WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.759 For decades, people have disappeared in the woods without a trace. 2 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:10.279 Some blame wild animals, others whisper of creatures the world 3 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:14.160 refuses to believe in. But those who have survived they 4 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:18.679 know the truth. Welcome to Backwoods Bigfoot Stories, where we 5 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:22.839 share real encounters with the things lurking in the darkness bigfoot, 6 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:28.239 dog man UFOs, and creatures that defy explanation. Some make 7 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:32.280 it out, others aren't so lucky. Are you ready, because 8 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.640 once you hear these stories, you'll never walk in the 9 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.920 woods alone again. So grab your flashlight, stay close, and 10 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.840 remember some things in the woods don't want to be found. 11 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:46.240 Hit that follow or subscribe button, turn on auto downloads, 12 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.399 and let's head off into the woods if you dare. 13 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:05.200 There's a story in the world of Sasquatch research that, 14 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.439 depending on who you ask, is either the single greatest 15 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:12.640 account of long term human bigfoot interaction ever recorded, or 16 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:16.120 one of the most elaborate fabrications the community has ever seen. 17 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.560 There really isn't much middle ground on this one, and 18 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:22.760 I think that's exactly what makes it worth telling. I've 19 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:26.079 been researching sasquatch encounters for close to forty years now. 20 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:30.640 I've interviewed nearly one thousand people about their experiences. I've 21 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:35.079 heard everything from fleeting glimpses on backcountry highways to terrifying 22 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.640 nighttime encounters that left grown men shaking in their boots. 23 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.640 But every now and then a story comes along that 24 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:46.159 doesn't fit neatly into any category. A story so sprawling, 25 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.200 so detailed, so deeply woven into the fabric of one 26 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:54.560 family's life over multiple generations, that it demands your attention, 27 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:57.879 whether you believe it or not, this is that story. 28 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.719 It takes place in rural Tenant See, on a modest 29 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:04.959 family farm that sits at the edge of thick forested land. 30 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:08.759 It spans more than half a century. It involves a 31 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:12.039 grandfather's secret act of mercy toward an injured creature that 32 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:15.800 wasn't supposed to exist. It involves a little girl who 33 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.879 literally ran into that creature one afternoon and had her 34 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:23.159 entire world turned upside down. It involves a family that 35 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:27.919 allegedly lived alongside a clan of sasquatch for decades, feeding them, 36 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:32.000 learning their ways, even picking up fragments of their language, 37 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:35.039 all while keeping the whole thing locked away from the 38 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:40.199 outside world because they knew they absolutely knew that nobody 39 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:43.439 would ever believe them. And the thing is, when the 40 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:47.039 story finally did come out, they were right. Most people 41 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.680 didn't believe them. But here's what I'll say before we 42 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:53.280 get into this. I've always believed that every story deserves 43 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:56.639 to be heard on its own terms before it gets judged. 44 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.199 I've sat across from hundreds of witnesses over the years, 45 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:03.840 and I've learned something important. The truth doesn't always come 46 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:06.360 wrapped in a neat little package with a bow on top. 47 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:11.960 Sometimes it's messy, sometimes it's contradictory. Sometimes the people telling 48 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.639 you what they saw can barely hold it together because 49 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:18.199 they know how crazy it sounds. So tonight I'm going 50 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:20.000 to lay this story out for you the way it 51 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.840 was told. I'm going to walk you through the claims, 52 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.719 the characters, the encounters, the evidence that was presented, and 53 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:30.439 the controversy that nearly tore the Bigfoot research community apart, 54 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:33.120 and I'm going to let you decide for yourself what 55 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:36.439 you make of it. This is the story of Janis Carter, 56 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:41.360 the Carter Farm, a Sasquatch named Fox, and fifty years 57 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:45.199 of what one woman says was coexistence between her family 58 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:49.800 and a species that science says doesn't exist. Now, before 59 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.159 we dive in, let me set the stage a little bit. 60 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:56.759 I've covered habituation stories before on this show. I've talked 61 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:00.639 to people who claim ongoing interactions with sasquatch on their properties, 62 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.599 people who leave out food, who hear vocalizations at night, 63 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:10.159 who find gifts and signs of visitation. Those stories, while remarkable, 64 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.759 tend to unfold over months or years. What makes the 65 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:17.279 Carter story different, what makes it truly unique in the 66 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:20.759 annals of bigfoot research, is the sheer time frame we're 67 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.279 talking about. This isn't a story that spans a summer 68 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:27.759 or a decade. This is a story that allegedly spans 69 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:31.759 three human generations and encompasses the entire life span of 70 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:35.360 the Sasquatch at its center, from infancy to old age 71 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:39.160 to death. If it's true, it represents the longest and 72 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:44.439 most intimate account of human sasquatch interaction ever documented. If 73 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:47.279 it isn't true, it represents one of the most ambitious 74 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:51.879 and detailed fabrications in the history of cryptozoology. Either way, 75 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:55.399 it's a story that demands your full attention. I also 76 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:57.160 want to note something about the way I'm going to 77 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:01.040 tell this story. I've read extensively about this case. I've 78 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:04.879 gone through the available evidence, the criticisms, the investigations, and 79 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:07.879 the counter arguments, and I've come to the conclusion that 80 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.399 the most honest thing I can do is present the 81 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:14.480 story as comprehensively as I can and let you, the listener, 82 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:17.279 make your own call. I'm not going to tell you 83 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.560 what to believe. That's not my job. My job is 84 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.199 to give you the information and the context. You need 85 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.720 to think about it critically and come to your own conclusions. 86 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.160 To understand the Janis Carter story, you've got to start 87 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:33.240 long before Janis was even born. You've got to go 88 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:36.879 back to nineteen forty seven to a man named Robert Carter. 89 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.839 Senor Robert Carter was, by all accounts, a rugged and 90 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.959 capable man of the land. He was a farmer a 91 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.839 Tennessee and through and through the kind of man who 92 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:49.160 got up before dawn and didn't stop working until the 93 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:52.519 sun told him it was time. He and his wife, Lilia, 94 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:55.199 had settled onto a piece of property in Monroe County, 95 00:05:55.480 --> 00:05:58.560 in the southeastern corner of Tennessee, not far from the 96 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:02.920 small town of Madisonville. It was farmland, sure, but the 97 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.600 kind of farmland that bumps right up against serious wilderness. 98 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:12.240 The Appalachian foothills, dense old growth, timber hollers, and ravines 99 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.519 that hadn't seen human footprints in years. The kind of 100 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:17.959 country where you could step off your back porch and 101 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.839 disappear into another world within fifty yards. 102 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:22.040 Now. 103 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:24.680 According to the story, as Janis would later tell it, 104 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.600 sometime around nineteen forty seven, not long after the Carters 105 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.720 had moved on to the property, Robert Senior was out 106 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.120 working his land when he came across something that would 107 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:37.360 change everything. Deep in the woods, in one of those 108 00:06:37.399 --> 00:06:40.439 tangled ravines that cut through the property, he found a 109 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.519 young creature pinned beneath a fallen tree. It wasn't a bear, cub, 110 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:48.240 it wasn't a dog. It wasn't anything Robert Carter had 111 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.920 ever seen in his life. It was small, maybe forty 112 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.040 pounds or so, and it was covered in hair. But 113 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.639 its face, its hands, its eyes, they weren't the features 114 00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:03.040 of any animal that belonged in those woods. This was 115 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:06.360 something else, entirely, something that looked back at him with 116 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:10.720 an intelligence he couldn't explain. Something that was hurt, terrified, 117 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:14.160 and completely helpless. Now here's where the story takes its 118 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:18.160 first crucial turn, because a lot of men finding something 119 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:21.079 like that in the woods would have walked away. Some 120 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:23.759 might have gone for a gun. Some would have convinced 121 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:26.600 themselves they were seeing things and never spoken of it again. 122 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:31.000 But Robert Carter Senior wasn't that kind of man. According 123 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.399 to Janis, her grandfather was guided by a simple philosophy 124 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:38.480 that defined his entire life. You help what's hurting, no 125 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:39.279 matter what it is. 126 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:40.839 So he did. 127 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.240 Robert managed to free the young creature from beneath the 128 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.720 fallen tree. It was injured, possibly had broken bones, and 129 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.759 it was in bad shape. He carefully brought it back 130 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:54.920 to his barn, his shed, and he set about nursing 131 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:58.000 it back to health. He fed it, he tended to 132 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:01.279 its injuries, he kept it warm and sheltered. And he 133 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:04.319 did all of this in secret, because even in nineteen 134 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:07.480 forty seven, even in rural Tennessee, where folks had a 135 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:10.920 healthy respect for the strange things that lived in those mountains, 136 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:13.879 Robert Carter knew that what he'd found was something that 137 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:16.639 would bring him nothing but trouble if the wrong people 138 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:20.360 found out. His wife, Lilia knew. She had to know, 139 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:23.120 because you can't hide something like that from the woman 140 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:26.839 you share a roof with. And eventually his son, Robert 141 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:30.560 Carter Junior, found out too. But beyond that tight family 142 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.480 circle and maybe one or two of their closest neighbors, 143 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:38.080 Robert kept the creature's existence locked down tight. Now here's 144 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.320 the part that really sets this story apart from just 145 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:44.240 about anything else in the Sasquatch literature. The young creature 146 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:48.120 didn't stay in the barn. According to Janis. At some point, 147 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:51.120 after it had recovered enough to move around, its parents 148 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:55.159 came for it. The adult Sasquatch, the ones who'd presumably 149 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.759 been searching for their missing child, found their way to 150 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:00.559 the Carter barn and broke it out. But that wasn't 151 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:02.960 the end of the story. That was just the beginning. 152 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.159 Because the young Sasquatch came back. Whether it was because 153 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.720 of the bond that had formed during those weeks of recovery, 154 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.840 or because it had imprinted on Robert Carter the way 155 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.159 young animals sometimes imprint on the humans who raise them, 156 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:20.000 or for reasons that nobody will ever fully understand, that 157 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.960 young creature kept returning to the Carter property again and 158 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.080 again and again, and Robert Carter, true to his nature, 159 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:32.279 kept feeding it, kept looking out for it, kept building 160 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.919 a relationship with a being that, as far as the 161 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:38.200 rest of the world was concerned, simply did not exist. 162 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:42.519 They named him Fox. Why Fox? That's a detail that 163 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:46.159 doesn't get talked about much, but it matters. The name 164 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:49.759 apparently came from the creature's coloring, a reddish brown hue 165 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:52.559 to his hair that reminded Robert of the red foxes 166 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:55.440 that were common in that part of Tennessee. It was 167 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:58.600 a simple, practical name, the kind of name a farmer 168 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.080 would give to something, not a scientific designation, not something 169 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:04.559 grand or mythological. 170 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:05.879 Just fox. 171 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.039 And here's something else that's worth sitting with for a minute. 172 00:10:10.039 --> 00:10:12.639 Think about what Robert Carter was doing in the context 173 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:16.559 of nineteen forty seven America. This was two years after 174 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:19.960 the end of World War II. The country was rebuilding. 175 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.200 People in rural Tennessee were focused on survival, on farming, 176 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:26.799 on keeping food on the table and a roof over 177 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:31.480 their heads. They weren't thinking about undiscovered primates. The word 178 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.440 bigfoot wouldn't even enter the American vocabulary for another eleven years. 179 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:40.000 When Jerry Crewe's discovery of large footprints near Bluff Creek, California, 180 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:44.759 in nineteen fifty eight made headlines. The Patterson Gimlin film 181 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.200 was still twenty years away. There was no bigfoot community, 182 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.879 no Internet forums, no podcasts, no framework for understanding what 183 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.440 Robert Carter had supposedly found in those woods. He was 184 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:01.159 completely alone with this, just a man, his life, his son, 185 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:03.759 and a creature that the world didn't have a name 186 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:07.159 for yet. Over the years that followed, according to the 187 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:10.879 Carter family account, the relationship between Robert Senior and the 188 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:15.399 creature they'd named Fox deepened into something that defies easy description. 189 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:19.600 This wasn't a pet situation. This wasn't a man keeping 190 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:23.120 a wild animal in a cage. This was, if you 191 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:26.360 take the story at face value, something more akin to 192 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:30.960 an ongoing, evolving relationship between two intelligent beings who'd learned 193 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.399 to trust each other. Robert would leave food out for Fox, 194 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.399 not just scraps, but deliberate offerings. He'd put out vegetables 195 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.039 from the garden, left over meat, whatever he had, and 196 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:47.039 Fox would come, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night. 197 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.320 He'd take the food, and sometimes he'd linger. Over time, 198 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.879 the lingering got longer, the distance between them got shorter, 199 00:11:55.399 --> 00:12:01.320 and then something remarkable allegedly started happening communication. According to 200 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:05.200 what Janus later told researchers, her grandfather and Fox slowly, 201 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.799 painstakingly began to bridge the language gap between them. Robert 202 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.919 taught Fox simple English words, not full sentences, not grammar, 203 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:20.080 but basic vocabulary, words for food, words for greetings, simple concepts, 204 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:23.879 and in return, Fox shared words from his own language, 205 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:28.639 whatever that language was, with Robert. Robert Carter Senior kept 206 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.480 a notebook he wrote down the words and phrases that 207 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:35.159 Fox used, building what amounted to a crude dictionary of 208 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:39.360 Sasquatch vocabulary. This notebook would later become one of the 209 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.960 most controversial and debated pieces of evidence in. 210 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:42.960 The entire case. 211 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.840 When researchers eventually got their hands on it and analyzed 212 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:51.360 the words, they discovered something unexpected. Many of the words 213 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:54.960 documented in that notebook turned out to be Cheyenne. There 214 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:58.879 were also some Cherokee words mixed in. How a Sasquatch 215 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:02.120 in Tennessee would be used using Native American linguistic elements 216 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:04.799 is a question that opens up a whole other can 217 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:08.600 of worms, one that ties into centuries of indigenous oral 218 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:11.879 traditions about the wild people of the forests. But we'll 219 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:14.240 get to that now. I want to take a moment 220 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:16.600 here to talk about what this kind of habituation would 221 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:19.240 actually look like, because I think a lot of people 222 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:22.759 hear the word and imagine something relatively quick and easy, 223 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:25.960 like leaving out a bird feeder and waiting for cardinals 224 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:26.639 to show up. 225 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:28.639 But if we're talking about. 226 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.399 Habituating a large, intelligent, naturally reclusive hominid, we're talking about 227 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:37.399 something entirely different. Think about it from Fox's perspective for 228 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:40.519 a second. Even if we accept that Robert saved his 229 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:43.399 life as a youngster, even if we accept that some 230 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:47.320 kind of bond formed during that recovery period, Fox still 231 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.679 had to make a choice. Every single time he returned 232 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.360 to the Carter property. He had to weigh the risk 233 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.759 of being near humans against whatever drew him back. And 234 00:13:55.799 --> 00:13:59.080 each time Robert had to read the situation correctly, had 235 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:00.759 to know when to a pro coach and when to 236 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:04.279 back off, when to offer food, and when to simply 237 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:08.519 be present without pushing one wrong move, one moment of 238 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.720 fear or aggression from either side, and the whole thing 239 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.240 could have collapsed. The Russian researcher igor Bertsef, who would 240 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.480 later visit the Carter farm, drew an interesting parallel to 241 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:23.679 the work of Jane Goodall with chimpanzees. Goodall spent years 242 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:26.360 earning the trust of the Gambe chimps before they'd allow 243 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:29.960 her close enough to observe their natural behavior, and she 244 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:34.039 was working with animals whose, intelligence, while remarkable, is generally 245 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:38.919 considered well below whatever a sasquatch might possess. If sasquatch 246 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:42.000 are even half as intelligent as the Carter story suggests, 247 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:46.200 then the habituation process would have been exponentially more complex, 248 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:51.679 more fraught with the possibility of miscommunication and misunderstanding. It 249 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:55.279 appears that doctor Lewis Leaky had specifically chosen Jane Goodall 250 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:59.039 in part because she lacked formal scientific training, which he 251 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:03.000 felt gave her an an uncluttered and unbiased perspective. Stay 252 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:06.559 tuned for more Backwoods bigfoot stories. We'll be back after 253 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:12.480 these messages. The implication was that Robert Carter, sor a 254 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:16.159 farmer with no scientific credentials whatsoever, might have been the 255 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:20.639 perfect person to establish first contact with a sasquatch, precisely 256 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:24.039 because he wasn't approaching it as a scientist. He was 257 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.639 approaching it as a human being. The point is Robert 258 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:30.720 Carter Sor allegedly spent the better part of twenty years 259 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:34.679 building this relationship before anyone else in the family outside 260 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.960 of Lilia and Robert Junior even knew what was happening. 261 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:43.559 Twenty years of feeding, visiting, communicating, and learning. Twenty years 262 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:47.879 of keeping the biggest secret in the history of Monroe County, Tennessee. 263 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:49.159 And Fox wasn't alone. 264 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:50.840 Over those years. 265 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.159 According to the story, Fox grew from that injured, forty 266 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:58.879 pound youngster into a full grown male sasquatch of enormous size. 267 00:15:58.919 --> 00:15:59.879 He found a mate. 268 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:04.039 The Carters called her Sheba, and Fox and Sheba had offspring, 269 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:08.039 one of them, a male they'd come to call Blackie. 270 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:11.159 So now you didn't just have one sasquatch visiting the 271 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:15.360 Carter farm. You had a family, a clan, a small 272 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:17.759 group of beings living in the deep woods adjacent to 273 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.159 the Carter property, with Fox serving as the primary link 274 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.200 between his kind and the one human family that knew 275 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:27.799 they existed. This was the world that little Janis Carter 276 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:31.440 was about to stumble into. Janis Carter was born around 277 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:35.440 nineteen sixty five. She was Robert and Lily Carter's granddaughter, 278 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:38.159 and like a lot of kids in rural Tennessee, she 279 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:41.600 spent her summers and weekends running wild on her grandparents farm, 280 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:46.279 climbing trees, chasing chickens, exploring the edges of the woods, 281 00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:48.879 doing all the things that country kids do when the 282 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:51.639 world is big and they're small and every day is 283 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.919 an adventure. She was about seven years old the first 284 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.480 time it happened that put us somewhere around nineteen seventy two. 285 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.039 The way Jana tells it, she was playing on the farm, 286 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:04.640 running around without a care in the world, when she 287 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.920 came around a corner or a tree or some obstacle 288 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:11.319 and literally ran straight into something that stopped her dead 289 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:14.440 in her tracks. Standing in front of her was Fox. 290 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.880 By nineteen seventy two, Fox was no longer that forty 291 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:22.000 pound infant her grandfather had pulled from beneath a fallen tree. 292 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:25.000 He was now approximately twenty eight years old, and he 293 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:29.039 was massive. We're talking about a full grown male sasquatch 294 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:32.759 in the prime of his life, hair covered, towering, and 295 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:35.759 utterly unlike anything a seven year old girl would have. 296 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:41.160 Any frame of reference. For Jenis froze absolute terror, the 297 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:43.680 kind of fear that locks every muscle in your body 298 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.599 and steals the air right out of your lungs. She 299 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:50.839 couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't do anything but stand there 300 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.319 and stare up at this impossible thing that was staring 301 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:56.640 right back down at her. And then her grandfather was there. 302 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.880 Robert Carter Sr. Came rushing to his granddaughter's so put 303 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:03.839 himself between her and Fox and did something that tells 304 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.640 you everything you need to know about the relationship he'd 305 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.880 built with this creature over the past quarter century. He 306 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:13.880 stared Fox down. He didn't run, he didn't grab a weapon, 307 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.720 he didn't shout or panic. He locked eyes with this 308 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:21.720 massive sasquatch and held his ground, projecting a calm authority 309 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:24.960 that came from twenty five years of mutual trust and understanding. 310 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:29.359 And Fox backed off. He moved away, melting back into 311 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.319 the tree line the way these creatures apparently do, and 312 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:36.079 the immediate danger passed. But for seven year old Janis, 313 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:40.319 nothing would ever be the same. After that encounter, Robert 314 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.839 Carter Sr. Was faced with a choice he'd been putting 315 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:46.799 off for years. His granddaughter had seen Fox. She was 316 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.480 old enough to follow him around the property, she was 317 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:52.279 old enough to ask questions, and she was old enough 318 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.279 to accidentally put herself in danger if she didn't understand 319 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:56.680 what was living in those woods. 320 00:18:57.279 --> 00:18:59.200 So he told her. He sat her. 321 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.039 Down and explained, in whatever way you explained such a 322 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:04.599 thing to a child, that there were creatures living in 323 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.839 the forests around the farm, that they'd been there for 324 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:10.599 a long time, that he'd been taking care of them, 325 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:14.359 feeding them, building a relationship with them, that the one 326 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:17.680 she'd run into was named Fox, and that Fox was, 327 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:21.359 for lack of a better word, a friend, but also 328 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:25.079 that these creatures were wild, they were powerful, they were 329 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.359 unpredictable in some ways, and she needed to be careful. 330 00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:31.519 It's hard to imagine what that conversation must have been 331 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:35.680 like from a child's perspective. Your grandfather, this man you 332 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:38.480 trust more than anyone in the world, telling you that 333 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.000 monsters are real and they live in your backyard. Except 334 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:46.400 they're not exactly monsters. There's something else, something in between. 335 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.720 From that point forward, Janice began her own journey of 336 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.839 interaction with Fox and his family, and it would last 337 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:56.079 for the next thirty plus years. But I want to 338 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:59.480 emphasize something about that initial encounter, because I think it 339 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:04.160 is important. Janis was seven, seven years old and she 340 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:07.640 ran into something that, by her description, was a massive, 341 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.160 hair covered hominid standing upright and staring down at her 342 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.559 with intelligent eyes. Try to put yourself in the shoes 343 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:16.680 of a seven year old in rural Tennessee in the 344 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:20.759 early nineteen seventies. There is no Internet to search for answers. 345 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:25.480 There is no Discovery channel showing documentaries about Bigfoot. The 346 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:29.000 Patterson Gimlin film existed by that point, sure, but a 347 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.559 little girl on a farm in Monroe County probably had 348 00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:34.119 not seen it. She had no context for what she 349 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:38.240 was looking at none. And then her grandfather calmly steps 350 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:41.799 in and basically says, Oh, yeah, that's fox. 351 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:42.880 He lives here. 352 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:46.160 I've been feeding him for twenty five years. Don't worry 353 00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:51.039 about it. That moment, that conversation must have rearranged every 354 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:54.960 assumption Janis had about the world she lived in. One minute, 355 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:58.319 You're a normal kid playing on a farm. The next minute, 356 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:00.880 everything you thought you knew about what is real and 357 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:05.039 what is not has been turned completely inside out. I 358 00:21:05.079 --> 00:21:07.319 think about this a lot when I interview witnesses by 359 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.880 the way, that moment of rupture, that instant where the 360 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:14.319 world splits into before and after. Most of the people 361 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:17.200 I talked to experience it as adults, and even then 362 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:21.599 it shakes them to their core. Janis experienced it at seven. 363 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:23.640 That has got to leave a mark on the way 364 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.400 you see the world for the rest of your life. 365 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.119 What's interesting, though, is that, from Janis's perspective, what followed 366 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:33.440 was not a single traumatic event that she ran from. 367 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.519 It was the beginning of a long, complicated education. Her 368 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:41.920 grandfather became her guide, her teacher, her protector. He had 369 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.480 spent a quarter century learning the rules of engagement with 370 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.799 these creatures, and now he was passing that knowledge down 371 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.960 to his granddaughter. In a strange way. It was its 372 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.079 own kind of family tradition, just not the kind most 373 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:57.839 families passed down. The years that followed Janis's first encounter 374 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:01.039 with fox were, according to her account, out, a long 375 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:04.519 and sometimes terrifying education in what it meant to share 376 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:07.680 your world with a species that wasn't supposed to exist. 377 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:12.200 Under her grandfather's guidance, Janis slowly began to learn the rules. 378 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.400 There were always rules. 379 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.799 Her grandfather had developed them over decades of trial and error, 380 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:21.640 and they were non negotiable. You don't approach them aggressively. 381 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:25.799 You don't make sudden movements, you don't challenge the dominant male. 382 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.319 You bring offerings of food and you present them respectfully. 383 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.839 You let them come to you, and above all, you 384 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:35.920 never ever tell anyone outside the family what's happening on 385 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.000 this property. By the time Janis was eight or nine, 386 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:41.440 she'd begun to observe Fox and his family. 387 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:42.319 Group more regularly. 388 00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:45.880 She'd see them at the tree line. She'd catch glimpses 389 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.440 of Sheba, Fox's mate, moving through the underbrush with her 390 00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:53.720 young She'd hear their vocalizations at night, sounds that ranged 391 00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:56.799 from low grunts and rumbles to high pitched screams that 392 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:59.240 would send ice through your veins if you didn't know 393 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:03.279 what was making them. In nineteen seventy three, approximately a 394 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.799 year after her first encounter, Janis claims to have observed 395 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:11.119 Fox's mate, Sheba, with their children. She also reportedly witnessed 396 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:14.400 Fox engage in a physical battle with a stranger Sasquatch, 397 00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:19.079 an outsider who'd wandered into the territory. According to Janis, 398 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:22.200 Fox's young son, Blackie, who was only about three or 399 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:25.079 four years old at the time, actually tried to help 400 00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:28.079 his father in the fight. The image of a toddler 401 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:31.559