. And you know,
I have been diligently carrying my bear mace, and something
I've learned from working with many of animals, you don't
ever want to present yourself like prey by turning and run,
and you're going to trigger that predator prey instinct in
whatever you're facing. So I just figure that you know,
my approach is I guess now, talk to it, tell it,
I acknowledge it, I see it, and walk away carefully
without trying to you know, trigger and oh gosh, I
don't have to say that. I'd rather make myself look
like a bad meal than something that's going to taste
great by carrying that that bear base, or just acknowledging
it and backing off and retreating and just letting it
do what it's going to do out there.
Speaker 2: Now, well, your knowledge of dogs animals in general, that's
only going to help you because everything you've said about
how you've been handling all this is spot on, textbook
way to handle it. So that's definitely in your favor. Now.
Last week, when I heard that episode, episode six twenty eight,
I know there are people who looked at that title
and thought, okay, yeah, this is just nonsense. Raised a
dog man pop Well, so that everyone knows listening, it's
not like these are just wild claims that April just
tongue out there. She sent me photographic evidence, sent me
photos of Shadow and the other animals and everything. But
one thing that really struck me, Actually, the first thing
that struck me when I was looking at the pictures
of Shadow. Were those pictures that your sister took or
did you take those pictures before I.
Speaker 1: Get to this, Uh, it was a little bit of mix.
We were I was still really young and I remember
at Christmas they my grandparents are. My mother got me
a camera. So I still have the negatives. Actually, my
sister brought all the pictures over and I had I
didn't have any of them. She brought a giant tode over.
I still have the negatives are still in there as
well that were developed. So it was a little bit
of It was a mix of her and I taking
the photos.
Speaker 2: Well, like I told you before, thanks so much for
sending those to me. I've got a strange question to
ask you, though, it's kind of tied to those pictures.
When you used to pet Shadow, did his heir feel funny?
Did his fur feel strange or did it feel like
you would expect a wolf's fur to feel.
Speaker 1: He was bristly, very so his coat. We raised pigs,
and if you just would have put a lot more
hair on that pig, it was bristly just like that.
He just had a lot of it.
Speaker 2: I see, Okay, The reason why I asked that was
you touched on this in episode six twenty eight about
how black he was in fact he was black, Well,
that doesn't do it any justice. He is black, black,
blacker than black. It's like it's like he soaks up
all the light around him practically. And then also you
sent me another photo showing the wound. I think you
said in that one photo of the wound where he
had been shot had almost totally healed. Is that what
you were telling me?
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I had circled U after I sent you
the photos. I resent you a second photo where he
was shot when I found him with a late and
I sent you my rooster too. That was I would
tote my backpack, but lady, myself and my rooster, we
stumbled upon him on one of my little outings on
our property.
Speaker 2: Well, like I told you before, thanks so much for
sending those pictures in I'd say, by far and away,
one of the most impressive photos you sent me was
of his dentitionan you told me that, I think before
we started recording here, didn't you say that his teeth
hadn't fully grown in yet when that picture was taken?
Speaker 1: Correct, that picture was taken, he had just I believe
he healed, and it was shortly after he'd healed that
photo was taken and his teeth thought, I unfortunately don't
have any photos of him larger, but his canines in
his teeth, as you could see how jagged they are. Yeah,
they just got bigger.
Speaker 2: That's a scary thought. Right, Who did you say he
was playing with in that photo? Was that lady that
was in the photo with him when he was playing with?
Speaker 1: Yes, that was my little Australian Shepherd American Eskimo spitz mix.
She rode him, she did. Oh my gosh. She just
from the moment that we all three met each other,
it was always by my side, but she was like
the instigator. She would take us on our little adventures.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a good thing that he liked her, because
it feels quite a bit bigger than she was.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, I mean that was the size of
him in those photos. That's how big he was. When
I carried him home, and like I told you, I
had to go up hills, I had to go down.
It was it was some work, but he trusted me
and he trusted her, and it was like that bond
formed immediately. It was like on the spot. He never
growled at me, he never, he never snarled at me.
I fed him. I was. I reached into my backpack
where my rooster was, and everybody he was alive. I
put out beef jerky and I gave him the beef
jerky and he took it from me. And it was
just like I said, that bond formed immediately.
Speaker 2: Well, they're awfully intelligent. I'm sure he knew that you
were trying to rescue him, so yeah, that would make
sense there. I was kind of fuzzy on this. In
episode six twenty eight. How old did you say you
were when you found him and carried him home?
Speaker 1: Oh? Gosh, Oh, I was young. I was probably about
My grandparents were still alive, so it was before ninety eight.
Both of my grandparents passed in nineteen ninety eight, so
it was before then. I was probably about twelve, eleven,
twelve somewhere in there.
Speaker 2: You were eleven or twelve and carried what I saw home?
Speaker 1: Hole it down, Yes, yes, but I had experience from
working on my grandfather's farm. I was tossing bells a
hay with him. I wasn't made to do it, but
I whatever he was doing I wanted to do it,
so I already had some pretty good strength built up,
and I a lot of it was adrenaline. Also, I
knew he needed me, and I don't know if it
was so much he needed me as maybe we needed him.
But I wasn't leaving him behind. That was not ever
an option. So I did what it took. Like I said,
it took me a little while to get home, but
I made it. Well.
Speaker 2: That is impressive. Of course, he was still a puppy then,
But the fact that you carried him home, that just
blows my mind. How did he carry him in front
of you in a cradle somehow or over your shoulder,
because as big as he was, I don't see how
you could possibly have carried him in front of you.
Speaker 1: I kept trying to get my arms around him so
i'd bunch and mind you, he was recently shot, and
you've seen where the bullet was or where he'd been
hit by the bullet. I was trying to swoop him
from behind and then in the front where his chest was.
Speaker 2: Ah, you beer hugged.
Speaker 1: Him, okay, yes, And he went fored a couple of times,
and I knew it hurt, and I just kept talking
to him. We had to take so many breaks. I
don't remember putting him down in him walking. I just
I remember carrying him. And I don't think I got
him over my shoulder because I wasn't. At one point,
he was getting pretty heavy, so I just tried to
pick him up the best I could, but I never
I don't remember ever flopping him over my shoulders. My
shoulders wouldn't have been wide enough for him to sit
up on my shoulder at that time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was thinking, because yeah, he'd be
way too big for that. Now, in that one photo
where I see where you circle the wounds that it
almost tealed. At that point, it looked like I might
have seen two gunshot wounds. But with his fur being
so dark and the way his fur is, it's just
so hard to tell. Did it look like he had
one wound or two?
Speaker 1: That was one wound his hair had started growing in,
and those two spots where his hair hadn't grown yet,
and that lump always remained there. But his hair did
eventually come in completely there and it didn't come in white.
Speaker 2: That makes sense, then, Wow, that's absolutely amazing. It really is.
Speaker 1: It was always like if you were in a dark
room or it was really dark. He was always darker
than the dark that you were in. It was just
there was absolutely no white on him. There was no
other color. He was just obsidian. I guess that's the
best description for his coat. He was completely obsidian.
Speaker 2: Now that's a good way to describe it, describe him,
because yeah, he is as dark as can be. He
really is. He's pitch. Did it look to you like
he had been shot by a pistol, a shotgun or
a rifle.
Speaker 1: I you know, I was young. My grandfather suspected it
might have been a bird shot, but that was the
only wound he had from it, and it formed like, uh,
it formed like instead of scarring, it just remained like
a big lump. So I'm not too sure what what
shot him when? Uh, yeah, you know what, I'm not
too sure. I'm sure I talked about it with my grandfather,
but I don't ever, I don't I don't remember that conversation.
I just I wanted him to be okay, and I
I just I felt like, you know, whenever you connect
with an animal, you know it's meant to be the
Only thing that he did not like was my dad,
he would and you get into it like predominance. You know.
There's a lot of times when I bred my mastiffs,
when they would start testing you, you'd do the stadown.
He would never look away from my dad, and he
never shadow never challenged me, and he never challenged my
grandfather either. But if my dad, it was like he
he would sense my Dad coming near, whether my Dad
was outside and coming into the house, his hackles would
stand up and he would bristle. Now I don't have
any photos of this, but as he started getting older,
he started to develop a slight mane at the back
of his neck, over his shoulders. His hair was substain
actually about three inches longer than anywhere else on his body.
And I'm so thankful that my sister gave me the
photos that she had, but I wish I still had
those photos. And I wish I had one of his eyes.
How vibrant and they were like this super bronze amber
and the light would reflect off of them, and it
was just you felt him when he looked at you,
You felt him looking through you like he was judging.
He was just oh, he was very intense. But I
never wan, I never ever felt like he was gonna
harm me. I knew that when he was with me.
I knew that lady and I were going to be
okay when we go on our adventures, because we had
bears and I was doing everything as a child I
was told not to do. If there is a road,
you shouldn't take on that road, buddy, No.
Speaker 2: I understand. How much do you think he weighed when
you lost him.
Speaker 1: When he had passed, or when I was when I
brought him home when he passed, Oh my gosh, he
I know. I was probably about one hundred and ten pounds.
He was easily if he had stood up on his
two feet, his hind legs. He was way taller than
I was. And I'm not too sure how much he weighed,
but I knew he weighed more than I did. As
he grew before he was taken and he passed, I
couldn't have picked him up any longer. He was easily.
I remember one time he gave my grandfather a hug
and his eyes. My grandfather was five nine and his
head was above my grandfather's. He had to lower his
head down and he would fend his head and he
would touch my grandfather's forehead with his so his muzzle
was down, so he was he was pretty impressive. We
knew that he wasn't They said that we didn't have wolves,
but they also said that, you know, we don't have
mountain lions, which we have mountain lions and bears here.
My grandfather just said that it was not a wolf.
He he knew, he knew something was different about him.
But like the bond with myself, he went right to
my grandfather and they would sit out on the porch
and they'd watch the sun set together, and my grandfather
would watch for the deer, and as the deer would
pass up on the hill, shadow would perk up and
he'd put his ears forward, and my pap would reach
down and at his head a couple pats and just
say it's okay, boy. And those there are a couple
of memories I absolutely just forgotten until now. But it
was he had different ways of showing his affection, and
like I said, the one was putting his forehead against
looking down and touching my grandfather's forehead with his And
I only ever seen him hug him one time because
my grandfather was getting up in age and was a
little frail at that time, But he was always so gentle.
Speaker 2: You're awfully lucky to have him, you really were. Now
this next questions more to the listeners than for me.
But where his ear is more on the top of
his head or on the sides?
Speaker 1: Uh? They were higher than they weren't all the way
up top. It was in between. If I had to say,
if he had them erect and forward, it seemed like
they were a little more up top, But if he
had them pinned, they seemed little further set back. But man,
those I used to call him jumbo trons because you
were so big. He would and it always amazed me
how he would pivot. I you know, I'm around a
lot of dogs, and their ears they they pivot, they
go sideways, they do a lot of things. But I
just remembering his ears just they seem different.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the pictures right now, and a lot
of things about him are just different. I don't know
if you ever noticed this before, but I'm looking at
the photo where he had been shot, and you can
see if the wounds are almost deeled. Did you notice
that his head was extra long?
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, he had a very long muzzle. Right away,
And you know, we look through nature books all all
the time. We would watch national geographics, and my instinct
I thought I was younger, so I thought he was
just a wolf. Because sometimes we would have my grandfather
he would say that there was timber wolves, or there
was Koi dogs where the coyotes or Koi wolves where
they would mix, and sometimes they were a little bigger.
But I never encountered those. But shadow his face now
that I'm able to look back and I'm looking at
the photo that you're looking at, his structure, his bone
structure was different. It was larger, it was his muzzle
was way more pronounced than what a dog should have been.
My grandfather probably should have had every right to say
not to keep him, but whatever it was, I believe,
I sincerely believe my grandfather felt that bond too.
Speaker 2: You're awful lucky to have such a great granddad. You
really were. And looking at that one photo were a
circle the area that was healing. I was looking at
his gums. Those are different also.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I just realized that when I sent you
those pictures last night, I said, oh my gosh, his
gums are blackening. And before somebody says, you know, it
was a Chowchow or another breeder shepherds. He was not
a shepherd. That one photo that you're looking at him
on the couch where he's standing over her, he looks
like a giant wolf. His body, his rare hawks, his legs.
There is nothing average canine about him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, i'd say, so that's pretty wild. And I know
there are tons and tons of people I probably better
address this. I'm sure there are tons of listeners that
are going to take me to task for not posting
those photos. But I love doing what I do. If
I start putting evidence out there for public consumption that's
above a certain level of quality, that's about the quickest
way for me to wind up not being able to
do what I do and probably inviting all sorts of
other problems to come my way as well, from the
people in black suits or whatever. But yeah, that's why
I'm not going to post these photos. So I'm telling
you about them. Of course, April is going into detail
about them, but that's not something I'm going to post.
I know it's going to ruffle some feathers a lot
of feathers, but that's just how it is, all right.
Moving on, how long did you have him before your
dad did what he unfortunately did to him.
Speaker 1: So my grandparents passed away in ninety eight, and it
was probably had him for about three years, almost four,
I would I would say, is it shortly after my
grandparents died that my dad, you know? And touching back
on my dad, my dad was he was a horrible person.
He dabbled in black magic drugs. He claimed to be
a warlock, and he did some really horrible things. And
I can't take it back. I can't change it, so
I just deal with it. I had my grandparents had
just passed, and I was coming to get my dogs.
I was going to the house to pick up Lady
and Shadow, and I seen something laying in the yard
as I came up the hill and I got closer
and I thought that that's really weird. What is that?
It was Shadow. My dad would say that before he
did this, he would say that he would watch Shadow
from outside. He would see him when I was sleeping,
stand up on two legs and walk from the door
that led into my bedroom from the living room. There.
Then he would walk to the porch door. I had
my own private porch, and then the next door was
on the other side of the room that led into
my grandmother's room, and he said he would watch Shadow
at night stand up and walk on two legs. I
never witnessed that, but I chalked that up to my
dad just you know, just a bunch of bs. I
was like, whatever, he's just crazy. He's just saying this
to rough my feathers or you know, try to scare me.
But that day I was coming to pick Shadow up.
Him and Lady I was gonna they were going to
Florida with me. Shadow was laying. It was right where
the well is near the Toby the old Toby tree.
He was laying about ten feet away from it, to
the right, and I seen something sticking out of him,
a lot of some things I couldn't. As I got closer,
I realized my dad had shot him numerous times with
a gun. Then he shot him. There was so many
arrows sticking out of him, and he laid there dead,
and it destroyed me. I had a friend with me
and I had picked him up. My friend said we
can put him in a wheelbarrow. I said no. I
took him over to our sleep palth that's where we
always walked, and he just loved it. And it was
the old coke ovens on our property. Everything was still
green outside too, so it might have been spring or summer.
And he said, well, help you dig I said no.
I ended up burying him where he just loved it
over there. But my dad, he took away a lot
of things that were mine. Time I'd found kittens, he
ran them over. But Shadow hit hard. Shadow hit really hard.
It felt like that day that I lost a piece
of my soul. It was like when my grandfather passed.
It hurt so bad, and I just thought, how can
somebody I didn't understand how somebody that's supposed to love
you and protect you could hurt you like that and
take something away another life. Regardless if Shadow was a
dog man or whatever he was, he was still living.
He was, but he was my best friend, and that
day I regretted it. I didn't grab Lady. I was
so upset and I just left he had I thought
my sister taken Lady and she just revealed to me
my dad shot her too, and I finding that out it, man,
it just tears me apart because now I feel like
when she told me that, I just I felt like
a failure and my grandparents. They got her for me.
It was September fifteenth. It was because my I remember
that day because my appendix scruptured and I was at
this point I was vomiting green. Like the doctor said,
I needed to have my appendix out immediately, but I
wasn't going until I got that dog. And when I
was in the hospital for about a week, I come
home and my grandparents, my grandfather already had her house
broken and she was the last I don't want to
say she was not a thing. That was, but the
last thing they got me. She was never a thing.
And my dad took her away too. He has since passed.
Like I told you earlier, I didn't attend his funeral.
I have said I forgave him a deep down I
have not, and especially after speaking with my sister and
she told me how hate he passed. Man, I regret
so much not taking her with me. But there was
so many emotions going through me that day, and I
I know it's such a harsh word. There was a
hatred that just formed inside of me for my dad.
And oh yeah, I'm sure it's still quite emotional reliving
that day. And it just telling you that just felt
like it was yesterday finding him there, and he when
he came out to confront me, I remember him bragging
that Shadow wouldn't die, he wouldn't go down. I don't
know why he had to do such an overkill. Why
he did that. He knew that I was coming to
get him. It wasn't like, you know, I just abandoned him.
I was sixteen or seventeen by this time. I didn't
abandon my dogs, and he knew that. I think he
was just looking for a reason because he never Shadow
never liked him, and he could. He knew it. Everybody
knew it. And I believe he was the only person
that Shadow ever bared his canines to snarled. And prior
to that, I had Poucci, which was my border collie.
I had him from like age four to like ten.
I remember my dad made a gesture when I was
on the porch and Pucci went for my dad. Very
The dogs were always very protective of me. You know,
my sister loved them growing up, but they didn't bond
with her, and she, you know, she was she definitely
loved them. She pet them. She you know, I would
send her out when I was grounded to bring various
animals in the house because I wasn't allowed to bring
them in, so you know, she didn't do anything wrong.
It's just that when something bonded, it seemed like, you know,
it was myself and my grandfather that the heavy bonds
were formed. And I would feel things growing up. I
would feel what they were going through. I could feel
their fear, I feel the uneasiness. I could feel if
they didn't like something. I was always sensitive to filling
what animals felt, and I believe that, you know, I
honestly think that my very first dog man encounter when
I was very young, at the base of at my
mother's place. Of course, I was scared to death because
I was like seven or eight. I was very young.
And when I came up that hill and he was
standing there, he pointed straight to that my mother's apartment,
the townhouse, pointed right to it, and I was petrified.
It felt like everything happened in slow motion, and it
was heading straight up the hill into the cemetery, and
then the cemetery you just crossed this little gravel road
and you were into giant cornfields. And I think that
I might be wrong. This is just my theory that
maybe it, you know, when we we have fear horrmones
and things are released. I think that it, I don't know,
maybe marked me or put a cent on me that
has led me to the other encounters, you know, with shadow.
But I don't know. That's just what I think, you know,
And the encounters have happened a few more times besides
raising shadow. Now, you know, I just turned forty three.
There's everything stopped for a very long time, and then
something appeared here at the house. And I'm about ten
miles from where my very first encounter happened, and I'm
about twenty miles from where my grandparents' property resides. So
I'm in this tight little circle of where everything has happened.
But I honestly think, like I said, that from that
very first encounter, I was I don't know, I just
think that I was marked that thing. He was so big,
and what was really bizarre about him too, he looked
like more of like a gray wolf or a timber
wolf in his markings. He was very light in color,
but he had a loincloth on leather. I remember that
like yesterday. But I had never been so afraid in
my life and our windows like I said before the
windows in the downstairs they were like four foot by
four foot. They were big windows. I was so afraid
that thing was gonna come busting through the window. And
that was you know, like I said with Shadow, I
think it just led me to that. And I know
there's people that have nasty encounters. I have not had
a traumatic nasty encounter. I've never been attacked. Not saying
that I won't or wouldn't be. I stay open minded.
I you know, to this day, we volunteer at a
church camp and there's thousands of acres at this place.
I honestly, and it's just because of what's happened. I
don't feel comfortable going out in those in our woods.
I am definitely It's not that I'm playing safe. I
am playing safe. I'm definitely playing safe. I'm staying in
my lane. I know they're out there. I don't wanna.
I don't believe in knocking at the devil's door either,
So when they ask me if I wanna, you know,
volunteer with the kids and take them on the trails,
I don't. I have no desire in going camping. I
love where we live. I love the woods, I love
the scenery. I love the wildlife, but it has raised
my awareness that yes, they are a predator. Yes they
are out there. Yes people are ending up on the
four one one. Yes people they they are attacking people,
they are farming people. That Yet there's those of us
that are not having those encounters, whether it be faith,
whether it be where one of them decide to mark us,
if they mark us. But I know that we released
that hormone of fear and they can smell that. And
that's just my thoughts. Sorry I started rambling.
Speaker 2: No, you weren't rambling at all, just telling us your
feelings and opinions about things. Talking about that werewolf. You
saw those wearing that loincloth in the vest. Did the
loincloth or a vest seem to be torn at all
or did this seem to be in pretty good shape?
Speaker 1: Oh no, the vest was also, oh gosh, yes, the vest.
He was wearing a vest as well. The loincloth seemed
like it was it was like frayed leather, but it wasn't.
It didn't look like, you know, something took a knife
and just gave it some tassels. And it was light tan,
very light tan. So was the vest. It was light
tan as well, and he was he was like a
grayish white. But down his back he had like it
would like V his his color. And the V that
went down his back was like there was like traces
of reds and browns in it. But he was dominantly
he was. He was whitish gray. And I remember when
he pointed, he used his I was standing to the
left of him, and he used his left hand and
pointed straight at that window. And I had, just like
I said, we were playing Manhunt or Capture the Flag,
and I was hidden. They were doing construction at the
townhouse development, and they parked the semi trailers, the uh
the car trailers, and I had squeezed up inside of
where the tires are and I hid there and where
it was positioned. When I came up that hill, it
was directly in front of me in the weeds coming
up over the hill. And when I popped up, I
looked and it was so close to me, and I
just pointed and right in front of it to the right.
My friends had their tent up and we were going
to camp out that night. I didn't camp out that night.
I didn't do a lot of things. I was in
after that happened, I didn't want to play outside, you know,
I had Oh that that did it. I was constantly
locking windows, doors, and just by the size of this thing,
if he wanted in, he was coming in. And then
we'd built in the woods right there. It was directly
behind where the tent was. We had the woods. Also
we had made this clubhouse, and we thought the older
boys that were like, you know, fifteen or sixteen, we
thought they had destroyed our clubhouse. And from time to time,
my friend Rachel, we would be on our bikes and
we'd jump these little hills and we'd peddle through them
because you know, we were young and that was what
we had to do for entertainment. And we would catch
something out of the corner of our eye running behind
the trees, darting, and I always had an uneasy filling.
So I quit going in those woods as well. I mean,
there was a lot of things I quit doing. And
then Shadow came along, and then it brings us up
to date with the encounters. Here at the house. There
was a large, lighter colored one and he had to
have been you know, when you walk out of the house,
the trees where he was, we walked over and measured
he had to. He was easily even foot tall. This
giant black one stepped out next to him, and it
was even bigger that one. I the malice, the hatred,
you could just fill it radiating off of him. We
had had a lot of encounters. The coyotes had started
coming in and they were flanking us, they were attacking,
they were going after our little dog. And there was
this I don't know if it was a how but
or infra sound, but you could fill it through you
and it's had a shockwave through you and you just prose.
It was so deep and so loud. We have not
had coyotes on our property since they all left, and
I thought, man, that was when I heard this thing.
Oh my gosh. It scared the heck out of me.
And you know, I have aries is two hundred pound dog.
He's a very big dog. I fill one hundred percent
safe with him. But I'm more protective I think over
him than I should be. But when he when we
go outside, if I am constantly, even in our french yard,
I keep him on a leash. He does not ever
go outside without me or with me next to him.
I just knowing what's out there? And yes, you know,
he's still a dog. Dogs can do some unpredictable things.
I just I keep him near. We had had another encounter.
It was in October. I was walking aries up in
our where I had sent you the picture of all
the deer. All the deer were right there, and that's
the section of our property that opens up into the
field in the woods. And we had a broken concrete
from a project that was stacked right there. And this
it was, like I said, in October, hunting season had
just started, or was getting ready to start. Aris his
hackles went up and he let out a growl, and
I'm like, wait what? And I looked and if I
would have taken my hand and reached out, this creature
could have touched my fingertip to fingertip easily. It rose
up so slow, so very slowly, and I thought it
looked like a gilly suit, but it was distorted. And
I'm like, I yelled, I said, Johnny, because I thought
it was our neighbor. He's always hunting, I said, Johnny,
So what are you doing. You can't hunt here, it's
our property and it's so close to the house. What
are you doing? It didn't say a word. It started
crouching back down so slowly, and it was October. The
leaves of or falling and they were crunchy. You could
hear everything. It never made a sound and started to
dematerialize like Vanish, and it did vanish. I thought, holy cow,
what did I just see? It looked like a Gillie suit. Well,
I had had Aries out a few days after that,
and you know, our our deer pretty demanding the demand
their apples and so forth. But I had just walked
behind my bedroom outside with Aries, and I looked up
and I've seen there was probably I don't know, seven, eight,
maybe ten deer. They were standing head to butt, head
to butt, had to butt, all of them huddled together.
Something what out And it was not a large cat.
It was not deer. And you know, I said this before,
deer do vocalize. They do scream. It was not one
of their screams they had come up from. It was
up in the trees and it screamed. It had scared
me so much I ended up. I peeded myself. Aries
was going ballistic and I was trying to hold him back,
and the deer came. They came like they charged towards
the house. But whatever it was was up in the
trees and it wasn't an owl. It was it was
like it was no creature I've ever heard, and it
just let out this this scream. I still do not
know what that was. All of our motion lights last week,
I'd say within the past nine days, every motion because
when things get dark here, it gets dark. We don't
have street lights. And all of our motion lights died
last week upon the around the time of the marketing
on the house. In my vehicle, every motion light dead,
like they're not working. And that was a little bizarre.
It be a coincident, Chess. I don't rule anything out.
I stay open minded, but the fact that nine of
them quit working and one night, that's a little odd.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a little too odd, too ironic.
Speaker 1: Oh. Another thing, the helicopters. They have been so when
I had seen that mass pop up at the concrete,
the thing that I thought was a gilly suit, I
had had aries out. It was during the day. A
black helicopter turned like it was going to land in
our yard. I could see that the guys inside of it.
I could see the gun sitting across the one guy's lap,
and I thought, oh my gosh, they were below the
tree line. I thought they were landing right there. And
I threw myself instantly in front of aries because I
thought I thought they were gonna shoot my dog. He
is really big. He has you know, he does have
an ear crop. He came with his ears cropped. I
didn't do that, but he is, you know, if you
didn't know what he was, he's very intimidating. But all
I thought was okay, the dog man. I'm like, oh
my gosh, did they think I that he's a dog man?
I didn't know what to think. And about you know,
about this time again, there was something, you know, Like
I said, we pulled the blinds down every night, and
for whatever reason, we were watching TV and I didn't
I didn't pull my bedroom blind down. And it was
around two thirty two forty five am, two o'clock. I
woke up with that feeling something was watching me. I
could see two glowing eyes at my window, which the
bedroom windows about nine and a half feet for anybody
to be able to see in where it was, and
it had taken When it realized I was looking, I
elbowed my partner and I'm like somethings looking and just
as you know, we're focusing and trying to make sense
of what was going on, it took. It was like
it took two steps back and turned into it was
like again dematerializing, but turned into a black mist. And
then it was gone. And then we had, like I said,
the urination. I've had things brought to the porch. I've
had rocks stacked up at my door door, deer hoofs
made out of and grass, placed dead animals, few dead animals.
We found a deer carcass on our property. And when
we find something that's dead, we try to pull it.
We you know, will either load it up on the
quad and take it further out away from the house
so we don't have predators coming in our scavengers. And
the deer was ripped in half, just I mean ripped
like something had enough force to rip that thing in half,
and it was just lying there. I thought fully, crap.
And you know, We've had, like I said, things placed
dead on our porch. And the one particular animal I
had chucked like over our fence and it flew, it
went back a decent amount. You know, I was comfortable
with when we came back, it was on the roof
of our house. I mean, this thing was dug dead.
It was not it was it was definitely dead, and
the animal was on our roof. The dead animal that
I'd thrown over the fence. Can't explain that could maybe, uh,
you know, birds of prey. I did falconry grow in
growing up, which was that was a lot of fun.
They eat there, they eat what they're going to eat.
So I doubt that it was a bird of prey
that swooped down to grab this like stiff, dead animal
to take up on our roof. I doubt, you know,
I thought maybe a raccoon. But I'm like, that's a
lot of work. You try to rationalize and try to
think things clear as to how something could have gone
up there. You know, there was there was another time
around this period we heard something. At one point of
our house. You're able to like I could pop up
on the roof and then walk the duration. But then
on the other end of the house, it's like thirteen
feet maybe twenty foot to the it's where our pitches.
So maybe I don't know, you know what, I honestly
don't know, but it's it's extremely high. I would not
want to fall from there. We heard something up on
the roof and the dogs and our dogs went balistic,
but you could hear it running the length and it
was heading towards the woods. It was on the roof
of our house. That kind of you know, that chilled
us to the core a little bit because it was heavy.
There was no denying. It was like the steps were
like and you can hear it. It was like boom,
boom boom. They were deliberate. Oh. It just gave me
the channels thinking about that one. So yeah, that's uh,
that's everything up to current I I'm sure I'm leaving
out details, but that's that's everything as of you know today,
you poor thing.
Speaker 2: At the worst, most people just have to worry about
the sum pump going down or the furnace giving up,
the ghost. But with all the things you have to
deal with on an ongoing basis, it just isn't fair.
It really isn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But you know, like I said, my theory, we're
all programmed to a or you know, I don't feel
like anything coming at me is not It's not something
that I'm not prepared for. I'm going to prepare you know,
we we have we do competition shooting, like I said,
and you know, my grandfather he taught me. I am.
I guess I would be self proclaimed because I've never
done it professionally. But I am one heck of a
tracker in the woods. And you know, my environment, the
situation awareness, it has been en heightened, and it's it's ridiculous,
like I can pick up on sounds so far away,
and even you know the tracks, the branches you learn,
I've learned very quickly. You know a deer trail, you
you know okay, well, dear, have been through here. You
know that, you know, like you can spot where the
bobcats are and the branch is being broken. So I
just I feel like everything that has led me to
today is preparing me for something else, something bigger, and
to keep you know, I wasn't wasn't always as open minded.
I just thought that the were wolves was you know,
I thought it was a were wolf then and then
you hear the dog man term. And there was one point,
like I said, I contacted. I was really afraid and
things were happening at my mother's house where the cemetery was.
Things started happening and I had contacted a Catholic church
and the priest told me that there is no such
thing as evil. I was taping Bible verses around my bed.
I was petrified as the there it was. I don't
know if it was a I think a hag is
what I've read about. But it was an old woman
and her head was faced down and she was floating
on her tiptoes, coming from the direction of the cemetery
where the dog man went through. And it was right
when my grandparents had died. They both passed away months apart.
I was completely I was a I was emotionally drained.
I was It was a really bad time. I mean,
the depression said in. I didn't know what to do
because they promised they would never leave me and if
they that time came, I would be ready. I was
not ready. I was fifteen, and it hit me hard.
That was when like the spiritual attacks started happening, that
that hag thing attacked me, and that, like I said,
I contacted the priest and he said, oh, no, no,
you should probably seek counseling. Oh, like okay, so this
is how that's gonna go. And it happened for several
years and I finally got a grip on it. And
you know, I haven't had one time in this house.
There was that thing that like dematerialized outside of my
bedroom last week. There was the mist that went from
it came in the bedroom and went down where we
have another gun safe, and we have several guns safe
in our bedroom, and it came in and it was
like it floated straight past the gun safe and went
straight towards the window, and it was like I could
feel it, I could see, I physically watched it, and
then it was gone. But the shape of the mist
was the same kind of mist that was outside when
those eyes were looking in through the window. As it
dematerialized and turned into that mist, that was the same mist.
And we've encountered that mist outside a couple more times.
And to describe this mist, oh, I'm sorry, that's one
of the dogs. Two our daughters just coming in from work.
To describe this mist, it was the size of maybe
two polar bears combined. It was huge, and then it
was gone. But we we seen it, both of us
at the same time, and nobody knew what to say
without thinking we were going crazy. So we've encountered it
a couple of times.
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, no one should have to deal
with half as many things as you're dealing with on
an ongoing basis there. Unfortunately, from what I understand, there's
a certain word that you can say that will send
Aeries running for the house every time. Please tell us
more about that.
Speaker 1: Oh, you just gave me the jewels. This was in Michigan.
I was with him. We were in Upper Michigan and
it was the moon was beautiful, and you know, I
don't contribute you know, things with the full moon, although
you know the energy is a lot stronger, like near
a waterfall. Well, I had taken aries out and it
was so late and in the back of the property.
Our property had a lot of woods. There's just it
was like it was a nature reserve and something had
given me the But this I seen these eyes and
it was really tall and had stepped out it. You know,
I'll tell you what it turned out to be. But
I screamed, were a wolf? Aries never leaves me? Hey?
He took off for a dead sprint and ran into
where the basement or my game room was in the basement,
and when he had hit that door, the knob must
have been locked. He locked me out of the house.
Oh no, yes, so I go through, Like you know that.
My house was three, three levels. I had three full kitchens,
like the downstairs. The game room was an entire living quarters.
Then my main living was entire living quarters. Then upstairs
had another living quarters. It just came like that. It's
a gorgeous house. Oh I. I'm like, the only way
I can get in now is and I don't know
what's going on, what's out there, And I just know
that Aris left me when I screamed to were Wolf,
I have to go through the downstairs, one of the
downstairs bedrooms. And I'm like, oh man, I am just praying.
I'm sure some choice words came out of my mouth.
I was so afraid. And then I see Aris come
through the bedroom door and he's looking at me and
he just has this most concerned look on his face.
It was a dough. It was the biggest dough I
have ever seen in my life. But to this day,
if you say were Wolf he books to the house,
he just he will leave you. He's never been trained
to do that. It is so bizarre.
Speaker 2: Huh, what what's behind that?
Speaker 1: And you know, I laugh about it now but oh
my gosh, I was scared to death.
Speaker 2: Oh I bet you were. He who could blame you?
Speaker 1: And you know the places I've lived, you're your only defense.
I've lived so far away from everybody. Oh my gosh,
speaking of that, I'll have to send you these photos.
We had a marina off of the reserve in our backyard.
I was with Aries. We'd walk all the time. We
had stumbled upon this house and Aries found it. I
was he was off lead, which he has a wonderful recall,
and he was walking a little probably about ten feet
in front of me. I was following him, and I
knew we were on a path, but it wasn't it
wasn't wore down from people, or I thought so. I thought,
he finds this run down house, like in the middle
of this reserve. The windows are broken out. You could
see remnants of, you know, run down children's toys. It
was definitely some hills have eyes going on back there.
I grabbed it. I put his lead on. I said
we got to go, and just as I was doing that,
I thought he was he wanted to investigate more. You
had this just the chills everywhere, And I used that term.
I said werewolf. Man, I have never I have not
run that fast since my track days in high school.
He looked it. I was running. I lost my flip
flop in the woods. And he was probably about fifteen
months old at that time, so he still had so much,
way more energy than I had. But I got I
managed to get a picture of this place. I'll send
it to you. Man. It was just I mean, it's
like I couldn't like in a movie. It was just there.
We didn't go back to that area again. We stayed
and he loves to watch boats, sail boats, and he boats,
so we just stayed on the other side of the
reserve where the marina was, and we'd just sit there,
you know, we'd we'd walk the water line, the shoreline,
and we'd we'd just sit there and watch the boats
for a while. After that happened, that kind of like
ended us. It ended our trail days because I didn't
want to know what else was out there. I didn't
know if it was occupied or what was going on.
But it just gave you that fight or flight you
had to get out of her. That was It's funny
now thinking about it, but man, just it's never you know,
some people go on adventures. You know, I think I have.
It's the Misadventures of April because nothing, nothing goes like
you know, nothing just seems normal.
Speaker 2: Well, that just makes your life that much more exciting,
that's all it is.
Speaker 1: Yes, it adds character. I guess that it does.
Speaker 2: Let's bounce back to shadow. I've got another question for
you about him. You said you had him for a
long time, for years, And with that in mind, how
long did you have him before you heard from your
dad about him standing up and walking on two legs.
Speaker 1: I didn't find out about that until after he killed him,
So I did not know about that. I had had him,
you know, probably about the four years because uh, twelve,
let me see sorry, I'm doing my fingermath. Yeah, four years.
It was right when I was sixteen, had him from
about the time I was eleven or twelve, and he
grew he can't, I mean so in those pictures he's
he was just a poppy. Like I said, he got
considerably bigger he was, and it seemed like he was
constantly growing. You know, it would didn't You know how
puppies they go through that gangly phase and it almost
goes in spurts. He just continuously kept growing and maturing
and getting bigger. So when he passed he was probably
the size he was. He was like I compare him
to a king shepherd, and he was not. Again, I
cannot say this enough or stress this. He was not
a shepherd. There was no shepherd in him. And he
was probably about the size of a king shepherd, entering
almost to the size of a Great Dane, a young
Great Dane. And his height, and I'm talking about at
his withers, his shoulders, his head was he had he
had a pretty long neck, which was a little weird too,
and it was when he would just stand normal, you
didn't realize how big his neck was. And he was
so black, so you'd have to really focus on him
because of the how black he was. It like different angles.
You your mind's like it's it's not registering. But he
had a pretty long neck, a very elongated muzzle, and
there was it was just so incredible to look at
just and when when I went to bed, he would
he was like a sentinel in bed when I when
I would retire for the night, and he never never ever,
you know, he's on the couch playing with lady. He
would do that when she was around and they were playing.
But if I was sitting on the couch, he would
not sit on the couch with me. He would stay
on the floor. In my bed lady slept with me,
he would stay on the floor. It would have been
really tight if he joined us, but I wouldn't have minded.
And when he was healing, he uh in our living
room where the couch was, I would I didn't. There's
many times I'd wake up. I wasn't on the couch.
I was sleeping on the floor with him because I
was afraid he wasn't going to make it. But his
healing seemed a lot quicker also, and to the point where,
like you said, you know, there's just those two dots
of that was skin, but his hair completely came in.
It just stayed as a lump where he was shot.
Speaker 2: He must have still had lead in him unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, probably, and he ate a lot. We you know,
my grandfather hunted, so we had freezers of venison, and
his favorite thing to hunt it was my chickens. I
loved my chickens. I mean I had Violet with me
that day in my backpack. He was my prize rooster.
Shadow ate Violet, and I remember that day. Oh my gosh,
I started crying. I'm like, oh, chickens, you had to
eat him, Oh my gosh. And he, like Shadows, sat down.
He sat right in front of me, and he just
gave me this look and his expression it's had a
thousand words. You could see like he kind of if remorse,
if they and they animals show remorse. He had a
bit of remorse, but he had like this weird grin,
like he was the best rooster he's ever eaten. He
had just like this devious grin on his face. And
then I forgave him. I was crying. I was like,
but I loved him so much. And then it was
just how he was looking at me. I remember giving
him a big hug and saying, but that's okay. I'm
so upset.
Speaker 2: Oh I bet you were. But I guess Shadow was
just doing what he was born to do.
Speaker 1: Yes, And now Violet had this. He had a brother.
His name was George. This rooster, once he hit a
certain age, he did what most roosters do, but he
started attacking me and flogging me. And I remember this
one day he chased me through the house. He chased
me around the yard. I mean he was gumming for me.
I ran in the house screaming, bloody murder my grandfather.
He grabs his gun. He sees what's going on. George
had grabbed me at the corner of my eyelid. I
still have a scar there from it. He was like
spurring me and just he was like, heck ben that
he was taking me out. My grandfather shot him. I
don't know how many times, but he did die. And
I looked at shadowed him like, why couldn't you have
eaten George? It had to be Violet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd say so, would have been a public service.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, those are some of you know, it was
a pretty traumatic day. But looking back, I'm sitting here laughing. Man,
those are some of the best memories. And they get
locked and then you remember and you're just like.
Speaker 2: Wow, it's funny how that works, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Oh? Yes, yes, And you know, Violet, I missed the
school bus. He would follow me to the bus stop.
I can't tell you how many times. I mean, like
that rooster was my best friend. I'd take him down.
The chickens weren't allowed in the garden, but he would
follow me and he'd pack the bugs. Well, I was
pulling the weeds out of my grandfather's garden. See only
chicken alowed that was in the garden.
Speaker 2: If that's not a domesticated rooster, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1: Oh. He was just my best friend. And you know
when I we came upon Shadow again, he was the
rooster in my backpack and carrying him home. Shadow was
just interested in trying to eat him. Then I should
have known all the signs were there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're just a kid, so you can't be
faulted for that. I'll tell you what, April. We're about
out of time here. Before we do get out of here, though,
do you have any clothes and comments you want to
put out there for us, you know.
Speaker 1: For anybody that encounters something. Again, I can't say this
enough that we're told doesn't exist or shouldn't exist, but
we are encountering it. Try to remain palm, you know.
When we release that fear hormone, which I still I know,
I release it here. We release that and they can
pick up on that and it triggers. Don't ever run
tell it, you know. I just feel like you just
need to communicate granted, I'm sure there's some really bad
ones out there. I know there has to be. There's
some really bad people out there as well, and not
every encounter. I do not believe that we should be
out there hunting them. The ones that I have been pounded,
at least, I don't feel like that is that black one.
Let me take that back. That black one had stepped out.
That thing was scary. That was that was, oh my
gosh it. And I don't know, I don't know if
the shorter gray one was called the shots, but they
were clicking. There was clicking in their throats as well.
They were making the click click click. And we've had
the tree knocks before, like physically seeing it. I forgot
all about that. Vic. There was three distinct tree knocks knock, knock, knock,
and the sounds outside. So you hear people saying about
the metallic sound. This the sound that we could hear,
and it went on for several days. It was after
something struck something metal and it was the gong. It
wasn't like the the initial impact. And that's when I've
seen them. And the only thing I just I want
people to know, be aware of your surrounding don't go
out there thinking you're you know, you're Billy bad butt
and you're the apex predator out there. We are not.
We have to share, we have to respect, We have
to you know, carry bear mace. I keep bear mace
in my vehicle. I keep mace on me, don't you know.
Just try to remain calm. Don't ever run because these
things they're gonna outrun you. There is no and if
butts or is about that, they will outrun you. Just
don't present yourself as the prey. Be smart, keep you're
cool about you walk out, don't continue to look behind
you like prey does. And let that fear get the
best of you. Talk to it. I believe they can
understand us. They have understanding capability, and they're they're smart,
they're very smart. Let them know that you're not there
to harm them. You might have stumbled upon a den
area or a hunting area. Let them know that you're
not there to harm them. Unharness that bear spray and
again keep that bear spray on you and just have
it ready and tell them you're leaving. That's you know,
and just be open mind minded because there's a lot
of things out there. We don't know about and we
don't comprehend it. We don't understand, but treating it as
the threat and destroying it that is not the answer.
And that's that's the best advice I can give. That's
how I'm treating it.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good way to handle it. And I've
got a sneaking suspicion you're far from being done with
all these experiences. I hope that you're done, but i'd
be pretty surprised if you don't have more coming down
the road sometime. But please remember, if you ever do
need more help from me, I'll always be there for you.
All I have to do is just let me know
and I'll be there to help. Well, April, Having said that,
I can't thank you enough for coming on to share
the details of those experiences for us on episode six
twenty eight, of course coming back to do this Q
and A. So thanks Agains so much for your time.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you for having me, and I'm so happy
that I could provide those photos of Shadow for you.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for saying ending him. But having said that,
thanks against so much for your time and have a
great night.