WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.120 You're listening to Bigfoot Society, and I'm Jeremiah Byron. In 2 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.879 this show, we go beyond the campfire stories to bring 3 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:08.720 you first hand encounters from people who say they've seen 4 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:12.880 something impossible. From backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers to 5 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:16.719 quiet farms and crowded highways. The stories come from everywhere, 6 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.719 and each one leaves us with more questions than answers. 7 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:21.320 These are the. 8 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:24.800 Voices of the people who've lived it. To settle in, 9 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.359 because today you'll hear another account that just might change 10 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:31.199 the way you see the woods forever. So stay with us, 11 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:33.159 all right, big the Society. You've got the privilege of 12 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.560 talking to mister Jack Bowers today. Jack is an individual 13 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.840 who likes to refer to himself as a collector of 14 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:43.119 Bigfoot stories from out in the great state of Washington. 15 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.000 And welcome to the show, Jack. How are you doing today? 16 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:48.960 Doing fine? Doing fine? 17 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:50.880 Thank you absolutely. 18 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.479 You know I'm a big fan of You've had a 19 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.479 few episodes over on the Salish Sasquatch Channel. We're good 20 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:02.039 friends to that channel over here. Your love love those 21 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.400 guys Jonathan and Sarah Brown, great great people. But you 22 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:10.239 know you've reached out and we got connected, and it's 23 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:12.920 a privilege to have you on the show today to 24 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:16.680 have a conversation about what you have collected over the 25 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:20.640 years with your stories. But you know, let's start with 26 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:24.159 this Jack. Is there something that first got you into 27 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:26.879 the subject. Do you remember when you first started getting 28 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.400 into bigfoot in your life? 29 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:34.040 Oh? Yeah, very much so. My aunt spokes lived in 30 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:40.680 Fort Bragg, California, and they had an experience with Bigfoot, 31 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:47.000 mister Bigfoot on their property where the animal and I 32 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:50.319 refer to them as animal. I don't know if we've 33 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:55.159 made that connection exactly yet, but anyway, it poked his 34 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:57.159 head right in the screen door and they were about 35 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.200 two feet away from it, and they shared that with me. 36 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.560 That was hook enough. I've been on it ever since. 37 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:09.479 And that is nineteen sixty two, so we go back 38 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:09.759 a bit. 39 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:13.879 Oh my goodness. So that incident was I mean pre 40 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.719 Patterson Gimlin film by about seven years. 41 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:21.360 Yes, or five years, sorry, five years. I want to 42 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:23.240 get into that and talk about it a little bit. 43 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.159 It's because it's kind of interesting. It was, if you 44 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:34.879 don't mind. It was nineteen fifty eight when Jerry Cruz, 45 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:39.199 who was a bulldozer operator in California, in that near 46 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:45.759 area run across the set of footprints in the dust 47 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:49.840 after I think he was walking the grade after he bulldozed, 48 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:51.280 or it was the first thing in the morning or 49 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:54.719 some such. Anyway, he came across the footprints and they 50 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:58.639 intrigued him enough. He had no idea what they were, 51 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.439 just like a lot of us, and he got ahold 52 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:05.240 of the gentleman from the He was another guy with 53 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:10.400 a journalist at the Humboldt Times and the Buff Creek Times. 54 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.919 His name was Andrew Gizzoli, and he came out there, 55 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.520 took pictures, wrote up an article on it. And that 56 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:20.680 was nineteen fifty eight, and so that kind of started 57 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:26.800 the local interest anyway in Bigfoot. And by the way, 58 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:30.919 that was the year that Jeff Meldrum was born. And 59 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:34.879 I hate to see his passion because he's he was 60 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:36.560 a superb individual. 61 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:37.439 He really was. 62 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:41.599 Yeah, rest in peace, definitely, Yeah. 63 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:46.840 Yep, absolutely. In nineteen sixty two, still, I mean, there 64 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:51.520 was an occasional story with leak out and around, but nobody, 65 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:56.319 nobody had really took it to heart, you might say, 66 00:03:56.599 --> 00:03:59.719 matter of fact. Really, in fact, it hasn't been until 67 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.159 the last few years that and some of the some 68 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:08.360 of the TV programs and movies and whatnot, really have 69 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:15.039 launched into a more complete dissertation, you might say, of 70 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:17.800 what's going on in the Bigfoot community. They've been there 71 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:22.240 all along. They've been there in antiquity, probably much longer 72 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.360 than you and I have been part of the scene. 73 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:31.759 So in any event, my in laws lived in Fort Bragg, California, 74 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:34.839 and that's right on the coast, real coast of the coast. 75 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:38.040 Matter of fact, careful you you'll get your face washed 76 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:41.319 right there. But anyway, and they looked out of town 77 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:48.040 a little bit, and their names Bud and Angie Jenkins 78 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:53.959 and her brother Bud kind of shared the same house 79 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:59.000 from time to time because Bud and Bob would team 80 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:05.519 up on trucking adventures of sorts, hauling preate and went on, 81 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.199 and so to make things work, Bobby come over and 82 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:12.399 spend the night, and they'd get up together and go anyway, 83 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:18.680 it was in February of sixty two that Angie had 84 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:20.879 to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, 85 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.439 about three o'clock I guess it was, she says, and 86 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.639 got up. I was heading for the bathroom. She happened 87 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:31.000 to look out the living room door, I mean window rather, 88 00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:36.439 and she saw something towering above their six foot fence, 89 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:41.839 and she thought it was a bear, and so she 90 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:44.759 didn't want that cred or whatever it was in her garden. 91 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:46.839 And she went back to. 92 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.839 The bedroom and told Bud, get up, get the shotgunners 93 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:55.040 a bear in my in my garden and in course 94 00:05:55.079 --> 00:05:57.560 of the vegetable garden, a little bit of everything. 95 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:04.040 And so he's kind of groggy and everything's just he 96 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:08.839 was sound asleep when he woke him up, and he 97 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:11.319 wanted to know where the shotgun was. Well, she had 98 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:14.240 moved it for one reason or another. So he's in 99 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:18.600 there fumbling around looking for the shotgun. In the meantime, Bob, 100 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:22.319 who was on the couch in the front room, woke up, 101 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:26.720 and she expressed her interest in having that animal run 102 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.079 out of her garden. And he said, I'll just run 103 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:32.399 out here and yell at it, screamed at it, whatever 104 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:34.920 it takes, and it'll be gone and we'll be okay. 105 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:38.000 So he went through the front door and out down 106 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:42.079 the side of the house in the meantime. In the meantime, 107 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.160 Bud came out and he says, I got the shotgun 108 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:49.839 where's the shells? And she says, I don't know. I 109 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:54.399 put him somewhere and sounds like home to me. But anyway, 110 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:58.360 the upshot is he says, well, where's Bob? And then 111 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.319 she says, he went down the out around the back. 112 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.240 He's going to yell at that bear, get rid of 113 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.120 it and scare it off or whatever. And so they 114 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:09.680 both walked up to the door. There was a there 115 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.439 was the main door and then the screen door, and 116 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:14.959 they pushed the screen door, well the other doors open. 117 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:17.120 She puts the screen door open, and they both looked 118 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.879 down the sidewalk on the side of the house and 119 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:23.680 here comes Bob literally on his hands and knees, kind 120 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.399 of almost lower than that, if you can imagine, He's 121 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:30.199 crawling up the sidewalk, and right behind him, literally right 122 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:37.120 behind him, is this animal towering over him and just 123 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:42.399 walking along watching them, watching Bob crawl along, and Bud 124 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:45.319 and Angie they went into kind of a shock. They 125 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:47.800 didn't know what to do. Bob crawled into the house 126 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:50.800 and they're trying to shut the door, and they couldn't 127 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:53.839 get the door shut, and the animal would be and 128 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:56.319 there's a reason for that animal had was right there 129 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:59.920 at the door, bent over and looking at him from 130 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.000 two feet maybe three at the most. I mean they're 131 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:06.399 right on top of each other. Two of them are 132 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.439 trying to get the door shut, and Bigfoot standing and 133 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:11.120 are looking at him. And they said it had a 134 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:15.959 very interesting look on its face. It had that look 135 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:23.120 of pure curiosity and not anything of an aggravating or 136 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:28.439 a caustic whatever look to it. Anyway, it had to 137 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.600 bend over to look inside. An average door is seventy 138 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:36.000 eight inches, and so so you take seventy eight inches 139 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:37.799 and it still had to bend over to look in. 140 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:44.360 I'm sure we're talking about an eighth foot specimen and 141 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:47.600 that type of thing. Anyway, the upshot of the whole 142 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:56.720 thing was that, thank you, they couldn't shut the screen 143 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:01.320 door because because mister Bigfoot had hands on the sill 144 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.480 and it was banging, the door frame was banging on 145 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:09.919 the hand the screen door frame, and they couldn't get 146 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:15.120 the door shut, and so without thinking, they backed up 147 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.720 a little bit and shut the main door. It did shut. 148 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:22.120 They're understanding there in shock, and the animal walked off, 149 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:27.080 And I hope nobody gets all excited excited. I'm eighty 150 00:09:27.159 --> 00:09:29.240 years old enough I want to call it an animal, 151 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.759 will I mean, I know that there's some talk about 152 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:36.320 relic common it's and I'll buy that. I don't I 153 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:38.559 don't have a problem with all that. But my general 154 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.799 frame of reference is an animal. So anyway, the upshot 155 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:46.240 is it wandered off back down the sidewalk side of 156 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.639 the house, and the angie called the police right away 157 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:56.919 from from Fort Bragg, and they didn't get out there 158 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:01.399 until about four o'clock or better. And there's footprints, they 159 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:05.240 cast the footprints and everything else of that nature. And 160 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:11.840 there was a print on the on the door frame, 161 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.720 post or whatever you would want to call it, and 162 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:20.919 they left that there because the critter had his hands 163 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.519 in the dirt somewhere on the line and left a 164 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:28.120 dirty mark on the door. And that marked from heel 165 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.320 to the tip of the fingers was eleven and a 166 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:35.919 half inches. That's that's that's a big span. And anyway, 167 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:41.960 Bob finally got his wits about him, but he couldn't 168 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:44.480 hold a cup of coffee, they said, for about half 169 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:48.159 an hour. He was just shaken so bad. And it 170 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.480 happened fast enough for button Anchie himself. But they didn't 171 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:55.639 know what to think about it. They know at that time. 172 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:58.919 I doubt if there's very very few people who were 173 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.320 versed in anything as it regards to big pot. But 174 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:09.320 in any event, the sheriff came out, they cast the 175 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.799 prints and that type of thing, and was apparently had 176 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:17.360 been raining. That's February and on the seaquelst like that. 177 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:21.159 It didn't have to rain very much to to dampen 178 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.039 things up because the snow and not the snow, but 179 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.559 the ocean currents are bringing it in all the time, 180 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:31.639 especially that time of year. But most of the casting 181 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.200 didn't The footprints didn't last all that long, and they 182 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:38.360 weren't thinking in terms of keeping. It was the Sheriff's 183 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.399 department and wanted the cast, so they did that, took 184 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:45.639 the took the report and and all that, this, that 185 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:48.240 and the other thing, and they finally got settled down 186 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:52.799 and back to a normal routine. And within two weeks 187 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.480 they noticed and this goes on where other other parts 188 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.879 of the story are not told, but within a couple 189 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:06.440 of weeks they had other incident there where where Bud 190 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:10.480 would go out to the chicken coop and they kept 191 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:13.039 a bag of a big bag of dog food there 192 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.480 and they kept the chickens, of course, and the chicken feed, 193 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.600 and a two by four rail along the inside wall. 194 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:25.000 They had a egg carton and when the egg carton 195 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.639 they would put the eggs in there every day or 196 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.240 every other day, and when the egg carton got filled 197 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:32.399 up or closal full, they'd bring it in the house 198 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:36.399 and put a new fresh carton out there. Well, they 199 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:39.279 he'd gone out there and fed the dog one day 200 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:43.679 and there was half a dozen eggs in there, and 201 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.559 he left him. The next morning when he went out 202 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.480 to do it again, there were no eggs, and it 203 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:50.519 was it was clean. In other words, there was no 204 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:55.320 broken shells, nothing of that sort at all. It was 205 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:59.919 just they were just gone, disappeared. Well, at the same time, 206 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:02.759 he had a large forty to fifty pound bag of 207 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:07.480 dog pud there and it went from almost full down 208 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:11.720 to about half full overnight, and that type of thing. 209 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:15.039 So they it occurred to and there was no mess. 210 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:17.159 You know, if the bear were to have gotten in 211 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:20.919 that or something of that nature, it would have been 212 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:25.200 a mess, and just how those animals are anyway, But 213 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:30.399 this was gone. And then they realized that mister Bigfoot 214 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:35.039 was coming back from time to time and helping himself, 215 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:39.159 and they just decided when and she would be alone 216 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:43.519 for two or three days at her time, Angie. So 217 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:46.080 they decided that that was not a good place for them, 218 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:50.159 and they and they moved and so that that left 219 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:54.919 that out. In the meantime, mister edwards from Ashland, Oregon, 220 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:58.919 which is north from there, of course, and he had 221 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.720 heard about this. And I don't know how how he 222 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:04.360 actually had heard about it. I'm still kind of up 223 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:08.240 in the air on that one, but that he was 224 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:14.360 a an art professor of sorts, and he got wind 225 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:17.879 of it, and and and very he was very interested 226 00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:22.120 in all things big. But and he came down and 227 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:27.159 drew h drew up a sketch of what where the 228 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.519 animal would have set and where this that and the 229 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:34.279 other thing. And he traced the literal tracing of the 230 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.399 handprint on the on the door sill or the post, 231 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:41.799 one of the two right in there, and uh, and 232 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:43.720 measured it and all that kind of stuff. And I 233 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:47.519 would love to get my hands on that, on that print, 234 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.799 but Cliff Barrickman has I don't think he's got the 235 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.759 original by mistake, and he may have. I have seen 236 00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:59.639 I've seen a print down there, but I don't know 237 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.600 that it's the original or if it was just a 238 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.919 drawing off a drawing. So but in any event, uh, 239 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:10.000 and then and then a person, a normal person's hand 240 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:15.519 was overlaid on the print, so they can get a 241 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:20.639 good comparison. Very interesting, Okay, very interesting. 242 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:23.000 So that this makes yeah, because I was like, man, 243 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.320 I've heard I've heard this somewhere, so that makes sense. 244 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.720 So it may be called out in the NABC museum, 245 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:31.360 you're saying, but I also found this was in the news. 246 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:33.559 This is a pretty big deal. I was in the 247 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:37.480 Madeira Tribune, and I'll have the link to that article 248 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:41.000 in the show notes for this episode. And I've been 249 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.960 reading the article along while you've been telling the story, 250 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.240 and I mean, yeah, they they pretty much got what 251 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:53.000 happened in that article. Yeah, it's just it's a fascinating story. 252 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:56.000 And I'm not surprised that that puts you down the 253 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:57.960 road to more Bigfoot for sure. 254 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:05.080 Oh yeah, Well, at the time, we lived in Federal Way, Washington, 255 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:09.480 which is it wasn't much of a community between Seattle 256 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:17.000 and Tacoma and bud Nanjie had their daughter. My aunt 257 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:22.120 lived up in that area, des Moines, and they came 258 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.840 up to see her within a day or two and 259 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:32.360 shared the story with their daughter, and at the same 260 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:36.399 time it was intriguing enough for to them obviously that 261 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:40.159 they came over to our home in Fedderway and we 262 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.279 all sat there and I think I was sixteen or 263 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:46.759 seventeen at the time, and to be sixteen or seventeen 264 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:51.000 again anyway at the time, and they shared the story 265 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.840 and there was no equivocating it was. It was what 266 00:16:54.919 --> 00:16:58.039 it was. It was. It was an honest portrayal of 267 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.399 the events of that night and court, which is interesting 268 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:06.559 to me because I started out on the positive. I 269 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.720 never had a negative thought about whether it was or wasn't. 270 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:15.079 My aunt's fokes came up, they explained what was going on, 271 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:18.359 the whole story. They later all out there and there 272 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:20.359 was no place it out. I mean, it was there. 273 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:23.839 It was what it was. And I know that there's 274 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:27.960 people that they'll get all excited and say, well, it's 275 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.279 just a hoax or something different, or who knows what, 276 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:33.799 and okay, God bless them, they can believe what they 277 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:37.960 want to believe. But I know these folks well up 278 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:43.440 until they're passing, well enough to know that they weren't 279 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:47.880 playing games with this event, and so that adds a 280 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:53.519 little predility credulity to what I understand. And like I said, 281 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.440 I started out positive. I never doubted the fact from 282 00:17:57.440 --> 00:17:59.599 that point on because I'd never heard about it before 283 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.960 that there was such a critter and he was real, 284 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:05.519 and that he was out there. Now, there wasn't a 285 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.440 lot of mubviously, at least so far as we were concerned. 286 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:12.759 But at least I started on the positive and not 287 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.279 on the negative side of that. So that's been a 288 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:19.160 help for me as I go along. I can disregard 289 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:22.200 any number of accounts over the years that I've heard 290 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:29.039 and that are over dramatic. You can just kind of 291 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.799 tell that things have been added and everything. And I'm 292 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.839 not picking on other people, that's their business. But my 293 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:38.440 dad and I used to hunt together a lot, and 294 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:42.640 when we hunt, when we were hunting, if it was 295 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:46.640 if the animal was such and such, we didn't embellish 296 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:50.200 that it was such and such, it was so tall, 297 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:53.920 so big, this that and the other thing. And we 298 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.680 had elected a long long time ago just to tell 299 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:01.599 the truth exactly way it was. And that's how we 300 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:04.039 were quite frankly, that's how I lived my own life now, 301 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:08.480 and so I don't have to I don't have to apologize. 302 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.440 Somebody says, well, that's not right, this is this is 303 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:14.640 how it was. That's not the. 304 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:16.359 Case, right, you know how it is? 305 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:20.880 Yeah? Absolutely, yeah, And you have a sense of being 306 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:24.079 able to read right through other things. But anyway, go ahead. 307 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.519 So Jack, you're you're around sixteen seventeen at this time, 308 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.440 and it really affects you. Did it affect you in 309 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:33.759 the way where you started to go out looking for 310 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:37.680 yourself or you just started noticing more and more people 311 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:39.519 telling their bigfoot stories. 312 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:43.519 Well, yeah, well there wasn't a lot of big foot 313 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.720 stories out there. It wasn't there was. I was not 314 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:50.920 in a physical position, you know, lived close to the 315 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:53.720 woods or something like that, or had that type of thing. 316 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:57.559 Matter of fact, anytime I would relay that story, and 317 00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:59.880 I was in high school, of course I would relate 318 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:03.839 that story. They would do to me the same thing 319 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:06.799 they're doing to any number of books today. They figure 320 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:13.359 it was just all cow squeezings, you know, nothing, nothing real, 321 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.440 and so you can only get to go so far 322 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.119 with that, and you and you stop talking about it 323 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:21.920 because it doesn't do any good. And I think that 324 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:24.680 most of us realize you're in the big Foot community. 325 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.039 That that's which has happened across the board. There's been 326 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:31.680 so many situations that people get tired of being called 327 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:35.240 liars or hoaxers or any number of other things, or 328 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:40.319 maybe insane. I might get that anyway, insane, So we 329 00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:44.240 just clam up. Well, here I am in high school 330 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.279 and working my way through there, and I'm chasing girls 331 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.759 just like every other red blooded American boy and going 332 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.400 through the motions there. And so I just put it 333 00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.440 on the back burner for a while, and time to 334 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:02.920 time a story would come up and I would I 335 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:06.160 would read about it, think about it, but they're pretty 336 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:12.640 thin out there. I have wondered about other situations there 337 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:15.680 as far as big Foot was concerned. Let me get 338 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:23.240 into it this way. Jerry Cruz was was the bulldozer 339 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:26.160 operator in California up on the I think it was 340 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.319 in the Bluff Creek area, and that's where he first 341 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:33.680 found the footprint, Like I mentioned before, and and and 342 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:40.279 uh what's his name? Andrew Giaroli kind of uh uh 343 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:44.279 designed around it as verbiage. There a big thoat and 344 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.920 it just kind of snowball from there. As as a name. 345 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:55.680 I'm wondering if h Roger Patterson, of the of that fame, 346 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:02.039 if he didn't come in contact with somebody or heard 347 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:08.240 about or something the connection between my relatives and Bigfoot, 348 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:10.039 and if you followed it up on that, because I 349 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:13.079 know it was keenly interested in anything big butt, but 350 00:22:13.160 --> 00:22:16.240 I don't know if that was. Excuse me that my 351 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:19.799 our episode in sixty two had anything to do with 352 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:23.799 his interest in sixty seven. So that and of course 353 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:25.799 they're all dead now, well. 354 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:28.039 Except for Bob came on. 355 00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:31.279 But yeah, Roger Patterson passed away pretty early. 356 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:35.440 Yeah, yeah, yeah, he had other other things going. But anyway, 357 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:38.680 so you get the idea that, well, I've always been 358 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.079 curious about it, and I wish somebody was around where 359 00:22:41.079 --> 00:22:43.160 I could talk to him, say where did you come 360 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.519 up with this? Right, and would be able to fill 361 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:49.240 in those blanks, But they'll never be filled so far 362 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:52.480 as I know. But anyway, and that's is what it is, 363 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:57.599 what it is. So anyway, so nineteen fifty eight and 364 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:02.440 nineteen sixty two was our my family's incident with that 365 00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:06.599 particular critter, and they never talked about it after that, 366 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:14.799 although my near aunt her Angie's daughter and I were well, 367 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.400 she was eleven years older than I was at the time, 368 00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:22.559 and her and my uncle Hawley, they would talk about this, 369 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:25.519 they get together, but they never went outside the family. 370 00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:28.119 They kept it kind of in the family area. And 371 00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:31.000 even up to her death, her just a year or 372 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:35.559 so ago, they never never equivocated at all. It is 373 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:39.160 what it is, and they talked about it, and there's 374 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.759 a certain amount of family pride, you might say, in 375 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:46.160 the fact that it even happened to them or with 376 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:52.400 them anyway. So with that, they come up five years later, 377 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:58.839 nineteen sixty seven as a Bob Gimblin Roger Patterson event 378 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:05.000 Creek thing and the film and all that kind of stuff. Well, 379 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:09.759 in nineteen sixty seven, I had just got home from Vietnam, Okay, 380 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:16.200 and I'm kind of unwinding my mind. From that time on, 381 00:24:16.359 --> 00:24:18.400 did a lot of hunting, did a lot of climbing 382 00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:24.200 in the hills. Still Bigfoot was not on my agenda. Actually, 383 00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:27.240 it was just hunting and fishing and all that kind 384 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:30.160 of stuff. And I was out of the service by 385 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.599 the way. I came home and that was it. And 386 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:39.039 then at the same time I started dating this crazy 387 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:43.720 lady that I'm married. We've been together now fifty seven years. 388 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:49.079 So anyway, so my interests, I don't know if you 389 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:51.960 can follow that, but my interest was off in one 390 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:56.240 in another direction, and I can't remember where it was. 391 00:24:56.519 --> 00:25:00.880 That all along I would catch a news paper article 392 00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:04.279 or some glimpse of something that was going on in 393 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:09.480 the big fifth community, and they were kind of uh tight, 394 00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:13.039 you might say, they weren't out there just spreading the news, 395 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:16.920 and even if they did, nobody would believe anyway most 396 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.039 of the time. So that was all of that. But 397 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:28.400 then I started reading by Green and Steenbergh, Cramps, vnder Nagel, 398 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:32.960 all those people. I started absorbing the books that they 399 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.839 had out, and their and their newspaper articles. All of 400 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:41.519 that started to backfill what what I already knew a 401 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:45.920