WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.759 For decades, people have disappeared in the woods without a trace. 2 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:10.279 Some blame wild animals, others whisper of creatures the world 3 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:14.160 refuses to believe in. But those who have survived they 4 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:18.679 know the truth. Welcome to Backwoods Bigfoot Stories, where we 5 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:22.839 share real encounters with the things lurking in the darkness bigfoot, 6 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:28.239 dog man, UFOs, and creatures that defy explanation. Some make 7 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:32.320 it out, others aren't so lucky. Are you ready, because 8 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.640 once you hear these stories, you'll never walk in the 9 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.920 woods alone again. So grab your flashlight, stay close, and 10 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.840 remember some things in the woods don't want to be found. 11 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:46.240 Hit that follow or subscribe button, turn on auto downloads, 12 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.399 and let's head off into the woods if you dare. 13 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.200 Before we get into tonight's story, I want to give 14 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:08.280 a little background on how this came to me. About 15 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:10.640 three months ago, I got an email from a listener 16 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.319 named Garrett. He said he'd been following Sasquatch Odyssey and 17 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.680 Backwoods Bigfoot Stories for over two years, and that he'd 18 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:20.640 also been listening to Disturbing History and The Guilty Files 19 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:23.640 during his commutes. He told me he'd been sitting on 20 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:27.480 something for a long time a decade actually, and that 21 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:29.840 he'd never shared the full scope of what happened to 22 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.400 him because he didn't think anyone would hear him out 23 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:35.599 from beginning to end. He said, my shows made him 24 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:39.519 feel like maybe somebody finally would. What Garrett sent me 25 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:43.920 wasn't just one story. It was ten, ten encounters spanning 26 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.840 roughly ten years, all tied to the same property, the 27 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:51.599 same stretch of mountain wilderness in the southern Appalachians. He 28 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:54.200 asked me to tell them in order, because, in his words, 29 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.120 none of it makes sense unless you hear how it started. 30 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:01.439 So that's what we're going to do. And if this 31 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.799 goes where I think it's going, you're going to want 32 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.239 to hear every single one that follows. Here's Garrett in 33 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.840 his own words. My name's Garrett. I'm fifty four years 34 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.120 old now and I live in Asheville, North Carolina, though 35 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.120 that's only been true for the last year or so. 36 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:19.479 Before that, I spent the better part of a decade 37 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.960 splitting my time between a rental apartment near Hendersonville and 38 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:26.280 a cabin property about forty minutes east of there, back 39 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.919 off a state road that doesn't see much traffic past 40 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.400 the volunteer fire station. I need to explain how I 41 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:35.120 ended up at that cabin in the first place, because 42 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:37.280 without that, none of the rest of this is going 43 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.039 to land the way it should. People always want to 44 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:43.120 jump straight to the scary part. I get it, but 45 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.960 what happened to me didn't start with something scary. It 46 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:49.560 started with something sad, and I think that matters. I 47 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.560 grew up in Gastonia. My dad, Warren, worked at a 48 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.599 textile plan until it closed in ninety four. Then he 49 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:58.759 drove a delivery truck for a restaurant supply company until 50 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.080 his knees gave out. My mom, Diane, worked at a 51 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.840 veterinarian's office for almost thirty years. They were good people, 52 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.319 simple people in the best way that word can mean. 53 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:13.759 We didn't take big vacations, we didn't eat at fancy restaurants. 54 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.439 But every fall, without fail, my dad would rent a 55 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.080 cabin somewhere in the Blue Ridge for a long weekend, 56 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:22.879 and the three of us would disappear into the mountains 57 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.280 with a cooler full of food and a truck bed 58 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:29.159 full of firewood. Those weekends shaped me more than anything 59 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.439 else in my childhood. I can still smell the hickory 60 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:35.439 smoke from those fires. I can still hear the way 61 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:38.840 the creek behind whatever cabin we'd rented sounded at two 62 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.039 in the morning, when everything else went quiet. My dad 63 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:44.000 would sit on the porch with a cigarette and a 64 00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:47.680 can of Budweiser and just listen. He never said much 65 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:51.240 during those trips. He didn't have to. I think the 66 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.479 mountain said whatever he needed to hear. I carried that 67 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:58.199 with me into adulthood, through a marriage that lasted six 68 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.319 years and ended without any kids, Through a career in 69 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:04.599 residential contracting that kept food on the table but never 70 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.719 really filled me up inside, and through the slow erosion 71 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:09.919 of purpose that hits you when you realize you're in 72 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:13.479 your early forties alone and doing the same thing every 73 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:17.560 single day without any real direction. By twenty thirteen, I 74 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:22.160 was running my own small crew doing decks, additions, bathroom remodels. 75 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.279 The work was steady, but not exciting. I had a 76 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:28.319 dog named Bowie, a red heeler mix I'd picked up 77 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:31.240 from a shelter outside Marion. He was about four at 78 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.720 the time, best dog I've ever had. Loyal in a 79 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:36.639 way that made you feel like you didn't deserve it. 80 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:40.480 I'd been casually looking at mountain property for about two years, 81 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:45.600 nothing serious, just browsing listings on weekends, saving links. I'd 82 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:48.920 never follow up on, telling myself that someday I'd find 83 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:52.160 the right spot and make an offer. I think part 84 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:54.879 of me knew I was never actually going to do it. 85 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.160 It was easier to dream about it than commit to it. 86 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:02.040 Then my mom passed away. It was February of twenty fourteen, 87 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:06.720 pancreatic cancer. She had only been diagnosed five months earlier, 88 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:09.000 and by the time they caught it there wasn't much 89 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:12.759 to discuss. She went fast, which the doctor said was 90 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.839 a mercy, though I'll tell you right now there's nothing 91 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:18.480 merciful about watching your mother disappear in front of you 92 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:19.480 over the course of. 93 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:20.600 A few weeks. 94 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:23.279 My dad had already been gone seven years by then, 95 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.560 heart attack at sixty one, So when Mom died, I 96 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.480 didn't just lose a parent. I lost the last thread 97 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:33.439 connecting me to a version of myself that still made sense. 98 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.800 I know that sounds dramatic. I don't mean it to be. 99 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.920 It's just the truth. When both your. 100 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:41.639 Parents are gone and you don't have a wife or 101 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:44.639 kids to anchor you, you start to float and I 102 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:49.199 was floating. After the funeral, after the paperwork, after the 103 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:52.399 household and the estate was settled, I had about ninety 104 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.920 thousand dollars sitting in an account that felt like it 105 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.600 was burning a hole through my chest. It was my 106 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.199 parents' money, their whole life, reduce to a number, and 107 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:03.199 I didn't want to just absorb it into my rent 108 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.399 and my grocery bills and my truck payment until it vanished. 109 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:08.839 I wanted to do something with it that would have 110 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:11.879 made my dad sit back and nod. So I got 111 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:14.800 serious about the cabin search. I wasn't looking at real 112 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:19.199 estate listings this time. I drove every weekend for about 113 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.000 two months. I picked a direction and followed back roads 114 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:25.240 until I found something interesting. I talked to people at 115 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:29.160 gas stations, feed stores, little diners where the coffees burnt 116 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.160 and the gossip's fresh. I told them I was looking 117 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.800 for mountain property, something off the beaten path, something with 118 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:39.120 land and quiet, and maybe a structure I could fix up. 119 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:42.160 Most of the time people shrugged or pointed me toward 120 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:45.759 a realtor's office in town. But one afternoon in April, 121 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:49.319 at a hardware store outside Chimney Rock, a guy behind 122 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.839 the counter named Dennis, told me about Earl. Dennis said 123 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.879 Earl was eighty two years old, lived alone on forty 124 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.680 seven acres up a gravel road off the state route, 125 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:01.720 and had been talking about selling ever since his wife, Riba, 126 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:05.360 passed the previous autumn. He said Earl had built the 127 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:08.399 cabin himself in nineteen seventy one and had lived there 128 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.920 with Riba for over four decades. He said the property 129 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:14.800 backed up against national forest land, and that you could 130 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:17.240 stand on the back porch and not see another house 131 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:20.480 in any direction. Then Dennis leaned over the counter and 132 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:24.160 said something I'll never forget. He said, Earl don't want 133 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.680 to sell to a developer or a vacation rental outfit. 134 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.439 He wants somebody who'll actually live there, somebody who gives 135 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:34.519 a damn about quiet. I asked for directions. Dennis drew 136 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:36.959 them on the back of a receipt. Then he added, 137 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:40.399 almost as an afterthought, don't go up there expecting Earle 138 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:43.240 to shake your hand and give you a tour. He's particular. 139 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.000 He's going to size you up before he says ten words. 140 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:50.079 But if he decides you're all right, you'll know. I 141 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:52.240 thanked him and bought a box of deck screws I 142 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:54.560 didn't need, just to feel like I'd earned the information. 143 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:58.800 That Saturday I drove up to see it. The gravel 144 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:01.879 road was rough, but not in assable. My truck handled 145 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.680 it fine, though Bowie slid around in the back seat 146 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.240 on every curve. It was about a mile and a 147 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.959 half from the state route to Earl's Gate, which wasn't 148 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:12.879 really a gate at all. It was two cedar posts 149 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.800 with a piece of chain draped between them. No lock, 150 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:19.480 no sign, just a quiet suggestion that you shouldn't be 151 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.600 there unless you had a reason. I unhooked the chain, 152 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:26.040 drove through, and followed a rutted dirt track through a 153 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:29.519 corridor of white pines and tulip poplars for another quarter 154 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:32.519 mile before the trees opened up and I saw the cabin. 155 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:36.120 It sat on a gentle rise above a cleared meadow, 156 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.080 facing west toward a long blue ridge that folded into 157 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:44.600 itself like fabric. The cabin was built from hand hewn logs, 158 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.240 dark with age, topped with a green metal roof that 159 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:51.480 had gone chalky from decades of sun. There was a 160 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:54.840 covered porch across the full front, a stone chimney on 161 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:58.159 the south end, and a small barn or workshop maybe 162 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.960 sixty yards to the right behind the cabin. The ground 163 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:07.120 climbed sharply into hardwood forest, mostly oak and hickory, before disappearing. 164 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:08.240 Into the ridge line. 165 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:10.320 Earl was sitting on the porch in a metal chair 166 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:13.720 when I pulled up. He didn't stand. He just watched 167 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:15.200 me get out of the truck with the kind of 168 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.159 patience that belongs to someone who's been alive long enough 169 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.840 to know that most things reveal themselves if you wait. 170 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.120 He had a face like a topographic map, deep lines 171 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.279 running in every direction, skin tanned to the color of 172 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.080 old leather, and hands resting on the arms of that 173 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:34.919 chair that looked like they'd built everything within sight because 174 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:38.279 they had. Bowie jumped out after me and trotted toward 175 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:41.159 the porch with his tail going. Earle looked down at 176 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:45.720 him and said, dealer mix. I said, yes, sir, good dogs. 177 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:49.320 He said, Reba wanted one for years. I always told 178 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:51.799 her we had enough animals around this place without adding 179 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:55.000 another opinion to the mix. That was the first thing 180 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:57.320 he said to me, and it told me everything I 181 00:09:57.399 --> 00:09:59.480 needed to know about the kind of man he was. 182 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.279 He led with his wife, not the property, not the 183 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:08.080 price his wife. I introduced myself, told him Dennis had 184 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:10.279 sent me, told him I was looking for a place 185 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:12.480 in the mountains, and that I wasn't interested in flipping 186 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:15.919 it or renting it out. I told him about my parents, 187 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:19.159 about the weekends in the Blue Ridge, about how I 188 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.759 was a contractor by trade, and that i'd take care 189 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:25.360 of whatever he'd built. Earl studied me for a long time. 190 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.440 His eyes were pale blue, almost gray, and they didn't 191 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.559 blink as often as most peoples do. Then he said, 192 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:36.399 come sit down. We sat on that porch for almost 193 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:39.639 three hours. Earle talked the way old men talk when 194 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:42.320 they'd been alone too long and finally found someone willing 195 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:47.799 to listen, not rambling, not lost, just thorough like every 196 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:49.919 detail mattered because it was the only way to keep 197 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:53.279 something alive. He told me about building the cabin with 198 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:56.440 his brother Frank, over the course of two summers. Frank 199 00:10:56.440 --> 00:10:58.799 had been a mason, and he'd done the chimney while 200 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:02.679 Earl handled the law, the framing and the roof. They'd 201 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:05.480 cut the timber from the property itself, dragged it with 202 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.919 a mule named Captain, and notched every joint by hand. 203 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:12.720 He told me Frank passed in eighty nine from emphysema, 204 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:14.960 and that every time he looked at that chimney he 205 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.480 could still see his brother's hands in the stone work. 206 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.679 He told me about Riba, who'd been a schoolteacher in 207 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.120 the valley before she retired in ninety seven. He said 208 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.000 she was the kind of woman who could walk into 209 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:29.080 a room full of misbehaving eight year olds and settle 210 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.360 them down with nothing but a look and a slight 211 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:34.240 tilt of her head. He said she used to plant 212 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:37.039 zenias along the south side of the cabin every spring, 213 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.639 and that she could name every bird that came to 214 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:43.360 the feeder by its song alone. She'd be standing at 215 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.600 the kitchen sink and she'd say, there's the indigo bunting again. 216 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:50.360 And I'd go to the window, and sure enough, he 217 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:53.200 smiled when he said that, but the smile didn't reach 218 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:55.919 his eyes. He told me about the well he dug 219 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:59.759 by hand eighteen feet down, hit water so cold it 220 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.000 made your teethache. About the creek that ran along the 221 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.639 western boundary, which he called Bishop Creek, though he didn't 222 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:08.840 know if that was its official name or just what 223 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.919 people had always called it. About the spring up on 224 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:15.039 the hill that hadn't gone dry in fifty years, even 225 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:17.240 during the drought of two thousand and seven, when half 226 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.080 the wells in the county came up empty. He showed 227 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.159 me the workshop, which was better equipped than most professional 228 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:28.039 shops I'd worked out of table, saw bandsaw drill press, 229 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:31.039 a wall of hand tools hanging from peg board. In 230 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:36.759 perfect order, everything clean, everything maintained, he said. Reba used 231 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.240 to call it his other house because he spent so 232 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:42.360 much time there during the winter months, turning bowls and 233 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:46.399 making furniture they didn't need. We walked the property line together, 234 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.840 or at least the accessible parts of it. Earl moved 235 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:53.360 slowly but surely, pointing out landmarks and boundaries with the 236 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:56.000 confidence of a man who'd walked every inch of this 237 00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:59.639 land a thousand times. He showed me the cemetery plot 238 00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:02.279 on the nose east corner, a small clearing with a 239 00:13:02.279 --> 00:13:05.720 wrought iron fence and four headstones shaded by a massive 240 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:10.000 red oak. Reeba's stone was the newest. It was simple, 241 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:14.600 her name, her dates, and the words she heard every song. 242 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:18.039 Standing at that grave, I felt something shift in my 243 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.639 understanding of what I was buying. 244 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:21.600 This wasn't real estate. 245 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.799 This was someone's entire life, forty three years of marriage, 246 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:29.120 children of seasons, a partnership between two people and the 247 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:33.360 land they'd built on. Buying this place meant accepting responsibility 248 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:36.480 for all of that. Earl must have seen something change 249 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:38.080 in my face, because he put his hand on my 250 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:41.840 shoulder the first time he touched me and said, don't 251 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.600 worry about keeping it the same, just keep it honest. 252 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:47.799 He also told me something that I didn't think much 253 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:50.159 of at the time, but that I've replayed in my 254 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.759 head more times than I can count. He said, the 255 00:13:53.799 --> 00:13:56.720 mountains got its own rhythm. You'll hear things up here 256 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:00.200 that don't match anything you know. That doesn't mean something's wrong. 257 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:02.759 It just means you're not the only one out here. 258 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:07.519 I thought he was talking about bears or coyotes, or 259 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:10.960 maybe the elk that had been reintroduced further west. I 260 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:15.279 nodded like I understood, I didn't. We agreed on a 261 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:19.600 price that afternoon, seventy eight thousand for the cabin, the outbuilding, 262 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:23.679 and forty seven acres. He kept a small family cemetery 263 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:27.080 plot on the northeast corner, about a quarter acre where 264 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:29.720 Riba was buried alongside his parents and a brother who 265 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.639 died young. He asked if I'd let him visit it 266 00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:36.200 whenever he wanted. I told him, of course. We shook 267 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.240 hands and that was that. Earle moved into a small 268 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:44.080 assisted living facility in Marion about six weeks later. I 269 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:47.879 helped him load his truck. He didn't take much. A recliner, 270 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:52.279 a box of photographs, Reba's quilts, a shotgun that had 271 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:55.519 belonged to his father. He left nearly everything else in 272 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:59.000 the cabin, including the furniture, the kitchen table he'd built, 273 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:03.360 the bookshelf, even some of Reba's canning jars still lined 274 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:06.240 up on the pantry shelf. Stay tuned for more Backwoods 275 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:11.480 Bigfoot stories. We'll be back after these messages. When he 276 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.960 pulled away that afternoon, he stopped at the end of 277 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.799 the dirt track, got out and looked back toward the 278 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:19.679 cabin for a long time. Then he got back in 279 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:23.039 his truck and drove off. I never saw him do 280 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.519 that again. Every time he came to visit the cemetery 281 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.480 after that. He parked, walked straight to RIBA's headstone, sat 282 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.120 for a while, then left without looking at the cabin. 283 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:36.639 Once I think saying goodbye to that place broke something 284 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.720 in him that never healed. I moved in at the 285 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:42.840 end of May twenty fourteen. It took me about two 286 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.240 weeks to get the place livable. 287 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:45.159 By my standards. 288 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:50.360 The cabin was solid structurally sound, but it needed updated wiring, 289 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:53.840 new plumbing, fixtures, and some patchwork on the porch decking. 290 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.200 The roof was good, the foundation was good. Earl had 291 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:00.879 built something that was meant to last, and it had. 292 00:16:01.720 --> 00:16:04.200 The interior was one main room with a kitchen along 293 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:07.840 the back wall, a living area centered on the stone fireplace, 294 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:11.759 and two bedrooms off a short hallway on the east side. 295 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:14.200 The bathroom was small but functional, and there was a 296 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:17.279 root cellar accessed through a trapdoor in the kitchen floor 297 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:21.360 that stayed fifty five degrees year round. RIBA's canning jars 298 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.080 were still down there, lined up on shelves. Earl had 299 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:30.039 built from poplar, tomatoes, green beans, pickled okra, BlackBerry preserves. 300 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:32.639 Some of the jars had dates written on the lids 301 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:36.320 in her handwriting. The most recent was from twenty twelve. 302 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:40.240 I left them exactly where they were. The kitchen still 303 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:43.159 smelled faintly of something floral that I eventually traced to 304 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:46.360 a sachet of dried lavender Riba had tucked behind the 305 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:47.120 spice rack. 306 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:48.679 I left that too. 307 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:52.919 I replaced the wiring in stages, working room by room, 308 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.799 pulling out the original knob and tube that Earl had 309 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:59.399 installed in seventy one and running new romex through the walls. 310 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.679 The plumbing was copper, and most of it was fine, 311 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:05.519 but the kitchen faucet had a slow drip that had 312 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.319 stained the porcelain sink with a green mineral streak. I 313 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.119 swapped the faucet and reseated the shut off valves under 314 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:15.400 the sink. The porch boards that needed replacing were on 315 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:18.119 the south end, where water had been collecting due to 316 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.839 a slight dip in the grade. I sistered new joists 317 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:25.279 under the worst section, pulled the rotted decking, and laid 318 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:28.599 fresh treated pine that i'd sand and stain once it cured. 319 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.559 It felt good to work on that cabin. Every repair 320 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.359 was a conversation with Earle. I'd pull a piece of 321 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:38.319 trim and find a pencil mark behind it where he'd measured. 322 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.160 I'd open a wall and see the way he'd framed 323 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:44.559 a corner solid and over built the way old timers did, 324 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:48.480 and I'd nod with respect. The man hadn't cut corners 325 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:51.480 on anything. Bowie took to the property like he'd been 326 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:53.920 born there. Within a few days, he had a root. 327 00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:57.200 He'd run every morning down to the creek, across the 328 00:17:57.240 --> 00:18:00.440 meadow along the tree line on the south side, then 329 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:02.440 back up to the porch, where he'd collapse in a 330 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:05.839 patch of sun and sleep until noon. He discovered a 331 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:09.599 groundhog den near the workshop and spent entire afternoons lying 332 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.000 in front of it, waiting with the patience of a 333 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:15.680 dog who had nothing but time. He never caught the groundhog. 334 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:18.759 I don't think he really wanted to. I think he 335 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:22.039 just liked having something to focus on. For the first 336 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:24.359 few weeks, I didn't do much besides work on the 337 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:26.920 cabin during the day and sit on the porch at night. 338 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.400 I'd crack a beer, listen to the whipper wheels start 339 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:33.799 up around dusk, and watch the ridge go dark. The 340 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:39.000 silence was enormous, not empty silence, full silence, the kind 341 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:43.519 that has layers, crickets underneath, tree frogs on top, win 342 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:46.640 through the canopy, somewhere in the middle and below all 343 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:51.440 of it. A hum, not electrical, not mechanical, just the 344 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:54.839 sound of a mountain breathing. I called Cliff one evening 345 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:56.440 and held the phone up so he could hear it. 346 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.000 He listened for about ten seconds and said, sounds bored. 347 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:03.759 I told him that was exactly the point. I started 348 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:08.519 sleeping better than I had in years, eight nine hours deep, 349 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:12.480 dreamless sleep. I'd wake up before sunrise feeling like I'd 350 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:16.000 been plugged into something restorative for the first time since 351 00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:18.519 Mom died. I wasn't lying in bed at two in 352 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:21.160 the morning running through a list of regrets and what ifs. 353 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:24.160 The mountain didn't leave room for that kind of noise. 354 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:27.279 It filled up the empty spaces with its own rhythm, 355 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:31.079 and the rhythm was slow and steady and ancient. I 356 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:34.079 understood during those early weeks why Earl had stayed for 357 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.440 forty three years, and I understood, in a way I 358 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.559 couldn't have before living there, what it must have cost 359 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.920 him to leave. Then, about three weeks after I moved in, 360 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.640 the knocking started. I need to be specific about this 361 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:51.000 because I know how it sounds, and I know what 362 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:54.440 you're probably already thinking. But I'm asking you to stay 363 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:57.440 with me here because the way this unfolded is the 364 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:00.160 reason I'm writing to you in the first place. It 365 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:03.000 was a Thursday evening. I remember that because I'd driven 366 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:05.319 down to Hendersonville that morning to pick up a load 367 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:07.839 of lumber for the porch repair, and I'd grabbed a 368 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:10.680 rotisserie chicken from the grocery store on my way back. 369 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:13.720 I was sitting on the porch, eating that chicken straight 370 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.160 out of the container with my fingers, tossing scraps to Bowie, 371 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.720 and watching the sun drop behind the ridge. Right around 372 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:23.480 eight point fifteen, give or take a few minutes, I 373 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:26.039 heard a sharp crack from somewhere up the ridge behind 374 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:30.519 the cabin. Not a gunshot, not a limb falling. It 375 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.359 was a single, hard, percussive strike, like someone had taken 376 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:36.839 a baseball bat and slammed it against a tree trunk. 377 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:41.359 I stopped chewing, Bowie's ears went up. We both sat 378 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:45.799 there and listened nothing. About forty five seconds later, it 379 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:51.079 happened again, same direction, same quality of sound, a heavy, 380 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:55.680 deliberate impact against wood, then silence. I figured it was 381 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.640 a hunter or maybe someone target shooting. Way back in 382 00:20:58.680 --> 00:21:02.880 the National Forest, sound carries funny in the mountains. A 383 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:06.039 gunshot two ridges over can sound like it's in your backyard, 384 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:08.920 and a tree falling fifty yards away can sound like 385 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:11.799 it's a mile off. I went back to my chicken, 386 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:16.359 but the next evening it happened again, same time, maybe 387 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:20.720 ten minutes earlier. Two sharp strikes spaced about a minute apart, 388 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:23.960 coming from somewhere on the ridge line northeast of the cabin. 389 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:26.799 I was on the porch again, and this time I 390 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.079 actually stood up and walked to the edge of the 391 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:33.480 deck to listen. The strikes were clean, focused. There was 392 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.279 no echo of a gunshot, no crack and roll that 393 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.240 you get from a rifle. This was impact wood against wood, 394 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:43.960 hard and flat and done. I told myself it was 395 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.920 someone splitting firewood that made the most sense. Maybe there 396 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:50.160 was a hunting camp back up in the national forest 397 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:53.480 that I couldn't see from the property. People split wood 398 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:56.119 in the evening all the time. My dad used to 399 00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:58.119 do it at dusk because the air was cooler and 400 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:01.160 the bugs weren't as bad. But something about the rhythm 401 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:04.559