Speaker 1: You're listening to Big for Society, and I'm Jeremiah Byron.
Speaker 1: In this show, we go beyond the campfire stories to
Speaker 1: bring you first hand encounters from people who say they've
Speaker 1: seen something impossible. From backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers
Speaker 1: to quiet farms and crowded highways. The stories come from everywhere,
Speaker 1: and each one leaves us with more questions than answers.
Speaker 1: These are the voices of the people who've lived it.
Speaker 1: To settle in, because today you'll hear another account that
Speaker 1: just might change the way you see the woods forever.
Speaker 1: So stay with us, all right, Big for Society, Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another episode. We've got the privilege of talking
Speaker 1: to Jared mcgilliard today. Jared is the director and an
Speaker 1: executive producer of the show Monster Quest. Currently. How is
Speaker 1: it going today, Jared?
Speaker 2: Ah, that's great. Jeremia, how you doing, dude?
Speaker 1: Doing so good. I'm just really glad that our mutual
Speaker 1: friend Adam Davies was able to connect us in. Adam
Speaker 1: reached out and was like, you should talk to Jared.
Speaker 1: He's heading up the Monster Quest thing. I was like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that that would be a good idea. Adam
Speaker 1: I'll do that, and Adam we trust yeah exactly. Well,
Speaker 1: I was like, as long as he could, does he
Speaker 1: have bigfoot stuff to talk about? And he's he's got
Speaker 1: bigfoot stuff to talk about. I don't worry about it.
Speaker 2: I have to I could have. If I know Adam,
Speaker 2: I must have some bigfoot stuff to talk about.
Speaker 1: Exactly. So, Jared, man, let's start with the Monster Quest stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, I've seen a few episodes already and it's
Speaker 1: cool to see, you know, really people that I consider
Speaker 1: to be my friends from this community show up on screen.
Speaker 1: You you were able to get some really good witnesses.
Speaker 1: Can we talk about I'm not going to spoil anything, right,
Speaker 1: it's out in the open now, So that's all.
Speaker 2: Right, it's out there. Let's talk to.
Speaker 1: I mean, you were first episode, right out of the gate.
Speaker 1: You were able to get mister Martin Groves such a
Speaker 1: fantastic story, his dog man account from Land between the Lakes,
Speaker 1: and Martin's such a such a great individual. And then
Speaker 1: of course a good friend comes to mind, mister Daniel Hamilton.
Speaker 2: Daniel yeh, and man.
Speaker 1: You guys did a great job showing his encounter and
Speaker 1: it really makes you think about it. A different way, like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, he was up in the tree, in that
Speaker 1: tree stand and that's what was going on. And it's like,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, I love what you guys are doing
Speaker 1: with this stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh thanks a lot. Yeah, those stories, yeah, Martin was Yeah,
Speaker 2: I love Martin. Just what a sweet, kind, generous guy.
Speaker 2: And you know, Martin, we owe a lot to just
Speaker 2: in terms of the show coming to be at all,
Speaker 2: because that was the story we actually filmed for the
Speaker 2: development or sizzle step that actually got it across the
Speaker 2: finish line and had History fully commissioned the series. So
Speaker 2: Martin's story was sort of like alas our north Star.
Speaker 2: You know, it's hard to start with someone like Martin
Speaker 2: and then you have every other story try to stack
Speaker 2: up to it. But now he's so generous with his
Speaker 2: time and his story is just I mean just unforgettable,
Speaker 2: unforgettable story. And Daniel's great. Yeah, I love Daniel. He
Speaker 2: just his story was you know, it's there. I love
Speaker 2: those stories that have like that weird element to it.
Speaker 2: It's like you just couldn't you. The untying of a
Speaker 2: shoe is just the most bizarre occurrence, you know, and
Speaker 2: and sort of I love those aspects of those stories
Speaker 2: that I feel like very one of a kind, and
Speaker 2: his story definitely feels one of a kind like that.
Speaker 1: Listeners will listen to this on February second. And as
Speaker 1: of so the second, how many episodes will you have out?
Speaker 1: Do you think?
Speaker 2: I thought it'll be our six episodes, so six of
Speaker 2: the eight. Yeah, and the episode coming up this week
Speaker 2: is great. I mean, I don't know if Annem Barton,
Speaker 2: Nunneley Barton.
Speaker 1: Oh you got Barton?
Speaker 2: Oh? His is His story is just it's actually one
Speaker 2: of my favorite edits stories and just editing pieces of
Speaker 2: the series. It's got such character to it and it's fun.
Speaker 2: It's just and the music is kind of unforgettable. I'm
Speaker 2: really excited to see that. I'm always more nervous for
Speaker 2: like Barton to see his story, you know that. I
Speaker 2: just feel like a lot of pressure with that. But
Speaker 2: Barton's great. This guy named Michael Caine who hadn't encounter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Michael in Ohio.
Speaker 2: Yeah you got it, yep, the grass Man, you got it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of I kind of know the field
Speaker 1: a little bit, right. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Michael is great, and his story is just just
Speaker 2: also very cool and weird. And he's got some cool footage.
Speaker 2: So yeah, there's we have a Times slip story Gwen
Speaker 2: Johns and Gwen John's but a Times slip of this
Speaker 2: Friday is really interesting, nice and uh and then a
Speaker 2: woman named Joni Mayhem who had an encounter when she
Speaker 2: was a kid as well. So yeah, really cool stories.
Speaker 2: But Barton, Barton and Michaels are real fun. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 2: be excited for you to see this, Jeremiah.
Speaker 1: And that's why another reason I really like the show
Speaker 1: right now, because half of it it is like, oh,
Speaker 1: I really I know this person, I know this story.
Speaker 1: It's a new interpretation for me because it's bigfoot stuff.
Speaker 1: But then also you're throwing in other stuff too, which
Speaker 1: is like I've never heard of this, and this is
Speaker 1: really cool. So it's kind of a cool mixed uh bag.
Speaker 1: But you know, Jared, let's talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: you know, you have a history of doing so many shows.
Speaker 1: I was looking through Nomadica Films your website and you've
Speaker 1: done everything from you just did the was a Golden Greed,
Speaker 1: the Netflix series right that was you and and all
Speaker 1: sorts of stuff in the past. But how did you
Speaker 1: get set up in linked up with the Monster Quest
Speaker 1: series because you know, this isn't the there was Monster
Speaker 1: Quests back in the day, and then out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: it's back, like how did that happen?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a cool story. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: I'd always been interested in in encryptids. I grew up
Speaker 2: in the Seattle area, Washington State, so you know, big
Speaker 2: Sasquatch and Bigfoot was definitely just part of my the
Speaker 2: culture of where I grew up. And then you know,
Speaker 2: years and years and years ago, in the original installment
Speaker 2: of Monster Quest, I produced one of their episodes and
Speaker 2: we went to Nepal looking for the Yetie, and so
Speaker 2: that was sort of my first time. That's where I
Speaker 2: met Adam, and I really you know, I think that
Speaker 2: the way that that the initial episode, initial series of
Speaker 2: Monster Quests approached these types of stories and investigations, it
Speaker 2: was so objective, it was so it was very trying
Speaker 2: to be as scientific as it could be, and I
Speaker 2: really appreciated that. I thought that that was like such
Speaker 2: an interesting approach both for sort of like believers and
Speaker 2: non believers, you know, and so I honestly these this
Speaker 2: sort of cryptid world was something obviously I met Adam.
Speaker 2: Adam and I talk a lot, and so you know,
Speaker 2: this has always just been a part of an interest
Speaker 2: level of mine and you know, where as you said,
Speaker 2: in America, like we're we're pitching whether it's Netflix, History Channel,
Speaker 2: Discovery Channel constantly, and so we had sat down with
Speaker 2: a History channel and we're batting around a few ideas
Speaker 2: and you know, sort of a cryptid show came up
Speaker 2: and it wasn't Monster Quest, you know initially, which is
Speaker 2: sort of, hey, this could be a really cool show.
Speaker 2: There's more sightings and there's more you know, with social
Speaker 2: media and podcasts like yours, it's like there's more access
Speaker 2: to more stories than ever before. And I feel, you know,
Speaker 2: I was thinking about like why why now is a
Speaker 2: good time for bring it back? And that for me
Speaker 2: was kind of like a big reason. It's like there's
Speaker 2: just access to so many stories. And yeah, it started
Speaker 2: as a conversation and then you know, we ended up
Speaker 2: shooting a little development tape with Martin and put a
Speaker 2: deck together and sort of outlined our vision for what
Speaker 2: the series would be, and they went for it. And
Speaker 2: then they eventually decided to sort of put it underneath
Speaker 2: the Monster Quest banner, which I was thrilled with I
Speaker 2: was honestly, it was like such an honor to sort
Speaker 2: of feel like, oh, we're bringing it back because it
Speaker 2: was such a you know, it was a big part
Speaker 2: of my history, Monster Quest, and I just always thought
Speaker 2: it was such an awesome show. So that's kind of
Speaker 2: how it all came to be. But it's been a
Speaker 2: really thrilling way to spend the last year and a
Speaker 2: half of my life. Just tunneling into into the world.
Speaker 2: We just had conversations with people, and long conversations, I
Speaker 2: mean really talking about you know, and someone's going to
Speaker 2: be hey, you should meet such and such person, or
Speaker 2: you should talk to such. You know. We really wanted
Speaker 2: to make sure people understood what the show was and
Speaker 2: what the show was not. You know, this wasn't a
Speaker 2: show where we were trying to prove or disprove someone's encounter,
Speaker 2: you know, where we're trying to undercut it or you know.
Speaker 2: We really were just trying to present these stories as
Speaker 2: objectively as possible and then build the history around them.
Speaker 2: And the history was fascinating to dig into. You know,
Speaker 2: it's some of these occurrences I would have thought when
Speaker 2: we met the witnesses oh, that must be just a
Speaker 2: one off. There's no such thing as a one off experience.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's just there really isn't. But it truly
Speaker 2: was word of mouth. I mean we talked to hundreds
Speaker 2: of people, you know, and I hear hope the other
Speaker 2: season because there's just so many more amazing stories and
Speaker 2: I think, you know what we you know, you kind
Speaker 2: of start in the casting process and you know, you
Speaker 2: sort of you have like your top tier, and then
Speaker 2: you kind of fill it out. And obviously each each
Speaker 2: episode is themed. Now that we've been through the first season,
Speaker 2: so many of those stories that didn't quite make it
Speaker 2: for that first for the first season, like I would
Speaker 2: be thrilled to bring into the fold. And I'm sure
Speaker 2: you know a lot of those people. I mean, there's
Speaker 2: just there's no shortage of these of these encounters, and
Speaker 2: they take you all over the globe, all over the
Speaker 2: United States, all different types of people. There's not a
Speaker 2: type a person that necessarily like has these encounters, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was really it was all word of mouth,
Speaker 2: but really just trying not to I really wanted the
Speaker 2: show to be defined. It is defined truly by like
Speaker 2: the witnesses and I really wanted credible witnesses that not
Speaker 2: only would speak to the people who are already within
Speaker 2: the crypto community and know them, but also to people,
Speaker 2: you know, the general history audience that maybe didn't watch
Speaker 2: the you know, the first installment of Monster Requests that
Speaker 2: are coming fresh and I so, I, you know, finding
Speaker 2: people that I felt were speaking very confident, with a
Speaker 2: lot of credibility, with sort of like you know, like
Speaker 2: the Daniel Hamilton details. It's like why you know you
Speaker 2: could so you know, I was looking for specific ingredients.
Speaker 2: It was strength. It was a great storyteller. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know.
Speaker 1: The judge was Shane the dog Man story, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean he's such a He's an amazing storyteller.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like he delivers his story with such
Speaker 2: confidence and clarity and incredible detail. And I think, no
Speaker 2: matter whether you are somebody who is a believer or
Speaker 2: non believer, or it is the first sort of Crypti
Speaker 2: story you've heard, or like the one hundredth or thousandth
Speaker 2: Crypti story you've heard, that confidence, level of detail and
Speaker 2: that I think someone speak with means a lot. So,
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of the casting and how he
Speaker 2: found people. That was really it. It was a lot
Speaker 2: of zoom calls, very long zoom calls, and then obviously,
Speaker 2: you know, I get them down in the interview chair
Speaker 2: and then it's a you know, two to three hour
Speaker 2: two to three hour conversation where you're really trying to
Speaker 2: pull out those details and those feelings and slow down
Speaker 2: the story. But it was a blast. Yeah, it was
Speaker 2: a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: So are you having to like travel around the US
Speaker 1: and meet people where they are or is it a
Speaker 1: mixture like some people are coming to your studios or
Speaker 1: like how does how is that working for this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're right on. It was a mix. So
Speaker 2: some people we flew, we flew into Seattle, we filmed
Speaker 2: all everything here. Other people, you know, some people weren't
Speaker 2: comfortable traveling or weren't able to travel, so we sort
Speaker 2: of set up these little satellite areas where you know,
Speaker 2: it was kind of close to some people. Martin for
Speaker 2: the development, we were able to go out, you know,
Speaker 2: to his home and he took out the land between
Speaker 2: the lakes. I wish we could do that for every
Speaker 2: story because it's just I mean, selfishly, it's just a fun,
Speaker 2: such a fun experience to sort of walk in their
Speaker 2: shoes and you know, sit shotgun with Martin and just
Speaker 2: just you know, just spend time with those people. But
Speaker 2: for the most part, yeah, it was a pretty quick process.
Speaker 2: You know. We again we have sort of the zoom interview.
Speaker 2: Then most people we had them flying the Seattle. We'd
Speaker 2: sit down for a while, talk a little bit about
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about one of those parts of
Speaker 2: their story that they really feel confident and share, you know.
Speaker 2: And but yeah, I really I think the way I
Speaker 2: try to approach interviews is I truly am like enthralled,
Speaker 2: you know, like I am I am, I am locked
Speaker 2: in when I'm listening to these stories. And that was
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. But most people, best case scenario,
Speaker 2: could fly them out here because it just made it
Speaker 2: really easy for us. But some people we did go
Speaker 2: out to where they were.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Man. I was thinking, and maybe maybe this
Speaker 1: is a thing where you know, I haven't been able
Speaker 1: to watch all of it of course yet, but it
Speaker 1: would be really cool if you could get Adam's story
Speaker 1: on one of the episodes. And I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: Southern Oregon portal one You've heard Adam to say that one, right.
Speaker 2: I think I've heard that story. Adam has a lot
Speaker 2: of stories. Yeah, story Adam, Adam Davies. You can only
Speaker 2: stay away from Monster Requests for so long. I feel
Speaker 2: like he is due. He'd just sit in the chair. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: he'd be great, he'd.
Speaker 1: Be okay, good stuff. It's it's a such a such
Speaker 1: a great encounter. In my goodness, it's so so good,
Speaker 1: it's so Regarding the current season on Monster Quest, is
Speaker 1: there any chance we can get the old graphics back
Speaker 1: with the super you know what I'm saying, like the
Speaker 1: crazy graphics? Can we get that back?
Speaker 2: Yeah? You know, it's funny. We had that conversation with History,
Speaker 2: and I think they really wanted to sort of feel
Speaker 2: like there was an evolution. You know, there was like
Speaker 2: I know within the community, there's like we can't hear
Speaker 2: the graphic, like it's like some of those really classic
Speaker 2: elements from from the old series. You know. I think
Speaker 2: History really wanted to sort of freshen it up. I
Speaker 2: would say a little bit, but absolutely I missed those
Speaker 2: those original graphics and the original It's just there's something
Speaker 2: you know when you have that, it's like it makes
Speaker 2: it's like a it's like a hug, you know, it
Speaker 2: really is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm speaking. So I'm speaking because I hear
Speaker 1: a lot from the community and they're like, they're like
Speaker 1: on their knees, they're packed, like, give us history, give
Speaker 1: us the old graphics back. We want to see those
Speaker 1: old graphics. And like, who knows, maybe history, maybe not,
Speaker 1: but hey.
Speaker 2: I'll make a push if we get more. I'll make
Speaker 2: a strong push. I promise you, I'll make a strong push.
Speaker 2: All right. There, I'll give you full credit for for
Speaker 2: for making it happen.
Speaker 1: There you go, there you go. I've seen even people
Speaker 1: on TikTok making videos about I'm like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: this is a pretty big deal. Okay, all right, it's
Speaker 1: cool though.
Speaker 2: It's neat to see how like the the original series
Speaker 2: it was, it meant a lot to people, you know,
Speaker 2: I think it was a little before it's time. It
Speaker 2: introduced I think a lot of people to the worlds
Speaker 2: of cryptids and on a global scale, and I think
Speaker 2: to some very cool people within the crypti community like
Speaker 2: Adam Davies and Jeff Meldrum and a lot of people
Speaker 2: that were that were doing some really really cool work.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I totally get. I totally get the the
Speaker 2: want to have that that original those original graphics back.
Speaker 1: So that's just me throwing my little two cents in there.
Speaker 1: But you know, Jared, can you take us back to
Speaker 1: I think it's fascinating that you were involved with the
Speaker 1: first Monster Quest in the Nepal episode. Do you have
Speaker 1: any memories of of what it was or stories you're
Speaker 1: able to share what it was able, what it was
Speaker 1: like to be able to be, you know, in the
Speaker 1: filming or involved with that episode, and any cool things
Speaker 1: you had happened over there.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I mean how much time do you have,
Speaker 2: JAREDI that was a that was a lifelong memory. I
Speaker 2: feel like almost died on that shoot. Like it was.
Speaker 2: It was, it was, it was. It was an incredible adventure, harrowing.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean we had you know, I had
Speaker 2: been brought on to basically do mostly the field production
Speaker 2: of that of that episode, so I connected with the Adam,
Speaker 2: you know, and it was like, hey, Adam, you want
Speaker 2: to go to the Paul. I'm looking of the Yeddi
Speaker 2: and you know, I think you know, Adam's pretty game
Speaker 2: for for very basically everything. Oh yeah, and then I
Speaker 2: really was into trying to find get in touch with
Speaker 2: this guy named Ian Redmond who was this He's this
Speaker 2: great ape expert. He used to work with Diane Fosse
Speaker 2: before she was murdered, and you know, for and I
Speaker 2: didn't know where in the world he was, you know,
Speaker 2: I remember was just like sending random emails and just
Speaker 2: constantly trying to get in touch with him. And then
Speaker 2: one day he finally emerges and he called me like
Speaker 2: three in the morning and I saw this this number
Speaker 2: I didn't know, probably from the UK, and I answered
Speaker 2: it really quickly and it was it was Ian. He's like,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I was I was outstudying cave elephants and
Speaker 2: I had like a like a wire tied to my
Speaker 2: foot so when they left the when they left the cave,
Speaker 2: it would wake me up. And I was just like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, this guy's incredible. And I was like, well, Ian,
Speaker 2: I'm going to Nepal, you know, to look for the Yeddi.
Speaker 2: You want to come, And he was like, I love to.
Speaker 2: And so that was it was really cool to have,
Speaker 2: you know, Adam obviously who's there. He had such such
Speaker 2: great knowledge of the Yeti and the history and and
Speaker 2: Ian came from much of the scientific background, his his
Speaker 2: histories with great apes, and I just thought that was
Speaker 2: such a cool a cool team. And then we brought in,
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of the focus on that was
Speaker 2: trying to go back to the place where they had
Speaker 2: found some evidence. And so there was this old climber
Speaker 2: named Yagihara, really cool guy, and Yaghi had basically was
Speaker 2: up in this really remote area of Nepal, very high altitude,
Speaker 2: and it's seen a print a track, and it you know,
Speaker 2: sort of was it was. There's some headlines about it,
Speaker 2: some information, and so I got in touch with him
Speaker 2: and I said, hey, well you lead us back to
Speaker 2: that area where you found that track. Now, Yagihara like
Speaker 2: he's summited Everest multiple times. I mean, he's a very
Speaker 2: accomplished climber, which was cool. I mean a lot of
Speaker 2: the stories of the Yetti are from local folklore and climbers.
Speaker 2: You know, you have Ryanald Messner and different climbers that
Speaker 2: have that really access these remote parts of the world.
Speaker 2: So the other thing we had done, because this was
Speaker 2: sort of before the age of drones, not that drones.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure drnes could actually operate up that altitude.
Speaker 2: But we had worked with this company either out of
Speaker 2: New Zealand or Australia, and they had built us this
Speaker 2: this helium platform which we attached a infrared camera to
Speaker 2: and then it had a signal down that Adam or
Speaker 2: whoever could hold and so at nighttime we could basically
Speaker 2: lift this thing up anyway we get to Nepal. I
Speaker 2: mean we were very ambitious. We had we helicoptered out
Speaker 2: to this remote village drop in. We had thirty six
Speaker 2: sherpas bringing you know, all of our gear. I guess
Speaker 2: six day trek deep into the Himalayas. I remember there's
Speaker 2: this guy and I still have Actually, this is it
Speaker 2: right this is it right here? So this little piece
Speaker 2: of twine right here is a very famous piece of twine.
Speaker 2: This is the twine that he wrote He used to Basically,
Speaker 2: he had a giant helium tank and he wrapped it
Speaker 2: around his forehead like this in flip flops and hiked,
Speaker 2: you know, and trecked, you know, five days carrying this
Speaker 2: thing with this piece of twine. So when he was done,
Speaker 2: I was like, can I have a snip of that twine?
Speaker 2: I feel like that's like the most epid piece of
Speaker 2: twine I've ever seen. And so anyway, we went up there. Uh,
Speaker 2: every day was it was, it was. It was tough going,
Speaker 2: you know, straight up, straight down, straight up, straight down,
Speaker 2: met with some remote villagers who had stories along the way,
Speaker 2: and then we sort of reached this point and sort
Speaker 2: of the plan was always to sort of split the teams. So,
Speaker 2: you know, Adam and Ian were confident that there was
Speaker 2: you know, there was the area that Yagy had gone to,
Speaker 2: which was very very high altitude, and then there was
Speaker 2: this other area down below that was more along a riverbed,
Speaker 2: and you know, Adam and he were both like, the
Speaker 2: riverbed is truly more of the habitat likely for a
Speaker 2: creature like this, more than this sort of desolate, high
Speaker 2: altitude place where Yagy saw that that print. So we
Speaker 2: split so half, and I mean my crew is like
Speaker 2: just my buddies. I mean that's kind of like the business,
Speaker 2: right you kind of you say, hey, hey, well you
Speaker 2: want to go to the pall with me? So you know,
Speaker 2: nobody's Sean and Ryan are with me, So they stuck
Speaker 2: with Ian and then Adam myself, this guy named Mick
Speaker 2: who was sort of in charge of that aerial platform
Speaker 2: and Yagihara. We continued up. Now our expedition company that
Speaker 2: we had hired to sort of, you know, help coordinate
Speaker 2: this whole event. They're like, you're not going to encounter
Speaker 2: any snow this type of year. Don't worry about it, Jeremany.
Speaker 2: The's snow everywhere everywhere, and we're just on this pitch.
Speaker 2: We we eventually get to this pitch and it is
Speaker 2: no joke. The mountain is like this and there's no trail,
Speaker 2: so you're with you know, you're just sort of walking
Speaker 2: with your feet like this. And I'm not I don't
Speaker 2: love heights, but somehow, with my jobs, I always end
Speaker 2: up in those situations. But you know, like you're walking
Speaker 2: like this, creating basically like a twelve eighteen inch little
Speaker 2: walkway that you can walk along. We get up to
Speaker 2: this location, I mean gorgeous though, I mean just yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I love those moments in life. You're like, how the
Speaker 2: heck did I get here? Like just amazing. So we
Speaker 2: scouted the area. We put up the balloon at night
Speaker 2: a few times, didn't catch anything, but my DP, who
Speaker 2: I had worked with multiple times, I mean, I'm already
Speaker 2: realizing I'm skipping over a few parts of the story
Speaker 2: that are great. There are places where like, like the
Speaker 2: trail we on was not like a hiking expedition trail.
Speaker 2: It was like the old you know, the Nepal was
Speaker 2: a monarchy and it was overthrown by the mouse, and
Speaker 2: so it used to be this sort of The rebels
Speaker 2: used to live up in the mountains and they would
Speaker 2: use these trails to basically get into get into more
Speaker 2: of the of the city. And so there were areas
Speaker 2: where the trail was completely gone and you had to
Speaker 2: almost basically free climb over this cliff and like where
Speaker 2: all legs are shaky, and then you'd have like these
Speaker 2: you know, local villagers whore just walking it like it's nothing.
Speaker 2: But we get up to this altitude and this DP,
Speaker 2: this guy named Jeff Rhodes who was incredible and summited
Speaker 2: Everest twice in a day, just really accomplished climber. He's like, listen, Jared,
Speaker 2: what we just did was incredibly dangerous. Like we gotta
Speaker 2: get that, we gotta get we we yeah, I know,
Speaker 2: you guys have evac insurance. We should evact because if
Speaker 2: someone's slips, there's we have no ropes, we have no
Speaker 2: cramp bonds. We have like nothing, nothing to sort of
Speaker 2: like if something goes wrong and so and no one's
Speaker 2: faul you know. It's just like knowing that the expedition
Speaker 2: company didn't expect snow and anyway. So all so we
Speaker 2: finish our filming, we go to the place of the track.
Speaker 2: We don't we don't quite get the information we want.
Speaker 2: But it was a great expedition, great story was starting
Speaker 2: to go. So cool to go back up there with
Speaker 2: the akikara and and it's just me and my little
Speaker 2: crew of like four to five people. Uh Adams Adams
Speaker 2: there too, and all the surp was left. And I
Speaker 2: remember I gave all the all my flashlights and torches
Speaker 2: because I was like, I'm not gonna need this helicopter's
Speaker 2: coming to pick us up. We won't need it. So
Speaker 2: we're sitting up there the snowfield. We clear off this
Speaker 2: big helicopter landing plaid and there's only one helicopter in
Speaker 2: all of Nepal that can reach his altitude, just one.
Speaker 2: So we hear it come dun d d. He was
Speaker 2: coming up through the mountains and you're seeing it come
Speaker 2: in and you're like, oh man, this is I'm just
Speaker 2: like this is epic trip out of here. It's going
Speaker 2: to be so cool. It comes, it cir goes once,
Speaker 2: it cir goes twice, and it leaves, and then we're
Speaker 2: just like, oh, we had very little food, we had
Speaker 2: very little water, we had all of our gear. Uh,
Speaker 2: it was only the lead sirpa. It was mb he
Speaker 2: was our sadar up there and his nephew and it
Speaker 2: was just my crew, and we're like, we have no choice,
Speaker 2: Like basically, basically the wind shear was too high that
Speaker 2: he couldn't land. He was too fraid of using a crash,
Speaker 2: and so it was probably actually, I guess it was
Speaker 2: probably middle of the afternoon, and it was a two
Speaker 2: day trek up to this place, and so we quadruple
Speaker 2: up our loads on our packs and we just start
Speaker 2: heading out. And I remember at one point, I remember
Speaker 2: thinking like my legs were starting to shake, imber thinking,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I'm mentally like, I'm mentally beating myself.
Speaker 2: I remember I gave myself a strong pep talk, but
Speaker 2: people were crying scared. It was. It was harrowing, and
Speaker 2: we climbed out of there. All through the night, we
Speaker 2: walked pitch black. I had Adam gave me this little
Speaker 2: like a little pencil light, like probably the size of
Speaker 2: this little pen right here, you know, like the size
Speaker 2: of my thumb. And it was and it was it
Speaker 2: was flickering. The battery was just about to go because
Speaker 2: in the cold, you know, batteries go real quick. Remember
Speaker 2: I just pointed at my feet and I would just
Speaker 2: remember walking down, down, down. I remember trying to envision
Speaker 2: that my legs were just tree trunks, cause my knees
Speaker 2: hurt so bad. We dropped thousands of feet in elevation.
Speaker 2: We finally get to the camp, must be like three
Speaker 2: in the morning, four in the morning. People are waiting
Speaker 2: up for us, and by my Signar just breaks down
Speaker 2: in tears. He's like, I'm so sorry we failed you. Anyways,
Speaker 2: you know, all these moments, all these adventures were in
Speaker 2: the moment you're like this is crazy. Then you get
Speaker 2: through it and you're just like that was awesome. You know,
Speaker 2: it's like an incredible experience. The guys down at this
Speaker 2: stayed down at the river with Ian saw a couple
Speaker 2: of cool found a couple of cool skeletons of different creatures,
Speaker 2: but no sign And I remember Ian said a couple
Speaker 2: things to me on that trip that really stuck with
Speaker 2: me in terms of sort of me understanding. You know.
Speaker 2: I was sort of thought, how can these cryptids exist
Speaker 2: and we don't see them, you know, or we see
Speaker 2: them in times, but there's no like the photographic video
Speaker 2: evidence is minimal. We're not seeing any bodies. And he
Speaker 2: was like, listen, you know, he said, you know, even
Speaker 2: the mountain gorillas of Arunga, they weren't found until not
Speaker 2: that long ago. Before then, they were just like the
Speaker 2: idea of their traveler's tales and local folklore. And not until
Speaker 2: two British adventurers went and killed one and brought it
Speaker 2: back did science finally recognized the mountain gorilla as more
Speaker 2: than just local folklore and travelers tales. And here in
Speaker 2: Nepal we have a creature in the that is probably
Speaker 2: less a number in a more remote area. And he's like,
Speaker 2: we may not have seen that YETI, but if the
Speaker 2: YETI does exist, it's a high likelihood that YETI saw us,
Speaker 2: you know. And that perspective, that scientific perspective, it's it
Speaker 2: is really carried with me until today, you know, And
Speaker 2: I think like that that I love that feeling of
Speaker 2: understanding that there's more out there in the world than what,
Speaker 2: like you know then what then what science? Or what
Speaker 2: you know? Within what What we're told as where kids
Speaker 2: growing up is like these are the biological you know animals,
Speaker 2: These are the animals that we share this awesome planet with.
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, that gave me a really cool perspective.
Speaker 2: But man, that was such We did end up getting
Speaker 2: picked up by a helicopter eventually and and flown and
Speaker 2: flown back to Katman do. But man, that was a epic,
Speaker 2: epic adventure.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. It's such a cool story. I mean,
Speaker 1: for for one reason, outside of all the adventure, it
Speaker 1: shows that. So I think a lot of the community
Speaker 1: when they heard, oh, Monster Quest is back, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know that name. Uh oh, I'm scared. Is
Speaker 1: this gonna be okay? Does this guy? Can this guy
Speaker 1: protect our precious Monster Quest? And this guy, Jared, you've
Speaker 1: been through adventure encrypted related things, like you're not just
Speaker 1: some random Joe off the street like oh yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: do monster quests and it'll be cool, Like you've actually
Speaker 1: been out in the trenches. So it's it's a very
Speaker 1: cool example of like the show is in good hands,
Speaker 1: I'd say, so, thanks.
Speaker 2: Lot, I appreciate it. I think the one thing that
Speaker 2: it really gave me access to is just under meeting
Speaker 2: people in the community, you know, and I and I
Speaker 2: and that that really I think the perspective of the
Speaker 2: cryptive community is something that I really brought into it
Speaker 2: and wanting wanting the series to meet their expectations. You know,
Speaker 2: obviously it's not just for that community. It's for a
Speaker 2: general audience as well as for believers, non believers, skeptics.
Speaker 2: But I really, you know, knowing knowing the community, you know,
Speaker 2: being close to Adam, you know, having a great admiration
Speaker 2: for people like Martin Groves and Martin not only a
Speaker 2: lot of the people that we interviewed, the judge. I
Speaker 2: just really wanted it to be great. I really wanted
Speaker 2: to be great. And man, we worked our butts off,
Speaker 2: like we really we really obsessed about this thing and
Speaker 2: really lived it and wanted it to feel like it
Speaker 2: was a you know, I missed the days of the expeditions.
Speaker 2: I wish we were still going out going on these
Speaker 2: great adventures and expeditions. It's not where media is right now,
Speaker 2: but I feel like I felt like with this that
Speaker 2: we could do something pretty special still, and I really
Speaker 2: appreciate you saying that that we're we're hitting the mark.
Speaker 1: A story you told you gave me a little bit about.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of excited because it's it's I think it's
Speaker 1: a bigfoot thing, and I have no idea about the
Speaker 1: people to do with this story. And I like, I've
Speaker 1: been doing this for about seven years and it's at
Speaker 1: the point where it's like, I know, like most of
Speaker 1: the stories, right, but this, I think is going to
Speaker 1: be a totally new one for me. So I'm really
Speaker 1: curious to hear. You know, what happened when you went
Speaker 1: out with Adam Davies and it was the area of
Speaker 1: the PMW and a home to the Big Guy. What
Speaker 1: happened with that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I had come back from I'd come back
Speaker 2: from the Paul, and obviously Adam and I had had
Speaker 2: kept in touch and we were coming up with all
Speaker 2: types of different ideas and Adam is he's hilarious because
Speaker 2: he goes on these expeditions and he's an adventurer, but man,
Speaker 2: you know, just like me, he gets winded really quickly
Speaker 2: and it creates the most comical, funny moments, and so
Speaker 2: we were sort of coming up with all these different ideas.
Speaker 2: But he was coming to the Northwest at that time,
Speaker 2: and I was living in Seattle, and he's like, Hey,
Speaker 2: I'm going on this going up to the north a
Speaker 2: place in North Cascades with this woman named Laurie Simmons,
Speaker 2: And Laurie Simmons is a daughter of this guy named
Speaker 2: Donald Lee Wallace. And Donald Lee Wile Wallace was this
Speaker 2: sort of really famous sort of bigfoot researcher, I would say,
Speaker 2: back in the day where he lived. He lived there
Speaker 2: for twenty eight years, and this guy just had tapes
Speaker 2: and piles of cassette tapes that he just recorded. I
Speaker 2: just sort of envisioned this guy with sort of like
Speaker 2: a those old school tape recorders around his neck and
Speaker 2: he just walked through the woods just recording, just recording
Speaker 2: the sounds of nature, hoping. I think that he would
Speaker 2: record a bigfooter sound like you know, Ron moorehead type moment,
Speaker 2: serious sounds like something that that really is, like, man,
Speaker 2: what that is a sound I not ever associated with
Speaker 2: nature before, you know, because I think when we think
Speaker 2: of evidence, you know, we think visual evidence, we think
Speaker 2: auditorial evidence, we think all different types of things, that
Speaker 2: of something that stands out, that's a little bit outside
Speaker 2: the norm. And so Adam was like, yeah, you want
Speaker 2: to come up? And so I called my buddy Ray.
Speaker 2: He was you know, he's a good buddy of mine.
Speaker 2: He's not in film or anything at allways a dentist,
Speaker 2: but he's loved Bigfoot forever. So it's like, hey, Ray,
Speaker 2: I'm going up to this place with my buddy, Adam Davies.
Speaker 2: And he had known the story from the Paul and
Speaker 2: he said, hey, you know I'm going I'm heading up
Speaker 2: and what do you want to come? And so we
Speaker 2: both we get up. It's like a two hour three
Speaker 2: hour drive up up by five and like two hours
Speaker 2: into the mountains. It's right at the beginning of springtime,
Speaker 2: so there's a little bit of snow on the ground,
Speaker 2: but not much. And and we get up there and
Speaker 2: Laurie had been going to this place forever. I mean
Speaker 2: is where her father went, so she had obviously she
Speaker 2: went there as a kid, so she really knew this
Speaker 2: area well. And there was a singular tree that she
Speaker 2: had gone back to since she was since she was
Speaker 2: a child. Then she would go up and she'd bring
Speaker 2: apples and chocolate, and she'd talk up to the big guy.
Speaker 2: You know, hey, big guy, it's me. It's Lori. And
Speaker 2: and you know, initially we heard nothing, like we saw nothing.
Speaker 2: We heard nothing. And she's like, oh, you'll hear him.
Speaker 2: He'll he'll make noise, he'll knock on the you know,
Speaker 2: he'll knock on the ground and nothing like nothing, and
Speaker 2: uh Adam was there and he had another friend from
Speaker 2: the UK that was there as well, and he said, Okay,
Speaker 2: it's all disappointing. So we kind of walk around a
Speaker 2: little bit, you know, we sort of look for other evidence,
Speaker 2: and we don't. We don't really see much. And then
Speaker 2: Laurie's like, hey, Jared, you know, why don't I like
Speaker 2: my little DSLR camera a little extra mic. This just
Speaker 2: something fun to have just in case we found something.
Speaker 2: And she's like, hey, why don't you come back with
Speaker 2: me to that tree, but just you and me instead
Speaker 2: of the whole group. Let's just the two of us go.
Speaker 2: I was like, sure, it sounds sounds good. So I
Speaker 2: go over there and Laurie's like, hey, the guy, Hey
Speaker 2: is me Laurie, you know, And at this point I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: is there. It's almost seen it like this is this
Speaker 2: is getting a little a little, a little silly, like
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we're going to fight here anything. You
Speaker 2: have this tree, and all of a sudden, there's just
Speaker 2: this this growl that comes from right beneath my feet,
Speaker 2: and I mean, I wish I could have seen my face,
Speaker 2: I mean my eyes just and then it was in
Speaker 2: the ground continued and then it was like if you're
Speaker 2: in an apartment building and someone's below you and there's
Speaker 2: knocking and saying i'd be quiet up there. It's like
Speaker 2: it was hitting the ground beneath my feet, and it
Speaker 2: was like and you could fee you'd hear the boom
Speaker 2: boom boom, like beneath me. And it went on. We
Speaker 2: sat there, just Lori and I for probably twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five minutes, and it just didn't stop. It
Speaker 2: went on and on and on, and then Adam came
Speaker 2: and my buddy Ray and we all are at the
Speaker 2: base of this tree. This creature, whatever it was, it
Speaker 2: growled and knocked right beneath our feet, like right beneath
Speaker 2: this giant, giant tree for an hour, hour and a
Speaker 2: half probably, and then the ground there I don't know
Speaker 2: if you know the Northwest, but the whole rainforest, those
Speaker 2: areas where it's like the ground it's really spongy, really mossy.
Speaker 2: And the ground in this area was just like that,
Speaker 2: you know, a really mossy, spongy, beautiful area, a little
Speaker 2: bit of snow. And I remember I walked around just
Speaker 2: being like there must be some sort of like how
Speaker 2: do you get beneath the tree? How was the end
Speaker 2: of there? This is a cave? Is it a bear?
Speaker 2: You know? What is it? But the fact that it
Speaker 2: was like the same tree that she had been coming
Speaker 2: to forever, the same tree that her father said this
Speaker 2: sasquatch lived there, and that we went there and we
Speaker 2: heard these growlds. I mean, my buddy, I was just
Speaker 2: I just went to the I just saw him the
Speaker 2: other day because he's also he's my buddy before. He's
Speaker 2: a dentist when I was my dentist, and I was like,
Speaker 2: and every time I see him, we talk about this story,
Speaker 2: like every single time. And we stayed there for a
Speaker 2: really long time and then we left. But I still
Speaker 2: can't explain it. It was like the weirdest thing I
Speaker 2: can I just cannot explain it. And the history around
Speaker 2: it and why that exact tree. It was awesome. It
Speaker 2: was like just an unforgettable experience. I actually want to
Speaker 2: go back up there. I need to get back up
Speaker 2: to that area and go reinvestigate it because it was
Speaker 2: an unforgettable moment.
Speaker 1: So when she took you over to the tree, did
Speaker 1: you guys speak out loud or ask for anything before
Speaker 1: that happened or it just started happening.
Speaker 2: I don't think we asked for anything. I mean, she
Speaker 2: would kind of go over there, she was still talk
Speaker 2: she kind of I think she was sort of she
Speaker 2: did sort of like knock the ground a little bit
Speaker 2: with her foot. I mean, she did stop a little bit.
Speaker 2: You know. I thought always it a bear in hibernation,
Speaker 2: you know, and it kind of just was startled awake.
Speaker 2: But it was just I don't know, I'm not sold
Speaker 2: on that, you know, I really I'm not like still
Speaker 2: that that's like exactly what it was, because I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: she's been there since she was a kid, Like this
Speaker 2: has been happening since she was a kid, going to
Speaker 2: this singular place, like it just feels very I don't know,
Speaker 2: I guess un likely that it's like the same bear
Speaker 2: or that I don't know. I'm not convinced it's a bear.
Speaker 2: I don't know enough about it to be like to
Speaker 2: really determine when it was or what it wasn't. But
Speaker 2: it was so odd and so weird and so unforgettable
Speaker 2: and so clear. I mean, it wasn't you didn't have
Speaker 2: to strain to hear this thing. I mean it was
Speaker 2: a very clear growl, like right at our feet, like
Speaker 2: right at our feet. So I yeah, I don't know
Speaker 2: what it did. But she's been coming there for years,
Speaker 2: and that's the experience she'd been having for years. And
Speaker 2: I think it's in a way that she still feels
Speaker 2: connected to her father, who had passed by that time,
Speaker 2: to kind of continue to go back to this to
Speaker 2: this spot. And you know, I think her father called
Speaker 2: it the big Guy, and so she she called this
Speaker 2: creature the big Guy. But her father went to that
Speaker 2: tree believing that there was a Sasquatch or a big
Speaker 2: foot in that area, and so she had historically gone
Speaker 2: to that same area. And Laurie wrote some books. I
Speaker 2: think Donald Donald Lee Wallace has some books too. But
Speaker 2: I remember coming back, I thought, man, I'm going to
Speaker 2: make a feature doc about Donald Lee Wallace, and I'm
Speaker 2: going to look through all these all these cassette tapes
Speaker 2: and just like find those those little sounds. But I
Speaker 2: mean they were jem They were hundreds of tapes, like
Speaker 2: hundreds of little cassette tapes, and you just think, like
Speaker 2: what is in there? You know what the time it
Speaker 2: would take to comb throw that stuff would be incredible.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I still I still think about that his work.
Speaker 2: What's on those what's on those dang tapes? So it
Speaker 2: feels like a true crime what's on the tapes and that,
Speaker 2: But that experience was awesome. It was awesome. Do you
Speaker 2: hear any other stories like that of like growling coming
Speaker 2: from belief beneath people's feet or like benetil?
Speaker 1: I was trying to think, and I've never heard one
Speaker 1: where it's a growl beneath someone's feet. I did, so
Speaker 1: I don't know if you could even say it's similar.
Speaker 1: But I was out in the willam Att National Forest
Speaker 1: in Oregon the last July and an area just outside
Speaker 1: of Oakridge. It's a research area called Oak Hole. The
Speaker 1: individuals that head up the area fifty eight big Foot
Speaker 1: Information Center Museum that they hit up, and so I
Speaker 1: was up in the area. I've been up there a
Speaker 1: few times, and uh, I was up there with people
Speaker 1: like M. K. Davis and Ronnie Roseman and and all
Speaker 1: those guys and and Don Monroe, and so we go
Speaker 1: up there and we're trying their thing. People are playing guitars,
Speaker 1: and so I'm like, you know what, this time, I'm
Speaker 1: going to go out a little bit in the woods
Speaker 1: by myself, which half of me is like, this is
Speaker 1: what you tell people not to do, dummy, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do it. What could happen?
Speaker 2: Right, So every scary story starts exactly check out.
Speaker 1: Yeah it is. Yeah. So I go out in the
Speaker 1: woods in the area where we've had visuals, but out
Speaker 1: further in the woods, and I'm like, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna try something. I'm just going to say, hey,
Speaker 1: if there's any if there's anything here, can you make
Speaker 1: a noise? I've never tried it. What could happen? Half
Speaker 1: a second later, something in the woods goes knock, knock, knock.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, no, I think that just had to
Speaker 1: be like a weird thing. So I did it again.
Speaker 1: I asked it again. Half a second later was like knock, doc, doc,
Speaker 1: And they got freaked out and went back to the group,
Speaker 1: and every day I'm like, what would have happened if
Speaker 1: I just walked twenty feet into the woods. I've said
Speaker 1: that story so many times since July, and my listeners
Speaker 1: are like, oh, this story again. But it's like you
Speaker 1: don't get it until you're in that situation where it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, people are like, why didn't you go for it? Well,
Speaker 1: when you're in a situation like that, things can get
Speaker 1: really intense really quick, and I didn't really feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, potential missing four when one that day, or
Speaker 1: a missing person, we don't really want to deal with that.
Speaker 2: You're vulnerable in those moments.
Speaker 1: You know you are exactly It's a good way to
Speaker 1: put it.
Speaker 2: You know, whether it's a knock on a tree or
Speaker 2: a growl or something you see, you're encountering something that
Speaker 2: you can't explain. And when actually explain something, it's not like, Yeah,
Speaker 2: some people I think would walk further, but a lot
Speaker 2: most I think most people would say, I don't know
Speaker 2: what I'm dealing with, I don't know where I'm at.
Speaker 2: I'm going to just take a step back to a
Speaker 2: place so I can live to tell the story. One day.
Speaker 2: But but it is it's encountering something you cannot explain.
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, just going back to sort of
Speaker 2: I think my experience on on doing this season of
Speaker 2: Monster Quest, I mean, and it's heart that is, like
Speaker 2: every single story is somebody encounters something they can't explain
Speaker 2: and then they go on a journey to try to
Speaker 2: try to understand it. And I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people in the community now that that is their entry point.
Speaker 2: Sometimes often is like they weren't looking for it, they
Speaker 2: weren't out there searching. They encounter something they can't explain,
Speaker 2: and it's brought them to this community to try to
Speaker 2: understand what that was. Because it's a great minute's These
Speaker 2: aren't stories. These are stories that like people obsess about
Speaker 2: they they think about it daily. You know, it's like
Speaker 2: a it's like a traumatic event. But that's a cool story.
Speaker 2: That's the cool land. That's a beautiful area.
Speaker 1: That's all it really is. And you know, just to
Speaker 1: say another reason why I'm glad that the show is back,
Speaker 1: and uh is if you think over the last well
Speaker 1: maybe even like twenty twenty or so years, I mean,
Speaker 1: every generation has something that for the TV crowd that
Speaker 1: they're like, Okay, I came in with in Search of
Speaker 1: I came in with the original Monster Quest. I came
Speaker 1: in with Finding Bigfoot or Expedition Bigfoot. And we're at
Speaker 1: the point where I was like, man, we got to
Speaker 1: have something on TV outside the Internet where you know,
Speaker 1: the next generation can come in. So thankful that you
Speaker 1: guys are here because this is pretty much this generations
Speaker 1: like it's going to get them into it. So oh,
Speaker 1: that's that's tough to you guy.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it, you know, and it's it's fun, you know.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of these folks now I've been
Speaker 2: obviously on your podcast, another podcast, and there's been other
Speaker 2: things they've done, and I would say the thing is
Speaker 2: like the best stories should be told over and over
Speaker 2: and over again, you know, and there's so many different Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I'm stoked, like, oh, I've heard that
Speaker 2: story before, fantastic, But doesn't mean the Monster qust audience
Speaker 2: has heard it before, you know, And how can we
Speaker 2: offer an audience or like you said, even for Martin's
Speaker 2: story or Barton's or something where you know it but
Speaker 2: you're seeing in a different light. And that's I think
Speaker 2: what we're trying to do. But yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 2: neat that there are so many outlets for stories and
Speaker 2: witnesses right now. One. I think it makes people much
Speaker 2: more comfortable coming forward and feeling and there's a place
Speaker 2: where they can try to help wrap their head around
Speaker 2: what it is that they what it is that they experience.
Speaker 2: So I really appreciate that. Yeah, I'm I couldn't be
Speaker 2: more thrilled that Monster Quest is back and to have
Speaker 2: a hand in it, it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: And I agree with you. We are at the point
Speaker 1: right now where there are so many outlets, and the
Speaker 1: way I look at it is hopefully it's all working
Speaker 1: together for one for people to feel like they can
Speaker 1: actually tell someone their story, They're not gonna be made
Speaker 1: fun of it. I hope that hopefully all these stories
Speaker 1: getting out, maybe someday will get a little bit more
Speaker 1: information or the truth will start to come out about
Speaker 1: like what's what do people really know about Bigfoot in
Speaker 1: the background? Who knows? I hope that will happen someday.
Speaker 1: But you know, one more question about the show, Jared,
Speaker 1: do you have a witness that you were I mean
Speaker 1: you had to work really hard at or you were
Speaker 1: really excited to be able to get them on film.
Speaker 1: One that really stands out to you as like you
Speaker 1: look at the whole series that you were able to
Speaker 1: film and you're like, oh, that was probably like amazing
Speaker 1: that we were able to get that one on film.
Speaker 2: Man, I could probably say that for most. But the
Speaker 2: one the one that does come to mind and I
Speaker 2: and not just because but he isn't this week's episode,
Speaker 2: but it is also do you know John Mey and Chinski?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, dude, Wyoming.
Speaker 1: Wyoming, right, and he gets the hand foot Yeah, wind River.
Speaker 2: Mountains, Yeah, wildlife biologist spend his whole life up there
Speaker 2: living with these big horn sheep, sort of following the
Speaker 2: the the sort of like embedding with the animal approach
Speaker 2: that like Jane Goodall took with the chimps back, you know,
Speaker 2: in the day before she before she passed. And his
Speaker 2: story one we had to go to him. It was
Speaker 2: like the most remote part of Wyoming. He was like,
Speaker 2: we flew in, I think the Salt Lake is like
Speaker 2: a five hour drive. Is this small town, middle of nowhere,
Speaker 2: population fifty It was awesome, Like the whole experience was
Speaker 2: like really really wonderful. And he's the one that I
Speaker 2: wish I could have just sat out there and hung
Speaker 2: out with him for just days and days and days.
Speaker 2: But his I remember leaving that interview with him and thinking,
Speaker 2: and this is before Jeff Mildrim had passed, and I
Speaker 2: remember telling John I was like, John, I actually I
Speaker 2: truly believed. I was like, this guy is gonna figure
Speaker 2: it out, Like this guy is going to bring going
Speaker 2: to figure out the evidence. And we had some conversations
Speaker 2: about different things he was looking to do. You know,
Speaker 2: he's an older guy, so he's like, I need young people.
Speaker 2: I can't do the fieldwork I used to do. And
Speaker 2: I was like, well, I have those people, like I
Speaker 2: know exactly. And I remember I got back and I
Speaker 2: reached out to Jeff Meldrum and I was like, hey,
Speaker 2: I just met with John. I just met Johnny and Chinsky,
Speaker 2: Like let's get on the phone and talk about like
Speaker 2: a feature doc or a project that you know, hopefully
Speaker 2: we can raise some money for and go on and
Speaker 2: really like get evidence. Like when we went to Nepal.
Speaker 2: I remember sitting there with my crew and I really believed.
Speaker 2: I was like, man, we're going for this, Like we
Speaker 2: are going to a remote, remote area we're putting crazy resources.
Speaker 2: We're going to get some evidence. I remember looking at
Speaker 2: my team, my camera team, and being like, we are
Speaker 2: all responsible for getting the shot, Like don't just keep
Speaker 2: your eyes on Adam and Ian, you know, and Mick
Speaker 2: and Yagi, like you guys got to be looking into
Speaker 2: the into the in like to the mountaintops, like into
Speaker 2: the bush, like every where you could. But John I
Speaker 2: really left that feeling like he was positioned to do
Speaker 2: just like what you said, which is like to provide
Speaker 2: the evidence to science that is undeniable. And these parts
Speaker 2: of it didn't necessarily make the show, but you know,
Speaker 2: the talking about what science needs evidence wise to actually
Speaker 2: you know, say we this is a this is a
Speaker 2: real creature, this is the truth. And that that to
Speaker 2: me anyway, John was an amazing interview. I mean just
Speaker 2: like the knowledge, the history, the evidence that he has found,
Speaker 2: the story of how he came out out the mouth.
Speaker 2: I mean, his encounter is interesting, Like his encounter is cool,
Speaker 2: but it's almost what happened after his encounter that was
Speaker 2: more interesting to me. You know, it was coming down
Speaker 2: and I don't want to give away the whole story,
Speaker 2: but it's you know, it led him to find more evidence.
Speaker 2: And you know, there's some conversations we had off camera,
Speaker 2: but yeah, John blew my mind like that he was
Speaker 2: his background to have a wildlife biologist. I've talked about
Speaker 2: this before, but I do think like whether it's the
Speaker 2: judged wildlife biologists for those guys to come in and
Speaker 2: big I have experienced something, whether we like to admit
Speaker 2: or not, they have a bigger no mountain to climb.
Speaker 2: As far as like there's more risk for somebody in
Speaker 2: that the most risk for somebody in that world coming
Speaker 2: out and saying I've had this experience than any other
Speaker 2: you know, does John get isolated from other biologists being
Speaker 2: like I believe that the Sasquatch does exist. I do
Speaker 2: believe that this is like a real, a real creature.
Speaker 2: And you know, and he spoke a lot about the
Speaker 2: Native American history in that area, and he's just he's
Speaker 2: so tapped into everything in the Windwitterber Mountains that that
Speaker 2: one really shook me. Have you talked to John? Do
Speaker 2: you know? Do you know John?
Speaker 1: I have never actually talked to John before.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. He his story, he's great, his credentials
Speaker 2: are really cool. He's just also a really neat guy, thoughtful.
Speaker 2: You know. I remember finishing the interview and I texted
Speaker 2: my buddy, who is our executive history, and I was like, man,
Speaker 2: we just had an awesome interview. I can't wait for
Speaker 2: you to see it, like because it just it just it.
Speaker 2: It wasn't it wasn't. It was a very unexpected individual
Speaker 2: having that encounter. There was a journey afterwards. I love
Speaker 2: the stories where people like Daniel. Daniel had his experience
Speaker 2: as a kid, then for years he tried to figure
Speaker 2: out until he saw it. Her Ron Moore head seriously
Speaker 2: as and he's like, that's a sound I heard. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but sound smells. Nothing accesses
Speaker 2: my memory like those, and so I can. I'm like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: that makes total sense that that would take if you
Speaker 2: heard that sound again, it would take you back to
Speaker 2: that moment. But John, yeah, John was you should Definitely,
Speaker 2: you'd be fascinating to have a conversation. He's a very
Speaker 2: very busy guy. That guy stays stay, is incredibly busy,
Speaker 2: but just a fascinating individual. Like Bill does on house
Speaker 2: out there rides like you know, he rides around the
Speaker 2: Desert Wind River mountains with this little motorcycle sidecar. I mean,
Speaker 2: just a character, but really incredibly intelligent and as as
Speaker 2: just a true believer in really trying to find evidence
Speaker 2: that sort of changes the entire scientific community's perspective on sasquatch.
Speaker 2: So that would be away.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, uh man, Jared, what what a fascinating conversation.
Speaker 1: How many episodes for season one can we be looking
Speaker 1: for so they'll.
Speaker 2: Be eight altogether together? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Awesome? And can we say anything about season two yet
Speaker 1: or or we will see?
Speaker 2: No, I don't Yeah, I truly don't know yet, but
Speaker 2: as soon as I do, you'll probably know, because we'll
Speaker 2: be asking around looking for stories. I'll probably hit you
Speaker 2: up and be like, let me who do I what
Speaker 2: stories do I not know that deserve.
Speaker 1: As part of this treatment Big for Society podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: Go to siting map. All the people I've talked to
Speaker 1: are on that siting map, and then you can see
Speaker 1: the episode and it's kind of like I was, like,
Speaker 1: I got so many people I've talked to, I got
Speaker 1: to make this map and it's a lot of work,
Speaker 1: but like people are starting to check it out. So
Speaker 1: make sure you check that out. And is there anything
Speaker 1: that we can do to make sure that, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe we can help a little bit with with season two.
Speaker 2: I would just just keep checking it in, just keep
Speaker 2: talking about it. You know. The the feedbacks has been
Speaker 2: has been amazing, you know. And I knew that we
Speaker 2: were the initial Monster Quests at a really high bar
Speaker 2: for us, you know, and the last thing I wanted
Speaker 2: to do is put a put a product out that
Speaker 2: was disappointing to people. And so, you know, it's felt
Speaker 2: just incredible that it's the community has been so excited
Speaker 2: about it, so welcoming. That's felt awesome. But I'll just
Speaker 2: say just you know, I don't write the history of
Speaker 2: Tom how much you love the show, but just keep
Speaker 2: watching and being enthusiastic about it. There are no shortage
Speaker 2: of stories, you know, there just are no shortage. I
Speaker 2: remember we finished the first season and we're having conversations
Speaker 2: and they said, oh, well, you know, what is you know,
Speaker 2: do you think we could do more? I was like,
Speaker 2: there are so many stories like this is I wouldn't
Speaker 2: even say this is the tip of the iceberg. The
Speaker 2: these are really amazing stories. But there are more of
Speaker 2: these histories. There's more of these, you know, as you
Speaker 2: can see like we're really focusing on like small localized stories,
Speaker 2: focal or histories that are connected in some way to
Speaker 2: this witness encounter, and they're everywhere. They're really it's hard
Speaker 2: to find a place, especially in the United States, that
Speaker 2: isn't touched by some history of some sort of unknown
Speaker 2: cryptid encounter. You can't just ignore that like that is
Speaker 2: it is, it is. It is literally part of like
Speaker 2: our human history of like searching for these answers. So
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm going off on a couple of tangents,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I would just say, keep being enthusiastic about show,
Speaker 2: let history know what you think about it, and keep
Speaker 2: tuning is the best thing we can do. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I will sort of let you know the second I
Speaker 2: know if I'm allowed that there's gonna be another season coming.
Speaker 2: But I'm I'm hopeful. I'm certainly hopeful.
Speaker 1: There you go. Well, Jared mcgillard, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for hanging out with us talking about Monster Quest. Guys,
Speaker 1: make sure that you if you see it on TV.
Speaker 1: If you see it on TV, watch it, talk about
Speaker 1: on your social media accounts, share all that good stuff.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 1: Jared jerry Mi It's.
Speaker 2: Been a blast. Appreciate it. Thanks for all you're doing too,
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Have you ever heard all the accounts of bigfoot activity
Speaker 1: around Oakridge, Oregon and you think to yourself, Man, I
Speaker 1: would love to get out in those woods and experience
Speaker 1: it for myself. Well, guess what this year you can.
Speaker 1: If this is interesting to you, stay tuned because it's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Sasquatch Summery Fest is come up July tenth
Speaker 1: through the eleventh, twenty twenty six. It's gonna be even
Speaker 1: better than the previous year's. Reason number one, I'll be
Speaker 1: one of the speakers. It's gonna be wild. I'll probably
Speaker 1: I'll say this, there may be stuff you haven't heard
Speaker 1: anywhere else, because let's just say sometimes it's well, you
Speaker 1: just got to be there. We'll leave it that more
Speaker 1: about looking for Bigfoot in the Oakridge Woods. Now check
Speaker 1: this out. You may know Jason Kenzie from his documentary
Speaker 1: series Searching for Sasquatch. Well, this year you can not
Speaker 1: only go to the festival, but you can also sign
Speaker 1: up for a track Deep in the Wild Forest outside
Speaker 1: of Oakridge with Jason Kenzie to the Bigfoot spots to
Speaker 1: look for Bigfoot. There's only eight spots to sign up
Speaker 1: for this and yeah, yes, this will also be filmed
Speaker 1: for the next chapter in his documentary series, which is
Speaker 1: Searching for Sasquatch. This is a once in lifetime deal.
Speaker 1: It's just trust it's going to be a wild, wild experience.
Speaker 1: To get a ticket, head on over to Sasquatch Summerfest
Speaker 1: dot com and listeners can use the code b sp
Speaker 1: like Bigfoot Society Podcast in order to get a two
Speaker 1: day pass for the price of a one day pass.
Speaker 1: So thanks to Priscilla for giving me that code so
Speaker 1: that you guys can can get a little a little
Speaker 1: help with the cost there. Appreciate that, Priscilla. I hope
Speaker 1: to see you at the booth in Oakridge this year.
Speaker 1: We can talk about your encounter. Was able to talk
Speaker 1: to so many people last year and the year before.
Speaker 1: It is an incredible time. You're not going to want
Speaker 1: to miss it, and I'll see you there. Before we
Speaker 1: wrap this episode, I want to say something directly to
Speaker 1: a very specific group of listeners. If you're in the military,
Speaker 1: any branch or forces, and if you've seen something that
Speaker 1: no one can explain, or if you're a National park
Speaker 1: ranger or forestry worker who's been told to stay quiet,
Speaker 1: or if you're a pilot who's seen something strange down
Speaker 1: on the ground, or if you're with the FBI a
Speaker 1: federal agency, or working intelligence and you stumbled upon something
Speaker 1: you're not allowed to talk about. And if you're a firefighter, paramedic,
Speaker 1: or search and rescue responder who's heard screams or found
Speaker 1: tracks that didn't make sense. If you're in the logging
Speaker 1: industry on a remote oil field, or a trucker with
Speaker 1: government contracts and you've had something happen that you've never
Speaker 1: told a soul. And if you're a biologist, a wildlife specialist,
Speaker 1: or a field researcher under contract who has found evidence
Speaker 1: you're not allowed to report. If you're a pastor, a missionary,
Speaker 1: or someone on a spiritual retreat and you saw some
Speaker 1: that shook your faith, or if you work in the shadows, CIA, NSA,
Speaker 1: or anything with clearance and you've seen what the public hasn't,
Speaker 1: then I want to talk to you, Even if it's anonymous.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: The world needs to hear what you've been forced to
Speaker 1: carry alone. And you're not alone. You've got the story,
Speaker 1: We've got the mic, see you in the woods. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to this episode of The Bigot Society Podcast.
Speaker 1: Every encounter we share reminds us that the world is
Speaker 1: bigger and stranger than we think, and that the truth
Speaker 1: is often hiding just beyond the tree line. If you
Speaker 1: enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the
Speaker 1: channel on YouTube hit the bell so you don't miss
Speaker 1: the next episode, and share this with a friend who's
Speaker 1: into mysteries, monsters, or the unexplained. And if you're listening
Speaker 1: to us on Spotify or Apple podcast, please follow the
Speaker 1: show there and leave us a five star positive review
Speaker 1: because all that helps more people discover the show. And remember,
Speaker 1: if you or someone you know has had a Bigfoot sighting,
Speaker 1: please I'd love to hear from you, so email me
Speaker 1: at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com and let's start
Speaker 1: the conversation. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, check
Speaker 1: out our membership community over at www dot Bigfoot Society
Speaker 1: podcast dot com and that's where you can hear tomorrow's
Speaker 1: episode today early in ad free and members only episodes
Speaker 1: every week. Also, it's a place to connect with other
Speaker 1: people that are into the Bigfoot subject as much as
Speaker 1: you are. Thanks again for following along with the Bigfoot
Speaker 1: Society until next time, Keep your eyes open, trust your gut,
Speaker 1: and never stop asking what else might be out there?
Speaker 1: And see you in the woods.