1 00:00:19,900 --> 00:00:22,740 This story was sent to the Bigfoot Project by Anonymous. 2 00:00:23,060 --> 00:00:25,860 Apparently, the witness worked at a Sheriff's Department at the 3 00:00:25,860 --> 00:00:31,680 time of the incident. The call originated from our 4 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,720 Local 911 centre, which is located in the county's 5 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,520 Sheriff's Office. The caller was speaking Spanish 6 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,480 and our dispatcher only speaks English. 7 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:43,280 We have two officers on staff who do speak Spanish, so one of 8 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,720 the officers happened to be in the compound that late June 9 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,360 night catching up on paperwork. He put on his headphones to 10 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,640 listen in and translate and direct the call. 11 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,800 The officer knew this was a bad one right away. 12 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,280 The caller was screaming into the phone begging for help, 13 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,720 begging for us to send cars. He just kept saying send cars, 14 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,440 send cars, we need help. Loud noises could be heard in 15 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,400 the background. Then there were several 16 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,880 gunshots. She needed an address because 17 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,960 the call was coming in from a pay by minute mobile phone and 18 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:16,040 in those days we could not locate the signal. 19 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:20,200 Finally the officer said to the caller in a loud but calm voice. 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,320 Where are you? The caller replied Browns Rd. 21 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,160 So the officer said, OK, who's shooting the guns? 22 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,640 The caller was gone for a minute, so the officer repeated 23 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,840 the question. 30 seconds later the response was we are 24 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,880 defending ourselves. The officer immediately replied, 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,720 we have cars on the way, you have to put your guns down when 26 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,040 the cars arrive. The caller seemed to calm down 27 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,200 and said, hurry, a monster is attacking us. 28 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,000 The officer and the dispatcher looked at each other. 29 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,920 When they returned their attention to the call, the line 30 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:00,160 was dead. After several attempts to recall 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,200 the number, someone finally picked up and it was a child. 32 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,200 I'm hiding from the monster. Please help me. 33 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,960 Then they heard banging and more commotion, more gunfire. 34 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:12,320 There was a fight happening in that house. 35 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,080 The child could not respond and the dispatcher assumed that the 36 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,200 child had laid the phone down or dropped it. 37 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,920 Deputies normally ride solo in their cars in this county, but 38 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:25,120 on this night I had a fellow officer with me. 39 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,160 He was a member of our narcotics team and when he heard the 40 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,280 location of the call, he knew exactly where this house was. 41 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,800 It was a single wide trailer parked at the end of a newly 42 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,760 bulldozed Rd. out in the county. It was a perfect spot for a meth 43 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,240 lab. It was a lab noticed by recent 44 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,120 flyovers and our narcotics team have been watching it for the 45 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,280 last two weeks. They had a two man team posted 46 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,600 150 yards behind the house in the woods to watch the trailer, 47 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,160 but that team had been taken off the stakeout to move to another 48 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,440 case for two nights. It had been confirmed that this 49 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,880 was a meth lab and they were going to take it down the next 50 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:02,640 week. We also had undercover guys 51 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:05,520 following the shipments hoping to make more arrests when we 52 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:06,960 pull the trigger on the operation. 53 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,000 It was a well established cash machine back in the woods and it 54 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,480 was not going anywhere. I will not describe our methods 55 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,840 of approaching a large drug operation like this. 56 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,680 We don't want the bad guys to know that we know what they're 57 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,360 doing. However, we were able to 58 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,000 approach the house within an hour. 59 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,960 When we hit a house like this in the woods, we know several of 60 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,640 the subjects will take off into the woods and try and escape. 61 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,680 No one ran. They were all standing in 62 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:35,560 Plainview as we approached the house. 63 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,480 Their weapons were laid neatly in front of the group and they 64 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,240 all stood sweating in the heat of the night with their hands in 65 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,760 the air. They were almost glad to see us. 66 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,960 Prior to approaching the house, we had positioned several teams 67 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,600 out and about the perimeter to catch those trying to flee. 68 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,760 When the tense moments were over and those guys were free to move 69 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,240 about and come in to help us process the area, they began 70 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,960 calling in on the radio that they had bodies in the woods. 71 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,160 Not a shot had been fired since we entered the area. 72 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,920 The sheriff was asking over the radio what was the apparent 73 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,640 cause of death. He wanted to know that his men 74 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,640 were not walking into an ambush with armed men who had been 75 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,360 placed in the woods before the pandemonium had broke out with 76 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:20,440 the 911 call. The officers in the field were 77 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,160 only saying that he needed to see it before they broadcast it 78 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,200 over the radios. The sheriff and two officers 79 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,520 began walking into the woods surrounding the house. 80 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,760 My team was to secure the immediate area surrounding the 81 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,400 trailer, so once we had our suspects in cuffs and loaded 82 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,200 into the van, we began making a search around the trailer. 83 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,440 Another team was inside of the house, and they'd been taken 84 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,560 inventory of all the evidence they could find. 85 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,400 As I rounded the corner to the back of the house, I could not 86 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,400 believe what I was seeing. The whole back of the trailer 87 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,840 was ripped open, walls torn off, and thrown into the yard. 88 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,720 I could clearly see the interior of the trailer from one end to 89 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,280 the other. Some of the debris was inside 90 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,000 the house, which looked like the walls had been caved in from the 91 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,240 outside, and some was in the yard as if something had tore 92 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,960 the walls out once it had a hand hold on the walls. 93 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:12,840 The scene reminded me of how a trailer looks after a tornado. 94 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,840 An officer with the team inside the trailer got the generator 95 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:20,160 started that had been the power source for the whole operation 96 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,080 and exterior floodlights that were still attached to the eve 97 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,480 of the back of the house illuminated the area. 98 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,640 There were two bodies laying just inside the woods. 99 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,680 They both lay in vines and brush in contorted positions. 100 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,760 We checked for signs of life, but it was not there. 101 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:39,600 One of the dead men looked like he had been doubled over 102 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,440 backwards. His back obviously broke and the 103 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,360 position he was left in haunts my dreams still. 104 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:48,520 The other's body was laying at the base of the tree. 105 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,760 The only way we could see how he got in that position was for 106 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,880 someone or something to have slapped him into the tree trunk 107 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,880 while holding his feet, folding him into a horseshoe shape, and 108 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:01,440 then letting him drop to the ground. 109 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,000 The officers and the sheriff out in the woods were finding other 110 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:06,960 bodies out there in similar positions. 111 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,520 Daylight finally gave us a better view of the area and we 112 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,960 searched most of the day for evidence in the woods. 113 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,840 Each body had a weapon laying close by. 114 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,200 Several spent brass cartridges were found close to all of the 115 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,720 bodies. We had no reason to think that 116 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,160 they were shooting each other. They seemed to be defending 117 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,520 themselves from something. By noon the next day, everything 118 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,600 had been bagged and tagged. The 8 individuals we had 119 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:35,160 arrested had been taken to the county jail for processing and 120 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,440 the bodies had been delivered to the coroner's office for 121 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,720 inspection. Later, we hoped we would find a 122 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:42,880 reasonable explanation on how they died. 123 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,920 None had a single gunshot wound. They had all been crushed to 124 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,160 death by something, we don't know what. 125 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,560 Around 3:00 PM the truck arrived to take away what was left of 126 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,800 that single wide trailer. The driver spent an hour hooking 127 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,720 everything up, then drove off down the muddy Rd. that led to 128 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,480 the meth lab. We were done with this job. 129 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,200 There were four of us left at the scene and we were loading 130 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,760 our gear into our cars when I slammed the trunk lid down. 131 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,640 A small child appeared at the edge of the woods in my view 132 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,800 over the top of the car. It was a little girl around the 133 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,600 age of 11 or 12:00. I walked over to her, kneeled 134 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,000 down and asked her if this is where she lived. 135 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:24,800 See. She said looking up at my face. 136 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,040 I asked her if she spoke English. 137 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,400 She said yes, very little. OK, tell me in English what 138 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,840 happened here last night. She began to tremble and I could 139 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:36,880 tell it was hard for her to get the words out. 140 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,320 Then she said Javier shot a man in the forest. 141 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,360 The big man chased him. I ran away to hide. 142 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,000 I took her hand and LED her to my squad car and placed her in 143 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,000 the front seat and shut the door while my partner rode in the 144 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,840 back seat. I wanted her to feel comfortable 145 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,360 and not like she was being arrested. 146 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,440 As we drove out on the muddy Rd. she started repeating a phrase 147 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,240 in Spanish. A monster came here last night. 148 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,120 It was a monster. It was a monster. 149 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,960 There's no official cause of death to this day for the bodies 150 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,360 that we found, but I'm pretty sure I know what it was. 151 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,640 My name is Tracy and as a young person I grew up in northern 152 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,200 Oklahoma. My grandfather owned property 153 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,880 that butted up against the Cow Creek watersheds to provide 154 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:27,800 location. It's about 30 minutes from 155 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,880 Ponca, 15 minutes from Pawnee, and 15 minutes from Red Rock 156 00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:34,640 Lake. McCurdy was about 30 minutes 157 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:36,799 away in the opposite direction from Red Rock. 158 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:41,280 At one point he owned 500 acres, or basically a square mile. 159 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,520 Overtime he had sold the property off down to 125 acres 160 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:49,840 or what is referred to as 1/4. The property had two good sized 161 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,360 ponds on it and a natural spring that constantly ran towards the 162 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,480 watershed with Crystal Clearwater. 163 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,160 No one was allowed to hunt on his property and no one did. 164 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:02,800 He purchased the land around 1942 or 43. 165 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,880 He raised cattle, pigs, quarter horses and Welsh Shetland 166 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,960 ponies, goats, etcetera. Virtually anything he could sell 167 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,120 at the Stillwater auctions. My first encounter was with my 168 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,320 brother. I was 10 and he was just about 169 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,880 to turn 12. We were fishing at a neighbor's 170 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,280 pond with my dad and sister. My brother nor I caught anything 171 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,360 so we went snake hunting for ring snakes and horned toads. 172 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,440 As we were looking at the ground my brother said to me, you see 173 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,960 that tree fall? I heard a dirt slide and my 174 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:36,120 brother said let's go look as he thought he had witnessed an 175 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,520 erosion event of a tree falling into a small crevasse from the 176 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,120 edge of it. He ran over to the place where 177 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:46,320 it fell about 50 feet from where we were, screamed and told me to 178 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:48,360 run. As we were running back towards 179 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:52,120 the pond the tree now looking like a Bigfoot was running the 180 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,640 opposite way. Ends up he was watching us and 181 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,160 he got too close to the edge and the ground gave way. 182 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,880 Our stepdad said we had just scared ourselves and brushed it 183 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,080 off. He and my sister kept fishing 184 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,000 while my brother and I hopped in the back of the pickup and kept 185 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:08,560 an eye out if it were to come back. 186 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,200 My second and third encounter happened on the same day. 187 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,320 I was now thirteen years old and able to carry a shotgun, so my 188 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:20,680 friend Charles and I went hunting for quail on my 189 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:24,000 grandpa's farm. After an hour of walking, we 190 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,080 made a winding path to the very back of the property and did not 191 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:29,880 fire one shot. The forest had gotten pretty 192 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,800 thick but we knew where we were and that we were not far from 193 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,480 the watershed area. We stepped into a clearing and 3 194 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,760 or 4 quail flushed out. So I took a shot, hit the bird 195 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,360 and it fell into a thicket that you couldn't see into. 196 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,600 So my friend Charles ran over and pulled the branches back and 197 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,760 he turned to me and said I don't think it's your bird but 198 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,640 something is dead back in here. It sure does stink. 199 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,760 I laughed and I said we need to head back as we can't hunt past 200 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,040 the fence. This is where the watershed area 201 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:00,960 starts, and we were both getting hungry. 202 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,360 We started walking back through the woods in a more straight 203 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,720 line than we had getting there, and we heard large footsteps 204 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,320 behind us. We thought it was a cow, but we 205 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,800 couldn't see any cows around. When we walked, it walked. 206 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,960 When we stopped, it stopped. We had no idea at the time what 207 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,360 it was. We decided to run back to the 208 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,800 farmhouse and get out of the woods as quick as we could. 209 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:25,600 We came out of the woods into a 10 acre clearing. 210 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,200 We stopped in the middle of the 10 acres and look back to see a 211 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,760 very big Bigfoot walk out of the forest and stand behind a very 212 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,160 large juniper type Evergreen tree and poke his head out to 213 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,920 look at us. He then walked and stood behind 214 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,840 the next tree and then walked down into the Creek which was 215 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,720 the only thing separating us. So we ran the rest of the 216 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,360 clearing to get to the road and ran to my grandpa's house. 217 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:52,680 We were so scared, crying and hysterical that we just stood in 218 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:54,600 the mud room for 15 to 20 minutes. 219 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,000 We decided that we had to tell my grandpa and grandma and my 220 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,240 sister was there as well. They all laughed at us and said 221 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:06,840 we just got scared in the woods. My grandmother said take me to 222 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,120 it I would like to meet this thing if it's real. 223 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:14,120 So after an hour we got our wits back and said OK but grandpa 224 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,880 said no guns. So we took frog gigs. 225 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,800 We walked down an access Rd. used to check fences that would 226 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,440 take us very near where we first started being followed. 227 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,600 My sister who was 15 started throwing rocks into the woods on 228 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,400 the left side of the road and I was watching the right side. 229 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,920 This is where we saw it again. It was standing behind a large 230 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,160 cedar tree. You could see its legs, 5 black 231 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,680 toenails and its face through the branches. 232 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,320 Very tall. The hair was clay red and matted 233 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:49,000 like a collie that spent all day playing in the mud kind of AV 234 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,320 shape. Its nose was wider than normal 235 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:54,800 but not like an ape. Its face was dark and its eyes 236 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,440 were brown. The hair color was brown with 237 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,160 red clay in it. Without walking through the 238 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,480 ditch that stood between us, we were 15 feet away from it. 239 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,160 My grandma saw it and decided not to introduce herself. 240 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,760 We all stared at it for a few minutes as it stared at us and I 241 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,040 finally said I'm leaving and the rest thought that was a good 242 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,760 idea. It did not follow us back this 243 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,720 time. The next day after I told my 244 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,800 stepfather what had happened, he and some friends all went back 245 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,360 to the few places we saw it and found tracks. 246 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,680 He told me he believed I was followed by something, but he 247 00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:32,360 would not say it was a Sasquatch or Bigfoot. 248 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,200 The fourth time I was 15. I would no longer go into the 249 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,160 woods, but I would hunt, quail and dove in the open fields. 250 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,760 There was a pond that was in the open about a 10 minute walk from 251 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,080 the house. My friend Jimmy and I stayed the 252 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,680 night at my grandpa's so we could get up with the sun and 253 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:51,840 shoot some dove as they got their morning drinks. 254 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,080 As we got to the pond and climbed down some dam, some dove 255 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:59,280 took off and I took a shot that was pointed towards the woods 256 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,080 about 50 yards away. Within a second we heard the 257 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,280 loudest, scariest scream come from the middle of the forest, 258 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,880 probably 200 yards away. Jimmy thought I had had to have 259 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,600 hit one of the cows, but then trees started crashing and the 260 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,400 screaming came straight towards us. 261 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,680 I can describe the scream as something large, deep and pissed 262 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,400 off. Along with the screaming, it 263 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:26,120 also sounded like a semi truck loaded with logs bouncing around 264 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,760 railroad tracks heading straight for us fast. 265 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:31,360 I was so scared I could not move. 266 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:33,920 I knew what it was. Jimmy didn't. 267 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,240 Right as the screaming and crunching got to the edge of the 268 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:41,000 forest, all I could think to do was raise the shotgun and wait 269 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,520 until it got close enough I could shoot it in the head. 270 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,880 So I raised it and everything immediately stopped. 271 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,440 It was right at the edge of the forest. 272 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,320 It never came out, however. It followed us as far as it 273 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,760 could back to the house while staying in the woods. 274 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,560 Later when I was a senior in high school, I was approached by 275 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,040 a kid at school who asked me, hey I heard you seen something 276 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,840 in the woods. I asked why he would ask me that 277 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:12,000 and he stated that he had as well ended up he lived in a 278 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,880 mobile home on the opposite side of the watershed and that's 279 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,680 where it spent most of its time. He stated that his home had been 280 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:22,560 vandalized by the beast tearing off his TV antenna and shaking 281 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,240 their home, but it never harmed them when they saw it by the 282 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,160 lake. We decided to go look for it one 283 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,120 evening. There were three of us and his 284 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:32,920 father would let us take a camera but we didn't see 285 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,000 anything that evening. His father was a top executive 286 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,400 at a large manufacturing company in our town. 287 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,840 He talked to us about what they had encountered and I told him 288 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,200 where my grandpa lived along with what I encountered and he 289 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:49,640 felt it was the same thing. Bigfoot was living in the 290 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,240 watershed area because it was government protected lands with 291 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,200 no hunting or fishing. No one could go there because it 292 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,240 was fenced off and there would be plenty of food for it to 293 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:05,120 survive. Abby Viner and I, Mike Smith, 294 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,200 met for the first time when we were both in boot camp at Parris 295 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,920 Island. Albert is his given name. 296 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,720 Abby and I got along well at boot camp. 297 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,560 We talked whenever we had a chance to sit down and do so. 298 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,400 I found out over time that he and I had a lot in common. 299 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:22,600 We both love being outside a lot. 300 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,520 Both of us like to fish and shoot, but he was a hunter and I 301 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:29,680 never really haunted before. Instead, I like to shoot 302 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,720 sporting clays. During this time in the service 303 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:34,760 we decided to visit each other at our homes. 304 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:38,800 After the service was over. In the summer of 85, I packed up 305 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,320 my truck and drove to Abby's house in Wisconsin. 306 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,040 Abby had told me that I would need protection so I made sure 307 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,280 to bring my 12 gauge semi auto Beretta. 308 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,200 When I asked him what we would be protecting ourselves from, he 309 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,120 said bears. I thought that was fine, but it 310 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:56,960 made me wonder what else could live there. 311 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,240 I spent two days getting up to where he lived and when I got 312 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,160 close there was nothing but woods. 313 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:05,760 I felt like I was in the forest when I was here. 314 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,800 I mean there were only gravel and dirt roads surrounded by 315 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,079 dense pine woods and I could only see a house or building 316 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:15,160 every so often. After getting lost several 317 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:17,560 times, I was finally able to find their property. 318 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:21,040 It was a pretty big place with a big house and a smaller house 319 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:23,920 and as well a number of barns and other buildings. 320 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:26,480 I drove up to the house and honked the horn. 321 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,200 I felt like I was in the middle of a family gathering. 322 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,480 All of a sudden people of all ages were coming out of every 323 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,080 door and window. They greeted me like I was the 324 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,000 lost son coming home and I thought to myself that this was 325 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:43,560 going to be a great time. After the meeting I was shown 326 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,600 around the farm. One of the barns looked like a 327 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:49,800 machine shop or metal shop and these guys had everything back 328 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:51,720 in the day. It sounds like great Grandpa 329 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,400 made a lot of metal tools and things for himself and the 330 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,440 people in the area. In one other barn there was a 331 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,280 lot of professional equipment for a lumberyard and a mill. 332 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,720 It turned out that his family had cut down most of the trees 333 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,920 that were used to build their home and the homes of many other 334 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,440 people in the area. They were proud that they knew 335 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,040 what to do and how to do it. And as the day turned to night, 336 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,360 Abby told everyone what we would be doing for the next 9 days. 337 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,800 His plan was for us to take a tour of the area and see the 338 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,280 sights. After that, we would camp, hike, 339 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,560 and fish in the wildest way possible. 340 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,720 I thought it was all great. After dinner, which was served 341 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,960 in a traditional Thanksgiving way, his father took me into the 342 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,160 room to show me the family's gun collection. 343 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,560 The walls of the room were lined with three gun cabinets. 344 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,440 As the collection grew, each cabinet was made by hand, and as 345 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,560 the wood aged, each one looked different and more beautiful 346 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,240 than the last. They had 47 rifles and shotguns, 347 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,920 and there were handguns in the boxes under the cabinets. 348 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:54,840 I hadn't seen that many guns before, but these ones were so 349 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,560 nice that they could be part of a museum collection. 350 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,800 To top it all off, the family knew absolutely everything about 351 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,800 each gun. We talked for about two hours 352 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:06,240 right in front of the gun cabinets. 353 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,280 I was learning about the background of each gun, who made 354 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,680 it and where it came from. Abby took out a pistol and said 355 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:17,040 let me introduce you to Harry. It was a 44 calibre that he had 356 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,680 bought after seeing Clint Eastwood play Dirty Harry. 357 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,400 That thing wasn't a gun, it was a hand cannon and Abby said we 358 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,080 could shoot it in the morning. He must have been very proud of 359 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,720 that gun. After breakfast the next 360 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:32,840 morning, we took Harry with us outside. 361 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,880 We must have fired at least 100 times. 362 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,360 It hurt in my hands, in my wrists and in my ears. 363 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,440 Then we walked to one of the buildings that we hadn't been in 364 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:44,880 the day before. As soon as Abby opened the 365 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,240 doors, there she was. A big monster truck. 366 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,640 It was blue, had metal flakes and shined like a star. 367 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,000 It had a cap of the same colour and the name Littlefoot was 368 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,360 written on both sides. In hindsight, the name choice 369 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:01,440 seemed almost ominous. It was his version of the 370 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:06,560 original monster truck Bigfoot. It was made out of a 1969 Ford 371 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,080 F-250. He put all kinds of blocks and 372 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,040 chains under the body and added anything else he could think of 373 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:14,160 to make the truck go as high as possible. 374 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,440 When he started it up in the barn, the wood shook. 375 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,920 The exhaust system was made-up of pipes that went into cherry 376 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:23,880 bomb mufflers. The steps and supports made of 377 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,200 billet aluminium were used to get into the cab. 378 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,080 The truck was like a ride for adults at a fair. 379 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,200 It was crazy and for the whole time I was there, Littlefoot was 380 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,760 our main way to get around. Abby took me everywhere and I 381 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,040 learned everything there was to know about the area. 382 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,840 It used to be a big place for wood and until just after World 383 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,920 War Two, it was also a big place for copper mining. 384 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,080 He told me that the local mines had made more money from 385 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,200 minerals than the gold rush in California. 386 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,120 He also said that the woods were full of black bears, wolves, 387 00:20:55,200 --> 00:21:00,600 moose, deer, Gray foxes, red foxes, Bobcats, porcupines, 388 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,880 hares, rabbits, and everything else you could think of. 389 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,920 Now I know why he told me to bring my shotgun. 390 00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:12,240 He took me deep into the woods. In that area, all of the trees 391 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,800 were the same. They were big and full and no 392 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,440 one could be seen. They were both small and big 393 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,280 streams in different areas and there were not many people here 394 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,360 at all. After having a great time, we 395 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,840 went back to the Viner farm to get ready for our camping, 396 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,600 hiking and fishing trip. Abby took a small stepladder out 397 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,440 of the barn and put it behind Littlefoot. 398 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:33,400 He opened the cap in the back door. 399 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,400 He had already put everything we need in the bed for us. 400 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:40,680 There was a fire extinguisher, shovel, chainsaw, first aid kit, 401 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,840 and different kinds of ropes. He said that one of the ropes 402 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,800 was for putting our food that would spoil quickly into a tree 403 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:51,320 so the Bears couldn't get to it. He also had two big water jugs 404 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,520 like the ones you see at Little League games and a big cooler 405 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:55,920 that we were going to fill with ice. 406 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,360 We also had a case of Gatorade bottles and more than a few 407 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,320 beers. Abby had built some shelves out 408 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,720 of wood and put them inside the sides of the bed. 409 00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:08,080 There was a rack for long guns on one side of the bed and a 410 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,720 rack for fishing rods on the other. 411 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,480 He had already put in two fly rods and several spinning rigs. 412 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,880 The front and back of the truck had electric winches. 413 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,120 After making sure we had everything we could think of, we 414 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,040 took off. Abby said that we were going to 415 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,720 a place near Lake Chippewa. On the way in there was a good 416 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,560 dirt Rd. that led to some real four Wheeler trails. 417 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,440 We had to use the chainsaw in the truck twice to clear the 418 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,920 trails of fallen trees. It was clear to me that no cars 419 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,120 have been in this area for a very long time. 420 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,960 It took us about two hours to get to a small, mostly clear 421 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,960 spot where we could set up camp, which was at the end of our 422 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,400 travels. He said that after logging 423 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,800 destroyed a lot of the forest, many areas had been replanted. 424 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:54,160 This is why there's a mix of old pine and new in some spots. 425 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,560 We set up camp, dug a fire hole, neither of which took very long. 426 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,880 Once we were done, Abby said there was still plenty of time 427 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,800 for us to go to the river and catch some fish, so we got the 428 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,760 fly rods. Before we started to walk, I 429 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,880 grabbed my shotgun and Abby took Harry. 430 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,760 We began walking and walking and walking. 431 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,280 Just so you know, a long walk for me right now is going in and 432 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:20,880 out of the mall with the occasional 2 mile bike ride 433 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,600 thrown in. Abby told me that we were almost 434 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,640 there even though my legs were killing me. 435 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,680 He knew this because the trees were getting closer together. 436 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,200 As we got closer to the water source there were more small 437 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,880 trees and bushes and there was no longer anything that looked 438 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,480 like a path. We were trying to find breaks in 439 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,640 the growth and fighting our way through the thorns when all of a 440 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:42,920 sudden we got out of the thicket and saw the river. 441 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,600 You could walk across this river without any trouble. 442 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,000 In fact, when I looked up and down as far as I could, I could 443 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,520 see that many of the tree branches along the river's edge 444 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,680 were only 8 or 10 feet away from hitting the branches on the 445 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,560 other side. Also, there are pieces of wood 446 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,320 and rocks in this water. It was moving water that was 447 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,760 mostly calm. When I looked at the top, I 448 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:05,920 could see that there was a lot of trout to catch. 449 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,400 We started fishing. We must have been fishing in 450 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,160 peace for a few hours, having a good time with each other and 451 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,120 the fish. It was very pretty. 452 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,800 I felt more at ease here than I had in a very long time when I 453 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,280 heard a loud sound like rocks hitting each other. 454 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,000 It seemed like it had to be very close to me. 455 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,080 I turned to look at Abby and we looked at each other. 456 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,280 He shrugged. We kept fishing and we kept 457 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,880 hearing the sound. It sounded like two rocks were 458 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,160 hitting something and cracking against each other. 459 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:36,640 It was clear that there was a crunch. 460 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,200 It reminded me more of breaking a mussel shell than a clamshell, 461 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,320 since a mussel shell is much softer and thinner and makes a 462 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,880 crunching sound when broken. As the sound kept going, my 463 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,280 friend and I started to slowly move toward each other. 464 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,560 I tried to look in the direction of the sound, but it was hard to 465 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,680 see very far because of how tight the river was and how the 466 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,960 trees were hanging over it. We couldn't see where the noise 467 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,520 was coming from, even if it was 40 feet away. 468 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,120 We whispered so quietly that we might as well have been lip 469 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:09,800 syncing. Abby thought it might be moose 470 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,560 antlers clicking together and that the noise might have been 471 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,320 much farther away than it sounded. 472 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:17,920 Somewhat encouraged, I slowly moved back to the pool I had 473 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,800 been fishing in, but this time I made sure to stand a little 474 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:22,960 closer to the bank and my 12 gauge. 475 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,240 After a while the noise stopped, but I could now hear something 476 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,880 moving in the bushes, which was starting to scare me. 477 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,280 I could see Abby craning his neck too, trying to see if 478 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:34,800 anything was moving in the trees. 479 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,400 We hope that whatever was moving around would leave while we 480 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,400 waited. When we started fighting our way 481 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,440 through this brush on the way out, I was very nervous. 482 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,840 I thought that something could sneak up on us at any time, and 483 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,680 between carrying our gear and moving trees, you wouldn't have 484 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:52,400 much time to shoot if you had to. 485 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,120 I had a creepy feeling in my neck all the way back to camp 486 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:00,280 and the forest was dead silent. When we finally got to camp, I 487 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,080 started making a fire right away while Abby went behind some 488 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,760 trees to do something. I heard a surprise shout a few 489 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,080 seconds later. I walked over to see he stood 490 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,000 there and looked at a big snake on the ground. 491 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,240 Both ends of the snake's body were tied in knots. 492 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,920 It looked like a dumbbell made of snakes, but it was living. 493 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,200 There was no way that snake writhing on its own could have 494 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,160 made those two knots. They were as close as a knot in 495 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,800 a rope. Considering that the knots made 496 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,480 the snake shorter, it must have been 6 feet long. 497 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:33,720 We couldn't help but think about who or what might have been in 498 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,960 our camp while we were gone. The whole thing was hard to 499 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,040 understand. Abby took the snake and threw it 500 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,400 into the woods, saying that it would make a good meal for 501 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,560 something. Now maybe it's because I grew up 502 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,640 in a city, but I couldn't understand how Abby could be so 503 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,000 stone cold and unmoved about all this. 504 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,280 After a night of talking nonsense around the campfire 505 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:59,720 about everything and anything, we climbed into our tent and 506 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,000 Abby fell fast asleep. But I lay wide awake thinking 507 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,640 too much about what had happened that day. 508 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,280 At some point during the night, I could hear noises coming from 509 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,920 outside the tent. It was hard to tell how close 510 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,080 they were until they cast a big shadow between the tent and the 511 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,200 fire. After a few seconds, the shadow 512 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,200 fully darkened the inside of our tent and then it let out a big 513 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,920 deep growl. The top of the tent began to 514 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,640 move down. Abby didn't snore anymore. 515 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,600 With my eyes on the shadow, I grabbed my gun. 516 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,160 Before I could even think about pulling the trigger, Abby sat up 517 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,120 and fired three shots through the tent. 518 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,880 The flash and bang was hard to believe, and the tent was filled 519 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:40,640 with the smell of gunpowder and smoke. 520 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,480 Whatever it was, it let out a scream that I could only compare 521 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,880 to AT Rex. I was shaken by how loud it was. 522 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,240 The tent was on fire and the shade was no longer there. 523 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,240 Whatever it was, it sounded like it was running away while 524 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,360 screaming and yelling. I took my gun and opened the 525 00:27:57,360 --> 00:27:59,280 tent zipper. I wasn't going to give up 526 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,200 without a fight. Abby jumped out from behind me 527 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,680 and the two of us stood there looking and listening. 528 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,160 The animal was still screaming far away. 529 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,600 I was sure that Abby had killed this guy at point blank range 530 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,600 with 344 caliber shots. If it had been a black bear, it 531 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,240 would have fallen from where it was standing, but it didn't. 532 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,720 It ran away. I asked Abby how in the hell it 533 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,400 could run away with 344 caliber bullets in it. 534 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,040 His answer was that bears with Cubs can be hard to catch. 535 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,400 Now I was thinking about the same thing he did. 536 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,360 I was also going to shoot, but at the moment I thought it might 537 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:35,760 be some loser in the woods playing a really bad and 538 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,400 possibly dangerous joke. We looked around with 539 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,200 flashlights for blood, but we didn't find any and the ground 540 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,000 was so hard we couldn't even see our own boot prints. 541 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,360 Outside the light of the fire. Everything was as dark as it 542 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,400 could be. It was, at the very least, very 543 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,160 scary. We made a big hot fire and 544 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:55,560 stayed up for the rest of the night. 545 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,560 I was ready to give up at this point, but I didn't want Abby to 546 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,560 think I didn't have any guts. I was the one from the city. 547 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:05,480 We were meant to have hard balls, right? 548 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:10,560 According to our plan, we had three days left, so Abby, who 549 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,400 seemed to have forgotten about what had happened the night 550 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,160 before, offered that we go to the lake today. 551 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,920 So we got our spinning rods and guns and went to the side of the 552 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,360 lake that was closest to us. This time he led us through a 553 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,440 slightly less dense part of the woods until we got closer to the 554 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,240 lake. As we got closer, the shrubbery 555 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,520 got thicker, just like it had at the river. 556 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,240 At any rate, we set up along the side of the lake and started 557 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,840 tossing poppers and spinners. Pretty quickly we started to 558 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,240 catch fish on the lake. The sun was shining and it was 559 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:42,840 nice to be out from under the trees. 560 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,400 While we were fishing I saw something big and dark peeking 561 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,680 in and out of the trees at the far side of the lake. 562 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:55,040 It did this in different places. Every time it showed up. 563 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,320 I pointed it out and told Abby to look. 564 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,720 He didn't see anything. I, on the other hand, saw 565 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,000 something living and moving and I couldn't stop thinking about 566 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,040 last night. We'd been fishing for about 6 567 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,160 hours with a few breaks for food and drinks when Abby said we 568 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,720 should go back and maybe go varmint hunting before the sun 569 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,800 went down. I thought it was a good idea so 570 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,840 we started our long walk back. I couldn't believe what I saw 571 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,160 when the camp came into view. Things were thrown into the 572 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,280 trees and our cooler was smashed flat on the ground. 573 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,120 It looked like it had been run over by a steamroller. 574 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:34,760 The truck was in bad shape, both side windows were blown out and 575 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:36,720 the cap looked like a tree had dropped on it. 576 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,880 We couldn't open the driver's side door because the cab had 577 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,800 been smashed so badly. There was no sign of a log or 578 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:44,800 anything else that could have been used to do that much 579 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,600 damage. The tailgate was partly pulled 580 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:49,880 off its hinges and bent under the rear bumper. 581 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,160 The front winch was totally ripped off the truck. 582 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,680 The 916 bolts and washers were ripped cleanly out of the steel, 583 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,120 and the other winch had all of its cable pulled out and was 584 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,040 completely detached from its housing. 585 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,600 We could only find one of the two metal steps that had been 586 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,200 ripped off. The front of the hood looked 587 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,640 like it had been hit three or four times by a 12 inch tree 588 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,520 trunk. I say this because I don't know 589 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,120 how else to describe what we saw. 590 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,800 Even so, there was not a single sign like wood chips or even 591 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,680 marks on the truck that would have shown that a tree had been 592 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,080 used to cause the damage. There were no small dents in the 593 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,600 truck, just big, long and wide hits to the metal. 594 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,320 What worried me most was how much force it would be needed to 595 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,480 RIP big bolts out of the truck, leaving a reverse dimple in the 596 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,280 steel where they had been. That was crazy. 597 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,720 Whatever did this was neither a single person nor a group of 598 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,280 people. It was impossible for a man to 599 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,400 do. We didn't talk much to each 600 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,880 other, nothing could be said. We just stood there shocked. 601 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,160 I jumped into the truck's bed and tried to pull up on the 602 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,920 broken cap to try and get things to open up again. 603 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,640 I was pushing my back against the broken roof of the cap and 604 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,440 as I moved I noticed something very strange. 605 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,320 Several long dark hairs were stuck at the end of one of the 606 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:16,080 cracks in the fiberglass. Abby told me that it couldn't 607 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:17,880 have been a black bear fur when I showed him. 608 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,560 We gathered up everything we could and shoved it into the bed 609 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,800 under what was left of the cap. We grabbed the Hatch and bent it 610 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,640 back and forth until we could twist it up and into the bed. 611 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,560 Abby got into the cab from the passenger side, which was hard 612 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,280 to do without the step, and started brushing the broken 613 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,200 glass off the seat and everywhere else. 614 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,240 He turned the key and we got the hell out of there. 615 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,360 At some point we saw a police officer coming in the opposite 616 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,640 direction and Abby waved him down as he stopped. 617 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,120 I couldn't see him because he was on Abby's side of the truck 618 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,840 and it was high. I heard him ask what was going 619 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,480 on. Abby turned off the truck and as 620 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,240 I got out, he crawled out after me. 621 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,640 We walked around the truck and told the officer our story for 622 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,960 about 45 minutes. He wrote up an incident report 623 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,320 and gave us a copy. Later, when we got to Abby's 624 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,280 house, everyone came out to see the truck and asked us about 625 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,520 what had happened that night at dinner, his father started 626 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,720 telling us about what his father had told him. 627 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,600 He told us that the loggers and miners had told many stories 628 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,640 about big hairy creatures that had been seen in the woods. 629 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,000 He said that his father told him that after the workers went for 630 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,920 the day, they would mess with and damage their equipment. 631 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,560 When they came back the next morning, machines were broken or 632 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,400 bent. He said this happened to the 633 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,360 workers all the time and the men would talk about things being 634 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,920 thrown into the camp, but they couldn't see who or what did it. 635 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,040 Abby and I still talk and he even put Littlefoot back 636 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,440 together. Abby's dad put the hairs we 637 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:51,960 found in a frame in the room so that they would be kept in the 638 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,040 family for years to come. Since then, I haven't been back 639 00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:02,080 to see Abby. The witness is a mature male who 640 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,520 has lived in the area for many years and lived for a few years 641 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,960 in the northeastern state where he haunted bear using a nuisance 642 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,400 animal permit from the state. He's an avid hunter and has 643 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,320 haunted bear, deer, wild hogs, small animals and predators in 644 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,159 Arkansas. He is very familiar with all the 645 00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:22,840 classified animals in the Ozarks and familiar with the odors and 646 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:24,639 sounds produced by those animals. 647 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,719 The witness had driven alone in a Nissan pickup truck about 3/4 648 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,560 of a mile into the hollow where he parked without turning the 649 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,480 truck around. He was alone and did not lock 650 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,840 the truck. He had borrowed an old Remington 651 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:44,400 semi automatic 22 caliber rifle which was equipped with A3 by 652 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,080 9/1 inch scope with which he was going to use to hunt squirrels. 653 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,320 He walked up the old road 100 yards or so from the truck when 654 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,760 he noticed a live cedar tree to the left of the road which had 655 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:59,040 been broken and twisted at the top, bent to the centre of the 656 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,240 road and pointing to the northwest. 657 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,080 He saw that the brake was about 8 feet off the ground and the 658 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,080 trunk was slightly larger than his upper arm at the point of 659 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,880 the brake. The witness had been in the area 660 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,160 recently and had not seen the broken tree, and he knew there 661 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,640 had been no winds in the area which would have broken the 662 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,160 tree. He studied the tree for a minute 663 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,680 or two and after he was unable to determine how it had broken, 664 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:28,760 he continued up the road. After walking about 25 yards, he 665 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,680 saw there was another cedar tree on the right side of the road 666 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,880 which was also live about the same size and broken in the same 667 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,440 fashion, with the top pointed in the same direction as the first. 668 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,840 At this time he became very interested in determining what 669 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:48,120 had broken the tree and why. He stated he could see the trees 670 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,360 were not simply broken by the weight of a bear, as the tops 671 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,040 were twisted after having been broken so that they pointed in 672 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:58,080 the same direction. He was baffled by the way the 673 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,840 trees had been broken and although he soon continued 674 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,200 walking up the road, he could not help but think about how odd 675 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:09,080 the conditions appeared at the time. 676 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,240 The Creek bottom was heavily timbered with large oak, Hickory 677 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:15,600 and pine trees and he soon became preoccupied with stalking 678 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,160 and shooting a few fox squirrels. 679 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,360 About 30 minutes before dusk dark, he began to notice that 680 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,640 the normal sounds of birds, especially those of the large 681 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,520 woodpeckers that call that time of day around their nest trees 682 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,560 and insects, were missing. Just about that time he heard 683 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:35,840 the loud sound of a hollow tree being struck 3 or 4 times by 684 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,080 what sounded like a rock or green stick. 685 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,440 The sounds somewhat alarmed him because they were coming from 686 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,920 behind him and he placed the sounds not far from his truck. 687 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,080 He immediately thought that someone was messing with his 688 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,760 truck and since it was left unlocked, he turned quickly and 689 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:57,000 started back down the road. He was walking at a fast pace 690 00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:59,800 and was soon within about 150 yards of the truck. 691 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:02,920 At that point he heard a soft grunt from the woods to his 692 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,200 left. He looked in the direction of 693 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,640 the sound and noticed a movement in the woods and an angle of 694 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:13,160 about 45°. He froze immediately and saw a 695 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,480 large figure in a squatting position behind a very thin veil 696 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,440 of brush about 35 or 40 yards away. 697 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,320 He immediately thought he was seeing a cinnamon phase bear 698 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,720 because of its colour, but he quickly realized what he was 699 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:30,400 seeing was not a bear. The creature was squatting on 700 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,640 its haunches with its knees spread slightly and with its two 701 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,560 arms extended between its knees and with balled up fists resting 702 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:39,080 on the ground in front of its feet. 703 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,280 The animal was staring directly at him and slowly rocking its 704 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:47,280 body side to side and making short grunting and clicking 705 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:53,880 chirping sounds with its mouth. The witness stated he was frozen 706 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,120 in shock for two or three seconds and suddenly he had an 707 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,080 overpowering fear that the animal was going to charge him. 708 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,600 He immediately assumed the animal was poised to spring off 709 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:07,160 the ground toward him. He said by reflex, he raised the 710 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:10,280 rifle in a split second and tried to shoot the animal just 711 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,160 below its chin and hit the spine to disable it. 712 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:15,760 He said the animal appeared to have no neck. 713 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,240 When the bullet hit the animal, it stood up with its arms 714 00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:23,320 hanging to its side. The animal turned its whole body 715 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,360 and began running up the slope of the Ridge. 716 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,040 The witness stated the animal had actually been squatted only 717 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,480 a few yards from the base of the Ridge at that point. 718 00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:36,440 As soon as the animal wheeled and started crashing through the 719 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,680 smaller timber on the slope of the Ridge, the witness stated he 720 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:41,880 emptied the rifle at the running animal's back. 721 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,680 He stated he thought the rifle held 15 long rifle cartridges 722 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,920 and he was sure that at least seven of those bullets struck 723 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,200 the animal. About the time the rifle clicked 724 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,320 indicate it was empty, he heard the animal stop running. 725 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,560 He then realized the animal was at a point directly up the Ridge 726 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,920 from his truck and that he was standing with an empty rifle. 727 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,200 He then bolted to the truck as fast as he could run. 728 00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:10,240 He threw the gun into the bed of the truck and jumped inside the 729 00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:13,280 cab. Just before he did so, he heard 730 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,400 the animal crashing through the timber again and it sounded to 731 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,960 him as if the animal was running toward the truck. 732 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,800 He started the truck and threw it into reverse to turn around. 733 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:28,520 He backed the truck into a tree, quickly put the truck in forward 734 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,040 gear and tried to turn around in a very narrow road, and in his 735 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,880 haste struck another tree with the front of his truck. 736 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,680 After banging the truck through the timber and over large rocks, 737 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,000 he finally got it back on the road and drove at breakneck 738 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,680 speed out of the hollow. He never saw the animal during 739 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:49,120 that process and he is not haunted in that hollow again. 740 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:54,200 When first seen, the animal was facing him as squatted in the 741 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,720 position of a man taking a dump in the woods. 742 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:00,280 The man said the animal's legs were spread and its arms were 743 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,960 between its knees with the hands made into fists resting on the 744 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:06,720 ground. He stated the animal was covered 745 00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:09,880 in reddish brown hair that in most places appeared to be about 746 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,440 3 inches long. On the forearms, he saw the hair 747 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,160 appear to be shorter and not as thick as that on the rest of the 748 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,920 body. He stated the head possessed A 749 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:22,520 conical shape similar to that of a mature male gorilla. 750 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,000 The animal had no visible neck or ears and although he stared 751 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,360 at the face, he was unable to discern any facial features 752 00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:32,760 because of the Halo of hair around the face. 753 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:37,240 After he fired the first shot, the animal leapt into an upright 754 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:39,760 position. He noticed the hair on its head 755 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:43,200 and shoulders was noticeably lighter in colour than the hair 756 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,560 elsewhere. He also noted the hair on its 757 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:49,440 knees was discoloured and thought those areas were covered 758 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:51,320 with a light coating of mud and water. 759 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:56,440 He said when standing erect and later when running, the legs 760 00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,360 appeared to be thick and powerful but slightly bowed. 761 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:02,680 He particularly noted when it was standing upright. 762 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,680 The animal's arms were large and long and hung alongside the body 763 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:09,920 like a human's, rather than protruding forward like the 764 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,840 front legs of a bear, standing erect on its back legs. 765 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:17,040 He said the animal appeared to be about 7 feet tall with a 766 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:20,360 muscular build. He said for its height the upper 767 00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:22,920 body did not look disproportionately large. 768 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,600 The witness said he could not see breasts or genitalia to 769 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,400 determine the sex of the animal, although he was sure it had no 770 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,040 pronounced breasts like those of a mature woman. 771 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,720 He stated he believed the animal would weigh somewhat more than 772 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:44,800 £400. When the animal ran away, its 773 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:48,160 legs were noticeably bent and its long strides were fluid, 774 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:51,080 like while running. Its long arms were said to be 775 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,920 swinging in what appeared to be an exaggerated but fluid motion. 776 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:58,920 While the animal was squatted, the witness said it was making 777 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,560 short, low volume, grunting and chirping, clicking sounds with 778 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,040 its mouth. He stated the sounds were 779 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,000 somewhat similar to him, but different from those made by 780 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:11,120 hogs and bears. He stated that when the first 781 00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:15,200 shot hit the animal, it made a loud, short grunt, but he did 782 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,840 not believe it made vocalizations as it ran off. 783 00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:21,560 The only sounds he remembered hearing during the time were the 784 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:24,760 sounds of breaking limbs and brush and the thuds made by the 785 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:26,720 animal's feet as they struck the ground. 786 00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:31,000 The witness also stated that shortly before he saw the 787 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,880 animal, he smelled A foul odour, which he described as being a 788 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,480 mix of smells of rotten meat and a sewer treatment plant. 789 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,000 After the witness encountered the animal, he said that he made 790 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,560 the mistake of telling some of his coworkers about the 791 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,040 incident. He said that he caught a lot of 792 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,240 flak and ribbing about the incident and after a while he 793 00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:54,960 refused to talk to anyone about it. 794 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:59,880 But he has recently decided he doesn't care who knows about it 795 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:05,840 because he knows what he saw. I want to share an experience 796 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:08,480 that happened to me in the backwoods of Arkansas back in 797 00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:11,720 the early 90s. I don't mind if you use my first 798 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:14,280 name, but let's keep my last name between you and I. 799 00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:17,320 My name is Eli and this is my story. 800 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:22,120 In 1994, I was 13 years old. I used to stay at my 801 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,160 grandparents house a lot out in the very rural area in 802 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,760 southeastern Arkansas. It was a series of network dirt 803 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:31,400 roads to get to their house. The closest neighbor lived a 804 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:34,640 mile and a half away and the closest town was 10 miles down 805 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,040 the road. It's in the middle of farmland 806 00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:39,840 and it's mostly woods. They have lived in this house 807 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:43,800 since my mother was a child. A general store served the 808 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,280 people in the area. It was a two mile walk from my 809 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,080 grandmother's place. An old lady ran the store. 810 00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,560 Her and her husband had added the store to the front of their 811 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,040 house. They lived in the back. 812 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:56,800 My grandmother asked me if I wanted to walk to the store and 813 00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,840 get her a few things. She gave me some money and I 814 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,440 headed out. It was early in the day and I 815 00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,600 had plenty of time to get back before dark, which I always made 816 00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:07,520 sure to do when I was out roaming about. 817 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,040 Things can get creepy out in the backwoods of Arkansas after 818 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,680 nightfall. It's a darkness unlike most 819 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,920 people who have lived primarily in the cities or towns have ever 820 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,320 experienced. I was easily distracted at that 821 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:22,400 age, and I stopped at a Creek on the way. 822 00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:25,320 I stayed too long, catching crawdads and throwing rocks in 823 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,000 the water. It was getting late and I picked 824 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,320 up my pace. By the time I left the store, it 825 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:33,600 was getting dark. I didn't want to be walking 826 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,040 those lonely, secluded roads through the woods alone in the 827 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,480 dark, so I hurried as fast as I could. 828 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:41,120 I would jog a while, and then I would Sprint. 829 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:44,440 I was doing anything in my power to get back as quickly as 830 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:49,840 possible, but it wasn't enough. By the time I made it to the 831 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,240 bottom of the hill near the bridge where I had wasted all 832 00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:55,760 that time earlier, it was dark. I could see the road in the 833 00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,640 woods all around me because of a glowing moon that was coming 834 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:01,880 over the horizon. It shined an eerie glow across 835 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:04,160 the land. In one way I was glad that I 836 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:07,880 could see, but in another the moonlight made it very creepy. 837 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:11,760 At the top of a hill, the road was perfectly straight and flat, 838 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,760 with woods on the left side and a large field on the right. 839 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:17,840 Another half mile and I would be home. 840 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:21,080 I could see the Porsche lights way off in the distance and I 841 00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:24,160 felt relieved. My eyes were fully adjusted to 842 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:27,080 the dark at this point, and the light from the moon allowed me 843 00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:29,360 to see all the way across the field on my right. 844 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,680 I was getting closer and I had actually slowed down a bit. 845 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,480 I was tired from the run. I heard something in the woods 846 00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:38,520 on my left. Leaves were crunching. 847 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:42,240 Something was walking in there. Keeping my eyes on the woods, I 848 00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:44,760 kept moving. There was no way for me to see 849 00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:47,360 anything clearly inside the woods, even though the moonlight 850 00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,360 was shining. But in the ditch closest to the 851 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:52,760 trees I could make out a dark figure. 852 00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,160 I stopped and focused on that spot for a few seconds. 853 00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,280 There was something, and now it was moving towards me. 854 00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:03,480 I thought it was a dog, but then I realized it was much too large 855 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,280 to be a dog. And then I realized it wasn't 856 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,320 really actually walking on four legs. 857 00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:11,600 It was crawling or creeping like a person would. 858 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:14,560 I couldn't take my eyes off this thing. 859 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:18,200 A jolt of fear shot through me when I realized this thing was 860 00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,160 trying to sneak up on me. It was stalking me. 861 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,880 I started walking again and I kept my eyes on it only a few 862 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:28,400 yards behind me. Now a few steps into my walk and 863 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:32,840 this thing stands upright. It was big, I'm guessing 7 feet, 864 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:35,880 and it looked like it was covered in dark hair, but it 865 00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,760 wasn't a bear. Bears aren't that tall and I had 866 00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:42,320 never seen anything like this. I dropped the bag of stuff that 867 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:45,200 I had been carrying and I ran as fast as my legs could take me 868 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:51,160 towards my grandparents house. I heard a heavy breathing and 869 00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,120 growling sound behind me. It was up on the road with me 870 00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:56,720 now and I could hear its feet crunching the gravel. 871 00:46:57,320 --> 00:46:59,280 I thought it was going to catch me at any second. 872 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:01,720 I couldn't make my legs go fast enough. 873 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:05,560 It was so close to me that I closed my eyes in anticipation 874 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:09,480 of it grabbing me, but at that moment, I heard a crash off into 875 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,800 the woods to my left. For whatever reason, it had let 876 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:15,600 me go. It was right on me, and it could 877 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,680 have taken me down if it wanted to, but it let me go. 878 00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:22,520 When it was a short distance away into the woods, I heard a 879 00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,040 scream. I don't think I could replicate 880 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:28,240 that scream now, but I'm telling you, I'm never going to forget 881 00:47:28,240 --> 00:47:31,160 that scream. By the time I reached the house, 882 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:33,720 my heart felt like it was going to explode from the run and the 883 00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:35,480 adrenaline pumping through my body. 884 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:40,000 I flew into the house and in an incoherent, hyperactive mess of 885 00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:43,040 gibberish, tried to explain to my grandparents what had just 886 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:45,600 happened. My grandmother didn't really 887 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:48,560 seem to believe me, but she knew something had scared me. 888 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:51,800 She acted weird about the whole thing the rest of the night. 889 00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:56,240 She said it must have been a dog, but that wasn't a dog I saw 890 00:47:56,240 --> 00:48:00,680 on the road. The next morning I woke up and 891 00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:03,440 found my grandpa sitting outside whittling wood underneath the 892 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:07,240 shade tree in the front yard. As he often liked to do, I went 893 00:48:07,240 --> 00:48:10,000 and sat down beside him in one of the old metal lawn chairs. 894 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,760 He was a rational man, down to earth, and had grown up and 895 00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:15,560 haunted that area his entire life. 896 00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:19,560 He knew every square inch of that place, it was mapped into 897 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:22,000 his mind. He knew every type of critter 898 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:25,000 and creature that lived in those woods, what noises they made, 899 00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:27,640 where to find them and how to catch them, etcetera. 900 00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:31,120 I'd only been hunting with him for a couple of years, but I've 901 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:34,000 been going into those woods with him since a pretty young age on 902 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:35,920 walks. He had passed a lot of his 903 00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:37,920 knowledge down to me during those adventures. 904 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:41,360 I spoke to him about what had happened to me the night before 905 00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:43,680 and I told him that I knew what I saw. 906 00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:47,640 It wasn't my overactive imagination, I wasn't making it 907 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:50,440 up, and it definitely was not a dog. 908 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,680 He knew that I wasn't just a dumb 13 year old kid, and he 909 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:56,520 knew that I knew the things he taught me. 910 00:48:57,320 --> 00:49:00,880 He stopped whittling, looked me right in the eye and said, I 911 00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:03,280 know what you saw. I've seen it before too. 912 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,040 There's things in the woods that people don't understand and they 913 00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:08,920 ought not to be fooled with, ever. 914 00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:13,640 I remember those words clearly to this day because it gave me 915 00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:16,520 affirmation. But at the time, it made me 916 00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:20,480 realize that whatever I'd seen was real and it was beyond my 917 00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:23,720 understanding. My grandpa then went on to tell 918 00:49:23,720 --> 00:49:26,760 me that far back in the woods there are some cliffs, and at 919 00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:28,520 the bottom of those cliffs is a cave. 920 00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:31,320 He told me that The Cave is where the creature lived. 921 00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:34,640 He had once stumbled upon it a long time ago when he was 922 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:37,120 hunting. He was standing on top of the 923 00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:39,880 Cliff looking at it when the creature fitting the same 924 00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:43,600 description emerged and began screaming wildly at him and 925 00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,000 throwing rocks. He took a shot at it, he missed, 926 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:50,480 and then this thing gave chase. But my grandpa was on the top, 927 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,560 so in order to get to him this thing had to go a long distance 928 00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:57,640 and then climb up, which he said it quickly began to do. 929 00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,720 So he high tailed it out of there in a hurry. 930 00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:05,440 The whole way back home he felt as if you were being watched and 931 00:50:05,440 --> 00:50:08,720 he kept hearing twigs snapping behind him and he was certain 932 00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:10,840 that it was following him, stalking him. 933 00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:14,040 He made it home and he reached his front porch. 934 00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,880 He turned and looked back at the woods from where he had come 935 00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:19,800 from, and he saw it peeking out from behind the tree. 936 00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:23,880 Later that night, he said that he and my grandmother awoke in 937 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:27,240 the early morning hours to large rocks being thrown at the house 938 00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:31,240 and howling noises from outside. It walked around on the front 939 00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:35,120 porch, rattling the doorknobs, banging on the windows, and it 940 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:38,320 sounded like it was muttering to itself in a low, garbled voice. 941 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:41,440 But it didn't sound like a language, just a bunch of 942 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:44,480 gibberish. After a while the thing went 943 00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:46,760 back to throwing some more rocks and howling. 944 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:50,080 So my grandpa grabbed a shotgun and fired it out the front door 945 00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:53,720 a few times into the darkness. He heard it run back into the 946 00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:57,000 woods, and that was the last time he'd seen or heard of it. 947 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:01,120 But over the years he heard of other farmers, cows being 948 00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:05,120 mutilated, or someone's hunting dog going missing, or someone 949 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:07,640 would have a story about some strange creature they had seen 950 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:10,680 in the woods. He also said it scared my 951 00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,320 grandmother beyond words and she absolutely has refused to ever 952 00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:17,000 talk about it or even acknowledged that it happened, 953 00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:20,400 which explained her acting weird about when I told her about what 954 00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:23,920 happened to me. I know this story is pretty far 955 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,840 fetched and you can believe it or not, it makes no difference 956 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:29,480 to me. I know what I saw and my grandpa 957 00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:32,720 knows what he saw and neither of us have ever felt the need to 958 00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:36,120 convince anyone else. I've never spoken of it to 959 00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:39,560 anyone other than a few close to me and my grandfather, and he 960 00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:43,400 passed away over 10 years ago. And now I'm sharing it with you. 961 00:51:44,320 --> 00:51:46,880 These things are just as real as you and I. 962 00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:50,560 And just like people, they come in all manners of personalities 963 00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:53,320 and temperaments. They aren't just stories. 964 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,120 These are people's memories of a creature that lives in our 965 00:51:56,120 --> 00:52:02,200 woods. Eli, I'm probably going to 966 00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:05,480 regret telling this story. Everyone I know will probably 967 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:09,080 laugh me out of the country. I myself for years would hurrah 968 00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:11,520 and laugh every time someone would mention these creatures. 969 00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:15,480 Here it goes. I live in Northeast Texas, not 970 00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:18,920 far from Texarkana. I've lived in the Texarkana area 971 00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:22,080 for quite some time. I don't Coon hunt anymore. 972 00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:24,000 My business has become more demanding. 973 00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:27,440 Coon hunting is a sport that really demands a lot of time. 974 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:31,080 I found I didn't have the time to devote to it, so I got rid of 975 00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:34,080 my Walker hounds. I was so into the sport. 976 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:37,040 At one time I had hunting licenses in three states. 977 00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:43,240 I had several night champions to my credit several years ago on a 978 00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:45,160 cold night in January or February. 979 00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:49,520 I believe in 2000, I don't remember the exact date, I was 980 00:52:49,520 --> 00:52:51,760 Coon hunting in Miller County, Arkansas. 981 00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:55,840 I don't know exactly how far from Mercer Bayou we were, but I 982 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:59,360 know we were in an area the old timers call Thornton Wells. 983 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:02,920 While we were hunting in this flooded timber, our dogs split 984 00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:05,120 tree. I went to my dogs who had tree 985 00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:07,920 on the other side of the swamp. The other guys went to their 986 00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,400 dogs on the other side. I got to the tree my dogs were 987 00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:14,240 treeing and looked at my Coon and caught my dogs. 988 00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:17,880 Everything seemed OK so I decided to amble back towards 989 00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,360 the others. I could just barely hear their 990 00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:22,240 dogs treeing way across the Bayou. 991 00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:25,920 Suddenly I hear something walking in the flooded timber. 992 00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:30,520 Bear in mind this whole area is 8 to 15 inches flooded with 993 00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:34,200 brackish swamp water. I could tell by the gate that it 994 00:53:34,200 --> 00:53:37,600 was someone coming in the flooded woods, so I called out 995 00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:40,200 to them thinking it must be one of my hunting companions. 996 00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:45,240 To my dismay no one answered. Instead all I heard was a deep 997 00:53:45,240 --> 00:53:49,240 throated gurgling growl and the awfulest putrid smell. 998 00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:53,000 The smell was like when you kill a wild hog and grab him up by 999 00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:56,120 the hind leg and then you give out dragging him and put your 1000 00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:58,880 hand up to your nose and the smell knocks you over. 1001 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:02,040 I also heard a whining kind of whistling sound. 1002 00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:06,600 My dogs were on my leash and were whimpering. 1003 00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:11,000 Now these weren't just any dogs, these were UKC lipper bred 1004 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:13,360 walkers. They probably weighed in close 1005 00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:16,720 to £100. They could RIP a 20 LB Coon 1006 00:54:16,720 --> 00:54:19,600 apart. Yet they were cowardly crouched 1007 00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:22,960 behind my legs whimpering. I knew I had seen them tear 1008 00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:25,920 coyotes to shreds that had tried to come into the tree where they 1009 00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:28,240 were treeing. I couldn't understand it. 1010 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,960 Still in all, I was not concerned about any of this and 1011 00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:34,240 got my dogs and started back across the swamp. 1012 00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:37,760 After a few minutes I heard the sound of someone or something 1013 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:41,640 walking in the water again, so I stopped and turned around and 1014 00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:45,400 standing right behind me was a creature of immense size. 1015 00:54:46,040 --> 00:54:48,600 He must have been at least 8 or 9 feet tall. 1016 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,880 He was covered from head to toe with a real dark hair and when 1017 00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:56,400 my Coon Buster Coon light hit it in the eyes, his eyes glowed 1018 00:54:56,440 --> 00:55:00,480 like a deer in a spotlight talking about the hair on the 1019 00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:03,080 back of your neck standing up. I was scared. 1020 00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:05,760 I don't ever remember being that scared. 1021 00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:09,200 He made a hissing sound and reached down and took his hand 1022 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:12,680 and started scooping water and throwing it up at me and making 1023 00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:16,000 a deep throaty noise. My dogs started chomping at the 1024 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,000 leash and growling trying to get at it. 1025 00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,640 Having regained their bravery, I grabbed the leash and tore out 1026 00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:24,600 across that swamp, so scared that for a while I went in the 1027 00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:27,680 wrong direction. I got to a Big Cypress tree and 1028 00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:29,920 caught my breath. I could hear the thing behind 1029 00:55:29,920 --> 00:55:31,720 me. It sounded like it was about 100 1030 00:55:31,720 --> 00:55:34,680 yards back or so. It followed me for a ways. 1031 00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:37,680 Then after a while I could hear it across the Bayou, making a 1032 00:55:37,680 --> 00:55:39,800 moaning sound and moving away slowly. 1033 00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:44,120 I got my breath and my compass and my bearings and started back 1034 00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:46,600 to the truck. When I got there, I didn't say a 1035 00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:49,640 word to my friends about what I saw and heard for fear they 1036 00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:52,720 would laugh me down. Needless to say, I never 1037 00:55:52,720 --> 00:55:55,400 returned to Thornton Wells, nor do I plan to. 1038 00:55:56,600 --> 00:55:58,600 For a long time I kept this to myself. 1039 00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:02,760 I even had nightmares about it. The only person I ever told was 1040 00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:05,080 an old Coon hunter from Doddridge, AR. 1041 00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:09,000 He's dead and gone now, but I do remember something he said to me 1042 00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:12,240 that day. He said if you're smart you keep 1043 00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:14,960 that to yourself. I know from experience that 1044 00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:16,920 people will laugh at you and call you a liar. 1045 00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:21,160 I've haunted in the Sulphur River bottoms many nights, but 1046 00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:24,480 never have I ever seen anything like that before or since. 1047 00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:30,520 One summer day, while the witness was taking a nap at 1048 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:33,400 home, his brother and two sisters returned from a hike 1049 00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:36,640 they had taken to a recently unoccupied house down the 1050 00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:39,080 mountainside near the head of Cat Holler. 1051 00:56:39,720 --> 00:56:42,640 The three siblings returned home in the afternoon in a very 1052 00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:46,280 excited state and awakened him. They told him they had seen an 1053 00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:49,040 ape or gorilla near the unoccupied house they had 1054 00:56:49,040 --> 00:56:51,440 visited. He did not believe a word of 1055 00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,160 their story and was angry because they had disturbed his 1056 00:56:54,160 --> 00:56:56,920 nap. The three siblings said that if 1057 00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:59,200 he did not believe them, they would go with him to the house 1058 00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:01,000 the next day to show him the animal. 1059 00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:04,880 After a heated discussion, he finally agreed to go with them 1060 00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:08,440 to the home the next day. The next morning they all walked 1061 00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:11,480 down the steep hollow to the house and arrived about 8:00 AM. 1062 00:57:12,160 --> 00:57:14,400 After searching through the unlocked house and around the 1063 00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:17,080 yard and outbuildings, they found nothing unusual. 1064 00:57:17,960 --> 00:57:20,800 The witness again became angry and accused his siblings of 1065 00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:24,160 playing a prank on him and gave them a what for for causing him 1066 00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:26,400 to walk a long way down the mountain for nothing. 1067 00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:29,800 He then angrily turned and started walking back up the 1068 00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,920 mountain with the other three following behind, trying to 1069 00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:35,640 convince him that their story was not a joke or prank. 1070 00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:40,280 After walking about 300 yards from the house, the older sister 1071 00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:41,840 tapped him on their shoulder and asked. 1072 00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:44,080 Brother, do you still think we're lying? 1073 00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:47,640 Without stopping he angrily replied yes. 1074 00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:50,640 She then said well look on the porch. 1075 00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:54,760 He turned to look and was stunned to see a small black ape 1076 00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:58,240 like creature standing on the porch nonchalantly watching them 1077 00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:01,320 depart. The witness stated that while 1078 00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:04,680 the animal made no threatening actions or sounds, its presence 1079 00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:07,360 caused him to shiver and his hair to stand up. 1080 00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:11,600 The group watched the animal for a few seconds and all broke into 1081 00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:15,800 a hard run toward their home. The animal was said to have had 1082 00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:19,080 coal black shiny hair that covered its whole body except 1083 00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:21,080 its face, which was of a lighter colour. 1084 00:58:21,880 --> 00:58:24,360 The witness stated the animal looked very similar to a 1085 00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:28,200 chimpanzee and was standing on 2 feet in a slightly slouched 1086 00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:31,160 position with its arms dangling in front of its body. 1087 00:58:31,880 --> 00:58:34,200 The animal appeared to be about 5 feet tall. 1088 00:58:37,080 --> 00:58:40,080 In this report, the witness was driving to his girlfriend's home 1089 00:58:40,080 --> 00:58:42,880 near Roseville when he discovered the road was flooded 1090 00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:46,160 from rains that had backed water from Gaddis Lake over the road. 1091 00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:49,520 The witness knew it was a very long drive to the home by other 1092 00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:52,120 roads, so he decided to drive through the water. 1093 00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:55,480 The car made it through the water, but the engine quit on 1094 00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:58,320 the other side. He thought the problem was due 1095 00:58:58,320 --> 00:59:01,480 to water inside the distributor, but was unable to start the car 1096 00:59:01,560 --> 00:59:04,040 even after drying the inside of the distributor cap. 1097 00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:08,120 When he was unable to start the car, he decided to walk about 1 1098 00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:09,960 1/2 miles to a friend's house for help. 1099 00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:14,800 He had no flashlight, but there was enough light from the clear 1100 00:59:14,800 --> 00:59:18,240 sky and a nearly full moon that he could clearly see the road 1101 00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:21,600 and objects alongside it. After he had walked quite a 1102 00:59:21,600 --> 00:59:24,320 distance from the car, he began to get the feeling that 1103 00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:26,080 something was on the road behind him. 1104 00:59:27,080 --> 00:59:30,120 When he stopped and turned to look, he saw what he had first 1105 00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:32,040 thought was someone approaching him closely. 1106 00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:34,760 As he looked at the figure, it stopped. 1107 00:59:35,240 --> 00:59:37,840 He could see then that the figure was not as close as he 1108 00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:41,440 first thought, and then the realisation struck him that the 1109 00:59:41,440 --> 00:59:45,120 figure was much larger than a man he had first assumed it was, 1110 00:59:45,200 --> 00:59:49,040 which made him appear closer. He was immediately seized by an 1111 00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:52,760 overpowering fear and for a few seconds was unable to move. 1112 00:59:53,840 --> 00:59:56,840 During that time, the witness realised the figure was huge, 1113 00:59:57,080 --> 00:59:59,400 covered in hair and walking like a man. 1114 01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:05,480 The witness briefly considered running away, but he thought 1115 01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:08,520 that if he did, the animal could, if it chose to do so, 1116 01:00:08,680 --> 01:00:12,520 overtake him in seconds. He said that it took all his 1117 01:00:12,520 --> 01:00:15,360 willpower to turn and slowly begin walking up the road. 1118 01:00:16,200 --> 01:00:19,320 After walking several yards, the man turned to see if the animal 1119 01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:22,840 was still following him. It was, but it stopped when he 1120 01:00:22,840 --> 01:00:25,560 stopped. Both he and the animal stood 1121 01:00:25,560 --> 01:00:28,960 dead still for several seconds, staring intently at each other. 1122 01:00:29,720 --> 01:00:32,440 At that time, he considered saying something or shouting at 1123 01:00:32,440 --> 01:00:35,360 the creature. He quickly decided not to do 1124 01:00:35,360 --> 01:00:38,000 that either, because he could not bear the thought of hearing 1125 01:00:38,000 --> 01:00:39,800 the response the animal might make. 1126 01:00:41,080 --> 01:00:43,080 He turned again and started walking slowly. 1127 01:00:43,360 --> 01:00:46,560 At times he could hear the sound of a foot striking the road, but 1128 01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:49,000 other than those sounds, the area was silent. 1129 01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:53,080 As the long walk continued, the animal stayed behind him, 1130 01:00:53,480 --> 01:00:57,120 gradually getting closer until it was no more than 30 or 40 1131 01:00:57,120 --> 01:01:00,280 feet behind him. The man would occasionally stop 1132 01:01:00,280 --> 01:01:03,320 to look at the animal, but it would stop and silently stare 1133 01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:06,280 back. The animal followed the man 1134 01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:07,920 until the friend's house came into view. 1135 01:01:08,440 --> 01:01:11,320 As he approached the house, the friend's dogs began barking 1136 01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:14,520 loudly and running toward him. The dogs ignored him and when 1137 01:01:14,520 --> 01:01:17,480 they got beside him, began barking frantically at the 1138 01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:20,560 figure behind him. He heard the animal make a quick 1139 01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:23,840 movement on the road, and the dogs wheeled and began yelping 1140 01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:28,080 as if someone was beating them. As the dogs disappeared yelping 1141 01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:31,120 under the house, the man turned around again, thinking the dogs 1142 01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:34,440 had scared the animal away. He said the animal was still 1143 01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:37,000 there, standing quietly watching him. 1144 01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:40,360 At that point, the man began hurrying to the house. 1145 01:01:40,720 --> 01:01:43,480 After he knocked on the door and the friend opened it, the first 1146 01:01:43,480 --> 01:01:46,920 thing the friend asked was what the devil did you do to my dogs? 1147 01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:50,520 When he told his friend what had happened, he wasn't sure he 1148 01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:53,720 believed him, but the friend listened to his story intently. 1149 01:01:56,880 --> 01:02:00,840 The witness stated the animal was huge and estimated it was 7 1150 01:02:00,840 --> 01:02:03,600 feet or more in height. Its neck appeared to be very 1151 01:02:03,600 --> 01:02:07,040 short and its head was large and shaped somewhat like a human's. 1152 01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:11,320 Its upper torso was reportedly massive and its midsection was 1153 01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:13,880 lean. Its shoulders looked to be 3 1154 01:02:13,880 --> 01:02:17,080 feet or more in width. Its arms and legs appeared long 1155 01:02:17,080 --> 01:02:19,320 and muscular. Its hair was long like a 1156 01:02:19,320 --> 01:02:21,920 setter's hair, and in the moonlight looked to be light 1157 01:02:21,920 --> 01:02:25,400 brown and reddish in colour. The witness said that while the 1158 01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:28,560 animal leaned forward when it was still, its posture did not 1159 01:02:28,560 --> 01:02:32,120 appear to be slouched. He never heard any sounds, nor 1160 01:02:32,120 --> 01:02:35,600 could he hear the animal breathe, and the witness does 1161 01:02:35,600 --> 01:02:37,960 not remember detecting an odor from the animal. 1162 01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:41,880 The witness stated that when he and his three siblings were 1163 01:02:41,880 --> 01:02:44,560 children, they often played in the creeks that ran through the 1164 01:02:44,560 --> 01:02:47,440 area near their home. At the junction of the two 1165 01:02:47,440 --> 01:02:50,320 creeks, there was a curved and uneven water channel in the 1166 01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:53,800 limestone rock in the Creek bed they called the Devil's Twist. 1167 01:02:54,560 --> 01:02:56,880 It was a favorite place to play because when the water was 1168 01:02:56,880 --> 01:02:59,560 running through the channel, it made a natural water slide. 1169 01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:03,200 On one occasion, when they were there laughing and screaming for 1170 01:03:03,200 --> 01:03:06,400 a long time, they suddenly heard something jump out of a large 1171 01:03:06,400 --> 01:03:10,000 tree nearby and heard it walk away through the dry leaves on 2 1172 01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:12,560 feet. They immediately left and ran 1173 01:03:12,560 --> 01:03:16,360 home. Thanks. 1174 01:03:18,840 --> 01:03:22,200 Thanks for listening everyone. Until next time, take care.