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Speaker 1: When I was seventeen, I came home from school one

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day to find my mother anxiously waiting for me. I've

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always been a laid back guy, so when she told

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me that she and my dad had decided to take

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a break for a while, I took it pretty well.

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In fact, it was me who ended up comforting her

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for the next couple of days. It seemed a bit weird.

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My dad wasn't around much even when we were together.

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He was an interstate truck driver. We were lucky if

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we saw him for a couple of hours one or

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two nights a week before he was off again, so

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his absence wasn't really unusual. That's why seeing his truck

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on a Monday when he was never home with such

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a surprise. I walked out the front as he was

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swinging the door open, and out jumped a huge black puppy.

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It was a massive Dane cross that I named Thor.

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My dad knew i'd wanted a dog for ages. I'd

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been shooting since I could hold a gun, but I

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never hunted with dogs. With Thor, I was going to

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get my chance to contribute to the pig chasing stories

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at school. Over the next four years, Thor grew to

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be very protective of me. At a wapping one hundred

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and ninety six pounds, that was a lot of protection.

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He did have a few anger issues. No one could

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pet him, and he wouldn't eat unless I gave him

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the food. He scared my mother a lot too. She'd

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always say, we need to get rid of that dog.

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He's going to bite someone. I always shrugged it off.

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One weekend, a mate I went to school with rang

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me and said that we were going pigging. He said

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to get my stuff together and he'd be at my

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place in an hour. I went and got Thor's pigging collar,

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a drink bottle, and my long range rifle. About nine am,

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my mate turned up in his white dual cave ute.

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His dog was already in the back and thora was

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nearly snapping the chain I had him on to get

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to the ute. He knew what we were doing and

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he was getting excited. After I loaded my stuff and

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we got on our way, I asked my mate where

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we were going the Poliga. He said, Now, for anyone

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who doesn't know or has not heard of the Paligue

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of forests, it's just outside of Narrowbrie, New South Wales.

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There have been so many Bigfoot stories about that place,

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even a movie made about it. There's a highway that

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runs through the middle of it. Big semi trailer trucks

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can blow tires and the drivers won't even pull up

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to fix them. Everybody knows about the stories and the

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sightings down there. I didn't know it, but we were

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about to add to the tally. It was about a

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two hour drive from my home down to the Palagua Forest.

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You can tell when the forest starts because the red

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soil on the side of the road turns to an

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almost sand or fine gravel. We continued until we saw

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an opening in a rarely used car track, and we

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turned in there and continued on for about fifteen minutes.

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My mate slowly pulled the ute up to a five

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wire fence at a tee intersection and said, this is it.

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Let's go. I asked him who owned the property. He

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just shrugged and giggled as he unchained his dog. He

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reached over to unchained Thor, but Thor's lips came up

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and his teeth came out. Go on, he's only playing,

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I said, Stop being a flossy and unclip it. I laughed,

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but he uttered an expletive and walked away. Defeated. I

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unclipped Thor's chain, slung my rifle over my shoulder, and

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off we went through the fence. We found a goat

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track and followed it for about ten minutes. It was

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pretty easy to walk through. The dogs were leading the

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way with their noses in the air, trying to scent

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some pigs. My mate's dog had a better nose than Thor's.

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It spun to the left, sniffed a few times, and

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then took off. My mate and I were doing our

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best to follow. Thor hadn't picked up any sent yet,

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so he stayed by my side, watching the other dog

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and waiting for the barking and pig squealing to begin.

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I crouched down next to him and put my arm

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around him, giving him encouragement. Where's the pigs? Boy? You listening?

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Where are they? He was getting psyched up. Both of

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his ears were standing straight up, and he was ready

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to go. My mate and his dog were gone for

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about two or three minutes. At this point, I couldn't

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see or hear either of them, just the grasshoppers and

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a few birds chirping. I was still crouched down next

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to my dog and watching in the direction my mate

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and his dog went. When I got an overwhelming feeling

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that we were being watched. I looked up and down

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the track, but a I didn't see anything. I spun

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on the balls of my feet to look behind me

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into the scrub, but I didn't see anything there. The

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bush was so thick to see more than thirty meters anyway.

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I spun Thor around to look in that direction. He

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was hesitant, still trying to watch the way my mate

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and his dog went, and I said, what's up here?

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Speaker 2: What is it?

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Speaker 1: Something finally got his attention. He stared out into the

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scrub as the hairs on his back stood up and

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he started to growl jackpot. I thought, we're on again.

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I stood up and pushed Thor in that direction. Get him, boy,

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I shouted, as he put his ears back, head down

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and took off into the scrub. A million miles an

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hour in five seconds, I couldn't see him. I was

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chasing after him as fast as I could, listening for

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a pig to squeal. I could still hear him barking,

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but it was getting farther and farther away. He was

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fifty meters ahead of me. I'd say, I was thinking, God,

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I hope they aren't much further. I hate running. Thor's

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barking stopped, and I stopped. I was waiting for a

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noise to tell me which way to run through the

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bush to get him. I waited, and I waited. Usually

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this happens pretty quick, and I kept waiting, and then

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I heard yelping. I had never in my life heard

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Thor yelp, not even when he was a puppy. He

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was yelping with every breath, and I could hear the

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yelps getting closer. Whatever was making him yelp, he was

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having no part of it and was heading back to me.

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I could see him coming through the bush faster than

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he went in, and he was still yelping. His tail

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was between his legs and cowering. He got back to

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my feet and pissed himself in fear. He was trying

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to hide behind me, looking back in the direction he'd

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just gone. This scared the absolute life out of me.

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I pulled my rifle off my and pressed it into

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my shoulder and waited for whatever was chasing my dog

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to show itself. I couldn't hear a thing except for

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Thor's whimpering. As I stood there staring into the scrub,

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a smell hit me. I thought Thor had lost control

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of his bowels and then rolled and burnt hair. I

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could hear my mate's dog barking behind us as they

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returned to the road that I was standing on. I

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could hear them a fair bit behind us, but I

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wasn't game to take my eyes off the scrub in

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front of me. His dog picked up our scent and

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they found us. My mate called out, did you get

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one or what? I shushed him. Something ain't right, I said.

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He didn't even acknowledge what I said, and started walking

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back to the road. I yelled out, I'm going back

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to the ute and I'm leaving. He yelled over to

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me and said for me to stop being a baby. No, mate,

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something's wrong. I'm leaving. I told him he knew I

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wasn't joking, and he agreed. I walked backwards the entire

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trip back to the ute. My mate climbed through the

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fence and I passed him my gun so I could

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climb through. I insisted on driving. I just wanted to

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get out of there. We got packed up and started

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down the trail that he'd driven us in on. After

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about two minutes of driving in silence, both dogs on

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the back started barking and looking out the left side

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of the ute into the scrub. My mate said, hey,

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pull up, we'll let the dogs off. I quickly turned

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down his request, and he said pull over. Then he

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pulled the handbrake, stalling the ute. He pulled his gun

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up to his shoulder and looked through the scope into

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the scrub. The dogs were going ballistic. Now. I looked

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over and saw something about forty meters out. My mate

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was trying to find this thing in his scope, waving

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it back and forth. He pushed the bolt forward down

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and he chambered a bullet, still looking for whatever it was,

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and the scope he must have had the magnification turned

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up a fair bit because he was struggling to find it,

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and then he gasped. I stared at him for a minute,

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waiting for an answer, before nearly yelling what is it.

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He uncocked the gun and it said, mate, I think

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it's a bloke. He took his eye away from the

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scope and looked over the gun back to the scope.

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And back over the gun. He cocked it again, aimed

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down below the tree, and then boom. The warning shot

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rang out as this thing spun around and ran off

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on two legs, just like you or I. The sound

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of this thing's feet hitting the ground and breaking off

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the branches as it ran still scares me. My mate

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turned to me and he said, yeah, fair call, let's go.

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I have never been back to this place. I never

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planned to go back by any means. Thanks for reading

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my story. Sorry for the spelling mistakes. I know I

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sound dyslexic. Brother, you aren't near as dyslexic as I am.

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But this was a great story because he's got this dog,

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this two hundred pound dog or ninety six kilogram dog

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that is just fearless, and it's a vicious dog. And

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this dog is scared to death of whatever that was.

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I'm almost sure that that thing got after his dog.

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I don't know. I could elaborate on this story forever,

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but it's real exciting. It's another story from Australia, from

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our good friends in Australia. I've read a little bit

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about the Peliga Forest. I understand they've got some issues

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with fracking and gas extraction in that area. It's a beautiful,

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pristine wilderness and I think the I think industry is

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coming in and really giving the farmer's trouble. And so anyway,

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if you're interested in that, look up the Poliga Forest

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in Australia and learn about it. It's an interesting story

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about that. Okay, I'll quit Ramblin. Appreciate the email, buddy,

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thank you.

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Speaker 2: I'm a reserve police officer and a private security officer

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who contracts for state and the federal government, so I'd

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like to keep my name and exactly where I'm from

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is quiet as not. Everyone in my line of work

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is so open minded. The thing about northern Illinois that

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not a lot of people think about is there's a

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lot of bigfoot activity. I never really believed it, as

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I'm an avid hunter and outdoorsman who spent more of

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my childhood outside rather than inside. Part of my security

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job includes doing patient transports between various hospitals and mental

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health facilities in the Midwest, and on one of these

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I saw something that made me a believer in all

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the stories I heard as a kid. We were on

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the road for a few hours. When we finally got

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to the Illinois Missouri border the Mississippi. That river marked

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that we were close to the town we were going to,

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about one hundred or so miles south of the Iowa border.

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We dropped off the patient without an issue, and I

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was glad as the amount of nicotine and caffeine in

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my system wasn't quite enough to fuel me through a

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physical confrontation. We stopped by a local diner and headed

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out on our way. When we got back to the

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bridge heading back into Illinois, I saw what I initially

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took as a farmer out in his field, which I

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thought was strange as it was one am, but I

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shrugged it off as a sick animal. Then he went

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into a pen and threw what looked like a sheep

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over his shoulder. We kept driving and I noticed out

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of the corner of my eye the same figure running

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towards the river, which I thought was strange and made

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me focus more on him. It was then that I

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realized that this was too tall to be a man,

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because the corn wasn't even up to his chest and

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the sheep was absolutely puny over his shoulder. I initially

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thought that it was a lamb, but now it became

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clear it was a full grown adult that had to

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be at least two hundred pounds, if not more. When

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it got to the river, it walked in and started swimming,

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going straight across the current, not even seeming to touch it.

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Despite having one arm handicap by its cargo. He got

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onto the Illinois side and crawled onto the bank with

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ease despite what might have been a six foot incline,

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and disappeared into the treeline. The surprise of seeing him

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scale that incline made me swallow some of the dip

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I had in my lip, and I was coughing when

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my partner woke up and asked what happened. I explained

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the situation to him, and he said I need to

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cut down on the overtime and that the lack of

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sleep was getting to my head. When we got back

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to the office, I talked to my sergeant, who has

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twenty years law enforcement experience on top of four years

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active duty in the Marine Corps. He put a hand

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on my shoulder and he said that there are things

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out there that shouldn't be talked about and left it

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at that. The whole experience has left me looking over

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my shoulder every time I'm out hunting and has given

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me a newfound respect for the woods. Many years ago,

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I was invited to go hunting in southeast Oklahoma. I

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worked with a guy that invited me, but did not

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really know the others. The coworker remains my best friend

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to this day. We all met at the same spot

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for about three seasons. Then for different reasons, it was

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just me. I didn't mind. I loved it, and it

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was a good spot. This place is for public hunting

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in the Watchataw Mountains. It's also famous for bigfoot sightings.

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For all my years in the woods, I've gained a

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lot of skills in experience. I was sure that if

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anyone could find bigfoot, it would be me. Up until

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this point, I never had any definite proof. I have, however,

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seen and heard things that I could not explain, so

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I keep an open mind. The first couple of solo

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trips were uneventful. I never worried about anything. I was

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always armed with a pistol, a rifle, and a shotgun.

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The rifle was with me in the woods, the shotgun

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rested on a chair while in camp, and the pistol

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never left my side. My trips were well planned, so

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I always had more than enough provisions to last the

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whole time. Sometimes I'd stay as long as a month.

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That's how much I loved it, now that I think

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about it. Weird things started happening. The first time one

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went alone. A chair or a tool or other small

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things would be in a different spot when I returned

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to camp, nothing missing. It was just move I just

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put it down as absent mindedness on my part. And

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then one day it started. First it was a small

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rock that landed about ten feet away. I was sitting

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in a chair, sharpening my knife and sipping on a beer.

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I looked in the direction from which it came, and

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I saw nothing. I didn't hear anything either, I mean nothing,

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no birds or anything. It was unnerving, to say the least.

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After a few minutes, I picked up the same rock

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and I threw it back where it came from. It

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took several minutes, but to my surprise, the same exact

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rock came back almost in the same spot that it

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landed the first time. I didn't sleep that night, but

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I was on high alert. The next morning, I was

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cold and went to the wood pop so I could

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stoke the fire and get a pot of coffee going,

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I grabbed a log, but on the chopping block I

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saw it. It was a small figure, crudely fashioned out

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of pine needles. I picked it up and studied it.

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Two arms, two legs, and a head. That's when all

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of my anxiety faded away. I held it up and

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looking around, I said thank you. I was sure that

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whatever had left it meant me no harm. Things like

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this happened for the next three or four years. We

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even started exchanging gifts. It left an arrowhead one time,

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another time just a shiny rock from the river, which

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was about a mile away. In exchange, I would leave

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an apple or some cookies. The small rock throwing also continued,

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like a game that we both enjoyed. I never saw it,

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but I could since when it was there. We had

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become friends. Always camped in the same spot, and this

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year was the same. I was always pumped for deer season,

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especially to visit my friend again. It always waited until

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I was finished setting up camp and could sit down

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for a little rest, then the rock tossing game would

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start again. It had become our thing. About a half

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hour before dark, we both heard it. It was an

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old pickup with a bad exhaustedly screaming down the main

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gravel road. Not really unusual, everyone knew about the meth

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problems in that part of the state. What was unusual

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It came straight into my camp. It slid to a

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stop right in front of me. When the dust cleared,

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I could see them, four mails between about sixteen and forty,

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all sitting in an eighty model's Chevy single cab pickup truck.

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I wasn't too worried. The shotgun was close by. When

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they all got out at the same time, I knew

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it was tweaker, and man were they on it. They

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all acted like they had spiders on their clothes in

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their hair. The driver I thought his eyeballs were going

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to explode. And their agitated state and almost incoherent speech,

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they said I was on their private property. I knew

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they saw the shotgun that was within my reachs So

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without getting up or raising my voice, I said, no,

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this is public land. I've been hunting here for years.

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That's when they got really wound up. They all started

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yelling at the same time and started in my direction.

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But before I got my hand on the shotgun, I

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saw something big fly through the air from my right.

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It was a basketball sized boulder. It crashed into the

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driver's side bed of the truck. It was loud, and

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it scared them more than me, only because I saw

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it coming. One of them fell on the ground in

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a stupor. The other three turned to look at the

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giant dent in the side of the truck. That gave

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me a couple of extra seconds to grab the shotgun

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and stand up. When they turned back towards me, they

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were looking at the business end of a Remington eight seventy.

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We all stood staring each other for what seemed like

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an hour, It was in fact only a second or two.

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Then came the loudest, scariest noise I had ever heard

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in my life, kind of a roar plus a scream,

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and it hurt my ears. As they were staring at me,

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I calmly said, you boys, get on. They picked the

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one up from the ground, scrambled back in the pickup,

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and slung rocks getting out of there. When we couldn't

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hear the truck anymore, I sat back down in my

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chair and had a shot of whiskey. By this time

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it was dark. I sat there in the dark, trying

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to figure out what I was going to do next.

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Should I stay or should I go? That's when I

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heard a familiar sound. My friend tossed a small rock

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that landed near my feet. I laughed out loud and

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threw the same rock back. I slept off and on

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that night, with mister Remington in my lap, but unafraid.

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The next morning, I had decided to go ahead and leave.

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It wasn't safe for my friend and I, so I

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got up. I made coffee and breakfast, and had one

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last game of rock toss. I was packed up and

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ready to leave about ten am. I knew he was

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still there, although I never saw him. But right before

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I left, I took everything I planned as gifts for

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him and left it on the chopping block. In return,

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I found the rock that we played our game with.

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I said goodbye in a soft voice, and I left.

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That was about fifteen years ago. I never went back

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to that spot. Since then, I've camped and hunted in

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a lot of different places, from Oklahoma to North Carolina.

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Whenever I'm sure i'm alone, I'll pick up a small

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rock and throw it towards the thick part of the woods,

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but it never comes back. This is a true story,

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believe it, or leave it alone.