Speaker 1: Now one of your pudding. I got a string going
Speaker 1: on here, something just because my dog. Something killed your dog,
Speaker 1: my dog. We're flying through the air over the tree.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm
Speaker 1: really confused. All I saw was my dog coming over
Speaker 1: the fence and he was dead. And once you hit
Speaker 1: the ground like, I didn't see any cars. All I
Speaker 1: saw was my dog coming over the fence. Sat what
Speaker 1: are you putting? We got some wonder or something crawling
Speaker 1: around out here? Did you see what it was? Or
Speaker 1: was it was? Standing enough? I'm out here looking through
Speaker 1: the window now and I don't see anything. I don't
Speaker 1: want to go outside. Jesus Quice, you better hello, get
Speaker 1: the Boddy out here. Quin On out there? I thought
Speaker 1: of Avena about tex forty nine. I don't know easy
Speaker 1: out there, Yeah, I'm walking right head.
Speaker 2: The crackling of the campfire couldn't mask the sound that
Speaker 2: made every hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Speaker 2: It was a howl, no more like a scream, but
Speaker 2: not quite human, not quite animal either, something in between,
Speaker 2: something that shouldn't exist in the cornfields of Iowa, the
Speaker 2: forests of Michigan, or anywhere in what we call civilization.
Speaker 2: Last week, I took you deep into the southern United States,
Speaker 2: where we explored the humid swamps of Louisiana, the pine
Speaker 2: forests of Arkansas, and the mysterious hollows of Tennessee. We
Speaker 2: heard countless encounters that have terrified and fascinated generations of Southerners.
Speaker 2: The feedback from that episode was incredible, your stories, your experiences,
Speaker 2: your own close encounters that you've kept secret for years.
Speaker 2: But tonight we're heading north. Tonight, We're venturing into the
Speaker 2: heartland of America, where amber waves of grain meet ancient forests,
Speaker 2: where great lakes harbor secrets as deep as their waters,
Speaker 2: and where something walks on two legs through the shadows
Speaker 2: of the Midwest. You might think that states like Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa,
Speaker 2: and Missouri would be too civilized, too agricultural, too normal
Speaker 2: for creatures of legend. You'd be wrong, dead wrong, because
Speaker 2: what I've discovered in my research, what witnesses have reported
Speaker 2: for over a century, will challenge everything you thought you
Speaker 2: knew about what lurks in America's mid section. The Midwest
Speaker 2: might not have the vast wilderness of the Pacific northwest,
Speaker 2: or the impenetrable swamps of the south. But it has
Speaker 2: something else. A patchwork of forests, river valleys, abandoned quarries,
Speaker 2: and vast stretches of farmland where a creature could move
Speaker 2: unseen for miles, where the edge of civilization meets the wild,
Speaker 2: where ordinary people have extraordinary encounters that change their lives forever.
Speaker 2: So dim the lights, settle in, and prepare yourself. These
Speaker 2: are documented encounters, police reports, and testimonies from credible witnesses
Speaker 2: who saw something they can't explain, something that shouldn't exist,
Speaker 2: something that might be watching you right now from the
Speaker 2: tree line at the edge of your property. Long before
Speaker 2: European settlers carved farms from the forests, before the first
Speaker 2: railroad track was laid across the prairie, the indigenous peoples
Speaker 2: of the Midwest knew that something else shared their lands.
Speaker 2: The Ojibwe called them wind to Go, describing cannibalistic giants
Speaker 2: that haunted the northern forests. The Pottawatamie also spoke of
Speaker 2: the wind to Go as well, but their stories differed.
Speaker 2: These were hairy wild men who lived in the deepest
Speaker 2: parts of the forest, avoiding human contact unless provoked. The
Speaker 2: Dakota and Lakota had their own names for these beings.
Speaker 2: They spoke of giants that walked like men, covered in hair,
Speaker 2: with eyes that glowed in the darkness. These weren't just
Speaker 2: stories to frighten children. They were warnings passed down through
Speaker 2: generations about real encounters with real creatures. According to Ojibwe tradition,
Speaker 2: particularly strong around the Great Lakes region, these beings were
Speaker 2: once human but had been transformed through dark magic or
Speaker 2: cursed for committing the ultimate taboo, cannibalism. They became something
Speaker 2: between human and beast, Forever hungry, forever searching. The elders
Speaker 2: warned that even speaking of them too often could draw
Speaker 2: their attention. The Algonquin nations that stretched across what is
Speaker 2: now Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Canada had perhaps the most
Speaker 2: detailed accounts. They described creatures they called with tiko, massive
Speaker 2: hair covered beings that could move through the forest without
Speaker 2: making a sound despite their enormous size. They left tracks
Speaker 2: in the snow during winter that were three times the
Speaker 2: size of a man's foot, and their howls could freeze
Speaker 2: the blood of the bravest warrior. In southern Illinois and Missouri,
Speaker 2: the indigenous peoples told of similar creatures. The Illinois Confederation
Speaker 2: spoke of wild men who lived along the Mississippi River bluffs,
Speaker 2: emerging at night to fish with their bare hands. They
Speaker 2: were said to be incredibly strong, able to uproot trees
Speaker 2: and throw boulders with ease. The tribes generally avoided certain
Speaker 2: areas known to be the territory of these beings, understanding
Speaker 2: that coexistence meant respecting boundaries. What's fascinating about these indigenous
Speaker 2: accounts is their consistency. Despite the geographic spread from Minnesota
Speaker 2: to Missouri, from Michigan to Iowa, the descriptions remained remarkably similar.
Speaker 2: Bipedal covered in hair, enormously strong, usually solitary, and possessed
Speaker 2: of an intelligence that was almost human, but not quite.
Speaker 2: They were part of the natural world, but existed on
Speaker 2: its margins in the places where humans rarely ventured. The
Speaker 2: Monominy of Wisconsin had particularly detailed protocols for dealing with
Speaker 2: these creatures. They believed that leaving offerings of food at
Speaker 2: the edge of the forest could keep the peace. Tobacco
Speaker 2: was especially valued as an offering, and there are accounts
Speaker 2: from the eighteen hundreds of European traders, noting how indigenous
Speaker 2: guides would leave tobacco bundles in certain locations, refusing to
Speaker 2: explain why, beyond saying it was for the old ones
Speaker 2: of the forest. These weren't myths in the way we
Speaker 2: understand mythology today. For the indigenous peoples of the Midwest,
Speaker 2: these beings were as real as bears or wolves, dangerous
Speaker 2: if provoked, but generally avoidable if one knew the proper precautions.
Speaker 2: They were part of the ecosystem, another species sharing the land,
Speaker 2: albeit one that blurred the line between human and animal
Speaker 2: in disturbing ways. When European settlers began arriving in larger
Speaker 2: numbers in the early eighteen hundreds, they initially dismissed these
Speaker 2: stories as primitive superstitions, but it didn't take long before
Speaker 2: they started having their own encounters. Farmers clearing land for
Speaker 2: fields would find enormous footprints. Hunters would report seeing hairy
Speaker 2: figures walking upright through the forest. Children would go missing
Speaker 2: near certain woods, and when they returned, if they returned,
Speaker 2: they spoke of hairy giants who watched them from the shadows.
Speaker 2: The collision of European settlement with these ancient inhabitants of
Speaker 2: the Midwest would lead to some of the most compelling
Speaker 2: and terrifying encounters in American cryptozoological history. Because while the
Speaker 2: indigenous peoples had learned to coexist with these creatures over millennia,
Speaker 2: the new settlers were entering territory they didn't understand, breaking
Speaker 2: rules they didn't know existed. Illinois might seem an unlikely
Speaker 2: hotspot for sasquatch activity. It's a state known for corn, Chicago,
Speaker 2: and Lincoln, not mysterious cryptids, but Illinois holds a dark,
Speaker 2: dark's secret. It ranks fourth in the nation for bigfoot
Speaker 2: sidings according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. The earliest
Speaker 2: documented sighting dates back to eighteen eighty two in Decatur,
Speaker 2: but the real wave of encounters began in the nineteen seventies,
Speaker 2: a decade that would forever change how Illinoisans viewed their
Speaker 2: forests and farmlands. June twenty fifth, nineteen seventy three, started
Speaker 2: like any other summer night in Murphysboro, Illinois. The small
Speaker 2: town of eight thousand souls nestled along the Big Muddy River,
Speaker 2: was quiet, peaceful, But just after midnight everything changed. Randy
Speaker 2: Needham and Judy Johnson were parked in Needham's car at
Speaker 2: Riverside Park on the southwest edge of town. They were
Speaker 2: enjoying a quiet moment together when a horrific smell invaded
Speaker 2: the vehicle, a stench like rotting flesh mixed with sulfur
Speaker 2: and wet dog. Then they heard it, a shriek that
Speaker 2: was neither human nor animal, something that came from the
Speaker 2: very depths of Nightmare. In the dim light, they saw
Speaker 2: it approaching the car, seven feet tall, maybe eight covered
Speaker 2: in matted white hair caked with mud from the big
Speaker 2: muddy River. Its eyes glowed red in the darkness, and
Speaker 2: when it opened its mouth they could see yellow teeth
Speaker 2: that looked far too human for comfort. The creature moved
Speaker 2: with a strange, loping gait, covering ground faster than seemed
Speaker 2: possible for something so large. Needham didn't wait to see
Speaker 2: what it wanted. He started the car and floored it,
Speaker 2: kicking up gravel as they fled. But here's where the
Speaker 2: story takes an interesting turn. They didn't just run home
Speaker 2: and hide, despite the personal complications see Johnson was married,
Speaker 2: but not to need him. They went straight to the
Speaker 2: Murphysboro Police Department to file a report. Officer James Nash
Speaker 2: was skeptical at first, but he knew Needham and Johnson
Speaker 2: weren't the types to make up stories. He drove out
Speaker 2: to Riverside Park to investigate. What he found changed his
Speaker 2: mind about a lot of things. There in the mud
Speaker 2: along the river bank were footprints, massive footprints, easily twelve
Speaker 2: inches long and five inches wide, with only three toes visible.
Speaker 2: The stride between prints suggested something with legs much longer
Speaker 2: than a human's, But it was what happened next that
Speaker 2: made Nash a believer. As he examined the tracks, following
Speaker 2: them along the muddy bank, he heard it, the most
Speaker 2: incredible shriek he'd ever encountered. It came from the bushes
Speaker 2: no more than fifty feet away. Nash, a trained police officer,
Speaker 2: did what any sensible person would do. He high tailed
Speaker 2: it out of there and called for back up. The
Speaker 2: next night, June twenty sixth, the creature made another appearance.
Speaker 2: This time it was spotted by Sheryl Ray and Randy Creith,
Speaker 2: who were sitting on her back porch. The creature emerged
Speaker 2: from the bushes about fifteen feet away. Ray would later
Speaker 2: describe it in chilling detail. It was real tall, hairy.
Speaker 2: I think it was white, but it was dirty matted.
Speaker 2: It had a real bad odor. It was really rank.
Speaker 2: I never smelled anything like it. It seemed like an eternity.
Speaker 2: We stood there, and then it just turned around and
Speaker 2: walked off into the woods. The Murphy's Borough Police Department
Speaker 2: was flooded with over two hundred calls over the next
Speaker 2: few days. Officers Jerry Nellis brought in a German shepherd
Speaker 2: trained in tracking. The dog picked up the scent immediately
Speaker 2: and followed it eagerly through the underbrush. The trail led
Speaker 2: to an abandoned barn on the outskirts of town. But
Speaker 2: when they reached the barn, something extraordinary happened. This dog,
Speaker 2: trained to face dangerous criminals, a dog that had never
Speaker 2: backed down from anything, refused to enter. When officers tried
Speaker 2: to push it inside, it turned and ran tail between
Speaker 2: its legs, whimpering in terror. The officers, showing more courage
Speaker 2: or perhaps less sense, than the dog, entered the barn
Speaker 2: with weapons drawn. They found nothing but the smell lingered,
Speaker 2: that horrible mixture of decay and sulfur that witnesses would
Speaker 2: describe again and again. The encounters continued through July. On
Speaker 2: July fourth, carnival workers setting up for the Independence Day
Speaker 2: celebration at Riverside Park reported seeing the creature near the
Speaker 2: tree line. On July seventh, two Murphy's Borough men spotted
Speaker 2: what they believed was the big Muddy Monster near a
Speaker 2: pond in the Harrison community north of Murphy's Borough. Perhaps
Speaker 2: the most harrowing encounter came from four year old Christian Barrel,
Speaker 2: who was playing in his backyard when something grabbed him.
Speaker 2: His parents found him sobbing with scratches on his body,
Speaker 2: babbling about a big, hairy monster that had tried to
Speaker 2: take him into the woods. The scratches were real, three
Speaker 2: parallel marks that looked like claw marks, but were spaced
Speaker 2: too far apart to be from any known animal. The
Speaker 2: scientific community took notice. Lauren Coleman, one of the world's
Speaker 2: foremost cryptozoologists, traveled to Murphy's Borough to investigate. He interviewed
Speaker 2: dozens of witnesses and examined the physical evidence. His conclusion
Speaker 2: was startling. There's something very unique about this Eastern Midwestern bigfoot.
Speaker 2: From the reports of the mud Monster, it seemed to
Speaker 2: frighten people in a way. It didn't in the West,
Speaker 2: but Murphy's Borough wasn't the only Illinois town to experience
Speaker 2: a cryptid invasion in the nineteen seventies. In May nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy two, just a year before the mud Monster appearances,
Speaker 2: the towns of Pekin and Peoria were dealing with their
Speaker 2: own mysterious visitor. Randy Emmer, just eighteen years old, and
Speaker 2: his friends were driving along Coal Hollow Road on the
Speaker 2: evening of May twenty fourth when they saw something that
Speaker 2: would spark one of the largest monster hunts in Illinois history. There,
Speaker 2: illuminated in their headlights stood a creature unlike anything they'd
Speaker 2: ever seen. It was massive. Witnesses would later estimate it
Speaker 2: at eight to nine feet tall, covered in whitish gray
Speaker 2: hair that looked like it hadn't been groomed in centuries.
Speaker 2: Its face was a disturbing mix of human and ape features,
Speaker 2: with long, round ears and bright red lips that stood
Speaker 2: out against its pale fur. What struck emmert most were
Speaker 2: its hands. They were human like, but the thumbs were
Speaker 2: double jointed and set lower than they should be, and
Speaker 2: each finger ended in a long curved claw. When the
Speaker 2: creature turned to look at them, its eyes reflected the
Speaker 2: headlight beams with an eerie yellow glow. The creature didn't
Speaker 2: run when it saw them. Instead, it stood there for
Speaker 2: a moment, studying them with an intelligence that was deeply unsettling,
Speaker 2: then moving with surprising grace for something so large. It
Speaker 2: turned and walked, not ran, walked into the nearby woods,
Speaker 2: disappearing into the shadows. Emmert and his friends didn't immediately
Speaker 2: report what they'd seen. They were teenagers who would believe them,
Speaker 2: But word got out, as word always does in small towns.
Speaker 2: Other people started coming forward with their own sightings and
Speaker 2: stay tuned for more sasquatch Ott to see.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.
Speaker 2: After these messages, a farmer reported that something had destroyed
Speaker 2: his fence, not knocked it down, but literally torn it apart,
Speaker 2: leaving the wooden posts splintered like match sticks. A woman
Speaker 2: called the police to report a white, hairy giant peering
Speaker 2: through her bedroom window at two in the morning on
Speaker 2: May twenty fifth, nineteen seventy two. The East Peoria Police
Speaker 2: Department logged more than two hundred calls from witnesses claiming
Speaker 2: to have seen the creature. The calls came from all
Speaker 2: over the area. People seeing it walking through woods, crossing roads,
Speaker 2: even rummaging through garbage cans behind restaurants. The descriptions were
Speaker 2: remarkably consistent. Tall, covered in white or gray hair, walking upright,
Speaker 2: and giving off a terrible smell. The police were overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: They didn't know how to respond to unknown creature reports.
Speaker 2: This wasn't covered in their training, but as the call
Speaker 2: kept coming, they realized they had to do something. A
Speaker 2: search party was organized on July tenth, nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2: Over one hundred volunteers gathered to search the woods around
Speaker 2: Coal Hollow Road. They were armed with everything from hunting
Speaker 2: rifles to cameras, determined to either capture or kill whatever
Speaker 2: was terrorizing their community. The search had barely begun when
Speaker 2: disaster struck. One of the volunteers accidentally shot himself in
Speaker 2: the foot with his own gun. The injury wasn't life threatening,
Speaker 2: but it was serious enough that the search had to
Speaker 2: be called off while emergency services responded. The Coal Hollow
Speaker 2: Road Monster, or Cohomo, as locals began calling it, continued
Speaker 2: to be sighted throughout the summer of nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2: On July twenty fifth, a witness reported seeing the creature
Speaker 2: swimming in the Illinois River. They described watching in amazement
Speaker 2: as it moved through the water with powerful strokes, its
Speaker 2: white hair plastered to its body, looking like a cross
Speaker 2: between an abas and a caveman. The last major sighting
Speaker 2: occurred on July twenty eighth, when a woman reported seeing
Speaker 2: the creature near an abandoned coal mine. She was driving
Speaker 2: home from work when she saw it standing at the
Speaker 2: mine entrance, silhouetted against the evening sky. She described feeling
Speaker 2: an overwhelming sense of dread, as if the creature was
Speaker 2: warning her to stay away. Years later, Randy Emmeret would
Speaker 2: make a shocking confession in an interview with a local newspaper.
Speaker 2: He admitted that he and his friends had never actually
Speaker 2: seen anything that night on Coal Hollow Road. It had
Speaker 2: all been a prank, a joke that got out of hand.
Speaker 2: But here's where things get interesting. Even after Emmert's confession,
Speaker 2: the sightings continued. People who had never heard of Emmert
Speaker 2: or his prank were still reporting encounters with a large,
Speaker 2: white haired creature in the woods around Pekin and Peoria, Michigan,
Speaker 2: with its two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Its
Speaker 2: vast forests and its long dark winters has produced some
Speaker 2: of the most terrifying and bizarre cryptid encounters in North
Speaker 2: American history. It's a state where not one but two
Speaker 2: major cryptids are said to rome, the classic Bigfoot and
Speaker 2: the terrifying Michigan dog Man. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Speaker 2: is a world apart, separated from the rest of the
Speaker 2: state by the Straits of Mackinac. The Up, as locals
Speaker 2: call it, is a land of deep forests, hidden lakes,
Speaker 2: and small towns, separated by miles of wilderness. It's here
Speaker 2: in Schoolcraft County that Michigan has recorded its highest concentration
Speaker 2: of Bigfoot sightings. The Sieni National Wildlife Refuge, a ninety
Speaker 2: five thousand acre wilderness of wetlands and forests, has become
Speaker 2: synonymous with sasquatch encounters. The area is so active that
Speaker 2: locals have a saying, if you want to see a bear,
Speaker 2: go to Sceini. If you want to see something else,
Speaker 2: go to Seeny at Night. One of the most chilling
Speaker 2: accounts from Sieni came from a woman named Sarah, who
Speaker 2: was driving along the notorious Sceni Stretch, a twenty five
Speaker 2: mile section of straight highway cutting through the wilderness in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven. It was past midnight and her infant
Speaker 2: daughter was crying in the back seat. Exhausted from a
Speaker 2: long drive, Sarah pulled over to nurse the baby and
Speaker 2: maybe catch a few minutes of sleep. She had just
Speaker 2: dozed off when something made her open her eyes. There
Speaker 2: pressed against the driver's side window was a face, but
Speaker 2: not a human face. It was covered in dark brown hair,
Speaker 2: with deep set eyes that reflected the moonlight. The creature
Speaker 2: was examining her baby with an intensity that sent ice
Speaker 2: through Sarah's veins. She described the look as curious, almost tender,
Speaker 2: but alien. Sarah did what any mother would do. She screamed.
Speaker 2: The creature jerked back, and she got a full view
Speaker 2: of it standing beside her car. It was massive, at
Speaker 2: least seven feet tall, with shoulders broader than any humans.
Speaker 2: For a moment that felt like hours, they stared at
Speaker 2: each other. Then the creature placed one enormous hand on
Speaker 2: the hood of her car. She could hear the metal
Speaker 2: groan under the weight, and vaulted over the vehicle in
Speaker 2: one smooth motion, disappearing into the forest. When Sarah reported
Speaker 2: the encounter to local authorities. She was surprised by their response.
Speaker 2: Instead of skepticism, she got knowing nods. One officer told her,
Speaker 2: You're not the first, and you won't be the last
Speaker 2: that stretch of road. Things happen there. But Bigfoot isn't
Speaker 2: the only cryptid stalking Michigan's forests. In eighteen eighty seven,
Speaker 2: two lumberjacks in Wexford County reported encountering something that would
Speaker 2: haunt Michigan for the next century and beyond, the Michigan
Speaker 2: dog Man. The creature was described as having the body
Speaker 2: of a man but the head of a dog or wolf.
Speaker 2: It stood seven feet tall, walked on two legs, and
Speaker 2: had blue or amber eyes that seemed to glow with
Speaker 2: an inner light. Its howl was said to sound like
Speaker 2: a human scream mixed with a wolf's howl, a sound
Speaker 2: that once heard, could never be forgotten. The dog man
Speaker 2: legend lay relatively dormant until nineteen eighty seven, exactly one
Speaker 2: hundred years after the first sighting. Steve Cook, a DJ
Speaker 2: at WTCMFM and Traverse City, created a song called the
Speaker 2: Legend as an April fool's joke. The song detailed various
Speaker 2: dog men encounters throughout Michigan's history, set to a haunting melody.
Speaker 2: Cook expected a few laughs and then for people to
Speaker 2: move on. Instead, the station was flooded with calls, not
Speaker 2: from people laughing at the joke, but from people saying,
Speaker 2: I've seen it too. The stories poured in, Hunters who
Speaker 2: had encountered something that walked like a man but had
Speaker 2: the head of a wolf, drivers who had hit something
Speaker 2: that left fur in their grill but no body on
Speaker 2: the road, Campers who had been stalked by something that
Speaker 2: moved between two legs and four with unsettling ease. One
Speaker 2: of the most terrifying accounts came from a truck driver
Speaker 2: named Joe Barger in twenty seventeen, fitting the supposed pattern
Speaker 2: of the dog Man appearing in years ending in seven.
Speaker 2: Barger was driving through the Manistee National Forest when something
Speaker 2: emerged from the woods and began running alongside his truck.
Speaker 2: At first, he thought it was a bear. Then he
Speaker 2: realized it was running on two legs, keeping pace with
Speaker 2: his truck at forty five miles per hour. When it
Speaker 2: turned to look at him, he saw its face clearly
Speaker 2: in the cab lights, elongated like a dog's with three
Speaker 2: inch fangs and yellow eyes that seemed to bore into
Speaker 2: his soul. The creature reached for his open window with
Speaker 2: hands that were almost human but ended in claws. Bargar
Speaker 2: grabbed his handgun and fired several shots. He claimed to
Speaker 2: have hit the creature at least once, seeing it stumble,
Speaker 2: but it kept coming. Only when he accelerated to nearly
Speaker 2: seventy miles per hour did the creature fall back, disappearing
Speaker 2: into the darkness. When he finally stopped at a rest area,
Speaker 2: he found claw marks on his truck door and tufts
Speaker 2: of gray fur caught in the window seal. Wisconsin, America's dairyland,
Speaker 2: might be better known for cheese and the Green Bay
Speaker 2: Packers than cryptids, but the state has a rich history
Speaker 2: of mysterious encounters that rivals any location in North America.
Speaker 2: The most famous is undoubtedly the Beast of Bray Road,
Speaker 2: but Wisconsin's vast northern forest have produced countless Bigfoot sightings
Speaker 2: that paint a picture of a state where the line
Speaker 2: between civilization and the wild remains remarkably thin. Bray Road
Speaker 2: is a rural stretch of asphalt running through Walworth County
Speaker 2: near the town of Elcorn. It's the kind of road
Speaker 2: you might drive down one hundred times without giving it
Speaker 2: a second thought until you know its history. Then every
Speaker 2: shadow becomes suspicious, every rustle in the corn something more
Speaker 2: than wind. The modern legend of the Beast of Bray
Speaker 2: Road began in nineteen eighty nine, though locals whisper about
Speaker 2: encounters going back to the nineteen thirties. Lori Andreasy was
Speaker 2: driving home from her job at a bar in Elcorn
Speaker 2: around one point thirty in the more when she saw
Speaker 2: what she initially thought was a person kneeling by the roadside.
Speaker 2: As her car approached, the figure stood up and and
Speaker 2: Dreazi realized this was no human. It stood nearly seven
Speaker 2: feet tall, covered in brown gray fur, with a face
Speaker 2: that was elongated like a wolf's, but with disturbing human qualities.
Speaker 2: Its arms were muscular and ended in hands with claws,
Speaker 2: but it was the eyes that haunted her. Yellow, intelligent,
Speaker 2: and filled with what she could only describe as malevolence.
Speaker 2: It was kneeling, she would later tell journalist Linda Godfrey.
Speaker 2: Its elbows were up and its claws were facing out,
Speaker 2: so I knew it had claws. I remember the long
Speaker 2: claws the creature was holding something between those claws roadkill,
Speaker 2: she thought, though she didn't slow down to investigate. The
Speaker 2: encounter lasted only seconds, but it changed and Dresey's life.
Speaker 2: She became withdrawn, afraid to drive at night, constantly checking
Speaker 2: her rear view mirror. When she finally worked up the
Speaker 2: courage to report what she'd seen, she was surprised to
Speaker 2: find she wasn't alone. Perhaps the most dramatic encounter occurred
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety nine, when eighteen year old Doristein Gibson
Speaker 2: was driving along Bray Road near the intersection with Hospital Road.
Speaker 2: She felt her car hit something, lifting the right side
Speaker 2: of the vehicle as if rolling over a large object.
Speaker 2: She stopped and got out to investigate, a decision she
Speaker 2: would immediately regret. From the darkness, something approached her. It
Speaker 2: was massive, covered in fur and moving on two legs,
Speaker 2: with a loping gait that covered ground frighteningly fast. Gibson
Speaker 2: jumped back in her car and started it, but as
Speaker 2: she pulled away, the creature leaped onto her trunk. She
Speaker 2: could hear its claws scraping against the metal as it
Speaker 2: tried to find purchase. The wet road from recent rain
Speaker 2: was her salvation. The creature couldn't maintain its grip and
Speaker 2: slid off. While the Beast of Bray Road might get
Speaker 2: the headlines. Wisconsin, Marinette County holds the distinction of having
Speaker 2: more Bigfoot sightings per capita than anywhere else in the state.
Speaker 2: Located in the northeastern corner of Wisconsin, Marinette County is
Speaker 2: a land of dense forests, winding rivers, and a sparse
Speaker 2: human population, perfect habitat for a creature that doesn't want
Speaker 2: to be found. The encounters here differ from the aggressive
Speaker 2: Beast of Bray Road. The Marinette County bigfoot seems more
Speaker 2: curious than hostile, though no less terrifying when encountered unexpectedly.
Speaker 2: In July twenty eighteen, a retired police officer with thirty
Speaker 2: years of experience had an encounter that he said challenged
Speaker 2: everything he thought he knew about the natural world. He
Speaker 2: was driving along Highway one forty one near Pembine when
Speaker 2: something crossed the road in front of him. His trained
Speaker 2: eye immediately began cataloging details. Approximately seven to eight feet tall,
Speaker 2: covered in dark brown or black hair, bipedal locomotion, massive
Speaker 2: shoulders and arms. The creature crossed the four lace lane
Speaker 2: highway in just three strides, each step covering an impossible
Speaker 2: amount of ground. What struck him most was the way
Speaker 2: it moved, fluid, graceful, with no wasted motion. I've seen bears,
Speaker 2: I've seen drunk people and costumes on Halloween. I've seen hoaxes,
Speaker 2: he later told investigators. This was none of those things.
Speaker 2: This was a living, breathing animal that shouldn't exist. Minnesota,
Speaker 2: the Land of ten Thousand Lakes, is also the land
Speaker 2: of ten thousand mysteries. From the dense forests of the
Speaker 2: Boundary Waters to the river valleys of the South, Minnesota
Speaker 2: has a long history of encounters with creatures that defy explanation.
Speaker 2: But here in the northernmost reaches of the Midwest, the
Speaker 2: legends take on a darker tone. The Wendigo of Ojibwe
Speaker 2: legend isn't just a mysterious animal, It's something far more terrifying.
Speaker 2: The Windigo legend is fundamentally different from typical bigfoot encounters.
Speaker 2: According to indigenous tradition, the windigo was once human, a
Speaker 2: person who committed the ultimate taboo of cannibalism, and was
Speaker 2: transformed into a monster as punishment. It's described as gaunt
Speaker 2: to the point of emaciation, with yellowed fangs, sunken eyes,
Speaker 2: and an insatiable hunger for human flesh. But over the years,
Speaker 2: the Windigo legend has merged with big foot sightings in Minnesota,
Speaker 2: creating a unique narrative where witnesses aren't sure if they've
Speaker 2: encountered a natural creature or something supernatural. In the winter
Speaker 2: of nineteen o eight, near the White Earth Ojibwey Reservation,
Speaker 2: two berry pickers reported being chased from the forest by
Speaker 2: what they called a wild man. The footprints it left
Speaker 2: were sixteen inches long and showed dermal ridges when cast
Speaker 2: in plaster, details that would seem to indicate a flesh
Speaker 2: and blood creature rather than a spirit, But the berry
Speaker 2: pickers insisted that the creature had spoken to them in
Speaker 2: a jibway, warning them to leave and never return. The
Speaker 2: small town of Raamer, population less than four hundred, has
Speaker 2: embraced it it's Bigfoot heritage like no other Minnesota community.
Speaker 2: The town's connection to Sasquatch goes back to the logging
Speaker 2: boom of the late eighteen hundreds, when the Virgin pine
Speaker 2: forests were being harvested at an unprecedented rate. Loggers at
Speaker 2: the Freemen and Gray's logging camp began reporting encounters with
Speaker 2: what they called the old men of the Forest as
Speaker 2: early as eighteen ninety five. These weren't isolated incidents. Entire
Speaker 2: logging crews would report seeing the creatures watching them from ridgelines,
Speaker 2: always maintaining a safe distance, but clearly observing the human activity.
Speaker 2: What made the Rammer encounters unique was their frequency and consistency.
Speaker 2: By nineteen ten, sightings had become so common that local
Speaker 2: newspapers stopped reporting on them. They were no longer news,
Speaker 2: just a fact of life. In Ramar residents would find
Speaker 2: footprints in their gardens, discover carefully stacked piles of stones
Speaker 2: in the forest, a behavior reported in bigfoot encounters worldwide,
Speaker 2: and occasionally catch glimpses of dark figures moving through the
Speaker 2: trees at twilight, and stay tuned for more sasquatch otta see,
Speaker 2: We'll be right back. After these messages, the creatures seemed
Speaker 2: particularly interested in children. There are dozens of accounts from
Speaker 2: the early nineteen hundreds of children playing in the woods
Speaker 2: and reporting that harry giants watched them play, sometimes for hours.
Speaker 2: The children were never harmed. In fact, several accounts described
Speaker 2: the creatures helping lost children find their way home, though
Speaker 2: always from a distance, never making direct contact. One particularly
Speaker 2: intriguing account from nineteen twenty three involved the Lindstrom family's
Speaker 2: eight year old daughter, Marie. She had been playing near
Speaker 2: the family's cabin when she became lost in a sudden snowstorm.
Speaker 2: The family searched frantically, fearing the worst. After three hours,
Speaker 2: Marie walked out of the forest, calm and unharmed. She
Speaker 2: said a big, hairy man had led her to a
Speaker 2: cave where she stayed warm, and when the storm passed,
Speaker 2: he pointed her toward home. She was carrying a handful
Speaker 2: of winter green berries, impossible to find in the snow
Speaker 2: unless you knew exactly where to look. Iowa might not
Speaker 2: be the first state you think of when it comes
Speaker 2: to cryptid encounters, but the Hawkeye State has a surprisingly
Speaker 2: rich history of mysterious sightings, from the bizarre Van Meter
Speaker 2: visitor of nineteen o three to the more recent Lockridge Monster,
Speaker 2: Iowa's creatures seemed to have a particular fondness for small
Speaker 2: farming communities. In the autumn of nineteen o three, the
Speaker 2: small town of Van Meder, Iowa, experienced five nights of
Speaker 2: terror that would become one of the strangest chapters in
Speaker 2: American cryptozoology. What made the Van Meter Visitor unique wasn't
Speaker 2: just its appearance, though that was bizarre enough, but the
Speaker 2: number of credible witnesses who saw it. It began on
Speaker 2: September twenty ninth, when U. G. Griffith, a local businessman
Speaker 2: and one of Van Meter's most respected citizens, saw a
Speaker 2: strange light hopping from rooftop to rooftop along Main Street.
Speaker 2: When he approached for a closer look, he was confronted
Speaker 2: by a creature that defied explanation. It stood over eight
Speaker 2: feet tall, with smooth, leather like wings spanning at least
Speaker 2: ten feet. Its head bore a horn that emitted a
Speaker 2: blinding light, and the stench that accompanied it was overwhelming,
Speaker 2: sulfur mixed with decay. The next night, doctor Alcott, the
Speaker 2: town physician, was awakened by a bright light shining through
Speaker 2: his window. He grabbed his revolver and fired at the
Speaker 2: source of the light. He heard what sounded like a
Speaker 2: scream of pain, but the creature, for creature, it was,
Speaker 2: seemed unharmed. It stood outside his window, that horn blazing
Speaker 2: with light before spreading its wings and flying away. By
Speaker 2: the third night, the town was in a panic. Bank
Speaker 2: cashier O. V. White spotted the creature perched on the
Speaker 2: town's bank building. He fired his shotgun at it, claiming
Speaker 2: to have hit it directly, but the bullet seemed to
Speaker 2: have no effect. The creature studied him with what he
Speaker 2: described as malevolent intelligence before flying away. On October third,
Speaker 2: the town had had enough. A posse of armed men,
Speaker 2: led by the mayor himself, tracked the creature to an
Speaker 2: abandoned coal mine on the outskirts of town. What they
Speaker 2: saw there would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 2: Not one, but two creatures emerged from the mine, a
Speaker 2: larger one matching the previous descriptions and a smaller one,
Speaker 2: possibly its offspring. The men opened fire, but as before,
Speaker 2: the bullets had no effect. The creatures stood their ground,
Speaker 2: that terrible horn light blazing, before retreating back into the mine.
Speaker 2: The townspeople, terrified but desperate, sealed the mine entrance with
Speaker 2: boards and concrete, hoping to trap whatever was inside. The
Speaker 2: van meter visitor was never seen again, but the mine
Speaker 2: remains sealed to this day. Fast forward to October nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy five and another small Iowa town found itself dealing
Speaker 2: with an unexpected visit. Lockridge, population three hundred, is the
Speaker 2: kind of place where everyone knows everyone, where doors are
Speaker 2: left unlocked, and where the appearance of a bigfoot like
Speaker 2: creature caused a sensation that reverberates to this day. It
Speaker 2: began when turkey farmer Herb Peefer was checking on his
Speaker 2: birds one evening in his tractor's headlights. He saw something
Speaker 2: at the edge of the woods that made him question
Speaker 2: his sanity. It was approximately five feet tall, shorter than
Speaker 2: typical bigfoot reports, covered in dark, shaggy fur, walking upright
Speaker 2: with a slightly hunched posture. Its face was described as
Speaker 2: a disturbing mix of human and ape features. What set
Speaker 2: the Lockridge monster apart from typical bigfoot sidings was its
Speaker 2: apparent carnivorous nature. Four partially devoured turkeys were found near
Speaker 2: tracks that didn't match any known animal. The footprints were
Speaker 2: humanoid but smaller than typical bigfoot prints, leading some researchers
Speaker 2: to speculate that Lockridge might have been dealing with the
Speaker 2: juvenile sasquatch or possibly a different species. Entirely Missouri, where
Speaker 2: the Midwest meets the South has produced some of the
Speaker 2: most credible bigfoot encounters in the country, largely because many
Speaker 2: come from law enforcement officers trained observers who have everything
Speaker 2: to lose and nothing to gain from reporting such encounters.
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety eight, a county sheriff in Missouri who
Speaker 2: has requested anonymity even in retirement, had an encounter that
Speaker 2: he kept secret for over twenty years. He was patrolling
Speaker 2: a remote road in the Mark Twain National Forest near
Speaker 2: the Little Indian Creek Conservation area southwest of Saint Louis
Speaker 2: when his life changed forever. It was approximately two in
Speaker 2: the morning on a foggy April night. The sheriff noticed
Speaker 2: a movement in his peripheral vision and assumed it was
Speaker 2: a deer. He slowed down and activated his spotlight, a
Speaker 2: routine action he'd performed thousands of times. But what the
Speaker 2: light illuminated was no deer. Standing at the edge of
Speaker 2: the road was a creature, he estimated at eight to
Speaker 2: nine feet tall, covered in dark brown or black hair.
Speaker 2: Its eyes reflected the spotlight with an orange red glow.
Speaker 2: But it was the face that haunted him. Almost human
Speaker 2: in its features, but wrong in every way that mattered.
Speaker 2: The proportions were off, the jaw too large, the brow
Speaker 2: too heavy. It was looking right at me, he later recounted,
Speaker 2: not at the car, at me through the windshield, right
Speaker 2: into my eyes, and I could see intelligence there. It
Speaker 2: knew what I was, and it was deciding what to
Speaker 2: do about me. For about twenty five to thirty seconds,
Speaker 2: they stared at each other. Then the creature turned and walked,
Speaker 2: not ran, into the forest, each stride covering an impossible
Speaker 2: amount of ground. The sheriff sat in his patrol car, shaking,
Speaker 2: trying to process what he'd seen. He thought about calling
Speaker 2: it in, but stopped. What would he say that he'd
Speaker 2: seen bigfoot? His career would be over, so he kept quiet,
Speaker 2: telling only his wife, and even then only years later.
Speaker 2: It wasn't until his retirement that he felt safe enough
Speaker 2: to share his encounter with researchers. You're being told all
Speaker 2: these years that Bigfoot doesn't exist, he said, and then
Speaker 2: this thing walks right out in front of you. It
Speaker 2: changes everything. I was an avid hunter, been in the
Speaker 2: woods my whole life. After that night, I found it
Speaker 2: hard to go back. How do you defend yourself against
Speaker 2: something like that? The Bigfoot? Field Researchers organization lists one
Speaker 2: hundred and forty seven reports from Missouri, making it one
Speaker 2: of the more active states in the Midwest. Many of
Speaker 2: these reports come from the Ozark region, where the rugged
Speaker 2: terrain and extensive forest coverage provide ideal habitat for a
Speaker 2: large elusive primate. In twenty twelve, a group of college
Speaker 2: students from Missouri State University had an encounter near Smithville
Speaker 2: Lake that typified modern bigfoot sightings. They were at a
Speaker 2: game access area late at night when everything went eerily quiet.
Speaker 2: No insects, no birds, no wind in the trees. One
Speaker 2: of the students, Cody, described it. I've seen bears, I've
Speaker 2: seen mountain lions, I've seen bobcats. I've never experienced silence
Speaker 2: like that. It was like the entire forest was holding
Speaker 2: its breath. Then came the smell, that distinctive mixture of
Speaker 2: wet dog, skunk, and something worse. They heard bipedal footsteps
Speaker 2: circling their jeep, and when they shown their flashlights out,
Speaker 2: they saw eyeshine at a height that ruled out any
Speaker 2: known Missouri wildlife. They left immediately and didn't stop driving
Speaker 2: until they reached a populated area as We've journeyed through
Speaker 2: the Midwest cryptid encounters, from the cornfields of Iowa to
Speaker 2: the forests of Michigan. It's important to address both the
Speaker 2: scientific investigations into these phenomena and the skepticism that rightfully
Speaker 2: accompanies such extraordinary claims. Despite thousands of reported sightings across
Speaker 2: the Midwest, physical evidence remains frustratingly elusive. However, what evidence
Speaker 2: does exist is compelling enough to have attracted serious scientific attention.
Speaker 2: Footprint casts from across the region show remarkable consistency. Doctor
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Meldrum, who has examined dozens of casts from Midwest encounters,
Speaker 2: points out several anatomical features that would be difficult to fake.
Speaker 2: Dermal ridges, the foot equivalent of fingerprints, a mid tarsal
Speaker 2: break indicating a flexible foot unlike modern humans, and proportions
Speaker 2: that suggest a creature of enormous weight and size. Hair
Speaker 2: samples collected from Midwest encounters have produced mixed results. Many
Speaker 2: turn out to be from known animals like bears, deer, dogs,
Speaker 2: but some samples have produced puzzling results. A twenty fourteen
Speaker 2: analysis of hair collected from a siding location in Wisconsin
Speaker 2: showed it was primate in origin, but didn't match anything
Speaker 2: in the known database. The results were intriguing enough that
Speaker 2: the samples were sent for advanced DNA analysis, though the
Speaker 2: results remain controversial. Audio recordings from the Midwest have captured
Speaker 2: vocalizations that don't match any known animal. The Ohio Howell
Speaker 2: recorded by Suzanne Farncac has been analyzed by acoustic experts
Speaker 2: who confirm it shows characteristics of a biological origin rather
Speaker 2: than a mechanical one, with a vocal range that exceeds
Speaker 2: human capability. Environmental DNA sampling, which can detect genetic material
Speaker 2: shed by organisms into their environment, has revolutionized wildlife biology.
Speaker 2: Could it finally provide proof of Bigfoot's existence. Several research
Speaker 2: groups are conducting environmental DNA studies in areas of high
Speaker 2: bigfoot activity in the Midwest. The results so far have
Speaker 2: been intriguing, if not conclusive. Samples from several locations have
Speaker 2: revealed primate DNA that doesn't match any known species. However,
Speaker 2: contamination from human DNA remains a significant challenge, and peer
Speaker 2: reviewed publication of the u s the results has proven elusive.
Speaker 2: The impact of cryptid sightings on Midwest communities has been
Speaker 2: profound and lasting. Some towns have embraced their mysterious visitors,
Speaker 2: while others prefer to forget, but in all cases, these
Speaker 2: encounters have become part of the cultural fabric of the region.
Speaker 2: Several Midwest towns have turned their cryptid encounters into economic opportunities. Elkhorn, Wisconsin,
Speaker 2: hosts an annual Beast of Bray Road celebration. Van Meter, Iowa,
Speaker 2: has the Van Meter Visitor Festival. Murphysboro, Illinois, erected an
Speaker 2: eight foot statue of the Big Muddy Monster and hosts
Speaker 2: an annual festival in its honor. These events attract thousands
Speaker 2: of tourists annually, bringing vital economic activity to small rural communities.
Speaker 2: Local businesses sell cryptid themed merchandise, restaurants offer monster burghers,
Speaker 2: and hotels fill up with cryptied enthusiasts. For those who've
Speaker 2: had encounters, the experience often proves life chain. Many witnesses
Speaker 2: describe a before and after quality to their lives. Before
Speaker 2: the woods were just woods, the night just darkness. After
Speaker 2: every shadow could hide something, every sound could herald another encounter.
Speaker 2: Support groups have formed both online and in person, where
Speaker 2: witnesses can share their experiences without fear of ridicule. The
Speaker 2: Bigfoot Field Researchers organization holds regular town halls in active
Speaker 2: areas where witnesses can tell their stories and hear from
Speaker 2: others with similar experiences. Native American communities in the Midwest
Speaker 2: have watched the modern fascination with Bigfoot and similar creatures
Speaker 2: with mixed feelings. For many of these beings were never cryptids,
Speaker 2: mysterious unknown creatures, but part of their traditional knowledge, as
Speaker 2: real as any other forest dweller. Some indigenous leaders have
Speaker 2: expressed frustration that their ancestral knowledge is only taken seriously
Speaker 2: when validated by non native witnesses. Others worry that increased
Speaker 2: interest in these creatures could lead to their harm if
Speaker 2: they're ever definitively proven to exist. As we move deeper
Speaker 2: into the twenty first century, technology is changing the game
Speaker 2: for cryptid research in the Midwest. Trail cameras, thermal imaging,
Speaker 2: environmental DNA sampling, and smartphone ubiquity have created new opportunities
Speaker 2: for documentation and new challenges for those who would perpetrate hoaxes.
Speaker 2: Modern trail cameras can capture high definition images and video,
Speaker 2: detect heat signatures, and transmit data in real time. Researchers
Speaker 2: have deployed hundreds of these cameras across the Midwest, creating
Speaker 2: a surveillance network in areas of high activity. The results
Speaker 2: have been mixed but intriguing. While no definitive footage of
Speaker 2: Bigfoot has emerged, cameras have captured unexplained images, heat signatures
Speaker 2: too large for known animals, bipedal figures at the edge
Speaker 2: of detection, and strange eyeshine at heights that don't at
Speaker 2: any Midwest wildlife. The Internet has transformed cryptid research from
Speaker 2: a solitary pursuit into a collaborative effort. Online databases allow
Speaker 2: witnesses to report sightings immediately, creating real time maps of activity.
Speaker 2: Social media groups connect witnesses and researchers, allowing for rapid
Speaker 2: response to citing reports. A new generation of cryptid researchers
Speaker 2: is bringing scientific rigor to the field. Many have advanced
Speaker 2: degrees in biology, anthropology, or related fields. They're less interested
Speaker 2: in proving the existence of Bigfoot and more interested in
Speaker 2: investigating the phenomenon itself. What causes sightings, why they cluster
Speaker 2: in certain areas, what they tell us about human psychology
Speaker 2: and our relationship with the unknown. As our journey through
Speaker 2: the Midwest cryptid Encounters comes to an end. We're left
Speaker 2: with more questions than answers. Are these creatures real flesh
Speaker 2: and blood beings that have somehow escaped scientific documentation. Stay
Speaker 2: tuned for more sasquatch ott to see. We'll be right
Speaker 2: back after these messages. Are they misidentified known animals, their
Speaker 2: appearance distorted by fear, darkness, and expectation. Are they something
Speaker 2: else entirely? Interdimensional visitors, spiritual entities, or manifestations of our
Speaker 2: collective unconscious. What we can say with certainty is that
Speaker 2: thousands of people across the Midwest have had experiences they
Speaker 2: can't explain. These witnesses come from all walks of life,
Speaker 2: farmers and doctors, police officers and teachers, skeptics and believers.
Speaker 2: Their stories show remarkable consistency across time and geography, describing
Speaker 2: creatures that shouldn't exist, but somehow persist in our collective experience.
Speaker 2: The Midwest, often dismissed as flyover country, emerges from these
Speaker 2: accounts as a land of deep mystery. In the cornfields
Speaker 2: of Iowa, something walks on two legs between the rows.
Speaker 2: In the forests of Michigan and Wisconsin, Creatures that blend
Speaker 2: human and animal characteristics, challenge our understanding of biology. In
Speaker 2: the river valleys of Illinois and Missouri, beings that inspired
Speaker 2: indigenous legends continue to terrify modern witnesses. Perhaps the most
Speaker 2: important aspect of these stories isn't whether the creatures are
Speaker 2: real in a conventional sense, but what they tell us
Speaker 2: about our relationship with the unknown. In an age where
Speaker 2: we've mapped the human genome and sent robots to Mars,
Speaker 2: these encounters remind us that mystery still exists. There are
Speaker 2: still dark corners of the map, still experiences that defy
Speaker 2: easy explanation, still reasons to approach the forest with a
Speaker 2: mixture of wonder and caution. The witnesses I've spoken with
Speaker 2: over the years share one common trait. They no longer
Speaker 2: take the natural world for granted. Their encounters, whether with bigfoot, dogmen,
Speaker 2: or something stranger, still have awakened them to possibilities they
Speaker 2: never considered. They've learned that the boundary between the known
Speaker 2: and unknown is thinner than we think, and that sometimes,
Speaker 2: in the right conditions, something can cross over from one
Speaker 2: side to the other. As you go about your life
Speaker 2: in the Midwest, driving down rural roads at dusk camping
Speaker 2: in state parks, hunting in the early morning hours. Remember
Speaker 2: these stories not to live in fear, but to stay aware,
Speaker 2: To keep your eyes open, to listen to the forest
Speaker 2: with new ears, Because somewhere out there, in the space
Speaker 2: between civilization and wilderness, between day and night, between what
Speaker 2: we know and what we imagine, something is moving through
Speaker 2: the shadows. Maybe it's a bear, maybe it's a hoax,
Speaker 2: Maybe it's something we haven't discovered yet. Or maybe, just
Speaker 2: maybe it's exactly what witnesses say. It is a reminder
Speaker 2: that the world is stranger, wilder, and more wonderful than
Speaker 2: we ever imagined. The next time you hear an unusual
Speaker 2: howl in the night, when your dogs cower for no
Speaker 2: apparent reason, when you find a footprint that doesn't quite
Speaker 2: make sense, remember the stories you've heard tonight. Remember that
Speaker 2: you're not alone in experiencing the inexplicable. And remember that
Speaker 2: sometimes the most rational response to an irrational experience is
Speaker 2: simply to accept that there are things in this world
Speaker 2: we don't yet understand. The shadows of the Heartland hold
Speaker 2: their secrets close. They've kept them for centuries, revealing them
Speaker 2: only in glimpses, in moments of terror and wonder that
Speaker 2: transform ordinary people into witnesses of the extraordinary. The creatures
Speaker 2: of the Midwest, whatever they are, wherever they come from,
Speaker 2: remain free, wild, and mysterious. And perhaps that's exactly as
Speaker 2: it should be, because in the end, it's not about
Speaker 2: proving or disproving, believing or debunking. It's about the mystery itself,
Speaker 2: the questions that keep us humble, the possibilit that keep
Speaker 2: us wondering. It's about the stories we tell around campfires,
Speaker 2: the warnings we pass down through generations, the experiences that
Speaker 2: remind us that no matter how much we think we know,
Speaker 2: there's always something more waiting in the shadows. The Midwest's cryptids,
Speaker 2: from the Murphy's Borough mud Monster to the Michigan dog Man,
Speaker 2: from the Beast of Bray Road to the Giants of Minnesota,
Speaker 2: are more than just mysterious animals. They're part of our
Speaker 2: cultural DNA, woven into the fabric of rural life. Standing
Speaker 2: at the intersection of myth and reality, fear and fascination.
Speaker 2: They remind us that maps have edges, that knowledge has limits,
Speaker 2: and that sometimes on a dark night in a lonely place,
Speaker 2: anything is possible. So the next time someone tells you
Speaker 2: they've seen something impossible, something that shouldn't exist, don't be
Speaker 2: so quick to dismiss them. Listen to their story, look
Speaker 2: into their eyes, and remember that throughout history, the impossible
Speaker 2: has had a funny way of becoming possible, the mythical
Speaker 2: of becoming real, and the dismissed of becoming accepted. The
Speaker 2: search continues, the mystery endures, and somewhere in the Midwest tonight,
Speaker 2: something is walking through the woods on two legs, leaving
Speaker 2: footprints that don't match any known animal, reminding us that
Speaker 2: we share this world with mysteries we've yet to solve,
Speaker 2: and maybe we never will. Maybe that's the point. Maybe
Speaker 2: we need our monsters, our mysteries, our reminders that the
Speaker 2: world is bigger and stranger than our everyday experience suggests.
Speaker 2: Maybe the creatures of the Midwest serve a purpose beyond
Speaker 2: biology or zoology. Maybe they're here to keep us wondering,
Speaker 2: to keep us humble, to keep us connected to the
Speaker 2: wild and unknown parts of ourselves and our world. Whatever
Speaker 2: the truth, one thing is certain. The stories will continue.
Speaker 2: New witnesses will come forward, new evidence will emerge, new
Speaker 2: theories will be proposed, and the creatures of the Midwest
Speaker 2: will remain what they've always been. Shadows in the Heartland,
Speaker 2: mysteries in the corn reminders that no matter how much
Speaker 2: we think we've tamed this continent, something wild and free
Speaker 2: still roams the places between what we know and what
Speaker 2: we fear to discover. The hunt continues, the mystery deepens,
Speaker 2: and the shadows of the Heartland keep their secrets, revealing
Speaker 2: them one terrifying, wonderful encounter at a time until next week,
Speaker 2: when we explore another corner of America's cryptid map. Keep
Speaker 2: your eyes open, your camera's ready, and your mind's receptive
Speaker 2: to possibilities beyond the every day, because you never know
Speaker 2: when you might become the next witness, the next person
Speaker 2: with a story that no one will believe, but that
Speaker 2: you'll never forget. This has been our journey through Bigfoot
Speaker 2: encounters in America's Midwest. Thank you for joining me and
Speaker 2: exploring these shadows in the Heartland, And remember they're out there,
Speaker 2: whether we believe in them or not. Stay curious, stay cautious,
Speaker 2: and always always stay wondering.
Speaker 1: M HM.