1 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Back in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties, my mother's 2 00:00:09,519 --> 00:00:13,800 family lived on a small form in North Alabama. My 3 00:00:13,919 --> 00:00:16,960 grandfather worked in the coal mines, but he owned the farm, 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,280 so they didn't have to live in the camp. A 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,039 small spring fed creek that ran along the north edge 6 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,480 of the property provided water for the family, the animals, 7 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,960 and for washing. Sometime around the summer of nineteen fifty 8 00:00:32,039 --> 00:00:34,640 there was a drought, which in North Alabama means it 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,200 didn't rain for two weeks and that creek almost dried up. 10 00:00:38,759 --> 00:00:41,200 They had to install a hand pump on the spring 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,159 to get enough water to keep the farm going. Everybody 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,840 and everything was hot, drumpy, and thirsty that summer. It 13 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,079 was an area where electric lights were still considered a 14 00:00:53,119 --> 00:00:58,439 modern convenience and air conditioning was unheard of. With no breeze, 15 00:00:58,759 --> 00:01:01,920 the world baked on under a hot, still glaze of 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,560 sweat and dust. To alleviate some of their misery, they'd 17 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:08,879 eat dinner early and then go out and sit on 18 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,480 the front porch to give the house time to cool off. 19 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:16,040 Before bed, they drag a big oscillating floor fan up 20 00:01:16,079 --> 00:01:18,879 to the screen door and sit and talk while doing 21 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,599 the sort of light chores that could be accomplished while 22 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:26,079 sitting in a rocking chair. Socks and clothes were mended, 23 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,040 and peas were shelled until the sun went down, and 24 00:01:29,079 --> 00:01:34,000 then it was time for bed. That's when the screaming started. 25 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,319 Somewhere in the woods across the creek. Something was screaming 26 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,879 like a woman who was being strangled. Those were interspersed 27 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,920 with long, mournful howls loud enough to hurt your ear drums. 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,560 In the gloom of the dusk, they could vaguely see 29 00:01:50,599 --> 00:01:53,640 the trees shaking in the distance and hear something stomping 30 00:01:53,719 --> 00:01:56,879 on what sounded like two feet through the thick growth 31 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:01,519 around the spring, but they never saw an anni. As 32 00:02:01,599 --> 00:02:04,519 soon as the racket would start, the farm animals would 33 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,400 stampede to the other end of the pasture as far 34 00:02:07,439 --> 00:02:10,879 from the spring as they could get. They wanted nothing 35 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,879 to do with whatever was over there making that noise. 36 00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:19,360 Our neighbor owns six big hounds trained to hunt raccoons. 37 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,599 Raccoon hounds can be mean, and these dogs were vicious 38 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,639 animals that weren't afraid of anything. They tore off across 39 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,280 the creek to hunt down and kill whatever was making 40 00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:34,719 the noise and shaking the trees. Six dogs went, but 41 00:02:34,879 --> 00:02:38,840 only four came back. Of those four, one had its 42 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,280 back ripped open so badly they had to put it 43 00:02:41,319 --> 00:02:45,000 out of its misery. That was when the men knew 44 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:49,560 that they had to act. My grandfather, my two oldest uncles, 45 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:52,800 the neighbor, and his sons loaded their shotguns and rifles 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,039 and went to see what this thing was. They found 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,199 the two dead dogs ripped into pieces and thrown up 48 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,960 into the tree, but they didn't find what killed them. 49 00:03:03,479 --> 00:03:07,240 The next night, the screaming returned with a vengeance. The 50 00:03:07,319 --> 00:03:11,960 dogs were put on chains and the children were kept inside. 51 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,879 It screamed until after midnight, while everyone stayed in their 52 00:03:15,879 --> 00:03:18,719 homes and hoped that whatever it was would eventually go 53 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,319 back to where it came from. The men didn't want 54 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,840 to see if it was going to return. The following night, 55 00:03:25,439 --> 00:03:27,960 they were already in the woods with their guns loaded 56 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,759 for bore and waiting for it. That night, they stalked 57 00:03:31,759 --> 00:03:34,840 that thing and hunting it down, and they killed it 58 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,400 and buried it somewhere in the woods. Everyone in that 59 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,919 hunting party is dead now. When I was a child, 60 00:03:43,199 --> 00:03:45,360 I asked, but none of them ever told me what 61 00:03:45,479 --> 00:03:49,439 they killed that night. It is conceivable that it was 62 00:03:49,479 --> 00:03:53,039 a panther. Panthers, or so i've read, can sound like 63 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,439 a woman screaming, and since panthers or a protected species, 64 00:03:57,479 --> 00:04:00,840 shooting one would have been illegal, they would have had 65 00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:03,560 a good reason to shoot it. Shovel and shut up 66 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:08,479 about it. But do panthers shake trees when they walked? 67 00:04:08,479 --> 00:04:11,560 Do they sound like someone stomping around on two legs? 68 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,680 Do they throw bodies of dogs into the trees? Honestly, 69 00:04:16,759 --> 00:04:20,000 have no idea what those men killed that night, and 70 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,000 now that they're all gone, we'll probably never know. 71 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,959 Speaker 2: The rescue, the jogger ran into the road just a 72 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,600 few yards in front of her car. If she'd been 73 00:04:33,639 --> 00:04:35,720 on the highway, she'd have never been able to stop 74 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,319 in time. Fortunately, she wasn't traveling very fast on the 75 00:04:39,319 --> 00:04:43,439 gravel and managed to avoid him. A quick glance across 76 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,279 the field from whence he came revealed the source of 77 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:50,319 his panic. A massive doglike creature was running straight for them. 78 00:04:51,079 --> 00:04:55,319 She recognized it immediately. The man opened the passenger door 79 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,279 and was sliding into the seat next to her. Even 80 00:04:57,319 --> 00:05:00,920 as she was saying, get in, mister tailed from her 81 00:05:00,959 --> 00:05:04,079 rear tires. As the creature hit the road, a long, 82 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,000 ear shattering screech echoed through the cars. The thing's claws 83 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,120 left four deep trails down the back quarter panel. It's 84 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,800 following us, she said, looking in a rear view mirror. 85 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,399 Reaching down, she pulled an air horn from under her seat, 86 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,600 rolled down her window, stuck it out, and squeezed the trigger. Ah. 87 00:05:23,199 --> 00:05:27,480 The jogger moaned at the sound. Sorry, she muttered, it's 88 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,720 just that they hate loud noises. Taking advantage of her 89 00:05:30,759 --> 00:05:33,120 captive audience and the fact that he had to be 90 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,639 a believer, she went on, I suggest, if you plan 91 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,279 on continuing to jog, you get yourself one of these 92 00:05:39,319 --> 00:05:41,800 and take it with you. And get a flashlight too. 93 00:05:42,319 --> 00:05:44,360 It has to be a bright one, at least fifteen 94 00:05:44,439 --> 00:05:47,519 hundred lumens. They hate bright light as much as they 95 00:05:47,519 --> 00:05:50,680 hate loud noises. Using them could give you the chance 96 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,879 you need to get away. She checked the rear view 97 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:57,240 mirror again. Inside it looks like he's gone, she said, reassuringly. 98 00:05:57,519 --> 00:06:00,680 Another thing, though, she thought to add, they can disguise 99 00:06:00,759 --> 00:06:03,639 themselves as humans. She didn't bother to look at her 100 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,720 passenger when she said that, she knew she sounded crazy, 101 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,040 but when he said nothing, she continued, Look as crazy 102 00:06:11,079 --> 00:06:14,079 as that sounds, these things are smart. I've seen them 103 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,040 dressed in human clothing before. Sometimes if you don't look 104 00:06:17,079 --> 00:06:19,199 directly at them, or if you only get a glimpse, 105 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,480 they actually look like people. I swear you could walk 106 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,240 right past one on the street, and maybe only for 107 00:06:25,319 --> 00:06:29,680 a minute or two, they look completely human. As she spoke, 108 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:31,720 she saw it out of the corner of her eye. 109 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,759 It was too late, but she flinched anyway as the 110 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,199 long hair covered arm reached across her face, grabbed her 111 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,480 head by the other side, and quickly snapped her neck. 112 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,879 The car careened out of control, spun rolled, landed on 113 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,360 its side, and slid for several yards along the ditch 114 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,399 before coming to rest on its roof. The creature in 115 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,160 jogger's apparel quickly kicked out the front windshield, and, dragging 116 00:06:58,199 --> 00:07:00,360 the body behind it, ran into the field where the 117 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,800 other one was waiting somewhere off in the woods. They 118 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,959 had their meal, reveling and a feeling of intense satisfaction 119 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:10,759 at the knowledge that this woman would never sound one 120 00:07:10,759 --> 00:07:13,319 of those horns or shine one of her flashlights at 121 00:07:13,319 --> 00:07:17,920 them again. Yeah. You can laugh at my story if 122 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,720 you want. But I've been a deputy in this county 123 00:07:20,759 --> 00:07:24,040 for thirty years, and all the craziest calls I ever 124 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,759 took were at that woman's house in the last five. 125 00:07:27,959 --> 00:07:30,720 She wasn't from around here. She was one of those 126 00:07:30,759 --> 00:07:33,920 city people looking for an escape. Thought she'd found it too, 127 00:07:34,759 --> 00:07:37,279 Just her and her dogs, a lazy old fat cat 128 00:07:37,279 --> 00:07:39,399 that spent all its time sitting in her front living 129 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,279 room window, and a dozen or so chickens. But things 130 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,399 started happening, and I started getting called out there pretty regular. 131 00:07:47,959 --> 00:07:49,759 The last time I was there, she told me she'd 132 00:07:49,759 --> 00:07:52,920 figured out how to keep them away. And when we 133 00:07:52,959 --> 00:07:55,000 found her car out there in the gravel road, the 134 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,879 airhorn was lying in the ditch by it, and her 135 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,600 flashlight was still sitting between the seats. Her front window 136 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,600 was broken out. We never did find the body, but 137 00:08:04,639 --> 00:08:08,920 the drag mark's clearly indicated someone or something had taken her. 138 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,480 So this is what I think happened. Maybe I'm wrong, 139 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,519 but maybe I'm right. The wife and I put a 140 00:08:16,519 --> 00:08:19,240 bit on her farmhouse just the other day. It's prime 141 00:08:19,279 --> 00:08:22,000 property and worth a lot more than it's being sold for. 142 00:08:22,839 --> 00:08:25,560 I couldn't pass up the opportunity. That's why I'm on 143 00:08:25,639 --> 00:08:27,800 my way to the store right now to get myself 144 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,839 an airhorn in a good bright flashlight. Fifteen hundred lumens 145 00:08:31,839 --> 00:08:33,279 are better, I think she told me. 146 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:38,799 Speaker 1: Okay, one last story. Hey, before I get into this story, 147 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:42,000 I got in trouble last night. I'll put out a 148 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:45,840 podcast yesterday and I spent ten or fifteen minutes talking 149 00:08:45,879 --> 00:08:50,159 about how great the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot conference was, and 150 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,639 apparently my wife listened to it and mentioned to me 151 00:08:53,879 --> 00:08:58,480 last night that you didn't even mention me, And I said, well, 152 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:01,279 you really don't. You know, you kind of like to 153 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:03,919 be behind the scenes. I know, but I wanted you 154 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,639 to tell everybody how nice they were and how much 155 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:09,919 I appreciated them coming to talk to me and my wife. 156 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,879 April says thank you to everyone that visited our booth 157 00:09:12,919 --> 00:09:15,960 and was so nice to her. She was the little, short, 158 00:09:16,159 --> 00:09:21,440 gray headed girl in the middle between Naoma and Nance. 159 00:09:21,919 --> 00:09:24,120 If you guys didn't know who she was, I think 160 00:09:24,159 --> 00:09:26,480 a lot of people thought she was Nioma, and a 161 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,360 lot of people thought Naoma was my wife, and a 162 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,480 lot of people thought Nance was my wife. But no, 163 00:09:32,639 --> 00:09:34,399 it was the girl in the middle with the black 164 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,159 T shirt on and the totally gray hair, which I 165 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,000 absolutely love. Heck, I'm just glad that woman likes me. 166 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,279 I'm a lucky man. Okay, let's get into this story. 167 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:51,519 This person wants to be anonymous. Here's what they write. 168 00:09:51,799 --> 00:09:55,440 My first encounter with what I respectfully call the old 169 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,000 Ones occurred in nineteen eighty one, when I was sixteen 170 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,759 years old. I've always loved driving onto our farm and 171 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,159 parking the truck and taking long hikes through the woods. 172 00:10:07,039 --> 00:10:10,120 On this occasion, I came to a wide intersection of 173 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:14,000 two of our farm roads. I turned on to the 174 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,919 left fork to get a drink from the spring thirty 175 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,720 yards down the path. As I headed down to the ford, 176 00:10:21,159 --> 00:10:24,720 I noticed footprints. My first thought was, now, who in 177 00:10:24,759 --> 00:10:28,480 the thundered nation is down here barefoot? And then I 178 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:33,480 realized two things. First was the size I've worn the 179 00:10:33,519 --> 00:10:36,200 same size eleven and a half shoes since I was 180 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:40,159 twelve years old. These prints were half again as big, 181 00:10:40,279 --> 00:10:45,679 easily eighteen or twenty. The second was the gate from 182 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:48,080 the heel of one print to the toe of the 183 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,519 opposite print was nearly six feet. I followed them down 184 00:10:52,519 --> 00:10:55,679 to the water and stopped. They continued in the same 185 00:10:55,879 --> 00:10:59,399 unbroken gate up the opposite side, and disappeared where the 186 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,360 road leveled off again. I got my water and then 187 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,600 debated whether or not to follow. My better judgment said no, 188 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,600 and I returned to my trek back to the truck. 189 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,159 In the ensuing years, there have been several incidents, particularly 190 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,720 when walking out on an afternoon of deer hunting at 191 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:24,440 what we call good dark. Several times, when leaving my stand, 192 00:11:24,519 --> 00:11:27,840 I knew I was being followed. Whatever it was, it 193 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,120 stayed far enough away to be disguised by the dusk, 194 00:11:31,279 --> 00:11:35,519 but close enough to be felt. I detected no hostility 195 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:39,679 towards me, just as presence and an overwhelming sense of 196 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,399 you've had your fun and now it's time to leave. 197 00:11:43,879 --> 00:11:47,440 In January of twenty and thirteen, I was forty eight 198 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,440 years old, married and we had kids, and I was 199 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,759 living and working eighty miles from my hometown. I had 200 00:11:54,759 --> 00:11:57,320 been to visit my mother and was driving back home 201 00:11:57,399 --> 00:12:01,159 as the daylight was just beginning to fade. As I 202 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:03,600 rounded a curve, I saw about one hundred yards in 203 00:12:03,639 --> 00:12:07,360 front of me a massive dark object crouched in the road, 204 00:12:07,639 --> 00:12:10,960 right on the double yellow line. It moved to my 205 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,679 right about thirty feet in three steps, and was against 206 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:18,240 a brush line, trying to blend in. I watched it 207 00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:22,240 in amazement. It was approximately nine feet tall, with at 208 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,519 least four foot shoulder span. It was covered in dark hair, 209 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,200 and I estimated it to weigh around nine hundred pounds. 210 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:34,480 Its face was very much like a gorilla. It was 211 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,240 dark and leathery, with a broad, flat nose. Its eyes 212 00:12:38,279 --> 00:12:41,399 were the most intense yellow green I've ever seen, and 213 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,919 were space six inches apart. As I approached him, he 214 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,000 threw his left arm across his chest, as if to 215 00:12:49,159 --> 00:12:53,679 instinctively ward off a blow. I suppose he believed I 216 00:12:53,759 --> 00:12:56,480 was about to hit him. I rounded the curve and 217 00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:01,600 kept going, passing within thirty feet of him. By the 218 00:13:01,639 --> 00:13:05,200 spring of twenty sixteen, we have moved back to our hometown, 219 00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:09,039 and the kids were all familiar with my encounter. One 220 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,879 Saturday afternoon in April or May, my youngest son came 221 00:13:12,919 --> 00:13:17,519 to the house, ashing and shaking all over. I saw it, Dad, 222 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,559 I really saw it, he exclaimed. I asked him what 223 00:13:21,639 --> 00:13:24,519 he had seen, and with eyes wide and full of wonder, 224 00:13:24,639 --> 00:13:28,559 he said, I saw the bigfoot. I asked him to 225 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,519 show me where, and so we went into the backyard 226 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,360 and he showed me the tree the creature had peered around. 227 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,720 We estimated it to be around nine feet tall. We 228 00:13:38,759 --> 00:13:42,559 also found and took pictures of several very large footprints. 229 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,240 Since then, my son has seen what he calls Rocky 230 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,720 several times in the backyard. In February of last year, 231 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,759 twenty twenty, my friend Mike and I were in my 232 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,879 backyard and found tracks. They came across the face of 233 00:13:58,919 --> 00:14:02,200 the tree line, stopped, and then faced to my house. 234 00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:07,600 They then turned and went into the bushes. After Mike left, 235 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,039 I went inside and told my son and daughter about 236 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:14,279 seeing the tracks, without the least prompting. My son smiled 237 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,799 and said, yeah, I saw Rocky yesterday. I was playing 238 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,279 in the sideyard and bent over to pick up a stick, 239 00:14:20,559 --> 00:14:23,200 and as I stood up, there were two fur covered 240 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,600 tree trunks in front of me. When I straightened up, 241 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,279 there was Rocky facing me twenty feet away. He chuffed 242 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,720 at me and stepped into the bushes. Well. I was 243 00:14:33,799 --> 00:14:36,960 amazed I had gotten into my story only far enough 244 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,440 to say Mike and I found tracks. He had described 245 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,000 what we had seen to the last detail. Mike and 246 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,759 I have been chuffed at several times on the farm. 247 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,759 In March, we had a visual of what I believed 248 00:14:49,799 --> 00:14:52,320 to be a mated couple on the shoreline of a 249 00:14:52,399 --> 00:14:56,360 large pond. Within a few yards of where they were standing, 250 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:00,039 we found two bedding sites where they had slept. A 251 00:15:00,039 --> 00:15:02,519 few weeks later we had another sighting of the same 252 00:15:02,639 --> 00:15:05,679 pair about a quarter mile away, standing in a tree 253 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,440 line watching us. It's now mid June and I must 254 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,279 admit i'd like to see them again. I'd like to 255 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:13,200 see them soon.