WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.480 Fires going down and I'm just kind of scanning this 2 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:03.279 tree line. 3 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.759 This thing's maybe sixty to eighty yards away. It's standing 4 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:07.280 in place. 5 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:10.039 I got the impressions looking back at me, waiting for 6 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:12.480 me to turn away. We did like standoff where like 7 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.439 I'm looking at it, I'm like, I am not handling 8 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:18.239 this like I should. I'm having like a panic attack 9 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:20.839 at the time. It was the most terrified I've ever 10 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.960 been in my life. I think it was a couple 11 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:24.640 of minutes. I didn't even want to take my eye 12 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:26.480 off it because I felt like if I took my 13 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.519 THRMB down it was going to like run toward me 14 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.399 or just something completely irrational, you know, when you're scared 15 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:34.359 like that. The thing was is it's navigating and pitch black, 16 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.159 and that was very intimidating to me. And then we 17 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:40.240 can hear it going crunch crunch crunch walking adjacent to 18 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.439 Camp one. I could not believe that these things actually exist, 19 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:47.280 that they're actually out there, and that I actually saw one. 20 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:48.560 It was just mind blowing. 21 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:24.480 This is Bigfoot cross Roads. My name's Matt and I'd 22 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:28.120 like to welcome to the podcast, mister Jonathan Easley Man. 23 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.680 This is long overdue. We were kind of talking about that. 24 00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:32.400 Nice to have you on, man. 25 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:35.519 Yeah, no, no, no. When I first got into this subject, 26 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:38.680 there were like a small handful of like podcasts that 27 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:44.280 I started listening to, and I think yours and Jeff 28 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:48.480 Kelly's what was that Squatcher's Lunge podcast was around, Yeah, 29 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:50.560 and there were a couple other ones, but I mean, 30 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:54.040 everything's fallen to the wayside, and you know, after all 31 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:55.680 these years, you know, yours is one of the ones 32 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.760 that's left standing. And you know, I'm glad for that 33 00:01:57.799 --> 00:01:59.920 because it's such a good podcast. You've had so many 34 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.760 great guests over the years, and I've learned a lot 35 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:03.079 from it. 36 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:06.879 So I'm looking I'm glad to be on it myself now. 37 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:10.960 Yeah. I appreciate all the kind words, and I like 38 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:14.439 to talk to people, especially like you, who are passionate 39 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.400 about the subject and out there doing a lot of 40 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.319 the work to try and learn some of the answers. 41 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:23.280 What got you started in Bigfoot to begin with? 42 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:26.759 Oh, Man, Well, I mean as a kid, I've always 43 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:30.319 been a little odd in the sense that, you know, 44 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:32.840 I was always reading like these monster books as a kid, 45 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:36.039 and you know, being like nine years old and you. 46 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:41.000 Know, into X Files. That was my favorite show growing up. 47 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.960 But you know, you grow up and all that stuff 48 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.360 kind of fades away and it became just a show. 49 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:49.560 And you still have these like interests. 50 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.080 You know, you don't presume you have a life to live, right, 51 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:56.080 but then you know, you start figuring out that maybe 52 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:59.360 some of these things aren't as a aren't as. 53 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:00.400 Crazy as you like. 54 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.120 For example, I started doing a lot of hiking and 55 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:08.240 backpacking and that kind of got my interest in Bigfoot 56 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:13.560 back again. So there was a time in Sequoia I 57 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:16.199 had thought I saw something out of the corner of 58 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:18.319 my eye. I don't tell people, oh I had a sighting, 59 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:20.879 but I felt like I had a sighting. It happened 60 00:03:20.919 --> 00:03:23.120 so fast out of the corner of my eye, looked 61 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.960 like something walking. And that kind of got me thinking again, like, 62 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:29.319 oh my gosh, this thinking be real, and I just 63 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.439 went down the you know, you go down the Bigfoot 64 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:36.280 wormhole online trying to figure out like, oh, do other 65 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:40.479 people see it in this area? Do other people hear things? 66 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.639 And have people recorded things? You start figuring all this 67 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.240 stuff out, and you just kind of start weeding out 68 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:48.759 what you think is real as opposed to what you 69 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.080 think is fake, and you know, you end up with 70 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:54.960 this little tiny set of data that like I was, 71 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:59.840 for example, going to Sequoia whenever I could, based on 72 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:02.520 the reports that I saw from there, and. 73 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:07.240 You know, I heard a few strange things there. 74 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:10.400 I followed a lot of I went to the place 75 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.599 of a lot of where these reports happened, you know, 76 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:15.080 things that I picked up off the bf RO. I 77 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.439 had spoken to law enforcement ranger that had some really 78 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:21.319 get some pretty good looking footprints, but he could not 79 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.360 he didn't have it in him to share him with me. 80 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.079 I tried to get him to send me the pictures. 81 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:31.480 But you know, so started off from just you know, 82 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:34.879 common interest to slowly realizing, oh my gosh, you know what, 83 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:38.519 there's something to this. They're scientists and primatologists and very 84 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.920 intelligent people pursuing this, and I just got sucked into it, 85 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:45.279 just like everybody else. And now here I am spending 86 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.240 thousands of dollars going on these trips, lots some money 87 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:52.519 on like camera equipment because you know, for my for 88 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.920 my YouTube channel, Western Bigfoot Exploration. 89 00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:58.600 Let's back up to us to the part where you 90 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:03.120 saw something out of the corner whenever it comes to 91 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:09.519 bigfoot researchers, integrity is everything, and if you are even 92 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:16.199 remotely embellishing things or putting things out there as factual 93 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:21.399 that can possibly be argued against, it's curtains for your career. 94 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:23.480 Nobody wants to have anything to do with it. 95 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.079 Absolutely. 96 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:29.879 There's a lot of encounters that take place where the 97 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:34.480 people are fairly certain that it was a bigfoot. They 98 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.959 believe it was a bigfoot, but they can't put it 99 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.519 out there's a bigfoot sighting because they can't prove it 100 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:42.319 and they can't verify that that's exactly what it was. 101 00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:43.199 Correct. 102 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:44.279 No, you're right about that. 103 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:47.079 So this sounds like one of those incidents. So let's 104 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.240 just get rid of the researcher category right now and 105 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:53.959 just say, like, okay, it was a bigfoot. So what happened? 106 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:57.399 Okay, So I was in a place called Redwood Canyon 107 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:00.560 and Sequoia Nationally it's actually right where Sequoia in King's 108 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:04.959 Canyon National Park border each other. And there's a place 109 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.800 you drive a couple of miles down a road and 110 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.959 it's called Redwood Canyon, and it's the largest Sequoia grove 111 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:13.399 in the world, at least I believe in North America, 112 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:16.560 and it's kind of really cool. It's like when you 113 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:18.480 walk through this grove, it's like, honey, I shrunk the 114 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.639 hikers because the boulders are the sizes of houses. There's 115 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:27.160 a mixture of redwoods and sequoias. So you're walking and 116 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:30.120 after a while it messes with you. You lose perspective of 117 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:34.079 how big or small things are. And I've never experienced 118 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:35.920 that in my life. Like you're walking and you're just 119 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:39.680 kind of like disoriented. These trees are huge anyway. So 120 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:44.959 I'm walking and as I just came across around a 121 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.079 bend going down on my right side, there's a creek, 122 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.680 very small creek, and as I turned the corner, it 123 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:55.959 looked like down in the creek, this is about maybe 124 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:59.319 one hundred feet below me, it looked like if something 125 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.920 took two steps and cleared a branch with its arm, 126 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:06.160 and by the time I looked, I saw the movement 127 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:09.199 of the branch and that was pretty much it. 128 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:12.879 I told my friends, They said, dude, that was weird. 129 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:14.319 I go with somes down there. 130 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.839 And it happened so fast in such a you know, 131 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.079 and just a split second that your mind is still 132 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.519 catching up to what happened yeah, And I was. 133 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:25.519 Like, that looked really weird. It looked like a guy. 134 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.399 And I remember my first thought was like I remember, 135 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:31.279 I think it was Backdraft or some some firefighting movie 136 00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:36.319 where they was sometimes occasionally like firefighters wore black suits, 137 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.319 you know, they were like a yeah. 138 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:41.759 And so it hit me as is there a guy? 139 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:43.279 Is there guy from the fire department? 140 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:45.519 Like down there clearing order? 141 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:47.519 Are they doing like a control burn or something like that. 142 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:50.519 That's what I thought, like within three seconds, like it 143 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:51.279 looked really weird. 144 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.240 And as it walked off, you know, it disappeared into 145 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.360 some bushes very quickly. I mean I saw this corner 146 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.000 of the eye split second. 147 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:01.639 Told the friend we walked down. 148 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.600 There, and the branch that was moving that was in 149 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:07.720 question that I said, kind of looked like an arm 150 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:09.879 coming up to move it out of the way. It 151 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:11.720 was pretty tall, it was about in my head height. 152 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:16.959 Now I started going, well, it happened so fast. It 153 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:20.439 could have been something else. What if I saw something wrong? 154 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.160 What if it was just the upper half that I saw? 155 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:25.120 And you know, this question just kept swirling around in 156 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.720 my mind. So, like I said, it happened really fast. 157 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:31.360 It's not something that I talked to a lot of 158 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:36.759 people about because I myself have questions about what I saw. 159 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.759 It happened so quickly. Of course, a few years later, 160 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.480 twenty fifteen, you know, I did get to see I 161 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.159 did see them through a thermal imager up in the 162 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:53.000 Sierras Northern Sierras and Plumus National Forest, and any doubts 163 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.000 that I had about the existence of bigfoot or answer 164 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:59.399 that day, but as far as that first little glimpse 165 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.120 of a siding, that kind of got me just going 166 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:05.559 down this wormhole and till this day. I mean, I 167 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:09.559 think I saw what I saw, but not absolutely certain. 168 00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:14.559 Is this an area that historically has other bigfoot sightings? 169 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.879 No? Absolutely, And one of the things is I've gone 170 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:23.039 I had gone back there, and I went back there 171 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:26.919 a handful of times, and one of the times I 172 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:30.200 did hear what I thought was a vocalization. It was 173 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.720 very quickly, but it was something that responded to two 174 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:39.320 whoops I did, and it it just sounded too strange 175 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.279 and the fact that it like almost mimicked what I 176 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:47.559 did was very odd. Aside from that, yeah, this area 177 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.480 was I guess what a befo we're talking about? 178 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.799 With a researcher terms, and the using the researcher words. 179 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.840 It'd be a hot spot because there's a number of 180 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:02.519 BFRORO reports further up the mountain there, and there's almost 181 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:05.200 this string that I kind of put together. I'm a 182 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.799 guy that like sits down and likes to look at 183 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:10.679 reports and look at maps, and I like to look 184 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:13.799 at to see if there's any correlations within these sidings. 185 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.759 For example, you know, maybe there's a creek that runs 186 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:20.039 all along this place with the string of sidings. And 187 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:22.440 what I kind of found is that this there's this 188 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:26.960 kind of canyon from a place called Hume Lake that 189 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:30.279 goes all the way up to kind of like a 190 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:35.360 Zalea campground, and then it goes into breaks into redwood canyons. 191 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:38.039 So there is this kind of corridor that you can 192 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:41.440 piece together on a map. Now, within that area, there's 193 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:45.720 at least five or six reports that I've that I've 194 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:46.639 heard of, some. 195 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:47.559 Of them being VFROO. 196 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.799 A couple of them were people that I spoke to, 197 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.440 including I mentioned a little earlier a law enforcement ranger. 198 00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:56.759 There was a there's a Christian camp called Heartland Christian Camp, 199 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.279 and I was talking to a law enforcement ranger up 200 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.240 the top of this Redwood canyon, and I started just 201 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:05.879 talking about Bigfoot, and he's kind of sitting there in 202 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.320 his truck, smiling, you know, nodding, and you know, I'm 203 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.440 just I always when I talked about when I talk 204 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:13.919 about bigfoot to like law enforcement or rangers, I try 205 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.399 to come off as like, this really sane, middle of 206 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:18.279 the line person, you know, because if you go to 207 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:20.879 one extreme, you're like, you know, you can see them 208 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:22.759 crazy very quickly to somebody. 209 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:24.519 So I always try to ease into it. 210 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:26.799 And I kind of see him leaning back in the 211 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:29.240 seat listening to me, and I'm just asking, you know, 212 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.720 you ever see anything strange? And he pulls out his 213 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:33.159 phone and he goes, let me see if I can 214 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.360 find these, and he scrolls back, scrolls back, and he 215 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:40.039 pulls up these pictures of a trackway and he says, 216 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.960 apparently everybody woke up at this Christian camp and some 217 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.120 people noticed some footprints. 218 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.759 And they were going, oh, look, it's big foot footprints. 219 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.080 And somehow the kids told the adults, and the adults 220 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.720 were kind of like, you know, perplexed by it. Going home, 221 00:11:57.879 --> 00:12:00.519 who walked through here? This is kind of funny isn't it. 222 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:04.039 The prints are kind of big, aren't they. And I 223 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.679 guess when a law enforcement ranger passed by, they're like, 224 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:08.720 you know, you want to see something strange that we 225 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:10.600 think is a little bit weird. And they took him 226 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:12.799 up here and he took pictures of it, and they 227 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:14.919 all kind of stood around scratching their heads. 228 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:17.679 And that was the end of that story. But he's 229 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:19.799 showing me these pictures and I'm like, dude, can you 230 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:21.480 can you you think you can get these to me? 231 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:24.279 Like I won't see your name, I won't. He's like, man, 232 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:26.600 I just can't have any involvement in this, And like 233 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.799 before we go like government conspiracy or anything like that. 234 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:32.279 I honestly think that this guy just did not, like 235 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:35.519 legitimately want to get involved in anything weird. And you 236 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:39.440 know stories of you know, someone in his profession telling this, 237 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:41.639 you know can get back to him to give me 238 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:43.120 a trace back to him. I just think he didn't 239 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:44.240 want anything to do with it. 240 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:45.799 But that was a weird story. 241 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.639 It's also another weird story from a couple of volunteer 242 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:52.240 rangers that came by to check on my campsite at night. 243 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:55.000 I was here there with a couple of friends just camping, 244 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:58.080 not doing a whole bigfoot thing. But when they came by, 245 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.519 I always kind of like I said, ease my way into, 246 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.159 you know, making sure the subject kind of meanders toward. 247 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:05.960 The bigfoot thing. 248 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:08.879 Just happened to come up. What do you know, all 249 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:09.679 the time. 250 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.840 All the time, and because and I do it, because sometimes, 251 00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:17.320 you know, you do this twenty times, you might get 252 00:13:17.399 --> 00:13:20.240 one person that goes, well, yeah, I got a story 253 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.720 for you. They'll take you something real interesting. And these 254 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:27.039 two girls, volunteer girls, were telling me about how a 255 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:29.759 ranger a few months earlier, and this is right around 256 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:35.440 a place called Jenny Lake's Jenny Lake. I guess she 257 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:38.360 was walking up there and she saw something get up 258 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.840 on two feet and very fat, very quickly ran up 259 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.000 the side of the mountain. And she got back and 260 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:47.519 was like, you know, guys, you know, I don't know 261 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:49.759 what I just saw. And I guess she made some 262 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:54.039 sort of report about it. And she was out there 263 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:00.320 servying wildlife. And when she made this report, I guess 264 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:02.679 one of her superiors had told her this is a 265 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:05.720 story coming from the volunteers. By the way, one of 266 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.120 the superiors had told her, you know, what unless you're 267 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.679 wearing you know, I'm sorry, while you're wearing your uniform 268 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:15.200 and you have that NPS badge on, We're only going 269 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:18.240 to talk about National Park Service stuff, you know, bears 270 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:21.720 and all the educational things that are in our curriculum, 271 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:24.799 you know, not side stories about anything strange. So he 272 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.440 wasn't like denying that she saw something or anything, just saying, hey, look, 273 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.320 you know, as an employee of the for Service, you 274 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.519 got to keep it straight, which is something that a 275 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:38.720 friend of mine, Robert Leiterman, has also experienced in his career, 276 00:14:38.759 --> 00:14:41.960 where you know, it's not this big shadow government trying 277 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:44.759 to come down and suppress Bigfoot. It was just a 278 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:47.279 superior going, hey, buddy, you got to keep it in line. 279 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:50.679 You know, that's not what we teach, so, you know, 280 00:14:50.759 --> 00:14:54.799 And that was right around this same particular area. 281 00:14:55.159 --> 00:14:58.559 When did you first jump into the idea of like, hey, 282 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:03.080 I'm going to go out there and specifically investigate bigfoot 283 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.039 with like a group of people they're commonly known as 284 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.679 Bigfoot audience. What was your first experience like with that. 285 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:11.720 Oh, you got to be cool and use the term 286 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:14.360 expedition in caids what they all call them. 287 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:18.600 Your first official expedition where you're going to actually become 288 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.320 a Bigfoot researcher. 289 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.000 No, you're right. 290 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:27.200 So twenty fifteen, it was spring and I had been, 291 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.600 you know, just chatting online like we all do, and 292 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.000 there were all these Facebook pages where people post their 293 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:37.759 blurry pictures and paradolia and stuff like that. Every once 294 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:40.879 in a while you'd get a great post where you'd 295 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:44.759 get somebody, you know, tossing an invite out. And one 296 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:46.440 of the people that I came across was a guy 297 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:51.639 named Jeff Kelly, you probably remember him, and so he 298 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.399 had the Squatcher's Lounge podcast and I started kind of 299 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:57.559 chit chatting with them, and over the course of time 300 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.279 we talked a lot, and he was like, you know, 301 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:05.600 we're all meeting up in the Sierras, and you know, 302 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:09.879 this is around the area of the whole justin SMA. 303 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:14.279 Supposed to kill site, as I supposed. People are real 304 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.519 back and forth about it, you know. 305 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:18.960 Anyway, it was an incident that happened up there. 306 00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:22.679 A couple of years later, you know, Barcatino, a guy 307 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.120 films a couple on a thermal imager and this was 308 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.200 very very interesting to me, and I had picked apart 309 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.200 the story online, like trying to just find any holes 310 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:33.159 in the stories and details. And you know, I finally 311 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.480 got an invite to go up there and you know, 312 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.480 camp with these guys. So I took it and I 313 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.440 went up there. And mind you, at this point, I 314 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:44.360 had been backpacking and hiking for years. 315 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:46.639 I knew the sounds of the outdoors. 316 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:50.919 I had never been really like confused by anything I've 317 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:54.519 ever heard in the outdoors. I can recognize all animal sounds, 318 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:59.799 and I heard strange things up there and saw what 319 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:02.840 look like a trackway going through camp one day when 320 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:06.559 we came back, and it was that final night where 321 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:08.799 you know, I was holding a therm. 322 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.039 I had never held a thermal imager, and you know, 323 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:14.160 I happened to just see one of. 324 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:18.079 These things at like two thirty in the morning. My 325 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:20.720 intention was to go up there and maybe I'll get 326 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:24.240 to like hear something strange, right, And it was one 327 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:27.839 of the most active weekends I've had since I've been 328 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:33.640 doing this. So after that, I was just completely glued. 329 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:37.799 Somebody's got to tell this story, and there's there's other stories, 330 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:39.720 and so that's when I decided, you know what, I 331 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:42.000 should make a YouTube channel. I've always wanted to make 332 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:45.880 kind of cinematic documentaries, but I was just glued. Man. 333 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:47.759 After that, It's like, these things are out there. 334 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:52.559 They're absolutely out there. They leave trackways, they make sounds, 335 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.440 and if you're good enough, you can record them. So 336 00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:58.960 it was after that that I just like, yeah, just 337 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:01.160 full on the side, like this is what I'm gonna do. 338 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.960 I limited my backpacking and my regular you know camping, 339 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:07.559 you know, I choose to go to places like the 340 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:09.440 Freeman Site to see what happened there. 341 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.839 I wanted to investigate some of the biggest. 342 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:15.200 Stories in Bigfoot, you know, because yeah, it's just a 343 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:16.240 really cool subject. 344 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.200 And yeah, that was after twenty fifteen. 345 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:19.720 That was it. 346 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:25.240 That's just crazy to think about your first official foray 347 00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:29.160 into this thing. You're going to one of the most 348 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:32.400 famous locations there is in the history of bigfoot, and 349 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:37.279 at that time it was at its like peak excitement, 350 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:40.680 you know, because everybody was talking about it. You know, 351 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.480 it was kind of kept a little secret. You know, 352 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:46.279 you had to be part of the in crowd to 353 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:49.279 know where it was even at, and then you go 354 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:51.839 there and experience stuff that must have been mind blowing. 355 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:57.720 Yeah, it was also it was also like almost like 356 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.400 a I don't want to say a letdown, but something 357 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:03.160 like that, because it's like you go out there in 358 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:05.960 your first time hanging out with these people in this 359 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:10.000 awesome location, and that happens, and it has it. 360 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:11.119 Has not happened since. 361 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:15.319 Yeah, yude, I thought i'd have like three or four 362 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:18.680 sightings under my belt. I thought this happened a lot more. Yeah, 363 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:22.440 and no, it's like most most, like ninety percent of 364 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:27.000 the time, you're not hearing or seeing anything, you know. 365 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.880 So I guess I could say, like I wish that 366 00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:30.519 I can. 367 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:33.720 Go back in time equipped like I am today with 368 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:34.880 today's mentality. 369 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.240 Yeah, you know, and maybe I would have been able 370 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:37.960 to document it. 371 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:41.480 And you know, of course, twenty fifteen it was very 372 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:44.480 hard to get like a thermal imaguer with record capability 373 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:47.079 that wasn't you know, two. 374 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:49.640 Thousand, five hundred dollars or something like that. 375 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:53.160 Right nowhere, nearly accessible as they are today to the 376 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:54.079 common consumer. 377 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:55.119 Exactly. 378 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:57.319 Yeah, So what did you see? What was it? 379 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:02.079 Like? Well, it was we had been up there for 380 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.319 three days and I heard some very strange noises, Like 381 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:09.319 I said that I around my camp, I'm on my tent, 382 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:09.759 at night. 383 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:10.480 The first night. 384 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:15.200 Second night, I heard like this big old power knock, 385 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:20.359 and it was the third night. The campfire had just slowly, 386 00:20:20.519 --> 00:20:23.880 slowly died out, like I was the last person up. 387 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:26.480 The last person had just said good night. He had 388 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:28.799 justin right next to the fire in his cot. He 389 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:31.240 sleeps with no tents, right there in his cot, in 390 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:34.160 his sleeping bag. Fire's going down, and I'm just kind 391 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:38.240 of scanning this tree line. And you know, with a 392 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:42.200 thermal imager, you see something, and to the untrained eye, 393 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:45.319 everything can look like something else. I mean, it's just 394 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.920 you're looking at heat signatures through the trees. Some of 395 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:50.279 them look like people, some of them look like an animal, 396 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.440 and you got to take a moment to sit there 397 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.039 and really distinguish what you're looking at. So I was 398 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.119 panning and I said, oh, my gosh, that looks almost 399 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:02.759 like a guy standing up there. And I swear I 400 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.319 almost started panning again. And then I noticed like a 401 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:10.519