WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.000 Now one of your pudding. I got a string going 2 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.120 on here, something just because my dog. Something killed your dog, 3 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:08.960 my dog. We're flying through the air over the tree. 4 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:13.640 I don't know how it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm 5 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.120 really confused. All I saw was my dog coming over 6 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:17.800 the fence and he was dead. And once you hit 7 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.679 the ground like, I didn't see any cars. All I 8 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:38.320 saw was my dog coming over the fence. Sat, what 9 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:42.960 are you putting? We got some wonder or something crawling 10 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:51.759 around out here? Did you see what it was or 11 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.159 was it was? Standing enough? I'm out here looking through 12 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:55.920 the window now and I don't see anything. I don't 13 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:03.880 want to go outside. Jesus quice, you better hello, get 14 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:06.120 the body out here? What quen? I'm out there? I 15 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:08.840 thought of a bit about tex forty nine. I don't 16 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:13.239 know easy out there, Yeah, I'm walking right head. Listen closely, 17 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:15.799 and I will tell you something that most people do 18 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:18.920 not want to believe, something that those of us who 19 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:21.120 live through it have carried in our hearts for more 20 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:24.840 than sixty years. You see, when people think of sasquatch, 21 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.159 when they imagine these beings that walk between our world 22 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:32.280 and the wild places, they picture gentle giants. They imagine 23 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:36.439 curious creatures peering from behind trees, maybe stealing a fish 24 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:39.599 from a drying rack, or leaving footprints by a creek. 25 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.959 They want to believe that if these things exist, they 26 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:46.680 are benevolent, or at least indifferent to us humans. But 27 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:49.319 I'm here to tell you that this is not always true. 28 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:52.640 Just as there are humans who turn dark, who prey 29 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:55.959 upon their own kind, so too are there those among 30 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.560 the hairy people who walk a different path, a dangerous path, 31 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:03.359 a path of blood and terror. What I'm about to 32 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:06.239 share with you happened in the early nineteen sixties in 33 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.719 a small village along the Copper River in Alaska. I 34 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.199 was just a little girl then, no more than eight 35 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:17.000 years old. But some things, some terrible things, they burn 36 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:20.400 themselves into your memory so deeply that even after ninety 37 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.360 two years on this earth, I can close my eyes 38 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:26.080 and be right back there. I can smell the smoke 39 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:29.199 from the fish drying racks. I can hear the sound 40 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:32.039 of my father loading his rifle in the dark. I 41 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:35.560 can see those red eyes glowing outside my window. This 42 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:38.039 is not a story for the faint of heart. This 43 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.719 is not one of those tales where everyone lives happily 44 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:43.960 ever after. This is the truth about what happened when 45 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.159 one of the hairy men, as we called them, went wrong, 46 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.680 when it began hunting us, when it took our children. 47 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.879 So settle in, but perhaps leave a light on, and 48 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.439 remember as you listen to an old woman's memories, that 49 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:01.439 not all the giants and the fours to friendly. Some 50 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.159 of them are hungry, and some of them have developed 51 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:07.400 a taste for human flesh. My name is Mary, and 52 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:09.439 I was born in a village that sat on a 53 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:12.800 bend of the Great Copper River, about two hundred miles 54 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:17.000 from what anyone might call civilization. In the summer of 55 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:20.199 nineteen sixty two, we had maybe one hundred and twenty 56 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.159 people living there year round. We were Upik people had 57 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:27.759 been there since time immemorial, since Raven brought light to 58 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:31.240 the world. The village was a cluster of small wooden 59 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:34.439 houses and a few traditional sod houses that the elders 60 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:38.080 still preferred. We had a little Orthodox church with its 61 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:41.759 onion dome painted blue like the sky, a general store 62 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.800 run by old Pete, and a one room schoolhouse where 63 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:48.280 Missus Thompson, a white woman from Oregon, tried her best 64 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:52.000 to teach us English and arithmetic, but most of our learning, 65 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.479 our real learning, happened out on the land and the river. 66 00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:58.240 I need you to understand what our life was like 67 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:02.680 before everything went wrong. It was hard, yes, but it 68 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:06.680 was beautiful. In summer, the sun barely set, and we 69 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.240 children would play by the river until our mothers called 70 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:11.520 us in at what would have been midnight in the 71 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:16.160 lower forty eight. We picked berries, clouds of mosquitoes following 72 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.399 us everywhere. We helped smoke and dry the salmon that 73 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:22.680 ran thick in the river. We listened to our grandmothers 74 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:25.600 tell stories about raven and wolf and the little people 75 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.879 who lived under the hills. My best friends were Anna 76 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:31.879 and Peter, a brother and sister who lived three houses 77 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.680 down from ours. Anna was seven, a year younger than me, 78 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:39.959 and Peter had just turned nine that spring. Peter was brave, 79 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:43.360 always the first to climb the tallest tree or venture 80 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.000 out onto the river ice in early winter to test 81 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:50.639 if it would hold. Anna was quieter, sweeter. She had 82 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.319 these huge brown eyes, and she could spot berries better 83 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.519 than anyone in the village. She would see cloud berries 84 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.439 and blueberries that the rest of us walked right past. 85 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.439 Their father, Joseph, was one of our best hunters. People 86 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:07.040 said he could track a moose through a blizzard. Their mother, Sarah, 87 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:11.040 made the most beautiful beaded moccasins and mucklucks. They were 88 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.399 a good family, a happy family, at least they were 89 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:18.240 until that terrible day in late July. But I'm getting 90 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:21.360 ahead of myself. First, I need to tell you about 91 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:24.439 the disappearances that came before, the ones that should have 92 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:29.160 warned us something was terribly wrong. It started in early June, 93 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:32.519 right after the ice broke up on the river. Thomas, 94 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:35.000 a young man of twenty two, went out to check 95 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:38.000 his trap line about ten miles up river. He never 96 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:42.000 came back. We searched for five days. My father was 97 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:44.800 part of the search party. They found his canoe pulled 98 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.839 up on shore, his rifle leaning against a tree, unfired. 99 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:53.000 They found some of his traps still set, but Thomas 100 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:57.040 himself had vanished without a trace. Well that's not entirely true. 101 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:00.480 They did find something. My father would not talk about 102 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:03.120 it at first, but I overheard him telling my mother 103 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.839 late one night, when they thought I was asleep. He 104 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:08.839 said they found blood, a lot of it splattered on 105 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.759 the trees about fifteen feet off the ground, and they 106 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:17.279 found tracks, huge tracks, human like but too big. The 107 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:20.720 toes were too long, and the stride the distance between 108 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:24.680 the footprints was impossible. No man could step that far, 109 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:28.879 not even running. The elders held a meeting, some of 110 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:32.040 them the ones who remembered the old stories. They whispered 111 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:36.680 about the hairy men, the kushtaka, the shape shifters. But others, 112 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:40.000 especially those who had been to school in Bethel or Anchorage, 113 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:43.160 they insisted it must have been a bear, a grizzly 114 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:47.519 probably that had dragged poor Thomas away. Bears could climb trees, 115 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.639 after all, That would explain the blood so high up. 116 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:54.360 We wanted to believe it was a bear. Bears We 117 00:06:54.439 --> 00:07:00.199 understood bears. We could hunt Bears, followed rules, patterns. They 118 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:03.079 were dangerous, yes, but they were a danger we knew 119 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:07.680 how to face. Two weeks later, Philip disappeared. He was 120 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:11.120 an older man, maybe fifty, who lived alone at the 121 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.720 edge of the village. He had gone out to gather 122 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.720 wood and never returned. This time the search party found 123 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:21.680 even less, just his axe embedded in a tree trunk, 124 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:26.000 and more of those impossible footprints. The footprints led away 125 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:28.519 into the deepest part of the forest, where the trees 126 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.399 grew so thick that even at noon it was like twilight. 127 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:34.839 The search party followed them for a while, but then 128 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.319 our tracker, George, stopped dead in his tracks and refused 129 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:42.279 to go further. He said something was watching them, something big, 130 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:47.920 something wrong. They turned back. After Philip disappeared, fear settled 131 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:50.480 over our village like fog rolling in from the sea. 132 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:55.319 Parents kept their children close, men carried their rifles everywhere, 133 00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:00.439 even to the outhouse. Women moved in groups, never alone. 134 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.920 The dogs, usually so eager to run and play, stayed 135 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.199 close to the houses, whimpering and cowering whenever the wind 136 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:10.879 shifted from the north from the deep forest. But it 137 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:14.319 was not just the disappearances that frightened us. There were 138 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:19.319 other signs, other warnings that something terrible was stalking our village. 139 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:23.000 About a week after Philip vanished, Missus Nicholas, who lived 140 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.120 at the north end of the village, said she woke 141 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.199 in the night to find something massive peering through her window. 142 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:32.080 She screamed and it fled, but not before she got 143 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.480 a good look at its face. She said it was 144 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:38.200 almost human, but stretched wrong. Like someone had grabbed a 145 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:41.639 person's face and pulled it in all directions. The eyes, 146 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:45.440 she said, glowed red in the darkness. Then there was 147 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.720 the incident with the cash. We kept our dried fish 148 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:52.200 and meat in elevated storage sheds raised on stilts to 149 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:55.759 keep them safe from animals. One morning we found that 150 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:59.320 someone or something had torn the door off Joseph's cash, 151 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.879 not broken it, not pride it open, but torn it 152 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:05.799 completely off its hinges and thrown it twenty feet into 153 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:09.080 the yard. The cash had been emptied of meat. But 154 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:11.799 the strange thing was that the bones had been arranged 155 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.759 in a pattern on the ground below a circle, with 156 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:18.080 lines radiating out like sun rays, or like a warning. 157 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.600 My grandmother we called her Appa, which means grandmother in 158 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.080 our language. She knew what it was. She had seen 159 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:28.159 one of the hairy men when she was young. She 160 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:31.159 told us it had watched their fish camp for three 161 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:33.679 days before her father and uncles drove it away with 162 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.639 fire and loud noises. But that one, she explained, had 163 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:41.440 just been curious. This one, whatever was taking our people, 164 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.039 this one was different. She told me that sometimes one 165 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:48.120 of them goes bad, like a rabid wolf, like a 166 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:51.279 man who forgets how to be human. When that happens, 167 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:54.679 they become hunters of people. They get the taste for it, 168 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.480 and they cannot stop. I asked her what could stop them, 169 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:00.879 and she was quiet for a long, long moment, before 170 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:04.519 answering that bullets could, lots of bullets, and brave men 171 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.960 who were not afraid to face monsters. The fear grew 172 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.039 worse as more strange things happened. One night, every dog 173 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:14.879 in the village began howling at exactly the same moment, 174 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.960 a terrible chorus that lasted for nearly an hour. When 175 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:22.600 they finally stopped, we could hear something else and answering 176 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:25.600 howl from the forest. But it was not quite wolf, 177 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:30.039 not quite human. It was something in between, something that 178 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:32.600 made the hair on my neck stand up, even though 179 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:35.799 I was safe inside our house. Another time, a group 180 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:38.759 of women washing clothes by the river saw something moving 181 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:42.440 on the opposite bank. It was broad daylight, and at 182 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:44.440 first they thought it was a bear standing on its 183 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:47.639 hind legs, But then it turned and looked at them, 184 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:51.440 and they saw its face. They ran back to the village, 185 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:55.320 some of them crying, others too shocked to speak. When 186 00:10:55.320 --> 00:10:58.519 the men went to investigate. They found footprints in the mud, 187 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:03.200 those same hue, huge impossible footprints. And they found something else, 188 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:07.320 a pile of fish heads, neatly stacked, all facing toward 189 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.240 our village. July came in, hot and heavy with mosquitoes. 190 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:15.120 The salmon were running strong, and despite our fear, we 191 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.200 had to work. Winter would come whether we were ready 192 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:21.600 or not, and without enough dried fish we would starve. 193 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:24.399 So we set up the fish camps along the river, 194 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.840 though closer to the village than usual. The women and 195 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.720 children cleaned and fileted the fish, while the men stood 196 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:34.360 guard with their rifles. It was during this time, maybe 197 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.559 the third week of July, that I saw it for 198 00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:39.759 the first time. I had woken in the night, needing 199 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:43.320 to use the honeybucket. Our little house was dark, just 200 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:45.879 the faint glow of the midnight sun filtering through the 201 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.480 flower sack curtains my mother had made. I was patting 202 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:53.360 barefoot across the floor when something made me stop. A sound, 203 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.559 or maybe the absence of sound. The dogs had gone 204 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.559 completely silent, not even the usual summer buzz of mosquitos 205 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:04.679 against the windows. I crept to the window and carefully 206 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:07.360 pulled back the edge of the curtain. At first I 207 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:11.399 saw nothing unusual, just our yard, the fish rack, the 208 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:16.960 trees beyond. Then something moved, something huge. It stepped out 209 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.080 from behind our cash. Even in the dim light, I 210 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.879 could see it was massive, maybe eight feet tall. It 211 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:26.919 was covered in dark hair or fur. But it walked 212 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.840 upright like a man. Its arms were too long, hanging 213 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:34.799 almost to its knees, and its head. Its head was wrong, 214 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:38.320 two pointed at the top, two wide at the jaw. 215 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:41.240 But it was the eyes that froze me in place. 216 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.840 They glowed red in the half light, like coals in 217 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.759 a dying fire, and they were looking right at me, 218 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.559 right through the window, right into my eyes. I could 219 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:55.519 not move, I could not scream. I could only stand there, 220 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:58.879 a little girl in her nightgown, staring at something that 221 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:03.639 should not exist. It tilted its head, studying me. Then 222 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:06.679 it took a step toward the house that broke the spell. 223 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.559 I screamed, a high, piercing shriek that woke the entire house. 224 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:15.399 My father burst from my parents' room, rifle in hand. 225 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.759 He did not even ask what was wrong. He threw 226 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.879 open the door and fired into the night. The boom 227 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.960 of the thirty ought to six was deafening in our 228 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.960 small house. He shouted something, though whether he was yelling 229 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.799 at us or the thing outside, I did not know. 230 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:34.600 He fired again, and this time we heard something I 231 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:37.519 will never forget. It was like a scream and a 232 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:40.919 roar and a howl all mixed together. It was pain 233 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.559 and rage and something else, something that sounded almost like words, 234 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:49.679 though in no language i'd ever heard. My father stepped 235 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:53.080 out onto the porch, rifle at his shoulder, scanning the yard. 236 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:57.600 Other men were emerging from their houses also. Armed dogs 237 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:01.159 were barking now, but from inside houses, too terrified to 238 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:04.759 come out. Our neighbor called out, asking what it was. 239 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.679 My father told him it was the hairy man, that 240 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.279 it had been right there, looking in the window at me. 241 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:14.039 A search of the yard revealed huge footprints, just like 242 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.399 the ones found where Thomas and Philip had disappeared. There 243 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.919 was also blood, just a few drops, suggesting my father 244 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.559 had indeed hit it with at least one shot. But 245 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:27.600 the creature was gone, vanished into the forest. That night 246 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:30.679 changed everything. Now we knew for certain what we were 247 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:35.320 dealing with. Not a bear, not our imagination, a hairy man, 248 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:40.519 a kushtaka, a sasquatch, whatever you wanted to call it, 249 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:43.639 it was real. It was hunting us, and it had 250 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:46.879 been watching our children. But the horror was not done 251 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:50.120 with us. Over the next few days, things got worse, 252 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:54.799 much worse. The creature became bolder. People would see it 253 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:57.240 at the edge of the forest during the day, just 254 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:02.080 standing there, watching and stay tuned for more sasquatch ot 255 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:08.840 to see. We'll be right back after these messages, always 256 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:12.039 too far away for a clear shot, always disappearing the 257 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:15.600 moment someone raised a rifle. It was learning our patterns, 258 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:19.440 our routines. One afternoon, a group of children playing near 259 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:23.559 the community hall suddenly scattered, screaming. They said the hairy 260 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.200 man had been hiding behind the building, that when Little 261 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:28.919 James had run around the corner during their game, he 262 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.679 had come face to face with it. The creature had 263 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:34.759 reached out one massive hand toward the boy before the 264 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:38.799 child's screams sent it retreating into the forest. James did 265 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.399 not speak for three days after that, and when he 266 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.679 finally did, he would only say that its breath smelled 267 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:48.000 like death. The next morning, the elders called a meeting. 268 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:51.200 Every adult in the village crowded into the community hall. 269 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.600 The children were left with the grandmothers, who gathered us 270 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:57.840 all in the church, thinking perhaps Holy Ground might offer 271 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:01.519 some protection. I learned later what was discussed in that meeting. 272 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:05.039 Some wanted to evacuate the village, to go down river 273 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:08.960 to Russian Mission or upriver to McGrath. Others said we 274 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:12.200 should send for help, maybe get the state troopers involved, 275 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.200 though the nearest trooper was a three day boat ride away. 276 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.080 But the majority, led by my father and Joseph, said 277 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:21.559 we needed to hunt this thing down and kill it. 278 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.480 Joseph argued that it had our scent, now that it 279 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:28.440 knew where we were and knew we were weak. If 280 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:31.960 we ran, it would follow. If we waited, it would 281 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:34.799 pick us off one by one. We needed to take 282 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:38.480 the fight to it. They decided to organize hunting parties, 283 00:16:38.759 --> 00:16:40.840 groups of four or five men who would go out 284 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:44.279 each day trying to track the creature. They would start 285 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.080 at first light the next day. The women and children 286 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.440 would stay in the village, never venturing beyond the last house, 287 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:54.679 never alone. It was a good plan, a reasonable plan, 288 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.440 but the hairyman had plans of its own. The very 289 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.320 next day, before the men could even organize their first 290 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:06.160 hunting party. Tragedy struck again, and this time it struck 291 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:09.480 at the heart of our village. It was a beautiful morning, 292 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:12.839 one of those perfect Alaskan summer days where the sky 293 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.079 is so blue it hurts to look at. The men 294 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:19.759 were gathered at the community hall, checking their rifles, organizing 295 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:23.039 into groups. The women were working on the fish, and 296 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:25.960 we children were supposed to be helping. But Anna and 297 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.039 Peter had a different idea. Peter whispered to me that 298 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:32.319 they had seen the biggest blueberry patch yesterday, just past 299 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.720 the old lightning Struck tree. He said the berries were 300 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.119 as big as thumbnails and they wanted me to come 301 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:40.759 with them to pick them. He said it was not far, 302 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:43.640 just a few hundred yards, and we could see the 303 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.720 houses from there. He thought our mothers would be so 304 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.839 happy when we brought back buckets full of berries. I hesitated. 305 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:54.440 We were not supposed to go anywhere, especially not beyond 306 00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:58.400 the village. But Peter laughed at my fear, that careless 307 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:00.519 laugh of a nine year old boy who thinks he 308 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.000 is invincible. He said, it was daylight, the men were 309 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:07.279 all around, and it was just right there, pointing toward 310 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:10.839 the forest edge. They would be back before anyone noticed. 311 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.440 I wanted to go. Oh how I wanted to go, 312 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.599 to be brave like Peter, to find berries with Anna, 313 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:22.480 to do something normal instead of cowering in fear. But something, 314 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.559 maybe my grandmother's warnings, Maybe the memory of those red 315 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:29.359 eyes made me shake my head and tell them we 316 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:33.200 should not go, that it was dangerous. They went without me. 317 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:38.079 Anna looked back once, waving her little hand, pale against 318 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:42.359 the green of the forest. That image Anna waving goodbye, 319 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.000 her smile bright in the morning sun, that has burned 320 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:49.440 into my memory forever. It was the last time I 321 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:53.960 saw her. An hour passed before anyone noticed they were gone. 322 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:57.680 Sarah came looking for them, calling their names. At first 323 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:01.359 she was annoyed, thinking they were playing some game. Then 324 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:05.720 she became worried, then frantic. She screamed their names, running 325 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:08.920 from house to house, asking if anyone had seen her children. 326 00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:13.240 The entire village mobilized. In minutes. The men abandoned their 327 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:16.440 planning and rushed toward the forest. The women gathered the 328 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:19.440 other children, counting and recounting to make sure no one 329 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.519 else was missing. I told them about the barry patch, 330 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.119 about Peter's plan, and a group of men headed directly there. 331 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:29.759 They found the berry buckets first, scattered on the ground, 332 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:35.640 berry spilled everywhere. They found small footprints, children's footprints running, 333 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.359 and they found the other tracks, the huge, impossible tracks 334 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:44.720 following the children catching them. There was blood on a 335 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:47.559 tree trunk, small handprints in red where one of the 336 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:51.319 children had reached out, trying to steady themselves or trying 337 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:54.559 to hold on as they were dragged away. Peter's shoe 338 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:58.319 was found twenty yards further, torn and mangled. Anna's hair 339 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.279 ribbon was caught on a branch ten feet off the ground. 340 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:05.480 Joseph went mad with grief and rage. He ran ahead 341 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:09.359 of the other men, screaming his children's names, screaming challenges 342 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.519 at the forest. The other men had to physically restrain 343 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:14.400 him when the tracks led into a part of the 344 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:17.119 forest where the trees grew so close together that they 345 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:20.200 would have to go single file, where an ambush would 346 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:23.319 be easy. My father promised Joseph they would get the 347 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:26.640 children back. They would find them, though his eyes said 348 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:29.480 he knew it was already too late. But we did 349 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:33.839 not find them, not that day, not the next. The 350 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:36.920 men searched for three days, going deeper into the forest 351 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:40.599 than anyone had gone in years. They found more tracks, 352 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:44.039 more signs of the creature. They found places where it 353 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:47.720 had rested, depressions in the moss, shaped like a giant body. 354 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:51.839 They found trees with claw marks fifteen feet up. But 355 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.559 of Anna and Peter they found nothing more. Sarah did 356 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.279 not speak for a week. She just sat by her window, 357 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:02.359 staring at the forest, walking back and forth. Joseph threw 358 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.359 himself into the hunt with a terrible fury, going out 359 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:09.160 every day, coming back later and later, his eyes wild 360 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.839 with exhaustion and grief. The loss of the children changed 361 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:17.000 our village. The laughter died even in the endless daylight 362 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:20.799 of summer. Darkness had fallen on us. The elders prayed 363 00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:25.359 in the church. The medicine man, Old Robert, performed ceremonies 364 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.960 that had not been done in decades, calling on the 365 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:32.119 old spirits for protection. But still at night we could 366 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:35.640 sometimes hear it, a howl that was not quite wolf, 367 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:39.599 not quite human, the sound of something huge moving through 368 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:43.720 the forest, circling our village. The creature grew even bolder 369 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:46.599 after taking the children. It would come right up to 370 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:49.680 the edge of the village at night, leaving footprints between 371 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:52.839 the houses. One morning we woke to find that it 372 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.759 had killed one of the sled dogs, not for food, 373 00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.720 but seemingly for sport. The poor animal had been torn 374 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:04.240 upon and arranged in pieces, almost like a message. Three 375 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:07.200 nights after Anna and Peter disappeared, I woke to a 376 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:10.839 sound at our window, not a tapping, but a scraping, 377 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:14.799 like claws on wood. I was too terrified to look, 378 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:19.079 too terrified to scream. I just lay there, tears streaming 379 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:22.640 down my face as something huge breathed against the glass. 380 00:22:23.480 --> 00:22:26.079 The window fogged up from its breath, and in that 381 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:30.039 fog I saw something being drawn, a circle with lines 382 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:33.119 radiating out, just like the pattern of bones left at 383 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:37.359 Joseph's cash. In the morning, my parents found deep gouges 384 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:40.319 in the wood around our window frame, and the glass 385 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.200 was cracked from the pressure of something pressing against it. 386 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:46.960 Two days after Anna and Peter disappeared, we heard from 387 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.640 downriver a runner arrived from Nepaskiak, a village about thirty 388 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:56.160 miles away. They too had lost someone, a grandmother who 389 00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.160 had gone to check her fishing ned at dawn and 390 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:02.759 never returned. We found the same massive tracks, the same 391 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:06.839 signs of violence. The next day, word came from upriver. 392 00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:10.680 The village of Nikolai had lost two men, brothers, who 393 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:14.200 had been moose hunting. Their boat was found drifting blood 394 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.759 on the seats, deep claw marks in the wood. It 395 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:21.200 was not just our village. The creature or perhaps creatures, 396 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:24.240 were hunting along the entire middle section of the Copper River. 397 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.119 We were under siege by something ancient, something that had 398 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:31.519 decided humans were prey. That is when my father and 399 00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:34.720 Joseph came up with the plan. If one village could 400 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:38.880 not stop this thing, perhaps many villages together could. They 401 00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:42.279