Bigfoot Society - Mapping Cryptids, UFOs, Native American Sites and the Strange across America | Map in Black | Jeff Craig

Episode Date: May 28, 2022

#130Jeff Craig is an Ohio based cartographer and map maker who focuses on making maps that highlight Aliens/UFOs, Ancient American Sites, Cryptids, Ecology, Hauntings, Military/Government, Native Lands and Sacred Geography locations all over America.Episode Resources:Hidden Ohio map: https://celticmaps.com/Map in Black: https://www.mapinblack.comMap in Black on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapinblack/_____________________________________________________________Join us over on Patreon! Get access to a whole library of extended shows, exclusive merch like a membership card and stickers, watch me interview guests weekly live on video, a Patron-only Discord and more.This week, Patreon members get to hear an extra 30 minute conversation with Jeff that includes a chat about the elusive Carmel Creature cryptid of Ohio! Join up below!https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsocietyNOTE: I'm attending my first Bigfoot expedition this summer! Please pick up a Bigfoot Society shirt from my Etsy to help fund the gear I'll need to get.https://www.etsy.com/shop/BigfootSocietyTune in every Saturday at 5 pm Central for new episodes of Bigfoot Society!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7QIG: https://www.instagram.com/bigfootsociety/Website: https://bit.ly/3jvKIm7Shop: https://etsy.me/3ptlubQiTunes: https://apple.co/3fmmhTCSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3vF1vIrFacebook: https://bit.ly/3b5XgMpFull links: https://bit.ly/bigfootlinksSmart Passive Income PodcastWeekly interviews, strategy, and advice for building your online business the smart way.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

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It didn't listen to me. It walked out of thicket. It turned around and looked at me. It looked up and there was a monkey man. And the monkey man jumped down out of the tree and started running away. And suddenly they're right in front of the car. He slams on the brakes and manages to stop and he skidding because it was like, you know, graveling. And literally for about a second and a half, they just stood there because they don't know where to go.

And you tell them, panic, you know, like, with nothing, their face is like twitching. Welcome back to Bigfoot Society. This is your host, Jeremiah Byron. Every week I talk to different people in the cryptozoology field. You never know who's going to be on next week. If you'd like to sponsor the show, head on over to patreon.com forward slash the Bigfoot Society. You get access to a ton of things there, including a close-knit cryptic community on Discord, where you can connect with like-minded cryptid researchers and enthusiasts, weekly bonus content,

the ability to hang out with each week's guest after the main show, exclusive merch, and much, much more. This week we get to talk to a new friend Jeff Craig from the Map in Black. What's the Map in Black? Well, you're going to love this interview. We talk all about it, map making, and so much more, and how that connects to Cryptozoology. All right. Well, Bigfoot Society, we have got Mr. Jeff Craig from such things as you may know him from Map in Black, a ton of different. maps. Jeff, thank you so much for coming on and chatting with us tonight. I'm glad to be here,

Jim. Maya, thanks for having me. Yeah, dude. Do you mind sharing a little bit about yourself? You sent me a bio, which was probably the most amazing bio that I've ever gone. I was like, wow, this is this is a ton of info on here. But I'm curious, if you had to boil it down, what would you like the viewers to know about yourself before we get started? Yeah, yeah. I just, I started rambling the other night with that email, and it just got carried away. I don't have like a bio document that I just send out. Right. So I just, I kind of curtailed it, and I wasn't sure where you would want to go with it.

To boil it down, I, you know, it's one word, maps. I work in the mapping field, and I enjoy maps. My roommates in college called me Mr. Maps. Nice. And it's always been an interest of mine. So I'm very lucky that I can pair my work with my passion. And, you know, there's one thing I would say is to do what you love. And then you'll never work a day in your life.

I mean, it's not my saying at all. I mean, that's just so true. And now, granted, my day job is not as fun as, as my other maps that I make for kind of for fun on the side. But it's still enjoyable enough. So, yeah, I'm a cartographer. I make maps. And I went to school for it.

And I was lucky enough to find some jobs doing it. And I've done it done enough for 25 years. Wow. Is that a, is there a certain school you go to? Is that just like, you know, go to any state university and you can learn mapmaking? or did you have to go to a specialized school for that? No, it was your state college. I was, you know, my undergrad was in education.

And I actually started as an accounting major, but that doesn't really matter. Because, just because, like, my dad's like, you should major in business. You know, business majors have good job opportunities. And after a year of accounting, I'm like, this is horrendous. Nothing against accountants. I couldn't do it. Yeah, I couldn't. So after one semester of accounting and a semester of economics and the year of calculus,

I was like, why am I stuck in this stuff? I mean, I didn't do well in calculus. I mean, it's a weeder class for sure, and I barely got by. But I just, I'm like, if this is what college is going to continue to be, then I need to assess, reassess. And I did. So I finished up with an undergrad. and social studies education.

And in doing so, you take a lot of social sciences, including geography and history and polysci and all the different social sciences. But I really found geography to be the most interesting. And I always had. And I guess I just didn't realize that you could actually do something with that. So after my senior year, I just moved straight into grad school. And I went from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, from. my undergrad about 40 miles away down to Cincinnati to the University of Cincinnati and started a

master's degree in geography. And there you study all kinds of things. You study spatial distributions, and that can be a lot of things. Geography is a topic. It's not really a subject. You can apply a lot of subjects to geography. And so this was in the early 90s. GIS was not around. I know you've talked to a couple guests about ChiIS Geographic Information Systems, which is basically the computer software that analyzes spatial data. And so the foundings were there, and I took some computer cartography courses, but they didn't call it ChiIS at that time. So I'm not like a total tech nerd, probably enough to be dangerous. So I was taking those classes, and they do give you a cartography class. In fact, I

took a class that taught you how to draw maps the old fashion way with the old ink pens. Yeah. That was just one quarter. They were on a quarter system at the time, so 10 weeks of doing that just to help you understand the process and some of the terminology, which they still use in the field in computer cartography. It all goes back to when they drew maps by hand. So I was able to really, I think they stopped that soon after I went there. I felt very lucky that I even got to have that sort of insight into drawing maps by hand. So that makes, I mean, I'm starting to piece it together.

Definitely, you know, having all that schooling, it makes sense that, like, you're, you've been making all these fun. I mean, I think they're not just fun, but they are very useful in our field maps, 100%. But before we get into that, a weird side question. And growing up, did you, were you, you know, I love certain books and I love it when they have maps in them. Yeah. Are there certain maps that like you remember from your childhood or reading books that you're like, wow, I just, I really like the details on that one. Or is there any of those that stand out to you from your memory? I'm just looking behind me to see if I had it.

Tolkien. Yeah, dude. Lord of the Rings. The maps in the front, I'm like, these aren't detailed enough. I need to know like where they are. And there's a guy out there who's making maps around the world, including the U.S., in the Tolkien style. I think he's called Lord of the Maps. So if anyone wants to look into that, that's just, I don't know, the guy, I have no idea.

I think he might be British, but I'm not sure. And so I kudos to him. I love it. But yeah, anything I would read, I read. really just, I wanted to have that spatial component. You know, I, I, um, I read some books, you know, still. I, I try to read and, and because of my desk job and different things and driving, I, I listened to a lot of books. And I just listened, uh, it was a couple years ago, but I listened to The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I believe. And, um, if I'm wrong,

I'm sorry, but I believe that's who wrote it. Um, and, and, and they, they try, internet no movie and it's got Vigo Morgensen. So it's a post-apacola... Lord the Rings Connect. Right. It all comes back. It all comes back together. Yeah. So he, it's a post-apocalyptic world and he and his son are walking from somewhere in the Midwest down through the Appalachians to the coast.

I think it was maybe the Carolinas or maybe it was down into Florida. I can't remember. But at the time, like, I wanted a map because he was, he really did a good job. Like, he was referencing, he must have done a lot of research. And I don't know if he lives in that area. But like just the local geography was really cool. And then I got online and they were people that were like had made maps to show the road that they, that wasn't even a road, you know, trails and paths that he took.

So I thought that was cool. that's dude and uh token map that's the one i had in my mind 100% yeah it's it's rocking it's so cool that he included it originally and um you know just the fictitious maps and there's so many cool world building map i'm not into any of that stuff my son did that a little bit with some world building uh he's in college now but i just um you know that i i miss that and i guess i could get into it but there's i guess some great tools and great software for building your own maps these days on computers. I'm sure.

I'm sure of it, man. And I'm kind of doing that myself. I'm building maps with cryptids in them. I mean, that's, in a way, that's its own world map, right? So it really is. And we're actually, let's start to get, to get into it a little bit. So viewers have probably, they may not have heard your name, but they've probably heard what you make, which, you know, that's just, you know, that's okay.

I'm a big foot society than Jeremiah Byron, which is fine. But explain to the viewers, like, you know, what, let's go over first. What are the maps that you've, you've made so far that we would know before? We'll be right back. Hey, it's Pat Flynn here, host of the award-winning podcast, the Smart Passive Income podcast, which was created to help you learn how to become an entrepreneur. And in the simplest way, too, you know, entrepreneurship can be very difficult. I like to simplify things.

And I interview people like Josh Hall and Shane and Jocelyn Sams and Maria Fala. Who are they? Well, they're people just like you, people who have taken action after listening to the show and have built a business that has changed their lives. And I'd love to share an episode with you that I think will inspire you to get started to. Check out the link in the description or go to smartpassiveincome.com slash 122 to get inspired, get what you need to get started and change your life. You got this and thank you.

Really, probably just two. I started and I don't have one in front of me, but yeah, just go off camera real quick. So a quick backstory and just interrupt anytime because I may just ramble. And I'll give you the background because you would probably ask anyways, like why did you make this map? So here is Hidden Ohio Map and Guide. It's the new fourth edition, just came out last week. Wow. The ink is fresh. It's got that smell. Yes. Got that smell. It's a huge map and there's small town monsters. They took a panel ad for me. Oh, yes.

Dude, Momo right here. Yeah. And some other things, some other West Virginia, Flatwoods Monster. Shout out to Andy Smith. Yes. Ghost of Ohio. My friends that hunt ghosts in Ohio. Moonville Tunnel is my friend.

favorite spot in Ohio as a haunted spot. The Vinton County took a, took an ad. So, but yeah, you keep unfolding the map and it's a huge 38 by 50 map. And so if you're on the, if you're just listening, you can't really see this, but it's a huge map, the old-fashioned paper map, two-sided color map, and it pinpoints haunted places, encrypted, and UFOs and kind of the umbrella of the paranormal world. So that was the first map I did. It came out in 2007, first edition, and I didn't know how I would go.

I just really did it as a labor of love, just out of my own interest. And it was successful. 5,000 copies were sold in about a year. So I updated it because after the first edition, I knew that there were some things that I wanted to change. Did a second edition, another five, I think did 5 or 7,000 copies.

another year or so, those sold out and then did a third edition. I was happy with the way that looked. So for about 10 years, had that edition and just reprinted that as needed. And then after 10 years, things changed. So I realized I needed to update the map. And so made the fourth edition. And I didn't want to keep printing the third. And I had sold out and I was out for about a year.

But I'm like, I'm not going to print more third edition. because I needed to change some stuff. So the fourth edition just came out, and it's ready. It's out there. Celticmaps.com. You can order it from you online. You can find it at a couple places around the country that carry it. So that's the first map.

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But it doesn't know you. It doesn't ask questions. It doesn't give physical exams or order tests. Doctors do. At the American Medical Association, we believe the best care starts with a real conversation with someone who understands the science and your unique health. So stay curious, ask questions, but when it's time to make decisions, make them with a doctor. Learn more at AMAHealth versus hype.org. That's AMAHealthVShype.org. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society. We'll be right back after these messages. And that's, that was really my passion. That's what started me off

doing this. And then people kept asking me if I had other states. So, I mean, I'm in Ohio. I'm in Cincinnati. And, you know, Ohio is obviously my stomping grounds. I grew up in Illinois, but I've been in Ohio longer than I've been in Illinois. So I've been in Ohio for over 30 years now. And so I, you know, I thought about doing other states. I looked into, you know, the neighboring states. I looked into Illinois since that's where I grew up. I thought, well, maybe four. Florida, that's, you know, big kind of tourist state or I thought maybe I'll group New England together and just make one big map of that because there's small states and they would fit. Right. And it's historic and there's lots of stuff going on.

So I just, I never, nothing really just kind of got me going. I kind of started and stopped. I kind of laid out the process of what that would look like on a map and nothing, the passion wasn't there. However, in 2012, I laid out a map of the entire country. And I said, why don't I just map the entire country? So over the course of the next 10 years, I research things as time allowed. My kids were growing up, you know, work, different, you know, things, life. And this was a side project.

And I was continuing to update the Ohio map anyways. And then, of course, 2019 comes around. and the pandemic hits. Right. And my work sends me to work from home, which was great. So I'm home all the time. My kids are off at college, and here I am with a lot of free time. Yeah.

So I was able to finish this national version that I had started. I call it MAP and Black. And it got done because of the pandemic. I was able to use all my extra kind of free time. I had a ton of free time like we all did because we were all kind of stuck at home. And so that was printed and came out July 1st of last year. I did 5,000 copies. It's the same size as the Ohio map.

Huge 38 by 50 map. So when you unfolded, it's very, very cumbersome. But, you know, that's what you need to get the detail that I wanted. So it's the 50 states and a little bit of Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, just what, you know, you draw a rectangle around the U.S. Whatever is out there, I mapped. And like I said, I spent 10 years just researching things, finding things that I thought were deserving to be on the map.

Probably nothing, you know, that people aren't really into the cryptid world, like nothing that's too surprising. This is a map, a general map, probably more for your, just somebody who maybe isn't necessarily into it. This would be a good map to show them the highlights of what's out there. Now, there are 1,000 haunted spots on the map in black. There's 300 haunted spots on the Ohio map. So, I mean, there's a lot of detail, a lot of stuff on there. And, you know, dozens of cryptids across the country. I don't put, like for the Ohio map, I could fill up the map with Bigfoot sightings and UFO.

The map would fill up, and it wouldn't be readable. So you have to pick and choose. And I put on there, at least for maybe Bigfoot in Ohio, a representative sampling. Like I found kind of where a lot of the spots are. There's a lot more in southeastern Ohio. That's the foothills of the Appalachians. Right. More rugged, fewer people, forested.

So more Bigfoot sightings there. And so I put more there. I tried to represent accurately where more sightings are. And I did the same thing for the entire U.S. And so that's, those are the two maps I have right now. Dude, I love it. So I'm just going to, so right now, this is live if you're in the Patreon, if you're a member. And I just wanted to shout out.

I believe we've got Daniel and Allen hanging out with us right now. And Daniel from Blue Room Insight podcast. And there's this. going back and forth about how awesome the maps are. And I'll say personally, you sent me so, and these maps are great. Mine are packed away because we're moving to a new house right now, so you know how that goes. But I'm going to get a studio set up. I got a studio shed.

And then, bam, that map, dude. It's on the wall, dude. But yeah, they're talking about Daniel's got two of them, rock on Daniel. They're talking about how the lizard man is on there. But, dude, I know there's a huge following about these maps. And I just want to clarify, are these maps, they're only in print form, correct? Well, they are. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm curious, I want to ask you as a cartographer as a map guy, why, why the decision to go, you know, paper map only as to, you know, maybe today people are used to like, oh, I'm just going to whip out my phone. I'm going to be like, hey, Siri, show me where, oh, sorry, I'm probably activating. hundreds of people listening to this. Hey, phone, where is the big foot around here? So why is it important to still have paper maps in today's world? Yeah, great question. You know, paper maps have sort of become irrelevant, but, you know, the maps on your phones don't show this stuff. That's true. Maybe they're starting to a little bit now, some of the places, but I'm just kind of, I'm just old school.

I love a paper map. I love an Atlas, the old Ryan McNally, the Dolorum gazetteers that they made for every state. So I just went old school. And, you know, the first map came out. I started it in 2005. And so the Internet was there, but no one had smartphones. So paper map was really what, you know, I. I had my mind set on that.

So a little background, in 2000, 2001, I made a paper map of the U.S. that I researched and printed and sold. And so I play the snare drum in a bagpipe band here in Cincinnati. It's like the marching band snare drum. And we play with the bagpipers. So I've done that for a long time. a great other hobby of mine. But because I'm the map nerd, I thought, you know, here we are in Cincinnati.

We've got a bagpipe band. How many other bagpipe bands are there? And I did the research. At the time, I did the research in 2001. There were 650 bagpipe bands in the U.S. Wow. About 150 in Canada. So I pinpointed them all.

And then I put Celtic festivals and Highland Games on there as well. So I printed that map and I went around to the Highland Games that I would attend and I would sell it for a couple bucks. And it was just fun. And again, it's just my passion and my interest. So that was my first foray into my own personal kind of like I worked for a company that made paper maps of different cities all around the country for Chambers of Commerce. And we would print the maps and send them to the Chamber of Commerce. And the businesses that belong to the chamber could advertise on the map with a little business card ad or whatever. And that was their perk for being a chamber member.

You had access. And then you got free maps with your ad. And then they would just give them out. They didn't sell the maps. They would just give them out. And it was their number, the Chamber of Commerce would always say that was their number one request is for a map of that city. Yes. Because if somebody's moving there or if somebody is visiting, the first thing you need is a map.

Now, today that's different because we all have our phones. But back when I worked for this company, we did these maps for different cities. So I was very used to creating maps and paper maps. So it was my work. It was my background. Went to Des Moines, mapped Des Moines. You mapped Des Moines? I mapped Des Moines.

Dude, you know, I'm from Central Iowa. Did you know that? Yes, I did know that. You did your homework. That's why I mentioned it. I drove out of Central. there and and because we used to drive out there and we'd go to the county recorder's office find the new subdivisions because we wanted the the most

accurate maps available and again this was before like internet mapping folks so don't think we were like right just you know doing something that didn't make sense this was in the 90s and early 2000s but um we did you know maps all over the country but mostly like east of the mississippi de moines one one of the of a few that was west of the Mississippi, a lot in Florida, the Carolinas, East Coast, just different Midwest cities. And, you know, the Chamber of Commerce would want a good map of their city. And they would want to update it every year, a street map with details of everything,

schools and parks and points of interest. So we made detailed maps and we made them on the computer and then we had them printed and they folded up. and so I've done hundreds of cities around the country. That is so cool. So we've talked about the mats, but there's a part where I want to try to get this in is, and you talk about in your bio,

but I want to ask you, what is it, there's usually something where something clicks in the person that turns them to the cryptids or the weird stuff. What was it for you that we're like, Oh, man, this cryptic weird stuff, I'm loving this. What was it that set you off for that? It was December of 2004.

My buddy, Brian Davenport, shout out, Brian. I don't think you'll listen, but I'll tell him to so he can hear his name. Yeah, Brian, what's up, dude? Yeah, he's my stepbrother. Okay. From another mother. All right. No connection, really.

We just like to call each other that from the movie, stepbrothers with oh dude Will Farrell and Johnson Riley yeah we're like that that's us man you know so so he came over

and he and his partner and I'm there with my family my two little kids at the time Evan and Katie and he's like you know we always would rent movies and stuff this is when you rented movies

so we went out wherever blockbuster. Yeah, we're going to have to explain this to a few listeners like, hey, guys, you had to go to a, this weird store that had these like VHS boxes and or DVD. Probably Blockbuster and we got a DVD and guess what movie we got? 2004. Well, on DVD by then. I know what it is. Okay. Okay. Well, for those out there listening, you know, you're guessing. Wait, wait, wait, wait, Daniel or Allen, guess what it is right now. listen if you're listening right now what movie was it we'll see if they can guess this is some interactive patreon stuff right now all right okay we're going to show it okay uh oh it's a mothman guys

that's the hint early 2000s mothman movie all right let's just rip the band-aid off what was the movie yeah mothman prophecies dude classic richard gear it was and i had i had heard of it i knew Richard Gere was in it. I didn't realize it was a movie about a true story. I didn't realize it was paranormal. I mean, Richard Gere. And I had seen it at the at the video store. And, but so Brian, um, it's like, oh, you got to watch this. So we watched it. Here we are in Cincinnati. And we're watching it. And like, I am blown away. I'd never heard a mothman. Never heard the name mothman wow granted you know it took place in the 60s sure but it's a couple hours down the road from Cincinnati it's just it's right down I mean we're on the Ohio River mothman was on the

Ohio River you know I grew up in Illinois and again you know I was I was born in 68 so I was born I guess during the mothman episodes but yeah I was amazed I'm like why have I never heard of this and I need to know more So it wasn't long after that. We, I don't know if it was that weekend. I'll have to try to remember because this is kind of my, you know, story. This is my coming to G. Come into Mothman's story.

Yeah, coming to the cryptids. But it wasn't long after we're like, I have to go there. You got to. It was a couple hours. We got everyone in the car. Kids, my kids were like three and five at the time. Yeah. And, you know, husbands, wives, everyone was in the car.

We drove there, explored it. There's Point Pleasant. There's the Mothman statue. The metal metallic statue. We were there after dark. And, you know, my son was standing, leaning against Mothman. He's barely above the pedestal that Mothman is on. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And again, we don't have cameras on her. phones at the time. So I took a picture of them and Moss Man's red eyes reflect the flash and just this great red illumination with my son there. And so that was my first introduction. So then I'm like, okay, so okay, I've got my head around Mossman a little bit now. You know, I've watched the movie. We went there, we explored it. And then I'm thinking to myself, what else is going on out there that I don't know about. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society.

We'll be right back after these messages. I've always had an interest in the paranormal just growing up. And I've heard other people you've talked to mentioned, you know, in search of with Leonard Nimoy. I watched it. I mean, I'm old enough. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Original. Nice, dude. I mean, I, you know, I was probably 10 or 11 when it came out, I think, in the late 70s. Perfect. You know, the music, I remember it. music with the weird synthesizers, and he's talking about lockness, monster, big, aliens, all the, all the great stuff. And then the time life books come out in the early 80s.

And, you know, I just ate that stuff up, you know, close encounters of the third kind. And, you know, 1977, I was eight or nine when that came out. I loved that movie. Oh, man. Just, you know, it's part of our culture, that stuff. I mean, it's not a special story for me, and we all experience that in pop culture. So, but, and I think a lot of us are fascinated by it. I was in particular.

I had a book from, I think, Scholastic Books called Strange and, like, strange and spooky stories or something like that. Nice, nice. I've still got it somewhere. I mean, it's in bad shape, but there was a story about, and I have. I think, I don't know how true the stories were. I don't know if they were based, I'm sure they were based on maybe lore and myth, but there was one called, they were very short little stories in one little book. It was called the Wama Jima's Walk. And I don't know if I'm saying that right.

Okay. But the gist of it, and they use a guy like John Smith shows up to Maine with his son, and they go up to Penobscott River. Yep. And they find a little settlement. And then they see this flash. and it's this weird, weird creature. And when it turns sideways, it disappears because it's so skinny. And it attacks them and it bites them and it gives them a fever.

And the local Native Americans come over and say, you've been bitten by a Wama Jemis walk. And you need to leave the territory because it's kind of mythological. Is it a spirit entity? Is it a real creature? but that just, and again, here I am, like, trying to find this place on a map. Like, I want to go there. Does the Womajima's walk still exist?

Because the story ends, it's so great. It's like, and to this day, the land on the tributary of the Padobscot River is still fenced off so nobody can inhabit it. And once in a while, a dead deer will be found leaning against the edge of the fence with strange. teeth marks because it had some triangular trite marks that teeth marks that this creature would leave and it would bite you. And so I'm just like, oh, blown away at this. You know, again, I'm like 10, 12 years old and just... Yeah, dude.

Love this like, oh, my gosh, you know, this happened in Maine. Like, this is in our country. Like, and, you know, again, I don't know if it's based on any true story, but, you know, I'm sure it's based on... On this episode of Plant Killers, we'll explore One Nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer. Bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients. But fear not true crime enthusiasts. This story has a happy ending. Miracle Grow organic raised bed in garden soil.

It's made with quality organic ingredients from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys who can't say the same, looks like bad dirt's murdering days are over. Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on plant killers. Hey, I just Venmoed you for rent. Nice. Now I can instantly spend it whether I'm checking out online with Venmo or using a Venmo debit card. Say more. More exactly. Because the more you do with Venmo, the more you get. Like earning up to 5% cashback with Venmo Stash on a bundle of brands.

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But it doesn't know you. It doesn't ask questions. It doesn't give physical exams or order tests. Doctors do. At the American Medical Association, we believe the best care starts with a real conversation with someone who understands the science and your unique health. So stay curious. Ask questions.

But when it's time to make decisions, make them with a doctor. Learn more at AMA Health vs.hype.org. That's AMAHealthVShype.org. You know, there's something there. I mean, we have different Native American lore about different entities. And, you know, was this creature protecting the land for the Native Americans? I mean, there's just a lot there to soak in. And I didn't realize that at the time. I just, you know, just thought it was a cool story. But looking back at it now, I think about it. And it's just, it's really, I've still got the book. And if we need to put the name in there, I'll get the right spell. I've Googled it. I haven't really found anything about it. Wow. Maybe they've changed the name or maybe they just decided to make something up.

I don't know. Dude, I love that. I enjoyed that stuff. Yeah. When something like, and to me that's what this is all about is like, you know, these, these legends, these cryptids, like sometimes there's, you know, for me, like I really like the Van Meter Visitor. But like for recent, recently, like I was reading.

David Weatherly's new Iowa cryptids book and okay talks about like this thing called the Iowa Bigfoot Information Center in Des Moines in the 1970s. There's no info on it. So no I'm on this crazy adventure to try to track everything down. I'm going to do a thing about it in the future for the Patreon. But it's like these old tales and legends, they just totally grab a hold of you.

But did you find when you were setting up the map in black that, you know, people talk about, there's these window areas around the U.S. Did you find that like there's certain parts of the U.S. that really jumped out to you? You're like, wow, there's a lot of crazy stuff in this one area. Did you have any things like that happen? There's crazy stuff everywhere.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. You know, there are certain areas that have more of certain things. The East Coast seems to have more hauntings. I don't know if it's because it's just. just older and more historic, you know, Charleston, Savannah, and, you know, you go along the cities of the East Coast, St. Augustine, Florida. Oh, sure. Yeah.

And then, but then, you know, you've got West Virginia and Kentucky and the Appalachians with the strange creatures, Mothman, Flatwoods, Grafton Monster, Bigfoot. You just go up and down the Appalachians and you get the cryptids. Cryptids are all over, but, I mean, there's. there does seem to be a concentration of that. With the UFOs, I don't know if I've found a certain kind of epicenter. Again, you could fill up a map with people who have seen UFOs, and you have to kind of pick and shoot.

And I really just kind of put some of the encounters on both maps, Ohio and the National Map and Black, of the sightings that kind of made the news that have kind of stayed relevant. And maybe there are a few that are more obscure. But, and again, the map, you know, you only get so much room. So if there's something that is not on there and you're like, oh, why don't you have this? It's probably because I didn't have room on the paper and that space to put something on there. You know, I'm squeezing things in like, oh, you know, you're reading about it.

Oh, this is so cool. I got to get this on the map. And then you're like, oh, if I put this on, I got this. delete something else. Oh, that would be rough. So, yeah, I mean, I can share my screen and bring up MAP and Black if you want. Oh, yeah. Let's do that for a few minutes, definitely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Do I share an entire screen or a window? Let's do a window. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So I'm going to add this up here. Here we go.

All right. So if you're listening to this on the audio podcast, you're going to want to want to check out the YouTube version, definitely, because Jeff is showing right now some parts of of the map in black. Go ahead. Jeff, what are we looking at here? I'm just going to scroll around. Let's go down. Oh, yeah. I mean, we can go anywhere, but, you know, there's Iowa and plenty of room in Iowa to add stuff, but, you know, there's the Van Meter Monster and some of the, I've got four different haunts in Des Moines. But, you know, when you get over to the East Coast, it really starts to get crowded.

And that's where you start to realize, like, what do I squeeze in the map? Kexburg, Pennsylvania, famous UFO. They've got a festival that they do, which I hope to go to this year. And then we go down to West Virginia. and grafted monster, which I didn't have it on the first edition of the map. So I've added that. I don't know why. I didn't have that.

Mothman was seen in several spots in West Virginia. It's like he was kind of flying into Point Pleasant. Like he was seen first in, I think, in Clenden, and then down in St. Albans. And then he ended up, I think he was in Salem. And then so I kind of showed. that arrival to Point Pleasant. And so there's just, and I'm zoomed way in, I mean, if you have the paper map,

you know, you have to like almost get a magnifying glass to see some of the stuff, but it's just. So you've got, the red icons looks like they're your cryptid settings. Yes, red icon, anything in red is crypted. I use kind of different categories. I've got, you know, anything that's sort of a werewolf or a dog or a dog man. I've got your classic Bigfoot, which is, I kind of use the Patterson Gimlin silhouette.

Right, exactly. Where he looks back. So everyone recognizes that. Wild man or Bigfoot. There's so many different names. Anything with a ghostly handprint is a haunted spot. I've got a couple of weird spots where there are lights. Brown Mountain.

Oh, dude, that's been coming up in the last few episodes for some reason or another. Yeah, the Brown Mountain lights. Yep. So, I mean, that's weird. There's Marfa lights in Texas that aren't explained. There's a couple of three spots around the country that have these weird lights. Scientists think it's the lights from the nearby highway aren't getting reflected and deflected. And, you know, they try to use some different science stuff.

I don't know. And so then I've got ancient American earthworks. Now, on the new edition of the map, I'm going to have this purple symbol. On the first edition, it's a big orange symbol. I didn't really like how that was represented after it got printed. There's lots of orange dots. It almost looks like the map has measles. So I took away the orange and I just left this symbol.

This is like an earthwork or a mound. So that's kind of my representation of just like that could be a circle. It could be a mound. It could be the sun, which, you know, ancient Americans definitely had a connection with the astronomical calendar. Let's find a UFO here real quick. We can go over here. That's the classic. I just used the classic flying saucer symbol.

We've got the Mantell incident. There were, there's a couple places. You know, you got to squeeze things in. Like, you got to move it around and make sure you're not like, you know, text over text and stuff. Here's the land between the lakes. We've got. Yeah, LBL, dogman stuff. Yeah.

And between the lakes. That's a great area. I know Jess is looking into that, Hellbound. Oh, yeah. Hellbent hauler, dude. Yes. Gotta love them. I'll give you a quick story, Jeremiah.

of my favorite, I mean, UFO invasion of the 73 could be anywhere and everywhere. So I put that in a few spots around the country because people all around the country saw stuff in the fall of 1973. My favorite UFO story, one of my favorites is the Neff Spar Police Chase, April 17, 1966. And I'll stop sharing now if that's okay. Sounds good. And, you know, I found that out when I was researching my map in black, or I'm sorry, my hidden Ohio. So these two police officers, Portage County, Ohio, officer NAF, officer spar, come out of a diner at 5.30 in the morning and see this bright light in front of them. They get in the car, they start to chase it.

It takes off. They chase it across northeastern Ohio. Northeastern Ohio, where they were, is rolling hills, not really the Appalachian Foothills, but it's, It's unglaciated territory. And they actually go into Pennsylvania and they finally realize, hey, we are out of our jurisdiction. They're running low on gas. Other police officers and different jurisdictions had gone with them as they chase this light. Wow.

They go back. They, you know, do their paperwork, whatever. This was a time when the government was looking into Bigfoot sighting. I'm sorry, UFO sightings. Right, right. I don't know if this was still Project Blue Book at the time. I'm sure somebody out there will know, but they came and investigated, and they told these two officers and made the official report that they were chasing Venus as it rose in the morning sky.

I mean, these officers said the light was so bright that it made their eyes water. Wow. And they chased it and it continued to elude them, but stayed close enough that they could stay close enough that they could they'll see it. So years later, a reporter tracked one of them down. I don't remember which name, which officer, Nefferspar, but he said that he wished he'd never seen it. He said it ruined his life. Really? That's wild. And these were the cases where, like, he never wrote a book. He never sold his rights. I mean, this guy, like, he quit the police force. He said, you know, they ridiculed him. I guess at one point he'd open to the bar and I think he'd be.

become, you know, maybe a little victim of the bottle and divorce, living in a trailer, and just, and so these are the stories. It's like, why would he make this up? I mean, this is something happened here. So these stories, and there are hundreds and thousands for UFOs, for deads, Bigfoot, that are out there. And this is why I am undecisive. I just don't know what's happening.

I know something is going on. I don't have answers. If you were asking me where I thought Bigfoot was, I don't know. That is an awesome story. I love it. Neff Spar, please chase. It's out there. You can look at the original.

Oh, so here's a connection that I believe is legit. Steve Spielberg grew up in Ohio. I don't know if he was here at the time. This happened in 1966, but 10 years after this police chase, close encounters the third kind comes out. Okay. What happens in close encounters? Police officers, multiple police cars are chasing UFOs down the highway. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society.

We'll be right back after these messages. Now, in this movie, he puts it in Indiana. this is in rural Indiana where he sets that scene in close encounters where they're in the one police car like flies off the road and crashes through the fence but they're chasing UFOs this is right out of the nef spar police chase I believe we took that from wild yeah wild reality becomes Hollywood it that's that's the way it goes and that's just like one of the that's from just one of the thoughts on the map in black. And like, is there, do you have enough?

There's got to be hundreds and hundreds of points of interest on this map, I would think. Map and black has a thousand haunted spots. Wow. Dozens of cryptids, dozens of UFO sightings, hundreds of ancient American earthworks, which I don't necessarily,

I'm trying to say they're paranormal. I just like ancient American earthworks. And I made the maps, so I can put on it whatever I want. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, when I made the Ohio mat first, in Ohio, especially southern Ohio, south central Ohio, is really known for its earthworks. The ancient Hopewell culture was centered around southern Ohio, Chilacothy, Ohio in particular. So serpent mound is down there, which is the largest effigy mound in the world, shaped like a snake, and is aligned with the summer solstice.

sunset. The snakehead points to where the sunsets and there are other astronomical alignments to this. And I'm just blowing away by this stuff. I'm like, we don't know everything that they were putting into this. It's lost to history. And so not that it's paranormal, but it's mysterious to me. And so I put it on the Ohio map. And then because of that, I also have a category for ancient American earthworks and other mounds. And I have medicine wheels. I visited. the big wheel in northern Wyoming two summers ago. Okay. My kids and I went out to Glacier National Park and some other parks, Yellowstone.

And on the way back, we hit the big medicine wheel in northern Wyoming. It's a huge stone medicine wheel with 32 spokes and a circle. Now, they don't know why they made 32 spokes. One theory is that bison have 32 ribs. Whoa. And so I'm like, okay. There you go. Coincidence or does the medicine wheel represent?

On this episode of plant killers, we'll explore one nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer, bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients. But fear not true crime enthusiasts. This story has a happy ending. Miracle grow organic raised bed in garden soil. made with quality organic ingredients

from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys who can't say the same, looks like bad dirt's murdering days are over. Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on plant killers. Hey, I just Venmoed you for rent. Nice. Now I can instantly spend it whether I'm checking

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It doesn't give physical exams or order tests. Doctors do. At the American Medical Association, we believe the best care starts with a real conversation with someone who understands the science, and your unique health. So stay curious, ask questions. But when it's time to make decisions, make them with a doctor.

Learn more at AMAHealth versushype.org. That's AMAHealthVShype.org. Some lore and spiritual connection to the bison, which they relied on for their... Oh, big time. Yeah. For everything, for food and for clothing. And just... So there's so much out there.

that just really intrigues me. Dude, I love it. Yeah, we're taking a... How about this? I'll say, for future trips, I'll probably have the map in black with me. I hope so. Because, I mean, it opens up a world to you

that you're not going to find on Google Maps. Exactly. This is, it's different. But, but, you know, we're actually, believe it or not, we're into the last minutes of the main show. Share with the listeners again, you know, how they can get a copy of your maps. And if it's a thing, can we actually like meet you in person?

Do you go to any, you know, festivals, things like that? Yeah, I've actually geared up this year. And, you know, I used to just hang out in Ohio. But now that I have Map and Black that came out last year, I'm trying to go out to a few places outside of Ohio. So I'll be in Iowa. I'll be at the Van Meter Visitor Festival. Oh, dude.

Yes. I will see you there. Oh, awesome. So yeah, I'll have the map there and some other merch. You know, my maps are my thing, and that's what I can give to the community. That's my skill set, and that's what I put out there for people. And so I've got the maps. But, you know, I made a few stickers.

I made a few T-shirts. I've got Mothman T-shirt and sweater that I'll be. be selling. Nice, nice. And just to round out the table, I mean, if I'm going to have a table, I might as well have a few extra things. Oh, for you. The maps are the main thing.

And I've got some maps that are, that I'm doing for little micro maps. So like I've got, I did some maps here. You can see that are more of an antique format. Here's West Virginia. They look old fashioned. So I'm starting to do that for different states. I'm just taking the data off the map in black and, and, just making a print of each day 11 by 17.

So, yeah, so I'll be out there at a couple different places. I'm going to the Weithville UFO Festival in a couple of weeks. Daniel was asking about that in the chat. He's going to be happy to. Is he going? So many people are going to be at that thing from what I've heard. It sounds like he's going to be there. Yeah.

I have a table at that. Hocking Hills, Ohio Bigfoot Festival, the first of its kind in August. I put an application for Kexburg. Pennsylvania. We'll see if they accept my application for that. Where else am I going out of state? CrypticCon. Crypticcon. Yes, I'll be there too. I'll see you there. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. I mean, yeah, that's right down for me in 90 minutes from Cincinnati. I'll be down there in Lexington. So yeah, if you just go to Mapinblack.com, you can buy the map from me on my website. And if you want Hidden Ohio map, go to CelticMaps.com. I'm not very efficient.

I have two separate websites for each map. That's all right. So that's just how I am. But I'm not a business. I'm not just, you know, I just do this for fun. But it's more than fun. I mean, it's a serious interest of mine. But the fun part is like sharing it with other people,

the fact that they actually are interested because I'm interested. I just do it for my own sake. And I originally made the map because I watched Mothman prophecies and I wondered to what was out there. I'm like, maybe other people like the stuff too. So I started blotting it on the map. And then I'm like, why don't I just print it out and sell it? So good. It's so good. Jeff, thank you so much for coming on. I'm going to have those links in the show notes so people can either pick up one from you when they're at a festival that you're at or they can pick one up online or maybe both. Because as Daniel said, Daniel said in the

comments. He said he's got two, one for framing, two for putting pins in. So there you go. See what I'm saying? Daniel, I want pictures. You got to have two. Put pictures on Map and Black, Facebook, and Instagram, please. There you go. There you go. I want to see that. Jeff's going to hang out for the after show where we're going to talk about some more stuff. Maybe have some Patreon questions as well. But again, Jeff, thanks so much for coming on tonight. Thanks for having me, Jeremiah. This is been so fun. Real quick announcement before we head out, I've got the opportunity of going on my first Bigfoot expedition at the end of July.

Currently, I'm trying to raise money to buy gear for that. If you want to specifically support Bigfoot Society and, you know, as I go into my first Bigfoot expedition, feel free to do that by going over. to the Bigfoot Society Etsy page and buying a t-shirt over there that will help fund my gear for that expedition uh you can also join the uh patreon patreon patreon dot com forward slash bigfoot slash the bigfoot society i'm about to talk to that talk about that again in a few minutes but uh that's where you'll be able to see i'll be putting some interviews uh from that expedition plan is to put some extra content directly from that expedition into the Patreon.

So definitely support the podcast through there as well. Thanks. Thanks for listening to the Bigfoot Society podcast. Please take a few minutes to review the show on iTunes five stars as it does help us get into the eyes and ears of more listeners on iTunes. That will help us just get bigger and bigger and get even better quality guests for future shows. Also, if you have any Bigfoot encounters or cryptic encounters, please send your stories and audio and photos whatever you've got over to Bigfoot Society at gmail.com. If you'd like to become more involved with Bigfoot Society and get some extra content, we do have a Patreon where you can get all sorts of cool things. For example, for $7 a month, you get extra Bigfoot Society content, usually interviews, but other things as well.

get a sweet membership card and a vinyl sticker that I send to you in the mail. You get access to the Bigfoot Society after show, which is an extra interview, after the main interview with the weekly cast. And usually they are up for Patreon members to be in that extra show segment with them and me. And you get to ask your question live to them and get an answer from the guest, which as you've seen what gets. we've had in the past, this could be a really big deal. There's also a private discord where you can get involved with talking to me one-on-one and the community there, and that's always a great time. You can find the Patreon at www.patryon.com forward slash the Bigfoot Society.

We're very thankful for all our supporters that we have in so many different ways and appreciate all our listeners coming back week after week to listen to more Cryptozoology-based interviews. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next time. The views and opinions expressed are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bigfoot Society. Any content provided by our guests are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or any...

On this episode of Plant Killers, we'll explore One Nation's most notorious is fruit and vegetable killer. Bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients. But fear not true crime enthusiasts. This story has a happy ending. Miracle Grow organic raised bed in garden soil. It's made with quality organic ingredients from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys who can't say the same, looks like bad dirt's murdering days are over. Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on Plant Killers. Hi, Diva. It's Rachel. And Jordan. Yeah, hi. Quick question. Why are you not spending your Venmo balance?

Yeah, we're concerned. You can, like, buy stuff with it. Oh, you love buying stuff. And earn cashback on eligible purchases. You love purchasing eligible things. So the money your friends sent you yesterday, that's today's ramen or ridechair or eyepatches. The skincare kind, not the pyrokind.

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It doesn't ask questions. It doesn't give physical exams or order tests. Doctors do. At the American Medical Association, we believe the best care starts with a real conversation with someone who understands the science and your unique health. So stay curious. Ask questions. But when it's time to make decisions, make them with a doctor.

Learn more at AMAHealth versushype.org. That's AMAHealthVShype.org. This is Daniel Fischel. And Ryder Strong from Podcast. Meets World. As cat parents, writer and I know the feeling of being ignored by our cats. I often wonder, does my cat even love me? Well, there's only one solution to solve that, Sheba. Feed your cat Shiba and go from feeling ignored to truly adored in 12 days, guaranteed or your money back. Sheba has so many incredible products that can satisfy even the pickiest eater. Like new Shiba

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Brilliantly boring since 1865. On this episode of plant killers we'll explore one nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer. Bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients. But fear not true crime enthusiasts.

This story has a happy ending. Miracle Grow organic raised bed and garden soil. It's made with quality organic ingredients from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys who can't say the same, looks like bad dirt's murdering days are over. Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on Plant Killers.