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Speaker 1: The first encounter took place in the summer of nineteen

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seventy six at Cougar Hot Springs, nine miles outside of

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Blue River, Oregon, in the Willamette National Forest. I was

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living in the woods in Willamette National Forest with my

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boyfriend in a semi log cabin. I say semi because

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it had a roof and walls on only three sides.

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There was no bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom. A fire pit

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stood in front of where the fourth wall should have been.

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The nearest home was nine miles away. Since it was

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a national forest, regular housing was not allowed. We were

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about a mile from the actual hot springs for which

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the place was named, but it was mainly frequented by

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hippies back then, since hiking had not yet become popular.

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The cabin could only be reached by going up a

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small path on a steep old, gross timber covered mountain side.

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There were no roads beyond the highway below, no campers

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or camping, or no dwelling of any kind. No one

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was hanging around the cabin during the day. It was

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only used by us and an occasional friend or to

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at night. We were hiding from the police. I had

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run away from home to escape my alcoholic stepfather. The

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hot Springs was a party place with a lot of

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pot smoking and drinking. It was not a family place

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by any means. One moonless night, as we were climbing

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up to the cabin at about one in the morning,

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sounds erupted all around us. We were only about halfway

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into the woods, and being comfortable with the path, we

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hadn't brought a flashlight. There were multiple voices, all yelling

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at the same time. If you could call it yelling,

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it was more like singing in the sense that the

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sounds were controlled. They started with one octave, held the

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note for about a minute, and then changed to another octave.

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They were voices in unison, almost like a choir. It

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went on for a good ten minutes. They weren't human,

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at least they didn't sound human, but what else could

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they be. It was like a Gregorian chant with all

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the monks chanting just one sound. All that chanting at

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once was terrifying. We found the little cops of tall

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pine trees and cowered down to the ground, hugging ourselves

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to a tree trunk for protection, and frantically whispering to

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each other, what is that? There were no lights of

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any kind, just voices coming from all directions, and they

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surrounded us. They weren't human voices, but they weren't mechanical either.

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They were organic and changed in perfect unison with perfect precision.

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They were close enough that we should have seen something.

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If they'd been a human, we should have seen them.

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Even if they'd been a bunch of aliens, we'd have

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seen something lights or figures moving about. At least if

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it had been a Satanist Wickens, both of which are

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known to use the woods for their various rights, we

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would have seen or heard someone or something because these

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sounds were right on top of us. But we saw nothing.

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There were no shadows, no movement, and no other sounds either.

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It was like we had stepped into a different world.

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It was nothing like we'd ever heard or experienced before.

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In April of twenty nineteen, it was Easter weekend and

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we were camping in our RVs in Tobec Canyon, Colorado.

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We'd planned on boondocking, no electric or sewer hookups, just

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generators in the hilly canyons outside of Tobec Canyon, east

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of Grand Junction, not far from the Colorado River. There

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was a decent sized group of us, and so we

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circled our RVs like a wagon train, leaving a huge

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place in the middle for the campfire. Ours was parked

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next to a ravine that was full of wash from

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the many commonly occurring flash floods in the canyon lands

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and deserts. The ground was a mix of scrub grass

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and red earth. All around us were ridges and slopes

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covered in boulders and dotted with small cave openings. The

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first night, we played music, we cooked dinner, We made

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some'mores and drank wine, and hung out in chairs around

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the fire. The kids, ranging in age from three to thirteen,

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rode their bikes and played around the RVs when they

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weren't at the fire, making more s'mores. My husband went

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to bed early because he'd been up since four thirty

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that morning. He and my son in law had come

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up early to set up camp. My daughter is a

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full time nurse and I had not retired from teaching. Suddenly,

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my husband stuck his head out the door and asked,

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why is someone slamming into the RV? What I exclaimed,

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We're all sitting here by the fire. No one's around

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the RV. Or slamming into it. And then I asked,

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was it many Many was a tiny men pin? No,

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he said, it was too heavy, like a person. Someone

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slammed into the RV. Many's too small. She couldn't have

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done that. I had a creepy feeling in my gut

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at that point, but I didn't say anything. The next day,

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everyone went to explore one of the red earth covered

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ridges while I took a shower. They said they were

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going to wait for me, but the three year old

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twins got antsy, so they all went ahead. I didn't

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know it, but one of the women found a huge

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footprint on top of that ridge. She took a picture

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of it, but it wasn't until later, when she posted

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it to Facebook that I knew anything about it. In

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the early hours of the next morning, around four am,

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my husband jerked me awake and was loudly what was that?

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What was what? I asked, still half asleep. You didn't

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feel that, he said, emphatically, No, what I answered, confused.

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Someone slammed into the RV hard enough to rocket, he said,

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and then he added, I'm not going out there to

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find out what it was. I knew then what was

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going on inside I was freaking out. My husband knew

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I believed in Bigfoot. Later we talked about it, he

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said it was a person big enough to rock the

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entire RV. This RV is thirty five feet long. It

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has a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room in a second

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small room with two bunks. We eventually went outside to

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look for footprints, but we didn't find anything. We searched

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down in the ravine as well, but there were no

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footprints there either. On a warm June day in twenty

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nineteen at Sequoia National Forest, my family and I were

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high one of the seldomly used pathways. As we entered,

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we'd heard woodknocks and sounds like monkeys. There were no

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other sounds at all, no birds or insects, and no wind.

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At one point, we heard something huge slamming to the

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ground not far from us. We thought it was an airplane.

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When we witnessed a commercial airliner crash into some houses

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in San Diego in nineteen seventy seven, there was a

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mushroom cloud of smoke, so we looked up, but we

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didn't see any of that. We knew it wasn't an

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earthquake either. Later, as we headed out, we came across

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some park rangers in the parking area who wanted to

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ask us some questions, and we told them about the sound,

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and they told us it was a tree that had fallen.

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They said nothing like that ever happened before. We thought

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that was odd because trees come down there every year.

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They didn't elaborate, so we assumed they must have been

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referring to the fact that it was a warm, windless day,

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not a snow storm or other inclement weather. On Monday,

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December second, twenty nineteen, in Grand Junction, Colorado, my husband

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had gone to bed early. He's a chef and Tuesdays

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or truck Day, meaning he has to get up early

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and be at the restaurant to check the food delivery.

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He has no trouble sleeping with the television and lights on,

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so as always I was up much later than him.

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I'm retired now finally as a teacher. Our house is

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on the edge of town in a semi rural area

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known as Orchard Mesa, next to the Colorado River. To

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the west, it extends into the Colorado National Monument, which

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is similar to a small Grand Canyon. To the south,

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it is the LaSalle Mountain Range, and the Arizona, New

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Mexico and Utah borders. East of US are fields, farms, vineyards, pastures,

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and small hills, all connected to the bottom of the

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ten thousand foot high Grand Mesa, at the top of

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which is a collapse volcano that forms the largest mesa

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platform in the country. It's dotted with alpine meadows and

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hundreds of lakes, past which the Colorado River winds as

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it makes its way to our orchard Mesa. The river

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in this section is heavily wooded on both sides, and

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all sorts of animals frequent the river. We have a

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few crab avel trees in the garden section of our yard,

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as do our neighbors. We also have grape vines and

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mulberry trees, all of which are inviting for various animals.

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And our house sits on half an acre and closed

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by a tall wooden fence, except for one section that

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is blocked off by both a huge shed and a

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small one connected by a gate. This is to keep

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our dogs from escaping through our neighbors short wire fence.

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We used to keep a garden back there, but life

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is sort of gotten in the way and now it's

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abandoned and full of tall. As my husband slept and

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I watched TV, our dog Daisy ran through the dog

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door out into the backyard and immediately started barking like

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someone was out in the road. Walking by my other dog, Timmy,

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who generally ignores Daisy's youthful antics, perked up his ears

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and then jumped off the bed and ran out the

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door to join her. I was a bit surprised and

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frankly a little concerned that they might wake up my husband.

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It was not entirely unusual for them to bark at

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the fence. People walk their dogs down to the river

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all the time, but this time the barking was different.

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Instead of the typical intermittent barking interspersed with running and

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pacing along the fence, they were barking on the move,

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as if they were hysterical. I knew immediately something was

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in the yard. I panicked with the thought that they

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may have cornered a rabbit, skunk, or a coon. I

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didn't want to have the break up any fights, even

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more so I didn't want to get bit. And furthermore,

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we once saw a raccoon in our garbage area, big

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enough to be mistaken for a dog. If that's what

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they were up against, I knew they would be outmatched.

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With all of this running through my mind, I jumped

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out of bed and grabbed a flashlight from the cupboard

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and headed outside. I could see them all in the

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small shed, barking towards the abandoned garden area. I was

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grateful for the fence between them and whatever they were

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barking at, and I yelled for them to stop it

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and come on. In twenty years of teaching, in thirty

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eight years of parenting has given my voice the kind

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of authoritative sound not to be ignored. But the speed

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with which they responded was more than just a little surprising.

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I figured it must have been a raccoon they were

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barking at. Bears were already hibernating. Dogs would have barked

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back or even fought back. The cat would have run

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off right away. After I ushered the dogs back into

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the house, curiosity got the better of me, and I

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turned the powerful flashlight I was using back on the yard.

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I stepped as close to the little shed as fear

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and caution would allow, and I raised the light a

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little higher, and I caught movement behind and a little

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above it. The problem was I shouldn't have been able

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to see anything above the shed. The only thing back

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there to stand on was the neighbor's flimsy four foot

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high wire fence. However, I could see a bulky shape

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moving around back there, like someone hunched over in an

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orange and tan coat. My mind started racing with thoughts

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and questions. Is that the neighbor's teens going up to

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no good again? Those kids had proven themselves to be

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trouble in the past, so anything was possible. And then

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I realized the person in question was coming into my yard.

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I couldn't believe they weren't reacting to the light. It

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was all happening so quickly, though, that I didn't have

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time to do anything but watch while this person moved closer.

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He or she or it was moving in a weird

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gliding way. There was no head bobbing, just a smooth glide.

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I thought, is that a cat on top of the roof?

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But it was too big? Why was it so big?

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Was it a raccoon? How did it get up the

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side of the metal shed? And then the moment hit,

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the exact second when my eyes revealed the truth and

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my mind accepted it. It had stopped gliding and turned

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towards me, creating a silhouette made up of an apex

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center and sloping shoulders. This wasn't something on top of

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the roof. It was something behind the shed, and if

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I could see it, this something had to be taller

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than eight feet. I knew what it was. I couldn't

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breathe as I stared at that classic Patty style bigfoot silhouet.

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I could see long tan hair streaked with brown covering

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its head. I don't remember its eyes. Maybe I didn't

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want to make eye contact. That would have made it

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more real and more dangerous. It froze, and my mind

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began to tell me I was only seeing stone where

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it was standing. I couldn't be seeing anything. I thought,

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this is my fault, and it's here they know me.

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This is my fault. I kept staring at the stone

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image in front of me, burning the picture into my mind,

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proving to myself I was seeing it, and telling myself

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I wasn't crazy. I could feel it looking at me.

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Fright dissolved into flight. Run, I mentally screamed at myself.

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Instantly I turned and ran back inside, slamming the locked

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door behind me. More questions came. Should I wake my husband?

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What should I do? Oh? My god, I don't know

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what to do. He won't believe me anyway. I know

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he knows now that these things exist, but he won't

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believe that there's one in our backyard. It's just too

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much of a coincidence. Not knowing what else to do,

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I turned to the group chat on messenger, where I

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had shared my other experiences. Fortunately someone was online and

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I was able to relate the entire event. He told

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me to go back out there. What heck, no, I said,

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there's no way, try, he said, somewhere down inside. Maybe Foolishly,

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I found the courage to take his advice. At his request,

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I put him on live feed, and carrying my phone

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in the flashlight, I went back outside. I was grateful

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for the light behind that shed that revealed no silhouette.

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This time, my adrenaline was so high, so much so

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that I barely noticed the icy cement under my stocking feet.

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But standing out there and facing my fear was quickly

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erasing the terror that had gripped me earlier. The next day,

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as instructed by my friend, I went back out and

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took pictures, and when my husband got home, I told

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him the entire ordeal, and we walked out together to

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look at the grass that was tamped down. There was

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a path leading to the neighbor's wire fence. There were

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spots that could be giant footprints, but all too grassy

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to be sure. But it was evidence enough for me,

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so I examined the shit and confirmed that there was

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no place for a raccoon to climb on top of it.

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I took pictures of everything. It's been five years since

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this happened. Although I didn't actually see anything, I can't

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just explain away what happened either. I guess that's why

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it stays with me to this day. I bought a

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fifth wheel located in Henderson, Texas. It was parked in

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an RV camp just outside of town. The park was

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surrounded by a large, fairly dense forest, and there were

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about fifteen other RVs park there as well, with the

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woods behind us. I had never stayed in an RV

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before I bought it to get out of the city

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and rest. I'm a retired nurse. I was glad to

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get out of the city and travel for a while.

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I had my dog with me, my buddy and traveling

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companion of thirteen years, Roscoe. Roscoe and I enjoyed going

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for long walks. Sometimes we'd venture into the forest behind

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the fifth wheel. It was quiet back there and peaceful.

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It had a calming effect on me at times, though

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it could be a little spooky. It was almost like

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I could feel eyes watching me. There was one event

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during my stay in that area that I will never forget.

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Roscoe and I were off on one of our walks.

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We decided to take the trail leading into the forest.

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We took our usual walk around and then started back

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up the trail. Suddenly, Roscoe whined softly. He stood alert,

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sniffing something beyond my senses. The hair stood up on

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his back as he stared deeper into the forest. I

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couldn't tell what he was seeing, or smelling or sensing.

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Not knowing what he knew only served to make me

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even more nervous. Then his tail went down, the hair

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on his back stood more rigid, and his neck rough

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fluffed up. He had a look that I've only seen

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when he doesn't like whatever he's seeing. It was a

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warning look of danger. I softly said his name, and

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in response, He whined again and looked straightforward, as if

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to say, Mom, there's something out there. Roscoe will chase cats,

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and he's been known to be slightly protective of me

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around strangers, but this was more than usual. It was

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something different. He was truly spooked and he stood there

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for a few more minutes, but I couldn't see or

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hear anything. Eventually we moved up on the road to

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my trailer. That night was a little weird as well.

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I like to go out on my porch and sit.

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There's something truly magical about the sounds of the crickets

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and nightbirds, and course with the tree frogs and the

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katie DIDs. It was a nice way to end each day.

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But that night there were no sounds. It was deathly quiet.

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There were no crickets, no birds or anything. Rather than

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being relaxing, it was a bit nerve racking. The next day,

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when Roscoe and I took our walk, we started down

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the trail into the woods again. This time there was

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a small tree branch leaned over the trail. It wasn't

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like it had broken and fallen it was damaged. It

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was just leaned over to block the trail. I thought

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it was rather peculiar, and Roscoe was acting funny again.

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He was looking down the trail and acting like he

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didn't want to go into the forest, and I decided

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we take a different raph for the next few days

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and check out the camp instead. That evening, I took

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my usual seat outside of my trailer. This time I

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heard some weird breaking noises in the forest behind me,

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but I didn't get up to investigate. The hair was

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standing up on the back of my neck and I

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got this really creepy feeling that I couldn't shape. I

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left there a week later for better camping spots. While

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we were there, I never actually saw anything or even

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really heard anything other than some breaking sounds, but that

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was one that stayed with me and probably always will.

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Thank you for reading this. It was nice to share

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it with someone.