Bigfoot Society - Inside Area X, Oklahoma: What’s Happened in the Last 5 Years

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

In this episode, we explore the recent experiences of Rick, a board member of the North American Wood Ape Conservancy, who has spent the last five years conducting boots-on-the-ground research in a remote region of southeast Oklahoma known as Area X. Making repeated trips from Arizona into the rugged Ouachita Mountains, Rick shares what has unfolded during ongoing field operations in one of the most closely studied Bigfoot research areas in the country.He describes active nights in camp marked by rocks landing at their feet, trees being pushed over shortly after arrival, and loud strikes against cabin walls in the early morning hours. Rick recounts a daylight sighting witnessed by a teammate of a reddish-brown upright figure moving through sunlight, as well as thermal imagery captured during a tense bluff charge near camp. He details the discovery of extensive trackways circling structures and skirting camp perimeters, small human-like footprints found in the dirt, gray figures moving through thick brush, and preserved hair samples awaiting future analysis.Rick also discusses the introduction of an all-female field team designed to observe activity patterns from a different angle, along with reports of guttural “faux speech” vocalizations heard before dawn near the cabins. Drawing from five years of continued investigation, he offers insight into how the activity in Area X has evolved and what long-term research in a single location reveals about these elusive beings.Join us as we step into the woods of southeast Oklahoma and examine what has been unfolding in Area X over the last five years.Resources for Listeners:• North American Wood Ape Conservancy – https://woodape.org🗣️ Share Your StoryHad a Bigfoot encounter or strange experience?Send it to [e-mail] – your story might be featured on the show!🎥 Watch & Subscribe on YouTube🔴 Subscribe here → Bigfoot Society YouTube💬 Leave a comment & let us know your thoughts!📞 Leave a voicemail with your story → Speakpipe (Use multiple voicemails if needed)👥 Share this episode → Watch & Share🎧 More episodes → Podcast Playlist🌲 Recommended: New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters💥 Support the Show & Get Perks✅ Join the community on Supercast – Become a Member✅ Listen ad-free & early on YouTube – Join Here📱 Let’s ConnectInstagram: @bigfootsocietyTwitter: @bigfoot_societyTikTok: @bigfoot.society🧰 Tools & Partners I Use (Affiliate Links)These help support the show at no extra cost to you:Beam (Better Sleep): Try BeamWildgrain (Better Bread): Join HereSeed (Probiotics): Get SeedMedi-Share (Healthcare): Learn MoreLMNT (Electrolytes) Free Sample Pack with your first purchase! : Get LMNTOrganic and non-GMO groceries delivered for lesshttp://thrv.me/uarEhS🎙️ Podcasting Tools:Repurpose.io: Try ItDescript: Sign UpStreamyard: Start RecordingRiverside.fm: Try Riverside🎧 My Audio Interface: View on Amazon☕ Buy Me a Coffee – Support Here🛍️ Grab Some Merch – Shop on Etsy📬 Mailing Address:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072

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See Lowe's.com for details. Visit your nearby Lowe's on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. You're listening to Bigfoot Society and I'm Jeremiah Byron. In this show we go beyond the campfire stories to bring you first-hand encounters from people who say they've seen something impossible. From backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers to quiet farms and crowded highways, the stories come from everywhere. And each one leaves us with more questions than answers. These are the voices of the people who've lived it. So settle in because today you'll hear another account that just might change the way.

you see the woods forever. So stay with us. I've got Rick with me. Rick is on the board of directors for the NAWAC for the NAWAC for about two years. And of course, we're talking about the organization based down there in Southeast Oklahoma, as we'll hear more about. Rick had been in the mental health profession for 18 years with a doctorate in forensic psychology. So a little bit of information about him. But welcome to the show, Rick. How are you doing today, sir? I'm doing really well.

Thank you. How are you? I'm doing great. A little information about how this all came about. Had an individual from your organization reach out to me about a previous episode and this individual was like, hey, we would love to kind of touch base with this person you talk to. And I was like, I would love to touch base with you guys.

And thankfully, we were able to work something out. As we were talking about beforehand, it has been about five years since there's, I guess you could say, maybe a public update about what's been going on with the NAWAC. So we will see about where our conversation will lead today and what kind of information we'll get through updates. But, you know, again, it's a pleasure to have you on. Is there anything else that listeners would need to know about you, Rick, before we get started? Well, I don't think I would put myself in the typical Bigfoot hunter category, if that's what you want to say. I was never too much into outdoor activity. I enjoyed it just didn't get to do it very much.

I've always loved the topic, but wasn't really sure what I'd be able to participate or what I would be able to bring to the group. I'm not a hunter, I'm not an outdoorsman, but I can observe. And I'm willing to make the drive from Arizona to Oklahoma multiple times a year, boots on the ground. And I can keep field notes and take pictures and do other things that need to be done. So I think sometimes people feel they have to have a certain set of skills or attributes to be successful. group like this. I don't, I think it's more just your, your willingness to participate and learn. That's fantastic. How about this? Can you think of a situation where you experienced something at the beginning of your time in Area X where things got extremely real for you? And

you're like, oh, this place is not just a story. Like, this is actually happening right here. Yes. I'm fortunate in the sense that my first, my first venture in there. It rained a lot. We had a lot of rain that week, which is notorious for rain in that area. I don't remember if it was the second or third night, but we sit around what we call dark camp. So we don't have lights. We don't have a fire. We just kind of spread out in front of where we're camping with thermal imagers and just listen, watch, see what we can detect.

And I remember Kathy Strain had said on, I believe it was one of the documentaries out there, Anyway, she'd said, they're always watching you. Just assume they're always watching you. I told the gang, I want to try something. And being the new guy, I know everything's been tried before, but I just picked up a big rock from next to me, and I chucked into the woods in front of us. And about 30 seconds later,

we hear that indistinctable sound of something coming through the treetops, and we hear a thud on the ground. And we're like, all right, let's. they're here. So we got out a three-man slingshot. So two guys holding the giant rubber band gone to the other one

leaning back and we fired rocks into the woods and we'd get, I think we had three or four come back at us and then it just stopped. But I yeah, I remember thinking that's okay, well this doesn't happen normally. And just getting down there. I mean,

you do realize, I mean, you've been told over and over and over hearing about area X how remote it is. But once you get out there and see it and try to walk it, you realize there's nobody out there is in that situation. So that got my attention pretty quick. I've had several things out there were like, okay, this is the real deal out here. Absolutely. For listeners that I just had a thought, I was like, there's going to be some listeners that have they probably won't know the area that we're talking about do you have an elevator pitch of what area x is i mean that's a tricky one that's a great

great question so i would just say yeah down in the southeast corner of of uh Oklahoma and the washington mountains it's it's a secluded area uh i mean there's there's been cabins i think throughout the years, but it's very difficult to get down in there. There's a lot of private land down in there. But, yeah, the terrain is, I've never, I've never experienced anything like that. Living in Arizona, I've done a lot of hiking. You have to keep your eyes on the ground a lot to survive out there. It's pretty rough.

I actually missed a sighting, watching where I was walking. And so it gets a lot of rain. I know it's, I call it a moderate raid force. It gets a lot of rain every year. And I've been in there a couple times where you can't do much of anything. You just have to wait out the rain. It's so heavy and so solid. But because of that, there's also a lot of resources, a lot of food, a lot of animals, a lot of wildlife.

It's a beautiful area. And it's a little bit scary at the same time. I want to clarify something with you because you said you were watching the ground and I was like, well, so because I'm aware you've got a lot of snakes and things in there. I mean, it's a dangerous area, right? Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

If you don't like spiders, you might want to skip out or don't be the first guy walking in line through paths. But a lot of spiders, a lot of snakes. rattlesnakes and copperheads out there. So not only watching we are going there, but just the uneven ground and the rocky terrain. It's, yeah, I've fallen several times. I don't know how, you know, I've made it out there fine. I know some people have hurt themselves out there,

but it's not hard to do. And another interesting fact, it's a treacherous drive even to get into that area, correct? Right. That's correct. You have to have certain type of vehicle to get in there. Some people have been a little braver than others. So they've attempted to get in there. But I'm going in for my seventh week of research this summer. And I'll be white knuckling it just like you did the first six. Yeah, it's a ride. How many years are those seven weeks spread out over that you've been in there?

I think I first went in in 2022. It was my first summer in there. I did the first couple summers I did two weeks split up and then I've gone in for the last just one time a week. You know, life and other obligations obviously step in, but I wanted to get as much

as I could those first couple years. Absolutely. So let's get into it then. What are maybe some interesting events or potential discoveries that you've had as an organization in the last five years in this area? We've had one of the most amazing trackways I've seen. I didn't get to see it until months and months and months after it was discovered, but it was still pretty pristine when we saw it. It was pretty clearly of two individuals. that just wandered around this one area

and we had a tree twist on there. We collected some hair samples and I think later in that same week they found another trackway down where Elton Higgins had the famous mud hole track that he found. That's where he kind of realized he's in a good area and it was in that same spot and it was just trailed off into the woods And so we've had that.

We've done a lot of, there was some really good field work done on that. We're still looking and getting some information out of that. And we did start what we call, well, we call it the asset team, but it's a team at camp made up strictly of females, female researchers. And they don't go in there acting like our normal research teams. They're just camping. They're just having fun. They're cooking by the fire. They'll go for day hikes, whatever they're doing.

But then we have other team that's about a mile or so away camped, and they will sneak in over time at night and monitor camp, monitor the hills, monitor the area. And we've had some pretty interesting things that happen with those teams. So we're continuing with that. I think this will be our third year doing that. So I had a pretty decent bluff charge from one of our members. And we got some thermal imaging that we can't quite determine what it is.

It looks big, but with thermal imaging, it can be really hard to discover what that is. So we've been doing that as well for the last few years. That is all incredible. How long would you say that track way went for that you were able to, you were able to follow it? it. So it's it went around an old building. So look it looks like they came up from one area. I'd say walked in maybe 50 50 feet circled this building. And then they walked off into a field or whatever you want to call it a little clearing. And even in there you see divots and push down of old tracks that have been there for a long time. But these were these were really good.

really good tracks. So yeah, I have one of our other former board members that was on that. And he's going to hopefully get on and tell us a little bit more of the real specific details on that. But yeah, it was it was something else. Okay. So it sounds like that any trackway questions might be better left for this other individual than?

Yeah, more likely. Yeah. Got it. Okay. Very good. The asset team is very interesting. and those two teams. It's been going on for three years. It's such an interesting idea to have an all-female team like that.

Has that led to any interesting interactions with that team and Bigfoot coming into the camp? Well, so nothing that's been, I would say, out of the ordinary, everything out of there coming out of theirs out of the ordinary. But I think there were sounds heard, you know, whoops and other vocalizations throughout the week. But it was the evening time and nighttime when the other team was in there kind of monitoring the area and seeing if they could get something coming in. And that's when they got the bluff charge. And it got a heat signature.

They can actually hear the thing breathing. I don't remember how far away they thought it was, but they could hear real heavy, heavy, almost like an asthmatic breathing. And then they got something on a thermal image. I'm sure that thermal image has been analyzed over and over again in the group. how are you able to get a feel of how tall that individual was that that was on the thermal footage No really not I mean it could have been hunched down You know just depends on how close it was too sometimes with thermal imaging you think you're looking at a black bear until a raccoon comes out or vice versa so but it looked like it was anytime you you you

have different people looking at thermal imaging, they might pick out different things. So, and I've seen that with pictures we've taken down there too, where somebody's, I don't see anything in that photo, and I can clearly see what I think is a leg or a shoulder, but it's hard to tell. Gotcha. Have you had any, let's say, any class A or visual sightings over the last five years from team members? Yes, absolutely. So the one that I was discussing would be my second trip, August of 22, and it was three of us. We'd been out kind of hiking the whole valley, just being in different areas. We had settled down in an area a couple of days prior and had rocks coming out of the tree line at us. We were all kind of spread out and hidden out and kind of decided it was time to get out of there. And then a couple of days later, we went to different areas. not too far.

And as we went to go look at a certain spot, and instead of backtracking and just turning right around, we decided to go on a bigger loop and go around. And we almost feel like we caught this animal off guard. So as we're kind of coming up a little trail, there's three of us. I'm in the back. Another gentleman is in between us.

And we're both at the time this happened, we're looking at our feet. because we're kind of going down this little steep rocky area. So we want to make sure we got a good foothold. And right as we were doing that, the guy in the front saw an upright creature kind of hunched over. The way he described it makes me think of somebody in a movie theater when they're kind of cut in front of everybody. They want to make sure they don't get in your way. So they hunch over.

And he just darted in front of the path. Kind of a reddish brown. He said like an Irish setter color. But it ran in a patch of sunlight so he could really see it. gleaning off. And of course, he's upset that he didn't, you know, he can't get a shot off in that amount of time. And we didn't see anything. And so we were a little upset at that. But that was that was a wild afternoon, just kind of decompressing after that, even though I didn't get to see it, just talking with someone immediately afterwards. That was very interesting.

I can't imagine having an encounter like that. So when you say, take a shot, That could obviously mean one or two things. And so it leads into an interesting question. I know at times in the past, NAWC has been really focused on trying to get an actual physical specimen. But then there was a kind of a focus on maybe getting, using camera to get an actual photograph of one instead. And what would you say the focus is in this time and period the last five years?

What is the organization's focus on getting? Well, I don't think we ever got away from trying to collect the specimen. So I think that was always out there for a lot of these members. There were like members like myself. And I think other members, it's a lot. It's a lot of pressure to have a firearm. You mean, you're not hunting a deer. You're not hunting a bear.

you're hunting something that is until you see it, apparently, it's really, it's hard to pull the trigger, I think. And so I think that's a lot of pressure for some folks. So some people just don't want to do it. So we did try to reinvigorate the camera group. And we're still trying to do that. So trying to figure out best ways of doing that and whether there be camera traps or that's what I carry out there besides the sidearm for safety. I carry a camera.

And just, again, same thing as I guess with a shot. You're just hoping you're in the right spot at the right time. But, yeah, I'm trying to collect a specimen that's never really gone away. But I don't know of popular opinion with everybody. But when I say take a shot, I think I'm trying to think of where we were at the time. I don't even think we were carrying long guns into where we were. But he had a camera with him. And, you know, cameras out there, you charge him up.

And sometimes you go for 20 minutes and they're dead. Like, well, now we're going to see something, you know. Or just didn't have it on for whatever reason. It's, you know, but to at least snap a shot, had it in his A& and didn't get a chance to do it. Why do you think that is that you have, so it sounds like at least in some instances, you have batteries that will go dead. And do you have any thoughts about why that might occur in that area? You know, I think a lot of it has to do with the weather.

Honestly, it's very, very humid out there in the summer time. I'm not an expert at that type of technology, but, you know, some of the items you use would get really hot. So I just think they're just getting overheated and with the humidity there. I think that plays a big part into it. And we've heard about the Bigfoot curse before. You know, equipment just suddenly not working. But I just think there's some luck to that, I think. But yeah, I think part of it's weather.

We've got some guys that kind of figured some stuff out too. Hey, if I use this type of an external battery pack, it tends to last longer. So it's just a matter of getting all the right equipment. And as you got to remember, it has turned it all on, make sure it's all charge. You get at the end of these long hot hikes and you're tired. And sometimes people just, I won't put this on today or whatever. It ends up being a mistake. That's the time.

Then you would need it. Yeah. Do you feel in the last few years that there has been an actual photograph taken of, in this situation, we would be definitely, man, there's so much background information. Guys, if the NAWAC stands for North American WoodAid Conservancy, correct? Yes, correct. Okay. So that's our foundation, guys. So do you feel that there has been a time where there's been a photograph taken of a wood ape in this area in the last five years that's been pretty good?

Not that I'm aware of. Like I said, there's been a couple of shots where, you know, we, you know, we, if you're out sitting around for a couple of hours and you might keep hearing something from one area, you know, we've learned just zoom in whenever you can, just start snapping a bunch of pictures. Because we've gone back and looked at some and like, there's a shape of something there. I can't, you can't say it's an ape, but I think one of these times you keep doing that, might quite well capture something. But not that I'm aware of, nothing that I believe.

But, you know, we probably still have, who knows how many hundreds or thousands of photos to still try to peruse through with some of the camera traps we'd had set out for years. I can't imagine that. That just that, I mean, I totally get it, though. I mean, it's not just you guys. There's other organizations that have so much data they've taken in. They just don't have the time or the manpower to analyze it. I totally get it. It's like, yeah, no, there's other examples out there.

I know in the past, and I'm talking longer than five years back, there has been times in this area where individuals have had a wood ape in their sites and they weren't able to pull the trigger because of what they saw. Has anything like that happened since, or has there not really been a situation that's gotten close? like that did back in the day. I'm trying to think if there's been anything since then. And I know, yeah, there's been a couple, I think. I can't think of anything since then where you've had something in your sites.

And I don't know if that's, you know, it's interesting as time goes on and we learn about the apes. You know, they're learning about us too. So when you first read about or hear about Area X, it's just this other way. world. You know, stuff's happening all the time. And it wasn't, but that's how it appeared.

But I think, you know, they haven't left and we haven't left. So they've just learned to kind of get around us as much as possible. And literally, last summer we found a trackway that almost just skirts the entire camp. We found a good trackway. It's like,

well, this goes from almost a perimeter of our camp all the way. It just takes them so they don't ever have to be afraid that we're going to see them. So I don't know if they're being more careful or we just haven't been lucky enough. Sure. Have you experienced any situations where there's been evidence of toolmaking or structure building or anything that you might see present in other ape species as well? No. I personally have not, other than we know we found some nut crushing stations up there.

There was one gentleman that was, well, he was on one of our teams. He was, gosh, I want to say bum rush, but he was a buff charged by an animal. Clearly it was an ape, and so they went back to see where this thing was, where it was hiding, and where it was watching him from and they found a stick that was perfectly balanced on this other stick. So if he moved it one way or the other

it was going to fall, but this thing was just sitting there perfectly balanced. I don't know how that happens naturally, but right where the eight had been. So, I mean, that's probably the closest we've seen. I've never seen really any stick structures.

I did talk about the trackway and we found a tree. It was probably, I'm trying to think how big the tree was around, maybe four or five inch diameter. And it was grabbed and you could just see what's twisted all the way around and then pushed over. So it kind of pointed in the direction. Whether that meant anything or not, I don't know. I think the tree was just in its way and it was just doing it to do it.

like we've messed with sticks and trees and stuff too i don't know but nothing we've seen absolutely and so i've been out to oregon in the mount hood national forest and i've seen some some tree twists as well and i don't know if you've ever seen uh pictures of of um things like that from the pnw if you have are they similar to what you're seeing then in the uh area x area uh and like you said we've only seen the one out in x uh It was pretty low to the ground too. It wasn't real high up, probably four feet. So it wasn't a big tree.

And that's a good, you know, that's always been a good question of mind. Are they doing different things in different areas? You know, maybe it's similar, as far as seeing a lot of forested areas, a lot of trees. But, you know, it does seem like there's a lot more of these structures and things like that coming out of the northwest than we would see down there. The goal is ultimately to be able to get this, to be. he's identified and and then that's the conference the conservation piece comes in you know and I've never been a someone that not that I discount you know some of these you know things to our environment that it had been happening but just in the in the few years I've seen it just to drive in it's it's

sad some of the the cutting of the trees and and they're not being replanted with what's being cut down So we're really doing a disservice to all the animals out there. But the goal is to identify the species so it can be protected, not just from hunting, but from environmental encroachment, things like that. And some of the sub goals, that's our main goal. And I know we've talked about photography and actually collecting. But you remember the tag seven where we had one of the wood apes tagged. we are hoping to replicate that.

So one of our goals is to, with newer technology, maybe redo that. But we need boots on the ground to do that too. So if I could plug, if anybody out there feels like that is something that, you know, they can, you know, devote some time to get out there and do that. We have a membership tab on our website to, you know, submit an application. But that was, I wasn't there for that, but the stories I heard made me tired. And that was a lot of running around. chasing for 10, 11 months, something like that.

It was crazy. So we're hoping with some newer technology and some more boots on the ground. Maybe we can help do this again. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, the Tag 7 account is just a really interesting thing for listeners to look into. And the monograph is still up, I would imagine, on your website, right? Absolutely. Do you feel like there have been any particular events within the last five years that have gotten you

closer to your goal that you have as an organization? You know, I think, I mean, I definitely think the asset team has been something totally unique and there's been activity each time that they've been out. You know, it's interesting, I think just the different techniques that people have. You know, I could gilly up and go hide for six hours in one spot. or I could wear my normal clothes and go sit in the middle of a field. And I might have the same chance. And we've had people do both of those and have success.

They're still coming around. They're still making themselves known to us. So we just want to be able to take advantage of that. Yeah, absolutely. What do you think the closest that someone from the team has gotten to an ape in the last five years? I'd say that bluff charge we had, has it been a year now, behind where we camp,

that was pretty intense. You got pretty close from what we could tell. We've had, well, it's hard to tell when the power knocks come in, how close it. It feels like that they're 50 yards from your cabin. They could be a lot further than that, but we've had some power knocks. We've had some cabin slaps,

so technically it gets pretty close. But, you know, the second you rush outside, there's nothing there. So I was on a team where we had two of those at 2.30 in the morning on two different nights. And it was heard by the same people. So just different areas of the cabin. So they're still approaching even in the camp. But I think that bluff charge, which was actually pretty close to a latrine, good spot.

That's about where that happened. So really close. Gotcha. Have you figured out any interesting ways to initiate? Not that I'm aware of, nothing that I've come across. I think, like I said, they've really gotten used to us. Sometimes we'll sit silent for two nights in a row, not make it sound. And then the third night, we might try a wood knocker who,

and we might get a response. We might get absolutely nothing. We have found this magic formula that's going to make them do it. So, yeah, we keep looking for it and we keep trying. I mean, we just, we keep trying things. Sometimes we'll try it in a different way if we have a way of doing that. But I've looked over the list of things before I got on there to think they've tried. And I've been pretty surprised.

Just some of the things they've tried to elicit responses. Some of it works. Some of it doesn't. Yeah, it's some really interesting things. People are trying out there. I know that a long time ago there were things put in place of what to do if there was a specimen

that was actually taken. Is that the same case with the organization or is that changed? We still have a protocol in place. So if something were to happen, we've kind of got everything all laid out what we're going to do, who's doing what, everything, yeah. Gotcha.

Which, I'm trying to think, and this is, this is public. You can find it in different interviews. Was it Artemis Protocol? Yes. I think it was called that. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

These last five years, I think the asset team was a really good addition. You know, seeing unity in purpose with two different teams operating at the same time, which is kind of interesting. The home team, basically, in the away team, sneaking in at night. But I just, you know, in my vision, I almost see we're just, we're just keeping, keep doing what we've been doing, try to do new things.

But we don't want to give up on some of the old stuff too, because stuff has worked in the past. So I, like I said, I don't think it's as active as it was back in, you know, 2006, 7, 8, all that. Because I think we were new to the apes, but now they're used to us. But, you know, you still get these moments of, I think you catch him off guard. Or a younger one decides he's going to act up and talk.

We've had a couple instances of both speech being heard in camp early morning. So we've had a couple of instances like that. We've had a couple of other sighted, just quick sightings of a gray, something big and gray going through the brush. We've had some thermal sightings from camp that looked very interesting. And you got one guy saying, it's on two feet. That's on two legs. The other guy, when he gets up close to it, not looking through thermal stuff.

I think it was a bear. I mean, you just never know. When you say faux speech, are you, actually, I'm just going to, can you explain what you mean by that exactly? So faux speech, obviously it's our guess. We believe it sounds like communication. It's a garbled, jumbled. I've heard it called Samurai chatter. Just a low gutteral string of vowels and consonants put together.

It just sounds like grumbling. But you can hear intonation. You can almost go that. That one was bad at that one. Or we've had it where they were, two of them were kind of chattering back and forth. And a much louder voice kind of did one big loud, whoa. And then everyone just, everything's, stopped. But yeah, we had one of our guys wake up in the early morning pre-dawn and he heard

what sounded like a conversation going on behind him, not too far from the cabin. So it's just, but you can't decipher words. It's just these gutter old voices and sounds. If you, it's, if Sierra sounds from Ron Moorhead, you'll see exactly what that sounds like. It's very interesting. Okay. And I was just going to ask. that actually so it you're saying it's very similar to the Sierra Sound Sun. Yes, that's what they've been saying that they're hearing. Okay, have you guys been able to get your own recordings of that speech?

No, we've had, we'll have cameras or cameras, we'll have audio recorders out all night. And we've, we have recorded certain things. We have recorded some of that faux speech. I think it's on our website from years ago, but nothing on the recent, any of the recent trips in the last five years. Yeah, we've had things that we thought should get caught on recording, and we wouldn't hear it. Same thing with camera. But, yeah, no, I haven't had the faux speech recorded, I think, in the last

at least five years, at least since I've been there, even though folks have heard it. Gotcha. Going off of the data you guys have got. button. Do you have any idea of how big the group of apes is in that area? If there's males, females, and juveniles, or are there maybe multiple groups? Do you have any information about that that you've gathered? So I don't know. I'm sure at some point somebody's made a guess on that as far as the number.

You know, back in our earlier days, we definitely saw. there were visuals of little ones. So, I mean, to be, there's definitely a breeding population out here. It was last summer, this summer before. We were walking through an area not too close to camp, but it wasn't too far from where we used to do some research. And I saw some really small what looked like human footprints in the dirt. So if they're still breeding, yeah, it's hard to tell.

I don't know how large they get. If there's one alpha male and some juveniles. So, I mean, we could be looking at five to ten. It's hard to tell. Gotcha. And you mentioned the gray individual, which that was something where they were, your organization was seeing the gray individual, I mean, years before 2020 as well, right? Correct.

That's correct. So I don't know if it's the same gray individual. We don't know if that's a color phase that they get to when they're older like we do. but yeah there were two people that saw this that looked like the hind end of a very large gray hairy animal busting through the woods, busts into the brush. That was probably a couple years ago, two, three years ago. But yeah, we've got sightings of difficult,

which was, I think, all the nine feet from what some people are saying. But we've seen other gray individuals apparently out there. I think we had a sighting of two gray individuals at the same time, one year. Was that pre-five years? or post or after the five year mark? Pre, yeah. Okay, good.

Yeah, yeah. Gotcha. Um, has there been a time when, let's say, uh, you have someone that's new to the organization, they come down for their first time to Area X and they are just, they are, they're shook up. And, and it's like, I don't know if this guy is going to even return after what he experienced. Has there been anything like that that's happened in the last five years? Not in the last five years where it's been like that. We have had some people suddenly just decided not to go in anymore.

And they just, they don't want to talk about it or say why. And we're not going to push it. So I don't know if it's something that was seen down there. We've had people go down there. And it wasn't like, you know, Mike Mays's book is fantastic. And they're like, whoa, this wasn't like the book at all. I didn't see anything this weekend. And so they were, they didn't want to come back either.

So kind of opposite, kind of interesting. But I've been in there with a couple folks that it was their first time, and they were, you know, rightfully, I'm saying scared, but just cautious. And I think those first couple nights, you have to let them know what certain sounds are. I had to be told that as well. I'm like, what is that? That's a frog. We don't have frogs like that where I'm from.

So you have to learn the land a little bit. And after two, three days, they kind of settled down. And they've fallen in love with it. It's as scary as some of the nights were. They fell in love with it. So I haven't had anybody refused to come back because they were too scared in the last five years. Gotcha. Have there been any individuals that have experienced anything like infrasound?

Is that a thing that ever comes up down there? We've talked about it. I don't know if any incident that where we pinpoint that as a possible explanation as to what we had. It's hard to tell. Yeah, I've heard about it, and we have discussed it, but nothing that we've been able to pinpoint

that's possibly what that was. Gotcha. One thing I'm a fan of, and I've seen you guys have come out with a few episodes. Are there any plans to come out with more episodes of the podcast that is put out by the NAWAC? Definitely.

So myself and Dusty kind of decided we needed to, we had a little bit more time. I don't know, well, I can't speak for Dusty, but we're going to at least try to get this back on the ground. You know, when you've got a full-time job, that's a tough gig to sometimes wrangle together. But we have a whole lineup of different. shows we're going to do or start getting those put out here. Whether we do one a month, one every other month, I just, you know, sometimes it got backed up to where it was a couple of year.

And it's a lot of work. So, but yes, absolutely. We are bringing the podcast back. And so that is awesome. That's really good to hear. Always a nice surprise when you see something come out from, from that feed. There's been some really good interviews that you guys. have have put out.

Can you talk a little bit about, let's say there's someone listening and they have, you know, they've listened to this, they've listened to other interviews. They've read the book from Michael. And they're like, man, I would want to try to get involved. Can you talk a little bit about what kind of individuals the organization is currently looking for

and in the process of how one would apply for that? Sure. So, I mean, definitely, it can be difficult to do in just an application setting, but we want someone that comes on board that knows as much about our organization as possible. So, you know, we have information in print and podcast phone, whatever. We want to know that, you know, people have read or listened or, you know, they're participating somewhere to get some knowledge because we want them to know what, in a way, what they're getting into what we're all about. And whenever you join a group, there's some assimilation process.

And we have, like, what works for us. And so we do have times to meet, meet up. But that first step is the application. And it's, you know, I know there are questions on there about law enforcement or military background or things like that. And that certainly doesn't disqualify somebody if they don't have that. I don't have that. But one of the big things is, are you willing to come out? And that could be a difficult thing for people based on location.

We're not all over the country. We're in one little spot in Oklahoma. But can you do it once a year? If you're willing to put boots on the ground. And willing to learn and willing to take feedback, maybe criticism. We've had a lot of top-notch folks. organization, but, you know, it's important, especially out in the middle of nowhere for a week, that you're a team player, you know how to get along with others and follow direction and things

like that. So, and then after, you know, after the application process, we have an associate member level ship. So they have access to, you know, certain things on the, on the website, on the discussion boards. And we have a training camp in the spring, and then we have a retreat for members and family in the fall. It's a great time to not only get to know each other, but to ask questions and pick people's brain and just a chance for them to get to know you. And then that's how you would make that

the research level where we say, okay, so now you're able to get in and come down to Area X with us and help us figure this out. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a good way to make sure that the right people are in, that area and not sneaking in as it as it were i mean that's that's quite the uh it's really a pretty intense vetting process but but a good one so yeah and it could be difficult to do at times because i mean not everyone's going to be a fit even you could be passionate about the subject but

you know it's um we have our our our ideas and how we want to do things and some people get in there and and even after a year so they're like it's not exactly what I thought and they just go their own way, you know, and we're still friends and whatever. But it's, it's, yeah, it's amazing how many people like, oh, that sounds cool. I'm just going to submit my name and they're just going to bring me right on board. It's like, so what have you, what do you know about us? Nothing. I heard you on such and such podcast.

Well, do a little research, read up on us, make sure you're aligned with what we're doing. And, yeah, submit your application. the initial time of being in camp and having a rock thrown at you is interesting but it was that next what two months later when the sighting occurred that was one of the busiest weeks um i don't say busy just it was so much was happening they got to the point we'd be sitting in camp and rocks should just be landing in camp and it just you didn't even look anymore it was to the point where like i mean i don't know who's doing it back there but these rocks are just like keep coming in we're laughing about it but a valuable lesson that I learned was, and I've been told this from other group members, not everything out there is Bigfoot, right? So you still have to look with an objective lens at everything, and we had just gotten back

from the outing where we had the sighting. And right after that, we had two bears come into camp, which I'm not fond of bears either. So that was a great afternoon for me. got rid of the bears and then we started hearing this little knock like a little uh almost sounded like rock on rock which just a light tapping and so one of the guys decided to mimic it and it kept going and it's back we do one they do one we do two they do two and our eyes about popped out of our head so i took over the tapping while our friend decided to get the scope out and look up it was

up on the little hill behind the cabin and finally he he motions to me to me to to follow my look and just look up into that tree and there's a woodpecker by making the noises. So I wanted him dead because I was thinking I was communicating with, you know, some eight, but I realized perfect example, perfect humbling experience of not even out here that you can't, you know, sounds weird or odd is Bigfoot. It's the, you know, the rocks coming into camp. I'm like, I'm trying to figure that out because we are near a hill, but no, these, things are landing they're not rolling they're they're landing in I don't know what's

doing that and we have that metal hooch you've probably heard about to where it's kind of a pull-through cardboard and when you know stuff hits that we just have to check it because you can sit there and go that was a rock and then you look up there and I unless it bounced off that's why we keep the whole area clean around it you sweep the roof it's it's pickery nuts but everyone's so while you get rocks that are coming out there so the cabin slap though for me, I think was probably the weirdest, 2.30 in the morning, laying on the bottom bunk and just something right behind me, right where my backside was, just smack the cabin. And I looked at my,

you know, the guy on the other bottom cabin. And I don't know what that was. So we sat and we listened. We didn't hear any other noises. And two nights later, the exact same time on the other wall, the opposite wall, smack happened. So I just, I just, we sat. never experienced anything like that. That was that was interesting. After that one, we kind of busted out and see what could we see? Grab the thermals, grab the white lights. I can see anything. But that was definitely an interesting night. And that was right after we'd had a power knock, I think, earlier that day. So what started as a pretty quiet weekend, it pretty busy. That was July of 23. I've heard about the cabin slaps and I've heard of other

you know, other strange loud noises. Now, the first, that week when we have the two of us, the three of us there, we have the sighting, they had some pretty good hearing. I had to really learn to adjust my city hearing to the woods. But at one night, there was, besides a howl off the distance, they heard a loud, it said it sounded like a Volkswagen being dropped from a cliff, just this loud crash. And we searched all the next day to kind of figure out if we could find. what possibly that could have been, but we never came up with anything. The other odd thing that started that week off, so the gentleman that had the sighting, he had been there week four,

so he was there two weeks in a row. And so when we finally pulled in the camp, and said, hey, just to let you know, the last two teams that have come in here within 30 minutes, there's been a tree knocked over in that field over there. All right, so we just sat under the hooch and just relaxed for a little bit, And 32 minutes after arriving, the tree got pushed over. And one of the gentlemen that was with us, he's really good at pinpointing where sounds are coming from.

So that's about 300 yards that way. So we looked and we found a pushed over tree, looked pretty fresh. What we found also in that area is on the ash trees only up about seven, six, seven feet, eight feet maybe, somewhere that were marks on the tree where it's been hit. So we're wondering maybe that's where the knocks, because they do have a different sound on the ash trees than they did on some of the other ones. And it was facing our camp. So you could knock the tree and look right at us. I got assuming watch what we were doing. But that was an interesting week.

I learned a lot of interesting things. Learn not to sit back and, you know, anything could happen anytime. I think this came out of that week for me. Oh, yeah. Are you guys, do you have audio rolling right when you arrive? in the area. So, that's one thing we need to invest in.

It's just to have team, you know, everyone has individual recordings and some are really, really good about having that out constantly. And otherwise, some of us will just do it at night over, overnight. But yeah,

I think that's something we need to have running constantly. Oh, yeah. I mean, you could, because you could have something like, I mean, I'm sure there's times when people aren't in areas.

X and I mean you could have something like wildlife acoustics type recorders for the times that you're not there but just like long-term duration recorders yeah yeah and then we get you know and I know you can look at that visually to see what what you found but then you got to find somebody that's going to sit down and do all that too so but I agree and I think that's where we've gotten you know some of our audio as well just having it out there. Absolutely. This question might be one of them where it's better for the individuals going to talk more about the trackway. But you did mention that there has been hair found at certain times.

Is there anything going on where that hair is being analyzed or DNA tested or anything like that? Not that I'm aware of at the moment. It's being preserved until we can figure out. There's different thoughts on that too, but we need to find the right place to do that. Some places you send stuff off, it's like, oh, it's not a, you know, I don't want to know what it isn't.

Of course, you can't really tell me what it is, I guess. But sometimes we've gotten some odd in the past. We've got some odd responses with blood that we've had tested. So at this point, I think we're hanging on to it. we can determine exactly where we want to send that. But I don't believe it's bet. That could be wrong.

Yeah, I get it. Especially when you have evidence like that, you just don't want to have it disappear on you. And I know there's a pretty good, as a gentleman I've talked to you from North Carolina, he's got a pretty good DNA study going on right now. His name is Darby Orcutt. Oh, yeah.

But that's very interesting. It'll be cool to hear, you know, maybe in the future, if you guys are able to analyze those somehow. Or even has anyone taken like a high-powered microscope to them to see if they can see like the medulla of the hair at all? I don't know if they have. That's a great question. Yeah, because that would be another really good thing to look at. Yeah.

Absolutely. Wow. It is great to hear. that things are still progressing at this area in southeast Oklahoma where it's not known where the exact area is but it is somewhere down there in

southeast Oklahoma in an extremely active area and it's been I mean the organization has been there is it 20 plus years now yeah yeah it's wild it is absolutely wild to think about it's probably the longest that's probably the longest duration that an organization has focused on one area for for bigfoot i would

imagine i would think so you know and this is where i i tend to feel that uh inadequacy where you know i've been on in the organization for five or six years and and the the giants that have come before us you know that did all this this leg work and spent the time in the field it's like you know they They've done tons that we're just so thankful for. And so, but, you know, we got to have, he said, boots on the ground and my boots are willing to get out there. So I've learned to love going out there. I actually had a great fear of traveling by myself. I didn't like it.

I had a lot of anxiety. And now I can't count how many trips I've made to Oklahoma just between research and training. camps and get together. So I absolutely love it. It's my second home. Very cool. Well, it has been a privilege to have you on the show and talking about any WAC. Are there any, I want to make sure that you were able to share everything that you had come to the show to share today.

Just to not cut you off. No, no, no. I had a little list of ongoing operations. Oh, I guess one of the other things that we have asked, because we haven't had a podcast, really don't get a chance to advertise it. But for people that have had encounters, kind of like how you heard about getting in touch with us,

is we've had people outreach us in the past that maybe asked for help or asked us to look, we have a member in that area, because we do have members all over the country. If there's anything we can do to help out, we can. So we do ask that people submit encounter reports. We do keep our own list of account reports that we go through. Not saying it's very often that we're going to be able to respond if somebody feels like they need help with something.

Usually they just want to let us know, hey, I saw this. This is what happened. But pretty much all over the country, we get a report. So we encourage people to continue to do that as well. That's awesome. Yeah. WhatApe.org, correct? Yes.

Yeah. So it's a great website. if you want to hear some of the best collected Bigfoot related audio, go to that website. There's also really intense papers to read about prior research. And then it's a really good database of citing reports that you can read through to. So definitely worth checking out. And that's also where you would look into if you're wanting to try to apply for the the organization, that's where you could do that as well.

Absolutely. Rick, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been great getting an update from the NAWAC. Hopefully I'll be able to maybe talk to some other individuals in the future, but thank you so much for coming on the show today. Appreciate it. Thank you so much for having us. Appreciate it.

Have you ever heard all the accounts of Bigfoot activity around Oak Ridge, Oregon? And you think to yourself, man, I would love to get out in those woods and experience it for myself. Well, guess what? This year, you can. If this is interesting to you, stay tuned because it's pretty cool. Sasquatch Summer Fest

is coming up July 10th through the 11th, 2026. It's going to be even better than the previous year's reason number one. I'll be one of the speakers. It's going to be wild. I'll probably I'll say this.

There may be stuff you have haven't heard anywhere else because let's just say sometimes it's uh well you just got to be there we'll leave it that more about looking for bigfoot in the oakridge woods now check this out you may know jason kensy from his documentary series searching for saskwatch well this year you can not only go to the festival but you can also sign up for a trek Deep in the wild forest outside of Oak Ridge with Jason Kenzie to the Bigfoot spots to look for Bigfoot. There's only eight spots to sign up for this. And yes, this will also be filmed for the next chapter in his documentary series, which is searching for Sasquatch.

This is a once in a lifetime deal. It's just, trust me, it's going to be a wild, wild experience. To get a ticket, head on over to Sasquatch Summerfest.com. and listeners can use the code B-S-P, like Bigfoot Society podcast, in order to get a two-day pass for the price of a one-day pass. So thanks to Priscilla for giving me that code

so that you guys can get a little help with the cost there. Appreciate that, Priscilla. I hope to see you at the booth in Oak Ridge this year. we can talk about your encounter, was able to talk to so many people last year and the year before. It is an incredible time. You're not going to want to miss it. And I'll see you there. Before we wrap this episode, I want to say something directly to a very specific group of listeners.

If you're in the military, any branch or forces, and if you've seen something that no one can explain, or if you're a national park ranger or forestry worker who's been told to stay quiet, if you're a pilot who's seen something strange down on the ground or if you're with the FBI, a federal agency, or working intelligence, and you stumbled upon something you're not allowed to talk about. And if you're a firefighter, paramedic, or search and rescue responder who's heard screams or found tracks that didn't make sense, if you're in the logging industry on a remote oil field or trucker with government contracts and you've had something happen that you've never told a soul. and if you're a biologist, a wildlife specialist, or a field researcher under contract, who has found evidence you're not allowed to report, if you're a pastor, a missionary, or someone on a spiritual retreat, and you saw something that shook your faith,

or if you work in the shadows, CIA, NSA, or anything with clearance, and you've seen what the public hasn't, then I want to talk to you. Even if it's anonymous, you can reach me at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com. The world needs to hear what you've been forced to carry alone, and you're not alone. You've got the story.

We've got the mic. See you in the woods. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Bigfoot Society podcast. Every encounter we share reminds us that the world is bigger and stranger than we think, and that the truth is often hiding just beyond the tree line. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the channel on YouTube, hit the bell so you don't miss the next episode, and share this with a friend who's into mysteries, monsters, or the unexplained.

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see you in the woods.