1 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: I was a fifteen year old boy scout when our 2 00:00:08,679 --> 00:00:12,519 troop was taken to Carter Caves State Park in eastern 3 00:00:12,599 --> 00:00:17,239 Kentucky for a week of primitive camping. One evening, after 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,640 a day of carousing around, swimming, hiking, cave exploring, and 5 00:00:21,679 --> 00:00:25,320 loving to be while young teenage boys, we finally had 6 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:29,600 a very late supper. Afterward, we drove the chilly night 7 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,200 away around our campfires, a large one for the troops 8 00:00:33,679 --> 00:00:36,679 and a second for the scout master and his assistant 9 00:00:36,759 --> 00:00:40,920 some twenty feet away. Upon this scene, about ten PM 10 00:00:41,119 --> 00:00:44,560 or so arrived a park ranger on his nightly visit 11 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:49,399 to our camp. He usually just looked us over, asked 12 00:00:49,439 --> 00:00:51,920 if we had any needs, and then he left, but 13 00:00:52,039 --> 00:00:54,719 this evening he apparently had a couple of things on 14 00:00:54,799 --> 00:00:59,119 his mind. Upon gathering up the scouts, the ranger said 15 00:00:59,159 --> 00:01:03,880 he was looking in to an incident concerning one enterprising scout. 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,400 He said that he was told that this scout was 17 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,000 going down to the trading post at the bottom of 18 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,439 the mountain, buying up all the nickel candy bars during 19 00:01:13,519 --> 00:01:16,719 the day, coming back to camp, and selling them after 20 00:01:16,799 --> 00:01:21,079 dark for a dime. After being informed that doing such 21 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,000 a dastardly thing to fellow scouts was wrong. The culprit 22 00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:28,719 who was me was admonished for practicing my first try 23 00:01:28,719 --> 00:01:32,519 it for a enterprise. I thought it was fair. I 24 00:01:32,599 --> 00:01:35,719 spent two hours trudging up and down the mountain every day, 25 00:01:35,879 --> 00:01:38,519 and for the past four days they bought every candy 26 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:42,280 bar I had. But a snitch tried to blackmail me 27 00:01:42,439 --> 00:01:45,920 into giving him a share of my profits. I wouldn't 28 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,040 do so, so he reported me to the ranger. The 29 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,599 guys really gave it to me good, rising me and 30 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,719 shoving me around in the circle. The ranger, on his part, 31 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,319 put his hand on his hips and smiled at me 32 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,159 and shook his head and walked over and sat down 33 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,879 at the scout master's fire across the campsite. Wondering if 34 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,000 they'd talked more about me. I made a small circle 35 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:12,919 around the tents and I crept nearer. I sat down 36 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,919 outside the fire circles, listening in on the adult conversation. 37 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,520 But what I heard had nothing to do with me. 38 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,719 The ranger was cautioning the scout masters that in the 39 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,280 general area around the park there had been a tax 40 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:31,599 on area farm stock. They put the blame on dog 41 00:02:31,759 --> 00:02:36,199 packs codies, coy dogs, cougars, bears, and maybe black panthers, 42 00:02:36,439 --> 00:02:39,400 which we had and still having this part of the country. 43 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,800 The attacks were particularly prevalent in one area about eight 44 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,159 miles away from the park. He said that recently, thinking 45 00:02:49,199 --> 00:02:52,759 that they had the animal cornered, about one hundred volunteers 46 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,759 formed a line with twenty five feet or so between 47 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,120 each one, with some extra men at the closing end. 48 00:03:00,479 --> 00:03:03,080 When it began to get dark, every man lit up 49 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,439 some kind of lantern or flashlight. As they pushed through 50 00:03:06,479 --> 00:03:10,520 the stifling, hot and dusty tall brush. It was a 51 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,000 bit hard to breathe because there was a dry spell 52 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,960 one and the shaking the parched weeds dusted the air 53 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,120 with an artificial yellow fog of pollen, which grew about 54 00:03:21,159 --> 00:03:25,000 eight feet high or more this time of year. At 55 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,360 one point, as they fought their way among the entangling brush, 56 00:03:28,439 --> 00:03:31,639 they heard a scream and a shotgun blast, and they 57 00:03:31,759 --> 00:03:35,240 rushed to the point in the line they found one 58 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,960 of the younger men, he was about twenty years old, 59 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:43,159 groaning in amongst some crushed vegetation. His gun was found 60 00:03:43,319 --> 00:03:46,080 with the stock smashed in the barrel bent at the 61 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,039 base of a nearby tree. He was out of his 62 00:03:49,159 --> 00:03:52,680 head with fright, so he was transported to the hospital 63 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,400 where he was kept overnight for chest bruising and shock. 64 00:03:57,199 --> 00:04:00,919 He was sedated, so nothing could be learned the incident 65 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:05,639 until the next morning. After a day or so, According 66 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,800 to what I overheard the ranger say, the boy had 67 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,639 calmed down enough to relay his story. He said that 68 00:04:12,759 --> 00:04:15,879 he was walking through the dusty growth with his lantern 69 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,879 raised in one hand and a shotgun in the other. 70 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,959 He said he heard and saw a rush of movement 71 00:04:23,079 --> 00:04:27,319 from directly ahead that something was coming directly for him. 72 00:04:27,399 --> 00:04:31,920 When a huge white wall came crashing down on him, 73 00:04:32,519 --> 00:04:36,639 He awkwardly lifted his shotgun in one hand and fired, 74 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,000 but was immediately struck in the chest and launched through 75 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:44,240 the air. The crush of vegetation gave little clue as 76 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,959 to the type of an animal that had attacked the boy. 77 00:04:47,759 --> 00:04:50,000 There was no blood at the scene, and I don't 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,000 know if anyone tried to backtrail it through the weeds 79 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,000 to see where it came from, but they didn't get 80 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,199 even another glimpse of it, and no one would volunteer 81 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,480 to follow out after it. The boy didn't know if 82 00:05:02,519 --> 00:05:05,639 he'd even shot it and had no idea what it was. 83 00:05:06,759 --> 00:05:10,120 He was sure that it struck him with more powerful 84 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,720 of a push than a hit, but it was able 85 00:05:12,759 --> 00:05:15,639 to propel him through the air in what he perceived 86 00:05:15,759 --> 00:05:19,360 to be a very little effort on the thing's part. 87 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,920 But the thing was never caught after apparently getting through 88 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,120 the line. Needless to say, that was the end of 89 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,759 any more skirmish lines and for this thing could withstand 90 00:05:29,759 --> 00:05:34,120 a shotgun blast than all bets were off. It has 91 00:05:34,199 --> 00:05:37,560 still been seen throughout the following decades as something like 92 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,040 a white shadow going through the woods, and has remained 93 00:05:41,079 --> 00:05:45,199 around the southeastern portion of Carter County, about twenty miles 94 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,040 south of the park even to this day. But more 95 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:52,879 on this particular thing later. As I squatted shaking in 96 00:05:52,959 --> 00:05:57,199 the night, the forest noise around me seemed to go quiet. 97 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,560 I realized I was alone in the dark. I made 98 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,399 it safely back to my tent and my sleeping bag. 99 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,279 At that time, the mention of it being a sasquatch 100 00:06:07,399 --> 00:06:11,959 was never discussed or even considered. Bigfoot was alive and 101 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,000 well at this time, supposedly in the Pacific Northwest, or 102 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,560 so we thought. Back some fifty five years ago, not 103 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,839 as it would be in the later sixties and early seventies, 104 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,480 and so was lost in my mind for all these years. 105 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,879 And now Incident number two occurred in August of nineteen 106 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:38,360 sixty six, and this gentleman was seventeen years old. Here's 107 00:06:38,399 --> 00:06:40,920 a little note, he writes to me before he starts 108 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,959 the story. I finished writing this incident four months after incident. 109 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:50,319 I I've never told anyone ever, not even my wife, 110 00:06:50,439 --> 00:06:54,439 until now, about this occurrence. I thought the event of 111 00:06:54,519 --> 00:06:57,160 over fifty three years ago would be easy to put 112 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,519 down on paper and ready to send to you in 113 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,279 a couple of hours. I found, to my surprise that 114 00:07:03,399 --> 00:07:07,600 I hardly remembered any details at all. But in starting 115 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,439 to piece it all back together, I was shocked by 116 00:07:10,439 --> 00:07:14,480 what I remembered concerning the terror I had buried regarding 117 00:07:14,519 --> 00:07:19,240 this incident so many years ago. Over the last four months, 118 00:07:19,399 --> 00:07:22,800 things that I hadn't thought about in any detail over 119 00:07:22,839 --> 00:07:27,759 the last half century fell back into place. Having been 120 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,439 a counselor, I'm aware that I blocked much of it 121 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,879 due to trauma, but unplugging the memories started it flooding 122 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,439 back so fast I could hardly keep up with my faults. 123 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,879 Worst of all was that I felt like weeping for 124 00:07:41,959 --> 00:07:45,759 that boy, and the horror, and especially the loneliness of 125 00:07:45,839 --> 00:07:49,839 this singular night. But be that as it may. Let's 126 00:07:49,839 --> 00:07:52,680 go forward with a little over two years after the 127 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,120 first incident to when I was seventeen. A few weeks 128 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:00,279 before my senior year began, a couple of my friends 129 00:08:00,319 --> 00:08:04,120 and I were invited by a very close family member, Billy, 130 00:08:04,319 --> 00:08:07,720 to go hiking through areas of eastern Kentucky from north 131 00:08:07,839 --> 00:08:13,120 to southeast, in places where we'd never tramped before. At 132 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,199 that time, there were hardly any inhabited areas in this 133 00:08:16,319 --> 00:08:19,680 part of the states, and roads were few and far between. 134 00:08:20,879 --> 00:08:23,680 It was to be a two day trek off trail 135 00:08:23,759 --> 00:08:27,279 and through the dense woods and steep ravines, not far 136 00:08:27,319 --> 00:08:30,519 from where the white Thing had been roaming some years earlier, 137 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,960 but we didn't give it any mind. Only Billy had 138 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,519 a firearm, the rest of us had hunting knives and hatchets. 139 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,600 The temperature was over one hundred with near one hundred 140 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,440 percent humidity, a typical southern hot and dusty August day 141 00:08:46,519 --> 00:08:49,840 with a miserable time for such a hike. All the 142 00:08:49,879 --> 00:08:54,519 creeks we passed were dry. Only the largest creek, Tigert Creek, 143 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,720 had a good amount of water, whose course constantly doubles 144 00:08:57,799 --> 00:09:01,600 back on itself. Our ungs were clinging to the roofs 145 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,600 of our mouths, and we were inhaling hot air and 146 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:09,320 exhaling hot air back out using our canteens cause a 147 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,600 problem as we were going to fill up as we 148 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,559 went with clear creek water, but as I said, they 149 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:18,679 were all dry. We started out in jackets in the 150 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,919 cool of the early morning, but as the heat quickly rose, 151 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,600 we soon were shedding down from jackets to shirts to 152 00:09:25,759 --> 00:09:30,320 T shirts. On we went, snagging our way through heavy 153 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:36,440 brier patches, ankle catching vines, tripping over hidden rocks, insects 154 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,799 die bombing our faces, and gnats doing their best to 155 00:09:39,919 --> 00:09:44,159 land on our open eyeballs. Finally, at the end of 156 00:09:44,159 --> 00:09:47,039 the day, Billy decided that we would set up camp 157 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,919 in a limestone cave set in the side of a 158 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,639 steep cliff with a clear but small stream of cold 159 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:58,360 water running through it. The gurgling brook echoed over and 160 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,799 over in the small cave. A wide flat stone porch 161 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,039 in front of the cave overlooked a sixty foot drop 162 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,480 The cave was in the side of a limestone cliff, 163 00:10:10,639 --> 00:10:13,000 and I shined my light and checked the drop of 164 00:10:13,039 --> 00:10:16,679 the cliff from above the cave's position. It was about 165 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,720 forty feet down from the trail that we had been following. 166 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,600 Billy chose the cave for its natural cool air conditioning 167 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,159 due to the damp limestone walls and the running stream 168 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,960 for a water supply. The old man was a hunter 169 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:36,159 and seasoned hiker that knew what he was doing. I 170 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,399 was sure glad to unload my backpack and sleeping bag 171 00:10:39,399 --> 00:10:42,480 and quickly lay down before I threw up. I was 172 00:10:42,519 --> 00:10:46,799 suffering from a pounding headache. I had all the signs 173 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,919 of heat exhaustion. There was nothing to do but try 174 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,879 to sleep the horrible pounding headache away. We were whipped, 175 00:10:53,879 --> 00:10:58,120 so there wasn't much talking around the campfire. We ate 176 00:10:58,159 --> 00:11:01,720 a late meal, gorged our sh in cold water, and 177 00:11:01,759 --> 00:11:04,840 then turned in as soon as darkness fell about nine 178 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,679 thirty PM. I tossed in turn for hours in a 179 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,320 fitful sleep, but about one am I felt the result 180 00:11:12,399 --> 00:11:15,600 of all that water. Groggily pulled on my socks and 181 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,720 gem shoes, buckled my jeans, and went out to water 182 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,120 the grass. This is the downside of sleeping in a cave. 183 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,440 We had to walk back up the trail to take 184 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:27,960 a leak, and Billy didn't want us to go out 185 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,159 to the porch edge for fear that we'd be so 186 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:34,879 sleepy that we'd likely fall over. It was chilly in 187 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,080 the cave, much cooler as I stepped up on the 188 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:41,120 ground above the cave aways in just my t shirt. 189 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:43,639 I would be back in my warm bag in just 190 00:11:43,639 --> 00:11:47,080 a couple of minutes, though. I had my rail backed 191 00:11:47,159 --> 00:11:50,360 flashlight and my bowie knife tied on my right leg 192 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,279 in a low quick draw sheath, both of which my 193 00:11:53,399 --> 00:11:57,399 dad had made for me. I turned several times and 194 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,679 finally chose a direction that wouldn't spray in the direction 195 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,519 I would have to use and the return to the cave. 196 00:12:04,159 --> 00:12:08,399 Aiming is important. As I was doing my business, the 197 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,360 great chattering noise brought on the night air suddenly ceased. 198 00:12:12,879 --> 00:12:16,000 I felt creepy, so I finished as quick as I could. 199 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,519 The night was clear and the air was cold and damp, 200 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,960 and I was shivering, so I headed back to my 201 00:12:22,039 --> 00:12:25,639 sleeping bag where it would be warm. I was still 202 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,840 in the throes of heat exhaustion, and I stumbled away 203 00:12:28,879 --> 00:12:32,360 in the wrong direction. After not coming back to the 204 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,279 trail to the cave for five or ten minutes, I 205 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,960 knew I had lost my way. I grew a bit 206 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,759 frantic as I went each way along the cliff and 207 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:44,639 I couldn't find the small trail over the edge and 208 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:49,039 down to the cave. I let out desperate shouts, but 209 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:53,720 I got no reply. The loud babbling brook that echoed 210 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:58,120 in the cave must have drowned out my Pleas I 211 00:12:58,279 --> 00:13:02,120 was in heavy brush, to the cave did not stand out. 212 00:13:03,039 --> 00:13:06,159 I'd been a scout and an explorer for six years, 213 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,879 and I had hunted since I was eight, so I 214 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,279 was filled with the false overconfidence of youth. I believe 215 00:13:13,399 --> 00:13:15,840 that even lost, I'd be able to walk out in 216 00:13:15,919 --> 00:13:19,320 a few hours. I had a strong flashlight and a 217 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:23,440 twelve inch blade bowie knife, but the heat, exhaustion, and 218 00:13:23,519 --> 00:13:27,639 the lower temperatures were now causing me to sometimes shape violently. 219 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,240 I felt like I was in an ice house. But 220 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,240 I knew that when I found Tigert Creek that I'd 221 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:38,120 find my way out. If I walked against the current, 222 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,840 so to speak, I was bound to eventually run into 223 00:13:40,919 --> 00:13:46,639 an east West Highway a few hundred yards further. The 224 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,519 bank gave way under my right foot and I was 225 00:13:49,639 --> 00:13:53,440 launched out in space on an elevator ride to Hell. 226 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:59,200 The fall seemed to take forever. I had crashed through 227 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:03,000 flimsy branches, falling about forty feet to a point where 228 00:14:03,039 --> 00:14:06,840 the limestone wall met the incline. When I hit a heavier, 229 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:11,279 forked branch covered with tangles of vines and briars, my 230 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,879 back landing on the limb, knocking the wind out of me. 231 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,320 Thank God for the outstretched limb. Without it, I would 232 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:24,360 have hit the rock strown basin far below. The entangling 233 00:14:24,519 --> 00:14:28,039 limb and vines slowly tipped sideways with my weight, and 234 00:14:28,159 --> 00:14:30,840 I saw by the waning moonlight that I might be 235 00:14:30,919 --> 00:14:33,879 able to use the vines as a sort of lighter 236 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,879 and climb down to within ten feet of the steep 237 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,720 bank under me. When I got free enough to drop down, 238 00:14:40,879 --> 00:14:43,080 I knew that my best bet would be to dig 239 00:14:43,159 --> 00:14:46,759 my heels into the earth upon impact and ease down 240 00:14:46,799 --> 00:14:50,080 the rest of the way to the bottom. I let go, 241 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,480 and my heels hit and jammed in the loose earth. 242 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,279 I was in for a fast, hard tumble and slide. 243 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:01,480 To the rocky bottom of the draw. When I stopped tumbling, 244 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,679 I lay there, surveying any damage done to my body. 245 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,679 I was happy to find that, aside from many thorn 246 00:15:07,759 --> 00:15:12,480 scratches and some probable bruising, I was whole. I slowly 247 00:15:12,519 --> 00:15:15,399 got up on very shaky legs, and I turned around, 248 00:15:15,679 --> 00:15:17,639 and as soon as I could think, I saw that 249 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,279 I was standing beside a tiny creek. A person would 250 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,000 think you could look up and see the fireplace light 251 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,759 in our cave, but it would have died down by now, 252 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,159 and I didn't know in which direction to look. I 253 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,159 tried anyway, but upon searching the cave, I could not 254 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,399 see anything but the leaves and the brush and the 255 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:42,720 walls effectively made this a prison hole. I did try 256 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,639 to find either or both my flashlight and knife, but 257 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:49,919 those two were lost causes needles in a black hay stack. 258 00:15:50,679 --> 00:15:54,840 I stood there alone in the dark in a steep wedge. 259 00:15:54,919 --> 00:15:57,519 I struggled over the bottom of the draw in each 260 00:15:57,639 --> 00:16:00,399 direction for at least an hour. When I heard the 261 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,240 sound of that of a bear, quieting the forest chatter 262 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,000 once again. I looked around into the darkness of the 263 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,559 narrow pit of the mountain. I saw nothing, but felt 264 00:16:11,559 --> 00:16:14,360 once again that I was being watched by something, and 265 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,799 I prayed it wouldn't be a cougar or a black 266 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,279 panther or a bear aside from wolves, or worse, a 267 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,519 dog pack. I tried to climb the side of the hill, 268 00:16:23,559 --> 00:16:26,519 but each time I slid back down on my belly. 269 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,720 I tried to choose the right way back along the 270 00:16:30,799 --> 00:16:34,240 dimly lit cliff, but I couldn't discern from which side 271 00:16:34,279 --> 00:16:37,840 I had fallen. Logically, I chose to go down the 272 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,879 draw following the dried up creek bed, which is all 273 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,799 I had since it was away from the growl. After 274 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:50,360 a long stumbling journey of constantly having to climb over, under, 275 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,720 and around obstacles without a light or knife in the 276 00:16:53,759 --> 00:16:56,879 near darkness, I finally came to a break in the 277 00:16:56,919 --> 00:17:02,759 limestone wall on one side. I stopped and laid my sweaty, 278 00:17:02,799 --> 00:17:06,279 filthy body over yet another tree, Falling from a bank 279 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,839 to bank, Gasping for breath with much effort, I used 280 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,480 small trees to drag myself out of my limestone prison, 281 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,640 sliding two steps down the bank while advancing just three, 282 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:24,160 getting filthier and sweatier by the minute. I finally made 283 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,759 the top edge of the flat on the mountain side, 284 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:29,759 and I flopped over above the cliff, and I drew 285 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:34,799 in a heavy, damp breath of air. After resting on 286 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:38,680 the grimy flat in order to stop wheezing out my lungs, 287 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,759 I got up and continued to crash through the thorn 288 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,279 rods and stumble over rocks and depressions covered by dirt, 289 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,720 gasping for air, sweating in the cold night. When I 290 00:17:49,799 --> 00:17:53,920 made out a larger game trail, Imagine the fear of 291 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,640 a skinny one hundred and forty five pound kid, three 292 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:02,279 months into his seventeenth birthday, shivering in a filthy, wet 293 00:18:02,319 --> 00:18:06,359 T shirt, groping through the darkness, almost legally blind and 294 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:11,079 not knowing what direction to go. The moon was going down, 295 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,000 and once again the noise of the forest stopped, but 296 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:18,519 this time it stopped around me. My heart was pounding 297 00:18:18,559 --> 00:18:22,119 through my ribs as I struggled onward. So again all 298 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:26,359 I could see were silhouettes of trees and bushes. And 299 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,640 there in a right hand curve in the trail, looking 300 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,400 through and over the brush. Standing on each side of 301 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:38,039 the game trail were two large back lit figures, one 302 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,640 slightly taller than the other. They were massive and the 303 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:46,000 last thing I wanted to run into. Suddenly, the thought 304 00:18:46,079 --> 00:18:49,359 of a bear or a cougar was more preferable than 305 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:53,440 the pair of things I was looking at now. At first, 306 00:18:53,599 --> 00:18:56,359 coming up slightly from the side, I thought there were 307 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:00,240 two massive black panthers sitting on large boulders because they 308 00:19:00,279 --> 00:19:03,759 seemed to have cat's ears pulled back to a point 309 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,119 my knees got weak. The worst possible meeting was about 310 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,240 to take my life. But as I turned to view 311 00:19:11,279 --> 00:19:14,920 them straight on, I realized they were not on boulders, 312 00:19:15,039 --> 00:19:19,000 but things that stood eight to nine feet tall. They 313 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,279 didn't move but for a small sway. Their heads appeared 314 00:19:23,319 --> 00:19:26,319 to be directly attached to their three to four feet 315 00:19:26,319 --> 00:19:30,559 wide shoulders. Whatever they were, if they were looking at 316 00:19:30,599 --> 00:19:33,640 me at all, I could not tell, and looking back 317 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,559 on it now, I probably misconstrued their sloping heads for 318 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,799 possible ears. Them being a pair of sasquatch again never 319 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,000 even occurred to me until decades later, when sightings became 320 00:19:47,079 --> 00:19:52,279 more common outside the Northwest. I stood there, shaking as 321 00:19:52,319 --> 00:19:55,519 my sweat soak body trembled with cold and just plain 322 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,359 near panic. I then leaned over and put my hands 323 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,519 on my trim knees to steady myself. I was as 324 00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:05,960 wet as I could be, covered with a filth of 325 00:20:06,039 --> 00:20:09,519 many stumble and falls, and I already had had blood 326 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,640 running down my arms from the briars that had torn 327 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:17,599 at them. I had been lost so long, so many hours. 328 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,319 I was tired and weary. It seemed so unfair to 329 00:20:21,319 --> 00:20:26,160 be stopped, injured, or even killed. Now I tried so hard. 330 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,359 Was it for nothing? I raised my head and gazed 331 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,880 up at these beasts. I was only about twenty five 332 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,559 feet from them at this point, but as I stood there, 333 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,880 I could make out hair and a shadowy face, but 334 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,000 again no details. It would be four decades later before 335 00:20:45,039 --> 00:20:48,359 I read about such encounters, and how the creatures almost 336 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,680 become as still as statues while observing humans, and how 337 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,960 many people went through exactly what I did. But for now, 338 00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:00,319 I realized that I was halfway up the mountain. To 339 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,440 my left were briar patches and wildly tangled brush. To 340 00:21:04,559 --> 00:21:08,599 my right was empty darkness that meant a cliff's edge. 341 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,400 I could not go back because I didn't know where 342 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:15,279 back was. My strength was not up to it, and 343 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:17,759 I didn't know what would happen if I turned my 344 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,160 back on them. Why they stood in the brush on 345 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,119 each side of the trail instead of blocking it. I'll 346 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:28,279 never really know. They still swayed slightly in the dead air, 347 00:21:28,759 --> 00:21:31,359 But as with any predators, I knew that if I 348 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:35,240 kept my head about and made no eye contact, perhaps 349 00:21:35,279 --> 00:21:38,119 they would just look at me as a harmless curiosity. 350 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:42,440 As I slowly lowered my head, I got the impression 351 00:21:42,559 --> 00:21:45,400 that they too might have lowered their heads to better 352 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,960 watch me. I'm not sure. The path was a good 353 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,519 three feet wide, so I very slowly made my way 354 00:21:52,519 --> 00:21:55,920 towards these two things. I wanted to look up and 355 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,240 see what kind of beasts they were, but I think 356 00:21:59,319 --> 00:22:02,559 my first thought was correct, and I kept looking down. 357 00:22:04,039 --> 00:22:06,839 As I stepped closer. I wanted to scream and run 358 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,079 for it. All either of them had to do was 359 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:15,160 crush my head like a grape. The forest was dead still, 360 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,200 and it came to me that they could have been 361 00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:20,680 stalking me all through the night as of now, though 362 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,839 it seemed as eternity was marked in slow inches. But 363 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,960 in the end I was permitted to pass unharmed. I 364 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,440 looked neither right or left or back and neither did 365 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,000 I raise my head. I didn't realize that their feet 366 00:22:36,079 --> 00:22:38,799 were partially on the trail, but I couldn't make them 367 00:22:38,839 --> 00:22:43,279 out in the gloom. After passing by them, I quickened 368 00:22:43,319 --> 00:22:47,759 my pace until the beautiful night's noises began again. I 369 00:22:47,839 --> 00:22:50,839 must state that even passing by within a foot of 370 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:55,000 these things, I smelled nothing beyond my own sweaty stink. 371 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:58,960 I walked on for an hour or so and finally 372 00:22:59,039 --> 00:23:04,359 hit Tigert's. I collapsed forward on all fours into the creek, 373 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,359 putting my mouth under and slurping up water through my 374 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,079 parched lips like there was no tomorrow. I didn't have 375 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:14,759 a canteen, but this time I followed the creek opposite 376 00:23:14,799 --> 00:23:17,799 its flow to keep my thirst quenched. And within a 377 00:23:17,799 --> 00:23:21,160 few hours I heard a lone truck's moan just south 378 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,960 of the creek. I stumbled about five hundred feet in 379 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,160 that direction upon an east west highway. I tried to 380 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,359 flag down the four or five passing cars and trucks 381 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,680 at that early hour, but looking at myself, I hardly 382 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:40,559 looked human in my totally filthy condition. I then walked 383 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,680 what turned out to be over five or six miles 384 00:23:43,759 --> 00:23:47,000 until I flagged down a cruiser and told the deputy 385 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,240 of my plight. He drove me clear back to the 386 00:23:50,279 --> 00:23:55,359 farm where we'd started out from the day before. Several 387 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,680 hours later, a car pulled up outside and out the 388 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,759 rest of the team jumped out and shouted with relief. 389 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,200 They had been searching for me, and we simply had 390 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,599 a tremendous emotional release from the worst night of my 391 00:24:08,759 --> 00:24:12,799 life thus far. But the really bad part was that Billy, 392 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,960 who led us in whom I hunted with several times, 393 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,559 never allowed me to go out in the woods with 394 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:24,519 him again. Until now, I hardly remembered any of this incident, 395 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,119 having just told one of my friends at the time 396 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,359 about spotting the creatures, but he just told me I 397 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,759 was hallucinating from the terrified time that I had had. 398 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,240 But it's very clear that God and God alone spared me. 399 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,480 This friend, even though it was fifty four years ago, 400 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,799 still refers to it as the night that you went crazy. 401 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,759 But those of us who were there know better, and 402 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,799 I never ever mentioned it again, not even to my 403 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,720 wife until we were listening to many of your people's tales. 404 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,279 Be it as it may, until now, I hadn't realized that, 405 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,240 aside from mentioning, I had gotten lost in the woods 406 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,799 and fell from a cliff. I never ever had thought 407 00:25:06,839 --> 00:25:10,880 about this in such minute detail until the last few 408 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:15,839 months of piecing it all back together using twenty twenty hindsight. 409 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:20,119 Having studied everything about Bigfoot for over fifty years and 410 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,839 listening to others' run ends with Bigfoot, I wonder there 411 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,880 were all of those sudden silences as I fought my 412 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:31,359 way out of the untangled forest, forcing me to flee 413 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,400 in the opposite direction of the growls. Could it be 414 00:25:35,559 --> 00:25:38,359 that the creatures were just hurting me, making sure that 415 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,599 I would take the right path out of the woods. 416 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,839 Once I hit Tiger Creek, there were no more silences 417 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,440 or growls. I just don't know. And now incident number 418 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:53,200 three November two thousand and fourteen, and the Gentleman was 419 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,240 sixty five years old. I was speaking with a local 420 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,599 author who had a popular bestseller, whom I had asked 421 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:02,799 to sign a copy of his book for my daughter 422 00:26:02,839 --> 00:26:06,599 in law. While passing the usual small talk, we got 423 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,920 on the subject of strange tales, and I told him 424 00:26:10,039 --> 00:26:12,880 of the talk I had overheard the ranger tell when 425 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,680 I was in the Scouts back an incident number one. 426 00:26:16,759 --> 00:26:19,440 When he finished listening to my tale, he asked if 427 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,319 I would like to come to a meeting of the 428 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:26,279 Carter County Bigfoot Research Group in Grand Kentucky and listen 429 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,200 to others encounter stories and retell my story of the 430 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,480 white thing for the group. I was glad to go, 431 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,799 but why that minor tale seemed important to him? I 432 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,319 didn't know. That evening I heard a lot of great 433 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,720 stories from farmers, a doctor, and other professional people. The 434 00:26:44,799 --> 00:26:47,240 author then told the group that they should listen to 435 00:26:47,279 --> 00:26:49,839 my story as it would be of great interest to 436 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:54,119 them all. After completing the story, there was some silence, 437 00:26:54,279 --> 00:26:56,960 and then the group's leader explained that there had been 438 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:02,000 a white bigfoot around eastern Carter for decades, but that 439 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:06,000 this was the oldest confirmed story with dates and details 440 00:27:06,079 --> 00:27:10,359 they had heard about from so long ago. I reiterated 441 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,880 that I didn't know if it was a bigfoot, since 442 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,960 at the time it was just described as some kind 443 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,000 of large white thing. They went on to tell many 444 00:27:20,039 --> 00:27:23,960 more stories of this old white bigfoot, two of which 445 00:27:24,039 --> 00:27:27,319 a woman also recounted some five years later for a 446 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:32,720 local newspaper. I've included two quotes from that newspaper, and 447 00:27:32,759 --> 00:27:36,000 here's quote number one. The title of the article is 448 00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:41,880 Carter County Bigfoot Regional Sightings prompt Questions. The author of 449 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,440 the article is Jeremy Wells. The publication is the Grayson 450 00:27:46,799 --> 00:27:52,599 Journal Times, dated February six, twenty nineteen, and here's the quote. 451 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:58,519 Other sites online, including Kentucky hunting dot Net, also record 452 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:03,640 sightings from the area around Carter Caves, including a supposedly 453 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,480 all white bigfoot that the person reporting the sighting was 454 00:28:07,559 --> 00:28:11,359 nicknamed Big John, who reportedly liked to eat from the 455 00:28:11,519 --> 00:28:15,880 lodge's dumpsters, but naturalists at the park have stated that 456 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:19,000 they are not familiar with any reported sightings from the 457 00:28:19,039 --> 00:28:23,079 park or the lodge. The next article is also by 458 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,440 the same writer's same publication, and that the title of 459 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:31,039 the article is Grand Squatching Bigfoot meet Up draws witnesses 460 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,440 and the curious, and the article reads like this. Once 461 00:28:35,519 --> 00:28:39,680 she Tabitha Siegel, started investigating, she found out that there 462 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,319 are sightings dating back to the nineteen sixties and earlier, 463 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,359 and one hair raising tail a young man riding a 464 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:51,160 mopad after dark had a bike stall on him as 465 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,480 he was trying to get it started he glanced at 466 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,400 his side mirror and saw a tall creature covered in 467 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,920 white hair coming up the road behind him. With this 468 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,960 this extra motivation to get moving, the young man was 469 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,799 able to get his bike to turn over and fled 470 00:29:05,839 --> 00:29:10,160 the area without looking back. So at last, after fifty 471 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,960 four years, I finally was able to put a face 472 00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:17,200 on the creature from back in my scouting days. And 473 00:29:17,279 --> 00:29:21,759 here is incident for the last incident. It's dated February 474 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,880 twenty fifteen, and he is sixty six years old. At 475 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,599 this time, I had purchased a farm on fifty five 476 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:34,400 acres of mostly forest in nineteen ninety three. The property 477 00:29:34,519 --> 00:29:38,079 was twenty five hundred feet deep and sixty eight hundred 478 00:29:38,079 --> 00:29:42,039 feet wide and locked into all of my other family's properties. 479 00:29:42,799 --> 00:29:46,000 We all used the combined area for hunting and simply 480 00:29:46,039 --> 00:29:49,240 to enjoy the woods. A lot of people from out 481 00:29:49,279 --> 00:29:51,480 of state would come in just to get a big 482 00:29:51,519 --> 00:29:54,440 buck in its rack, and it was common knowledge that 483 00:29:54,519 --> 00:29:57,640 I wanted deer to butcher and didn't care about the rack. 484 00:29:58,799 --> 00:30:01,640 Since we have never been on a high side of income. 485 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,720 We eat lots of game, rabbit, squirrel, and of course deer. 486 00:30:05,559 --> 00:30:08,559 The hunters would feel dress them so all the skinning 487 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,039 and butchering was up to my wife and I. When 488 00:30:12,039 --> 00:30:15,200 we had to dispose of the rest of the head, hide, bones, 489 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,000 and bits of meat. I had a certain place that 490 00:30:18,079 --> 00:30:21,039 I dumped the remains. It was about five to six 491 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,319 hundred feet out back of our barn. It was at 492 00:30:24,359 --> 00:30:27,960 the base of a small ledge overlooking a creek bottom. 493 00:30:28,599 --> 00:30:30,799 There were tracks in the mud on both sides of 494 00:30:30,839 --> 00:30:34,839 My Creek, a tributary of Upper Tigert Creek. My home 495 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,839 is about sixteen miles from my nineteen sixty six adventure. 496 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,799 There are many prints of animals that I can identify, 497 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,880 very large and small, from possum, squirrel, rabbit, raccoon, to 498 00:30:47,079 --> 00:30:52,160 mountain lion and an occasional bear. I've done this for decades, 499 00:30:52,319 --> 00:30:55,680 which lent to one mystery. I would come back to 500 00:30:55,799 --> 00:30:59,720 dump other carcasses and the ones before would be totally gone, 501 00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:04,319 usually within eighteen to twenty four hours. I've seen what 502 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:08,359 happens when dogs, codies, lines, and black panthers get into them. 503 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,039 The remains are strewn about and with only bones or 504 00:31:12,079 --> 00:31:14,640 bits of meat or left. But that is not the 505 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,359 case now. There was nothing left of almost sixty carcasses. 506 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,000 I dropped back there. So after twenty five years, I 507 00:31:23,039 --> 00:31:26,440 finally got curious enough to borrow my son's trail cam 508 00:31:26,759 --> 00:31:30,519 and change things around. I stacked the remains of the 509 00:31:30,559 --> 00:31:33,480 deer on the flat overlook of the creek, just above 510 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,039 the area in which I tossed the remains. I then 511 00:31:37,119 --> 00:31:39,920 placed the trail cam about eight feet up a tree 512 00:31:40,079 --> 00:31:42,640 on the side of a bank, which placed it about 513 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,920 four feet above the level of the flat rock. Here 514 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,839 it couldn't be reached by anyone without a step ladder 515 00:31:50,079 --> 00:31:54,079 or be quickly noticed by any game. Then I came 516 00:31:54,119 --> 00:31:57,200 back the next day, all that load of remains was 517 00:31:57,279 --> 00:32:01,240 gone right down to the dirt. When I excitedly took 518 00:32:01,279 --> 00:32:04,039 the camera down and rushed it home, all I had 519 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,920 was a photo of me putting the camera up, then 520 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,519 a second from the next day when I took it down. 521 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,119 What in the world happened to all the other photos 522 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,359 that should have been taken. I checked the camera when 523 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:20,200 I took it down, and it hadn't been disturbed. In fact, 524 00:32:20,279 --> 00:32:23,240 you really had to look for it. It was concealed 525 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:27,880 very well. During this time, there seemed to be nightly 526 00:32:28,039 --> 00:32:32,079 noises and movements around our house. I've caught possums and 527 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,079 coons around here, so I took the trail camera and 528 00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:37,799 placed it twenty feet behind the house in a tree 529 00:32:38,119 --> 00:32:41,240 on top of a six foot cutaway bank about five 530 00:32:41,279 --> 00:32:45,000 feet up the tree. That put the camera at twelve 531 00:32:45,079 --> 00:32:48,559 feet above my driveway looking at the back of the house, 532 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,359 so there was no way to step around this tree. 533 00:32:52,519 --> 00:32:55,599 I wanted that so that no curious possum or coon 534 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,480 could climb around the lens. And then set it up 535 00:32:58,559 --> 00:33:00,599 and I focused it on the back of the house, 536 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,440 the parking area, and the edge of my garage. The 537 00:33:04,519 --> 00:33:07,839 tree had no limbs below or around the camera for 538 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,079 a bird to light. The only toe hold was a 539 00:33:11,119 --> 00:33:14,160 five inch ledge that allowed me to reach up and 540 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:18,200 hang the camera. These photos begin on the eleventh of 541 00:33:18,279 --> 00:33:22,880 February in twenty fifteen, at about eight pm. The days 542 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,759 were in the thirties during the day and twenties at night, 543 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,319 so that thin crust of ice froze on top of 544 00:33:28,359 --> 00:33:32,160 the snow. Understand that this camera was a low light 545 00:33:32,279 --> 00:33:36,039 there was no flash involved. In the first picture, you 546 00:33:36,079 --> 00:33:39,160 can see me jumping down the short ledge after I 547 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:43,559 installed it. The next picture was taken about six pm 548 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:48,839 on February thirteenth, twenty fifteen, of my wife's return from town. 549 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,640 See the ice reflecting off the lights. The next photo, 550 00:33:53,759 --> 00:33:59,000 also dated February thirteenth, is of just blackness. It's not included. 551 00:33:59,119 --> 00:34:01,839 The shutter went off, but something appears to be blocking 552 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,640 the lens. But nothing could prepare me for the photo 553 00:34:04,759 --> 00:34:09,760 taken next. There's a tremendous white shine around it, and 554 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,440 it doesn't appear to be anything blurry, and in truth, 555 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,159 it seems that the mystery picture is in focus, displaying 556 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:23,480 at least muscle, eyelids and blood veins, doesn't it or what? Well, 557 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:26,639 I'm looking at that photo right here, and I don't 558 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:32,679 see anything. I just see an overexposed. It could be hair, 559 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:36,360 and it looks like white hair if it is hair. 560 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,079 But I really can't tell what this is, so he asked, 561 00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:43,239 what is it? I've had dozens of people view it 562 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,559 in the last five years without luck. A white owl 563 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,239 was kicked around by some people, but the owl would 564 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,239 have to hover to get this image. The kicker here 565 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,440 is there were and still are no white horses in 566 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,760 this area. But the last photo also seems to have 567 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:03,360 something to tell. The lens caught a really large flash 568 00:35:03,559 --> 00:35:06,280 and then it was gone, the next shot being another 569 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,519 black streak. Again, there is no outside light other than 570 00:35:10,559 --> 00:35:13,719 the above back door. I say again, the camera has 571 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:17,000 only a low light lens. The light had to be 572 00:35:17,039 --> 00:35:19,800 from an outside source, and no animal that I know 573 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:23,360 of is internally lit. Although my wife thinks it might 574 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,079 be an angel horse that floats above the ground. It's 575 00:35:27,119 --> 00:35:29,960 as good a guess as any. The last thing the 576 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:34,079 camera caught was almost as mysterious as the shining animal. 577 00:35:34,199 --> 00:35:37,639 There was a tremendous flash, and the final photo is 578 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,320 black and I'm looking at I'm looking at just a 579 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,679 white over exposed photo here. Do you have any idea 580 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,480 what this thing is? It's also been speculated that it 581 00:35:50,519 --> 00:35:53,239 could be a twelve foot tall bigfoot, face turned back 582 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:57,639 toward the camera, perhaps looking over its left shoulder. It 583 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,679 is of the eck andeers of sorts instead of an eye, 584 00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,880 but I just don't know. However, as I said before, 585 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,159 there was a thin glaze of ice over an inch 586 00:36:06,199 --> 00:36:09,000 of snow, and nothing could have walked around that tree 587 00:36:09,079 --> 00:36:12,239 without leaving places where a foot would have crushed in 588 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,519 its crust. This is the first thing that I thought 589 00:36:15,519 --> 00:36:18,280 of after this was to look for any prints because 590 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:22,519 hoofs would have broken through and there weren't any. Again, 591 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:24,880 I had mounted that camera over the edge of a 592 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,559 little edge. If a horse had stood behind the tree 593 00:36:27,599 --> 00:36:30,119 and twisted its neck around the thin ice would have 594 00:36:30,159 --> 00:36:33,320 been broken. Aside from leaving dozens of other hoof prints, 595 00:36:34,039 --> 00:36:37,679 I have no further ideas. And then the gentleman goes 596 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:41,440 on to ask for anonymity, and he gives me his 597 00:36:41,559 --> 00:36:44,440 name and phone number and all those things. So that 598 00:36:44,639 --> 00:36:48,119 was a long story, and I did not a lot 599 00:36:48,159 --> 00:36:50,079 of these stories. I do a little bit of editing 600 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:54,679 to make them a little more I don't know, to 601 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,800 follow a line of a story. You kind of getting 602 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:02,719 all these pages back together here, But that's what I do. 603 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,280 But I didn't on this one because this man had 604 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,679 spent a lot of time putting this together and me 605 00:37:09,159 --> 00:37:12,119 not being able to see anything in these photos. I'm 606 00:37:12,119 --> 00:37:15,760 not making fun of him or you know, I'm not 607 00:37:16,039 --> 00:37:18,719 being ugly about it. I just don't see anything in 608 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:20,920 the photos. It just looks like a house and some 609 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,760 people and you know, some blurry things, and it could 610 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:26,320 be anything. I mean, it could be anything to set 611 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:28,679 off the lens of the camera, and if they're right 612 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:30,519 in front of it. It's just going to pick up, 613 00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:34,760 you know, some blurry over exposed hair or fur or whatever. 614 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,440 So I don't think they show anything, so I'm not 615 00:37:37,519 --> 00:37:40,840 going to show them. But I appreciated the story. I 616 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:46,239 think his tale of getting lost was spectacular, and walking 617 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:51,199 right walking right by to bigfoot is oh, that's unreal. 618 00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,800 And then the tale of the that the ranger told 619 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,480 the scout masters was pretty good. So Carter k the 620 00:37:57,519 --> 00:38:01,639 Carter Caves area in eastern Kino, Luckie must be a 621 00:38:01,639 --> 00:38:04,480 big white bigfoot rider around there. Thank you to the 622 00:38:04,519 --> 00:38:07,079 writer for taking so much time in mailing me this, 623 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:09,119 and I really appreciate it.