Speaker 1: So in the summer of nineteen ninety two, I was
Speaker 1: wrapping up a full week of army maneuvers in the
Speaker 1: swamps of Fort Polk, Louisiana. On my first breakaway, I
Speaker 1: decided to drive ninety five miles to Angelina County in
Speaker 1: East Texas to visit my family. My first thought was
Speaker 1: to stay on the farm with my grandfather, but I
Speaker 1: decided instead to stay with my aunt and uncle. My
Speaker 1: cousin was there with his wife. They were about my
Speaker 1: age and had the same interests as me. My cousin
Speaker 1: owned a really nice bass boat that he kept there
Speaker 1: at his mom and dad's, and that was what interested
Speaker 1: me the most. I rolled in around eight o'clock that evening.
Speaker 1: Everyone was glad to see me in. I was glad
Speaker 1: to get a good meal. Afterward, we sat around the
Speaker 1: living room and talked about all the fishing spots on
Speaker 1: the lake where we'd be heading the next day. About
Speaker 1: ten o'clock, my cousin's wife started pestering him to take
Speaker 1: her out to the old saw mill to see who
Speaker 1: was out there. I could tell my cousin was getting
Speaker 1: frustrated with her. He wanted to get an early start
Speaker 1: on fishing the next day. He need a good night
Speaker 1: sleep for that, but she was insistent, and eventually he
Speaker 1: gave in. Well, I grabbed my personal firearm and stuck
Speaker 1: it down the small on my back and headed out
Speaker 1: with them. The old saw mill was where the young
Speaker 1: adults in our area liked to go and hang out.
Speaker 1: Most nights, someone or other could be found out there
Speaker 1: with their cooler, sitting around a campfire and telling stories
Speaker 1: and cutting up, or just listening to the radio. Sometimes
Speaker 1: someone would show up with a guitar and entertain us.
Speaker 1: Mostly it was just a place we could go that
Speaker 1: was far enough out of the way to keep us
Speaker 1: out of trouble and out of the sheriff's There's no
Speaker 1: straight route to the old saw Mill. We bounced down
Speaker 1: the highway that ran alongside the lake to the next road,
Speaker 1: and then to another that led to the blacktop that
Speaker 1: led to another, until eventually we turned onto the dirt
Speaker 1: road that dead ended at a grassy parking area where
Speaker 1: everyone parked. From there, we had a short hike up
Speaker 1: the trail to the mill. The first thing we noticed
Speaker 1: was the absence of vehicles. There were two ways to
Speaker 1: get to the sawmill, so it wasn't absolute that no
Speaker 1: one was there. This just happened to be the main way.
Speaker 1: The second route involved an eight mile walk from the
Speaker 1: main road followed by a four mile hike through the woods.
Speaker 1: If anyone was up there, they would probably have parked
Speaker 1: their vehicles here. He got out of the truck, and
Speaker 1: I noticed the moon was only half full. Of course,
Speaker 1: none of us geniuses remembered to bring a flashlight. But
Speaker 1: did we let that stop us? Of course not. We
Speaker 1: headed down the hundred yard trail and came to the
Speaker 1: first building of the old mill. The sawmill itself was
Speaker 1: built in eighteen ninety nine and was made of solid concrete.
Speaker 1: In total, there were four concrete buildings. As we'd walked
Speaker 1: the trail, I couldn't help but notice that all the
Speaker 1: normal night sounds were missing. But I didn't let that
Speaker 1: bother me. I told you nobody would be here. My
Speaker 1: cousin said to his wife, come on, let's go. We
Speaker 1: all hesitated. Maybe we thought if we stood there long enough,
Speaker 1: someone would show up. I really don't know. After about
Speaker 1: a minute, we heard a rock hitt the front of
Speaker 1: the building closest to us, and it landed close to us.
Speaker 1: Stop throwing rocks, I told my cousin, I was a
Speaker 1: little frustrated by our useless trip, and it showed in
Speaker 1: my voice it wasn't me, he spat. By then I
Speaker 1: looked at his wife, and she gave me a shrug
Speaker 1: as if to say, wasn't me either. Just then a
Speaker 1: second rock hit the building and landed even closer to us.
Speaker 1: Stop fooling around, I demanded, can't you see you're upsetting
Speaker 1: your wife. It isn't me. My cousin insisted, and he
Speaker 1: pulled his wife into his arms, and she wrapped hers
Speaker 1: tightly around him. I was watching them embrace when a
Speaker 1: third rock hit the building, making us all jump. Okay,
Speaker 1: so it clearly wasn't them. Somebody or something in the
Speaker 1: woods directly behind us was throwing rocks. My cousin and
Speaker 1: his wife were getting more and more nervous, but I
Speaker 1: was trying to remain calm. I unholstered my gun and
Speaker 1: prepared for action. Thanks for the training, Uncle Sam, I thought.
Speaker 1: Even so, I was totally unprepared for what happened next.
Speaker 1: Fifty yards away, there was a loud tapping sound, like
Speaker 1: something hitting a hollow log. It wasn't random. It was
Speaker 1: like some form of communication almost like Morse code, except
Speaker 1: it wasn't any Morse code I knew, and I'm pretty
Speaker 1: well trained in it. It went on for fifteen seconds
Speaker 1: and then it stopped. The whole time I was scanning
Speaker 1: the woods trying to locate the source. Then something answered
Speaker 1: it from the opposite direction. This time it sounded like
Speaker 1: two rocks being hit together. The feeling of being surrounded
Speaker 1: kicked in, and my cousin muttered something like we got
Speaker 1: to get out of here now, and as he and
Speaker 1: his wife took off in a dead run back to
Speaker 1: the truck, I was the only one armed, so I
Speaker 1: took up the rear at a slightly slower pace, checking
Speaker 1: our six as we moved. I didn't want whatever was
Speaker 1: out there communicating to follow us and attack us from behind.
Speaker 1: And I made one complete turnaround as we were heading
Speaker 1: down the trail, and there where we had just been
Speaker 1: standing were three extremely large shadowy figures staring down the
Speaker 1: trail at us. The sound of the truck door slamming
Speaker 1: motivated me to turn and run at full speed. My
Speaker 1: cousin had it started and was already grinding gears in
Speaker 1: his hurry to get out of there. I think he
Speaker 1: would have left me there to face those things. If
Speaker 1: I hadn't made a death defying leap into the bed
Speaker 1: of his truck. I smacked my face hard on the
Speaker 1: spare tire, but I made it. My cousin must have
Speaker 1: been doing it eighty miles an hour driving out of there.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until we hit the pavement that he finally
Speaker 1: stopped and yelled for me to get inside. We didn't
Speaker 1: say much at first when I got in there, but
Speaker 1: I finally had to ask, what was that? I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk about? It was his only response. Back
Speaker 1: at my aunt and uncle's house, my cousin and his
Speaker 1: wife went straight to bed, and I put my gun
Speaker 1: away and I sat down in the living room with
Speaker 1: my aunt and uncle, who were still up watching TV.
Speaker 1: My aunt recognized right away that something was wrong, so
Speaker 1: she asked me what had happened, and I didn't hold back.
Speaker 1: I told them the whole story. Ah, it's just some
Speaker 1: local kids up there messing with you, my uncle said.
Speaker 1: But I told them there weren't any other cars, and
Speaker 1: the other way in was a damn long hike in
Speaker 1: the dark. No one in their right mind was going
Speaker 1: to walk that far just to throw rocks at people.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until twenty twelve that I finally pieced the
Speaker 1: whole story together, and I took my brother and his
Speaker 1: three kids up to the sawmill so they could see
Speaker 1: the place for themselves. We walked around into the second
Speaker 1: building and saw something that shocked me to my core.
Speaker 1: There on the floor was something that looked like a
Speaker 1: huge net with a really bad gamey smell to it.
Speaker 1: That's when it hit me back in nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: those things had probably moved in and set up house.
Speaker 1: They were probably just trying to get us out of
Speaker 1: there so that they could go to bed. And that's
Speaker 1: the end of his email. That's a great story. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, and all these years later that
Speaker 1: nest still being there or do they still live there?
Speaker 1: One thing his uncle said, no, I can't remember who
Speaker 1: said it, but nobody's going to walk through the dark
Speaker 1: to prank you. The idea of people pranking other people
Speaker 1: on these bigfoot stories, it's not happening. I said that
Speaker 1: earlier in this podcast, but it's true. Okay, Thanks Steve
Speaker 1: for sending this story. It was fantastic, great encounter. Appreciate
Speaker 1: you sending the story. Man okay, I'd like to welcome
Speaker 1: Matt from Short Stories by Matt. He has agreed to
Speaker 1: do a guest nar a spot in this video. I
Speaker 1: think he did a wonderful job. The name of his
Speaker 1: channel is short Stories by Matt. I love his channel.
Speaker 1: He tell some great stories. All right, let's go on
Speaker 1: with it. Matt. Here's the story that you did for us.
Speaker 2: Thank you. This story is really really cool. It's thrilling,
Speaker 2: to say the least. It's the title of the day.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. Thank you for giving me a voice
Speaker 2: so that my story can be told. My name is Bill.
Speaker 2: That life changing day was March eighth, nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 2: I was visiting my aunt's property in Arkansas to care
Speaker 2: for her home and animals while she traveled a little
Speaker 2: rock for an operation. Her spread of property butted right
Speaker 2: up to the Washita National Forest. That's right up my alley.
Speaker 2: As I grew up on the doorstep of the Great Lakes,
Speaker 2: surrounded by hundreds of acres of wetland. I was number
Speaker 2: eight of chin children, and I was raised on the
Speaker 2: water and in the woods, hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, you
Speaker 2: name it. Every day was a new adventure. I was
Speaker 2: so fortunate at such a young age to live in
Speaker 2: and learn about the great outdoors and be taught the
Speaker 2: ultimate lesson, you don't have to be rich to be wealthy.
Speaker 2: Truth be told, This is the first time I've ever
Speaker 2: mentioned this date, let alone, or wrote about the events.
Speaker 2: I will tell you since they occurred. I'm sixty one
Speaker 2: years old and have been through so many truly painful
Speaker 2: things of my life, from being involved in deadly automobile accidents,
Speaker 2: to being stabbed, to having my fingernails tore off and
Speaker 2: my nail beds re formed. And yet none of that
Speaker 2: ever made me shake or consume me with the pain
Speaker 2: of fear. Well, as I recount this, I'm shaking. Forty
Speaker 2: four years ago, my life was changed in the mere
Speaker 2: one day it took for these events to play out.
Speaker 2: Everything I learned to love about the outdoors, the hiking,
Speaker 2: the camping, the joy of being out in God's country,
Speaker 2: all ripped away, gone forever. Let me tell you now
Speaker 2: about what happened to me and what saved my life.
Speaker 2: It's early in the morning of March eighth, nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 2: I woke up at about four am, excited to get
Speaker 2: the day started not because it's my birthday, but because
Speaker 2: it's a day for exploring in the National Forest. I
Speaker 2: set off feeling great to get my necessary chores done.
Speaker 2: I ended up heading for the forest at about six
Speaker 2: forty five am. I was in the forest after about
Speaker 2: forty five minutes. I can't put into words how exciting
Speaker 2: it was and how beautiful the surroundings were. It was
Speaker 2: quite overwhelming. The only way I could describe the feeling
Speaker 2: I had would be the same feeling of being lost
Speaker 2: without water for days and suddenly finding water and drinking up, happy, thankful,
Speaker 2: nearly euphoric. I didn't need any trails or walkways because
Speaker 2: I had my trusty Compass backpack of supplies and water
Speaker 2: and my three fifty seven Colt Python I just got
Speaker 2: as an early gift. Now. To be completely honest, I've
Speaker 2: always been a go go go kind of person, even
Speaker 2: from a young age. I was diagnosed with MANNIK as
Speaker 2: a kid and had to learn techniques to slow down.
Speaker 2: It made me a bit accident prone, so in my
Speaker 2: head I kept saying Bill, slow down. Being in the
Speaker 2: woods made me feel truly at beasts. It didn't matter
Speaker 2: if it was hot, cold, rains, snow, or sunshine. Being
Speaker 2: in the woods was my domain, and I absolutely loved it.
Speaker 2: Little did I know at this point that it would
Speaker 2: all change today, my birthday of all days. In my
Speaker 2: excitement of being there, I was covering ground like a madman.
Speaker 2: In just a short time, I had covered nearly four miles.
Speaker 2: I heard what sounded like equipment coming off the distance
Speaker 2: and cross what seemed to be a logging road. After
Speaker 2: a couple more hours, the elevation had changed quite a
Speaker 2: bit from being mostly uphill. I was fine with that
Speaker 2: because my trip back would be easier. At this point,
Speaker 2: it's about ten thirty a m and I had covered
Speaker 2: a lot of ground. There were no trails that I
Speaker 2: could see, so one might call my route in the
Speaker 2: backwoods way. But I did find it a little strange
Speaker 2: that I didn't see much wildlife. About half an hour
Speaker 2: later I made it to the ridge. The view was incredible.
Speaker 2: As I made my way to it, I spotted what
Speaker 2: was making the equipment noise earlier. There was a logging
Speaker 2: operation and several acres of timber were gone. I remember thinking,
Speaker 2: how the heck are you allowed to do this in
Speaker 2: a national forest. I found out later that there was
Speaker 2: a fire that destroyed a lot of the area, and
Speaker 2: for every tree the operation took, they planted three in
Speaker 2: its place to preserve the forest. I decided to linger
Speaker 2: on the ridge another half hour and then start the
Speaker 2: t back down. As I took a few steps back,
Speaker 2: I was stopped in my tracks by something that truly
Speaker 2: shocked me. To my right, there was a ten point
Speaker 2: buck lying dead in the crotch of a tree about
Speaker 2: twelve feet up. Its head was twisted around and appeared
Speaker 2: to barely stay attached. As I was trying to make
Speaker 2: sense of what I was seeing, I heard someone in
Speaker 2: the distance yell. The man was about a quarter mile away,
Speaker 2: so I started making my way towards him. As I
Speaker 2: was heading for the man that was yelling, I heard
Speaker 2: another strange yell from the direction behind me. It was
Speaker 2: a growl hoff scream mix. At this point I could
Speaker 2: communicate with that man. The first thing out of his
Speaker 2: mouth was what in blazes was that? I replied, my friend,
Speaker 2: I have no clue. He asked if I spent much
Speaker 2: time up here, and I told him no, this was,
Speaker 2: in fact, my first time hiking up here. He retorted with,
Speaker 2: here's that a fact? I said, yes, that's a fact.
Speaker 2: I believe he was going to tear into me until
Speaker 2: he saw my coat and the holster on my waist.
Speaker 2: He asked if I was lost, since this was my
Speaker 2: first time here, because I was hiking well over ten
Speaker 2: miles from anyone. I was taken aback because I figured
Speaker 2: I had only gone about six or seven turns out
Speaker 2: I was actually thirteen miles deep in the forest. I
Speaker 2: told him I arrived yesterday to Arkansas from Ohio. I
Speaker 2: explained how I left my aunt's property earlier this morning
Speaker 2: for an exploration hike because I'm an avid outdoorsman. He
Speaker 2: apologized for acting the way he was when I got
Speaker 2: to him. He explained that the operation had equipment that
Speaker 2: was sabotaged, several thousand dollars in damages, and on top
Speaker 2: of it all, his boss shot a ten point buck yesterday,
Speaker 2: left it for a chainsaw, and when he got back
Speaker 2: it was gone. He had already feel addressed, and there
Speaker 2: were seven men there, and yet it still mysteriously disappeared.
Speaker 2: I say, I'm sorry about your equipment, but I think
Speaker 2: I can help with the deer. At that time, a
Speaker 2: truck pulled into the clearing the loading area. I guess
Speaker 2: He walked over and talked to the boss, and they
Speaker 2: both looked at me and started walking my way. Hi there,
Speaker 2: my name is Carl. I understand you may know something
Speaker 2: about my deer that walked away. I said, I do,
Speaker 2: but you'll have to follow me up to the ridge
Speaker 2: line to see it for yourself. Well, he said, let's go.
Speaker 2: We were chit chatting around the area in the equipment
Speaker 2: damage and what not for about twenty minutes. As we
Speaker 2: slowly made our way up, we got to the spot
Speaker 2: where the deer was and I was completely shocked it
Speaker 2: was gone. I think they both must have thought I
Speaker 2: was full of beans. Just as we were heading back down,
Speaker 2: the first fello I talked to said in a strange tone,
Speaker 2: Oh my god, they're about twenty feet from us. Was
Speaker 2: the buck about ten feet up in another tree. All
Speaker 2: three of us were stunned. The fellow that shot the
Speaker 2: deer could verify it was the actual deer he shot,
Speaker 2: and the other tree I originally found it and had
Speaker 2: blood in the crotch. No more than three minutes later,
Speaker 2: we heard a strange noise about fifty feet away that
Speaker 2: I will never forget. At the same time as the noise,
Speaker 2: one of the men said he was glad I had
Speaker 2: a pistol and exclaimed that we need to get the
Speaker 2: heck out of here. Upon getting back to the area
Speaker 2: where we had started from, the other workers gathered for
Speaker 2: what appeared to be their lunch break. We all started
Speaker 2: talking about the crazy things that took place. One of
Speaker 2: the workers asked if I saw what made that horrific
Speaker 2: scream we heard, and I told him I didn't. What
Speaker 2: he said really caught my attention. He said, you wouldn't
Speaker 2: catch me hiking in this area unless I was in
Speaker 2: a tank. It was the way he said it that
Speaker 2: made me realize he wasn't joking. I learned the contract
Speaker 2: these folks had was with the state and was a
Speaker 2: bit strange. The man running it said that four workers
Speaker 2: had already walked off the job, and three other contractors
Speaker 2: in the area wouldn't even place a bid. They had
Speaker 2: traveled one hundred and forty five miles to take this contract.
Speaker 2: With that being said, I was on my way now.
Speaker 2: I had an uneasy failing, so I decided to take
Speaker 2: the logging road.
Speaker 1: For a while.
Speaker 2: As I headed back down, the forest seemed eerily quiet,
Speaker 2: but I was going a route I hadn't taken before
Speaker 2: and was unfamiliar with the area, so I counted it
Speaker 2: off as no big deal. About two miles down the
Speaker 2: road there was a cutoff on the side of the
Speaker 2: road used for loading logs. The left side had a
Speaker 2: steep grade going up, and on the right side, after
Speaker 2: the cutoff's edge it was just as steep. Heading down,
Speaker 2: there was a giant stack of trees, about four or
Speaker 2: five hundred that was ready to be loaded. A skid
Speaker 2: was parked there ready to load them as well. I
Speaker 2: knew there would be a great view from the top
Speaker 2: of the stack if I set my backpack down, grabbed
Speaker 2: my binoculars, and started climbing. As I was climbing, I
Speaker 2: was thinking about the day's events and how I will
Speaker 2: have an epic story to tell. Boy, oh boy, would
Speaker 2: that be an understatement. Upon getting to the top, I
Speaker 2: noticed immediately that I could see nothing at the rear
Speaker 2: for support. Whoever stacked these must be good, because there
Speaker 2: was a pretty darn steep drop. As I walked to
Speaker 2: the rear of the pile, being ever so careful where
Speaker 2: I stepped, I was shocked to find that there were
Speaker 2: three trees growing there that were meant to serve as
Speaker 2: a backstop for the timber. All three trees were pulled down.
Speaker 2: I instantly knew three things. This was done on purpose,
Speaker 2: it was not done by any logger, and I was
Speaker 2: in extreme danger. I turned to go back carefully to
Speaker 2: get off the timbers and heard some tree branches snap,
Speaker 2: as if someone were walking down below to my right,
Speaker 2: just out of sight. I was also hit at the
Speaker 2: same time with an awful smell. I yelled out, hullo,
Speaker 2: some one tore down your supports. Then I yelled, hey,
Speaker 2: it's me Bill. No response. It hit me as I
Speaker 2: started assessing the situation. Why would they approach from the
Speaker 2: forest up a steep grade and not the logging road.
Speaker 2: I was struck with a scared, uneasy feeling, so I
Speaker 2: slowly unholstered my pistol. I could hear a pin drop,
Speaker 2: it was so quiet. Then a loud, deep huffing sound
Speaker 2: that absolutely did not come from any man ripped through
Speaker 2: the silence. I knew I needed to safely get off
Speaker 2: that stack and make my way quickly to a safer location.
Speaker 2: I take about three steps forward when my leg goes
Speaker 2: through an opening. That's when the true horror began. Suddenly
Speaker 2: I was thrust into a life or death situation, being
Speaker 2: caught on a fast paced landslide of tons of timber.
Speaker 2: I remember thinking I was tumbling down with the trees,
Speaker 2: that if I just stayed on top, I'd survive. I
Speaker 2: knew my wrist or arm was broken immediately and my
Speaker 2: movement would be severely limited already. When I finally stopped rolling,
Speaker 2: I thought how lucky I was, how God protected me
Speaker 2: because my head wasn't crushed. I had to try to
Speaker 2: reach my left arm because I had been torn open
Speaker 2: and I was losing a lot of blood, but laying there,
Speaker 2: I was unable to move. I clearly remember thinking to myself, Bill,
Speaker 2: you are no stranger to injuries, but I've never been
Speaker 2: pinned by trees before. This was life or death because
Speaker 2: my injuries and blood loss. I was laying on my back,
Speaker 2: facing up with three trees across my chest. The weight
Speaker 2: and pressure was absolutely incredible. I didn't realize it at
Speaker 2: the time, but from the point the tree started sliding
Speaker 2: to the points I stopped was about thirty feet and
Speaker 2: the steep incline made matters worse. Two of the trees
Speaker 2: across me were about the size of a basketball, but
Speaker 2: the other was about the size of a fifty five
Speaker 2: gallon drum. They showed no mercy by kindly sliding off me.
Speaker 2: Due to how I was pinned down, it wasn't apparent
Speaker 2: to me how beat up I really was. This took
Speaker 2: place about five miles from the logger site and about
Speaker 2: seven miles from my aunt's property. I couldn't help but think,
Speaker 2: why me? What could be worse than this? What happened
Speaker 2: over the next eight hours would make this day once
Speaker 2: in a lifetime. As I was laying there trying to
Speaker 2: assess my situation, I realized immediately that I needed to
Speaker 2: calm down and try to figure out how bad I
Speaker 2: was injured, especially with how much I was bleeding. After
Speaker 2: several minutes, I could tell the bleeding got under control,
Speaker 2: but that my collar bone and wrists were broken. My
Speaker 2: lower body was injured, but I couldn't tell how bad,
Speaker 2: and I assumed I had broken ribs, but it was
Speaker 2: hard to assess that being smashed in place by giant trees.
Speaker 2: I knew I was in serious trouble. It needed to
Speaker 2: get help fast. I had no supplies, water, first aid,
Speaker 2: or gun. I was helpless. I knew it would only
Speaker 2: be a couple of hours before the workers would be
Speaker 2: headed down the road, so I was desperate to figure
Speaker 2: out a way to get their attention. I remember hearing
Speaker 2: someone or something just before I fell, so I listened
Speaker 2: carefully for a while, but there was total silence. An
Speaker 2: hour or so had passed and the pain setting in
Speaker 2: was nearly unbearable, and to make matters even worse, I
Speaker 2: could taste blood in my mouth. Now I began getting
Speaker 2: nervous because I wasn't sure if I had a punctured
Speaker 2: lung or not. I couldn't move and I couldn't take
Speaker 2: a deep breath, so it was getting scary. Some more
Speaker 2: time passed and I was startled by a tree branch cracking,
Speaker 2: and at the same time I could hear a truck
Speaker 2: making its way down the road. As the truck got closer,
Speaker 2: I could hear brand just snapping all the way up.
Speaker 2: Into the truck got right to where I was, I
Speaker 2: thought to myself, Thank God, I might just make it
Speaker 2: out of here. I could barely hear one of the
Speaker 2: workers mention that the backpack laying up there was mine.
Speaker 2: I attempted to yell, but the pain was too much
Speaker 2: and I couldn't whistle because of how much blood was
Speaker 2: running out of my mouth. Another worker yelled back to
Speaker 2: someone that they had to mess here with all the
Speaker 2: fallen timbers. Suddenly the worker yelled, oh my god, look look,
Speaker 2: and after frantic scrambling, he yelled, go, go, go, as
Speaker 2: the truck tore its way down the road. At this point,
Speaker 2: I was very nervous, scared, and confused, trying to wrap
Speaker 2: my head around what on earth he was yelling about. Suddenly,
Speaker 2: another truck passed by, flying up the hill. Whoever was
Speaker 2: driving was getting down on it as the engine was
Speaker 2: screaming up the hill. I just tried to convince myself
Speaker 2: to think positive. I hear more brain is breaking, about
Speaker 2: four or five loud thuds. Then the same horrible smell
Speaker 2: from earlier filled my nose. I nearly gagged and threw
Speaker 2: up on myself from how strong it was. I could
Speaker 2: move my head only a couple of inches, so I
Speaker 2: did so to the left, facing the area I had
Speaker 2: fallen from. When I did, I lost control of my
Speaker 2: bodily functions and soiled myself. Not more than fifteen feet
Speaker 2: from me was a massive, hairy creature, and I mean huge.
Speaker 2: He had to be nearly five feet wide with a
Speaker 2: huge head. I had heard of these creatures before, and
Speaker 2: being my first instinct was to run, I felt so
Speaker 2: helpless and completely terrified. I knew I was in serious
Speaker 2: trouble because of how much I was bleeding and how
Speaker 2: injured I was. I remember asking God what on earth
Speaker 2: I did to deserve going out like this? Right then,
Speaker 2: when I thought I couldn't get any worse, the beast
Speaker 2: stood up. He had to be close to nine feet
Speaker 2: tall and several several hundred pounds. He made noises that
Speaker 2: I've never heard before. Keeping his balance on that slope
Speaker 2: must have been difficult, but one thing was clear. He
Speaker 2: was headed my direction. Between looking at the creature the
Speaker 2: horrible smell, and realizing my injuries, I took as deep
Speaker 2: a breath as I could and closed my eyes. I
Speaker 2: prayed to God that I didn't know what I did
Speaker 2: to deserve this, but what was happening seemed to be
Speaker 2: a bit excessive. I guess that might sound a little humorous,
Speaker 2: but I was dead serious. I felt it wouldn't be
Speaker 2: long before I was dead. The monster made a strange sound,
Speaker 2: and as I opened my eyes, he was lifting up
Speaker 2: one of the smaller trees that was pinning me down
Speaker 2: and threw it clear down the hill, and again with
Speaker 2: a second small tree, he lifted it up and launched
Speaker 2: it clear down the hill as well. The incredible strength
Speaker 2: was astonishing. I now felt like the definition of a
Speaker 2: cat two. I suddenly could breathe much better and move
Speaker 2: my legs some, but now seemed to be on the
Speaker 2: dinner menu. The beast could literally touch me now, and
Speaker 2: I have never felt that kind of fear. The creature
Speaker 2: then jumped down the slope with incredible speed, and the
Speaker 2: distance he covered was shocking. He was doing something I
Speaker 2: just couldn't tell what. I closed my eyes again and
Speaker 2: laid there. Several seconds later, I felt gentle pressure on
Speaker 2: my left shoulder. I opened my eyes to the creature
Speaker 2: leaning over me with its massive hands, applying a bundle
Speaker 2: of leaves to my injury. As scary as it was,
Speaker 2: with a terrible smell, the matted hair, the leather face,
Speaker 2: and chiseled teeth, it was his eyes. I was looking
Speaker 2: into his eyes. I said, thank you, thank you. I
Speaker 2: could tell he wasn't going to hurt me somehow, and
Speaker 2: some strange oh hey, my fear was subsiding I felt
Speaker 2: more at ease. Then, to my surprise, he stood back
Speaker 2: up and reached down and wrapped his long, muscular arms
Speaker 2: around the last large tree, pinning me down. In an
Speaker 2: unbelievable display of pure strength, this thing lifted the tree
Speaker 2: and hoisted onto its shoulder. The tree was long, so
Speaker 2: most of it was dragging on the ground. It seemed
Speaker 2: like he was standing there trying to decide what to
Speaker 2: do with it. It had to weigh over one thousand pounds.
Speaker 2: If he dropped it, it would have crushed me. Instantly,
Speaker 2: the beast let out a loud moan and started stepping
Speaker 2: down the hill, dragging the tree with it. I couldn't
Speaker 2: believe my eyes. I then realized, after I could lean
Speaker 2: up slightly, that it was a bigfoot. It's really a bigfoot.
Speaker 2: I remember my father taking us kids to see the
Speaker 2: Legend of Boggy Creek when I was maybe ten years old.
Speaker 2: Here I am in the middle of a forest, virtually
Speaker 2: face to face with bigfoot. I heard the beast coming
Speaker 2: back my direction again, climbing over the trees right below me.
Speaker 2: Before I knew it, he was standing on the tree
Speaker 2: below me, looking right at me. It reached down with
Speaker 2: its giant left hand took me by the vest and
Speaker 2: lifted me up like a rag doll. It stepped into
Speaker 2: the opening I had been laying in for so many hours,
Speaker 2: and stretched all the way up and laid me down
Speaker 2: on the very trees near the top of the pile
Speaker 2: that almost killed me earlier. Then it disappeared below me
Speaker 2: out of sight. Having the weight of the trees off
Speaker 2: me and having some mobility, I rolled to my left
Speaker 2: side so that I could breathe easier. Laying there just
Speaker 2: waiting for the monster to reappear, I hear the sound
Speaker 2: of vehicles from a distance. It turns out the truck
Speaker 2: that stopped earlier ripped out of there because they saw bigfoot.
Speaker 2: They went to get help, and the boss's high powered rifle.
Speaker 2: Two trucks arrived with all seven men. They looked around
Speaker 2: for me and spotted me. They all assisted as much
Speaker 2: as possible to get me out of there. I was
Speaker 2: eventually taken by life flight to Little Rock, where I
Speaker 2: spent seven days in the ICU and another twenty two
Speaker 2: days in a regular room before they released me. After
Speaker 2: I was in the hospital for a few days, the
Speaker 2: workers came to visit me. They found my colt which
Speaker 2: they returned, and the blood all over where I was
Speaker 2: pinned between the trees. They asked me how I ended
Speaker 2: up with the injuries I had, and how I got unpinned,
Speaker 2: and how I got to the top of the landing, basically,
Speaker 2: who on earth helped me? I told them I remember
Speaker 2: falling from the trees when they let loose, and then
Speaker 2: getting pinned, but that I thought it was them that
Speaker 2: saved me. Four of the workers stood there just staring
Speaker 2: at me. When walking out of the room, the last
Speaker 2: man paused, looked back at me and said, right, I've
Speaker 2: never spoken about the situation that day, my haunting birthday
Speaker 2: in the woods. This is the first time telling about it.
Speaker 2: Since that day, I've learned how precious life is to
Speaker 2: live it, live every day to the fullest. It may
Speaker 2: be that there are always something that can't be explained,
Speaker 2: or maybe shouldn't be explained, like the day Bigfoot saved
Speaker 2: my life. To this day, there are nights that wake
Speaker 2: up in a cold sweat seeing its face over me,
Speaker 2: and I thank god I live to tell about it.