Bigfoot Society - Kathy Strain's Area X Bigfoot Encounters

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

This episode was originally aired on 1/16/21 but has been remastered for a better listening experience.Today's episode is with Kathy Strain, forest archeologist and Tribal Relations Program Manager for the Stanislaus National Forest in central California.Kathy's book: Giants, Cannibals and Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture https://amzn.to/2KDzjTb (Amazon affiliate link)N.A.W.A.C. Ouachita Project Monograph https://www.woodape.org/index.php/opmonograph/Kathy Strain on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kathy.strain.104The show Kathy mentioned she will be a guest on in early January https://www.history.com/shows/the-proof-is-out-there Share your Bigfoot encounter here: [e-mail]🔴 Subscribe to hear more Bigfoot encounters: https://www.youtube.com/@BigfootSociety?sub_confirmation=1Share this video with a friend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5v75Od-X38Watch more episodes of the Bigfoot Society podcast here – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3t1vwtsKh-MGeHs0XglFJE5LwUHpmJm_&feature=sharedRecommended Playlist – New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3t1vwtsKh-Mk4032IyZtWgP6LVPU8uat✅ Help me help others share their Bigfoot Encounter by joining the community on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsociety✅ Hear ad-free episodes early by joining the community on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7Q/joinLet’s connect:Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bigfootsociety/Twitter – https://twitter.com/bigfoot_societyTiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@bigfoot.societyAffiliate links mean I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. This helps support my channel at no additional cost to you.My Audio Interface: https://amzn.to/3L1q8XYPut some pep in my step by buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bigfootsocietyPick up some merch here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/bigfootsociety/?etsrc=sdtSend mail here:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072Send business inquiries to: [e-mail]

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so you won't want to miss an episode. Make sure you're subscribed on the platform that you're listening to. And share this episode with a friend. It does not cost a thing, and it helps the show continue to grow. If you'd like to hear Bigfoot Society episodes early and ad-free, you can do so by becoming a Patreon supporter or a YouTube channel member. Links to those are in the show notes. In Bigfoot Society, I've taken far too much of your time so far,

so let's get on with the show. Thanks for coming back to the Bigfoot Society podcast. I have the privilege of having Kathy Strain with me tonight. Kathy, do you mind telling a little bit about yourself to the listeners? Oh, sure. I am a professional archaeologist. I have a bachelor's and master's degree in anthropology, and I'm currently the Forest Archaeologist and Tribal Relations Program Manager

for the Stanislaus National Forest in Central. California. That is amazing. So out in California. Now, what section of California is that in northern southern? We're sort of in the middle. So do you know where Yosemite National Forest? Oh, yeah, I've been there. Yeah, totally. We live right adjacent to it. So the National Forest is basically adjacent to Yosemite and then over from there. Yeah, I barely have cell covered in my house. We are a very rural county. I think the whole county's only got like maybe 50,000 people in the entire county. But yeah, it's all wooded. We've got beautiful trees and scenery. And, you know, it's just a gorgeous place to live and be. And of course, it's Bigfoot territory because there's

not many of us to bug him. A group of us from Cooper Tino had taken a, oh man, is one of those little electric cars. And we had no idea what we were in for. And it was just like, it was barely getting up the hills, right? But man, this is before I was into Bigfoot. So this is a few years back, really into it. And I remember we had stopped at an outlook and it was just like pure sky, stars, all that. We get back in the car and we are starting to drive off. But I remember like looking out into the dark of the woods and I'm like, man, it just feels like there's something. out here right now and I couldn't put my finger on it. I was like, you could walk a minute out there and not be able to come back in. It was, it's the craziest thing. It's so hard to explain

until you experience it. Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful but remote and it's, you definitely have to get used to it. And then it is kind of funny when, you know, you run into tourists and they think they're in the wilderness because their cell phone doesn't work and you're just like, you know, if you have a road, you are not in the wilderness. So it is a great privilege and been here a very long time and we're going to retire here. Can you explain a little bit more about what being the tribal relations programs manager? So for the forest archaeology part, I'm in charge of every, before we do a project, before we cut a tree, before we build a new campground, we have to survey it for the presence of archaeological sites. So either historic or Native American. And so I have a, I have a, I. have employees that help me do that.

So it's not me personally doing it because it would never get done if it was up to me. And then I still, I'm in charge of all those sites, management of them. The artifacts that are collected are part of our program, historic maps, photographs, that kind of thing, so that we're keeping history for the future. So that's our main job is to try to preserve this stuff. And with tribal relations, my job is to work with the tribes that live here and call the Stanislaus National Forest, their ancestral lands, make sure that their needs are met. Like if they need to go gather or they have another need or or they want to comment on something that we're doing. And they have some very special sites that are out there that that we also manage with them together.

And so it's a great job in the sense of I've known most of these tribes for 20 plus years. And so they're more like friends now. I really enjoy what I do. And I really enjoy helping tribes that they have a need. And I keep a list where all these plants are. So in case somebody needs an easy way to get to willow or an easy way to get to Brackenford or other gathering. I just kind of, that's what I do for them. My role is to help support them in their.

tribe and how they traditionally lived and continue as much of that as possible. When you started this, was the being into Bigfoot before or did it come after you got into that? It was before. So I became an anthropologist because of Bigfoot. It's all his. I love it. So I saw a documentary. It's not a documentary. I saw a film that I thought was a documentary at the time. But Legend of Boggy Creek. Yeah, sure. It had a huge influence on me. Okay. And so, you know, both it frightened me, but it was interesting that maybe there was something out there that we didn't know what it was and science didn't know what it was, but people were seeing it.

And my grandfather is from the Arkansas area and he used to tell me about this thing they called, I don't remember now, Red River Monster or something to that effect. And it just drew my interest. And I then asked, I think I was in fifth grade, but my mind is, you know, the older you get, the more of those young things you forget. Yeah, so I think it was around fifth grade. I asked my teacher, you know, what do I have to do to study Bigfoot? And she goes, I'm pretty certain you have to be an anthropologist. And that's all it took. You know, I was just a, I'm heading.

Always, always was my pathway. But to be also fair, my family traveled a lot. We never went to Disneyland or anything like that. when we went on vacation, we went on two weeks worth of driving through the states and staying in national parks and national forest and camping. And so that was already a big part of my life then. So it was a natural fit. And then I figured it out when nobody's going to pay me to study big for it. Like, hmm, what am I going to do now? And then, but I always loved, you know, history and archaeology and all that stuff. So it was easy fit. And it was interesting that that's my

my foray into big footing and kind of officially was with a tribe and with their traditional beliefs were when I was working on a different part of California. And that's where my passion for Native American viewpoints on Bigfoot came from is that, you know, that influence of Bigfoot's really important to us, the tribe. And here's some interesting things that maybe you don't know. And the local tribe here has tons of, you know, of stories about what Bigfoot is to them, and his name is Jayali here in Chalmy County. Almost every tribe in the United States, Alaska, Canada, have a traditional Bigfoot story and have additional names.

And I actually, the author of a book that has a collection of those stories. And there's a neat little appendix that has the traditional word for Bigfoot for that tribe, and then what it means, what's the translation? of it. That book is called Giants, cannibals, and monsters, correct? Yes, Bigfoot native culture, yeah. Do you find that most tribes view

Bigfoot then as a protector? That's why my title of my book is that way. Is that some tribe is just a giant, just a brother. Okay. Not human, and in a lot of stories, he's a cannibal.

Those are the most prevalent, at least here, basically, say West Coast kind of thing, although there's others and other places in America, but it's very prevalent in California, Oregon, Washington, and going into British Columbia. It's the most common story you'll find, yeah. Okay. Do you find that the stories have spread across all the tribes, even the ones out in the eastern coasts?

I don't remember these stories are hundreds of years old. And so internet, no phones. The book is broken up into what we call cultural areas. California has its own cultural. area. And California stories are very similar. But Pacific Northwest, that's a cultural area. And their stories are very similar and not really like the ones in California.

And so then you have like the South have very similar stories, but they're nothing like, you know, they may have some commonalities, but most of the time they're specific for their regions. For example, Eagle is a very common character in a story. Sure. But just because they all have Eagle means they all saw an Eagle and felt that it was regal and imparted that. But now incorporate them into the stories. But then that's generally, you know, it's not because they heard from another tribe that Eagle is important. They on their own, that's part of their culture that they believe for thousands and thousands of years.

Hmm. Do you remember, let's go back to, you know, you're going through all your schooling, you're getting into the place where you want to be. You're like, I'm getting closer. I'm getting closer to where I've spent all this time through schooling to get to this place. Do you remember the first time where it's, you had that? You're like, oh, I, I'm in position to get this amazing Bigfoot information. I see this amazing Bigfoot evidence or like, I made it. I knew working with, I was born and raised in Porteville, California. Okay. And that is the Sequoia National Forest. And that's where I started my career. And I worked a lot with the Chulay River Indian Reservation and there at that tribe, which have the painted rocks there that's known as the Harry Man Picked Grass. Oh, yeah.

The cover of the book. And that's where my original foray into sitting with the elders and them conveying to me what their traditional belief in Bigfoot was. That's when I first kind of went, this is cool, and I can talk to me about this. But after I left that position, I then was promoted to a job. And same with the Forercer's, but it was based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. And so you don't meet a whole lot of Bigfoot stories or tribes of Bigfoot there. And so I kind of, yeah, wane through that.

It was really when I came to this National Forest, and I believe I came in 1998. And I also have to explain, computers I know to many people are everywhere. You've got one on your phone. You got them everywhere. When I started, computers were that foreign thing that cost a lot of money. And so you had one and you all shared it. The first time I really got a computer that was really just dedicated to my use was one I came to the Stanislaus National Forest.

And then internet became more prevalent and whatever. Because back in the days, we used to have these little weird, I don't even know what they're called anymore, but they were like maybe a chat thing and you had threads and stuff. And it was, you know. Yeah. What's it called? Like forums or whatever.

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It escapes me right now. And I got here. And one night, I had some time and nobody was around and I hadn't ready to go home yet. and I brought up the internet and I typed in Bigfoot. And I was just blown away that there was information on the internet. And one of the first things or groups I found was the BFRO.

Of course. So that was my real foray of getting, getting to know that there were other people like me. Because I thought I was a weirdo that I'm the only person on earth who believes in Bigfoot. And then here it is. I find this whole entire group with tons of people in it. And I was just like that, that I think is the day I kind of went, oh, my gosh. You know, I'm not alone and I can interact with these people and I can find out more data.

Plus also approach it from a scientific viewpoint. Because, you know, I had known that there were, you know, people out there. We see them on the news and stuff and they just sounded like they were, you know, drunk. And they saw, you know, a bear. and they couldn't tell the difference, you know. And so here was this opportunity to meet other scientists because Krantz was in that group in Melbourne and, oh, I mean, a lot of people that are just lifelong friends for me were in that group. And so that was the day I think I said, I'm where I'm supposed to be.

I'm staying put here and this is what I'm going to do. Wait, did you say you had, so you had dealings with, you said Grover Krantz? Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yes. Oh, man. See, that just blows my mind because I'm still very, very new to all this.

And when I think of guys like that, it's, you know, they were back then. We didn't have access to them. But to be able to talk to someone like you who was almost in that like that period of time where you had access to some of those, you know, grates of the field, that's awesome. Yeah, John Green. was in that group. Oh, man. Yeah.

Lauren Coleman, I think. Peter Byrne wasn't, but Peterburn, I know from a different avenue. Yeah, I mean, I haven't talked to literally everybody, but I mean, I've talked to a lot of people, mostly because they're always curious of, you know, how does it work that you're a professional hype? I work for the government. Yeah, yeah. But I'm a big foot or two.

How does that work kind of thing? And so it was just good advice on, you know, just to. always take it from a scientific approach and don't be afraid to say, hey, I don't think what you're looking at is evidence. I don't think, I think you're misinterpreting this because of X, Y, Z. So helpful words that have lasted a lifetime for me. So how's his name is Bob, right? Yes. Yeah.

And he's also very involved with Infoot as well. Right. That correct? Yeah. Which that, I think is awesome. So I met him at a Bigfoot conference. Oh, did you? Yes.

That works, yeah. Yeah, it works. It was my first time I had finally decided I was going to speak at a conference, and it was in 2003. Okay. And it was the International Bigfoot Symposium. It was a huge deal. Jay Goodall was slated to be there, which she couldn't.

And I believe she's a film for us to watch. And you had on Green spoke, gave a keynote. Dimitri, my Igor was there. there was, I mean, it was a huge deal. And so I gave a paper there. And the first time that I was publicly, it was a fantastic conference. It truly, truly was,

in fact, I don't think I've ever been to one that was equally as good, except for maybe the Yakima roundup for Bob Gilman. That was awesome. Yeah. Man. So was that conference up in Northwest then? Yeah, Willow Creek. Oh, okay, cool.

Oh, I mean, the first one, were both of them or the first one? Oh, no, the first one was in Willow Creek, the International Bigfoot supposedly, because that was where we were, we went down to the film side of the Patterson Gimlin film, and Gimlin was there, and that's the first time I met James Bobo. Yep. Met him there. He almost killed me, but that's another story. But the Yakimao Roundup was in Yakima, Washington.

Okay, yeah, right. Bob Gimlin lives. Your husband there, you just random Bigfoot guy came up to you? No, no, no. He only briefly talked to me. Okay. Really later that we got together. But he was a fan of mine from, I handled all of basically Northern California,

Bigfoot sightings for the BFRO. And so he was a huge fan. of going to the BFRO and looking at the new reports. And I really did a lot of work. And so he knew my name. And so that's the first time I ever met him. But this first time I met a lot of people that are now very dear friends of mine, you know, Tom and Yameron. And there was just a lot of people there.

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I just asked because both of you're highly respected in the community. So wanted to get that little tidbit there. It's just because of my brain, but bothers all the beauty. So that's about living in the Yosemite area. Have you had any interesting things happen?

In this area, I've had several. I do have sightings, but they're not from California. You have to go all the way across the United States to be the sighting. Yeah, around here I've seen, you know, we've seen footprints, and we have a place. that we used to Bigfoot all the time that would routinely, we would call blast and we'd get a response. And, you know, we've seen broken trees, you know, yeah, around here, it's, and there are quite a bit of sightings. And a lot of them are crossing the road kind of situations. And they, you know, they're the bigievers out of the poor driver. But the sightings that I had were actually

in Oklahoma because we are members of another group, the American. and WoodAid Conservancy. And we have spent quite a bit of time there. And so my first sighting, so think about, I mean, I believe in Bixit since I was, I don't know how old a fifth grader or however old I was when I saw that. Okay. Let's say seven, you know, until I'm not going to reveal my age, but many, many, many years and hair dye boxes to cover the gray.

Years later, I don't have a sighting sighting. until 2012. Wow. You know, that's a long time to still keep the faith and keep believing, you know, but the footprints and other things I'd seen were very convincing. And, of course, being yelled at, you know, all the way across a valley is very convincing, too. So you are referring to the NAWAC Area X in southeast Oklahoma. Is that right, that area?

Wachita, yeah. mountains, but I call them Oachitas because that's what the local does call it. Oh, okay. That's cool. They pronounce the O. That's what they do. But yeah, and we were, I've known members of the group for years and years and years. Alden Higgins, Darryl Collier.

I mean, I've known them for a very long time. And I was at a conference there in Texas. And they came up to me and Bob and said, you know, we've got this area that is just amazing. all this stuff is happening and bubble out. Would you guys be interested in coming out and seeing what you think and, you know, what's going on? And my mom had been in a really my mom, dad, brother-in-law and sister, I've been in a bad car accident in November of 2011. And I was all like, you know, I don't know that this is something that I can pull off.

And my mom finally got out of the hospital. She was in the hospital from November until April. And just the stress of all of that, I talked to Bob and I said, you know, we need to just go somewhere. It's something crazy. It's just so we can just release the stress that we've been under, you know, for all these months. And we said, why don't we go ahead and drive out there, stop by and see Bob's family in Dallas, Texas. You know, we're only going to spend a week there. Oh, it's a week.

We don't like it. We'll just leave early. And so that's what we decided to do. We made a little vacation of it. We kind of went to different sightseings. You know, we went by Grand Canyon and poor Bob Shard and recovered from that. So I'm a very clumsy person and he swore I was just going to fall in. Oh, boy.

Oh, that would be nerve-wracking for me, too. He was pretty nervous. He was happy the second we got out of there. But so we arrived on a Sunday and there was people already there. And, you know, there's four cabins there that are, we have them, you know, the north cabin, the east cabin, you know, you have to orientate yourself because north in Oklahoma is not the same as North in California. I tell you. Oh, okay. Completely different location.

And so, so nothing happened on Sunday was really just boring and getting to know everybody and having a good time. And then Monday rolled around and basically my life changed. That was the most profound, emotional day. You know, besides I guess your kids being bored, I guess I should. That's a given, right? Yeah. But I don't remember quite what time it was, but let's say it's like mid-afternoon. There was five of us there are totals.

Basically, the four of them are running around like they're being toyed with. So when a rock would hit a tin roof, because all the cabins have 10 roofs, the guys would run over there to check it out. And then the second they got over there, then a rock would hit another roof. And they'd run over there. So this is what they've been doing. You know, they're just playing around around around. And I'm like, I'm not doing that.

It's just way too warm. It's in May. And I just said, I'm just going to stay here. And there's a long time back. And we're sitting around. most of the fires that they have are, of course, in a fire ring outside. What if you could get more from what you already do? When you're a Shell Fuel Rewards member, you can.

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empty campfire. No fire was gone because it wasn't, you know, wasn't cold. And I'm looking down, and we're all sitting in camp chairs, and I'm looking down this area, we call it the bottleneck, because it's literally, I don't know if you've been to Oklahoma, but essentially the whole place is trying to kill you at any time. Really? It's got, you know, you try to walk up the hill, you know, you're hitting rocks.

There's down trees. There's this stuff called Greenbrier. which is a thorny, kind of vineish-looking plant that grabs. I've lost my shoes more times than I'd like to count there. You know,

where it untied your shoelaces and pulls your shoe off. There's snakes everywhere. Oh, really? That's not cool. It's not pleasant. No. And that it includes the spiders

that are like this big. Oh, geez. Yeah, that I walk through their spider was more than a few times. So we're sitting. and I'm looking down this area is called the bottleneck. And the bottleneck is essentially the clearest, easiest walking spot on that is private property, on this property.

And then we call it the bottleneck because it's the only place if you're really going to catch anything that's where you're going to get it. Because everywhere else is so thick with brush and whatever, you're not going to get really clear glances. Yep. We're sitting there and one of the gentlemen that we were with, Mark, goes, man, I hear something walking. And we were like, okay, we're listening. and we were wondering if it was our resident fox that comes by and looks for scraps and stuff. And then all of a sudden, I see a big one and a little one come into my frame of view. And they're doing some kind of weird thing.

Like one, it was clear the big one wanted the little one to come with it. And the little one was intent on coming closer to us. No matter what, I mean, that's what it looked like is, no, no, we're going to go here and the other one's going, no, no, no. And I think it was to try to get behind this shed. And I don't know if you noticed, but I'm, there's not been a whole lot of women down there. And my voice is certainly not for what I've seen. No. Yeah. And so I always had the impression that the little one thought I was a little one because of my picture. Oh, yeah. I always, I don't prove it. I don't, that's just a speculation on my part. Sure. And, um, so,

I bolt up, I jump up out of my chair and I point at them and I go, there they are. And I ran at them. Oh, no. Yeah, because I'm going to catch them. Yeah, you're going to get them. Yeah. And they turned around and bolted up this hillside like they were on a bungee. I hear that over and over.

Yeah. I've never seen anything like it. And it was interesting because then there was no sound. So they weren't being quiet coming because I think they thought we were over at the other cabin, you know, investigating the rock throws. And I think they thought they had clear to come closer. And we caught them. Anyway, so they just go, whoosh, right up that hillside like it was nothing. And so we all ran over there.

And the five people there, all four people saw the same thing. One person didn't see anything because he just didn't have the view of it. and had I not sent anything to anybody or not gotten up and yelled and ran towards them there was actually a camera that we had set there and I'm the one who triggered it because I'm the one who ran past it and so if they had just come just a little bit closer

we would have had them on film oh no oh man yeah yeah whoops but yeah and so and then from there it was just craziness all craziness broke loose where we had so many things happen it was just But the day we drove out of there, we stopped at where the road hits, another road will return to go, back to civilization.

And we stopped there with our friend Brian Brown, and we got out of the car and we just looked dazed at each other, just like, you know, we felt like we had just been put through Vietnam. You know, that's how it was time. Because it was nonstop. It never stops. You know, there was constant rock throws, constant, something weird. happening constant of all these things and you just never got a break and so we actually talked about

it all the way home and I think we spent six months constantly talking about it about we can't believe this actually happened you know and the funny thing about it is that they look just like Patty from the Patterson Gimlin film it's exactly what they look like no way really I mean of course they would but like that just that for some reason blows my mind that's awesome and then And later in that week, Bob saw another one that was reddish in color. And he said it looked just like an Irish setter. It was just really pretty. Really?

Yeah, I wish I'd seen that one. I didn't need to see. But, you know, if you read, we have on the website, if you people want to visit at wooda.org, there's a, you can go to the Wachita project, monolith. You can read all the stuff that's happened. because we outline things that have been seen, things that have occurred. Okay. We really try to run a scientific operation.

We note everything. We take notes of everything that happens. We collect evidence, all that stuff that goes with that. But you can read up on it if you're interested in. I personally checked it out before. So these are heavy-duty, like, almost scientific journal-type papers. Like, yeah, I mean, that which is awesome. Like hats off to, I mean, the guys involved, guys and gals involved with this.

They're like, I think they're the most, some of the most serious. I mean, they are like, man, they are prepared and ready for action and no messing around. They don't mess up business when we're there. You know, nobody's allowed to drink alcohol. Nobody. Oh, really. Okay. That's good.

Very careful about what we do. We have protocols. We have all these things that you have to have to know in order to even go. Because we don't just let anybody go. You have to be a trusted person. Which is very good. We don't want somebody shooting a human because they're green or anything like that. That's the worst thing that could happen.

So anyway, and then I had another site in the year after that and then another one a year after that. And so it's been, but then there's been times when we've been there where I've absolutely nothing has happened. And you're just about to die from bored and the heat and the bugs and everything. It's hit and miss when it's going to happen. Because, of course, it's, you know, all sightings are random. You can't predict. Of course, yeah.

Yeah. And this was also featured in one of the episodes of Small Town Monsters on the Trail of Bigfoot, correct? Yes. Yeah. Oh, man. I remember the first time I watched that because I had looked into Area X before. And then when I realized like one of the episodes of On the Trail of Bigfoot was going

at the area X, I was like, this is amazing. Man, the footage in that is so good. Like it really makes you feel like you're there. Yeah. It was what we, we scared the poor guy, but we're a little intense. But he was such a nice person. And he cracked me up. They showed up, I think, with tea, all they had to be was snowballs, jerky.

Were you talking about Seth? Yeah. Yeah. Because nobody ever believes us when we say it's, it's, you're really super remote. And I still ever go as a Forest Service employee, we have government trucks, you know, and they're all four-wheel drive. And they mostly all have high clearance. and we have some really horrible, horrible roads, and I've still gone down there on,

and believe me, that road into X is horrible. Yeah, I was going to bring that up, yeah. There were one time we was so bad, we're tilted like this, and I reached up, we're in the car driving, and this is what we're driving on. And there's Bobo above me now because we're so tilted. I'm going, oh, this is awful. And then there's one spot that we used to go,

that there that it was just rock because the the brain had just washed away all the the soil and I'm just going and I remember last time we call our truck desi and I'm talking to her we're just interested in making it out and I'm going we'll never come back we'll never come back to get us out of here please let us live nice we try to go out go come in and out of his group as much as possible in case somebody that is smart yeah we were by ourselves then that day no no one left behind. That might be another scenario entirely if you're the only one in there. I mean,

I'm not to say how the wood apes act, but I mean, you never know, right? Yeah, you never do. And there have been people who have been in there weeks at a time by themselves. Oh,

really? Yeah. I mean, people are hard for it. The experience in 2012 was so intense. Bob and I made the decision. to go back in 2013, but he would go for three weeks by himself. Whoa.

And there was other people there, but without me. And then when he came back, I went for three weeks. And that was, you know, that's a lot to give, you know, to do that. It was wonderful experience for me. I mean, it was a little lonely. I remember the first week I was there, and it's really hard when your spouse is. And that's definitely the longest we've ever spent away from each other. And I remember they're leaving and I'm waiting for my next team to come.

And it was all I could do not to go, no, God, please take me out of here. I have, we had that the second week was, was it, no, the first week was just God awful. I mean, it was just constant stuff raining down on us. And we just couldn't get any sleep at all. And that was pretty much an all-girl group, but we had Brian Brown there with us. And we had set up a surveillance system around the cabin to see if we could catch them moving. And it ended up that we could even see the eye on ourselves because it was, you know, it was I think it was a good quality, but it was clearly putting off, you know, a light that was unnatural for the area.

And so we didn't capture anything, but we used to call that our Bigfoot. or shield because if you turned it on, nothing's going to happen because animals can see it. And so they weren't coming anywhere near it. And that's the only time we've got any rest. Wow. Question for you. Was there a situation where,

so you have all this time where you're working with the tribes and you've got all these passed down accounts in your head. and so you've built this this view in your head of what Bigfoot looks like then you get out to Area X and you actually see it what how does that do to your mind is there like a big shift like that has to happen yeah I had in my mind that they looked like caddy I mean okay tribes would always tell me yeah that's what they look like

and they I've fully support that being a very real animal on that film. There's awesome. That there'd be no doubt of that. Yeah. And so that's what I always pictured, but she's not really fast in that film. Right. If you notice, she doesn't walk at lightning speed.

So the only thing that really traumatized me, I guess, was the speed of them going up that hill. That, that I remember I turned around to Bob and I just said, we might as well go home because we can't win this. And he goes, if at a few time one of those things wanted to pick me up and carry me off, what are you going to do about it? You know, I didn't think they looked like they were strong. They were very muscle. And in 2014, I saw the one that's called Old Gray.

And monstrous. I mean, monsters. Where I saw him, I stayed put where my sighting was. And I sent them over to where I had seen him so that we could compare and height. and here's here's that thing here's bob really he's six foot tall whoa it was huge one of the largest things i've ever seen in my life and i would have no doubt whatsoever that if he wanted to he could even push the cabins down i mean it wouldn't surprise me at all that he was so large and so i wasn't prepared for that i wasn't prepared for that size difference you know kind of thing although

it would make sense that you know males are would grow taller or bigger than a female. I always made fun of those people who called them eight footers or I used to make fun of the ones that used to, there's sightings where the Bigfoot kept up with a car driving, you know, ran along. Yeah, sure, right, yeah. Obviously now I'm going, oops, you know, I guess they are kind of that fast.

And so there's those kinds of things that I, tribes that always told me, you know, don't go outside if you hear whistling because the Bigfoot's trying to lure you out. We've heard whistling. Now tribes have always said that they bang on trees with sticks. You know? And so when you hear it, that doesn't surprise me. It wasn't those kinds of things.

It were the things that basically I hadn't really been told, I guess, is the best things. No tribe had ever told me that they could get that large. So caught me off guard. Or they did they just go fast. That is crazy. So you mentioned that you saw some of, I would imagine they're in a group there of some sort. And you saw some of the males. Are they extremely like wide across two as well?

I can say what I saw. I think, and I cannot swear to it, that the first two I saw were a young female who was stuck babysitting, her brady little brother. That was just my initial kind of, because why I've always thought that is when they bolted, she went up first and did not wait for him at all. And so as I would think, I've seen enough primate behavior,

a mother is going to try to save her child first, right? That's chimpanzee. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that's what my, And why I was, I thought that way is that she went, you're on your own, sucker, and just went, woo. And he was equally as fast.

But, you know, what I mean? She was definitely in safety before he got there. But so the only male I've seen, I saw him by profile. So I didn't get to see him across this direction. And he certainly seemed like he was wide, certainly. Interesting. Very interesting. I've actually got a question that from Greg in the Patreon who has this kind of is in this area X area.

His question is it must have been amazing to work with small town monsters in area X. What's been your favorite or coolest moment while squatching? Proudest of. I guess it's related to that, but Peter Burns, if you know him, he's one of the four original. person. We were together at, it's called Beachfoot, and it's an Oregon. And he picked up his chair and came over and started to talk to me. We wanted to hear about my sighting. He asked me tons of questions. We knew each other for a while, but not, you know, never had a ruled in-depth conversation. And Peter is very much so a firm believer, very stout firm believer, the Bigfoot can only be in the

Pacific Northwest. I mean... Really? Okay. Okay. I told him the story. And then so then right after that, we get interviewed for podcast. Laura Krantz had done it. Yep. Wild thing. Wild thing. And it's interviewing myself, Bob, and then Peter Byrm. And he admitted, he goes, based on Kathy's citing, I'm now going to have to admit that there's Bigfoot and other places. Wow. North America. And I said, I'm going to give her, I'm going to give her Oklahoma. And so that's what I'll say from now on. And I just went, whoa. And I just, and I remember when I mentioned that to Dr. Meldrum and he went, holy cow, because you, you don't know what that is. And I was like, yeah, I do. I mean, so I think that's what I'm more proud of is that he took that I'm an anthropologist and what was what I saw and took it seriously that, okay, I, maybe I, been discounting the rest of the United States. Yeah.

Man, that must have been one of those things where it made all those years of those years of hard work worth it. Is this like, yeah, dude. It's just a picture of the moment and I have it on my phone and show people go, see, this is the moment. So good. This has been such a fun, fun chat. Are you and Bob still actively going to Area X then?

We did not go last year because I, I injured my knee on the job. Oh, okay, okay. And so I just, my knee is just in bad shape. And, of course, this year was COVID, but the operations are still going. And then we're talking about if we come out of this COVID, probably going this coming year because, you know, we miss it. And I guess another way of saying what I'm proud of is I haven't, it hasn't killed me yet.

So I keep on back. And I see some snakes. I don't even know why I would go back to that because I hate things. They're everywhere and there's all kinds of different types and just one other little story, but it was really funny is we're sitting down and eating dinner and here comes a copperhead out of nowhere. Oh my goodness. Runs up Bob's leg.

Whoa. Over him and then heads for our tent. And Bob didn't spill a drop of his dinner. But Brian Brown, who was there dumped his dinner all over himself because it was such a a shocking event. I mean, it just came right at him. And then it went veered off and then headed out. It was just like, and there was plenty of other places for that snake to go. He didn't have to come towards us. But I remember, but here's Bob. Got his dinner. Didn't spill a bit. And I'm looking at it making sure it doesn't go in our tent because that's my main concern is that, you know,

we're just going to burn the tent down if it gets in there. And so it just keeps going all its way. And I just thought, yeah, I knew I married a cool man, but now I really. know. There you go. Oh, that's so cool. That's so cool. Man. Thank you so much for coming on, Kathy. This has been just fantastic. What are, I'm sure most people listening to this have heard of you, but if people are new and wanting to keep up with you, what are? I would really recommend, oh, this, that is a good lead on for, let me check the date. I'm going to be on a, a new television series. Whoa, really.

The proof is out there. The proof is out there. January 8th. Okay. And it's going to follow. I feel awful because I don't watch this show, but a lot of people do, but it's the Mysteries of Oak Island, something like that. Oh, okay.

So it's immediately going to follow that program. So I believe it's January 5th. And if I look at my, my phone really quick. But Cliff Berkman is on it as well. Oh, wow. And it's called The Proof is Out There. Oh, yeah, January 5th, 10 p.m. Eastern Time. It's right after the curse of Oak Island.

Oh, okay. Let's see what channel. I don't know what channel that is. I watch the movie. That's History Channel. It's History Channel. Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Sorry, history channel. It's A&E and A&E owns all of those channels. Oh, okay. Yeah, true, true. Yeah. But anyway, the series is about us as investigators looking at videos or things that people have filmed or taken pictures of and then applying our specialties, mine being anthropology, and a big footer.

to that and then saying what we think maybe what's really going on there and there were definitely several that really impressed me that one i think is probably one of the most significant videos ever taken in anthropology in the last 50 years really sincerely amazing yeah i think we'll definitely be checking that that sounds pretty cool yeah it is and otherwise in that you know keep up with wood ape dot org and I'm on Facebook and you're welcome to contact me anytime. Awesome. Awesome.

Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for having me. Here at Bigfoot Society, our goal is to provide a platform for those that have encountered Bigfoot to share their encounter in a safe environment. But we need to hear your story. If you've experienced something that you just can't explain, please send me an email at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com. Then we can start the conversation.

I know a lot of you have not shared your encounter at all. It's been 20 years. And it's time that you get this off your chest. And then you can get some well-deserved for rest because I know you haven't been sleeping. I understand what you're going through. And I appreciate every one of you listening. What if you could get more from what you already do?

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