WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.000 Now one of your pudding. I got a string going 2 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.120 on here, something just because my dog. Something killed your dog, 3 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:08.960 my dog. We're flying through the air over the tree. 4 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:13.640 I don't know how it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm 5 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.120 really confused. All I saw was my dog coming over 6 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:17.800 the fence and he was dead. And once you hit 7 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.679 the ground like, I didn't see any cars. All I 8 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:38.320 saw was my dog coming over the fence. Sat, what 9 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:42.960 are you putting? We got some wonder or something crawling 10 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:51.920 around out here? Did you see what it was? 11 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:52.240 Or was it was? 12 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:54.719 Standing enough? I'm out here looking through the window now 13 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:57.479 and I don't see anything. I don't want to go outside, 14 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:05.480 Jesus Quice, you better Hellohet thebody out here? What quin? 15 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:07.640 I'm out there? I thought of a bit about tech 16 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:08.480 forty nine. 17 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:08.959 I don't know. 18 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.239 Easy ann ount there, Yeah, I'm walking right. 19 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:11.560 Hey. 20 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:15.319 You ever notice how the really strange stories never start 21 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:18.719 with you're not going to believe this. The people who've 22 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:23.519 seen something genuinely inexplicable, they tell it straight, no embellishment, 23 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:27.079 no dramatic build up. They just lay out what happened 24 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.280 and let you decide what to make of it. That's 25 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.439 what struck me about the accounts you're about to hear. 26 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:37.400 These aren't campfire tales or internet creepy pastas. They're told 27 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.719 with the kind of matter of fact clarity that comes 28 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:42.799 from people still trying to make sense of their own experiences. 29 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:49.239 Construction workers, truck drivers, government employees, regular people who stumbled 30 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:52.560 into something extraordinary and came out the other side changed. 31 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:56.480 I've been collecting these stories for years now. Not the 32 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:00.480 sensational ones that make the rounds on paranormal podcasts, The 33 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:03.760 quiet ones, the ones people only share after a few 34 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:06.519 drinks or late at night when they're tired of carrying 35 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.879 it alone. The ones that don't fit the standard Bigfoot 36 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.599 narrative we've all heard a hundred times. No whooping calls 37 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:18.199 echoing through the forest, No mysterious equipment failures at convenient moments, 38 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:23.800 no spiritual awakenings or telepathic communications. Just encounters with something 39 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:27.520 that shouldn't exist, something that moves through our world with 40 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:32.199 an intelligence we don't quite understand. What interests me most 41 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:35.560 about these accounts isn't just what people saw, it's how 42 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:39.360 they process it afterward, how they integrate the impossible into 43 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:43.599 their ordinary lives. Some quit their jobs, some never go 44 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:47.520 back to certain places. Some spend years trying to rationalize 45 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:50.919 what they experienced, but they all carry it with them, 46 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:53.719 this knowledge that the world is stranger than we pretend 47 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:58.479 it is. The Pacific Northwest keeps its secrets well. Millions 48 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.360 of acres of forest, most of it never seen by 49 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:06.360 human eyes, deep canyons, remote ridges, places where you could 50 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:09.879 disappear and never be found. If something wanted to stay 51 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:14.879 hidden out there, it could. Maybe it does. So listen 52 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:18.280 to these stories with an open mind. Consider the details 53 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:21.560 that don't fit the usual narrative. The bent trees that 54 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:27.039 straighten themselves, the voices learning human speech, the deliberate intelligence 55 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:32.080 behind seemingly random acts. These aren't stories about monsters. There's 56 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:36.240 stories about boundaries, the ones between the known and unknown, 57 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:41.360 between our world and something else's. Sometimes those boundaries get crossed, 58 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.479 and when they do, the people who witness it are 59 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:48.039 never quite the same. Let's start in Oregon, in the 60 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:52.080 timberlands of Coos County, where a harvester operator encountered something 61 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.879 that changed his understanding of what might be sharing the 62 00:03:54.919 --> 00:04:01.000 forest with us. I've been working timber and Oregon for 63 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.360 twenty three years, started when I was nineteen, right out 64 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.360 of high school. The thing that happened in Coos County 65 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.560 back in twenty eighteen still bothers me. Not in the 66 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.360 way you'd think. It's more like when you can't remember 67 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:16.560 if you locked your front door, that nagging feeling that 68 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:20.319 something's off. We were cutting a section about forty miles 69 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:24.839 inland from bandon private land, old growth that had somehow 70 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:28.240 escaped the saw for one hundred years. The company had 71 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:32.519 finally gotten permits to take it down. Beautiful trees Douglas 72 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:35.879 firs that four men couldn't wrap their arms around. Part 73 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:39.199 of me hated cutting them, but work is work. It 74 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:42.839 was late September. The mornings were getting cold, that wet 75 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.240 Oregon cold that gets into your bones. I was running 76 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:49.360 a harvester that day, one of those big tracked machines 77 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:52.199 with the head that grabs the tree, cuts it and 78 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.680 strips the branches all in one go. Loud as hell. 79 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.279 You wear ear protection, but you still feel the vibration 80 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.439 in your chest. I'd been working the line along a 81 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:05.759 ridge since dawn. The fog had burned off around ten 82 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.480 and I could finally see more than fifty feet ahead. 83 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:12.399 The other guys were working different sections. We stayed in 84 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:16.600 radio contact, but mostly we were alone out there. Around 85 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:18.759 two in the afternoon, I shut down the harvester to 86 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.959 eat lunch. The sudden quiet always gets to you. Your 87 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.480 ears ring for a minute, then you start hearing the 88 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.000 forest again, birds, wind in the trees, all of it. 89 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:33.120 I grabbed my sandwich in thermous and climbed down from 90 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:36.240 the cab. That's when I noticed the trees were wrong. 91 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.879 I don't mean damaged or diseased. They were bent About 92 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.600 thirty feet up. A line of firs were all bent 93 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:48.079 at the same angle, pointing uphill, not broken, just curved 94 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:51.399 like they'd grown that way. But trees don't grow sideways 95 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:55.480 for ten feet then straighten back up. These did. I 96 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:58.720 walked closer to get a better look. The bend was smooth, 97 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:01.879 like someone had heated the wood and shaped it. But 98 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.439 these were living trees, thick as telephone poles. At that height. 99 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.319 The force needed to do that would be incredible. I 100 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:12.560 was standing there neck crane back, trying to make sense 101 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:17.000 of it when I heard breathing, not mine. This was deeper, 102 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:21.240 slower like a horse after a long run, but bigger. 103 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.160 The sound came from uphill, maybe sixty feet away in 104 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:29.879 thick salal and rhododendron. I stood very still. Black bears 105 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:32.199 were common here, but they don't breathe that loud unless 106 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:35.319 they're right on top of you. This was different. The 107 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:40.560 rhythm was wrong, too slow, too deliberate. The breathing stopped. 108 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:44.240 I waited, hand on the radio clip to my vest. 109 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:48.680 Then I heard movement, not footsteps exactly, more like something 110 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.560 shifting its weight. The salal rustled, but I couldn't see 111 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:56.040 through it. I backed toward the harvester, keeping my eyes 112 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:59.199 on the spot where the sound came from. The Movement 113 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:02.279 stopped when I moved, moved started again when I stopped, 114 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.279 like it was matching me. I made it to the 115 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:08.480 harvester and climbed up into the cab. From that height, 116 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:11.360 I could see over most of the brush. There was 117 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:13.680 a gap in the salaw where something had pushed through. 118 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.000 Not a trail, just a space where the bushes were 119 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:21.000 mashed down. I started the machine back up. The engine 120 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:23.879 roared to life, and I went back to work, but 121 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:27.279 I kept glancing at that spot. About an hour later, 122 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:31.040 I saw motion, just a glimpse of something dark, moving 123 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:34.079 parallel to me along the ridge. It stayed in the 124 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:38.279 thick stuff never coming into the open. I radioed Jake, 125 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.319 who was working the next section over, told him I 126 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:43.800 might have a bear hanging around to keep an eye out. 127 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:46.519 He said he'd had a weird feeling all day too, 128 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:50.360 like something was watching him. But that's not unusual in 129 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:54.160 the woods. You get that feeling sometimes. The thing is, 130 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:56.240 I went back the next day to look at those 131 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:59.959 bent trees and better light. They were straight, every single 132 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:07.279 no bend, no curve, nothing, same trees, same location. I 133 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:10.120 knew exactly where they were because I'd marked the spot 134 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.199 with flagging tape. I asked the other guys if they'd 135 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:15.959 noticed any bent trees. They looked at me like I 136 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.199 was losing it. I didn't push it. But here's what 137 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:22.319 really gets me. About a week later, I was servicing 138 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:26.240 the harvester's head, cleaning out the feed rollers. Wrapped around 139 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:30.439 one of them was hair long, dark brown hair, almost black, 140 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.840 too coarse to be human, too long to be bare. 141 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:36.519 It was wrap tight, like it had been pulled through 142 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:40.000 during operation. I never ran anything through the head that 143 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:43.679 day except trees. I'm sure of that. The hair was 144 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:46.120 wound in their good like it had been caught while 145 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:49.919 the rollers were spinning, but caught from what the head 146 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.039 was twenty feet in the air when it was operating. 147 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:54.840 I kept that hair for a while, had it in 148 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:57.919 a zip lock bag in my truck. Then one day 149 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:03.440 it was gone, lost, not misplaced. The bag was there, 150 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:08.960 sealed but empty, like the hare had just disappeared. I 151 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.600 still worked timber, but not in Coos County anymore. The 152 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:15.240 company moved me to a different sector at my request. 153 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:18.320 Told them I wanted to be closer to home, and 154 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:21.360 that was partly true, but mostly I just didn't want 155 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:24.360 to go back to that ridge. Sometimes I dream about 156 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:28.039 those bent trees. In the dreams, they're not trees at all. 157 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:33.039 They're markers, warnings, maybe boundaries that aren't meant to be crossed. 158 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:36.200 And in the dreams I can still hear that breathing, 159 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:40.960 patient and steady, waiting for something I don't understand. Bent 160 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.279 trees that straighten themselves, hair that disappears from sealed bags, 161 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:49.480 physical evidence that exists one day and vanishes the next. 162 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:53.120 It's a pattern you'll hear again and again in these accounts, 163 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.639 the frustrating inability to prove what you know you saw. 164 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.320 Our next story comes from a truck driver who had 165 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.919 his own encounter with something that shouldn't exist. Unlike our 166 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.440 timber worker, who could at least return to the site later. 167 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.559 This trucker's experience happened in the fleeting space of a 168 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:12.600 highway at night, where evidence is left behind in the 169 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.960 rear view mirror at sixty miles per hour. But some 170 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.879 images burn themselves into your memory regardless of proof, and 171 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:22.360 some things follow you longer than they should be able to. 172 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.399 I drove truck for fifteen years before I retired, mostly 173 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.879 Pacific Northwest routes Seattle down to Sacramento, over to Boise, 174 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:35.080 back up through Portland. You see a lot of empty 175 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.840 highway at three in the morning. You learn which rest 176 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:41.039 stops have good coffee, which stretches of road the deer 177 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:43.919 like to cross. You get to know the roads like 178 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:47.559 the lines on your own hands. Highway ninety seven through 179 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.320 central Oregon is one of those roads that feels longer 180 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.600 than it is, miles of nothing but pine forest and 181 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:58.519 lava rock. Cell service comes and goes, Radio stations fade 182 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:02.039 in and out, just you and the yellow lines for hours. 183 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.159 This was November twenty sixteen. I was hauling a load 184 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:09.559 of lumber from Bend down to Redding. Nothing special, just 185 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.960 another run. I'd left Bend around midnight to beat the 186 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.440 morning traffic in California. The weather was clear, cold, no 187 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:21.679 snow yet, but you could smell it. Coming south of Shemalt, 188 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:24.360 there's a stretch where the forest presses right up against 189 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:28.080 the highway. No shoulder to speak of, just asphalt and 190 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.519 then trees. I was making good time, had the cruise 191 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.840 control set at sixty. The truck was running smooth. I 192 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.759 came around to curve and had to break hard. There 193 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.559 was something in the road. My head lights lit it up, 194 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.440 but I couldn't process what I was seeing. At first, 195 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.879 it was hair, a massive pile of brown hair in 196 00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:50.519 the middle of my lane, like someone had emptied a 197 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:53.519 barber shop in the road. But as I got closer, 198 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.960 slowing to a crawl, I realized it wasn't just hair. 199 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:01.399 It was attached to something. The pile was moving, rippling 200 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:05.879 like water. Then it stood up. I'm six foot three. 201 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:08.120 I've been in plenty of fights in my younger days. 202 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:13.200 I've seen bears, elk, all kinds of wildlife. This was different. 203 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.759 It stood maybe eight feet tall, covered in that brown 204 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:18.720 hair that had looked like a pile in the road. 205 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:22.080 But it didn't stand like a bear. It stood like 206 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:27.200 a man, but wrong somehow. The proportions were off arms, 207 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:30.799 too long, torso too thick. It turned to look at 208 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:34.279 my truck. The headlights caught its eyes, and they reflected 209 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.519 green like a deer's. But the face around those eyes 210 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:42.000 wasn't quite animal, wasn't quite human either. It was something 211 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:44.200 in between that made my hands go cold on the 212 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:48.039 steering wheel. The thing didn't run. It walked to the 213 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.320 side of the road, casual as could be, like it 214 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.519 was stepping aside to let me pass, But it watched 215 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:57.399 me the whole time. I could see its head turned 216 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.600 to track the truck as I rolled by, a floored 217 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.759 It should have put miles between me and whatever that was, 218 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:07.879 but I did something stupid instead. I stopped about fifty 219 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:10.720 yards past it and looked in my mirrors. It was 220 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:14.519 following the truck, not running, just walking, with these long, 221 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:19.080 measured strides, eating up ground without seeming to hurry. I 222 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:22.000 put the truck in gear and started rolling again, watching 223 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:27.039 my mirrors, it kept following. I picked up speed ten 224 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:31.320 miles an hour twenty thirty. It kept pace for longer 225 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:34.159 than should have been possible, then finally fell back and 226 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:37.480 disappeared into the dark. I didn't stop again until I 227 00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:40.639 hit a truck stop in Klamath Falls. I sat in 228 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.799 that well lit parking lot for an hour, drinking coffee 229 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:47.080 with hands that wouldn't quite stay steady. I thought about 230 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:51.320 calling someone, but who the cops and tell them what 231 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:55.840 The drive back three days later was worse. Coming through 232 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.960 that same stretch, I was tense as a wire. Nothing 233 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.799 happened to empty road and dark trees. But about a 234 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:05.159 mile from where I'd seen it, there was a dead 235 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.320 elk on the shoulder. Big bull must have weighed eight 236 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.919 hundred pounds. It was torn in half, not hit by 237 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:16.519 a car, not taken down by wolves, torn like something 238 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:18.840 had grabbed the front legs and back legs and pulled 239 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:22.360 until the animal came apart. The strength required to do 240 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:27.559 that is insane, and the weird part. No scavengers, no birds, 241 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:32.159 no coyotes, nothing would touch it. I reported the elk 242 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:35.480 to O DOT said it was a road hazard. They 243 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:38.360 said they'd send someone to clean it up. I drove 244 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:40.879 that route six more times over the next two months. 245 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.240 The elk was never moved. It just slowly disappeared piece 246 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.120 by piece, but I never saw what was taking it. 247 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.559 I started timing my runs different after that, made sure 248 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:54.519 I hit that stretch during daylight. Told myself it was 249 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:57.639 because of ice conditions, but that was a lie. I 250 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:02.360 was scared. Still am. If I'm on honest and stay 251 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:04.879 tuned for more sasquatch ot to see, we'll be right back. 252 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:13.320 After these messages, I retired early just last year. My 253 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.200 wife thinks it's because of my back, and I let 254 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.879 her believe that, but really I just couldn't do those 255 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:21.159 night drives anymore. Couldn't shake the feeling that something was 256 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.559 out there walking along the highway in the dark, waiting 257 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.720 for trucks to slow down. The thing that really bothers 258 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:31.480 me is how it acted. It wasn't aggressive, it wasn't afraid. 259 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.919 It just moved aside, like it understood what a truck was, 260 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:38.159 what a road was for, like it was choosing to 261 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.399 let me pass. That kind of intelligence and something that 262 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:45.000 shouldn't exist, makes you question a lot of things. I 263 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:48.519 still have dreams about it. Sometimes. In the dreams, I 264 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:51.240 stopped the truck and get out. I walk back to 265 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:53.799 where it's standing by the side of the road. It 266 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:56.399 says something to me, but I can never remember what. 267 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:00.679 I wake up feeling like I've forgotten something important, something 268 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.879 I was supposed to do. I don't drive at night anymore, 269 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:08.759 not Ever. The intelligence behind these encounters is what unsettles 270 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:12.960 people most. Not the size or strength, but the awareness. 271 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:16.279 The way something watched that truck and chose to follow it, 272 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.039 the way it understood what a road was for. This 273 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:22.799 next account comes from someone whose job was to monitor 274 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:28.159 the forest itself, to collect data, watch for patterns, predict dangers. 275 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:31.039 But what do you do when the forest starts examining 276 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:34.320 your equipment with the same curiosity you use to study it? 277 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:36.679 And what do you do when the evidence of that 278 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:40.840 curiosity is so impossible that even documenting it feels like fiction. 279 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:44.480 I worked for the Forest Service for six years, mostly 280 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:48.360 fire prevention stuff, manning lookout towers during the dry season, 281 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.879 checking monitoring equipment. It was good work if you didn't 282 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:56.399 mind being alone. I never minded, actually preferred it. In 283 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.519 twenty nineteen, they had me stationed at a monitoring site 284 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.919 in the cast Sca Range, about sixty miles east of Eugene. 285 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.240 It wasn't a regular lookout tower, just a small equipment 286 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:12.480 station that tracked weather patterns, air quality, seismic activity, boring 287 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.720 data collection that helped predict fire conditions. The station was 288 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:19.119 a metal shed about the size of a shipping container, 289 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:23.680 solar panels on top, bunch of antennas and sensors. It 290 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.680 sat on a cleared patch at the end of a 291 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:29.200 forest service road. I'd drive up every two weeks to 292 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:33.079 download data, check the equipment, swap out batteries if needed. 293 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:37.079 It was July when things got strange. I'd driven up 294 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.160 on a Tuesday morning early to beat the heat. The 295 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.880 road was rough, barely more than a dirt track. The 296 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.319 last five miles my truck could handle it, but you 297 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:49.880 had to go slow. I noticed the smell first, not 298 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:53.680 a dead animal smell, but something organic and wrong, like 299 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:56.640 wet dog, mixed with crushed pine needles and something else 300 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:59.640 I couldn't place. It got stronger as I got closer 301 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:03.000 to this. When I came around the last bend, I 302 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:08.200 saw the station had been moved, not damaged, not knocked over, moved. 303 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.200 The whole thing had been dragged about thirty feet from 304 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.720 its concrete pad. The cables connecting it to the solar 305 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:18.319 panels were stretched tight. Some of them snapped. I got 306 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:20.720 out of the truck and walked around it. The metal 307 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:23.440 skids on the bottom had gouged deep tracks in the dirt. 308 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:26.680 Whatever moved it had dragged it in one straight pull. 309 00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:31.000 But here's the thing. That station weighed about three thousand pounds. 310 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.599 The amount of force needed to drag it that far 311 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:37.000 would be enormous. There were marks on the metal sides, 312 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.480 not claw marks, not exactly, more like something had gripped it. 313 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:45.640 The metal was actually dimpled inward in spots, like giant 314 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.839 fingers had pressed into it. But to dent quarter inch 315 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.640 steel like that, you'd need hydraulic pressure. Nothing does that 316 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:56.119 with just muscle. I called it in on the satellite phone, 317 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:00.279 told my supervisor someone had vandalized the station. He asked 318 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.400 if I could see tire tracks from a vehicle. I couldn't. 319 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:07.799 No tire tracks, no cable marks, nothing to indicate machinery 320 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.720 had been used. He told me to document everything and 321 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:15.440 get the station operational if possible. So I did. Took photos, 322 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:19.160 measurements the whole deal. Then I tried to get inside 323 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:22.799 to check the equipment. The door was bent, not kicked in, 324 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.640 but bent outward, like something inside had pushed against it. 325 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:30.000 The lock was still engaged, but the frame around it 326 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:32.480 had buckled. I had to use a prie bar to 327 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:36.240 get it open enough to squeeze through. Inside was chaos. 328 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.960 The monitoring equipment was mostly intact, but everything else was destroyed. 329 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:44.920 The emergency cot was shredded. The supply cabinet had been 330 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:48.440 pulled off the wall. Boxes of MRIs were torn open 331 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.920 and scattered, but nothing was eaten. It was like something 332 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.359 had been searching for something specific. The computer was still 333 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:59.039 running on battery backup. I downloaded the data onto a 334 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:02.799 thumb drive. Routine stuff mostly, but when I checked the 335 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.759 motion sensor logs, there were dozens of triggers over the 336 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:10.400 past three nights, all between midnight and four am. The 337 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:14.400 sensors only saved still images, not video, and most of 338 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:18.079 them just showed darkness or blurry shadows. But one image 339 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:20.920 made me stop breathing for a second. It was from 340 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:25.079 two nights before two forty seven am. According to the timestamp, 341 00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:29.319 the infrared camera had caught something standing right outside the window. 342 00:20:30.039 --> 00:20:34.799 The image was grainy, but you could make out a shape, tall, bipedal, 343 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:38.599 one hand pressed against the glass. The hand was huge, 344 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:44.720 fingers spread wide, human like, but too long, too thick. 345 00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:48.480 I copied everything and got out of there. Didn't even 346 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:51.160 try to fix the station, just drove back down the 347 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:53.960 mountain and told my supervisor the damage was too extensive 348 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.880 for field repairs. They sent a crew up the next 349 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.400 week to retrieve the station, brought it back on a 350 00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:03.440 flat bed. I heard later that they couldn't explain the damage. 351 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:07.440 The official report blamed it on vandals, maybe eco terrorists 352 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:10.599 or something, but they never explained how vandals moved three 353 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:14.359 thousand pounds of steel without machinery. I went back once 354 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:17.920 more about a month later, had to retrieve some sensors 355 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:21.720 they'd left behind. The concrete pad was still there, and 356 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:26.000 so were the drag marks, but there were new marks too, footprints, 357 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.880 kind of depressions in the hard packed dirt. They led 358 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:32.440 from the forest to where the station had been, then 359 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:36.279 back into the trees. The prints were maybe eighteen inches long, 360 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:40.920 humanoid in shape, but wider with what looked like tow impressions. 361 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:45.160 The stride length was about six feet. I'm tall, and 362 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:47.880 my stride is maybe three feet at a normal walk. 363 00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:51.680 Whatever made those prints was moving in huge, easy steps. 364 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:55.079 I took photos of those two, but when I got 365 00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:58.640 home and checked my phone, those specific photos were corrupted. 366 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:03.720 Every other picture was fine, just not those footprints. Technical 367 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:07.160 glitch probably, but it felt deliberate somehow. 368 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:08.599 I quit the. 369 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:11.319 Forest Service a year later, told people I wanted to 370 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:14.920 try something new, and that was partly true, but mostly 371 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:17.759 I couldn't stop thinking about that hand pressed against the window, 372 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.599 The deliberate way the station had been moved, the way 373 00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:26.680 the damage inside seemed almost curious rather than destructive. Whatever 374 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:28.799 was out there, it was studying us as much as 375 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.599 we were studying the forest, and it was strong enough 376 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:35.640 to toss around our equipment like toys. That knowledge changes 377 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:38.720 how you see the woods, makes you realize how small 378 00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:42.599 and fragile our little monitoring stations really are. I work 379 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:46.599 in an office now, climate controlled, well lit, lots of 380 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:51.000 people around. It's boring, but I sleep better. No more 381 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:54.480 dreams about things standing outside windows in the dark, trying 382 00:22:54.519 --> 00:22:58.680 to understand what we are. Three thousand pounds of steel 383 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:03.240 dragged thirty feet without out machinery, a hand pressed against glass, 384 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:08.039 studying our technology. These encounters suggest something that goes beyond 385 00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:12.799 animal behavior into genuine curiosity about human artifacts. But not 386 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:17.160 all encounters involve our structures and machines. Sometimes they involve 387 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:21.960 communication attempts that are harder to dismiss. Patterns left behind, 388 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:27.400 like messages, deliberate arrangements that suggest meaning. This next story 389 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.119 takes us to the Klamath River, where a fisherman found 390 00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:32.519 himself at the center of something that seemed less like 391 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:35.920 an encounter and more like a test. I was twenty 392 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:39.039 six when it happened. This was back in twenty fourteen. 393 00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:42.799 I'd just gotten divorced. Needed to clear my head, so 394 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:45.559 I decided to go steelhead fishing on the Klamath River. 395 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.359 There's a spot about thirty miles up river from Happy 396 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:51.079 Camp that not many people know about. You have to 397 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:54.160 hike in about three miles from the road, perfect place 398 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:57.319 to be alone. I went in October, right when the 399 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:02.319 steelhead start running. Packed light, just a small tent, sleeping bag, 400 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.920 and enough food for four days. The hike in was beautiful, 401 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:09.359