WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.080 --> 00:00:06.480 My name is Donna Coopis. I'm of Shawnee descent. I've 2 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:11.759 been seeing the Watchers since i was six. I live 3 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:16.519 in the country. I've always lived in the country. I 4 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:21.359 guess I'm just an old time country person. I'm a dowser. 5 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:26.800 I do different. I Like I said, I'm of Shawnee descent. 6 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:31.879 So we don't call him Bigfoot or we call him 7 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:35.759 the Watchers. We have a legend that goes with that, 8 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:41.679 and that's basically who I am. My father was a 9 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:45.479 hunter and a trapper. He dug roots were living and 10 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:47.119 that's how I grew up. I grew up on a 11 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:52.560 four hundred acre farm and he, my poor dad, I 12 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.640 ran the heels. He couldn't control my house as a 13 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:01.159 wild child, and I was always on his boothels. So again, 14 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:05.560 the first time I saw the Watchers, I was six 15 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.680 and there was a county fair in town. Of course, 16 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.040 I wanted to go to the fair, so Dad told me. 17 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:14.640 Dad would give me anything I wanted. However, you did 18 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:17.599 have to work for you know. For that, he taught 19 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:20.079 me to work, and I've worked my whole life. So 20 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.439 on this particular day we went out. We'd dig a 21 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:27.120 patch of yellow root, which is golden seal because he 22 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.280 dug every kind of root. It wasn't just Jen saying, 23 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:33.319 and I mean Dad dug snake root, blood, root, coht 24 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.200 and just everything. When he went to the woods, he 25 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:39.200 Kepvius came back with a bag of something. So but 26 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:41.319 this day he had taken me out and we'd been 27 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:44.400 sating in this big patch yellow root back in the woods. 28 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:48.200 We've been digging for a while, and my dad chewed 29 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.959 tobacco and he stood up and he walked over. There 30 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.359 was a stump nearby, and he walked over that stump 31 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:57.599 and he took his chundabayca out and laid it there 32 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.040 on that stump. And then and he told me he 33 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:04.239 didn't call me Donna, or he'd either call me donnie. 34 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:06.959 They call me dookie. He said, come on, dude, we're 35 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.319 gonna go. And I said, I'm grumbling, you know, because 36 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.000 I'm a I'm a child. I want to go to 37 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:13.199 the fair. I want to make my money. And that's 38 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:16.479 you know, he had been doing most of the dig 39 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:18.080 in that day. I was clean it. You have to 40 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:21.520 separate the top from the roots, and one bag the 41 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.599 roots go in the tops, and the other you know, 42 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:28.039 the whole thing. And so I'm I'm grumbling and he's 43 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:30.719 like no, I said, come on, we're gonna go. And 44 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:34.599 we used fifty fifty to one hundred pound feed sacks. 45 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:37.560 They're like bro lap sacks. Back then that the cowfee 46 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.560 came in. So he picked up those bags and he 47 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:43.000 got me by the hand, and here I am, I'm, 48 00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:45.560 you know, dig my toe into dirt. And I was like, oh, 49 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.919 you know, it's like I said, Now, that was Dad's 50 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:51.039 way of saying, you know, knock it off. We're going. 51 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.280 So he's got me by hand. We're walking away. And 52 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.919 as and as we walkeding away, I turned around, I 53 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.319 looked back over my shoulders and there where I'm not 54 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.400 thirty feet from where I was setting, this huge, huge 55 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.919 black figure stands up. I mean, they look like a 56 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:13.680 mountain to me because you know, I'm six and literally 57 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:16.840 like eight foot tall. And it took that tobacco off 58 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.599 that stump, and I'm looking at it and I'm scared. 59 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:22.159 You know, I'm pulling on Dad's hand. He's like, you know, 60 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.599 come on, now, come on, we're gonna go. Everything's all right. 61 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:26.759 You leave him alone, He'll leave you alone. 62 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:27.719 Just come on. 63 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.520 So you know, my dad's there. So I got walking 64 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:36.680 away and I watched this big, huge figure he walks back. 65 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.280 Where are we sitting. There's cliffs in behind purse. Like 66 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.759 I said, we're in the deep woods and there's cliffs 67 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:42.319 behind us. 68 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:43.039 So he walks. 69 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:47.919 This thing walks back into the cliffs in the woods. 70 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:52.840 And that was my first interaction with the watchers and 71 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:57.680 that started my teaching that day because from then on, 72 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:01.360 my dad started teaching me about him because he interacted 73 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:06.319 with them and my grandmother, my dad's mom before him, 74 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:09.280 so he you know, he taught me the ways how 75 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:15.599 to find the stones, the marker stones, the tree shelter. 76 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:19.040 You know, it looks like a tepee, the tree things 77 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.920 you'll find the excess, you know that that's a marker 78 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:26.439 to the wise, the wise market. 79 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:29.879 They mark the trails the stones. 80 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:32.720 Dad told me that is for them to mark their 81 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.959 territory and to say, you know, it's safe here, there's 82 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:42.480 food here, whatever. So I honestly think that on that 83 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:46.120 day that was my introduction from my dad. I think 84 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:52.160 my dad kind of planned it that way. It was surprise, 85 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:58.560 but he taught me not He taught me to always 86 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:00.480 have since about you. 87 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:01.160 You know it's not. 88 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.480 Oh, these are just big things that you can play with. 89 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:07.959 They everything is good and bad in the world. Some 90 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:13.439 are good, some are bad. You have to be respectful 91 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.959 and you have to, you know, mind what you're doing 92 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:25.079 because they're unpredictable. So you know, along with our legend, 93 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.720 know that's the legend of the shawn Ewas. These are 94 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.319 the watchers and they were they're here to watch over 95 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:35.199 us and protect us. Not that there isn't bad ones. 96 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.399 The world has changed. And just like our world has 97 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:41.879 changed and people has changed in our world, they have 98 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.360 changed with it, you know, with the interactions that they have, 99 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.160 you know, the experiences they've had with humans has changed 100 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:54.920 them too. But you know, my life went on and 101 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:59.920 he went on teaching me, showing me he couldn't keep 102 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.439 me out of the woods because, like I said, I 103 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:04.199 grew up on a four underegal farm. I had ponies 104 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.399 and horses, We had cattle, you know, the whole thing. 105 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:12.759 Our Our gardens were like fields. They weren't just gardens. 106 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:17.959 They had eleven acre bury patches. Everything we needed of 107 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:21.000 the orchards at the fruit. You know, we grew everything. 108 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:25.240 We grew the animals that we that vetus and we 109 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:28.959 gave to other people are traded. That was part of 110 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.199 our life too. And then the dowsing us talked to 111 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:37.000 dowas as a first experience. That actually dowsing with my 112 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:40.199 dad and my uncle. That's a whole weather story. I 113 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:44.360 won't get into that with talking about the watchers, but that. 114 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:45.319 Was a very. 115 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:50.920 Just very honorable thing. We had the peach stick that 116 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:55.439 my forefathers used for dowsing, was handed down to me 117 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:00.680 over over two hundred years. That you know that stick, 118 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:03.800 Well that's what we called it, the old stick, but 119 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.279 it was the dowsing rods. 120 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:11.160 It's with the watchers. I guess me. 121 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:14.439 Like I said, I was this wild child. I had 122 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:17.480 my hair that went to my waist. My poor grandma 123 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.720 would chase me, trying to because I would run out 124 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.519 the back door, head to the barn, jump on a 125 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:25.160 pony down through the woods. I would go and with 126 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:27.720 hair flying, and she was always trying to trap me. 127 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:28.519 He did braid. 128 00:07:28.600 --> 00:07:31.319 She would braid my hair down real tight because I 129 00:07:31.399 --> 00:07:33.120 get a couple of birds in my hair. You know, 130 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:35.639 I got sticks in my hairs. You know all of this, 131 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.079 And bless her heart, she's the one had to call out. 132 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:43.680 So she would do that, you know, and she would 133 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.160 tear these long strips of cloth, like colored cloth, and 134 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:49.519 when she braided my hair, she braied that into my 135 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.199 hair and wrap it and then tie it off, kind 136 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:55.839 of protect it. But I had a creak. I would 137 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.800 go down in the woods to the creek, and I 138 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:01.360 was by this time, I'm like twelve, and I love 139 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.680 playing in that water. I take a book and lay there. 140 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:06.600 It's like a little waterfalls and had like the blue 141 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:09.199 clay bottom. It was just smooth and I'd lay there 142 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.720 and the water would run, and they're reading my book. 143 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.759 I just I'd take my pony and I just ground time. 144 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.000 I dropped a bit out so he could eat or whatever. 145 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:20.079 Most of the time I didn't ride with saddle. I 146 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:23.360 ride bareback, or I mean sometimes I did the saddle, 147 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:25.839 but mostly so he could just raize around and be 148 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:29.920 there with me. And on this day, I, of course, 149 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:31.439 as soon as I got in the woods, you know, 150 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:34.399 that hair came down, automatically, came down, no matter what, 151 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:37.440 it's gonna come down. And I took those ribbons out 152 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:39.759 and I laid them up on this flat rock beside 153 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:42.759 where I laid in the water. And of course I'm 154 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:45.080 in the trees, and you know, there's cedar trees all 155 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:47.159 around me, and I'm kind of down in a valley 156 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:51.159 of the little creek bluss So, and there was strawberry 157 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:56.279 patches around where I would play there on this day. 158 00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:57.919 Like I said, I took out my hair ribbons. I 159 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:00.679 laid them up on the thing. I kind of fell asleep. 160 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:02.240 I was laying there in that water, and it was 161 00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:07.080 summertime and hot. You know, I'm laying there and I 162 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.399 woke up and I look, you know, I'm looking over 163 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:13.440 and those strings are gone, and I'm thinking, because I'm 164 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.120 gonna get trouble. My grandma, you know, she told me 165 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:18.120 I better not have that hair down when I come home. 166 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:21.360 And I've you know, they're gone, My ribbons are gone. 167 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:25.320 It's like, oh my, you know, my brothers snut down here, 168 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.519 they taking them because they know I'm gonna get a switching. 169 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.240 But then I look up and going up through the trees, 170 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.600 if you can imagine, the cedar trees will come down. 171 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.559 You know, they've branched down pretty low, and it's kind 172 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.559 of shadowy. It wasn't it was because in the woods 173 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.360 it'll get a little darker. You know, I seen this 174 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.240 shadow moving up through there. I see my ribbons. They 175 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:53.320 were like, it's moving, and I'm thinking, well, what the heck? 176 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:56.480 You know what took my what has them? That's something, 177 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:59.279 you know, that's too big to be my brother, too 178 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:03.440 tall be him. But now I'm thinking, well is it? 179 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:05.159 You know, it was it like a coon? Did a 180 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:06.799 coon pick them up? And it's going, you know, come 181 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:08.600 up in a tree and it's going. I just had 182 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:10.519 all this stuff in my head. And then I see 183 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:16.320 it's stepped kind of out like and holding those those ribbons, 184 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:23.200 and again it's it's one of the watchers. And from 185 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:27.080 then on it was kind of like I didn't get 186 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.080 that bad smell because they have a smell, but they 187 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:33.080 have different smells. All of them don't smell like that 188 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:35.960 horrible Some of them has a horrible stinch. 189 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.879 It's like old. 190 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:44.960 Urine, species of rotten, rotten earth whatever. But some of 191 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.879 them doesn't. They have a different smell. It's kind of 192 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:52.960 like honeysuckle wine. And I mean they have that earthy, rich, earthy, 193 00:10:53.799 --> 00:10:56.399 you know, like dirt smell too, but it's not that 194 00:10:56.600 --> 00:11:01.120 nasty because I honestly, I experienced quite a few of 195 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:03.320 different smells at different times in their life and what 196 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.759 they're doing, but that they didn't have that horrible smell. 197 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:11.559 And it went on up through the woods. So I 198 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.279 hurried up and got my stuff, and knowing that when 199 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:16.799 I get home, I'm gonna get my Grandma's gonna give 200 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:20.559 it to me because my hair's down. So I get 201 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:22.559 on the pony and I head on back up and 202 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:26.440 to the house. And I didn't say anything because I sprayed. 203 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.960 You know, she wouldn't let me come back to the woods, 204 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:31.840 and that was ain't gonna happen because I just lived 205 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:35.120 in the woods. But the next day, you know, I 206 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:38.279 headed back to my spot the next day and on 207 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:42.440 that rock land there where my ribbons had been, I 208 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:48.639 had shells and some little colored stones, but there was 209 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:52.559 an arrow straightener. An arrow straightener is what Shawnee used 210 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:56.320 to make the shaft of their arrows. It's kind of 211 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.279 it's a stone. It's got hole in the middle, and 212 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:03.240 you run that up and down. You catch your treet branch, 213 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:05.279 you know, and use that make your shaft of the 214 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:08.000 arrow and use that and as you run that up 215 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.720 and down, it heats up the wood and it straightens 216 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:15.879 it and it. You know, that's what that's used for. 217 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:21.559 So he took my my ribbons that day, but he 218 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:26.879 left me hunt behind it, you know, some gifts, and 219 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.519 it just kind of went on. I would see the 220 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:36.080 shapes and shadows and just different things. It was one 221 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:39.799 time I was in the barn and our barn was 222 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.000 old and in the center of the barn there was 223 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:45.159 a law. It was made all logs, and then the 224 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.559 newborn was built around it. But on this day I 225 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:50.559 was in there. I had a little pony, and I'd 226 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.759 always take my brothers because it was all like it 227 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:55.960 better because it was bigger and faster. Of course, being 228 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:59.120 a kid, and I was that day. I was using 229 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.000 kerry comb and I was carrying him out and I'd 230 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.639 kind of braid his main hea a long. He was 231 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:07.759 black and white. It was a paint they had. Of course, 232 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:10.120 his mane was long, so I would kind of braid 233 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:13.559 it up, and I cleaned him up because, like I said, 234 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.320 most of the time I rode without. Maybe sometimes I 235 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:18.720 throw a blanket on, but usually I just jump on 236 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:22.799 and go. And I thought, you know, thereby the barn, 237 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.080 because there was a chicken coops and then like the 238 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:30.200 corn crib, the boiled corn, and those orchards were on 239 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.480 the outside of that that we had apples and pears 240 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:39.120 was in that area there, and they it had rained 241 00:13:39.559 --> 00:13:42.679 a little bit. It wasn't it wasn't poor and rain. 242 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.480 It was just raining a little and then the sun 243 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:49.080 came out. You know, I was finish sign up because 244 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:52.879 I gonna go write my pony. But I kind of 245 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:59.039 got that with of the earthy smell came in and 246 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:03.879 I looked, looked around, didn't see nothing. So whenever I 247 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.840 come out of the barn, there was like a paddock 248 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.360 there and you went down through and then around the 249 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:12.399 big chicken the big long chicken house before I got 250 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:15.759 one down into the valley like where I would get 251 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:19.120 on down to the creek, and I kept feeling like 252 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.600 something's watching me, and kind of I could hear a 253 00:14:21.639 --> 00:14:25.399 little bit of movement, you know, some some steps, and 254 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:29.639 again I'm thinking, well, I had two older brothers who 255 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:33.919 liked to torture me, you know, they always picking or whatever, 256 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.519 because they's a lot older than me. But as I 257 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.679 went down through there, I thought I seen the dark 258 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:46.639 shadow and then I realized, you know, it's following me. 259 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:50.399 There was no violence you know, I would get like 260 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:54.320 little acorns thrown at me or some sticks, kind of 261 00:14:54.360 --> 00:15:00.159 like a kid playing so I at that time, I 262 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:04.519 think it was he was growing up as I was 263 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:10.720 growing up, and he would watch me. Never never any 264 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:14.919 ever any violence, cranks, you know, that kind of thing. 265 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:17.600 But I just kind of got used. 266 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:22.240 To him being around. Of course, as I grew up. 267 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.559 You know, I was on the farm and then I 268 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:30.039 got married young. I got married young, and I went 269 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:36.799 to my own home. I was born in a I 270 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:40.679 was born at home that there's two big rocks on 271 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:44.159 the buzzard roosting. It is called red rock. There are 272 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.120 nature conservancy owneds and now, but that's where I was 273 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:51.360 born at. So I went back to a farm from 274 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:55.320 the farm that I was born on. So that's where 275 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.919 I raised my kids at. And I would hear the hood. 276 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.600 Actually have actually have some recordings. They're like the old 277 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:07.000 cassette recordings, you know, like when you I'm sixty two, 278 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:11.039 so I'm older. I don't have the fancy stuff that 279 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:13.320 you have today. I have the old time recorder with 280 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.840 the cassette tape and the you know making them no wise, 281 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:22.000 you know all that that I would take that with 282 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.320 me sometimes and I just set it out. So I 283 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:30.120 picked up some just the hoops. Dad used to there 284 00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:34.960 would be a sound they would make the go, you know, 285 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:39.159 And I asked that. He's like, oh, it's raincrow. That's 286 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:41.759 how he answered me. It wasn't really a rain crow 287 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:44.759 or the whipper wheels. You hear the you know, oh 288 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.960 you know that kind of thing. And then I figured 289 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:52.840 out it's not really whipper wheels, and it's not really 290 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:58.320 it's them talking back on forge. So I kind of 291 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:05.359 it's as as I grew up, I realized, you know 292 00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:08.960 what it was. Then after I moved, you know, as 293 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.160 I moved, it's like he moved. And then my dad 294 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:17.640 pursu later in life. I'm kind of jumping ahead. I 295 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:19.759 kind of grew up. That's how I grew up. I 296 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:24.079 grew up seeing him, so I never Dad always just 297 00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:28.839 told me, you know, make sure pay attention, don't be stupid, 298 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.519 don't don't crowd of them, you know, give them respect 299 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:37.960 they deserve and they will you. So my dad and 300 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:41.680 my mom and got sick. By this time, I lost 301 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:46.079 my husband and youngest son in a car accident, and 302 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:49.680 so I moved off the big farm. I bought another 303 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:54.920 piece of property look quite smaller, and I moved here, 304 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:58.759 and then my dad, he was still on the big farm. 305 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:01.720 My mom got sick first, and he said, well, you 306 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:04.119 take mom home with you and set up the place, 307 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:08.200 and then I'll move with her. Well that didn't quite 308 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:12.480 happen that way. It was like years later. She brought 309 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:15.160 her and she stayed with me. And then my dad 310 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:20.079 has a stroke. He was eighty four, So I brought 311 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:22.839 him off the farm and I brought him home with me. 312 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:26.480 But I'd set up a mobile home in my front yard, 313 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:31.519 and in front of my house was I love I 314 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:33.680 have to be. I lived up against the woods and 315 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.279 my bedroom all my bedroom was just glass. It's like 316 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.640 take vast windows all the way around. I just wanted 317 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:42.960 to be able to see the woods. I had a 318 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:47.119 creek beside my you know, runs down through and my 319 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:48.799 bedroom door. I had a door that came out of 320 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:51.759 my bedroom. Again, it's got the old time wooden door 321 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:54.440 with the glass in it, and I didn't have the 322 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.240 new store door tipe door. 323 00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:58.400 I had. 324 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:02.640 The old time screen door was just screams and it's 325 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:05.480 like a little latchy thing. And I would leave my 326 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:09.759 bedroom door open because under the trees and from the creek. 327 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:12.319 I have springs that feeds my house. I don't have 328 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.039 county water or city water. I don't even have to 329 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:19.319 have a well pumped my springs that's one hundred degrees outside. 330 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:22.319 My water comes out of ice cold. So on this 331 00:19:23.559 --> 00:19:25.799 that had been there for maybe a couple of weeks, 332 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:31.640 I've got you home, gotensettled. So it was like three 333 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:35.400 o'clock in the morning, and what woke me up was 334 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:39.880 the smell. In my mind, I'm not thinking, I guess 335 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:42.440 I just didn't register in my mind because it was 336 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:45.680 horrible smell. This smell was like I thought, oh my gosh, 337 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:50.000 on the the septic line has busted. Something's busty know. 338 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:53.079 It was terrible. So I get up and I look, 339 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:55.119 and I don't see anything. And I'm looking. It's like 340 00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:58.000 everything's all right, But it is that coming time. I'm 341 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:02.799 talking to myself because I'm by myself. So I went 342 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:05.119 back to bed. I left my bedroom door open that night, 343 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:09.960 and the next night again I got that smell, but 344 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:13.680 this time by that big flake glass window, I see 345 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:17.200 a dark shape. Well, I closed my door that night 346 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.680 and I'm thinking, is it a bear? Because we have 347 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.960 bears here, we have coyotes, have bobcats. Oh my gosh, 348 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.119 you just have bobcats in my barn from over my chickens. 349 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:31.640 But again, you know, I did close my door that night. 350 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:40.480 The third night, I see it again and I still thinking. 351 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:42.519 I'm still thinking in my head. You know, if there's 352 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.119 a bear, there's a bear coming, because I'm in it 353 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:49.279 would the fourth night, I would go down at midnight. 354 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.279 Dad wouldn't go to bed until midnight. And I left 355 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:55.519 this big, huge cedar tree in the corner of my 356 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.680 yard when I built my house. So I go, I 357 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:02.319 carry gun. You know, I'm in the woods, like I said, 358 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:06.720 with coyotes whatever, So I always carried a gun at 359 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:07.200 his store. 360 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:07.799 At that time. 361 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.680 I came out and I handed towards Dad's house and 362 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:13.440 I got that whiff come down on me again. That smelled. 363 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:17.240 I look up and I see this big black shape 364 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:20.400 behind that tree, and so I hurried up like I've 365 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.000 been taught. You know, Dad taught me to hunt. I track, 366 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:25.920 you know, I do the whole thing. But you don't run. 367 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.240 You know, you don't run for nothing because if you run, 368 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:31.799 you become praise. So you know, you move slowly, you 369 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:34.400 try to back away, you know, fright if you have to, 370 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:37.920 but try to, you know. So I got in the 371 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:39.160 house and then a day kind of. 372 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:39.519 Laughed at me. 373 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:41.680 He said, wasn't the world's wrong with you? Yeah, you're crazy. 374 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.799 I said, Dad, there's a bear out there. I ain't 375 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.319 no bear out there, I said, Dad, there's bear out there. 376 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:52.359 I see your tree, said you show me. My dad 377 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.039 couldn't walk through. Well, we had, I'd have to help him. 378 00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:57.960 I helped him to the door and he looked out 379 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:02.079 and he goes, you leave him alone. He'll leave you alone. 380 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.759 He ain't done nothing but watching, And it like clicked 381 00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:06.640 in my head. I was like, oh, Dad, you mean that, 382 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:09.960 I said, And he's like, yeah, he's just watching here 383 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:14.440 your bearight. So he would stand there and I would 384 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:16.799 come out midnight out of the bed and stay there 385 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.640 a couple hours, just trying to watch because I kind 386 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:23.480 of watched it. And that went on for maybe I 387 00:22:23.480 --> 00:22:26.799 don't know, maybe three months or more. And then one 388 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:30.759 night again, three o'clock in the morning, I woke me 389 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:34.440 up with these screams like, oh my gosh. It was 390 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:37.480 like I never heard anything violent like that before ever. 391 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:42.119 I've always had palm you know things, nothing, nothing drastic. 392 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:49.759 But this night these screams was like an elephant trumpeting brows, 393 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:55.680 these horrible sounds I have. It's a British infield, he said, 394 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.599 three or three. It's an old army rifle and that's 395 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.599 and it's kind of armor piercing. You know, this is 396 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:05.880 a high powered. That's for if I have to do 397 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:09.279 knockdown like a bear or something that's big that. You know, 398 00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:11.759 I don't shoot anything unless I absolutely have to. I 399 00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:15.039 don't hear nothing that I don't eat. I keep it 400 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:18.200 by the door. But instead of I came out in 401 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:21.799