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Speaker 1: Here's another odd email that I received. The title The

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writer gives it as strangeness in the South forty Our

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farm operation was several years behind the times. Our neighbors

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planted straight rose using GPS and enjoyed the comfortable, controlled

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environment of a modern tractor. We didn't always have the

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luxury of a cab guided by dead reckoning. The tractors

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that did have cabs were nothing more than a noisy box.

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To shelter from wind and rain. I had learned to

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layer clothing to utilize my own body heat. I actually

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preferred to drive an open station unit anyway. There was

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something about the feel and smell of that evening. The

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chill fall air was pleasant against my face, and I

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could smell the rich earth as the dirt glided and

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rolled through the three autumn plow I was pulling. I

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was operating one of my favorite tractors. It was built

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several years before I was even born, but it stood

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up proudly to the duties ask of it. The old

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farm all imperred like the well tuned machine it was,

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and I admired the shine of the red hood before me.

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Hents of warmth came from the exhaust stack that lightly

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glowed from the work strain, and it was a wonderful

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evening to be farming. Dusk was starting to darken the

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pale clear sky. Now the colorful pastel canvas displayed shades

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of blue, green and hints of red. It wasn't quite

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dark enough to really need lights, but shadows were starting

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to creep from the timbered field edge. Darkness was beginning

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to claim the landscape. This particular area of the farm

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could give a particular sense of foreboding. Tonight revealed to

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be one of those nights of eeriness. I turned around,

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was coming up the evening row was shaded by the

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timber edge, and I noticed corn stalks were jamming up

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in the middle plowshar, which would need kicking out before

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it plugged tightly. I rolled to a stop and idle

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the tractor down. Sighing dejectedly, I stood up and stepped

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backwards down to the U shape of the drawbar, and

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I stepped further down until I was on the ground.

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I took out an ear plug and let my hearing

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adjust to the surroundings. And it was silent, just way

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too quiet. The only sound was the tractor engine idling.

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This was very peculiar. My eyes gazed slowly and carefully around,

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but I didn't realize anything extraordinary. I should be hearing crickets,

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maybe some woodland cadences, but I heard nothing. My footsteps

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loudly crunched as I maneuvered myself to clear the pl

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i'll shear. My body felt like electric adrenaline was quickly flowing,

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and this caused me to go on high alert. I

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couldn't shake the feeling as if I was being watched,

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and I quickly bent to my task. The sooner I

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could get back on the operator's seat, the sooner I

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could move on tink. I rocked. The size of my

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fist hit the shear to my right. I jumped, barely

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missing bumping my head against the plow frame. As I

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turned to scan the tree line and other large rock

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zipped inches past my head. There had been power propelling

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this object, and I heard a whiz sound as it passed,

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impacting the ground with a hard thump. Behind me, What

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the hell, I exclaimed, not finishing my thought, a very large, dark,

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indescribable shadow moved directly in front of me. Out of

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the darkness, a man shaped form materialized. This was nobody

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I reckon. Now, I judged the figure to stand at

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least eight feet tall. A very primitive looking being with

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menacing dark eyes stood just beyond my tractor. Dark hair

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covered a majority of the neked body. This was very

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decidedly a male, and I'm not going into detail on that.

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Just trust me. He was well muscled and presented an

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athletic body a wrestler or a football player would desire.

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We stood within a few short yards of each other.

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Now I was trembling with fear, but I stood my ground,

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trying to hide my terror. I could feel a penetrating

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gaze as if I was being measured and evaluated. Finally,

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the mighty beast nonchalantly turned and walked away, as if

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I were being dismissed. I heard a loud crunch behind me,

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and I quickly turned to see a large fleeting shadow

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disappear into the woods on my right. There had been

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more than one shaking. I collected myself and I climbed

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back in the operator's chair on wobbly legs, and I

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was done plowing for the evening. In fact, I picked

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up a higher gear to get back to the farmstead.

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I didn't tell anybody about my encounter when I got

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to the barn lot, who would believe me? Anyway, I

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had been there and was still processing the event. Had

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it been nothing but my imagination. The rock throne that

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hit my plowsher had left a chalk like mark, though

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I didn't get harassed about coming in. With darkness falling

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and the old, reliable im didn't have the best lighting,

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which made it hard to see at night, the bitter

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chill was overtaking any warmth found. As the sunlight had retreated,

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it was time to call it a day. Anyway, I

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did overhear a mumbled comment about pushing the old tractor

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too fast. My racing, bumping and creating a clatter was unusual.

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Vintage and antique equipment were treated with great respect on

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this farm. I had great trepidation realizing I had to

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go back and finish plowing the south forty. The duties

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still needed completion, regardless of my attitude. The next morning,

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I swallowed as much of my fear as I could

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and I headed back to the field. The morning went

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with no incident. It was slightly warmer as the sun

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rose higher in the pale sky. My eyes were constantly

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scanning all the scenery, and my head was constantly swiveling

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in every direction possible. I was seeking any abnormalities hiding

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in the darker forest, and it was difficult to stay

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focused on the task at hand. And the electric adrenaline

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feeling had returned, and I sensed I was being watched again.

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My nose soon alerted me to an offensive smell. It

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was stronger when I neared the tree line. The pungent

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odor of wet, rank, dirty talk, combined with the smell

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of a dead animal attacked my sinuses. No skunk would

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have smelled more pleasant. I had planned the plowing so

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that I had worked my way to the edge of

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the middle, and each pass drew me closer to the trees.

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I dreaded my actions after last night's bizarre occurrence. The

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tree line felt as if nothing was closing in, making

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it easier for the spectators to reach out and grab

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me off the operator's seat. My imagination had gone into overdrive. Fortunately,

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the cornstalks weren't hampering the plow, and I wasn't real

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comfortable with the idea of stopping to clean that plug

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away anyway. I felt vulnerable enough. Slowly moving in the open,

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and this was one of the very few times I

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would have rather dealt with the noisy confinement of a cow.

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There probably wouldn't have been any more safety in an

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enclosed area. That was nothing more than an idea, a

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false sense of security. Another rock zip passed my ear

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with fierce intensity. The projectile had been close enough that

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I felt it brush the side of my face. One

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inch closer and I would have been struck in the eye.

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My immediate reaction was to mash the clutch pedal, bringing

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the unit to an abrupt halt. Angry, I looked all

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around but observed nothing out of the ordinary. Now it

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wasn't the reaction of fear. I was mad. After calming myself,

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I assessed the situation with more reason. The only place

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of concealment the rock could have come was still a

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good distance. Whoever or whatever made that pitch had more

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power and accuracy than a major league pitcher. Intelligence to

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no vulnerable points was also demonstrated. This knowledge was rather disturbing.

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I heard the sound of another tractor in the distance.

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The volume was increasing, and I observed another plow unit

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head to the field. I sat back down and eased

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out the clutch, and the old ms started forward with

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a slight strain, and I had my doubts, but maybe

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I'd be safer with the increase in numbers. The plowing

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force soon increased again, and shortly there were three tractors

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and plows working in unison. A three bottom plow pulled

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by another M and an old John Deere fell into

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the work, and the old A's distinctive chugging sound overtook

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most of the created human noise pollution. The electric feeling

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of adrenaline faded in short time, and I started to

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get more comfortable now that there was companionship. It never

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occurred to me the unpleasant odor still lingered until I

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observe one of the other operators sniffing the air. He

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gave me a puzzled look and pinched his nose and shrugged,

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indicating he had found the smell strange and offensive. He

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asked me later when we stopped, if I had hit

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a scump. Okay, this next story, I'm gonna leave The

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writer doesn't say, but I'm gonna leave his name anonymous anyway,

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and he claims this story is true. This is a

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whopper right here. Again, all these stories that I read.

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I have no idea if they're true or not, but

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it's the way people send them to me. Well, I

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can't assume anything, so I don't. But I make a

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judgment on those just like you do. But I'm just

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not gonna say what I think. Does that makes sense?

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All I do is read them, and it's up to

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you to decide whether you believe him or not. Back

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in the nineteen seventies, when we heard whoops and knocking

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across the lake from the cab and my family owned,

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were told it was drunk hippies. It was, after all,

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northern California. In the nineteen seventies, we lived in the

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San Francisco Bay Area, but we were in the Sierras

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year round. My family owned a cabin at six thousand

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feet elevation in Pine Crest off of Highway one eight.

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We skiing the winter and enjoyed the lake in the spring.

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In summer, and we hunted deer and cut wood from

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fall back in the winter. After high school in nineteen

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eighty four, I moved up to our cabin to get

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away from the city. The work was seasonal and during

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the winter months we worked the local ski resort and

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then from May to October. We were wilding firefighters in

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the stan Stanislaw National Forest. I think that's how you

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pronounce that st. St A n I S l e

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U S Stanislaw National Forest, and he says it all

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this sounds great when you're nineteen. The first year with

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the US Forest Service Department of Agriculture was nineteen eighty five.

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I won the job of leeds sawyer on a thirty

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man team. We were a hand crew who went where

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bulldozers and trucks couldn't go, either by humping in or

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by helicopter. Usually, wilderness areas have never been logged, and

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therefore they have no fire roads. The area of my forest,

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the Stanislaw National Forest, occupies and contains the Immigrant wilderness

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where Ron Moorhead recorded this Sierra Sounds. The first of

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my three encounters occurred a few hours to the north

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of the Plumus National Forest, in which the town of

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Quincy is located. The main fire camp was at the

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local fairgrounds, where the different teams from around the country

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gathered to organize for the fight. Our team drew a

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hell attack mission several miles beyond any type of road

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into a old growth wilderness area and that meant we

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would be dropped in by helicopter. We split the team

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to fight two separate dry lightning strikes, each about an acre.

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It takes four trips to ferry the entire team. Being

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the lead sawyer, I was always in the first flight

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with one of my crew leaders to assess the approach

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and fell any trees that needed to create rotor clearance.

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Sometimes that meant repelling down and lowering my saw by rope.

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I fell two trees and the landing zone was open. John,

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my crew leader, the First Nation's meewalk tribe member, and

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I started to establish the approach by tying ribbons and

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limbing up trees so the remainder of the crew could

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easily follow. It was an easy fire. Half the crew

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had ours out and coal before total dark. The plan

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was to bivouac and keep an eye on the burn

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until the morning when the birds would pick us up.

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It was a beautiful area with old growth forest and

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barely any moonlight reaching through the forest floor. We each

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took out our space blankets and found a good tree

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to bed up against, and we were exhausted and we

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fell asleep in no time. It was three thirty am.

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When I suddenly awoke and found myself staring at the

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outline of an eight to nine foot tall creature covered

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in dark air. I could see it move as he

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was swaying. Years of hunting all over the Sierra Nevada

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Mountains told me that this was not a bear, and

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I started to reach for my chainsaw, but I couldn't move.

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It felt like I was being held on every part

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of my body. I was furious. I wanted to cut

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this thing off at the knees, and that's when he

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turned and looked at me with I swear to God,

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red glowing eyes. I was never scared. I was too

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angry to be a friend. I was mentally yelling to

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the big bully to let me go and give me

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a shot. He looked at me as an older man

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would at an nineteen year old, and as clear as day,

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without making an audible sound, he said, thank you for

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taking care of our home. You are our friend. Well.

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I immediately felt calm, and we stared at each other

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for a long minute or two. He had a human

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face with only a beard for facial hair. He was

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four feet, white at the shoulders, and his hair hid

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any neck that he might have had, and his nose

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was turned down, almost human like. His arms were along

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with hands that hung down below his knees, and his

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chest was ripped. I knew the chainsaw would have been

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a bad idea. He was definitely a male, and he

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was standing a mere four feet from me, and he

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could have reached out and grabbed me at any moment.

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I started to listen with my ears. Everyone was snoring

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and making normal sleeping sounds. I looked back at him,

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00:16:05,679 --> 00:16:08,559
and he honestly gave me a polite nod, and then

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he turned and took three or four easy steps that

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00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,960
made no sound, and carried him in an unreasonable distance

249
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:19,240
to where he passed between two trees. At that point,

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00:16:19,279 --> 00:16:22,720
he just vanished where he had been looked like the

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00:16:22,799 --> 00:16:27,399
transporter Sparkles from a Star Trek episode. I'm no kidding.

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It was like beat me up, Scottie type stuff. And

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then it was dead quiet, and the guy sleeping four

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00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,200
feet away started whimpering quietly, and the guy next to

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00:16:38,279 --> 00:16:41,960
him made a sound like he was soiling his pants. Well,

256
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,960
I stayed quiet until the sky turned purple in the east.

257
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Before I finally got off to relieve myself. I turned

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00:16:49,519 --> 00:16:52,399
when I was done, and I saw John, my crew ball,

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00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:55,720
standing right behind me. He was looking at me with

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00:16:55,799 --> 00:16:59,720
a serious expression on his face. Who else was all?

261
00:16:59,759 --> 00:17:04,240
He said? Later, I told two other guys and my

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00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,960
crew about the incident, and this is where the Bigfoot

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00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:11,480
and the government messed with my life and my freedoms.

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I was sternly ordered to go get the other two

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00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:16,839
guys and bring them back to that spot, while the

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rest of the crew was sent to prep the LZ

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00:17:19,279 --> 00:17:23,119
for the choppers. John my boss, held up his hand

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and he walked back to us, and he told us

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not to speak, and then he advised us that as

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employees of the federal government, we now had top secret

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clearances and we were never to speak to anyone of

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the bear encounter, not even amongst ourselves. I begged him

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to answer just one question from each of us. He

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gave me a disappointed look, and he walked away to

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meet the others at the chopper. While the three of

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us made our way to the meadow. I tried to

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speak with my teammates, but to no avail. They were

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both clearly in shock and would not utter a word.

279
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We made the chopper ride back to town, where we

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each met individually with top FS brass. I don't know

281
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:13,039
what FS Forestry Service brass. After a lengthy deep briefing

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and some scary warnings, I headed for the showers and

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then I went to chow. I was told that both

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of my team members were sick and had been sent

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home due to smoke inholation. I made the decision then

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to shut up Levenworth Supermacs didn't sound too inviting to me,

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and when we left Quincy, we traveled back to our

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forest to work and wait for the next fire call.

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Now I did my best to act normal, but I

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felt like everyone knew my secret. It was a long

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time before I was able to relax in my own

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skin again. During the mid season, we were called to

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go a couple of hours south to then Sierra National

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Forest east of Fresno, near Sequoia an Yosemite National Park.

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The fire was slow moving, so John and I hiked

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up a ridge across the canyon from the burn that

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was slowly moving up the opposite ridge through a stand

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of trees. Along the other ridge was a logged area

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00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,079
that ran to the top, with a stand of trees

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00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:17,559
that ran along to its left and standing in the

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middle of the logged area. About halfway up the ridge

302
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,039
was an eight to nine foot reddish brown bigfoot or

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00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,400
this guy right sabe. I don't know where that word

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00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:30,680
came from. It's pretty new. It's pretty new. People are

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00:19:30,759 --> 00:19:33,880
using it all over YouTube, but we'll call them sabe.

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Whatever it was standing there assessing the fire just as

307
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we were, all I could think about was how the

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bully held me down with his frieze ray eyes the

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00:19:44,319 --> 00:19:47,000
last time we met. Now, I put as much concern

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into broadcasting one very clear message to this bastard, and

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it was two words, but I don't want to repeat them. Here.

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We were at least four hundred and fifty yards in

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a tree line across the canyon, but he looked directly

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00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,920
at me. He gave me a slight wave by raising

315
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,720
his hand, and took another look at the fire. And

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then he turned toward the opposite stand of trees, and wow,

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he covered the three hundred yard side hill to the

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opposite stand of trees and a time and speed that

319
00:20:18,319 --> 00:20:21,920
was not physically possible by the physics that we understand

320
00:20:22,039 --> 00:20:25,839
right now. The weirdest part was that he looked like

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00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:31,480
he was gliding. Each stride covered huge distances, and then

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just like before, he passed into a tree line and vanished,

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00:20:35,519 --> 00:20:40,000
and he was followed by two softball sized orbs. It

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was midday and very clear, with all the smoke traveling

325
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up over the other ridge well. I turned and looked

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to John, and he smiled at me, and he said,

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what did you think of that bear? It didn't mind

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00:20:52,319 --> 00:20:54,880
speak to us so much as it sent an emphatic,

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00:20:55,079 --> 00:20:57,880
thankful feeling. Now I wouldn't want to be on this

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giant's bad side. Nothing was said between John and me,

331
00:21:02,519 --> 00:21:05,359
but again, it didn't frighten me nearly as much as

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it amazed me and made me angry at the jerks

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00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,559
who had been letting me run around this forest since

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I was five years old without telling me that the

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Boogeyman was real. The last time I had occasion to

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00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:21,839
work with our fellow protectors happened midway through my second

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00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,400
fire season. We were dispatched to Yosemite, which shares a

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border with our home forest. We grouped at the top

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of the glacier point at the ski area for helicopter operations,

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00:21:34,759 --> 00:21:38,799
and being in the first sortie, I got a great ride.

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00:21:39,079 --> 00:21:41,920
We dropped over a glacier point and went straight toward

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00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,279
the valley floor, and the pilot pulled level at five

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00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,720
hundred feet and banked off El Capitain and then circled

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00:21:48,759 --> 00:21:53,359
toward Bridal Veil Falls, where the fire was located. On

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00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,039
this fire, I had to repel down and have my

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00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:59,359
saw lowered, and the boss made a couple of sweeps

347
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:01,880
while I was fed, selling three trees giving us the

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00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,799
clearance for the roads. I had already started to move

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00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,559
up the slope toward the fire, tying ribbons and limbing trees,

350
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,079
and as I came over a rise, another sabe was

351
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,279
standing twenty feet away. Well, I started to laugh at

352
00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:20,799
the silly smile on its face. He in some way

353
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:24,880
communicated that I met his kin and that I was welcome.

354
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He had me follow him up rout I never would

355
00:22:28,799 --> 00:22:32,039
have seen otherwise I was in a perfect spot to

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00:22:32,079 --> 00:22:36,079
start the initial attack on the burn line. The crew

357
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,519
followed my trail up and John came over to me

358
00:22:38,559 --> 00:22:42,599
and he said, you gotta love these bears. Huh. Well,

359
00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,680
those are the official and unofficial encounters that I'm officially

360
00:22:46,759 --> 00:22:49,799
not supposed to talk about. Thank you and the other

361
00:22:49,839 --> 00:22:52,119
brave souls who gave me the courage to write the

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00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,440
wrongs that I can, and that's the end of his email.

363
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,480
I'm not sure I didn't read any wrongs in this email,

364
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,359
but I think there are many who were going to

365
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,960
find this type of encounter quite outlandish. You know. I

366
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,440
think this is like putting magical powers on these bigfoot

367
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,079
That's not me. I thought the story was great. I'm

368
00:23:14,079 --> 00:23:16,720
not saying that, but I bet there are some if

369
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:18,680
I'm right, there are some out there who are going

370
00:23:18,759 --> 00:23:21,039
to go, oh, this is kind of a crazy story.

371
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,680
But this guy obviously sounds like he knows about fire

372
00:23:24,759 --> 00:23:28,480
jumping and firefighting in the national forests. And these guys

373
00:23:28,519 --> 00:23:31,039
are raw high dudes. They're not. They don't play around.

374
00:23:31,079 --> 00:23:34,799
They're in fantastic shape, they eat good, they exercise all

375
00:23:34,839 --> 00:23:37,799
the time, and they when they're fighting fires, they're out

376
00:23:37,839 --> 00:23:41,960
there for days, days without sleep. I read a book

377
00:23:42,039 --> 00:23:44,480
not too long ago, well it was actually ten or

378
00:23:44,519 --> 00:23:49,519
fifteen years ago by Norman maclan. It was I think

379
00:23:49,559 --> 00:23:52,640
it was called young Men and Fire. It was about

380
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,559
the man Gulch Fire. I can't remember. Maybe it was

381
00:23:55,599 --> 00:24:00,640
in the sixties, maybe eight or ten firefighters died fighting

382
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,599
that fire, and they learned a lot from it. It's

383
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,279
a great book. Norman McLain. Norman McLain wrote the book

384
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,680
A River Runs Through It that was later turned into

385
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,680
a movie with Brad Pitt and some other guys, and

386
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:16,720
it's a good movie. It's a good movie, but the

387
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,240
book is better. But he wrote a piece of nine.

388
00:24:19,759 --> 00:24:22,359
A River Runs Through It is fiction, But he wrote

389
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,519
a piece of nonfiction called young Men and Fire. I

390
00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:30,119
strongly recommend you read that book. Norman McClain was a

391
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:35,200
fantastic writer. He was a very smart, scholarly writer. And

392
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,119
when you can read stuff like that, you really learn something.

393
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,200
So I don't know, I'm just rambling about stuff that

394
00:24:41,279 --> 00:24:44,119
came to my memory as I was reading this. And

395
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,079
these firefighters have always impressed me, you know, the kind

396
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,319
of work they do and the things they're willing to

397
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,240
do to fight these fires. I think they're in it

398
00:24:52,279 --> 00:24:55,119
for the adventure. But to run into a big foot

399
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:57,079
out in the middle of the woods and him, do

400
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:01,480
mine speak with you, you see orbs or involved. There

401
00:25:01,559 --> 00:25:06,079
is no aggressive feelings or any fear of these things.

402
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,079
They kind of, according to this this bigfoot or Sabe

403
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,480
as he called it, seems to mind speak with him

404
00:25:13,519 --> 00:25:17,240
to calm him. Isn't that cool. I think that's really cool. Well,

405
00:25:17,279 --> 00:25:19,480
thanks to the writer for the story. I thought it

406
00:25:19,519 --> 00:25:20,039
was great.