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Speaker 1: I was in the Marine Corps for eight years, and

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I spent my professional career in law enforcement. I had

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my first encounter with sasquatch when I was twelve. I

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didn't know anything about sasquatch. Then. I came from a

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family of outdoorsmen and hunters and loggers, but no one

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ever talked about bigfoot. It was February of nineteen eighty one,

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and I had been running traplines and hunting the Canyon

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Creek area for muskrats, red foxes, bobcats, and the like.

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In the winters, I would make upward of one thousand dollars.

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That was great money for a kid my age, but

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it did take a lot of work. When my friends

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were playing U sports and watching cartoons and going to movies,

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I was building up for the grueling cold and heading

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out to run my line. It gets brutally cold in Montana,

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twenty to thirty degrees below zero without the wind chill.

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But every morning, while the rest of the kids I

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knew were still fast asleep, I would start the coffee

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on the stove and pack my bag full of food,

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and I would insulate my entire body layer over layer

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until I looked like the Staypuff marshmallow Man, and that

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was before I even put the parka on. When I

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was all geared up, I tied my dad's Coleman lantern

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around my wrist with a length of rope in case

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it fell in the creek, and then I'd grab my gun.

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The creek was only a few miles away. It was

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so cold, and the air sparkle with the frost, and

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the moon light bounced off the snow, providing relatively good

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lighting for old dark thirty in the morning. I used

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my knotted rope that I tied to the bridge, and

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I started the thirty foot climb down to the bottom

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of the draw through the knee deep snow. Down the

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steep slope, let go of the rope, fired up the lantern,

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and trudged my first trap two hundred feet downstream from

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the bridge. The creek was frozen a good twelve inches

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stick except for where I set my muskrat traps. I

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ran my land traps in a zigzag pattern with no

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set spacing each trap about five hundred feet from the next.

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I finally made my way to my first trap, only

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to find it had been ripped out of the ground

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and torn to pieces. It was pure steel, and all

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of it bent and pulled apart like tinfoil. It had

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been set off to the side of the game trail

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midway up the draw. It wasn't a large trap, but

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it was strong enough to hold a large bobcat or

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a coyote. For something to tear it apart was impressive

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and disturbing unless they used a sledge hammer. I was

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stumped about the whole thing, and I was angry. Those

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traps were expensive, especially for a kid. I threw the

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trap in my bag and hoisted it over my shoulder,

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and I headed to the second trap, and I noticed

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immediately how the snow had been trampled around it and

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packed so hard it was impossible to tell what the

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tracks were. It wasn't normal. Not only that my trap

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was gone. All that was left was a hole in

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the frozen dirt scattered around where my two foot long

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rebar steak had been ripped from deep out of the ground.

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I was more than pissed someone had been messing with

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my traps. I knew it wasn't an animal, It couldn't

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have been an animal, and now I was on a mission.

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I headed to my next trap, this time following the

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trail that had been plowed through the snow. Like the

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last two, it had been ripped out of the ground.

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I kept going my pace, picking up and dreading what

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I'd find at the fourth trap, one that i'd sit

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in the ice. That's when my life changed forever. At

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the sight, I saw bigfoot prints with long strides freezing

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over in the ice and heading toward and leading away

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from my trap hole. The trap was trashed, and the

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hole it had been set in and was broken around

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the edges. Something didn't sit right with me. As I

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looked around, the ice was four inches thick. It would

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have taken brute force or something enormous to bust through it.

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I knew a black bear couldn't do that. They weren't

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heavy enough to break through the ice that thick. I

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had seen cattle walk across thinner ice than this, and

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they weighed a lot more. We didn't have grizzly bear

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or moose in the area, and I started wrecking my

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brain trying to understand it. It was still an hour

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or so from dawn. Something had torn up my traps.

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My skin was crawling, and I knew something was very wrong.

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I turned off the lantern so my eyes could adjust

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to the darkness. I wrapped my scarf around me mouth

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so that the steaming air wouldn't block my vision. I

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started to turn in a slow circle, trying to catch

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any movement, listening for sounds that didn't belong. After a

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few minutes, I heard it, the distinct sound of ice

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breaking and something dunking into the water. It was coming

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down the creek toward my next trap. I heard it again,

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ice cracking and water splashing, and over and over. Something

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was walking over the ice, breaking through with each step,

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and it was getting louder. It was getting closer. That's

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when the smell hit me. Smell like rotten flesh and

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moldy onion and curdled milk and trap bait. The foulest

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thing I had ever smelled, and it was so intense

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I vomited, loud and unbridled. When I recovered, the crashing stopped,

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I looked down the creek and I saw a shadow,

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lit by the moonlight, moving from around a bit and

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in the creek and disappearing into the sand cherry bushes.

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It was taller than anything around it. It had the

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outline of a human, but it couldn't be It was

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the biggest damn thing I'd ever seen, standing at least

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two feet over those six foot tall bushes. I knew

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it wasn't a bear, and unless Andre the Giant had

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been hanging around my town and stealing my traps, I

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knew that I was in trouble. I heard it huffing

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heavy and deep from its diaphragm as it glided around

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the bushes and kept coming toward me. I was stunned

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by its movements, feline and graceful despite its impossible size.

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I dropped the lantern and dropped my gun into my hands.

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I couldn't make out what it was other than it

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had two legs and two arms and shaggy hair covering

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all over it. There was no way I would get

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up the steep side of the draw through all of

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that snow. I was a mile and a half from

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the bridge and my rope. I needed to do something,

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so I yelled at it, Hey stop right there, hey,

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hey stop. To my surprise, it stopped. It didn't growl

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or below, it just stopped. It probably didn't know what

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to make of me. Here was a kid wrapped in

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eighteen layers of clothes standing in the middle of the

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creek making a fuss. I was a fearless kid raised

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by hardened men. It made perfect sense to me to

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stand my ground and make myself big and try to

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scare the thread away, just like I'd been taught. So

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that's what I did. Hey, go on and get get now.

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But it just kept coming. But it wasn't quick, not cautiously.

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It was just interested. When it maneuvered within charging range,

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I pointed my gun in the air above its head,

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and I pulled the trigger. I have done brighter things

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in my life, and pulling the trigger wasn't one of them. First,

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the shots sort of had the desired effect. The monster

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man let out a screen that really angry people make

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when they're startled. I could handle that until the scream

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mixed with a murderous roar that vibrated through my bones.

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Some people say that when they had an encounter, they

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were frozen in time. Well that's not what happened to me.

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Everything I had been taught by the proud men in

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my family went right out the window. Baby with the bathwater.

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I knew at the moment that I had screwed up

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very bad. I dropped the rifle and took off as

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fast as my tightly packed legs could run. I flew

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over that icy creek. Certain the devil and all this

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hell hounds were on my tail. My lungs were on

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fire and my legs were numb. But I could not stop,

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because if I did, I would have been the monster's breakfast.

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The sun was breaking the horizon. I could see glints

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of pink light glowing on the silver painted iron bridge

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ahead of me. Blood pounded in my ears, and my

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head felt like it was splitting, and the coppery taste

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of blood came with each breath, my lungs aching like

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I'd torn something. Never ran so fast in my life.

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I was almost there. I was almost safe. I hit

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that rope and I flew up the draw and I

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scrambled over the edge and I collapsed on the road.

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There was nothing left in me. If the monster man

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thing was behind me, I was done. Every breath was agonizing.

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I was coughing and sobbing and throwing up, and I

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lay there and waited to be murdered. I was sure

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I wouldn't see my parents again. I was sure I'd

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be the next kid on the side of a milk carton.

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But I don't know why of the sasquatch didn't tear

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me into pieces. It easily could have. Maybe it followed

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me for a bit long enough to laugh at the

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puny little human marshmallow chugging up the creek, slipping over

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the ice and arms and legs felling screaming bloody murder,

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with the stupid lantern bouncing all over the place behind me.

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If I were that sasquatch, I would have been in

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tears laughing. I like to think that that's what happened,

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but in reality, it probably wasn't remotely interested in me

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after it realized the minuscule threat I posed. I never

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went back down that draw again. I never picked up

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my traps. I didn't go back from my rifle or

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my bag. I got in trouble for losing my rifle,

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but I didn't care. Dad told me that we were

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going back to get it, but I refused. He couldn't

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drag me down there if he wanted to. I would

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have fought him tooth and nail. And I never ran

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a trap line again either. Instead of being the kid

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who woke up hours before daylight, bumbling up for the

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grilling cold and heading out to run my lines. I

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became the one who played you sports and watch cartoons

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in the morning, and I went to the movies, and

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I became a normal teenage boy, A normal teenage boy

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with a crippling fear of the dark. It's a shame, really,

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that a wholesome, hard working kid had his life turned

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inside out like that. The Montana I grew up in

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has changed so much that I no longer recognize it.

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The fields I used to hunter now housing subdivisions. The

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creek I used to run my trap lines on now

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runs through ten miles of drain culverts. Evidence of my

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childhood was slowly paved over for the sake of progress,

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not unlike the fear I carried from that life changing morning,

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a terrible memory paving over my innocence. Over forty years

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have passed since my encounter, Yet still I find myself

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half tensing when I drive past a familiar bend in

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the road from my youth, afraid of what I saw,

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afraid of what may be out there. Sometimes I get

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up in the middle of the night to close the

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curtains over and the windows that look out into the

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woods behind our house. I know there are monsters out there.

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Lurking in the shadows. They're watching us, and they're waiting. Hey.

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Before we get into this next story, I wanted to

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tell you about a book i'm reading. I think it

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came out a year or two ago. It's called hal Mary.

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It's written by Andy Weir. It's a science fiction story.

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I think they made a movie about it that should

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be coming out this March or April or May, or

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maybe this summer. I'm not sure. You know, I don't

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often recommend books, but I've read the book, and my

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son has listened to the audio books several times. He

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says he never listens to audio books more than once,

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but he said it is so good that he's listened

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to it like three times. Driving to work and back

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is a forty five minute drive to working back, So

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I want to recommend that to y'all. My son said,

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the audiobook is great. I haven't got the audiobook, but

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I read the print book. It is exceptional. It moves

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really fast. If you're not a committed reader, and you know,

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like reading one thing after another kind of sort of

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like I do. I don't read that much. My wife does,

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but I don't. I probably read one book a month

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that is a book to get. You cannot put it down,

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even someone who doesn't read much. You will really enjoy

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this book. So get it on Kendall or order the paperback,

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or go to your local bookstore and pick it up.

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It's called Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I think you'll

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really love it. Okay, let's go to another Bigfoot story.

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Years ago, in nineteen sixty four, my family went to

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visit a friend of my father's. He had two kids

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my age, and the three of us quickly set out

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into the woods to check out a treehouse that they'd built.

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We ran all over those woods, checking out the treehouse

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and playing chase, and before I knew it, we became lost.

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We couldn't find our tracks in and couldn't distinguish one

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identical tree from the next, and brush mirrored itself everywhere.

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We had no idea where to go. We started walking slowly,

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packed tightly together, eyes alert, trying to stay calm as

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we worked our way out. Somewhere in the trees, we

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heard a grunt and then a long, slow exhale. We

240
00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:44,799
didn't make a sound, we couldn't move. Something was out

241
00:14:44,799 --> 00:14:49,000
there checking us out, but we couldn't see it. The

242
00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,000
sound of it felt completely out of place. It was

243
00:14:52,159 --> 00:14:56,000
deep and big and deliberate. We looked at each other,

244
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,840
all of us hoping the other had an idea. What

245
00:14:58,919 --> 00:15:01,480
the hell this was? It was just out of you.

246
00:15:03,039 --> 00:15:06,480
And then that rancid smell was all over us. We

247
00:15:06,519 --> 00:15:09,720
couldn't get away from it. We were even more confused

248
00:15:09,759 --> 00:15:13,399
than before. We were on the verge of gagging. And

249
00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:18,200
then the trees erupted into noise. Branches were swinging and

250
00:15:18,279 --> 00:15:22,879
leaves were rustling like a storm was passing through. Our

251
00:15:22,919 --> 00:15:25,919
backs were pressed together. One of the other kids had

252
00:15:25,919 --> 00:15:30,840
the courage to call out hello. The trees went still.

253
00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,639
There was no answer. We stared at each other again,

254
00:15:34,799 --> 00:15:40,000
baffled into silence and disoriented, and that stench was unrelenting.

255
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,759
And then the noise erupted again. Trees were rustling as

256
00:15:44,799 --> 00:15:49,000
if something were shaking their bases. Limbs were nearly breaking off.

257
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,080
We backed away slowly until the noise shifted, and then

258
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:56,720
we backed the other direction, and it got closer, and

259
00:15:56,759 --> 00:16:01,440
we backed up some more. That creature hurted us right

260
00:16:01,519 --> 00:16:04,720
back to the trail where we entered the woods, and

261
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,879
not once were we able to lay eyes on this thing.

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00:16:08,879 --> 00:16:10,840
We made it back to the house in one piece,

263
00:16:10,919 --> 00:16:15,720
more confused than we were, afraid something out there was

264
00:16:15,799 --> 00:16:20,600
helping us, and miraculously my parents believed. To me, I

265
00:16:20,639 --> 00:16:25,159
think the confusion on our faces must have said it all. Oh,

266
00:16:25,159 --> 00:16:28,720
that's a good story. That's a good Bigfoot story. Where

267
00:16:28,759 --> 00:16:30,720
you go in the woods, kids go in the woods,

268
00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,120
they get lost. Apparently the Bigfoot doesn't want you in there,

269
00:16:34,159 --> 00:16:36,879
and he kind of herds you back, and he actually

270
00:16:36,919 --> 00:16:39,039
saved them from getting lost. Those kids could have been

271
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,200
out there wandering around for days with search parties and

272
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:44,320
all the things that go along with that. That was

273
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,360
a great story. I know that this person who wrote

274
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,440
this must have been terrified, but I really appreciate them

275
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:52,440
sharing it with us because it's kind of a lighter

276
00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:56,559
side of Bigfoot. Sometimes they help you, sometimes they just

277
00:16:56,759 --> 00:17:01,000
run you off. Great story. Thank you for to the writer.

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00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,240
I grew up in Australia's island state of Tasmania, east

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00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:14,000
of the capital city Hobart. I'm descended from Scottish free

280
00:17:14,039 --> 00:17:17,960
settlers and Irish and English convicts who were transported to

281
00:17:18,039 --> 00:17:22,119
what was then called Van Diamond's Island for petty crimes

282
00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:27,640
in the eighteen thirties. Tasmania still has remnants of many

283
00:17:27,759 --> 00:17:33,160
convict built historical buildings and other structures. An old friend

284
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,119
of mine from school had a holiday house on the

285
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,279
Tasman Peninsula, about ten miles as the crow flies from

286
00:17:40,319 --> 00:17:45,720
the infamous penal station of Port Arthur. The station was

287
00:17:45,799 --> 00:17:51,000
operational from the eighteen thirties to the eighteen eighties. Convicts

288
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:55,200
relegated to places like Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula

289
00:17:55,279 --> 00:17:59,319
were repeat offenders or had committed worse crimes. In the

290
00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:02,759
peninsula is hard to escape from due to the surrounding

291
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:07,160
shark and fested waters. My friend's holiday homes in the

292
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:12,279
former convict hospital at Saltwater River, which wound down around

293
00:18:12,279 --> 00:18:16,440
eighteen eighty and then was sold off. In its heyday,

294
00:18:16,599 --> 00:18:19,519
it would have primarily served the convicts who worked the

295
00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:24,000
nearby infamous coal mines, but also harvested big timber from

296
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:29,920
the native forests or quarried sandstone by hand. Conditions for

297
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,759
the convicts at places like the Tasman Peninsula were harsh

298
00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:38,720
and terrible accidents were not uncommon, so the convict hospital

299
00:18:38,759 --> 00:18:41,759
at Saltwater River probably saw a lot of action back

300
00:18:41,799 --> 00:18:45,839
in the day. In the early nineteen nineties, a year

301
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,839
or two after we had all finished school, my friend

302
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,200
held a party at her holiday house. A heap of

303
00:18:52,279 --> 00:18:55,799
us friends attended, each of us either at the university

304
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,079
or starting out in the workforce as young adults. We

305
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,559
drove down for the weekend and camped out on the

306
00:19:02,559 --> 00:19:06,519
floors and beds of the old convict hospital. We had

307
00:19:06,559 --> 00:19:09,119
set a fire in the backyard in the ruins of

308
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,519
what had once been a large wooded firebrick oven. The

309
00:19:12,559 --> 00:19:16,720
bricks made by the convicts and coveted by collectors even today,

310
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,680
since they bare the single thumbprint from the convict who

311
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,759
pressed the wet clay into the brick mold. At one

312
00:19:24,799 --> 00:19:28,200
point on that Saturday evening, I found myself alone out

313
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,160
in the backyard. I was enjoying the warmth of the

314
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,160
fire with a cigarette, leaning on one of the high

315
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:38,759
tables set in a fan shape in front of it.

316
00:19:38,759 --> 00:19:42,119
It was a cool night. The fire was big. I

317
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,200
was just close enough to feel the warmth. There was

318
00:19:45,279 --> 00:19:48,279
probably three or four beers in and I was feeling

319
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,559
fine as I stared at the bush TV, which is

320
00:19:51,599 --> 00:19:55,440
what we called a campfire in Australia. I watched the

321
00:19:55,519 --> 00:19:58,759
flames climb the inside of the old chimney walls and

322
00:19:58,839 --> 00:20:03,119
the occasional shoot into the dark night. I noticed what

323
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,079
looked like a person sitting at a table to my right.

324
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,680
I turned my head, thinking it was one of my friends,

325
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,880
but then the shape disappeared. As soon as I look

326
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,440
back at the fire, the person came back. By keeping

327
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,119
my head straight ahead, I realized I could use my

328
00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,400
peripheral vision and the figure would stay in place. After

329
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,880
a while, I could make out the person's features, and

330
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,480
soon it was clear she was an older lady, maybe

331
00:20:30,519 --> 00:20:35,599
in her late fifties or early sixties. She had long, flowing, curly,

332
00:20:35,759 --> 00:20:39,359
sandy colored hair, and she was wearing a long, formal

333
00:20:39,559 --> 00:20:44,000
summer dress. She was leaning forward on her elbows and

334
00:20:44,079 --> 00:20:47,119
had her hands cupped under her chin supporting her head

335
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,880
as she smiled at the fire. She looked really happy

336
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:56,039
and content. Somehow I managed not to freak out, so

337
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,160
I didn't feel threatened in any way. I was more

338
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:04,079
fascinated than anything. But after several minutes of observation, I

339
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:08,119
realized we weren't alone. At my ten o'clock just to

340
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,720
the left of the fire was another visitor. This time

341
00:21:11,759 --> 00:21:14,599
it was a taller man standing in the shadow of

342
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:18,920
the chimney. I instinctively turned my head and he disappeared.

343
00:21:19,799 --> 00:21:22,680
I turned to the woman's table and she was gone too,

344
00:21:23,279 --> 00:21:25,240
And when I turned back to the fire, they both

345
00:21:25,319 --> 00:21:31,200
materialized in the same positions as before. The man looked angry,

346
00:21:31,519 --> 00:21:34,920
and he wasn't looking at the fire either. He appeared

347
00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,960
to be glaring at the woman. She was still happily

348
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,359
watching the fire, oblivious to him and his terrible stare.

349
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,279
The man had dark set eyes and dark hair with

350
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,519
big Neil Young style lamb chops. He wore a flannel

351
00:21:49,519 --> 00:21:53,839
at work shirt. After several more minutes, I decided to

352
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,599
make my move. This guy was looking pretty cranky and

353
00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,920
his presence was starting to unsettle me. I got myself

354
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,440
up and went back inside the shack, where everyone was

355
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,839
having a good time. I eventually found my friend in

356
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,039
the hallway and I blurted out that I had just

357
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,759
seen two ghosts. She didn't instantly dismiss me as I'd

358
00:22:15,799 --> 00:22:19,839
half expected, and asked me what had happened. I explained

359
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,559
the two people I had seen in as much detail

360
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,480
as I could remember. The more I described each of them,

361
00:22:26,519 --> 00:22:30,519
the more interested and then concerned she grew, and when

362
00:22:30,519 --> 00:22:33,200
I was finished, I asked if she'd ever seen a

363
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,480
ghost there. She paused and she said no, and then

364
00:22:37,519 --> 00:22:41,440
she told me who she thought they were. Nearly a

365
00:22:41,519 --> 00:22:45,000
decade earlier, a woman who lived in a nearby cottage

366
00:22:45,039 --> 00:22:50,240
decided to return to her home in England to visit family. Unfortunately,

367
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,759
she passed away while she was there. My friend's description

368
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:58,039
of her was exactly the woman I'd seen watching the

369
00:22:58,079 --> 00:23:02,039
fire and around I'm the same time of her passing,

370
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:06,480
another neighbor had sadly committed suicide. He had lived in

371
00:23:06,519 --> 00:23:09,880
a small house one hundred yards away, which my family

372
00:23:10,079 --> 00:23:14,400
friends had purchased from his estate. The way she described

373
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,359
him was exactly the man I saw. We decided not

374
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,519
to tell anyone about this. Years later, my friend and

375
00:23:22,559 --> 00:23:26,240
I would occasionally talk about that night. Her family sold

376
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,480
the hospital house twenty years ago, but they kept the

377
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,920
small house next door, and she and her new family

378
00:23:33,039 --> 00:23:38,279
still holiday there. That's it for now, cam Convict Heritage

379
00:23:38,319 --> 00:23:42,160
and Convict Hospital, a bit of a convict history and

380
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:46,200
some contemporary ghost I've got another story to write and

381
00:23:46,279 --> 00:23:49,440
send you one day about a UFO I experienced in

382
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,920
the Northern Territory desert in nineteen ninety six, and there

383
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,799
were zero bears consumed when I saw it. Keep up

384
00:23:57,799 --> 00:23:59,359
the good work and all the best of you and

385
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,400
your listeners, parom mate aka see you later in Australia,

386
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,839
and he signs off. Tim. What a nice guy, What

387
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:14,720
a nice letter. What a great story about ghosts in Tasmania. Oh,

388
00:24:14,799 --> 00:24:17,640
that was very intriguing. I'm not sure what to make

389
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,400
of these ghosts and these apparitions people see. I have

390
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,319
my opinions on what they are, but I could be wrong.

391
00:24:25,039 --> 00:24:27,359
I could be terribly wrong, but I don't think I am,

392
00:24:28,039 --> 00:24:30,119
but I don't know for sure. You know, until you

393
00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:33,640
just know for sure, you have to say this is

394
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:35,680
what I think they are. But I don't really know.

395
00:24:35,839 --> 00:24:37,680
So you got to say that. That would be the

396
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,319
same as Bigfoot. But many people don't do that. They're

397
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,559
pretty sure about everything about Bigfoot, the ghosts, or something else,

398
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,640
UFOs or something else. That's kind of why I like

399
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,000
him anyway, Tim, thanks for the email. It's a very

400
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,000
very well written story and I certainly do appreciate it.

401
00:24:54,039 --> 00:25:01,319
Thank you. In I ninety nine, job had moved me

402
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:05,559
to Denver, Colorado, where my brother lived. I hadn't seen

403
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,200
him in seven years, so when I surprised him one

404
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,039
day at his door, we were both over the moon.

405
00:25:12,559 --> 00:25:14,920
My brother suggested that we took a cruise up and

406
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,319
down berth Of paths so we could talk and catch up.

407
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,920
We were driving and laughing and having a good time

408
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,039
and enjoying the incredible mountains. As we came around to Ben,

409
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,960
I slowed down so I wouldn't slide over the edge.

410
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,240
I slowed down enough to notice something in my rear

411
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,880
view mirror. It was a big, black, furry thing. I

412
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:38,920
pointed it out to my brother, who said it was

413
00:25:39,039 --> 00:25:42,880
just a bear. I pulled over twenty yards from the animal,

414
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,400
and I grabbed a bag of apples that we bought

415
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,599
before the drive. I tossed one at it, and I

416
00:25:48,599 --> 00:25:51,839
accidentally hit it on the side of the head. It

417
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,160
stopped what it was doing and it looked at the apple,

418
00:25:54,839 --> 00:25:57,960
and then my fight or flight kicked in. I watched

419
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,319
it reach out and grab that apple with the biggest

420
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,799
hand I'd ever seen. Heard my brother behind me whisper,

421
00:26:04,319 --> 00:26:07,680
that's not a bear, it's a bigfoot. My brother and

422
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,640
I are Navajo. We grew up hearing stories about bigfoot

423
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,759
and we were told what to do and what not

424
00:26:13,839 --> 00:26:17,200
to do if we were confronted by one. Well, I

425
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,799
stood my ground and I watched him stand up, and

426
00:26:19,839 --> 00:26:23,480
he studied me, and I swear my soul tried to

427
00:26:23,559 --> 00:26:28,440
leave my body. He was nine feet tall, his head

428
00:26:28,519 --> 00:26:31,880
was massive, but he had no neck. His thick eyes

429
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:35,119
were alert, knowing and watching every move that I made.

430
00:26:36,039 --> 00:26:39,799
And his chest looked like two fifty gallon drums stuck together,

431
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,920
and his skin was like hard leather. I turned to

432
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,160
my brother behind me. He started to shake his head,

433
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,680
eyes pleading, knowing full well what I was about to do.

434
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,920
I was gonna hand this thing the bag of apples.

435
00:26:54,279 --> 00:26:57,440
He's going to kill you, My brother his you're crazy.

436
00:26:58,839 --> 00:27:00,400
I told him to go sit in the car and

437
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,640
wait for me if something did happen. I wanted him

438
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:06,799
to be able to tell our family. Now. I know

439
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,920
the decision was reckless, but I couldn't pass up the

440
00:27:10,039 --> 00:27:13,400
chance of a life altering interaction with a creature of

441
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,680
this type of lore. I wanted to show up my respect,

442
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,680
even if it meant risking my life. I finally got

443
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,640
the nerve to walk up to it, calmly and slowly,

444
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,720
as confidently as I could. When I was only several

445
00:27:28,759 --> 00:27:32,000
feet away, I could smell him. It was so intense

446
00:27:32,079 --> 00:27:34,920
that my eyes watered and my skin began to itch.

447
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,359
The smell must have been a defense mechanism, because he

448
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:45,119
lifted his arms and it intensified who To show him,

449
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,480
I meant no harm. I dropped on one knee and

450
00:27:47,519 --> 00:27:49,559
I set the bag of apples in front of me,

451
00:27:50,279 --> 00:27:52,200
and then I put my head down to show him

452
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,720
the back of my neck. I was staring at his big,

453
00:27:55,759 --> 00:27:59,519
hairy toes, and I felt his hand to grab my neck.

454
00:28:00,319 --> 00:28:04,960
I can still feel the oil from his palm. At

455
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,359
that point, I was sure my brother would watch my

456
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:11,119
head get popped off like a grape. And then suddenly

457
00:28:11,599 --> 00:28:14,000
he let me go, and he took the apples and

458
00:28:14,039 --> 00:28:18,119
he left. I stayed there, kneeling for longer than I

459
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:22,279
can remember. I was shocked and scared, but mostly honored

460
00:28:23,079 --> 00:28:25,480
the sound of my brother backing up and stopping the

461
00:28:25,519 --> 00:28:29,079
car beside me broke my days. I got in a

462
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,519
changed man and we drove off. Thank you for reading this,

463
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,079
and many blessings from my family to yours, and he

464
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:42,559
signs off night Wolf. I love getting these stories from

465
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:48,160
Native people. They seem to have a calmness. And I'm

466
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,279
reluctant to say connection, but for lack of a better term,

467
00:28:51,359 --> 00:28:53,880
they seem to have some kind of connection with these

468
00:28:53,960 --> 00:29:01,160
animals or with these creatures, and it really huminates my mind,

469
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,640
if that makes sense. It makes me think at a

470
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:09,079
higher level, speaking of having a connection with animals like

471
00:29:09,119 --> 00:29:12,720
the Navajos, I wish I had a connection with animals.

472
00:29:13,119 --> 00:29:16,559
You know, we have chickens around here. We've had probably

473
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,079
two hundred chickens. They we get them as chicks, we

474
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:22,960
raise them up, they die off, predators get them. We

475
00:29:23,119 --> 00:29:25,839
keep about twenty or thirty on hand all the time.

476
00:29:26,599 --> 00:29:29,799
We love the eggs, but mainly I just like having

477
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,799
them around the yard. I like watching them, and they're

478
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:37,000
just they're easy to keep. And anyway, all that time,

479
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:40,920
I've only had one hen, and that was our first

480
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,920
batch of hens, and it was a big orpington, one

481
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:45,960
of these big blonde or I think they call them

482
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,440
buff orpingtons. When I would sit out my wife would

483
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,240
sit out in the yard in a long chair, would

484
00:29:52,319 --> 00:29:54,759
jump up on our legs and just sit there, let

485
00:29:54,799 --> 00:29:57,799
us pet them and all that. Since then, two hundred

486
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,160
chickens later, not a single chick, and we'll let me

487
00:30:01,319 --> 00:30:04,200
touch them. Now. They won't run off when I walk

488
00:30:04,279 --> 00:30:07,000
up because they know I'm a source for food. Usually

489
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,960
they follow me around. I love dogs. I have away

490
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,880
with dogs. I know how to pet dogs and approach dogs.

491
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,480
I think I do. I've never been torn up by

492
00:30:16,519 --> 00:30:20,680
a dog, even mean dogs. I just don't have. You know,

493
00:30:20,799 --> 00:30:24,640
you see all these videos on YouTube and TikTok and

494
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,720
Instagram of these people who find a little fallen deer

495
00:30:28,759 --> 00:30:30,960
and they raise it up and it lives in the

496
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,960
house with them. There's one I think it's a TikTok

497
00:30:34,039 --> 00:30:37,160
I've been following, where this deer lives in the house

498
00:30:37,359 --> 00:30:40,839
with the dogs and the people. It sleeps on the

499
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,920
dog beds with the dogs. It'll snuggle up with the dogs.

500
00:30:44,319 --> 00:30:47,359
I've always wanted to have an interaction with a creature

501
00:30:47,519 --> 00:30:49,480
like that, but I just never have. I never have.

502
00:30:49,839 --> 00:30:53,160
I have found fahons where dose will leave them in

503
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,000
the grass in the summertime, and matter of fact, my

504
00:30:56,079 --> 00:30:59,119
grandson ran over one. I don't think it was hurt.

505
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,039
We picked it up, it off to the woods. But

506
00:31:02,079 --> 00:31:04,799
the I think the dose will get them to get

507
00:31:04,839 --> 00:31:07,680
real low in the grass and they'll go to the

508
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,960
woods and just leave them there, and then they'll come

509
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,119
back and get them whenever the danger's gone. But I'm

510
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,240
hoping that that mama found that deer. But I just

511
00:31:16,319 --> 00:31:19,599
can never develop that kind of relationship with an animal

512
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,920
other than a dog. We've had cats before that they're

513
00:31:23,039 --> 00:31:26,920
kind of cool, but cats are independent. But anyway, so

514
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,640
we throw out corn right in front of our house.

515
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,000
The deer will come in the yard every two or

516
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,400
three days, late in the evening right now, you know,

517
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,200
maybe an hour or two before dark, and we'll my

518
00:31:39,279 --> 00:31:42,079
wife and I all sit in the living room. We've

519
00:31:42,119 --> 00:31:44,920
got a big window that looks out front, and we'll

520
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,680
just watch those deer and they're really close. They're, you know,

521
00:31:47,839 --> 00:31:51,039
twenty or thirty forty feet away in our front yard

522
00:31:51,079 --> 00:31:54,680
and they're just munching on corn. Well, the other day

523
00:31:55,279 --> 00:31:57,519
I felt like I had a connection with an animal.

524
00:31:57,559 --> 00:32:00,119
Now I didn't touch it, it didn't come up to

525
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,680
me or anything like that. But normally when those deer

526
00:32:03,799 --> 00:32:07,160
out there, like I'll be in my office sometimes my

527
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,640
office is detached from my house. I'll look out and

528
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:13,359
I'll see those deer and I'll stay in here just

529
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:17,480
so I don't disturb them because I know my wife

530
00:32:17,559 --> 00:32:21,559
is watching them. More than likely, I'll wait till it

531
00:32:21,599 --> 00:32:23,720
gets a little darker and then I'll walk in. But

532
00:32:24,039 --> 00:32:27,279
generally every time I walk out, they run off. But

533
00:32:27,359 --> 00:32:30,519
this time there were four deer out there, two small

534
00:32:30,559 --> 00:32:34,319
ones and two full adult does. And one of the

535
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:39,160
yearlings was munching on my wife's azalea, and one of

536
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,519
the does, the bigger deer, came over beside her and was,

537
00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:45,200
I don't know, just kind of standing there beside her,

538
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,920
like maybe keeping watch over. Probably not. I don't know

539
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:51,519
the psychology of deer. But the other two when I

540
00:32:51,599 --> 00:32:54,519
walked outside, they ran off in the woods like they

541
00:32:54,599 --> 00:33:00,640
normally do, but this young deer would he just sat

542
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,599
there and she was about forty feet from me, and

543
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:06,759
I walked a little closer to it, to the edge

544
00:33:06,799 --> 00:33:09,359
of the driveway and stood behind my truck, and both

545
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,319
of those deer just stood there and looked at me,

546
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:14,880
and I thought maybe I had a connection with a

547
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:18,200
wild animal. And those deers just stood there, and I

548
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,680
wasn't going to go any closer because I didn't want

549
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,240
to run them off, and I eventually just turned around,

550
00:33:23,279 --> 00:33:25,200
walked in the back door, and went in the house.

551
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:27,480
And when I got the house, they were gone, so

552
00:33:27,519 --> 00:33:30,200
they must have run off not long after I turned

553
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:35,880
around and headed out. But that's my animal connection story.

554
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,160
One of those young deer. If the deer are in

555
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,480
the front yard during the day, and again this is

556
00:33:44,559 --> 00:33:47,200
maybe twice a week that we see them out there,

557
00:33:48,119 --> 00:33:50,400
the dogs will see them and the dogs will go crazy.

558
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,440
I let the dogs out and they run them off,

559
00:33:53,279 --> 00:33:56,279
just to let the dogs do what they do. And

560
00:33:57,319 --> 00:34:00,200
I think it's the one that was munching on that asaille. Yeah,

561
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,519
Arnessalia is toxic to animals. I don't know. I could

562
00:34:03,559 --> 00:34:06,119
be wrong about that. I saw that and I thought, man,

563
00:34:06,119 --> 00:34:08,719
they must be hungry if they're munching on azalias. But

564
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,400
I could be totally wrong anyway. That one deer, and

565
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,559
I think it's this one deer, this one small one.

566
00:34:16,599 --> 00:34:19,119
She will and I'm saying it's a she. I don't

567
00:34:19,119 --> 00:34:21,920
know for sure, but all three or four of them

568
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,199
will run off in the woods, but that one will

569
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:28,159
stop and watch my dogs. Now, my dogs won't run

570
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,119
right up to the deer. They're small dogs. They're just

571
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:35,679
barking and carrying on, and it's almost like that little

572
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,079
deer wants to maybe and I'm imagining this in my head,

573
00:34:40,079 --> 00:34:43,760
but it's almost like she wants to play with the dogs.

574
00:34:44,599 --> 00:34:48,039
I get that sense. Anyway, it's like that little deer.

575
00:34:48,079 --> 00:34:51,320
I have some kind of mild connection with it, and

576
00:34:51,559 --> 00:34:54,039
it's probably just in my head, but I love it.

577
00:34:54,079 --> 00:34:56,559
I love watching that little deer. That's my favorite deer

578
00:34:56,599 --> 00:34:59,440
in our area. And I hope she comes around some

579
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:04,119
more way. That's my deer connection story. I'm not a Navajo.

580
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,519
I'm not a Native person. I'm a pure Scots Irish

581
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:13,320
European of European descent. I have no native blood running

582
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,559
in me at all. Never had my DNA test that

583
00:35:15,639 --> 00:35:18,760
I might, so I'm not comparing myself to a Navajo.

584
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:23,000
But maybe I don't know. Maybe I had a connection

585
00:35:23,119 --> 00:35:25,679
with a deer. Anyway, boring story. Just thought i'd tell

586
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,840
you all that. Thanks again to the writer. I appreciate

587
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:35,079
the Navajo man sending me that story. It was wonderful. Thanks. Okay,

588
00:35:35,639 --> 00:35:38,960
after this, I'm gonna put an archive story behind this.

589
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:43,440
This story was written by my friend Randy. He lives

590
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:47,719
in eastern Kentucky. I've seen him at the Bigfoot conferences before.

591
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,079
He's one of these strong men, you know, the guys

592
00:35:51,079 --> 00:35:54,880
that rip phone books in half, and they've been big

593
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:58,920
pieces of rebar and stuff. He's a very devout Christian

594
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,039
and a hard worker. This guy's a hard worker. I

595
00:36:02,039 --> 00:36:05,119
think he still works his farm like a madman. But

596
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,920
I always loved these stories from him, and I thought

597
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:11,519
i'd shared again. It was posted probably three or four

598
00:36:11,639 --> 00:36:18,480
years ago, and I hope you guys enjoy it. My

599
00:36:18,599 --> 00:36:22,039
name is Randy Ritchie. I'm fifty eight years old. I'm

600
00:36:22,039 --> 00:36:26,039
an ordained minister and had been ministering for twenty four years.

601
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:30,360
I'm a logger, farmer, and I'm a strong man, you

602
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,960
know the kind that tears phone books into flips cars

603
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:38,000
by hand and ben's steel bars, etc. While preaching the

604
00:36:38,039 --> 00:36:41,639
gospel along with it. I have lived on the same

605
00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:44,920
farm all my life, and what I'm about to tell

606
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,840
you is the God's honest truth. I live in south

607
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:53,320
central Kentucky, and all of these encounters except two were

608
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,239
within three miles of each other. My first encounter was

609
00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,320
in nineteen seventy two when I was ten years old.

610
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,719
My parents and I were coming home one night. We

611
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,599
lived on a large farm, as I have all my life,

612
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,400
we were driving down the little country gravel road that

613
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,599
goes through our farm. I was in the back seat

614
00:37:13,639 --> 00:37:17,280
and my parents were up front in our car. My

615
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,079
mother called out to my dad, you didn't see that

616
00:37:20,199 --> 00:37:23,880
big black thing step across the road. She said. It

617
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:28,079
cleared the road in two steps. My father turned around

618
00:37:28,119 --> 00:37:30,840
at our shop and drove back, but it was already gone.

619
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:35,599
He told my mother that she was crazy. Some years later,

620
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,800
she told me that my grandmother had told her for

621
00:37:39,039 --> 00:37:42,119
years that they had seen something. From time to time.

622
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:47,760
She referred to it as the old Man. Several years

623
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,480
went by, and I grew into a teenager and then

624
00:37:50,519 --> 00:37:54,159
a young man. But years before that there was more

625
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:59,800
to tell. My second encounter, a mile and a half

626
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,360
behind our farm, was in an abandoned old rock quarry

627
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:07,360
from the nineteen forties. My friend Mark and I one

628
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,440
day hiked down to the old quarry with daisy bebie

629
00:38:10,519 --> 00:38:13,880
guns in hand. The old quarry was grown up with

630
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,760
trees and bushes, pretty much what we would called the

631
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,079
thicket here in south central Kentucky. The old quarry was

632
00:38:21,119 --> 00:38:24,199
one hundred and twenty five feet long, seventy to eighty

633
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,559
feet wide, and sixty five feet deep. My friend and

634
00:38:28,599 --> 00:38:30,880
I were on the left side, about a third of

635
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:33,800
the way down from the top, admiring the beauty of

636
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:38,519
the wilderness, and then it happened. We heard the most

637
00:38:38,559 --> 00:38:42,559
god awfullest roar, which turned into a blood curdling yell

638
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,280
that would stand the hair up on your head. And

639
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,239
Mark said, what was that? I don't know, I replied,

640
00:38:50,079 --> 00:38:52,719
And then whatever made that awful sound did so again.

641
00:38:53,599 --> 00:38:57,320
Let's get out of here, Mark exclaimed. I wanted to

642
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,199
see what it was. Me, being a twelve year old boy,

643
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,199
said we can shoot it in the eye with our

644
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:06,079
bb guns. Well, how stupid was that? And then it

645
00:39:06,159 --> 00:39:09,400
yelled again and started throwing rocks from the bottom of

646
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,519
the old quarry. It hit the side that we were

647
00:39:12,559 --> 00:39:15,480
on from some distance away with rocks the size of

648
00:39:15,599 --> 00:39:20,039
soft balls or larger. It roared one more time, and

649
00:39:20,079 --> 00:39:23,840
my friend said to hell with this and took off

650
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,000
in a flash down the side of the hill back

651
00:39:26,039 --> 00:39:29,280
to the holler. I took off right behind him, and

652
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:31,559
we ran for three quarters of a mile before we

653
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,679
just collapsed in a pasture field. But a large bull

654
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,599
came down off the grassy hill right for us, so

655
00:39:38,679 --> 00:39:42,199
we pulled ourselves up and climbed a large tree, wondering

656
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:44,800
if that would get us past the bull and the

657
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:48,559
thing that ran us off from the old quarry. We

658
00:39:48,599 --> 00:39:51,840
finally got down and got home. No one would believe us,

659
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:55,760
except my mother because she'd seen something a few years prior.

660
00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,599
We went to school the next week and told our

661
00:39:59,639 --> 00:40:03,119
close friend about our encounter. He would be the man

662
00:40:03,159 --> 00:40:05,800
who would later be the best man in my wedding,

663
00:40:06,199 --> 00:40:09,039
and his name was Wendell. I said, I wanted to

664
00:40:09,079 --> 00:40:10,840
go back down to see if I could see what

665
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,320
it was, but I wanted someone to stay with me.

666
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:16,800
Wendell said if I'd let him go, he would take

667
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,519
his twenty gage shotgun and that he would not run. Well.

668
00:40:20,519 --> 00:40:24,159
Of course, I agreed. Wendell and I took a hike

669
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:27,199
down the old quarry, and I decided that we would

670
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:29,440
go in towards the top of the old quarry, this

671
00:40:29,559 --> 00:40:33,480
time about thirty feet above the opening. As we were

672
00:40:33,559 --> 00:40:36,599
hiking towards it, we were stopped in our tracks by

673
00:40:36,639 --> 00:40:39,960
the same roar that again turned into a blood curdling

674
00:40:40,119 --> 00:40:43,079
scream that you could feel hit you in the chest

675
00:40:43,119 --> 00:40:46,719
like a brick. I turned back to see Wendall's reaction

676
00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:50,639
he with a shotgun, was now in a crowd's position,

677
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:54,280
and he was trembling. I turned back towards the sound,

678
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:57,079
and here it came again. I turned back to see

679
00:40:57,119 --> 00:40:59,960
Wendell tearing through the briers with a shotgun in hand,

680
00:41:00,559 --> 00:41:04,039
obviously not wanting anything to do with whatever was roaring.

681
00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:07,159
And so there I was alone with my rifle in

682
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,840
my hand, and I took out right behind him. And

683
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,119
when we got home, he said, what in the world

684
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:17,519
was that. All I could say was I don't know.

685
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,920
So we told our neighbors. They were some of our

686
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,639
running buddies, one Scotty, who was like a little older,

687
00:41:26,119 --> 00:41:29,000
and then there was me and one a little younger, Tracy.

688
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,599
Scotty was bold and said, by God, I'll stay as

689
00:41:32,639 --> 00:41:35,000
long as I have a gun. So he was all

690
00:41:35,039 --> 00:41:37,840
in for us to take the hike back down, and

691
00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:43,280
my fourth encounter was about to begin. Two weeks after

692
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,360
Wendell and I had gone in, with all three of

693
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,119
us having guns in hand, we went back and I

694
00:41:49,159 --> 00:41:52,719
took the lead. I took the same path that Wendell

695
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,840
and I took. As we closed in on the top,

696
00:41:56,039 --> 00:41:58,480
I was standing less than two feet from where I

697
00:41:58,599 --> 00:42:04,239
was standing the previous the same roar, yell, scream all

698
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,559
over again, and I turned to see Tracy and Scottie

699
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:12,280
and they were already retreating fast. In less than six

700
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:17,000
weeks time, I had personally experienced something life changing. I

701
00:42:17,039 --> 00:42:19,760
didn't go back for years, but what I experienced in

702
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,559
those weeks is why there is a Smith and Western

703
00:42:22,599 --> 00:42:26,880
forty four magnum pistol in my bedside nightstand to this day.

704
00:42:28,559 --> 00:42:33,320
Tyler and Justin's stories. Tyler said his brother Justin had

705
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:36,599
an encounter. As he was taking the garbage to the

706
00:42:36,679 --> 00:42:39,440
end of the road on a dark night, something very

707
00:42:39,519 --> 00:42:43,159
large spooked him. He caught a glimpse across the road

708
00:42:43,199 --> 00:42:47,280
of something very large standing between two ponds. As he

709
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:49,719
got back in the vehicle to turn the headlights on,

710
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:53,559
it stood up and ran. It left the fence in

711
00:42:53,599 --> 00:42:56,239
two steps, and it was in the road and then

712
00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:59,480
it left the fence on the other side. It startled

713
00:42:59,519 --> 00:43:02,280
him pretty good, so he retreated back to the house

714
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:07,679
very quickly. In another encounter, Justin and another man were

715
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:11,079
out scouting for deer because the season would open soon.

716
00:43:12,119 --> 00:43:13,679
They were at the end of a hollow in a

717
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,840
vast thicket when they came across a deer hanging from

718
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,719
its hindquarters in the middle of nowhere. If that wasn't

719
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:24,239
strange enough, its hindquarters were up to about twelve feet

720
00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,679
in a tree, putting the deer's neck at six feet

721
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:30,440
above ground level, and that was too high for a

722
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:34,360
coyote or most dogs to reach. The deer's neck had

723
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:38,440
a large bite taken out of it. Justin and Tyler

724
00:43:38,559 --> 00:43:42,679
also described another encounter involving their cousin, James. So he

725
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,280
walked to his deer stand before daylight. This is the

726
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:50,719
same holler that separated our two farms. The hollow runs

727
00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:54,119
by the springs from the old quarry. James had just

728
00:43:54,199 --> 00:43:58,920
climbed into his deer stand and heard the blood curdling roar, yell, scream.

729
00:44:00,039 --> 00:44:02,559
He was so terrified that he didn't move for about

730
00:44:02,599 --> 00:44:08,119
seven or eight hours. Tyler and Justin had heard it also.

731
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,440
Around that same time, my good friend and neighbor and

732
00:44:11,519 --> 00:44:15,000
god son, Cody, found a structure made of cedar trees

733
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:17,440
that had been bent and broken to keep the wind

734
00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:21,119
and rain off of whatever had been using it. Cody

735
00:44:21,159 --> 00:44:24,760
had also had an encounter while frog gigging and just

736
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,280
up from the lake one night in the holler that

737
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:31,079
parallels the old quarry. Large rocks were thrown at them

738
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:34,800
as they made their way up the holler. Cody's wife

739
00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:38,000
also had her encounter around the same time, as she

740
00:44:38,079 --> 00:44:41,840
was driving one night. Her sightings were very close to

741
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:45,039
where my mother had her sighting some forty years earlier.

742
00:44:45,559 --> 00:44:49,840
The location is less than two hundred feet apart. Caitlin

743
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:53,320
recalls what she saw as very large and tall. It

744
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:56,239
stepped over a fence in front of her and crossed

745
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,880
the road. It turned to look at her in the headlights,

746
00:45:00,039 --> 00:45:03,639
It's eyes reflecting red as it stepped across the other fence.

747
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:09,559
She never took that road home again. My fifth encounter,

748
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,400
My next episode was a few years later, when I

749
00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:17,719
was fourteen or fifteen. I was with a friend of mine, Donovan,

750
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,480
who had lost his mother some years earlier and would

751
00:45:20,519 --> 00:45:22,559
come and stay with us for a couple of weeks

752
00:45:22,559 --> 00:45:26,119
at a time. He would later become our city's assistant

753
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,599
chief of police. We were on the backside of the

754
00:45:29,679 --> 00:45:33,199
farm where there was a very steep hill in our woods.

755
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,679
I was climbing the hill in my Yamaha dirt bike.

756
00:45:37,039 --> 00:45:40,079
Like a lot of us here in Kentucky do Donovan

757
00:45:40,159 --> 00:45:42,039
was standing at the top of the hill watching me

758
00:45:42,119 --> 00:45:44,880
climb over it, and as I pulled up to start

759
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:48,119
my third ascent of the day, Donovan came running down

760
00:45:48,119 --> 00:45:51,559
the steep hill. As he got to me, I saw

761
00:45:51,639 --> 00:45:54,039
that his eyes were wide open and he was as

762
00:45:54,079 --> 00:45:57,280
white as a ghost. We jumped on the back of

763
00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,480
the motorcycle and he says to me, go, go go oh.

764
00:46:00,599 --> 00:46:03,440
I said, what is it? He said, please just go?

765
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,880
So I tore out and when we got within sight

766
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,119
of the house, I slowed down and stopped. He said

767
00:46:10,119 --> 00:46:12,840
what are you doing and encouraged me to keep going

768
00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:15,840
and I said, no, what is it? He said, I

769
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:19,880
saw it? You saw what I said? He said it

770
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,599
had to be what we had heard a few years earlier,

771
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,280
so we had my attention and I said, well, what

772
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,119
did it look like? He said it was big and

773
00:46:28,159 --> 00:46:31,840
black and it cleared the border fence in just one step.

774
00:46:33,039 --> 00:46:36,519
Fast forward a few years when we were nineteen years old,

775
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:40,159
myself and my friends Mark and Robin went back with

776
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,039
a solid agreement between all three of us that no

777
00:46:43,119 --> 00:46:47,119
one would run. We all had high powered rifles in hand.

778
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,119
This was the first time that Mark had returned to

779
00:46:50,159 --> 00:46:53,719
the old quarry. We took the hike down and braved

780
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:55,960
our way all the way to the inside of the

781
00:46:56,039 --> 00:46:59,480
old quarry and poised ourselves for a standoff that we

782
00:46:59,559 --> 00:47:03,800
might encounter. We stood our ground for four hours from

783
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:08,079
two to six pm. When we retreated at dark, we

784
00:47:08,159 --> 00:47:11,760
had seen or heard nothing, and was the legend gone.

785
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,480
It would cross my mind from time to time, but

786
00:47:15,599 --> 00:47:19,039
I saw and heard nothing for about thirty years until

787
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:23,360
I was in my late forties. My neighbor, Tyler, who

788
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:26,119
had lived on the next farm over, had at one

789
00:47:26,159 --> 00:47:29,639
point given me the honor of performing his wedding ceremony.

790
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:32,960
He was over helping me unload the firewood one day

791
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,639
when he mentioned doing some deer hunting with his family.

792
00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:39,000
I casually said to him, well, don't go down by

793
00:47:39,039 --> 00:47:41,800
the old Rock quarry without a gun. And he looked

794
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:44,519
at me with a funny look on his face and said, Randy,

795
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,760
why would you say that? While look back and said,

796
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:51,159
why would you ask like that? He said, I didn't

797
00:47:51,159 --> 00:47:56,199
think anybody else knew. This encounter is from one of

798
00:47:56,199 --> 00:48:00,880
my neighbors and Christian's Strength team members. This young man

799
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:03,800
is almost as big as a bigfoot He's six feet

800
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:07,000
seven inches tall, weighs three hundred and eighty pounds, and

801
00:48:07,039 --> 00:48:11,239
wears a size sixteen shoe. Paul was walking to his

802
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:13,920
favorite fishing hole one day when he heard a large

803
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:17,440
stick break off to his right. He glanced over to

804
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:19,960
see what he had made the noise and couldn't believe what

805
00:48:20,079 --> 00:48:23,400
he was seeing. He was looking at a dark figure

806
00:48:23,519 --> 00:48:27,239
that was crouched down, and he recalled its facial features,

807
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:31,199
including heavy eyebrows and dark eyes, and it was huge.

808
00:48:32,199 --> 00:48:34,880
Paul kept walking, but sped up his pace to get

809
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:38,880
out of the area fast. Coming back from his fishing hole,

810
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:42,320
he stumbled upon a very large footprint in the wet ground.

811
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:45,920
It was filled with water from the night before, but

812
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:49,360
he said it was huge. It made his size sixteen

813
00:48:49,639 --> 00:48:53,280
look small. Paul wasted no time on his route to

814
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,199
get back home. When I was forty nine, I was

815
00:48:57,239 --> 00:48:59,840
coming home one night from the gym about ten thirty.

816
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,599
As my boxer dog, Turbo and I walked up towards

817
00:49:04,639 --> 00:49:08,119
the house. In the distance, I heard a distinctive, very

818
00:49:08,159 --> 00:49:12,480
familiar sound. I got turbos still and leaned up against

819
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:16,199
my home and again heard the roar, yell scream that

820
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:20,000
I'd heard so many years ago into my childhood. The

821
00:49:20,039 --> 00:49:22,000
hair on the back of my neck stood up, and

822
00:49:22,039 --> 00:49:25,880
I said to myself, it's back. I told two of

823
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:28,840
my neighbors and my wife Carolyn what I heard. We

824
00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:32,000
all dismissed it. But the next year I turned fifty

825
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:35,840
and I was diagnosed with a leaking aortic heart valve

826
00:49:36,079 --> 00:49:38,559
that could only be taken care of by God or

827
00:49:38,559 --> 00:49:41,480
a heart surgeon. So I was in my backyard, in

828
00:49:41,519 --> 00:49:45,280
my hammock. We live in a remote place, just a

829
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:50,360
few farmhouses around. It was on Tuesday night, around eleven pm.

830
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:54,639
Carolyn was already in bed. I was pouring my heart

831
00:49:54,679 --> 00:49:58,239
out in prayer, trying to reach the throne room of Heaven.

832
00:49:59,039 --> 00:50:02,760
I'm praying herd out loud, and as I'm wailing through

833
00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:06,320
the trees, I hear something repeatedly using something to strike

834
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:10,280
a tree. I cried to remove it from my thoughts

835
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:13,719
and my hearing, and I kept praying. The louder and

836
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:17,920
harder I prayed, the louder and faster the wood knocking got.

837
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:21,920
When I would stop, it would stop. So I said

838
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:24,159
to myself, who in the world would be down in

839
00:50:24,199 --> 00:50:26,519
my holler next to my house? At this time of

840
00:50:26,679 --> 00:50:29,239
night and on a Tuesday in the middle of July.

841
00:50:30,679 --> 00:50:33,599
So I started putting it all together. The yelling, the

842
00:50:33,679 --> 00:50:36,719
rock throwing, and now the wood knocking. It can only

843
00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:40,119
be one thing, a si squatch of Bigfoot or whatever

844
00:50:40,199 --> 00:50:42,480
you call it. I still don't know what I and

845
00:50:42,639 --> 00:50:46,280
my friends and my neighbors have experienced, but there's something

846
00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:49,239
out there now. I personally have never seen it, but

847
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,239
I know what I heard. It's big and it's real.

848
00:50:53,119 --> 00:50:55,400
I don't think it means us any harm, but I

849
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:59,480
would not want to corner it or provoke it. Clay

850
00:50:59,599 --> 00:51:03,519
Story is in Halfway, Kentucky, which is in Allen County.

851
00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:06,960
Clay is also one of the original team members of

852
00:51:07,039 --> 00:51:10,840
my Christian Strongman Team. Clay is a big man. He's

853
00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:13,719
six foot five and he weighs two hundred and sixty pounds.

854
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:18,239
He's no sissy or coward. Clay's an avid deer hunter

855
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:22,119
travels all over the United States hunting big game. I

856
00:51:22,119 --> 00:51:24,960
would call him a professional big game hunter, and he

857
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,000
has all the trophies to prove it. He's been hunting

858
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:31,480
on one of the largest farms in Allen County. His

859
00:51:31,519 --> 00:51:34,320
first encounter was a vocal while he was in his

860
00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:39,119
deer stand overlooking a large bluff. The roar yell scream

861
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:43,039
was very loud and robust. Clay says the roar was

862
00:51:43,079 --> 00:51:46,039
so loud that he said whatever made that sound was

863
00:51:46,159 --> 00:51:50,119
really large. He was startled by the intense sound, and

864
00:51:50,159 --> 00:51:53,639
he said to himself, what in the world is that? Clay,

865
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:56,320
being the sportsman he is, went back the next year

866
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:58,920
to hunt for the big trophy buck. While in his

867
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,400
stand with a bow and an arrow in hand, he

868
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:04,440
heard animals scurrying out of the large woods below the

869
00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:07,599
bluff he's hunting, and then the same thing he witnessed

870
00:52:07,599 --> 00:52:12,440
the year before, the roar, yell scream happened again. The

871
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:16,079
deer came running out first, they were followed by livestock,

872
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:20,280
and then birds flew out. At this time, Big Clay

873
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:22,880
decided it was time to get his happy hind end

874
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:26,079
down and out of the tree stand. He hurried very

875
00:52:26,159 --> 00:52:29,440
quickly to his truck and retreated. And Clay said, he

876
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:31,719
didn't see it, but it had to be very big

877
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:35,079
to make chest shaking sounds like that that he heard.

878
00:52:35,599 --> 00:52:38,320
Clay said, Wow, what else could it be other than

879
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:42,559
a bigfoot? One day, David was out on the farm

880
00:52:42,679 --> 00:52:45,199
doing his farm work, and he heard a sound that

881
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:48,559
was not familiar with anything he had heard before, and

882
00:52:48,639 --> 00:52:52,000
he had been on this farm forty plus years. Whatever

883
00:52:52,039 --> 00:52:54,320
it was, David said, it was very loud and had

884
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:58,239
to be coming from something really big. Sess said to

885
00:52:58,320 --> 00:53:00,679
his dad, what in the world is that? He said,

886
00:53:00,719 --> 00:53:05,440
I don't know, but we're going to the house. Seth

887
00:53:05,559 --> 00:53:08,599
lives on a farm in Halifax, Kentucky, which is in

888
00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:12,639
Allen County. His farm has been in his family for

889
00:53:12,719 --> 00:53:16,880
three generation. The farm backs up to an even larger farm,

890
00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:21,000
which is three hundred acres of wilderness. While deer hunting

891
00:53:21,039 --> 00:53:24,199
one evening, Seth was sitting on the ground leaning against

892
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:27,360
the log when he heard something take a step to

893
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:31,760
his right. Seth looked over and raised his deer rifle

894
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:35,199
up and looked through the scope. He saw something that

895
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,559
was around seven feet tall. It had long arms, and

896
00:53:38,639 --> 00:53:42,079
it was all brown in color. While looking through his

897
00:53:42,199 --> 00:53:45,800
rifle scope, Seth whistled and it looked right dead at

898
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:48,639
him for a few seconds, and then it just kept

899
00:53:48,679 --> 00:53:52,400
walking away from him. Seth said he was proud he

900
00:53:52,519 --> 00:53:55,519
kept walking because he didn't think his deer rifle would

901
00:53:55,559 --> 00:53:59,920
have taken it down. Seth and Cooper were out one

902
00:54:00,119 --> 00:54:03,760
night coyote hunting, trying to call up some coyotes. Now,

903
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:07,639
after a while the calling, they laid down. Seth heard

904
00:54:07,679 --> 00:54:10,360
something coming through the woods and it was crashing through

905
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,239
the woods and breaking down small trees and limbs. As

906
00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:17,159
it was coming closer and closer, they were beginning to

907
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:21,440
wonder what it was. It was definitely not coyotes. It

908
00:54:21,519 --> 00:54:24,159
started getting closer and then it was right on top

909
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:28,519
of them. Cooper said, shoot it, Seth. While laying down,

910
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,599
Seth spun over and pulled the trigger of his twelve

911
00:54:31,679 --> 00:54:35,039
gay shotgun right at the sound, which was less than

912
00:54:35,079 --> 00:54:39,599
twenty feet away. The minute Seth shot, Cooper flicked the

913
00:54:39,639 --> 00:54:43,280
big light on and there was nothing there. They both said,

914
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:46,039
where did it go? It was just right there. It

915
00:54:46,119 --> 00:54:51,119
was a very intense moment for both of them. This

916
00:54:51,159 --> 00:54:53,760
story comes from my neighbor that lives about a mile

917
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,159
down the road from me, but as the crow flies

918
00:54:56,280 --> 00:54:59,320
less than a mile from my farm. He's lived on

919
00:54:59,320 --> 00:55:02,320
the farm all of his life. This is his encounter.

920
00:55:03,199 --> 00:55:05,280
When I was young, me and my brother and a

921
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:07,920
friend that was staying the night got bored and went

922
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:11,000
to the pond, as we did many times. We would

923
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:13,320
gather rocks and try to sneak up on the frogs

924
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:16,639
that line the banks of the pond. As anybody that

925
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:19,079
grew up with a pond knows, the frogs would all

926
00:55:19,159 --> 00:55:21,760
jump in as soon as they knew a predator was near.

927
00:55:22,719 --> 00:55:24,679
The goal was to sneak up on the frogs and

928
00:55:24,679 --> 00:55:27,039
see if we could hit one before they all jumped in.

929
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:31,480
After I'd thrown my stones, I heard something in the woods.

930
00:55:32,079 --> 00:55:34,639
I turned to see a hairy beast running on two

931
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:38,760
legs through the forest, tearing saplings away side to side

932
00:55:38,920 --> 00:55:42,480
to make its way through. The breath was taken from me,

933
00:55:42,559 --> 00:55:46,280
and it's like everything else stood still when it was gone.

934
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:49,079
I yelled that I had seen something running through the woods.

935
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:52,480
No one saw it, no one believed me. I just

936
00:55:52,559 --> 00:55:56,880
remember dark hair. I had nightmares of werewolves for years

937
00:55:56,920 --> 00:56:00,079
after that. I had not been exposed to bigfoot at

938
00:56:00,119 --> 00:56:03,960
that time. I was, however, exposed to the monster movies

939
00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:07,400
of werewolves. To my young eyes and mine, that's what

940
00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:11,039
it was. Let me just break in and say, that

941
00:56:11,119 --> 00:56:14,519
could have been a dog man. If you're thinking werewolf subconsciously,

942
00:56:15,239 --> 00:56:17,800
maybe that's what you saw Derek. I don't know. I'm

943
00:56:17,840 --> 00:56:21,800
sorry to interrupt Randy's stories here. Let's go to the

944
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:27,719
last story, and it is called Matt Pettigo's experience. I'm

945
00:56:27,719 --> 00:56:31,440
the editor and publisher of our local newspaper in Randy's

946
00:56:31,480 --> 00:56:34,760
hometown in Kentucky. Randy is a good friend. He's a

947
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:37,719
fine man and as truthful a person as you will

948
00:56:37,719 --> 00:56:42,039
ever know. I'm originally from northern California, and I still

949
00:56:42,039 --> 00:56:46,320
have relatives in California and Oregon. In the summer of

950
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,440
two thousand and nine, I was visiting my now late

951
00:56:49,559 --> 00:56:53,159
grandfather in Bend, Oregon, when I took a ride up

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into the nearby Cascade Mountains. At an elevation of fifty

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four hundred feet above sea level, between two peaks high

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enough to host snow year round lies Scenic Sparks Lake.

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It is a lake of snow melt between the peaks

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and it fluctuates in size. Looking for that perfect postcard

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landscape shot with my camera, I ventured far out onto

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the dry lake bed until it began to get marshy.

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I leapt over a small stream of clear, cold snow

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water draining into the main body of the lake, and

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I landed on a small island and into something unexpected.

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00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:37,159
I weighed two hundred and sixty pounds, and I estimate,

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00:57:37,239 --> 00:57:39,840
landing from a jump, that I hit the packed sandy

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00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:43,480
volcanic soil with the impact of over three hundred pounds.

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My hiking boots sank in about an inch into the

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dense soil, paling in comparison to the footprint I was

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00:57:51,599 --> 00:57:55,800
now seen for scale. I laid my six inch wide

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00:57:55,880 --> 00:57:59,639
Panama Jack sunglasses beside it, and I snapped this photo.

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00:58:00,559 --> 00:58:03,760
The print was two inches deep, at one point fourteen

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inches long, and more than six inches wide. Based on

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00:58:07,559 --> 00:58:10,320
the soil condition and my jump, you can see my

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00:58:10,519 --> 00:58:13,280
print on the left side of the tuft of grass.

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00:58:13,719 --> 00:58:17,199
Whatever made this print had to weigh over five hundred pounds.

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00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:21,199
What's more, whatever made the print had dug its front

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00:58:21,239 --> 00:58:24,719
toes into the soil as it walked, ripping frontal soil

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00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:28,400
upward and scrunching the other soil towards the center of

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00:58:28,480 --> 00:58:32,280
the print as it pulled its foot upward. Thus, whatever

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00:58:32,320 --> 00:58:34,920
made the print seems to have had a hinged foot,

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00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:39,519
a trait often seen in gray apes. At the upper

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00:58:39,639 --> 00:58:42,239
left of the print is the impression of a very

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00:58:42,400 --> 00:58:46,119
large big toe. It doesn't show well in the photo,

982
00:58:46,559 --> 00:58:49,719
but it had dermal ridges, the mark of natural skin.

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00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:54,119
I saw nothing else and I heard nothing strange, but

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00:58:54,239 --> 00:58:56,599
there it was a good reason for me to head

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00:58:56,639 --> 00:58:59,840
back to the car. I never knew what to make

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00:58:59,840 --> 00:59:03,599
of the bigfoot mystery. Is it fact or fiction? I

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00:59:03,599 --> 00:59:07,320
can say with certainty that something large, heavy, and barefoot

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00:59:07,440 --> 00:59:11,840
made this track in the wiles of central Oregon. Randy

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00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:14,800
and his family, friends and neighbors, and thousands of other

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00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:18,599
people around the world and through the ages are seeing, hearing,

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00:59:18,800 --> 00:59:23,840
and experiencing something that science can't always explain, And as

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00:59:23,920 --> 00:59:29,559
Randy said in his conclusion, something is out there. Okay,

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00:59:29,679 --> 00:59:32,199
just two stories in that podcast. I thought they were

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00:59:32,199 --> 00:59:36,000
both fantastic, and I really appreciate the writers and thank

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00:59:36,039 --> 00:59:39,000
you for listening. I really appreciate you, and we will

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00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:41,199
see you guys on the next podcast. Thanks