Sasquatch Chronicles

JD writes "I was 17 years old. Heading into my senior year in high school. Life was good. This was in 2001, over summer break. On a blue sky summer day, my friend and I decided to go out for a drive and walk around a park, known as Shevlin Park. Now, back in 2002 you could go out to places in and around Bend and it wouldn't be overcrowded by tourists. Shevlin Park was on the outskirts of town with trails along Tumalo Creek that backed up to nothing but nature. Of course today there's houses and it feels more like a park surrounded by residential housing. I included a photo to help understand my encounter. In the photo, the red dot is where my friend and I parked. The yellow dot is where we had our encounter and the direction this creature went. That day we got lucky as there was nobody else around. We decided to take a walk over to Tumalo Creek. Within minutes of walking I noticed in front of me a large pine tree that had fallen over. The tree was resting up on its stump and it had fallen over into a thick growth patch of pine trees and aspens and your random shrubs. I got the immediate idea to hop up onto the tree and attempt to balance my way along the fallen tree. Now this tree, resting on the stump and the top of the tree now resting in a thicket of trees, there was probably about 3 feet of space from the tree parallel to the ground. I was about 5ft 11inches so I figured once I was up on the tree walking along it I would have been close to 9ft. My friend stayed on the ground and walked along the side as I walked my way on the fallen tree. Now I had only been up on this fallen tree for a matter of seconds and as I started to walk on the fallen tree I suddenly started hearing what sounded like branches breaking, shrubs being smashed, basically, trees being disturbed by something. I glance up towards the sound and all I can see is this black mass at the end of the tree behind the thicket of trees and shrubs. This black mass starts to rise and my first thought is, "oh shit, we just woke up a bear!". Only problem was this black mass kept rising and rising and rising. I froze, not knowing that I was seeing. I knew there were no animals known to Central Oregon that were that big. I had no idea what to think. And that's when this black mass steps out from the thicket of trees and shrubs into full view. My eyes could not believe what I was seeing. Frozen in fear, hair standing up on the back of my neck, here was this huge dark brown bipedal creature that I would estimate to be maybe 2 feet taller than me. The head rested right on the body as if there was no neck at all. The shoulders on this thing had a massive width. And the arms seemed to be long, which would place the hands right around the knees. At the time I was experiencing mostly fear, but I know a small part of me was also amazed. I was seeing something that wasn't supposed to exist. I had heard about the legendary bigfoot and seen the Patterson footage. But I never thought much on the subject. When this creature stepped out, it was clear as day what I was witnessing and when I try to describe what I saw, this thing literally looked like the creature from the Patterson footage, except the hair seemed a bit shorter and cleaner. As this creature walked off into the woods, it never looked back. My friend and I only saw the back of this creature. I think it was possible we woke it up. In Shevlin Park there is a pond (the green dot in the photo) that was usually stocked with fish. I could only think that it might have come down in the night, had some fish, and decided to sleep a little longer than planned. As this creature walked off into the woods every step sounded like if you took a brick and threw it on the dirt and heard that thud. We watched this creature walk away for about 20 seconds until it was no longer in sight. This whole experience from it rising in the thicket to stepping out into view and walking off probably lasted around a minute. But during this encounter it felt like time almost stopped and my friend and I were frozen in fear for an hour. After the creature was no longer in view I turned to hear and all I could say was "what the heck was that!". She couldn't respond, still being confused about what she had just witnessed. We headed back to the car and when we both got in the car, I turned to hear and said, "I think we just saw bigfoot." From that day nature has never been the same. I still have a huge passion for the outdoors but since that encounter, I always catch myself scanning the tree line or taking a moment to pause and listen, wondering if I would run into this creature again. I remember being excited to share the experience with my mom once she got home from work. First thing she asked me was if I had been smoking anything. She found the whole thing funny and she listened to my whole encounter but I could tell she did not believe me. It turned into a joke, a laughing matter, that to this day, I still get laughed at if I bring it up. It was the same way when I shared my encounter with my friends. That was a huge blow realizing that nobody believed me. I realized that this was something that I couldn't just share with people. So I kept it locked away. I figured, although terrifying, what an awesome experience to get to see something that most people think doesn't even exist. I moved on with my life after that encounter figuring that was a once in a lifetime encounter. Odds of something like that happening again, yeah right. Which brings me to my second encounter. Encounter #2 In Bend there wasn't much back to do on a weekend when I was in my early 20's. You could go to the bars, or find a house party, or take off into the woods and have yourself a nice bonfire party with friends. Those were very popular back in my day. Now I cannot remember the specific year this took place. Maybe 2004. It was summer. My group of guy friends and I were always looking for the next best place to have a bonfire party so we would cruise the forest roads, or even unmarked roads, looking for the perfect spot. In the photo I included you'll see the yellow dot is where we had found this perfect little cul de sac at the end of a dirt road. This was just south of Bend so it didn't take long to get there either. It was perfect and became our go to spot for just us guys. The cul de sac had a huge manzanita field growing next to it. In the photo you'll see the manzanita is the light green area and we were also nestled up next to the lava flow. However the end of this dirt road was lined with fresh pine trees that ranged in heights of just 1ft to around 20 ft. They basically created a wall to where you couldn't really see the field unless you pushed through the wall of trees to the other side. So, one night my friends and I head out to our spot. It's a normal night of relaxing, having a very laid back time. At one point during the night, out of nowhere, we heard this scream/howl off in the distance. In the photo the red dot on the other side of the lava flow is where I would have guessed this sound came from. This scream/howl lasted for maybe 10 seconds. We all got real quiet wondering what that was. And of course, after the encounter I had a few years prior, I immediately said, "That is bigfoot!" I of course received plenty of laughter from my friends but I told them again, "I know it's crazy but that is legit a bigfoot. That's what they sound like." After my first encounter I dove into my research and listened to recordings of howls, read up what research was available at the time. They kept poking fun and eventually I just brushed it off. I was reminded that it didn't matter that I had an encounter. I knew they would never believe me anyways unless they experienced it for themselves. So I brushed it off and we continued through our night. Now I would guess around an hour and a half to maybe 2 hours later, there we are, chatting it up. It's nice and quiet. The fire is going strong. The sky is filled with stars. And then it happened... Out of nowhere, the loudest scream, growl, howl, which seemed all combined into one poured into our little cul de sac area. It sounded like a monster. That's the only way I can put it. And whatever this thing was, was directly right behind the wall of trees. It had to have been maybe 15 to 20 feet from us. I'll never forget, when I play the event over in my head, the feeling I had in my chest. It's like I could feel this animal's growl/scream/howl inside my chest. It felt like I had been stunned. All I know is when this vocalization hit me, it knocked me over in my camping chair. My friend to the left of me also was knocked over. But my friends that had their backs to the wall of trees, they lunged forward out of their seats unbelievably fast. Myself and my friend who had also been knocked backwards in our chairs got up from the dirt at lightning speed. I think myself and my 4 friends were in my car, doors locked, in a matter of seconds. In the photo, as mentioned, the yellow dot was where our site was, and the red dot next to it, is where I believe this creature was. My friends and I sat in the car for over an hour debating on who was going to get out and put the fire out. None of us wanted to exit the car after hearing this beastly roar. I could see in my friends faces they were scared, as was I. I kept thinking, that could only have been a bigfoot. But instead of hearing one of these vocalizations from far away like others have heard, we had front row seats. Only difference was that this creature sounded mad. The vocalization gave the feeling that this thing wanted us out of there. Eventually we all agreed to get out together and put the fire out. I had never seen my friends move so cautiously and on the ready for retreat in case this creature was still around. In the end, we got the fire out and left. And after that night, we never went back to that spot. The car ride back into town was quiet. I could tell none of us wanted to

Mason writes "I'm not quite sure how to start this other than with my first encounter. In the summer of 2013 or 2014, I went camping with my friend Perry and his father in upstate New York, we lived in Saranac Lake, which is 15 minutes down the road from Lake Placid where the 1980 miracle on ice occurred. Upstate New York is nothing like the city that the state is most famously known for, its mountainous, and covered in forests, and is also home to the Adirondack state park, where our little town was nestled. We had gone with his nearly estranged father to a camping ground near a lake, which one I cannot remember, as the area is littered with them. What I do remember however is Perry's father had stopped us setting up camp to tell us a scary story, ironically enough about Sasquatch. He told us a story about it taking food and attacking campers, but the two of us both teenagers, blew off his story. I for one have always had an interest in Bigfoot, but growing up, every adult in my life had talked down to me or made fun of this interest, causing me to in a sense disengage from them when they attempted to talk shop with me.  This camp ground was large, and had over 20 slots, and his father had splurged in an attempt to reconcile with Perry, opting to rent a site next to the lake. Between our campsite and every other was about 100 feet of thick woods, to allow privacy between the families camping. At the time I believe it was us, and two other families as it was nearing the end of summer, and they were a few sites away from us. The camping was fun, and nothing too exciting occurred other than the three of us learning to set up an over complicated bass pro tent for a small family. At around 10 o'clock that night give or take an hour we had been sitting around our campfire when Perry's father's demeanor changed. For most of this day we had all three been very excited and having fun, but at this point in the night he seemed to suddenly become very serious. He got us to clean up our campsite and pack up everything aside from a large cooler he had brought along. Then he had ushered us into the tent. Perry and I, both being 13 or 14, were still awake, laughing over dumb jokes and attempting not to wake Perry's father when we began to hear walking. At this time I had not been as well versed of the sounds of the woods as I would become later in life, but even then I could distinguish the sound of bipedal walking, especially when it sounded heavy. We heard something begin to approach our campsite, and at first I had wondered if it were a loon or heron which were all over the lake during the day. This however was quickly disproven when it approached our tent. Perry's face suddenly became filled with fear, fear which matched the sudden sinking feeling growing in my chest and stomach. I had turned slightly to my left, onto my back, as I was closest to the side this unknown had approached, and something inside me demanded I not have my back to whatever this was. We sat there for what felt like forever, but could only have been a minute, when the side of the tent began to push in slowly, what was pushing it in has never left me. What I can only describe as a poorly outlined hand had pushed in the side of the tent. The tent wall had bulged inwards a good five or six inches and was starting to stretch as far inward as it could before the tent began to bend. The hand itself reminded me of my fathers hand, he is a man of 6 feet and over 250 pounds, and had hands that remind me of the cartoon character wreck it Ralph, or more accurately like a baseball glove. What shocked me most of all was that this hand seemed to be double or triple the size of my father's hands.  I believe if it were not for what happened next, it may have kept moving its hand further. Perry's father actively spoke in his sleep, a quirk of his that I at the time did not know. He had said something quiet, but just loud enough that it caused this hand to pull away. It was at this moment that the air began to feel electrified, like we had done something wrong, and the fear in my body then and even now rewriting this spiked. The woods had gone deadly silent, the only sound we could hear was the water from the lake make ten feet from our tent.  We froze, Perry and I had lain as flat as possible to avoid bringing attention to ourselves, and were doing our best to slow our breathing, to keep quiet. Perry's father however had mumbled something else, and Perry decided he would attempt to wake him. It half worked, as his father seemed to hear Perry whispering to him, because the next thing I knew his father chuckled and said "You're trying to scare me for the story aren't you? Not gonna work" and moments later, his father was once again asleep. As he spoke, we heard and felt the steps from earlier walk away from us, further into our campsite. We had pitched our tent on the edge of the site because a large picnic table sat in the center, this table is where we left our cooler. I mention this because you could hear the wood suddenly creaking as if something heavy was leaned on it or sat on it. Following this was the sound of the cooler opening, and the sound of plastic bags and cans being sorted through.  Perry and I held our breath, terrified. At the time I refused to believe it was Bigfoot, because I did not want what was happening to ruin my enjoyment of the subject.  We listened to it for quite some time, I believe four or five minutes, rummaging through the cooler, before we heard the cooler close, and the steps begin to move away. The next thing we heard was something entering the water, and the sound of something swimming away.  We stayed awake after that, or more accurately I did, Perry eventually got to sleep, I can only imagine he was exhausted from the terror we had felt. I, in my infinite wisdom of a brazen 13 or 14 year old, waited for sunrise to exit the tent, where I found our cooler still on the table but moved, and many of the items we had brought in the cooler strewn about the site. I did not see tracks, as the ground here was too hard, but what I did notice was that the cooler felt oily on the handles, like someone who had washed their hands in seed oils had touched it, or someone who had done an oil change had just manhandled the cooler. It also smelled slightly of mildew, or more accurately it smelled like stale air.  When Perry woke and so did his father, Perry apparently had decided to not talk about what had happened, and his father thought I was trying to scare him for as he put it "payback for yesterdays story". Suffice to say, I had grown a pair of eyes in the back of my head that night, which would keep me aware in the woods for years to come. My second encounter is extremely brief, and at the time I was convinced by my mother that it was simply foxes attempting to mate. For you if you want to see where this one occurred, we lived at  220 Riverside Drive, Saranac Lake New York. Down the road from my old home was thick woods that went on fire miles, which are still there. My home was just up the road from it. I know this had occurred in 2014 because my father had given me an IPad he no longer wanted for my birthday which was in March of that year. I had been up late watching YouTube, and enjoying some pirated shows on the site, and when I say late I mean 1 or 2 AM late.  I had always been spooked by sounds I'd never heard before, but never as afraid as what this would do to me.  I had just decided I needed to sleep when my dog Lakota, a Keeshond I just recently adopted began to whine. His cage was in my room. For context, this home was three stories tall, but built on an a steep hill. We had gotten this home from a family friend who had been building it for himself, but decided he didn't want it when he found a "better property". My room was on the "ground floor". I put this in quotations because my room and the entire left half of the ground floor sat 10 feet above the driveway. The driveway, was about 40 or 50 feet long, extending past our house to a garage which is built into the hill, the hill itself was covered in thick woods and it was maybe 70 feet between our house and the people behind it. The driveway itself also opened a path up behind the garage, up into the woods.  So my room is about 10 feet above the driveway, but directly beside it, and I have a single window here. I had the window partly cracked, and my room was pretty quiet, I was trying not to wake my mother upstairs because her room was directly above mine and she could be very upset if I was too loud and woke her up. I was relaxed and enjoying myself as I had said before when a sound I can only describe as a bloody scream exploded up from the driveway. It was both deep and high pitched, and vibrated the glass in the windows, my TV and my entire body. I was instantly overcome with the deepest fear I have ever felt, and I threw the iPad down. Normally if I heard something that scared me I would just close the window and my bedroom door and hide under the covers, but this filled me with so much terror I threw my iPad, left my dog behind and went running into the hall. As soon as I made it into the hall, I could hear something in the distance answer back. I too began screaming, only instead of a guttural two toned shrieking I began screaming for my mother. She came rushing down the stairs, I can only assume she too was awoken by these sounds. She however was angry with me. According to her that was foxes sending out a mating call. I had told her I don't believe her and her response still sticks with me as an oddly funny reaction to such a terrifying moment. "What do you want me to do? Go outside and shoot it? I'm not doing that!"  I believe my panic had sent the screamer away from our home, because I never heard that sound again after the initial scream and answer from down the road.  For years I just accepted my mother's reality, because I didn't know what else it could be, until

Spoke to Drew and he has agreed to come on the show. A listener writes "I'm 56 years old and an avid deer hunter with 39 years of hunting experience to date. I've had several experiences in the woods leading up to my day time sighting on my hunting club in SC . My youngest son turned me on to your podcast. I feel compelled to share my experiences."

John writes "I was present when the East Central Ohio Bigfoot Chatter was recorded. I am willing to discuss my experiences publicly with some level of discretion." Spoke to John and he agreed to come on the show. John is a working professional, highly educated and comfortable in his routines: commuting, meetings and deadlines. As a child, an incident in the dense woods near a cabin still haunted him. Many years later John listened to a recording on TV of what he heard as a child, remembering that event shattered his worldview. Questions flooded his mind: Was the noise he heard in his youth the elusive creature? Tonight John shares experiences spanning over decades.

Chris writes "My wife and I were on a car trip back in February. I had 12 hours of driving to do and wanted a new podcast to fill the time with. I was looking for something paranormal or supernatural and came across Sasquatch chronicles. I downloaded a few and off we went. After the first few episodes I started hearing specific details that would remind me of my grandfathers farm. After a few more episodes my wife looks at me and says, "Don't some of these sound like your ghost stories?" I had been thinking the same thing too. So after 6 months of listening to the archives I've finally gotten around to email you about my Grandfathers farm. My grandfather had 80 acres in western North Carolina. We lived in Asheville Nc, about 20 miles north of my grandfather. He was a hermit, divorced from my grandmother. And lived in their old house filled with stuff in case the world entered into another depression. We would visit him about every other month. My mom would sit and talk with him, while my brothers and me would explore thru the junk filled barns, sheds, and out buildings. He had also built a 5 acre pond on his property for his grandsons to be able to fish in. It was stocked with bass and blue gill. He was a hard old man, that told you something only once, and expected it to be done. But he would also joke around with you. He use to tell us to look out for them boogers out there. When I was in 8th grade when my grandfather died and left his farm to my mother. Over the next two years we would go out to the property almost every weekend and holiday. We were cleaning it up. We didn't know it at the time, but our parents were planning on moving us into the house. We started camping out on the property sometimes when we would stay out there for a few days. It was during these visits, I started hearing neighbors talking about strange things on the property. About being chased away when they tried to fish at the pond. Always feeling like someone was watching them. In the summer of 1998 my parents moved myself and my 4 younger brothers into my grandfathers house. In the 2 years of working on the house to move into it, I had experienced enough to know that the house was haunted, and that my grandfathers ghost lived in the lake. I didn't tell anyone other than my brothers and my parents. My brothers and I all believed there was something going on. Our parents kept telling it that it was our imagination. So we kept it to ourselves. It just became normal.

Join me this weekend as we celebrate the life of Dr. Jeff Meldrum and his impact on the subject of Sasquatch. I will be joined by many of his friends who come on to share their memories of him. This is part two.

Join me this weekend as we celebrate the life of Dr. Jeff Meldrum and his impact on the subject of Sasquatch. I will be joined by many of his friends who come on to share their memories of him.

Shannon writes "Yesterday, while being a passenger in our side by side, I saw something in the woods.. between Grisdale & Satsop campground area. There's a dry river bed area in there and a few campers spotted down on the open rocks camping. As we were headed back towards where our trucks were parked, I saw something lanky, long haired and black with large pieces of olive green moss stick in the mats of it's ribcage/stomach & left back hip area. It had a dog like face and cat-like reflexes as it twisted in mid-air and sprung off a large old snag. It was about 50 feet in the woods. The animal pushed it's front upper torso away from the snag and in the air twisted & then let go with it's back legs/feet and landed on all fours. It was long, like 6 or 7 foot long, thin build & it appeared to have hands and long feet. I immediately said to Brandon in our headphones "…uhh- what the heck was that??? Hun, I just saw something. Like, a weird something…" Last night I had a scary dream that woke me up & I was afraid to go back to sleep because I didn't want to be back in the dream, but this morning it bothered me so much I needed to draw it. I looked up Google images to understand things that looked like it. But nothing is coming up except a "dogman"??. (Some cryptid scary animal thing) looked like a long haired black Irish wolfhound mixed with an all black long haired sloth bear. I've never seen a long haired skinny black bear with cat like reflexes.. but ya.. No idea what it was- but I'm never camping there. That's for sure. It didn't hv a neck like a dog, but the whole back half looked like a dire wolf or at least a very large canine look to it. No idea. So hard to explain it though. I'm chalking it up as a really long haired sickly black bear."   We will also be speaking to Elijah. Elijah is from Virginia and back in the 1980's he was 15 years old staying at a friends cabin. His friend left and was in an accident and did not return for a couple of days. During this time, he ran intro something with red glowing eyes.

Hugh writes "I have had several experiences to share with you. I've been investigating this subject quite heavily following my first experience of seeing one. I've covered a series of canyons and forested mountains with trail cams and all though, I didn't have high expectations of these trail cams; they have captured some bizarre evidence. I've spent many nights alone in these mountains and I've taken a few people out on private experiences of research. I've experienced everything from rock throwing and vocalizations to exchanges of gifting and full-blown sightings. I've recovered hair and more. I've found and filmed amazing structures and tree breaks and more."

Tonight I will be chatting with the creator of the Bigfoot Live Stream App. Logan will be sharing his encounters and why he created this app. This app features the ability view 24/7 live streams of Bigfoot Hot Zones. Subscription Information - Title: 24/7 Bigfoot Live Stream - Length of Subscription: Monthly - Price: $4.99 per month   By subscribing, you get access to: | All available live streams | Access to Video On Demand of of every live stream for the past 2 weeks | Uploaded videos from user reports | News and updates | First to see footage reports | Report sightings live! | ML and AI reporting   By creating a login you will then have access to subscribe to the 24/7 Bigfoot Live Stream, this is critical in the function of the app for subscribers. Users will need to first create an account for it is a necessary function within the subscription of the app. Before you create an account, users will have access to content describing about the livestream and Bigfoot Collaboration. Everything pre sign-up is information about the subscription, and our mission statement. You do not get any access to any content for creating an account. Once you create an account it only gives you access to subscribe. If you choose to remove your account there is a link in account section for removal.

Ian writes "The story I'm sitting down to tell, is a true one. One experienced by a faithful friend of mine, Sam, and I. I'm often reluctant to tell this story at length to most people, as the subject matter is unexplainable and rather strange. I don't want to be viewed as the superstitious nut. But having guided all across the country, and having extensive experience in many environments around the united states, I feel I have the authority to tell this story. Essentially what I'm saying is I've been around, in the deep dark hollows all across North America, and never experienced something so strange as I did that night. I don't fancify my experiences in the woods, nor do I hopefully imagine there's something more to a twig breaking. As anyone who has spent a good deal of time in the woods knows, there's no reason to. Eventually you'll experience something daring or fantastic. I am a hunter first and foremost, and to a hunter there's always an explanation, a reason to the wilderness and her inhabitants. Its how we identify patterns and exploit an animals rhythm to make a successful hunt. As a hunter you're a sort of woodsman detective, piecing together clues to set yourself up for success. Lets just say this tale is a cold-case. Let's get into it. It was early summer and I was itching to go camping. I had recently received a new tent and was eager to use it. I called up my good buddy, Sam, and we planned out our camping adventure. We considered going up to the Grayson highlands, or even south into North Carolina. After debating it, we decided it would be more fun to camp somewhere we wouldn't run into any other people. Deep in the woods, far from anyone else, where we could bushcraft, hoot and holler, and bring a gun without fear of scaring the yuppies camping next to us. While we both lived in the woods, I definitely had access to the most remote stretch of woods between us. So we loaded up our stuff and began hiking, deep into the valley below my childhood home. The hike was almost completely straight down a steep hillside, deep into a a hollow that held a small patch of flat land, a flood plane area and creek. The small creek that ran gave the area a beautiful ambiance. Early signs of summer were visible all around and the weather was great. We hiked until we felt the need to start gathering firewood before nightfall. Behind us a was a steep hillside that rose into the west for miles. In front of us was the creek, and to the left the start of another ridge and hillside that rose high into the east and north. To our right, the valley we were in, continued to go down cutting a deep valley. and on the other side of the creek another ridge, separated by a small stream from the ridge to the left, rose into the west and to the south. These two ridges in front of us ran for miles and the little valley formed by the small creek split these ridges for a long ways up until it hit the spring head. This is important for later in the story. Off to the right, further down the valley, more splits in the ridges are made by little tributaries. We started building camp by clearing the brush and leaves away and constructing a small firepit. I placed a tarp on the ground to separate my tent from the damp earth. Remember this, the tarp extended out roughly a foot on each side of my tent. Sam had a hammock that he planned to sleep in, I've only ever camped in a hammock once, and it didn't go great. But I didn't say anything to him, thinking that maybe he would enjoy it. We gathered a hefty load of firewood, consisting of some reasonably dry stuff. It was shaping up to be a really nice camping trip. I've spoken about the joy of being "out there" on this blog before, so I won't beat a dead horse, but it was really nice to be away from people. Sam and I sat around the fire and shot the shit until the sun went down. Now one of the things Sam and I have always bonded on, has been Bigfoot shows. We're both skeptics, and I would say we hold a similar or the same opinion on the subject. Our interest is less about believing in bigfoot, but rather we just find the subject matter to be nostalgic, silly, and a fun thing to joke about. So, I brought up the idea to Sam, that we begin to "Hunt" Bigfoot. He laughed and thought it was a great idea. So we began doing the antics they do in the "Finding Bigfoot" TV show. We started with the classic, Tree knocks. A "Tree Knock" for those unaware, is when you use a stick to beat on a tree, making a loud knocking sound that echoes through the forest. Supposedly sasquatch communicate this way. We didn't think anything of it at all, as I said before, we didn't really believe, we were just joking around. So we began by knocking on the trees and then stopping and listening for a response. After a few times of doing this we paused, and hearing nothing I began to think of a joke to crack and something else to do. Before I could open my mouth, we heard clear as day, a tree nock far off somewhere on the ridge to the left. I looked at Sam and said, "Dude." Sam just looked back at me in surprise. I then did some more knocks, and we listened again. Then off in the distance, we heard more knocks in response. Then the other ridge to the right we began hearing knocks. Sam at this point was beginning to get freaked out a little and was perplexed as to what it could be. I at the time, was such a hard skeptic I carried on and insisted that it was a person or a woodpecker. "but who in the world would be out there? deeper in the woods than we are, on private land? What woodpecker makes three loud booming knocks on the tree, that sound exactly like the knocks we make?" Sam voiced his rebuttal. I ignored these arguments and held strong to the fact that there is no Bigfoot. I then insisted that we push the envelope by doing woops and howls, just like they do on TV. Sam was not very enthused by this idea, being the humbler and smarter one of us that night, knowing sometimes there's certain things you don't mess with. But at that time I was full of piss and vinegar, and stubborn as a mule about the fact that Bigfoot, is not real. I also had brought a gun with me, and was certain I could fight off anything we would need to fight off. So we started howling into the woods. It was dark that night, being a new moon, and beyond the firelight you couldn't see a damn thing. We would howl and wait listening for a reply. After a few howls, the excitement of "What was that?" started to fade and my logical, rational, science based, theory of the woodpecker began to appear true. Then, out of the dark distance came one of the strangest sounds I've ever heard. A howl. Not a canine howl, not an owls hoot, but a fucking ape howl. Sam's eyes were as big as back hoe tires, and even I was finding it hard to reason that one. Despite this, I continued my ignorant stubbornness, and threw out another howl. Off to the left ridge it replied to us again, the clearest ape whoop I've ever heard. As if it were recorded by researchers in the Congo. I looked at Sam, myself feeling more curious and excited than anything else, I reiterated, "Duuuude." Then something truly unexplainable and spooky happened, more whoops and howls began on the ridge to the right and further down the valley. And they weren't random, they had etiquette, as if they were chatting back and forth with each other. The one to the left would howl, the one to the right would whoop and howl, the first would respond, and then the one way down the valley would chime in. Sam was really freaked out now, and began considering if we should leave. I, being a stubborn idiot, claimed it was owls. "Owls?? We were both raised in these hollers, I've heard owls, you're gonna tell me that was an owl? Have you ever in your life heard an owl that sounded like a fucking ape?" Sam argued against my claim. "Well, no, but there's no way bigfoot is real. It has to be a bunch of owls speaking to each other. There's nothing else it could be." I replied, half laughing in astonishment and disbelief of what was unfolding that night. Sam and I kind of bickered for a minute over it, and then decided the wisest decision was to stop antagonizing whatever it was in the woods miles around us whooping and knocking. It wasn't too long after that, we decided to go to bed. I crawled into my tent, and Sam into his hammock. We left the fire going, and every time the fire died down, the woods came to life. Whether it was paranoia, or paranormal, something was stirring. All around camp we could hear what sounded like things being thrown and footsteps. From time to time we would hear another knock or another howl coming from a new position. Sam would leap out of his hammock and chuck loads of wood onto the fire and make it as big as possible. He would then lay back down to sleep. This repeated about three more times. Each time the fire died, things got spookier and spookier. A few times Sam would say, "Did you hear that?" and every time I would just blame it on possums nearing camp, hoping to find food scraps. Well, about the third time, Sam ran out of firewood. Meaning that this time when the fire died, it died for good, leaving us to the dark void of the Appalachian holler. I vividly remember I had fallen asleep before the fire died, and after it died, there was so much stirring around camp, I began to wake up. I was slowly waking up, thinking I was having some sort of nightmare, when I finally fully sobered, and realized that my dream was pleasant. It was reality that was full of frightening sounds and things that go bump in the night. The woods around us had become loud with unexplainable movement, the movement of multiple large things. The whooping and knocking had stopped, which did not comfort me, with all the new sounds right outside my door. There was maybe a 30 yard perimeter around camp that the sounds did not cross. Then suddenly, an extremely loud crashing began through the twigs, leaves, and branches. It was some

Spoke to the witness who is from Oklahoma and he said "I saw the creature on two different occasions in broad daylight. What I saw looked like a cave man. I was a young man when this encounter took place, I was frozen looking at this thing. Later that night it came to my window. I have seen so much over the years on this property. I learned many years ago to keep my mouth shut because of ridicule. I recently received some bad news from my doctor, I don't care anymore what people think. A friend of my mine recommend your podcast."

The Phenomenal Sasquatch is a comprehensive exploration of one of the most intriguing mysteries of modern times. Is the sasquatch an undiscovered animal or a product of the imagination? Author Matt Pruitt takes a multidisciplinary approach to this question, drawing on insights from biology, psychology, anthropology, and other fields. Examining the fossil record, indigenous knowledge, historical records, eyewitness accounts, and physical evidence, Pruitt takes the reader on a journey into the heart of the sasquatch phenomenon. He explores the possibility that sasquatches are simply large, rare primates, and delves into the psychological factors that may be at play during people's encounters with these creatures. Alternatively, he considers the hypothesis that the sasquatch is merely a construct of the human mind that exists only in stories and art. In this thought-provoking work, Pruitt presents a balanced and rigorous analysis, providing readers with an in-depth look into the search for the natural origins of this cultural icon. Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, The Phenomenal Sasquatch will challenge your assumptions and deepen your understanding of this enduring mystery.   Check out his book here: The Phenomenal Sasquatch: Seeking the Natural Origins of a Cultural Icon

Linda writes "I wanted to share my experience I had back in April of this year. This was in a large natural area in Southeast Michigan. I was suppose to meet up with my research/ investigating friend on a Friday night in May at a camp. The weather was not so great on the way down. It was storming off and on throughout the afternoon. When I got to the camp nobody was there. My friend Gabe was still working and had not been able to come yet. It wasn't dark yet but raining so I stayed in my van. Finally after texting back and forth, we established that He would come out the next morning because the radar showed a huge storm approaching and there were already flash flood warnings out. So as twilight approached I decided to go outside even though it was sprinkling and load up on my drinks for the night so I would not have to get out again after dark in the storm approaching. I did not have a fire going didn't see the sense in that. After grabbing two pops from my cooler I approached the opening of my van the slider door on the side. I had miscalculated my timing and now it was fairly dark with almost no light..I looked toward my left out into this neighboring field there were 4 sets of eyes kind of greenish, and they were heading right at me. Now I figured they were about the right height for coyote or deer but I was a bit confused as to why they were coming at me. I grabbed my little flashlight from behind the seat and turned it on the eyes and yelled out in a very stern voice "Whatever you are that's far enough!" The creatures stopped and I realized now they were whitetails. All adult deer no fawns or bucks with them. In that second I thought to myself Why are these deer running up to me that's not normal behavior, light went off in my head, they were trying to escape a predator. Soon as I thought that they all raised their heads and looked back at the wood line on the other side of the field. Then bolted across the field taking off and away to the left. I started panning the wood line and bingo there about 7 or 8 feet ( a guess) up in the air were two huge round forward facing eyes set wide apart..And NOW its watching me instead of following the deer. I called out "I see you" in a casual voice but loud enough to let it know I knew it was there. It kept watching me, I grabbed my bigger flashlight thinking i would light this thing up with my 1500 lumen but no all I could see was the eyes watching me still. Now its very dark and sprinkling harder. I decide to get into my van and get my thermal out thinking Im going to try and thermal this thing. Its still standing in the tree line. I step up into my slider door turn around and sit down on my bed, grab my key fob thinking id shut the slider door while its raining and I'm getting my thermal out..now I hit the keyfob and as the door slides shut I hear this very loud growl/roar and it sounds like it is 6 feet from my van!! The door finishes shutting I hit lock and alarm. I am in shock now and sitting inside in the dark thinking no way am I going back out there and am I going to have to climb over the middle console to jump in the drivers seat to escape?! I listened intently waiting to see if my door was going to be torn off or what this thing was going to do and then the torrential storm hit …I was not going to turn on any interior light and would just keep quiet..even though it rained most of the rest of the night i could hear screams and howls throughout the night. Something screamed and the coyotes sounded off going nuts…Gabe showed up next morning and crossed over there and found suspicious tracks…upon his return to camp he was going to go back and cast the one but it had been scuffed out, very strange. I was happy to not be alone anymore at camp Ill tell you that! Then in June in a different area I was attempting to hike a trail but stopped on top of a berm to look at a print and got charged from behind in the woods behind me but I couldn't see it..you are welcome to call me if you want the rest of that experience. Since I have talked to you on the phone years ago."

Chad writes "Back in 1992, I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). We were running a force-on-force training operation. I don't recall the exact location—maybe an hour's drive from Lewis. Our task was to defend a simulated Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) site consisting of a trailer and container meant to resemble a rocket launcher. We had two Special Forces Operational Detachment Alphas (ODAs) involved, roughly 20 guys total, plus a few support personnel. The site was backed up against the "no play zone," so any attacking team could only approach from the west. It was fortified: two M-60 machine gun nests, a perimeter of seasoned operators, M-16s for each of us, a couple of HF radios—basic gear for a simulated "enemy" approach. No high-speed tech, no grenade simulators that I can recall. The terrain was layered: a track in front of the site, then woods, then a clean trail parallel to a ridge 150 meters to the west. Beyond that, a large field of tall grass. Ferns covered the ridge slope—dense and knee-to-hip high. Our mission was to intercept and resist any attempt to assault the SAM site, likely between dusk and sunrise. We ran rotating two-man patrols along the trail, each covering a three-hour shift. The night of the encounter, I was paired with a Sergeant First Class—an 18D medic whom I'll call "Guy." He'd been in group for years. I was 22 at the time, on of the youngest on site. Moonlight was strong—brilliant enough to allow stealth movement. We paced slowly, stopping every few meters to kneel and scan. After an hour, we paused under a shadowed area. Guy lit a cigarette with quiet precision—no glow exposed. I asked how he did that. He smirked and said, "Sniper check." Then it happened. A deafening scream rang out from the ridge. At first, I thought it was an animal. But then came a bizarre shift: halfway through, it took on a human tone. Eight to ten seconds of sustained vocalization that morphed into a frantic, incoherent babble… and finally, a coyote-like cackle or laughing sound. The volume never dropped. We scanned the ridge. I spotted a silhouette—a massive figure, turning swaying side to side near a tree at the top of the ridge. It looked human. I thought, "Who in group is that size?" We went guns up. The figure turned north and walked away. We pursued him, assuming a diversion tactic to draw us away from the site. But despite jogging, we couldn't close the gap. He moved quickly—strangely so. This went on for nearly a kilometer and a half. The forest thickened. The ridge narrowed – bottle necked. And then the figure veered east—straight toward us—charging downhill like a bipedal rhino through underbrush. Not sticks snapping… limbs breaking. I think at this moment, I realized It wasn't human and started to categorize it. We veered northwest off the trail to intercept. It turned north, the woods were dark – perfect place for a kill zone, an ambush, I could still track its movement. Then… silence. It stopped moving. Total quiet. We crept forward—as noted this was textbook ambush territory. But nothing came. The smell did. It hit in layers. First: wet dog tangled with decay. Then: putrid infection, feces, rot. It overwhelmed me. As the stench peaked, dread set in. Danger. Immediate and primal. I glanced at Guy. He nodded: time to back out. We backed out—me facing rear, unwilling to turn my back. I feared a charge. Surprisingly, Guy was only 15 feet behind. I suspect he walked backward too. Eventually we hit the trail again, dazed. We stood in silence. Not tactical—just stunned. I have no concept of how long we stood there. I remember being totally surprised by how far we went, and how far off the trail we went. Almost like an unexplainable time warp. We never spoke of it again. The only time I had heard what Guy had experienced was later that morning as he debriefed the CO and some of the others. There is much more to this encounter that I would like to discuss with you."

Dominic writes "There was two separate occasions with in the same year it happened once when eight years old another when I was about nine. When I lived in the town of Allen in western New York. We lived on basswood hill and our family owned about Ten acres of land but our neighbors each had 250 acres of land and they were hunters so really only were around on the weekend and or hunting season. So they would let us in there property whenever it wasn't hunting season. And me and some family members all around the same age as me built a fort in a heavy pine tree area and it was fairly cold out it was late October. Well we were gonna build a little camp fire but I decided to sneak a pot form in the kitchen and put rocks in there to hold heat. (8) year old take in mind. Well as we were sneaking items in and out of the kitchen on our way back to our fort I saw in the tree opening a face a gorilla face looking in at us and I ran away along with the other kids and grabbed our bigger pocket knives and went back to see it was gone. The other encounter was on the same property. But in the summer. Me and my nephew were gonna camp out out back and as we were bringing the tents out something caught my eye in our hay field we assumed immediately it was a black bear and they were common in the area but as we looked longer and the sun was setting we realized this thing was massive. So we got our binoculars which these binoculars were garbage kids toys pretty much but also gave us a slightly better look. This thing kinda was shaped like a gorilla once again. I just remembered seeing very large shoulders and it was on all fours but had its rear end towards the ground. I don't know if you're familiar with the movie Tarzan but we grew up watching it . It reminded me of kerchek the head ape. But we went inside to find an adult to show them but by the time they came out it was gone."

Sean writes "I'm a 51 year old clinical social worker, love the woods, and have had a few interesting experiences myself but we're writing today because my 13 year old, Bennett, came back from a week long Scout camp in Mississippi in which he AND his friend Dylan experienced the following: The two boys were hanging out by themselves in an area somewhat isolated, waiting on the other boy's dad to meet them. Bennett suggested they had time to walk up a nearby trail and look around. Shortly after starting out they hear footsteps in the woods to their left. And yes, when they stopped the footsteps would stop. The boys knew there was another nearby trail and called out, "Hello"? No answer. They walked again and again hear the footsteps. They stop again. Then, as Bennett tells it, they're looking in the direction of where the steps were coming from. He said the woods are not thick at all and they can see pretty well at 50' plus into the woods. He said they both see this clear mass from behind a tree that looks like it's "on delay". He then named a movie trying to describe what it looked like and I asked if it was like the Predator movie and he said yes. He said it looked to be a little taller than me so about 6' and the "top part" of it would lean out from the tree. Although I've heard of these experiences before, Bennett had not, which makes this awfully awfully strange in my book! We would love to get your feedback and experience about this "encounter"(?)! We will also be speaking with Seth, Seth writes "I found your pod cast last year and I've been hooked ever since. I'm a farmer and Hunter and everything outdoors guy and I had a short experience while mushroom hunting with my ex girlfriend and our son 2019. I've wanted to share with my friends but I haven't told anybody because like many others I don't want the you're crazy label. I'd love to talk to you and see what you think cause I'm still a skeptic on the whole Sasquatch thing but now I'm about 60%-40% that there's something out there after what happened to us. I used to make fun of people who brought it up and now I actually feel bad cause I believe something is out there now and I'd like youre take?"

Carrie writes "It's taken me almost 3 years to write this email. I've tried a few times over the years but convinced myself that you probably won't contact me so I just deleted the other emails. But I have an encounter that happened to me when I was 20 and the details of what I seen will stick with me for the rest of my life! Long story (extremely short:) Me and my x boyfriend was at the boat ramp on Quintette River in Escambia Florida at dusk. The sun was still up enough we could see good but it was starting to set. This was around the beginning of summer as I remember sitting at the ramp on shorts. We was killing time until we went back to his house. We was there an hour maybe a little more before we heard a HUGE splash from across the river, which is a decent size river. Before the splash, there was dead silence.. Across from the ramp it's nothing but woods and forest for miles. I thought a bear or alligator jumped into the river and was swimming to us so we ran to my truck that was parked at the edge of the ramp. I turned on my headlights so we could see clearly and the creature was already halfway across the river! It was RUNNING NOT SWIMMING with it's hands over it's head almost like an over hand swimming motion but he never went deeper than his chest. The way he was able to cross a river that deep and swift as fast as he did was mind-blowing and I almost couldn't comprehend it at the time. I was frozen in fear when it got to the end of the ramp, I expected it to keep coming up the ramp but instead it pulled it's self up on the DOCK and it stared at us, eyes wide teeth showing. I can describe everything from every wrinkle in his face, his devilish eyes, nails, arms, chest EVERYTHING! The ramp is over 4 foot wide and his chest was as big of not a little bigger then the width of the ramp! It started climbing up the end of the ramp, after I got a good look at everything, I backed up and turned the truck around as fast as I could and got out of there. Years later there are STILL finger nail marks on that ramp where it pulled itself up! Since then I have met my current Boyfriend (he has his own encounter where he was chased by one a couple years before we met) and we love to go out riding at dusk to dawn throughout the night in the forest looking to see what we can come across. We love all animals and how beautiful the night sky is. We stay alert and because of that we have a few different times and I have a couple daytime pictures of different things that happened but none as clear as the time I was less than 15 foot from one. I have more details regarding his face, color and everything from when it came across the river at me but it would take a long time to explain in an email. I truly hope you reach out to me! I would love to tell my encounter and describe in detail every thing I seen as he stared me down in the few minutes before I could drive away. No doubt he was coming to kill us, he was very evil, his eyes dark and teeth showing!"

Tonight I will be speaking to Tom and Larry Baxter. Tom writes "I'm not sure if this would be interesting for you, and it's a second-hand account. My dad actually had the encounter and he passed away at age 84 a couple of years ago. I grew up in the Albany/Corvallis Oregon area, and as a child, my dad would tell us his story of his encounter which occurred in the Silverton Oregon area circa 1955/56 timeframe. His story was a brief one, but very descriptive (mostly what others on your show have described it) and it did impact his life and thoughts about the experience over his lifetime, and it made my brother and I very curious as we grew up in the Willamette Valley area. He saw the creature from his car in the Central Howell area at the intersection of Silverton and Howell Prairie roads. He was with his girlfriend at the time and they saw the creature emerge from the grass field alongside the intersection road at night. Anyway, if you are interested in this, I can tell the brief story of how he described it, etc." We will also be speaking to Larry Baxter regarding his book, Abandoned: The History and Horror of Port Chatham, Alaska. Port Chatham, Alaska was once a busy fishing village. By 1950, every single resident had left the town, leaving it abandoned. Over the years, legends told that the residents fled because they were being terrorized by a Bigfoot-like creature the local natives called Nantiinaq. Stories of mutilated bodies, missing hunters and strange, otherworldly creatures have long been associated with Port Chatham. Retired police investigator, Larry Baxter, delves into the real-life mystery of Port Chatham and chronicles his research for the truth into one of Alaska's most infamous legends.

A listener writes "I was working as an HVAC Tech but was still learning the ropes and was being introduced into what being on call was like- long story short a coworker picked me up one night and we went up towards northern western Massachusetts for a no heat call. After spending some time in the basement with the hatchway doors open, my coworker went outside to use the bathroom and I followed him out to catch some fresh air and get something from the van. He goes out maybe 30/40 yards so the home owner doesn't see so he's pretty far from me. A few minutes pass by and as I'm sitting in the van (on my phone) I hear something walk up towards the van. After this thing had come up to the van with be sitting in it for over 10 minutes, there was a crack in the back door of the van so it wasn't open completely but you could see through about 3-4 inches. This thing made eye contact with me with 1 eye. Stood there for about 10-15 seconds and then blinked. After a few more seconds this thing took off incredibly fast after hearing some noise come from the open basement door."