WEBVTT 1 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:11.640 I was in the Marine Corps for eight years, and 2 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:16.480 I spent my professional career in law enforcement. I had 3 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:20.600 my first encounter with sasquatch when I was twelve. I 4 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:24.239 didn't know anything about sasquatch. Then. I came from a 5 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:28.120 family of outdoorsmen and hunters and loggers, but no one 6 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:33.039 ever talked about bigfoot. It was February of nineteen eighty one, 7 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:36.399 and I had been running traplines and hunting the Canyon 8 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:40.359 Creek area for muskrats, red foxes, bobcats, and the like. 9 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.640 In the winters, I would make upward of one thousand dollars. 10 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.880 That was great money for a kid my age, but 11 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:51.320 it did take a lot of work. When my friends 12 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:55.520 were playing U sports and watching cartoons and going to movies, 13 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:58.759 I was building up for the grueling cold and heading 14 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:03.479 out to run my line. It gets brutally cold in Montana, 15 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.480 twenty to thirty degrees below zero without the wind chill. 16 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:10.879 But every morning, while the rest of the kids I 17 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:14.560 knew were still fast asleep, I would start the coffee 18 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:17.200 on the stove and pack my bag full of food, 19 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.239 and I would insulate my entire body layer over layer 20 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:25.159 until I looked like the Staypuff marshmallow Man, and that 21 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:28.840 was before I even put the parka on. When I 22 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:31.760 was all geared up, I tied my dad's Coleman lantern 23 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:34.519 around my wrist with a length of rope in case 24 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.480 it fell in the creek, and then I'd grab my gun. 25 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.239 The creek was only a few miles away. It was 26 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:45.319 so cold, and the air sparkle with the frost, and 27 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:49.000 the moon light bounced off the snow, providing relatively good 28 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:53.000 lighting for old dark thirty in the morning. I used 29 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.359 my knotted rope that I tied to the bridge, and 30 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:57.920 I started the thirty foot climb down to the bottom 31 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.079 of the draw through the knee deep snow. Down the 32 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:05.120 steep slope, let go of the rope, fired up the lantern, 33 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.360 and trudged my first trap two hundred feet downstream from 34 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.400 the bridge. The creek was frozen a good twelve inches 35 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:16.240 stick except for where I set my muskrat traps. I 36 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:19.520 ran my land traps in a zigzag pattern with no 37 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.520 set spacing each trap about five hundred feet from the next. 38 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:26.800 I finally made my way to my first trap, only 39 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.199 to find it had been ripped out of the ground 40 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:32.719 and torn to pieces. It was pure steel, and all 41 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:36.599 of it bent and pulled apart like tinfoil. It had 42 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:38.840 been set off to the side of the game trail 43 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.400 midway up the draw. It wasn't a large trap, but 44 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.879 it was strong enough to hold a large bobcat or 45 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:48.919 a coyote. For something to tear it apart was impressive 46 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:53.360 and disturbing unless they used a sledge hammer. I was 47 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:56.639 stumped about the whole thing, and I was angry. Those 48 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.199 traps were expensive, especially for a kid. I threw the 49 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.800 trap in my bag and hoisted it over my shoulder, 50 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.919 and I headed to the second trap, and I noticed 51 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.199 immediately how the snow had been trampled around it and 52 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.639 packed so hard it was impossible to tell what the 53 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:17.520 tracks were. It wasn't normal. Not only that my trap 54 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:20.400 was gone. All that was left was a hole in 55 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:24.039 the frozen dirt scattered around where my two foot long 56 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:26.800 rebar steak had been ripped from deep out of the ground. 57 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:31.919 I was more than pissed someone had been messing with 58 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:35.840 my traps. I knew it wasn't an animal, It couldn't 59 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:38.919 have been an animal, and now I was on a mission. 60 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:43.240 I headed to my next trap, this time following the 61 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:46.280 trail that had been plowed through the snow. Like the 62 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.719 last two, it had been ripped out of the ground. 63 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:52.639 I kept going my pace, picking up and dreading what 64 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:55.599 I'd find at the fourth trap, one that i'd sit 65 00:03:55.719 --> 00:04:00.560 in the ice. That's when my life changed forever. At 66 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:04.520 the sight, I saw bigfoot prints with long strides freezing 67 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.439 over in the ice and heading toward and leading away 68 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:11.039 from my trap hole. The trap was trashed, and the 69 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:13.560 hole it had been set in and was broken around 70 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.839 the edges. Something didn't sit right with me. As I 71 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.920 looked around, the ice was four inches thick. It would 72 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.560 have taken brute force or something enormous to bust through it. 73 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:28.199 I knew a black bear couldn't do that. They weren't 74 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:31.600 heavy enough to break through the ice that thick. I 75 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:34.800 had seen cattle walk across thinner ice than this, and 76 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:38.240 they weighed a lot more. We didn't have grizzly bear 77 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:41.079 or moose in the area, and I started wrecking my 78 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:45.160 brain trying to understand it. It was still an hour 79 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:48.800 or so from dawn. Something had torn up my traps. 80 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.879 My skin was crawling, and I knew something was very wrong. 81 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:56.959 I turned off the lantern so my eyes could adjust 82 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.560 to the darkness. I wrapped my scarf around me mouth 83 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:03.920 so that the steaming air wouldn't block my vision. I 84 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.279 started to turn in a slow circle, trying to catch 85 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:12.120 any movement, listening for sounds that didn't belong. After a 86 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.399 few minutes, I heard it, the distinct sound of ice 87 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.519 breaking and something dunking into the water. It was coming 88 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:23.639 down the creek toward my next trap. I heard it again, 89 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:29.079 ice cracking and water splashing, and over and over. Something 90 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:32.279 was walking over the ice, breaking through with each step, 91 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:37.360 and it was getting louder. It was getting closer. That's 92 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:40.839 when the smell hit me. Smell like rotten flesh and 93 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:45.079 moldy onion and curdled milk and trap bait. The foulest 94 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:47.800 thing I had ever smelled, and it was so intense 95 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:53.920 I vomited, loud and unbridled. When I recovered, the crashing stopped, 96 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:57.199 I looked down the creek and I saw a shadow, 97 00:05:57.319 --> 00:06:00.240 lit by the moonlight, moving from around a bit and 98 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:03.360 in the creek and disappearing into the sand cherry bushes. 99 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:07.240 It was taller than anything around it. It had the 100 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.800 outline of a human, but it couldn't be It was 101 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:13.680 the biggest damn thing I'd ever seen, standing at least 102 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:17.639 two feet over those six foot tall bushes. I knew 103 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.600 it wasn't a bear, and unless Andre the Giant had 104 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:24.720 been hanging around my town and stealing my traps, I 105 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.360 knew that I was in trouble. I heard it huffing 106 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:32.000 heavy and deep from its diaphragm as it glided around 107 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:35.639 the bushes and kept coming toward me. I was stunned 108 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:40.560 by its movements, feline and graceful despite its impossible size. 109 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:44.240 I dropped the lantern and dropped my gun into my hands. 110 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.360 I couldn't make out what it was other than it 111 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:50.879 had two legs and two arms and shaggy hair covering 112 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:54.040 all over it. There was no way I would get 113 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:56.600 up the steep side of the draw through all of 114 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:59.439 that snow. I was a mile and a half from 115 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:03.560 the bridge and my rope. I needed to do something, 116 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:07.360 so I yelled at it, Hey stop right there, hey, 117 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:12.160 hey stop. To my surprise, it stopped. It didn't growl 118 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.399 or below, it just stopped. It probably didn't know what 119 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.439 to make of me. Here was a kid wrapped in 120 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.279 eighteen layers of clothes standing in the middle of the 121 00:07:21.319 --> 00:07:25.600 creek making a fuss. I was a fearless kid raised 122 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:28.680 by hardened men. It made perfect sense to me to 123 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:31.839 stand my ground and make myself big and try to 124 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:35.040 scare the thread away, just like I'd been taught. So 125 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.680 that's what I did. Hey, go on and get get now. 126 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.560 But it just kept coming. But it wasn't quick, not cautiously. 127 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:48.319 It was just interested. When it maneuvered within charging range, 128 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.399 I pointed my gun in the air above its head, 129 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.839 and I pulled the trigger. I have done brighter things 130 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:58.759 in my life, and pulling the trigger wasn't one of them. First, 131 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:02.399 the shots sort of had the desired effect. The monster 132 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:05.920 man let out a screen that really angry people make 133 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:10.040 when they're startled. I could handle that until the scream 134 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.680 mixed with a murderous roar that vibrated through my bones. 135 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.120 Some people say that when they had an encounter, they 136 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.560 were frozen in time. Well that's not what happened to me. 137 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:24.560 Everything I had been taught by the proud men in 138 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:28.399 my family went right out the window. Baby with the bathwater. 139 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:31.199 I knew at the moment that I had screwed up 140 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:34.320 very bad. I dropped the rifle and took off as 141 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:38.679 fast as my tightly packed legs could run. I flew 142 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:41.720 over that icy creek. Certain the devil and all this 143 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:45.480 hell hounds were on my tail. My lungs were on 144 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:49.240 fire and my legs were numb. But I could not stop, 145 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:53.200 because if I did, I would have been the monster's breakfast. 146 00:08:54.759 --> 00:08:58.600 The sun was breaking the horizon. I could see glints 147 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:01.799 of pink light glowing on the silver painted iron bridge 148 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.240 ahead of me. Blood pounded in my ears, and my 149 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:08.440 head felt like it was splitting, and the coppery taste 150 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:11.879 of blood came with each breath, my lungs aching like 151 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:15.519 I'd torn something. Never ran so fast in my life. 152 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.440 I was almost there. I was almost safe. I hit 153 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.559 that rope and I flew up the draw and I 154 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.480 scrambled over the edge and I collapsed on the road. 155 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.039 There was nothing left in me. If the monster man 156 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:34.840 thing was behind me, I was done. Every breath was agonizing. 157 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.080 I was coughing and sobbing and throwing up, and I 158 00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:42.840 lay there and waited to be murdered. I was sure 159 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.840 I wouldn't see my parents again. I was sure I'd 160 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:48.159 be the next kid on the side of a milk carton. 161 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.639 But I don't know why of the sasquatch didn't tear 162 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:56.039 me into pieces. It easily could have. Maybe it followed 163 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.399 me for a bit long enough to laugh at the 164 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:02.559 puny little human marshmallow chugging up the creek, slipping over 165 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:06.279 the ice and arms and legs felling screaming bloody murder, 166 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.120 with the stupid lantern bouncing all over the place behind me. 167 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.600 If I were that sasquatch, I would have been in 168 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:18.240 tears laughing. I like to think that that's what happened, 169 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:21.919 but in reality, it probably wasn't remotely interested in me 170 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.519 after it realized the minuscule threat I posed. I never 171 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:29.960 went back down that draw again. I never picked up 172 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.039 my traps. I didn't go back from my rifle or 173 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:36.519 my bag. I got in trouble for losing my rifle, 174 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:39.960 but I didn't care. Dad told me that we were 175 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:42.720 going back to get it, but I refused. He couldn't 176 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.559 drag me down there if he wanted to. I would 177 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.399 have fought him tooth and nail. And I never ran 178 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:52.360 a trap line again either. Instead of being the kid 179 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.360 who woke up hours before daylight, bumbling up for the 180 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.519 grilling cold and heading out to run my lines. I 181 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:02.159 became the one who played you sports and watch cartoons 182 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.879 in the morning, and I went to the movies, and 183 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:09.159 I became a normal teenage boy, A normal teenage boy 184 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.600 with a crippling fear of the dark. It's a shame, really, 185 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.840 that a wholesome, hard working kid had his life turned 186 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:21.320 inside out like that. The Montana I grew up in 187 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:25.360 has changed so much that I no longer recognize it. 188 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:29.399 The fields I used to hunter now housing subdivisions. The 189 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.120 creek I used to run my trap lines on now 190 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:36.279 runs through ten miles of drain culverts. Evidence of my 191 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.720 childhood was slowly paved over for the sake of progress, 192 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:43.879 not unlike the fear I carried from that life changing morning, 193 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:50.120 a terrible memory paving over my innocence. Over forty years 194 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:53.919 have passed since my encounter, Yet still I find myself 195 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.600 half tensing when I drive past a familiar bend in 196 00:11:56.679 --> 00:11:59.960 the road from my youth, afraid of what I saw, 197 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:04.360 afraid of what may be out there. Sometimes I get 198 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:06.120 up in the middle of the night to close the 199 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:08.720 curtains over and the windows that look out into the 200 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:13.320 woods behind our house. I know there are monsters out there. 201 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:19.000 Lurking in the shadows. They're watching us, and they're waiting. Hey. 202 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:21.960 Before we get into this next story, I wanted to 203 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.879 tell you about a book i'm reading. I think it 204 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:30.039 came out a year or two ago. It's called hal Mary. 205 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:34.120 It's written by Andy Weir. It's a science fiction story. 206 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:36.879 I think they made a movie about it that should 207 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:40.000 be coming out this March or April or May, or 208 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:43.600 maybe this summer. I'm not sure. You know, I don't 209 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.679 often recommend books, but I've read the book, and my 210 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:51.120 son has listened to the audio books several times. He 211 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:54.679 says he never listens to audio books more than once, 212 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.840 but he said it is so good that he's listened 213 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:00.399 to it like three times. Driving to work and back 214 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:03.279 is a forty five minute drive to working back, So 215 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:05.320 I want to recommend that to y'all. My son said, 216 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:08.120 the audiobook is great. I haven't got the audiobook, but 217 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:13.039 I read the print book. It is exceptional. It moves 218 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:17.960 really fast. If you're not a committed reader, and you know, 219 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:21.240 like reading one thing after another kind of sort of 220 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:24.240 like I do. I don't read that much. My wife does, 221 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:27.919 but I don't. I probably read one book a month 222 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:32.039 that is a book to get. You cannot put it down, 223 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:36.039 even someone who doesn't read much. You will really enjoy 224 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:40.279 this book. So get it on Kendall or order the paperback, 225 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:42.639 or go to your local bookstore and pick it up. 226 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:47.000 It's called Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I think you'll 227 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:51.000 really love it. Okay, let's go to another Bigfoot story. 228 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:57.799 Years ago, in nineteen sixty four, my family went to 229 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.240 visit a friend of my father's. He had two kids 230 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.960 my age, and the three of us quickly set out 231 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:07.240 into the woods to check out a treehouse that they'd built. 232 00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:11.440 We ran all over those woods, checking out the treehouse 233 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:15.519 and playing chase, and before I knew it, we became lost. 234 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.879 We couldn't find our tracks in and couldn't distinguish one 235 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.639 identical tree from the next, and brush mirrored itself everywhere. 236 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:29.360 We had no idea where to go. We started walking slowly, 237 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:33.080 packed tightly together, eyes alert, trying to stay calm as 238 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:36.399 we worked our way out. Somewhere in the trees, we 239 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:41.159 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. 262 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. 278 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.240 I grew up in Australia's island state of Tasmania, east 279 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