Bigfoot Society - A Look back at the Classic Bigfoot Horror Film "Willow Creek" with Bryce Johnson from Expedition Bigfoot

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

Bryce Johnson is an actor, podcaster and Bigfoot researcher. In this interview we discuss the classic Bigfoot Horror film, "Willow Creek" that he was involved with almost 10 years ago. We also discuss the upcoming season of Expedition Bigfoot and get deep with Bryce's views on UAPs and the Universe.Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mrbrycejohnson/Twitter:https://twitter.com/BryceOJohnsonBigfoot Collector's Club podcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bigfoot-collectors-club/id1310053731Join the only Facebook group for Van Meter Visitor fans - “Van Meter Visitor Believers” - See you there!https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanmetervisitorbelievers/?ref=shareFOR MORE INFO ON THE VAN METER VISITOR FESTIVAL:https://www.facebook.com/vanmetervisitorfestival/_____________________________Join us over on Patreon! Get access to a whole library of extended shows, exclusive merch like a membership card and stickers, watch me interview guests weekly live on video, a Patron-only Discord and more.https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsocietyPick up a Bigfoot Society shirt to rep the podcast!https://www.etsy.com/shop/BigfootSocietyTune in for new episodes of Bigfoot Society!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7QIG: https://www.instagram.com/bigfootsociety/Full links: https://bit.ly/bigfootlinks

If you're a QuickBooks customer looking to grow your business without the growing pains, you need the Intuit ERP. Upgrade to Intuit Enterprise Suite in a matter of hours. It's the AI native ERP from the makers of QuickBooks. Learn more at Intuit.com slash ERP. Indeed, sponsor jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them most. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos,

This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. During Memorial Day at Lowe's, shop household must-haves for less. Save $80 on the Charbroil performance series for Burner Grill to chef up something special. Plus, get up to 45% off select major appliances to keep things for.

Fresh. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Lowe's. We help. You save. Valid through 527. Wals supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for details. Visit your nearby Lowe's on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. It didn't listen to me. It walked out of thicket. It turned around. It looked at me. It was a monkey man. It started running away. And suddenly, they're right in front of the car. He slams on the brakes and manages to stop.

He's skidding because it's not quite. you know, graveling. And literally for about a second and a half, they just stood there because they don't know where to go and you tell them, panic, and they're like, their face is like switching. Welcome back to Bigfoot Society, a podcast where we focus on cryptids, the strange, and the unexplained of this world. If you've got a story or something weird to share, send an email over to me at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com.

And if you'd like to support this show, head on over. to patreon.com forward slash the Bigfoot Society. And now on with the show. All right, Bigfoot Society. I've got the privilege of having Mr. Bryce Johnson back in the studio. How's it going, Bryce? Good, Jeremiah. How are you, man?

Dude, I'm doing great. It's been a while since I last got to talk to you with the rest of the expedition Bigfoot team. This was a few years ago, I think, but I wanted to have you on to chat with you a little bit about a movie that you were able to be involved with almost coming up to 10 years ago. It's not quite there yet, but we are getting there. I think I know which movie you're referring to, but I'll let you continue. Yeah. In this community, famous Willow Creek, everyone. loves the Willow Creek movie.

It's talked about all the time. In case there's a few listeners that might not know who you are, you are involved with the most recent Bigfoot TV show Expedition Bigfoot, and you are in that team. You're also on the podcast, one of the hosts of the podcast Bigfoot Collectors Club, which a lot of people in the community like as well. You guys talk about cryptids. You have cool people on. It's a very good podcast.

But what other things might you want the listeners to know about yourself, Bryce? Well, you know, I think that's a perfect start because I would imagine most of your listeners are interested in the subject of Bigfoot. And the catalyst for sort of my Bigfoot career is now, was that film Willow Creek that I, that I shot with Bobcat, Goldweight? in 2010. And that really kicked off a whole adventure for me because it was because of that film that I met my co-host, Michael McMillan on the Bigfoot Collectors Club. He had just watched that and it sparked a fascinating conversation with us both. And that's wanted us to start our podcast, the Bigfoot Collectors Club. And then it was really from that, you know, I got to talking with a few producer friends of mine who wanted to

create a Bigfoot show using the latest technology and a team of boots on the ground scientists and researchers. So that's how all that really got started. I'm about as surprised as anyone, I think, that I've ended up here, but I'm really lucky and grateful to be in the position that I am. That's awesome. Let's take it back first even further back than Willow Creek's. Well, was there a certain point in your life where have you always been into like the cryptids and Bigfoot and things like that?

Or was it just like you were approached out of the blue one day by Bobcat to star in this movie? Well, you know, it's a little bit of both because I've been fascinated with, I guess, what we would term the paranormal ever since I was a young boy when I thought I might have had an encounter with some. yellow-eyed demon-looking entity in my bedroom window when I must have been maybe five, six or seven. That sent me on a path. And from then forward, whenever that, you know, bookmobile came into town or the library, it was books about ghosts. It was books about the locknest monster. And of course, books about Bigfoot that absolutely fascinated me. And it wasn't, I think, until I saw Leonard Nimoy in, oh God, it escapes me, where he talked about the Patterson Gimlin film in search of.

Yeah, exactly. But I saw that. And when I, when I glimpsed that film for the first time, it's sort of, it's sort of concretized in my mind that perhaps there's something to these entities or creatures that really aren't supposed to exist. And so, and, and to the second part of your question, which, which is funny enough, true as well, I had done a movie previously with Bobcat called Sleeping Dogs Lie, but I was just, I was just up in Canada with my family and he called me out of the blue on summer and he's like, hey, I think, I'm thinking about doing a found footage Bigfoot movie. Do you know anything about,

do you know anything about Bigfoot? And I, and I, and I said, Bob, you got the right guy on the phone. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. And we just started talking and little did he know. I was so passionate about the subject. And that was it. That sealed the deal. We went right into production on Willow Creek. And what started out is a relatively small script. It was really the germ of an idea because Bobcat Goldthwaite, for those who aren't familiar in your audience, he was a big comedian in the 80s. And he sort of rose to fame with the Police Academy franchise, but a lot of people don't know is that he was, he's really this tour director and he always, he really wanted to leave acting behind and focus on his writing and directing career. He did that with some great movies, started out with Shakespeare the clown, and then, and then of course, Sleeping Dogs Lie, which we went to Sundance with, that's how I met him. And then he wanted to grow as a filmmaker and the idea of a found footage sort of bothered and scared him. It bothered him because the found footage films,

that he liked seemed to him like someone always picked up the camera and edited it, edited it in like a bay or something. And it came out like, oh, well, who's the creep that picked up this camp porn and made a movie out of it? And so that bothered him. He saw an opportunity there. And a fascinating thing about Willow Creek is I think there's just over around 200 cuts, which in film is absolutely rare.

I mean, so they're usually in the thousands. And I hope I have those numbers right. Anyway, there was hardly any cuts in the film. If you watch it, you can rarely see them. And he wanted, I'm getting off point here. But let me get back. So where was I? Well, you totally answered my question, which is, it's quite evident that you do have, you know, from an early age, you were, you know, interested in the paranormal.

And then you started to get into Bigfoot, as most of us. did and that this, you know, that are around, I think we're close to similar ages where, you know, you've got Leonard Nimoy in in search of, you know, that generation. Maybe we caught the reruns, but that's all right, you know. And then talking about how, you know, Bobcat was able to approach you. I do want to do a little footnote because. So the cool thing about Bigfoot Society is we have a lot of like, there's a lot of families that listen to this.

And I really want to say that Willow Creek is a horror film. So there is, you know, if you're listening to this little ears, probably not the right time to watch this movie, maybe later on in life, because there is, you know, there is harsh language, there is nudity, but it is, you know, one of the more famous movies in the Bigfoot culture. So it's important that we talk about it, right? Well, I love that. And I'll add to your first. Yeah, thank you.

The only nudity appropriately is mine. It was my backside. No, it's not. Oh, is that right there? Oh, my God, that's right. At the very end. You know what? Spoiler alert territory.

If you haven't seen Willow Creek, I'll drop there. But yes, yes. You're right. Sorry to call you out, but it's a pretty big one. Good time. So, had you been to Willow Creek before this movie. I wanted to ask that after watching it. Yeah, it's a great question. And the answer, the answer is no. I had always, I had always heard about the place. And when Bobcat and I started

talking about how he wanted to film it in the, in the location, in and around Bluff Creek, uh, so just to give a little primer, the film Willow Creek really was, was sort of a love story to Bigfoot, if you will. It was, I pretty much played the character of Bobcat. It's this guy who is in search of something fantastical. And he just wanted to sort of pay homage to this sacred ground where Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin shot the PGF film in 1967. So it's really like a visiting of a sacred site. And of course, along their journey,

they, you know, maybe they get confronted with something they were looking for all along. Anyway, it's a horror film. You'll figure it out. It's good. It's good. Yeah, you'll figure it out pretty quick. Yeah. Right. But that was the premise. And really, from there, he just wanted to create this compelling sort of horror story involving two people.

And I think that's, you know, one thing I hear about Willow Creek so much is that, is that, you know, we establish these characters for so long, I think, that you really get to start a feel for them. And then when they ultimately come to their demise, however that may be, you sort of are, you're invested at that point. Oh, yeah. There was a time shooting the movie when we had arrived at Willow Creek. We were in the China Museum. Okay. The China Museum is right in Willow Creek, and it harbors the actual sort of first Bigfoot museum there ever was because it was run by a man named Al Hodgson is the guy's name.

And this is, so this is sort of the precipice of where Bigfoot lore came out of. Anyway, we were in there and we were filming some stuff. And they allowed us to film in there, but ultimately they didn't want to use it in the film. So there's a scene in there, Willow Creek, that you'll never even see. But we came out of there, Alexi and I. And there was a couple that approached us, and they said, are you guys on your honeymoon? And we went, no, no, we're actually filming a movie. And they're like, oh, my God, we thought you guys were so in love and on your honeymoon.

And we knew right then and there that we had established this connection, Alexi, and I, because because we road tripped from Los Angeles to Northern California, talking about the movie and the ideas and on the drive up. So we were able to sort of make this bonding connection with all three of us. And we just had the most fun. I think we shot this movie in less than 10 days. And I'm not even going to tell you how much we shot it for. But we were passionate artists.

And, you know, we set out. to create something great because as you're, I'm sure your listeners may know, there's only a handful of what I would deem a pretty good Bigfoot movie. The rest of them are, there's a lot of that. Oh man. Yeah, that's a, that's a state. That's a true statement. Yeah, it's they can get pretty interesting for sure. Yeah. There's quite a few. And so we really set out to, to make something for the community. And, and when we, and when we arrived in the town of Willow Creek, oh, there was Buzz. Visiting Stephen Stroyford at Goodfoot Books and

Cliff Berrickman was around there looking up prints and stuff, you know, checking out the town and the whole town was a buzz and they were really kind of unsure about Bobcat and I think once they started to talk to him and see the film he was making,

they opened up a little bit. The thing I love about Willow Creek and I'm going to be totally honest, Bryce, so I am not a horror guy I tap out at the movie signs if you remember the movie science right

love love okay but I was like man I've got the opportunity I want to talk to Bryce about this this is a great opportunity so you got a man up and you got to watch Willow Creek so I just watched it a few days ago and I was like this is so good and the thing I loved about it

is that it's not just actors in the movie you also have, there's a few people in there like Tom Yammerone, a Stephen Struford, I always mess up that name, sorry Stephen, he's going to get me. But you have these actual Bigfoot focused individuals in your movie, which is very cool and adds an extra layer to it for the people that are super into this subject. Well, we were really just trying to blur the line. And I'll remember, you know, speaking of Stephen, who I admire so much, when we set up in his shop, Bigfoot books and the camera there.

He was like a, he was like a tiger kind of way. Like, what are we doing here? Who is this guy interviewing me? But, you know, it wasn't until I started to, I guess, reveal some of my passion about the subject. He opened up a little bit. And it ended up being a great scene in the movie and stuff. And you're right.

There are a few people and guys like Tom Yamarone who, when Bobcat found out, he sang songs about Bigfoot Bobcats, It's just like, we're filming you. You know that, right? It's so good. It's so good. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society. We'll be right back after these messages.

There's a few, let's just say, there's legends and lore around Willow Creek. And maybe there's a few, maybe I could bring them up and maybe you could dispel if they're true or not. I've heard a rumor that in the credits of Willow Creek, I have type 2 diabetes, but I manage it well. It's a little pill with the big story to tell. I take one's daily Jardians at each day start. And for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, Jardians can lower the risk of cardiovascular death too.

Prescription Jardians, Empiglphlosin, 10 or 25 milligram tablets, are used to lower blood sugar along with diet and exercise and adults with type 2 diabetes. Jardients is not for use to lower blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes and not for people with type 2 diabetes who have severe kidney disease. Serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and infection between and around the anus and genitals. Both may be fatal. Severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections and men and women and low blood sugar.

Stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, rash, swelling, trouble breathing or swallowing. Tell your doctor about lighthead. weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness, or swelling between the anus and genitals. You may have increased risk for lower limb loss. Call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness, sores, or ulcers, or infection in your legs or feet. To learn more about Jardians 10 or 25 milligram tablets, ask your doctor, visit Jardians.com or call 1-88-968-6648.

The little pill with a big story to tell. It may just be the world's greatest eraser. Mabeline Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon. for erasing signs of a sleepless night. Instantly cover dark circles and undereye bags in a tap, swipe, blend, leaving a bright, refreshed look without feeling heavy.

Instant eraser does more than cover and conceal. With 24 shades, you can correct, highlight, or sculpt. From a subtle brow lift to defining your pout. This is the multitasker that keeps up with you. The best part? The formula delivers flawless results for up to 16 hours with crease-resistant lightweight wear.

Instant Eraser won't settle into fine lines and stays smooth, breathable, and hydrating. No cakey vibes here. Just a natural skin-like finish that looks fresh from morning coffees to late-night RSVPs. Mabelene Instant Eraser. Find your shade of Instant Eraser Concealer at your local retailer. Mabelene, New York. The all-new tropical butterfly refresher is now at Starbucks. Dive into juicy guapa and passion fruit flavors.

With mango pineapple popping pearls bursting in every sip. Ice cold, instantly refreshing and impossible to put down. Made for summer only at Starbucks. It was the song Roger and Bob was supposed to be covered by another band, but it didn't happen. Is that true? Oh, yeah, that's true. I wonder how much I can reveal. And if your fans know a little bit about, I'll just reveal it.

I think it might be fine. You know, for those of your fans who don't know, Bobcad Gullfway used to open up for Nirvana. So he had formed a friendship with the band and, and he has a friendship with Dave Grohl from the foo fighters. And I guess they were talking and Bob Cat had passed the idea around. Would it be great if Grohl covered this song? But, you know, having Tom Yamerone, who is such a legend in the community itself,

it was such a, it worked out so much better that way. And I'm so glad for that. Yeah. Okay, very cool. There's a rumor that always goes around that's at least one of the interactions with the town people in Willow Creek are actually, like, it's not scripted. Is that true or false? No, that's true. Really?

We spoke to multiple people who weren't actors. you know, and they signed releases to be in our movie. And I think it added that sort of, well, it just gives it that sense that, like, we are entering that town. And these are real people because at the end, there's only maybe, I think, not to give anything away. Other than Alexei and I, maybe one or two other actors. Sure. But, yeah, so we use everything we could. Like, we really didn't, you know, we were just using the people in the town.

And it was funny. I remember speaking with the, I think, she. She was, it's in the film. It's the lady. She ran the tour guide center, which was really just. When you're in front of the statue. Yeah, which is really just a candle booth, you know. And I remember going, and she, you know, trying to get her to talk about the subject.

And finally I got her and she goes, oh, all that big foot stuff. And I got here. Here she is the town representative. And she's just kind of like, oh, whatever out of here. But I found out of funny. So that was like, that was a legitimate interaction. That's funny. Oh, for sure, yeah.

The part when the guy comes up to you and the gas station is in the background and he's kind of like, yeah, I wouldn't do that. Is that scripted or was that real? Oh, that is, that is Timmy Pearson. Okay. Who shout out to Timmy. He was basically, so the producer on the film, as you'll see in the credits, is Amy Pearson. Okay.

We just love and adore. And her brother, Timmy, is, it was an actor. And he also worked as a PA on the film. So he was making his coffee. And I remember his house. So here's a great little thing. So he also plays the ukulele. Oh, okay.

Yeah, that song rocked. And Bobcat's like, write a song on your ukulele. And he's like, okay, great. And he's like, I need some lyrics. And he goes to me. And Bryce, tell me about the PGF film. So I just started sort of spitting out some fun facts. Oh, wow.

And a lot of those fun facts made his, his song, the lyrics in his song about like, I think, 352 frames of magic or whatever and or however the lyrics go. But it was great. We all, it was, I can't just tell you how much fun it was filming this movie. And, you know, in less capable hands than Bobcat, Goldplay, this would have came out like a bad student film. Okay. And, uh, but, but, but the vision of, of, of what he wanted to accomplish and the commitment

of, of, of, of Alexi and I to, to, to, to, to just everything about it is, it's just, I, what I think makes the film special. And, you know, you mentioned it earlier that people sort of like the film and I'm, you know, I consider myself, uh, someone who's in the Bigfoot community now, too. Uh, and, and, and, and I'm proud that, uh, that, that this film is, is there for, for people to enjoy, you know. So it's one of my great accomplishments, I think, in 25 years of doing this business. So I'm really lucky to have done it. It's led me to so much fun stuff like my podcast and Expedition Bigfoot. None of that would have happened had it not been for that small little film. It's crazy to think about. Is it that? Yeah, probably not. That's wild, man.

Yeah. Another thing I've heard is near the the end of the movie, there's a lot that happens in a certain campsite. You're inside a tent. You start to hear things. You start to, you think of the, the bigfoot things that you would hear if you're going out. You start to hear all that. Was that, how, was that canned or was that done by certain people with the production or you have knocks, you have howls? any information about how all that went down. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Listen, I will divulge it all. Yeah, dude.

So, you know, for those who don't know, I mean, we were, we wanted to film right in the actual place. We didn't get to the actual film site because actually in 2010, there was still a little debate as to exactly where that was. There was a few people who knew, but anyway, so we filmed that scene in a place called Laos camp. And so that's where we had that incredible tensing. And yes, Bobcat had a whole, a whole charcutory board of things he wanted to accomplish that night. Sounds and Woodnox. And we had a great, great guide with us, a man by the name of Robert Leiderman.

Oh, yeah. And his son, I believe his name is Francis. I hope I get that. It doesn't matter. He was there with us as well. And so they not only served as sort of, he's an ex-forest. Park Ranger, I believe. And so he was there to sort of serve his safety and just give us knowledge and Bobcats.

Like, hey, you want to, you know, not to give too many secrets away. You want to help us make some noise in the night. Yeah. And Robert was like, of course, you know. And so one thing I do want to note, though, is this film really rests on what's known as the tent scene. And the tent scene is, I believe it's about a 19 minute long, no cuts. Okay, I started the camera and I stopped the camera. It's a 19 minute long, just suspenseful scene.

And I remember Bob Cad just saying, he's like, I have something I want to set out to try. And I just want to put the camera in the tent with you. And then I just want to just see what happens as the sounds of the force come alive. And Alexei and I were like, okay. He didn't tell us he was going to be throwing rocks at the tent. You know, so we did three takes of that. three. And after the first one, I was like a little emotional. He's like, that's good. That's good. He's

like, Bryce, if you could cry less, that would be great. That would be great, Bryce. Just dial it back. And so that second take was the take that we took. And, and, and, and, you know, that took all night to do those three takes. And when we went to bed, went around, wow, the sun came up three or four in the morning. We felt that we had, we didn't know what the hell we had just done, but we felt like something special had happened. And so many people tell me, you know, I won't go camping because of that tent scene. And I'm very proud of that. It's rough, dude. It's a rough scene, man. It's, I went on an expedition in Iowa with Tate this summer. And if I had seen that movie before, that would have been a whole different experience weekend, man. Yeah. It would have been

And that's one thing that really sort of does well, is it puts you in this place of what some of these eyewitnesses report when they're out camping and their campsite is invaded by these creatures. And rocks are thrown and they can hear them moving around the campsite. It's absolutely terrifying. And what else would it be? But I think, but it's also exhilarating, right? Because that's what you're there to do. So it's a great scene. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

Were there any things that got cut out of the movie that were like, you're looking back on it, you're like, oh, I guess you've mentioned maybe a few, but any others, you know, cut out things that come to mind that didn't quite make it. I can't really think of any. I mean, you know, no, there's no, other than that scene that took place in the China Museum, that was the only thing I think that we really sort of gouged out. There might have been stuff we sort of. of through, maybe an interview or two we didn't use. I'm not quite sure. Sure. But I'm sure there was a lot of film to edit.

Bobcat did. I forget the gentleman's name who edited the movie, but that's my mistake. I should look him up anyway, but yes. No sweat. How much of the movie did Bobcat say, how much was ad-lib between, you know, did he just, it was there's a part in the tent scene where it's a very pivotal emotional moment between you and i i'm sorry i can't remember the other character's name of alexie gilmore and i forget that's right that's right too but yeah and it's a very pivotal moment and it just it got me as you know as a individual i was

like oh i'd be crushed was that something you guys just like let's throw this in there was that like Like, Bobbicat was like, it has to go this way. No, I think, I think, so the idea of the failed proposal is the idea. And then it's the words that he lets us create. So yes, so much of that, so much of that was ad-libbed. But as long as he gets the idea of like, okay, this is a scene about, Bryce, you're going to propose an Alexi, you're going to turn him down. And let's see what happens, you know?

And so that's really how those scenes operate. And then me and Alexi sort of just, you know, start doing the thing, whatever that means. Yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of this movie, a good portion of it, which is really just Lexi and I sort of ad-libbing off of each other. Because, you know, fortunately, we really sort of matched our characters quite well. Jim is the name of my character. I'm sort of really this guy who's like, hey, let's see like you're close to Jim.

Yeah. I'm pretty close to Jim. Yeah. Lexi's pretty close to Alexi, her character in the in the film. So it worked out well. We were able to have those conversations about this phenomenon that felt real. Oh, you're going to make me look up the editor and now her character name. I'll let the big of society bands do that.

That's true. Yeah, you guys put it in the comments on YouTube or something like that, guys. Did anything weird happen to you guys? You know, because the thing people have to realize is that you're going actually out into the area where the Patterson Gimlin film site is, there's the possibility that you could run into things like, you know, Bigfoot out there when you're filming. Did anything weird like that happened or is it pretty uneventful? Well, no, you know, being at Laos camp at night and then, and then having them do those knocks and those sounds, I was like, God, what are we doing? Like,

what are we inviting? Like, what are we inviting into camp, you know? Fortunately, no incidents happened. One of our photographers, Evan, our cinematographer, he did say he heard something run through the camp in the middle of the night. I'm not sure what that was. And there was one time, there was one time when it was daytime. And it's that scene where we, where we, where Alexi and I enter where a car can go no further as we're about to travel to the trail of the Bluff, of the Patterson Gimmon film site. We were actually there. We didn't hike all the way in, but we did that scene right at that place where there's the car bar. Oh, wow.

And as we're filming, I just felt like this intense like, hmm, we shouldn't be here. Like something was watching me from behind. Something was watching me from behind. And I just got really antsy about it. And I kind of was like, okay, we got the scene. Let's get the hell out of it. I don't feel good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I have a feeling that we were being watched. Yeah. Potentially, it could have been, you know, it's hard to say. It could be an infrasound type. deal it's all sorts of things that that could have been who knows you know who knows it's that six sense of something's watching yes exactly exactly now you've been able to go back to that area after the film like you have been able to return correct yes oh my god so i mean talking about what we're talking about fast forward however many years later and you know i guess 11 or 12 years later

and I would return to the actual Patterson Gimlin film site with LIDAR expert Pete Kelsey and actually scan the place, which is just monumental in its own right. And so the way that it's sort of come full circle for me is not lost on me. I really appreciate. And it's just it's such a trip to like how much this subject has influenced my life, you know. Did you notice, was the, you know, the town much different than the first time you were there? Did you notice different things, had things changed? Anything of that nature?

You know, the town is always sort of still still just self-surviving quite well. And not much had changed in the years. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society. We'll be right back after these messages. And hopefully it continues to do so because I think. it's a real jewel in the state of California, one that people should go visit as they're passing through this great state. So, you know, it's a place that does look forward to the occasional tourists coming by and eating the food and getting the books at Bigfoot Books and seeing

the place. It's a great place. So, yeah, Willow Creek is not just a fictional place in the movie. It's an actual town that you can go to. It's the gateway to Bigfoot country. I have type 2 diabetes, but I manage it well. It's a little bill with the big story to tell. I take once daily Jardians at each day start. And for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, Jardians can lower the risk of cardiovascular death too. Prescription Jardians, Empiglphosen, 10 or 25 milligram tablets, are used to lower blood sugar along with diet and exercise and adults with type 2 diabetes. Jardians is not for use to lower blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes.

and not for people with type 2 diabetes who have severe kidney disease. Serious side effects include increased ketones and blood or urine and infection between and around the anus and genitals. Both may be fatal. Severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections and men and women and low blood sugar. Stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, rash, swelling, trouble breathing or swallowing.

Tell your doctor about lightheadedness, weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness, or swelling between the anus and genitals. You may have increased risk for lower limb loss. Call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness. tenderness, sores, ulcers, or infection in your legs or feet. To learn more about Jardians 10 or 25 milligram tablets, ask your doctor, visit Jardians.com, or call 1-88-968-664-8. A little girl with a big story to tell.

It may just be the world's greatest eraser. Mabeline Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon for erasing signs of a sleepless night. Instantly covered dark circles and under-eye bags in a tap, swipe, blend. leaving a bright, refreshed look without feeling heavy. Instant eraser does more than cover and conceal. With 24 shades, you can correct, highlight, or sculpt. From a subtle brow lift to defining your pout. This is the multitasker that keeps up with you.

The best part, the formula delivers flawless results for up to 16 hours with crease-resistant lightweight wear. Instant eraser won't settle into fine lines and stays smooth, breathable, and hydrating. No cakey vibes here. just a natural skin-like finish that looks fresh from morning coffees to late-night RSVPs. Mabelene Instant Eraser.

Find your shade of Instant Eraser Concealer at your local retailer. Mabelene, New York. The all-new tropical butterfly refresher is now at Starbucks. Dive into juicy guava and passion fruit flavors. With mango pineapple popping pearls bursting in every sip. Ice cold, instantly refreshing and impossible to put down. Made for summer only at Starbucks.

No doubt. It's, you know, one day I will be able to, I'm going to go there myself. It's on my list. You know, it's on the list. I got the first expedition out of the way this summer. And, you know, I'll, it's a little bit of a trek from Iowa to out to California, but I'll make it out there somehow someday. So. Well, it'll be worth it. I remember driving on those narrow roads trying to film these scenes as I'm doing so. And then looking down. 300 feet and then looking up 100 feet at these giant sequoias that surmount all depth below and above you know and you're just like oh my god you know it's where they filmed the you know the great star war scene and the that's true return the jetta yeah it's such a magical place you know that brings up a question i was gonna i wanted to ask you so the scenes there's a lot of scenes where you're driving around so in those scenes you're actually

actually holding, there's not another guy in the car. There's not a cameraman. It's literally you're holding it. And you said, while you're driving at some points? Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely because Bobcat wanted it to be authentic. And as a matter of fact, the camera we used was we bought three of them in a best buy.

And we wanted them to be consumer grade. We wanted it to feel like, you know, it was just these people going out. And our cinematographer is a guy named Evan. And I think he was studying astronomy out of the jet propulsion lab or Cal State or something. Anyway, he knew a lot about cameras and whatever, but a great, great guy. And anyway, so he would sort of set the settings and then hand me the camera. And I would place it in the truck or hold it while I was talking or give it to Alexi. And, you know, so it's, we wanted it to everything to feel like it.

So basically, I'm the cameraman most of the time. It's, you know, and even in that great last shot where I'm getting attacked and the camera's moving, that's me, that's me screaming my own death and then grabbing the camera. And then carefully walking back. Okay, okay. Yeah, I was wondering because it's like it's supposed to look like you're being dragged away. It's just, it's wild. I had a lot of fun being like, you know, my own cameraman because I used to do that with my friends when I first moved. moved out to Los Angeles.

So it felt very authentic to be doing it. But yeah, we only had that one, and we never broke it. So it was that camera the whole time. Wow. The movie is shot on that. And it's a good thing you didn't break it because out there, it would have been quite an interesting trip to get a new camera. You'd have to go all the way back to civilization.

You know, from what I hear, it's, you know, once you get to Willa Creek, you're not close to any other civilization. Yeah. I know. Well, we were pretty self-sufficient at that point. So we set out to accomplish a task. And, oh, man, there's a lot of stories and obstacles along the way, but we got it done, you know. I've talked to some people about the movie. Is there like a set in stone, you know, the, okay, this is going to get into spoiler territory. So if you're trying to get a spoiler territory, this is your warning. Oh, yeah. So at the end.

You know, obviously bad stuff goes down. Real bad stuff goes down. It leads you to believe that, so your character definitely dies at the end of Willow Creek. Like, is that the story from Bobcat? Like, Bryce's character. That's open-ended. That's one of the great things about Whittaker Creek is it's really left up to the audience member to determine the fate of not only both characters, but to the creatures as well. So it's left open-ended.

And I'm so thankful for that because as an audience member, so often the endings are kind of shoved down our throats. Sure. We're forced to digest them. This sort of allows your own interpretation. And I like that. It's also, I'll say if you're, you know, when you watch the movie, pay attention to little details in each scene because those may come into play to help you figure out the end or. give extra meaning to the end. And yeah, there's a, there's a few things on,

there's at least one thing on a wall that will, it'll help you figure out what's going on at the end. That's my interpretation anyways. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about Bigfoot for a bit. And I love talking to, you know, the people I interview specifically about Bigfoot.

And, you know, with this program, I talk to all ends of, I talk to people who believe in paranormal Bigfoot or, you know, believe in the Woo, or we've got, you know, maybe more flesh and blood camp, you know, that think we're looking at undiscovered great ape. But I'm really curious, you know, someone asks you, okay, Bryce, what do you think we're looking at when we talk about the creature Bigfoot? How are you describing what we're looking at? What do you think we've got going on? well you know i think it's uh for me it's it's it's something that changes over time and uh you know

i've tried to come at at this from just about every angle i can i don't think i've left anything on the table i've looked at the paranormal side i've looked at the flesh and blood side i've looked at the psychological archetype side i've looked at i've looked at all of them and And the bottom line is that there is a phenomenon at play here on this planet and people are witnessing and experiencing something that's more than just misidentification, hoax or hallucination. But, you know, I don't want to dodge your question here. I tell you, you know, I think I'm leaning more these days on the psychological aspect of the Bigfoot phenomenon. And I know that's probably going to ruffle a few feathers, but I don't mind because, you know, the great psychologist, Carl Jung, had no problem with the idea of psychic manifestation through the conscious or

the subconscious. And I think us as a human species have been dealing with archetypes so primordial for so long. And things have concretized in that sense. that it wouldn't surprise me that that might help explain what so many people across so many different areas and so many different times are experiencing. And you start to have to ask yourself at some point, can there really be this many subspecies of unconfirmed wood apes roaming the vast landscapes of planet Earth? It's possible. I do believe that if these creatures exist, that they're super intelligent, super shy, reclusive. I have no problem.

And I've spoken with biologists and naturalists who have no problem with these creatures going by themselves, you know, avoiding mankind. It's possible. I know a lot of people have a problem with that, but I don't. But, you know, it's hard to eliminate a different thing when I'm talking to witnesses who, who have such a physical experience, you know. So I wrestle with it, you know. But let me tell you something. This is the fun thing about Bigfoot.

I don't really care if I have an answer. And I don't care where my thinking takes me because, look, if we're ever going to get to the bottom of this mystery, you know, I think that we really need to start looking at these aspects of what it is that we're projecting out into these dark spaces like the wooded forest, Not only that, but what are we projecting out into the outer space, this image of this gray alien, anthropomorphic skinny, you know, what are we mirroring here? You know, so there's a lot of psychological components to the alien phenomenon and the Bigfoot phenomenon. And here we are somewhere in the middle, you know, we're not quite wild man of the woods and yet we're not quite spacefaring spaceship pilots.

You know, we're here in the middle, you know. And yet we're pulling from these archetypes. We're pulling from the past. We're pulling from the future. Wow. And they manifest, Jeremiah. They manifest as real as I could reach out and touch like the doubter Thomas did to Jesus. You know, you can reach out and touch the damn thing.

Right. And you would doubt no more. That doesn't make it unconfirmed North American wood ape. Hmm. That's a very, very interesting answer. I like it. I can say that is in a way that has never been, I've never gotten that answer before in the three years I've done this podcast. And that's pretty cool.

I like that. You know, listeners would be upset with me if I didn't ask some questions about, you know, specifically about Expedition Bigfoot. That's what a lot of people are going to know you from that show. You know, being involved with the show, I want to say, man, multiple seasons now. Over these last seasons, was there a time where, you know, things got really serious for you? You were, you know, maybe filming it, you know, you're out there. you're doing getting some footage and you experience something you're like wow this is this is getting really intense what was there a time that comes to mind where you know just things got a little bit

intense during the filming of that show oh absolutely there there's been multiple times the time that sort of jumped to mind was when I was traveling through this corridor at night in Washington and I hear that and I and I and I just see a lot of young fawns, deers running through this cleared, I think it was a third cut on a patch of timber. So really short tree, they look like little Christmas trees. And you could just see the deer's jumping in and around this acreage. But it was when I heard one of these dears get sort of grabbed and make this guttural sound. And I heard something run off with the deer. Now, I'm not saying a bear couldn't do that, norm outline, they could do that. But the time and the

and the veracity of which it was done, it felt unnatural to me. And so I don't know. And, you know, look, we have another season coming up for our fans of Expedition Biggs that we filmed in Alaska. Wow. And, you know, we put our blood, sweat, and tears in that one because, you know, it's just a dangerous place, as you will see.

So you're always sort of, that's in the back of your mind. Your safety is concerned. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And the thing about Alaska, it's like it's almost like you go into a place like that and it's like gloves are off that you could really get messed up in a area like that, you know. Well, absolutely. I mean, we did, we did have. I mean, there was a there was a little list of injuries that came about.

Oh, wow. But yeah, it was a tough place. But I can't wait for the, we just encountered some incredible stuff. And I spoke with some incredible individuals. And I'm so excited for the fans to. see this next season. This is crazy. I would love to know, like, like the minds behind the show, you just, you get some crazy

locations to go to. I just, man, I wish I could be a fly on the wall when it's like, oh, we got to go here next and, you know, figure out how, how to do that. That'd just be so cool. Like, you know, you're going to Alaska next and I'm sure there'll be even more seasons. Who knows where you'll be going after that, but. Well, there's like, you know, I got to tell you, there's, there's no shortage of potential places to go. And it's funny, when I started podcasting about the paranormal five years ago, I, one of the concerns I said to my co-host, Michael, was, hey, are we going to run out of stuff to talk about of high strangers?

And he fortuitously said, no, we're good. And he was right that the list just keeps going on and on and on of the strange and mysterious things that take place on planet Earth. You know, let's hit a question for our Bigfoot Collector Club fans. Is there an episode that you've done over the years that, you know, has been your one of your, do you have any favorite episodes from over the years of that show? Maybe interviews you've done or? Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. And, you know, I think hitting the 100th episode benchmark was pretty monumental. And we had a great guest, Paul Shear.

Stay tuned from our Bigfoot Society. We'll be right back after these messages. Wow. Who's a hilarious comedian. And he came on and he was just so open with us. And he had some paranormal encounter stories of his own. And we did the story of high strangeness about Betty and Barney Hill, really the first case of alien abduction that sparked a wilder.

wildfire amongst news media. Do you have any, you know, maybe we can talk about it. It's come up a few times. Do you have any thoughts about our current state of, you know, UAPs, UFOs, aliens? Is that something you keep up to date with? Or how do you view what's going on in the field with all that stuff? Well, of course, I'm very, I'm very interesting. And all things strange.

And that includes the UFO, UAP phenomenon. And look, I'll say this. I think a lot of people are looking in the direction of hardware craft, you know. But I might say, you know, maybe slow down a bit. You know, we've been dealing with this phenomenon for maybe more than 100 years going back, how long centuries, thousands of years? What are these things? And I have type 2 diabetes, but I manage it well.

It's a little pill with the big story to tell. I take one's daily Jardians at each day start. And for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, Jardians can lower the risk of cardiovascular death too. Prescription Jardians, Empiglphlosin, 10 or 25 milligram tablets, are used to lower blood sugar along with diet and exercise and adults with type 2 diabetes. Jardients is not for use to lower blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes and not for people with type 2 diabetes who have severe kidney disease.

Serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and infection between and around the anus and genitals. Both may be fatal. Severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections and men and women and low blood sugar. Stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, rash, swelling, trouble breathing or swallowing. Tell your doctor about lightheaded. weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness, or swelling between the anus and genitals.

You may have increased risk for lower limb loss. Call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness, sores, or infections, or infection in your legs or feet. To learn more about Jardians 10 or 25 milligram tablets, ask your doctor, visit Jardians.com or call 1-88-968-6648. It may just be the world's greatest eraser. Mabelian Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon. for erasing signs of a sleepless night.

Instantly cover dark circles and undereye bags in a tap, swipe, blend, leaving a bright, refreshed look without feeling heavy. Instant eraser does more than cover and conceal. With 24 shades, you can correct, highlight, or sculpt. From a subtle brow lift to defining your pout. This is the multitasker that keeps up with you. The best part, the formula delivers flawless results

for up to 16 hours with crease-resistant lightweight wear. Instant Eraser won't settle into fine lines and stays smooth, breathable, and hydrating. No cakey vibes here. Just a natural skin-like finish that looks fresh from morning coffees to late-night RSVPs. Mabelene Instant Eraser. Find your shade of Instant Eraser Concealer at your local retailer. Mabelene, New York. The all-new tropical butterfly refresher is now at Starbucks.

Dive into juicy guava and passion fruit flavors. With mango pineapple popping pearls bursting in every sip. Ice cold, instantly refreshing and impossible to put down. Made for summer only at Starbucks. Do they really necessarily come from somewhere else? Now, again, you know, we're still not fully what the human mind is capable of. And there's a lot of things about the UFO phenomenon. And I'm talking about contacti experience, the alien abduction phenomenon.

downloads, all different kinds of aspects to this phenomenon, that when you look at all of these pieces very closely, it doesn't hold water that these little beings are traveling in tin cans from Zeta reticuli to probus anally. It doesn't make sense. And why should it? Something else is going on here. And I believe that that something involves us. I'm talking about humans and just what we're capable of, the subconscious mind, the conscious mind.

You know, we are creators of things unknown, and we put our mind into those dark spaces and allow it to fester and to build and to manifest. And I wouldn't be all too surprised if what we're experiencing in the UFO, UAAP phenomenon, is really and has always been just coming from us. That is very interesting. And I think there's definitely some merit to what you're saying. It feels like, you know, what we focus on as a culture, we focus more and more on it. Maybe that starts to show up. For, you know, an example in the, you know, it feels like there's this huge focus in the cryptic community about dog man all of a sudden.

And lo and behold, more dogman stuff comes out of nowhere. Like, it used to not be there around. And now it's like, we're all focusing on dogman. Hey, guess what? Dogman reports everywhere. Land between the lakes, all that good stuff. It's just, it's wild. I think, you know, one of my favorite theories I hear is that, you know, the UAP, UFOs are,

are us from the future coming back to visit. I mean, that's wild. But dude, I don't know. It's like I was saying earlier, we're pulling these images, whether from the future or from the past. So whether we're pulling them from ourselves from the future or whether we're pulling them from the past or from ourselves. It's just us. It's always just us, you know. And look, I want to put a caveat here.

I'm not saying that there's not life on other planets. Impossible, I say. It's a mathematical certainty. The universe is so big. But are they really traveling here in their light ships to interfere with us and to toy around our nuclear sites? I'm not so sure. Yeah. That's a thing that always gets me, Bryce, is that, you know, they seem to show up around important events in history where we could just utterly annihilate ourselves.

that's weird man like around you know missiles don't work it's just it's very very strange but we've made it so far through all this so fingers crossed for the next part i guess yeah there does there does seem to be this this urgent need to stop us from self-destruction yeah again is that coming from from some overseer some some galactic council who is sort of babysitting our planet, perhaps, or is that coming from us as a collective species, knowing what we're inherently capable of because we already detonated an atomic bomb so devastating that we'd only take a couple of them to destroy ourselves over and over and over. How can that not enter the human psyche?

Absolutely. So, you know, we have to sort of grapple with the psychology of these phenomena that we're dealing with. Now, I'm not saying that there isn't some sentient other controlling or, you know, infesting this phenomenon, let's say. It's not maybe just us. I'll add that. But so it's a mystery. And as you can see, I just love it. And look, I don't want to offend anybody saying, oh, these things aren't real and UFOs aren't real because I do believe they're real. I do. I speak to people who believe they're real. And I'm just trying to figure out for myself what is real.

At the end of it, it's, you know, we're trying to figure out the answers. It's what I try to do with this. It's, it sounds like it's what, you know, you guys are trying to do over at Bigfoot Collectors Club for sure. As, you know, before we, we wrap, start to wrap things up, you know, the term Bigfoot Collectors Club, do you have an interesting Bigfoot collection to yourself any any cool things you've collected over the years or books in a collection at all or yeah man well I'm a collector and that that name originally came from we wanted to sort of talk about Bigfoot and then show our collection of toys you know because we collect action figures and books and and all kinds of stuff but you know, know, what it ended up being is sort of collecting stories about this, this wonderful phenomenon

that takes on so many different guises and disguises and, and, and likes to reveal itself in different ways. And, and, you know, our podcast is not one where we, we take ourselves too seriously. We have a lot of fun. We're under, we, we consider it a comedy podcast because, you know, if you can't laugh at this stuff, sometimes, I think you'll just go crazy. And so give yourself permission. Give yourself plenty of permission not to take this stuff too seriously. But at the same time, take it very seriously because it's that mystery in life that gives us that verb, you know. Helps, yeah, it helps you get through every day. A little mystery keeps you going for sure. Bryce, thank you so much for being on the show today. It's been a really fun chat about Willow Creek.

expedition Bigfoot and all that stuff. Do you mind, you know, sharing if, you know, people are wanting to keep up to date best with what you're doing, what can, how can they follow you different ways? Well, I'd love to. And I first just want to say, thank you, Jeremiah, for having me on the Bigfoot Society podcast. I really admire what you guys are doing over there. And it's a great honor. And you can find me on socials at Instagram. I'm at Bryce O. John's, at Mr. Bryce Johnson and on Twitter at Bryce O. Johnson. You can find Bigfoot Collectors Club wherever you get your podcasts and look for Expedition Bigfoot on the Discovery Plus app or travel channel as it will come out this next year with our new season in Alaska. I can't wait for you guys

to see it. Fantastic. Thanks so much for coming on, Bryce. It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me. The views and opinions expressed are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bigfoot society. Any content provided by our guests are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or any... I have type 2 diabetes, but I manage it well. It's a little bill with the big story to tell. I take one's daily jarients at each day start.

And for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, Jardians can lower the risk of cardiovascular death too. Prescription Jardians, Empiglphlosin, 10 or 25 milligram tablets, are used to lower blood sugar along with diet and exercise and adults with type 2 diabetes. Jardians is not for use to lower blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes and not for people with type 2 diabetes who have severe kidney disease. Serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and infection between and around the anus and genitals. Both may be fatal. severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections, and men and women, and low blood sugar. Stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness,

rash, swelling, trouble breathing, or swall your doctor about lightheadedness, weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness, or swelling between the anus and genitals. You may have increased risk for lower limb loss. Call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness, sores, ulcers, or infection in your legs or feet. To learn more about Jardians 10 or 25 milligram tablets, ask your doctor, visit Jardians.com, or call 1-88-9-668-6-6-4-8. The little girl with the big story to tell. It may just be the world's greatest eraser.

Mabelian Instant Eraser Concealer is your secret weapon for erasing signs of a sleepless night. Instantly cover dark circles and under-eye bags in a tap, swipe, blend, leaving a bright, refreshed look without feeling heavy. Instant eraser does more than cover and conceal. With 24 shades, you can correct. highlight or sculpt.

From a subtle brow lift to defining your pout. This is the multitasker that keeps up with you. The best part? The formula delivers flawless results for up to 16 hours with crease-resistant,

lightweight wear. Instant eraser won't settle into fine lines and stays smooth, breathable, and hydrating. No cakey vibes here. Just a natural skin-like finish that looks fresh from morning coffees

to late-night RSVPs. Mabeline instant eraser. Find your shade of instant eraser concealer at your local retailer. Mabelene, New York. The Starbucks iced torchata shaken espresso is back for the summer. Crafted with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutty notes of toasted rice. Handshaking with smooth blonde espresso and finished with oat milk for a creamy touch.

Made for summer. Only at Starbucks. Life with CIDP can be tough, but the Thrive Team, a specialized squad of experts, helps people living with CIDP make more room in their lives for joy. Watch Rare Well Done. An all-new reality series, Rare Well Done, offers help and hope to people across the country who live with the rare disease, CIDP. Watch the latest episode now, exclusively on Rare Well Done.com. From the neon lights of the club to the harsh, buzzing lights of the office, don't let the wear show on your face.

Just swipe Mabeline instant eraser concealer to erase the night before, wherever that happens to be. Instantly cover dark circles and under-eye bags for a brighter, more awake look. This do-it-all formula also contours, correct, and highlights, all while staying lightweight, crease-resistant, and smooth. It may be the world's greatest eraser. Find your shade of instant eraser concealer at your local retailer. Hear that? That's the spam brand, singing you a love song. Spam, sizzle, pork, and mmm.