Bigfoot Society - Terrifying Washington Bigfoot Encounter | Joel Thomas of Merkel Media

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

In this episode of Bigfoot Society, host Jeremiah Byron talks with Joel Thomas of Merkel Media and Free the Rabbits about his terrifying Bigfoot encounter in the forests of Washington State — and the deeper mysteries that came with it.Joel describes what happened the night he was surrounded by heavy footfalls, foul odors, and strange whistling sounds deep in the Pacific Northwest woods. But the story doesn’t stop there. He also opens up about the spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of these events — how encounters like this may tie into spiritual warfare, ancient entities, and the unseen realms that connect paranormal phenomena around the world.The discussion explores topics such as:Bigfoot and the energy of the land in WashingtonFaith, fear, and discernment during cryptid investigationsJoel’s thoughts on Dogman, Skinwalker Ranch, and demonic deceptionWhy he believes many “creature” encounters may have supernatural rootsThe mission of Free the Rabbits and its connection to truth-seeking and freedom from fearWhether you’re fascinated by cryptids, intrigued by paranormal spirituality, or drawn to real eyewitness Bigfoot stories, this episode blends field investigation with a rare, honest conversation about faith, darkness, and the unknown.Resources: Link to all films discussed:https://merkelfilms.comFree the Rabbit show:https://www.youtube.com/@FreeTheRabbits🗣️ Share Your StoryHad a Bigfoot encounter or strange experience?Send it to [e-mail] – your story might be featured on the show!🎥 Watch & Subscribe on YouTube🔴 Subscribe here → Bigfoot Society YouTube💬 Leave a comment & let us know your thoughts!📞 Leave a voicemail with your story → Speakpipe (Use multiple voicemails if needed)👥 Share this episode → Watch & Share🎧 More episodes → Podcast Playlist🌲 Recommended: New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters💥 Support the Show & Get Perks✅ Join the community on Supercast – Become a Member✅ Listen ad-free & early on YouTube – Join Here📱 Let’s ConnectInstagram: @bigfootsocietyTwitter: @bigfoot_societyTikTok: @bigfoot.society🧰 Tools & Partners I Use (Affiliate Links)These help support the show at no extra cost to you:Beam (Better Sleep): Try BeamWildgrain (Better Bread): Join HereSeed (Probiotics): Get SeedMedi-Share (Healthcare): Learn MoreLMNT (Electrolytes) Free Sample Pack with your first purchase! : Get LMNTOrganic and non-GMO groceries delivered for lesshttp://thrv.me/uarEhS🎙️ Podcasting Tools:Repurpose.io: Try ItDescript: Sign UpStreamyard: Start RecordingRiverside.fm: Try Riverside🎧 My Audio Interface: View on Amazon☕ Buy Me a Coffee – Support Here🛍️ Grab Some Merch – Shop on Etsy📬 Mailing Address:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072

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

So stay with us. All right, Bigfoot Society. You've got the privilege of talking to Joel Thomas today. You may know Joel from the podcast Free the Rabbits, which is over there under Merkel Media. Of course, the big organization run by Tony Merkel in the Confessionals. And I'm sure all my listeners have heard those guys. But it's a privilege to have Joel on the show today a little bit about him.

It's a singer, songwriter, podcaster, and encrypted hunter. from Cincinnati, Ohio. Free the Rabbits is also a podcast that takes unconventional look at conspiracies in ancient history by encouraging people to enjoy the research of going down the rabbit hole, but at the same time, going outside and touching grass,

which I think is a good thing. What does that mean to you going outside and touching grass in this field? Sometimes literally, man. I don't go out there and just go barefoot, walk around. It feels good, man. It's good to get in touch with

the outside world and realize there's a lot more than living behind a screen. I think a lot of conspiracy theorists live their life behind a screen and don't really interact with the real world and people around them and understand that we grow together by cultivating relationships with each other and realizing that no matter if we think differently than each other, we can still come together with love and compassion. That's one of the things I really talk about on the show. It's vastly different than Tony's show, in a sense Tony has people come on and tell them their experiences or their research, whereas mine is very heavily researched based on a lot of different topics. But on the other spectrum of it, I also make music and I go out and hunt all kind of weird things with Tony and the team. And we've got some very interesting documentaries coming out. Next year, we just dropped the Meadow Project where we went to an unisclosed location, and we had some NDAs to go out there, and we went on some weird stuff out there. So we do this all the time,

and we travel all over the place, and that's where we typically have some weird things happen. So I'm sure we'll get into some of that today. Absolutely. It's a thing where it's really hard to explain until you start doing it yourself where, especially if you're a content creator, I feel that there's a point where if you're a podcaster and then you're in a subject like this and you're like, maybe I'll go out and go to Oregon and see what happens. Like you're going to quickly get to a point where stuff starts happening to you or you start becoming part of the story yourself. And I think that's what we'll be talking about today. You've really gotten into some interesting adventures along the years being part of the Tony's team and Free the Rabbits. And as you said,

you're going around to different places in the U.S. and getting involved with some really crazy stuff. But people might be wondering, okay, so is this going to be a conspiracy episode? We don't really do that. We focus on Bigfoot, but maybe some stuff comes up along the way. But you've had some interesting things come up that have gotten you involved into the Bigfoot field. Is that right, Joel? Yes, I would say from as early as, you know, five, six years old, my parents were very open-minded and always taught us to be very open-minded when it comes to the world around us. And I heard stories about Bigfoot all the time, read books about Bigfoot. I was big into the Bermuda Triangle. I always laugh with people that I've watched the, because I consider that part of the conspiracy world.

And I've watched the conspiracy world change over the course of 40. years because I'm 44 now. So I've watched it change the ebbs and flows and where it is now. And even when it comes to Bigfoot and dog man and all these different things, UFOs, anything that would be in that field, I've watched it change from this childlike curiosity to sometimes people fighting over these topics. It's definitely different than it used to be. But I can say that overall, I think way more people are open-minded to these things being real than they were when I was younger. You heard it more in hush circles or your classic Unsolved Mysteries or something like that or these old documentaries that I used to watch about these topics. So it's definitely changed.

I've definitely seen a whole lot over the years. And when it comes to Bigfoot and all of these things, different cryptids like that, I will say that in the past five years is where I had a lot of really my heavy experiences. Not that I didn't have anything that would probably be considered more of the paranormal side before that, but as far as more of your boots on the ground activity, that's really happened a lot over the past four to five years. Absolutely. It's a thing where I think from what I'm seeing at least, I think people are at the point where they are like,

we're going through, and we'll keep it vague, but we're going through so much stuff right now that they're at the point where they don't care anymore that it's time to come forward and it's time to share stuff and I don't care what people are going to say about me anymore. And man, I don't know about you guys on your side, but I've got like government guys starting to come over and like state legislator guys,

and they're like, hey, I've had a Bigfoot experience. Let's talk about it. So it's getting to the point where I think stuff is really revving up, and you probably see some wild stuff coming forward on your side as well. But Joel, could you take me back to, we're talking about it a little bit before the show started, and you actually were able to go out to Washington State where it's really the epicenter of the most Bigfoot activity.

Yeah, so our plan was to go to the location where Wes Garmor from Sasquatch Chronicles, he and his brother had their epic encounter that most people in the space know now. So Wes is good friends with Tony, and they had been talking about doing this, and as we were preparing to see if this was going to be a possibility, all the team was being built. We had all the cameramen and directors and everything coming together to figure out how we wanted to do it. So everything ended up working out. So we all flew out to Washington State.

Went to a few places because there were some other people that had some experiences as well. One lady in particular had a very similar experience to West Garmor, but it was, I think, maybe 30, 40 miles away from there. So that was interesting. We actually went out to the area where she. She had hers where the Bigfoot light creature dropped down in what most people in the space now called a spider crawl. And she saw it do the same thing, but it's spider called backwards up a hill and over the hill while I was watching her the whole time. So it was very interesting to hear about that. But West took us up there.

And this was the first time West had been to that exact spot since it had been years. And he was real nervous while he was up there. He was during the daytime, too. He said he would not go out there with us at night because that's when it had happened. It was at night. And he said that we were crazy. And he specifically told me I'm crazy because generally what they do, they put me out there alone and send me out for however amount of time to document. And what we generally do, we have a technique that we call the Scott Carpenter method.

And I sure it's a name that most people know. in the space. His son, Travis, gave us his rig and how the rig works. You put it on your shoulder. It's got a gimbal and it's faced backwards. So the gimbal allows it to stay steady while you're moving, but it also records behind you. And that's typically where Scott caught a lot of things because his idea was that as he's walking past, things will pop out, take a look at him because they think he's not looking and you'd be able to catch him on camera. So we've actually, actually got very successful documentation from using that. Some of it's not been released yet. It's for future films. We've had some really interesting stuff that was caught on there. So it's generally what they do. They send me out and I enjoy it.

But Wes said, you're crazy. He's because we were in a vehicle and these things were, especially the one that was bluff charging for about an hour, was squared up on him. He said it was massive. So we went up there. He took us to the area. So I'd say for the first couple nights that we were out there, nothing happened.

The only thing weird that was going on was there was a vehicle there that initially seemed like the guy or whoever owned it had just left it there. And we knew it was a campsite next to the look like a work vehicle. It was more of one of those work vans. It was locked. So we didn't know what was going on with that. But as the nights progressed while we were out there, we noticed nobody came. back to it. And by the last night that we were there, we actually started looking around and we noticed that were two large jars of marijuana that were out there that were just sitting out there

that were untouched. Now, in Washington, marijuana is legal. So it's not unusual for people to have it. It's very unusual for people to leave large quantities just sitting out in the woods. And we noticed that nothing had been touched over those three to four days that we had been going out there. So I'll get to that in a second because that's a super interesting case to tie into David Polites and the idea of people going missing in these state parks because that's where we were. We were in one of these national parks and it lends the idea that people go missing and then you start getting into what's going on. Is it government? Is it Bigfoot? Is it some sort of other crypted? So the last night We were out there.

We were in a camper vehicle, and it was raining, but it wasn't pouring down rain. And we're in the vehicle, and while we're in there, we hear some weird whistling outside. So that was an odd thing because there's nobody up in that area. It's pretty isolated. It's pretty secluded up there. So we knew that was going on. And then the big tell, we opened the door, and it was just the nastiest. stink you could ever smell. It's that classic what people say, that big foot stink, and it just

permeated the whole area. And we're talking, we were probably only 50 yards away from where Wes had his experience. So at that point, it's, well, do we want to send Joel out? Do we not? And I said, yeah, I'm good to go. So I go up the hill. I have to go up the hill and over the top where I'm out of the line of sight of everyone else if I get up to the area where it happened. So I go up that way and as I'm going up there, I can hear something thudding parallel to me all the way up the hill. And anytime I would stop, it would stop. Now, what was interesting was while we were down there before I left, we could hear what sounded like multiple large things in the woods around us circling us. So the way that it was laid out, we were on some weird road

that was beat up. That's how we even got back there. And there were woods on both sides of us. And then there was a weird fork in front of us. So there's another patch, large patch of woods too. So we're pretty much surrounded by woods, dark, and it's raining. So hard to see anything, but you can smell this just awful smell, this almost rotten type smell. that hadn't been there all week. So this is just something new that happened within that time we were there. So I'm walking all the way up to right around where Wes had his experience. I get up there and it's quiet. There's nothing going on up there outside of the thudding I heard and it's stopping. So I get up there. I'm up there for a little bit and I say maybe I need to head back now. So I head back. This time though, I don't hear any thudding following me back. It's like it stayed.

where I was at. So again, I haven't seen anything. I just know what I heard next to me in the woods. So I come back over the hill. I see Tony down there. I see Ward and a couple of the team members. Some of them were inside. I get down there and they saw something that looked like an orb that had come out of the woods during that period of time. Now, when we went back and looked at the footage and we had a biologist look at it too, it looked more like a moth than it. an actual org. The odd thing, though, from the biologists that we had, look at it, he said that there shouldn't be any moths up in that area in that period of time. He said because of the timeframe, which was close to coming out a winter, he said they wouldn't even be there for another couple of months. So he said that was super odd. And he said that it could have been something that looked more moth-like than anything, but he wasn't ruling it out that it could have been a moth. So that was very odd. But initially on camera, it looked like something we couldn't define until we slowed it down. But again, super odd. Why is this thing happening when we're having

this experience with what seems to be large cryptids or whatever, right? We'll just say large creatures in the woods. We didn't see it. So I can't tell you that, hey, it was big foot or it was this or that. We just know they were large and we know it smelled really bad. So I get back down with Tony. We start talking. The rest of them go inside. And this is where it gets really weird for Tony and I. Something growled.

And it felt like it was next to us, but we didn't see anything. But when I say that I felt it growl, I felt it growl. I didn't hear it growl. And it vibrated my whole body. And Tony looked at me and said, man, I felt that in my gut. He said, my whole body shook. And I said, man, I didn't hear that.

I felt it. It's very typical of what you hear people say when they have that emper sound that happens, where it's something that's guttural, that's hitting a different frequency than something else that you've ever heard before. So that was super weird. At that point, we said, let's just step back inside and talk to the rest of the team, which we did. We talked to them for a bit.

And then we went back out and we decided to poke around where this van was at because now we're starting to think whoever was here never came back. And it's been almost a week. And now we're a little bit concerned that, hey, this person might not be here. And we've been out there at different points of the day to throughout the week. So it wasn't just like we were there at night. We've been there during the day. We never seen anybody. And we got as much information as we could.

Obviously, the vehicle was locked and we couldn't get that, but we did get the license plate. We ended up calling the police about it and gave them information. And come to find out the guy that was working out of the work vehicle, he'd been missing for two weeks. And we ended up getting a hold of his ex-fiance, who he was still in contact with. And she said that she was unable to get a hold of him either. and over the course of a year after a year from that date, when they checked the entire area and didn't find anything. But then a year later, as they're checking,

they found four skeletons out there in that same area, and they claim that one of them was him. The problem is it's just kind of what they said to make it make sense, but none of the teeth matched up, nothing matched up, And it wasn't enough for them to actually be able to get any of that information. I just feel, and even his ex-Piancee felt like it was... All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse?

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So that also wins into the missing 411 phenomena, which is directly tied to a lot of Bigfoot sightings. So with all that information, we had to really think about, okay, one, what was surrounding us? It was in the same area that Wes Gummer and his brother had his experience. We had awful smells. I had something follow me that was massive. We had multiple things surrounding the vehicle. Plus, Tony and I had this crazy, what we would say, infrasound. But for lack of better term, just something that vibrated our bodies, but we could audibly hear it as a growl.

So all that happening, plus a missing person, you start thinking that this is a very high octane area for Bigfoot sightings. And you have to start asking the question, is this some sort of nest around there? That's something that West Gürmer talked us about to. Was there, is it a nesting area? Is it a mating area? Is it a place where there are families there that don't want you in their area? That's why they're running people off. Or is there something else going on that we're not really sure of the exact reasons why they come and they're aggressive?

because what we've heard in that specific area, they tend to be very aggressive. And that's not always the case of Bigfoot because we have plenty of Bigfoot sightings where, I mean, I'm just looking at you, walk off. So it's not necessarily that, and I don't even buy into the idea that they're all some awful thing. But we do know that they have been aggressive in certain cases. So in this particular area, though, we're hearing a lot of specifically from West how aggressive that they were. and then just from our experience, whatever it was that was there seemed aggressive. Wow, that is really intense.

I know that Wes's encounter, it's had a lot of eyes on it over the years, but just for me, is this a thing where the location area can be discussed, or is it a thing where you pretty much were keeping it at Washington for respect of the original witnesses involved? Yeah, we're just keeping it underwrapped from the witnesses involved just for Wes, really. If West decides to disclose it, that's on West. We told him that we wouldn't tell anyone exactly where we were at, and we'll leave that to him. And I don't know if he's done that on his show or not yet. That's up to him, and maybe he hasn't, maybe he has.

That would be something that, I guess, people that listen to a lot of Sasquash Chronicles, they'd be able to answer a little bit better than me. But I know that for us that we're just not going to talk about exactly where it was at, just for the sake of West. Yeah, and I totally respect that. I will say that, let's say there are certain areas in Washington where, yes, it gets extremely aggressive. I can think of one right now, Skamania County, and you have multiple people going missing. The two individuals in Christmas Eve that were found in Skamania County.

And there's a lot of places in that county where people don't go because they've been told like, hey, the activity related to Sasquatch in this area is super aggressive. So I'm right there with you. We're not sure exactly where you guys were at, but there's definitely places in Washington that fit the bill. Now, I've got a few questions about what you just shared. I always find it fascinating when people bring up the whistling just because I've experienced that myself. but are you able at all to replicate what you had heard when it comes to the whistling? There were short bursts. It was probably more like a and I can't really do it the way that was,

but it was very short but shrill. And it was just in little pops little bursts, but we knew that it was something that was audibly making the sound. And it was coupled with the smell. So when the whistle started, that's when the smell started. So that's when we really got to thinking that, okay, this could be the phenomenon that we're looking for because it's the smell coupled with the whistling and then everything escalated from there. That's incredible. What you just did was exactly what we had heard down the Willamette National Forest in Oregon over the last two years in an area where they've been seen.

They try to get people to go further into the woods with the. with the type of whistling they're doing, they're trying to lure them in, and they're trying to especially do it with females that are present in groups that are in this area. It's very strange, but that's incredible. You did the same exact whistle. Now, something that I find really interesting is,

and I listen to, I've listened to a lot of your episodes when you are on the Confessionals and Free the Rabbits, your show, and I know that you have been through a lot and that you have quite a history when it comes to things that are related to the weird, right? Did you notice after this point of going out into the dark, into the woods by yourself,

and you do have this stuff happen, did you start to have weird things happen to you afterwards that perhaps could be related to going out into this area in Washington? No, not this particular time. Now, I won't say that it's never happened on any trips that we've been on. I would say specifically from when we went out to Skinwalker Ranch in the U.S. Basin out in Utah, there was definitely what people would consider the hitchhiker effect that happened to all of us out there. So everyone had some weird things happening around the house.

But this specific one, I honestly can't think of anything overt. weirdly weird that happened when I got back from this particular trip. But I've had some things happen from specific trips. Just depends on which trip it was. And also how, I guess, the best way to say it, woo-y the trip was. If it was more on the woo side, then yeah, I might have had some things happen back at the house that was more in line with, you know, something more on the paranormal side. But this specific trip, I didn't have anything happen.

Gotcha. It's such a fascinating phenomenon when many witnesses report that, hey, I got back to the house. I started hearing voices. Things started moving around the house. I have very vivid dreams. Listeners, a really cool book to read that might explain some of that is Dark Matter Monsters by Dr. Simeon Heim. It's really cool.

And in fact, you probably just heard the episode as it'll be out. But let's deviate a little bit. Can you tell me a little bit maybe about what happened when you went out to Skinwalker Ranch? That's such a place that is just steeped in weirdness. And to be able to go onto a place like that, I think really deserves to chat about. Yeah, sure. We went to a ranch called Space Wolf Research. And Space Wolf Research is butted up next to Skinwalker Ranch.

So when you're on the property, you're looking dead into Skynwalker Ranch. You can see the entire ranch. And you can walk up to the ranch. So we were not on the ranch property, but we were directly beside it. So anything weird that's happening in that area is also happening at Space Wolf Research because it's all connected. And it all goes down into you're looking over on top of a mesa. You're looking down below it. into Skynwalker Ranch and you can obviously some of it is also Space World Research and then you

look up and then there's a mace on the other side. So with Skimwalker Ranch it's in almost a valley between two maces and we were allowed to go on there. There's a guy named Ryan Burns. He owns the property and he had done some work with Tony in the past and we had plans on going out there. So we ended up going out there and immediately stuff was happening. Stuff was happening before he got there. So one of the weird things that happened a week before we even got there, there's a large trucking container, one of those large containers that would fit on the back of a semi-truck. And it's on the property, and they use it for storage, and it's massive. So one night, they hear a lot of weird stuff going on outside as far as sounds, and I believe it was,

might have been storming, maybe. Don't call me on that one. But the next morning, they go out there, and what's really weird is the entire trucking container has been picked up and moved about 90 degrees. But the best part is there's no drag marks on the grounded ball. It was like it was picked up, moved by just a few inches, because you could see where some of the rocks were knocked over that were high enough that were above that two inch mark.

It was like it was picked up perfectly placed. The only way that could have been done was a helicopter to come, pick it up, move it 90 degrees over, and then drop it back down. So we've got the pictures of that. It's also in the film that we did too, called Shape of Shadows. And that was coming from Ryan. That was coming from the security on the property. There's a guy that lives on the property as well. He's the caretaker. All these guys were involved with seeing this and saying this is the weirdest thing we've ever seen. Also, they did a lot of research to see if there had been any helicopters in the area for any kind of work outside of anything around them. No, there wasn't anything. So it's just, a purely unexplained phenomenon, something that would have taken something with a lot of strength to do. So that happened a week before we even get there. On the way there, two of the guys that we have there that got there before the rest of the team did, contacted us and said that they were just setting up some cameras and they were shooting

into Skinwalker Ranch. And while they were shooting, this is also in the film, An unidentified flying object, UAP, comes up out of the woodline, the trees, and just darts across the camera. And weirdest thing you've ever seen, and it just happened to be when they set it up and they were filming through the binoculars, they caught it. And so we get there, they show it to us, and this is weird. So we start settling in, and the really interesting thing about this trip that we did, vastly different than any of the other people who have done any research in that area, specifically the guys over at Skinwalker Ranch, they typically take a very scientific approach to all this,

which is great. And we did have some people come there who were more science-based that we interviewed, and you want that as a part of what you're doing. But we also leaned heavily into the U tribe that was there and the Native Americans who had been there for a long time. Because to us, why are we negating this big part of the story? Why does everybody always negate what the Native Americans have said in the area? They've been there the longest.

They would know more than anyone, at least through lore, what is going on there and what has happened. So we had a guy named Johnny, who had lived in the area for a long time, and he was Native American. and we had several other Native Americans that we interviewed the entire time we were there. As a matter of fact, which was really cool, they were so thankful that we were taking this approach because nobody else would talk to him. We're out there one night, and we are talking to one of the other Native Americans. He's younger, both Standing Rock, and he had some wild experiences with some rakes and just all kind of things over the years in that area.

So we're there, and Ward and Tony were just out that evening. It was dusk just looking around the property. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs.

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More results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves. at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire?

This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. Aging is real.

And so are the benefits of new vital proteins collagen sparkling water, because around the age of 30, your body needs backup to keep your collagen up. So get your daily glow up, now in three fresh flavors, strawberry blossom, lemon, lime, and blood orange. Improved skin health in as little as 30 days thanks to collagen peptides? Cheers to that. So you can stay vital, stay you. Visit vital proteins.com to learn more and where to buy.

These statements have not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. We hadn't even really looked through much of the property. We had just set up. That was the first day. And so we hear them yell and they're coming up the hill. And again, this is a massive piece of property. And Skidmore Ranch is huge as well.

So they come up and he said, listen, we found something. It's one of the weirdest things we've ever seen. We took pictures of it. We'll take you down in a minute. So they show us the pictures. and it is an altar that was built with the skulls of what looked like deer or some sort of animal. And it was animal bun. There was an offering in the middle.

It was in front of this large tree. So that was alarming because we just got on the property. Something else was also on the property that had been doing things. So we immediately after that, and it's one of the wildest things I've ever seen in my life, we're obviously, whoa, this is crazy, what's going on in this property. For the next hour to an hour and a half, 20, 25 UFOs lit up the sky, and we're going bananas. And we had seen satellites that we were tracking from before, so they definitely weren't satellites. There were a few air runway lights way in the distance.

We knew there was a rap. This was completely different. They were moving in erratic positioning. They were in different patterns, different colors of light. This went on for, like I said, about an hour and a half. We caught a good bit of this too, which is also in the film. And again, it was super wild. But for that to happen directly after that they found this.

weird altar was just mind-blowing. And that led into the next day when we started looking into the altar itself. We said, we want to go out there in the day. I want to see if it's still there. We don't know who's on the property, sneaking on the property, using this. We have no idea. So we go out there, we take a look at it. It's obviously really weird. There's definitely some offerings in a little bowl there, a lot of weird stuff. As you walking back, Ward said, Joel, come here real quick. So again, it had been raining prior to us being there. So there were some places where there were some mud or had been mud prior. And we see these footsteps that are going down this hill.

And he said, look at these footsteps. It sounds like they look at the footsteps. And I'm like, okay, what are we looking at? He said, keep looking. So as we look, as we track them, about halfway through, they start changing. They don't look like human footprints anymore. By the time we get to the bottom, there are hoof prints and what look like dog prints at the bottom. The human-like prints are no longer there.

In the middle or is this weird, I don't know if you call them footprints, whatever. They look like they're not the same shape as the ones before and they're smaller, and then we've got these at the bottom. So that looks weird, and obviously we're in Skinwalker Ranch country, but we don't want to jump to conclusions. and we try not to. So we said, what's the best case scenario for us to figure out what's going on or at least get an idea.

You've got two Native Americans that we're talking to. Why don't we bring them out separately? They haven't met yet and just see what they think without talking to the other and not being influenced by us. Just saying, hey, what do you think about this?

So we bring Johnny out first 10 seconds in. That's a Skinwalker. He said, this is a perfect area for something to change. He said, you've got your altar up there. He said, you come down here, and there's all this brush that you could hide. And he's like, you just come down this hill.

And he said, you change and then you run off into Skinwalker Ranch, because Skinwalker Ranch was right there. I mean, you had the fence line that was probably 10 feet from between the two ranches. So we then would bring both standing rock out there later that day, obviously without Johnny, they hadn't met yet. And again, within about 10, 15 seconds. He said, that's Skinwalker Prince. We see those a lot. He said a lot of people that are in the tribes have been doing this for a long time. He talked about one of his great, great, great, great grandfathers that was able to do this,

at least through lore, right? This is what had been passed down through his family. And that was just absolutely mind-blowing that we saw that as well. And I think the only other super weird thing that happened, after all this craziness has happened, we're driving back from an interview and it's dusk, and we're in the middle of the desert at this point. There's nothing around. And there was a railway track that was going across this desert road. And again, there's just maces in the distance.

There's nothing. And I noticed this just odd vehicle. It was a truck, but it had its dimmers on. And it was just sitting there on this weird desolate road that went off into, I don't even know where, way off in the desert. But it was sitting by the railroad track. So I'm in the backseat of the vehicle and everybody's talking. and I noticed as we pass, lights kick on, and it just comes behind us. So I said, okay, maybe I'm thinking too deep into this,

and I know I can be paranoid from time to time. So, you know, I'm not trying to feed into that paranoia. But I notice every time we turn, it's following us, everywhere we go. So we pull into Space Wolf Research, it slows down by the entrance. I say, that's definitely something. And I had previously told Tony as we're getting close, something's weird here. If this vehicle slows up when we pull in, then it's definitely something.

So it did. Tony said in typical Tony fashion, let's chase it. So we start hauling down the road chasing this truck, about a mile down, another vehicle whips in behind us. So now we're blocked in with these two vehicles or chasing one in the front. We get a call from the guy who was at the property, Joseph, and he says another vehicle pulled in and tried to come back all the way here, didn't realize there was somebody here. He's, I stepped out and it took off.

So we had this whole crazy chase where this vehicle ended up getting away from us because it just kept going deeper in the town. And we said, we need to get back, especially after we got the call from Joseph, there were people trying to get on the property. So we get back on the property. We do a pretty good look over the entire property, and make sure nobody had jumped out of the vehicle, and they weren't in the tree lines or anything like that.

So ended up not being that. And that kind of was towards the tail end of the trip. And that's when we realized that maybe we were either onto something that somebody didn't want us to find or what could also be the case, and we talked to Johnny and Bo Standing Rock, that there were tribes people who knew we were poking around with other tribes, people asking questions, and they were just trying to scare us off, which is probably more likely than going down the government road. but you never know. So that was pretty much in a nutshell of the trip, and it was pretty wild. Mike, and this, that is absolutely wild. I listen to you guys talking about your adventures

on your different shows, and sometimes I'm like, I wonder, is there ever a point when these guys are like, whoa, this is too crazy, we can't do it. It just seems like you guys are constantly pushing the limit. Let's go, like Tony said, let's chase them. I'm just blown away, man.

It's all in the heat of the moment, to be honest with you. We don't really think about it because it's just what we do. And I've always been very adventurous. And I grew up in the mountains of Georgia, most of my life off and on. And I never really had fear of being in the woods, being around any kind of wildlife. I would run into bears and mountain lines, all kind of things as a kid growing up. and I just knew how to handle that type of situation. And growing up in the family that I did,

the talk of Bigfoot and all these things was always talked about. I never saw anything as a kid, but there were stories that were told from grandparents or friends of grandparents. Yeah, I saw this, I don't know, like a hairy man running around in the woods. I'm not really sure it was, but I don't think it was a man. So we always heard things,

specifically in North Georgia. There's tons of stories of Bigfoot sightings out there and all kind of other things. But yeah, I typically don't have that off button. And I think a lot of it is just adrenaline, too. You're just in the heat of the moment. And you just said, we're doing it. So none of us thought about it was a bad idea to chase the vehicle down until hours later when Tony looks at me and says,

man, I probably should have done that. He was a pretty bad idea. That was the setup. Was there dragging us off the property? I think they were dragging us off the property, but they didn't know we had people still on the property. And obviously with another, the third vehicle pulling in when that happened. And again, I lend it to, I think it was probably tribes people in the res that was close by, and the entire area is the res, really, but close by who had seen us interviewing people all over the place.

We were interviewing people in town. There was a small authentic Mexican restaurant that we interviewed a guy in. wasn't like people didn't know what we were there for. So that could have also probably more of the likely case that it was just people trying to scare us off because they didn't like us talking to the Native Americans in the area. Yeah, definitely word gets around quick when you start going into the center of town like you had said there. Now, you mentioned really quick in when you're talking about this area that perhaps there were rakes. Now, this topic has come up a few times. times on the show like years ago, I brought in a good friend Missy Lee Sterling on to talk about the rakes and pale crawlers. But is this a subject where it's come up in your research? Is this

anything that you guys have looked into, the whole pale crawler thing? Not specifically, but I can say that it's come up in some areas that we are looking to shoot films in. And it's not something we're necessarily solely looking for. It just happens to be something that's been seen in the high octane area. very similar to going to Space Wolf Research, where Boast Standing Rock used to work with a group that used to go look for these things. And they, apparently, according to him, they did run across a group of them. And, yeah, it wasn't great for everyone when it happened.

So there are a lot of things that happened in that you went to Basin. from we had Native Americans on the property telling us about giants in the mountains across from us. So it was just a whole wild area of just anything possible that you've heard of in the crypted paranormal woo. Mix it all together in a pot. Everything happens there. So it's just not just one thing. And yeah, Bigfoot too. They talked about seeing Bigfoot. So that's also something that's not uncommon either in that area. So it's really just an area for a lot. And that lends back to the Pell Walkers.

It just happens to be a thing that shows up in areas where there's a lot of activity. So, yeah, there's a couple areas right now that we're looking to go to. And we've heard of some pretty wild rake or Pale Walker stories. So who knows, right? Absolutely. You have to be prepared for anything when you start actively going into these areas and not just hang out at home.

When you start poking the Hornet's Nest, sometimes it stings you. So you definitely, you never know what will happen. But there was a conversation we had after, or no, it was before we started recording, you had alluded to it. I want to make sure it happens that you've actually had some other Bigfoot related activity that's happened in Tennessee

that hasn't really been talked about in a lot of places yet. Yeah, this is another really wild run. I would say it's probably one of the wildest things that has happened to Tony and I on these trips, and it's super weird too because he and I were alone when this happened away from the rest of the group. So we went into an area that Scott Carpenter's been into a lot. This is where he captured the infamous dogman photographs that were behind him when he walked by. And you can literally go to Google type in Scott Carpenter Dogman and they'll pop up. But this was the area that we were in.

and prior to earlier on that day, there was another researcher there that knows Tony and he had plastered, which was the massive canine print down at the bottom of this muddy hill. And he had took a picture of it. He actually showed us the casting. It was huge.

So again, it was in the area where Scott had his, I wouldn't say necessarily encounter so much as he caught it on camera because it was using the Scott Carpenter method that was behind him. So we're out there and the first thing that happens is really weird is we're in the vehicle before we go to get onto the trail to go back into this massive area, which by the way, has now been blocked off by the federal government over the past two months. And they literally have put up a game.

and shut it down for anyone to get back there, which has been absolutely mind-blowing, considering all those crazy stuff that's been going on back there, blocked it off. So when we pull up, Tony sees, what he says was a blue orb behind the truck because he saw it through the rearview mirror. And he said he saw it.

It was almost like it was dancing behind him and it shot off. So I get out of the front. vehicle and as I'm walking towards where he said he saw it, this was really odd. I heard what sounded like a woman singing in the woods. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and

everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close,

make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary, dimmer, dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. Aging is real, and so are the benefits of new vital proteins collagen sparkling water, because around the age of 30, your body needs backup to keep your collagen up. So get your daily glow up, now in three fresh flavors, strawberry blossom, lemon lime, and blood orange. Improved skin help in as little as 30 days thanks to collagen peptides? Cheers to that. So you can stay vital, stay you.

Visit VitalProtines.com to learn more and where to buy. These statements have not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose treat cure or prevent any disease. And as I got closer to the woodline, it started fading away. But when I looked to the right up the trail, I saw what looked like a blue orb, and it instantly vanished. I saw it for about two or three seconds and it instantly vanished. So I tell Tony, as I walked back, I said, look, man, this is a little. what I heard and saw. This is typical of what people would consider to be

fay activity or sometimes associated with bigfoot a lot of times. People have orb activity that's associated with big foot. Again, this is more on the woo side of things. So we decided to go up into the woods. We get a place we're going to set up a fire and like a campsite. We're not going to stay out there overnight. We're going to be out there late, two, three in the morning, maybe later, but we're not setting up like a full camp. We're just setting up. It's a little chilly, and we want to make sure we're warm, and we got a place, a camp base of operations.

That's what we try to do when we go to these places. So we notice that it's really quiet again, and that's typically when something's about to jump off when there's not a lot of wildlife making any noises, anything. So I decide to walk down this hill towards where this print was kind of. earlier in the daytime by myself. And as I'm going down there, almost identical to what happened to me in Washington, something large is thumping parallel next to me

in the wood line to the left. And I'll stop, it stops. I go further. I can hear it walking parallel to me. I stop, it stops. So I go all the way out of the line of sight. Obviously, we have walkies on us all the time, so I'm checking in.

And I'm telling them, And it's definitely something is out here. I don't know what it is. I can't see it because I'm flashing lights in the woods. I can't see anything. And that's important because of what happens to Tony and myself later. So I get to the bottom of the hill. I notice there's several trails that offshoot deeper into the woods.

And we had done some exploring the previous time we had been out there because this isn't the first time we've been out there. But we hadn't been down on these trails. and we don't know where they all lead to and we want to try to go through as means we can. And this trail that I want goes all the way back too. So it's a pretty wide trail, but then it splits off into just multiple trails that also split off in multiple trails.

So it's just a massive piece of woods. And I decided to walk back and I can hear this thing parallel walking back with me, but at one point it just stops close to this trail that I think is very interesting. And I even mentioned it when I got back to base camp with Ward, Tony, and his brother, Jack. And I tell him, I definitely had this weird thing happen. And something was parallel to me, very similar to Washington.

And I noticed this trail where it stopped. Tony says, well, I mean, we should go down that trail. I said, we should. So Tony and I decide to go down the big trail and go all the way back. So we go past the run trail. I want to go down and we just keep going. So we go down a few trails. And to back up just a second, we were this close to going home.

Because we really hadn't had a whole lot outside of the orb stuff. And we've seen ours before. And people could even say that, oh, the lights were playing tricks on you or maybe you thought you heard something. And fair enough. I won't say that they're wrong or right. But we haven't had anything just crazy happen outside of something big, parallel walking to me.

all the way down and halfway back up. So Tony and I get out there. We're exhausted. We're going to go out about two in the morning, and we're going to get out here and we're going to see if we can find anything. We're exhausted. So we go down a few trails, nothing really of interest. But as we're walking back, we run up on that trail that I was talking about where that

thumping had stopped. And I tell Tony, oh, that's that trail. He said, you want to do it? And I was like, let's just do it. We're already out here, might as well. So we radio back in the base and say, hey, we're going to go down this way. So we walked into this trail and 15, 20 feet in, boom, that stink. And we can smell it.

It smelled just like we were out in Washington. And it was just like a nasty, wet dog worse. And I told him, I said, man, this is what we snowed out in Washington. He said, I know. And I said, it's weird. That thumping stopped here at this trail. and now we're smelling the smell. So Tony and I keep going.

Tony's feeling sick at this point, too. He's not feeling great, and he doesn't really know why, but he's just feeling kind of nauseous, not feeling great. So we get all the way back, and we are way back here, and it is quiet. You get a pin drop back here, super quiet. So Tony wants to take a stop because he's not feeling too well. So he puts the camera down, and it's facing him

when he sets it down, it's still on, and we've got multiple cameras running. I've got a IR running behind me in the Scott Carpenter method, and I've got one I'm holding in front. He's got one as well, and he kind of leans down, and I'm looking the opposite direction to him, because typically we try to do that where we're looking at all lines aside if we possibly can. And at this point, something runs at us. And when I say runs, thumps, loud, massive,

we can hear the tree shaken, runs all the way up to us. And this is all on camera, and this will be on the film when it's done. We've got some more locations to shoot, and we will definitely add it in as a part of the series that we're working on. but this thing, whatever it was, runs all the way up to about four or five feet away from the camera. You'll see Tony draw on it. I have my back turn.

I yell because I got my back turn to this and I'm whipping around as quick as I can. And we hit lights, nothing there. Nothing. There's nothing there. And we heard something massive shaking these trees all the way through and just stop. in front of us, nothing. So now we're, whoa, what's going on? So they heard me yell back at base camp and they said, what's going on there? I said, we're not sure immediately. It sounded like a pack of monkeys going off in the woods. It was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

I mean, shaking through the whole wood and you can hear it from multiple directions. And I told Tony, and you'll hear it on camera, this sounds like a pack of monkeys. What is the So they think back at base that we might be playing a trick on them at this point because of what they're hearing too, because they can hear it just reverberating throughout the entire forest. So we radio back in and said, no, man, that's not us. Whatever we just heard is directly after whatever tried to run up on us. So we said, we're heading back. We'll tell you more than. and so we get back and we start trying to make sense of it.

And we've shown the footage a couple of conferences to let people hear what we heard and see what we were doing when this thing ran up on us. Because you can hear it thudding and moving up to the camera. So you can hear this wild, whatever it was. And what we ended up doing again, we had a biologist friend of ours take a look at the sounds to say, what are these sounds? Because the more we started listening to them, it sounded like it could be owls as well. So we said, okay, maybe in the key, the moment, we think that it's monkeys, but maybe it was owls, but that's super weird too, because why would there be just multiple

owls going crazy at once? We don't know. So we talked to our biologist friend, and he listened to them, And he said, look, what it sounds like to me is initially it does sound very ape-like. He said it's like it shifts into an owl sound. And he said that's very typical of Bigfoot sightings and Bigfoot activity. They like to mimic other animal sounds in areas that they're at. But if you know what the animal sounds are supposed to sound like, you can tell that it's something mimicking those sounds and not actually those sounds. So it's almost like it starts out very eighth-like, and then it shifts into a more owl-like sound that's multiple different, whatever they were out there making these sounds. So that was mind-blowing to us to talk to our biologist friend for him to say, I don't think these are owls.

I think it's something trying to mimic owls, but they don't start out that way. So that was another one of our really wild trips that we've been on. And that'll be in a future series that we're putting out. But that was pretty wild. And to have something run up when that close within just a few feet. And then to hit lights on it and just nothing to be there. And then just a pack of monkeys go off in the wood line is a pretty wild experience, to say the least. Wow.

That's really intense. And one of those things, I don't know, can be explained at all. But if there's nothing there in the light and it's supposed to be four to five feet away, you said that was coming out maybe next year? We're looking to maybe. We've got another series that we are working on right now. It's in the editing floor. And I can let people know what the project is.

It's called Crowley's Melanhead's Children of the Beast. And we found, I did, I've been doing research on it. Alster Crowley for a long time, but I would say over the past three map years, I found an interesting connection with him and governments around the world and also his connection to cryptids, specifically the melon heads. So we actually went to all melonhead locations that they've been cited at. We interviewed people who've seen them recently, as a matter of fact, and other large-headed entities that might be associated with these melon heads. We also ended up in Utah again because we found a weird connection with Crowley and Joseph Smith because there is a

Mormon temple also in one of the weird places of Curtlin, Ohio, where these melon heads are seen too. So it's a really interesting connection between the occult of Alasher Crowley and these melon heads and it's really wild but we're working on that series that's going to come out quarter one next year but we are looking at this next series with this particular incident with me and tony where we had this thing run up on us in the woodline and that should come out maybe back into the next year when we do some more filming because it's going to be a series there'll be multiple locations it just is one of the locations that's going to be in the film Joel, that melonhead documentary is going to potentially show up on a lot of interesting radars.

Is that anything that you have to deal with weird letters or phone calls? Hey, maybe you guys should cool it a little bit. Do you ever get any intimidation like that? We have. And I wouldn't say particularly on this particular subject necessarily. one of the things that I like to delve into when it comes to a lot of these what we would consider popular modern occultists but all the way back to occultists throughout history is their connection to a lot of these cryptids and the paranormal and all of these things

and also their connection to government so we can even go back to the 1500s with john d who was literally the first 007. He used to sign his name, 007. He worked for the queen. He was actually a secret agent back then. So a lot of these guys who are what we would consider to be nefarious occultists, and some people obviously wouldn't

if they are also involved with those things, but they were all tied into governance. And I think it also ties these cryptids into those arenas as well. And that's one of the weird threads that I found when I was digging into the melon heads with this other side to it that wasn't this hydrocephalus and these children being worked on. There was another side to it that kept popping up.

And I found a very interesting thread with Alistair Crowley, and I'm really excited to put this out. It took us a month to shoot. We were at four locations. We did 17 days of shooting. And I can say this without giving anything away, we caught the most compelling thing we've ever caught on camera with video and sound. So it's one of the wildest things. We had two biologists look at it. You'll see their take of what they saw when we show it to them on camera too and what they think it could be. It's really wild. So it's definitely a interesting

mixture of research heavy plus boots on the ground. It's something we've never done before. And I'm really excited about the project. Wow. I am really excited to to see that as well that sounds extremely intense something else that you guys have gotten into and people that know about the background of the confessionals and yourself and tony will probably be like oh i hope he brings this up so we're gonna now you all guys have also been involved with some really a really intense project that was in the daniel boone national forest and a dogman related correct that's right Would you be able to share a little bit about what happened during that project?

Yeah, for sure. And the wildest piece of it happened to myself and Christian who was on the project. And this was our first film. So this was the first film. Man, it was such a running gun type of film compared to what we do now. We have so much more planning and people involved. And just even the quality now, even the quality was great for them. but it was just such a, hey, you like cryptids, you want to come?

Let's go out in the woods. And it was funny, I had met Tony maybe eight months to a year prior to this. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for.

Or, go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours.

The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision. Headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. Aging is real, and so are the benefits of. New Vital Proteins collagen sparkling water, because around the age of 30, your body needs backup to keep your collagen up.

So get your daily glow up, now in three fresh flavors, strawberry blossom, lemon lime, and blood orange. Improved skin health in as little as 30 days thanks to collagen peptides? Cheers to that. So you can stay vital, stay you. Visit VitalProtines.com to learn more.

and where to buy. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. And we met through music because I had a music producer that sent him some of music, and he'll tell the story better than me. But he was, let's just say, using the restroom. And he got this DM, and he said, yeah, whatever. It's probably going to be some garbage that people send me all the time.

And he checked it out and loved it. And he ran down to the studio, listened to the rest of the album. And he contacted me and said, hey, can I start using some of the video? music for the show, and he and I started corresponding back and forth, and then he wanted to have the end studio to talk about some of my experiences. And from that point, we became really good friends. And it was several months later, he just texted me out of the blue. I want to say it was about 70 o'clock at night. And he said, hey, man, would you, I don't know if you're into this kind of stuff, but would you be interested in going to hunt dog man in the Danubea National

Forest? And I said, yeah, man, I grew up in the woods in my whole life. And not like the New York woods, we North Georgia Mountains. And, of course, I'd love to do it. And he said, you got artillery? And I was like, yeah, man, I'm good to go there. So I can definitely meet you there. So we set up a small team.

And it's built on the back of a guy named Kyle's story. And if people haven't heard it, it's one of the best stories that has come out, on the confessional. This is called Dog vs. Dogman. And Kyle is, I think, 13 or 14 at the time. And he used to go hunting with his granddad at night. And they would take the dogs out. He had two dogs.

And long story short, he goes to an area and he's coon hunting. And the two dogs track a coon up a tree. But these coyotes come. out, but in the foray, he comes around a corner and what looks to be a coyote, but a lot bigger, just stands up on two feet and is gnawing on another coyote. And 13, 14 years old, you see a dog get up on its hind legs and stand up like a man really freaks him out. So he tries to run.

This thing starts chasing him, but dogs come to his rescue. and one of them ends up dying in the process. The other one is hurt, but ends up coming back. So the one dog is okay. And I may have that part of the story wrong. You'd have to go back and listen to it. It's been a while. Later on, he's also hunting maybe eight years later, seven years later,

and he's walking up from the woodline onto the road, and he looks down maybe 20 yards and a dogman walks out of the woodline, looks at him and just scales, which I've been there and seen it, it's almost a straight up and down rock face. And he just scales it up with no trouble at all. And he said, man, I just, I need to watch myself on him out here. But he had never been back to the original area because that was a pretty intense story. He decided to take us out there.

And we go out there and I want to say the second day that we're out there, we go way back. And there's a fork. We've been walking probably four or five miles. We're deep in the Daniel Boone National Forest. There's a fork. If you take the left, it'll take us around to where he had his experience. But we decided to take a right because he said there was a watering man-made watering hole that was created by the government for the animal life. He said there's a lot of

those that are out in these national parks and state parks. There's a lot of them out there. So he said, that's where you may be able to see something because they come for water. And if something's hunting, something else, it's going to go where water's at, where other animal life or prey might be at. So we go up that way and Tony and Kyle decided to walk up into the woods off the trail into the area where this basin was created. I'm walking down this, it's a really rugged trail, and I'm looking at the tree line in front of me, and it's just dense forest. And Christian's right behind me. Nobody's there with us. and I see a tree from the bottom shake and sway back and forth.

And it might not sound impressive if people are listening, but if you understand the width of this tree, I can't get my arms around it. And I've got pretty long arms, and I couldn't get my arms around if I wanted to shake something down at the core to the point that when Christian looks up, he's looking at the top, he just sees trees shaking. like crazy. I look back at him and say, do you see this? He says, what in the world? And I look back

and it's doing it again. So we start yelling for everyone else. They come running. So at this point, we want to figure out what it is. It's not doing it anymore. So I decided to go around the trail that's going to circle around this patch of woods while they go up and check the tree. When they go up and check the tree, there's nothing there. There's no logging equipment. So we can throw that out. There's nothing that could move trees like that that's up there. I go around, it is again, very quiet. No chatter in the woods, no squirrels, no birds, nothing. And I'm walking around the side and it is just absolutely silence. And then it just felt heavy. There's only been a few places in my life where it just really felt heavy in a place and this felt heavy. It was just

like something was almost on top of me as I'm trying to walk through quicksand. But at some point, as I'm coming back around, it's like whatever was heavy lifted and all of a sudden birds start chirping. You can hear squirrels. I think I started seeing them at that point, which was really weird. So I come around and I start talking to Tony and the rest of the team. And we're just trying to figure out what this thing is, what happened. Later on the next day, we end up in a different area. And this is where we heard tree knocking. So this is your typical big foot tree knocking.

And we heard some whoops as well while we were out there. And what was interesting, before we got to the area where we heard the loops and the tree knocking, there were four black helicopters that flew over us in that area, which was really odd. Now, what's not odd is for government vehicles to be in national parks. We have run across areas in national parks that people don't know about. That's UN owned and all kinds of different things that we know about through people who have been deep in these national parks.

And we've seen some weird stuff. And that was a really weird thing. We see these four helicopters. and then we're hearing whooping, we're hearing this tree knocking, and this is the day after we just had this wild tree experience. We decided to go back to that place at night because that's when stuff's going to happen, right? We want to go out at night. So we get out to that place, I think it's the third night.

We go out there about 1-2 in the morning we get out there. And we set up and it's silent again, just deathly silent. But what we hear is something thumping around us in that area. This is the area where we had the tree shake right in front of myself and Christian. And Ward and I were all of concerned. We had the heavier artillery there and we said, we haven't heard this since we've been out here.

It seems to be you would hear some thumping and it would stop and then it would be thumping from a different area. It was almost like it was letting us know it had us in case. So at one point, it's almost like something hit these trees. And again, this is a day after it had been raining. The trees were wet and it's like in a straight line, water fell from the trees all the way to us and then just stopped. Right on top of our heads, it stopped and it didn't go any further.

But it didn't have any other trees anywhere else. It wasn't like a bunch of trees were shaking. It was just almost like a straight line of water hit. So at this point, I'm not really sure what's going on here. This is the same area. This weird thing happened. And the next day, we had to go out there and pick up trail camps because we've been setting up trail cams all week

and we wanted to set it up in that area. As a matter of fact, that night we had took meat from the local meat shop and hung it up in trees and all kind of stuff. So we went down there and Tony had walked up a little bit looking over into, off to the right to where the trees had shook. And it was more open, but you can see just how dense it could get back there. And he, to this day, says he saw what looked at the, a furry gray head peers over a log. that's laid on top of another tree and not necessarily manned it or something else.

It's just something that fell. But he said, something's looking at me. So I decided to go back there and see if I can see anything because he said it was looking at him and then it dropped back down. So I get back to where this log is because I want to see how tall the log was. I get back to this thing is about in my head. And I'm 6'2. I think I'd be pretty tall if he said the head pears. over it. You're probably looking at 7, 8 feet looking at him. What's even more interesting is

I get back further and back there is a very typical TP structure with three large logs wedged together on another tree and underneath it were a bunch of sticks and foliage that had been rounded up. So something did it. Whether it was man that did it. Whether it was man that did it. or something else, but it also lends into this prototypical Bigfoot lodging, right? People have seen these TV structures for years and years and years. And it was there. And this is not far from where Tony saw this furry, almost gray looking ahead that stared at him. And this is all in the same area where we had the massive tree shape.

We had the weird happening that night. And it was just a pretty wild experience. And this was just our first time that we'd ever went out on a trip. So that was what kicked off everything that we're into now. And now we're just going full throttle every year. My goodness, I just can't imagine that's your first really big experience you guys going out. That is really cool. Joel, it always blows my mind how many cool things you guys are able to get into and you just keep going.

We've talked about a lot of things people can view and documentaries. And how can people find all these to check them out? Yeah, if you go to Merkelfilms.com, you can get access to all the films we have out right now. And I know we've got some series that are coming out too. I know that there are some other films that will also be up on Merkelfilms.com that aren't necessarily just us either. So we have a documentary up there right now from Ron Moorhead.

All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a higher than non-sponsored jobs.

It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time. More results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast.

Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you.

Learn more at Viz.com. Aging doesn't stop, and neither should you. with vital proteins, collagen, and protein shakes. Because around the age of 30, your body needs more support for movement and recovery. On workout and rest days, reach for a 30 gram total protein shake, or go with our classic collagen peptides. Help support healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, and joints. So you can stay vital, stay you. Visit VitalProtines.com to learn more and where to buy.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. He's got one, and I know there's several. other paranormal encrypted researchers who have films that will be hitting Merkel films as well. So it's going to be a hub for a lot of different researchers that shoot back documentaries. I know Stacey Brown is in talks to work with Tony, and he's going to put a film out there soon, I believe. and there are a few other guys that people would know, but I don't want to bring up their names yet until things are signed on the bottom line,

but I know they're looking to put their films on Merkel films as well. So it'll be a hub for a lot of different films. But currently all of our films right now are up there, which we have Expedition Dogman, which is the one where we went to the Vannebu National Forest Hunting Down Dogman. We've got the Shape of Shadows, where we went out to Space Wolf Research, which is next to Skimwalker Ranch.

We have Sasquatch and the Missing Man, where we went out with West Kermmer, and we have our new one, the Meadow Project, which we had some pretty wild stuff happening there, too. So definitely go check out the films, and we've got way more coming out. That's exciting stuff.

And, of course, let's talk about your personal podcast, Free the Rabbits. Is there a certain episode or maybe a few episodes you would recommend people check out first that are maybe a favor of yourselves? Yeah, I would probably say for the listener that is more interested in cryptids and more interested in those type of topics. I've got a really interesting one on werewolves. It's the psychology of wherewolves. I go through a lot of research that's been done over the past two, three hundred years about werewolves, what they could be. Are they tied into

what Dogman is? I get into that a little bit too. I also have some interesting ones like my paranormal story time where I talk about some of my personal paranormal stories coupled with research as well. Those will probably be two. If you're big into critics and stuff, I've done some episodes with Crypts of the Corn, which are great friends of mine. We did an episode called Trolls of the Ancient World, and we talk about all of these different trolls in Scandinavia and all these different experiences that people have had. So I have a nice mix of not just heavier conspiracy stuff, but also when it comes to cryptids, if you like giants. I talk a lot about giants too, and I even get into the origins of the dogheaded man, too.

So that's another episode that people might like as well. So I talk about dogheaded men throughout history and how they've been documented since as early as the early 100s A.D. So a lot of different interesting stories there. And I get into just a lot of different topics that are wholly off the cryptid trail and on some different ideas as well. So, yeah, you might get in there and some stuff and you might get in. there not like some stuff, but I can say for the most part, people enjoy the show. It's heavily researched, so I try to also give people a lot of sources and places they can go and check out where I got the information because I know a lot of guys that do podcasts don't do that.

And they just say, trust me. And I try to at least give people where they can go to get where I'm getting this stuff from. Because at the end of the day, the research is the research. I can say, hey, I research this, this is where to find it. It doesn't mean you have to believe it, but I can say, hey, it's been talked about for the past six, 700, 800,000, 2000, 4,000 years. So we can at least point to the fact that it has been talked about. It's really up to you whether you want to take it on board is something that you want to add to your personal paradigm or not. That's great. Is there anything else that you'd want to make sure that listeners would know that you've put out or ways to contact you? Probably the easiest way to get to me. Just go to Linktree slash Joel Thomas Media. You can get to everything from there, from the podcast to music, to the films. I would say if you want to get to the podcast Free the Rabbits,

just go to YouTube.com slash Free the Rabbits, and you can get to my show there. And I drop shows every Monday. And I've got video and what I do with all these heavily research. topics. I'm showing the media that goes along with it. So if there's books involved, I'll show those up on the screen, and I'll show different paintings and sculptures and things that I'm talking about. So a lot of people like to get in on that, and we do our live streams on 12 p.m. on Mondays, and that way you can get in there on the live chat while it's streaming.

But yeah, that's pretty much it. Go to linktree. or sorry, go to link tree slash Joel Thomas Media and you get to everything. That's awesome. Joel, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I've really wanted to have you on for a while, but it's great to hear about all these things that you've experienced from your viewpoint. And we will definitely be watching for these new documentaries to come out as well. But listeners, check out Free the Rabbits.

Of course, you're probably, if you haven't checked out, the Confessionals, check that out as well and check out the documentaries as well. But Joel, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Oh, thank you so much, Your Honor. Before we wrap this episode, I want to say something directly to a very specific group of listeners. If you're in the military, any branch, or forces, and if you've seen something that no one can explain, or if you're a national park ranger or forestry worker who's been told to stay quiet, if you're a pilot who's seen something strange down on the ground,

or if you're with the FBI, a federal agency, or working intelligence, and you've stumbled upon something you're not allowed to talk about. And if you're a firefighter, paramedic, or search and rescue responder, who's heard screams or found tracks that didn't make sense, if you're in the logging industry on a remote oil field or trucker with government contracts, and you've had something happen that you've never told a soul, and if you're a biologist, a wildlife specialist, or a field researcher under contract, who has found evidence you're not allowed to report.

If you're a pastor, a missionary, or someone on a spiritual retreat, and you saw something that shook your faith, or if you work in the shadows, CIA, NSA, or anything with clearance, and you've seen what the public hasn't, then I want to talk to you. Even if it's anonymous, you can reach me at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com. The world needs to hear what you've been forced to carry a lot.

alone and you're not alone you've got the story we've got the mic see you in the woods thank you for listening to this episode of the bigfoot society podcast every encounter we share reminds us that the world is bigger and stranger than we think and that the truth is often hiding just beyond the tree line if you enjoyed this episode please be sure to subscribe to the channel on youtube hit the bell so you don't miss the next episode and share this with a friend who's into mysteries mom or the unexplained. And if you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple Podcast, please follow the show there and leave us a five-star positive review

because all that helps more people discover the show. And remember, if you or someone you know has had a Bigfoot citing, please, I'd love to hear from you. So email me at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com, and let's start the conversation. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, check out our membership community over at www. www.

Bigfoot Societypodcast.com. and that's where you can hear tomorrow's episode today, early and ad-free, and members-only episodes every week. Also, it's a place to connect with other people that are into the Bigfoot subject as much as you are. Thanks again for following along with the Bigfoot Society. Until next time, keep your eyes open, trust your gut, and never stop asking what else might be out there and see you in the woods. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs.

You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast.

Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with fit. This is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary, dimmer, dark vision, headaches and eye redness.

Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. Aging doesn't stop, and neither should you. With vital proteins, collagen, and protein shakes. Because around the age of 30, your body needs more support for movement and recovery. On workout and rest days, reach for a 30 gram total protein shake. Or go with our classic collagen peptides. Help support healthy hair, skin, name.

nails, bones, and joints. So you can stay vital, stay you. Visit VitalProtines.com to learn more and where to buy. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a higher

than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast

right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using

Viz include eye irritation, temporary, dim, dim, or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. Aging is real. And so are the benefits of adding vital proteins, collagen peptides to your daily routine. Because around the age of 30,

your body needs backup to keep your collagen up to help support healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, and joints. Available in the classic collagen peptides, collagen and protein shakes. And new vital proteins collagen sparkling waters so you can stay vital, stay you. Visit VitalProtenes.com to learn more and where to buy. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease. This is Daniel Fischel. And Ryder Strong from PodMeet's World. As cat parents, Ryder 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.

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The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary, dimmer, dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. 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.