Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:1038 The Creature At Diablo Lake

Episode Date: March 10, 2024

Drew had an encounter in 1996 here in Washington up in Snohomish county. Drew describes a creature with an odd movement come out of the ditch into the road. The encounter still bothers him today. We will also be speaking to Chuck. Chuck had an encounter in 2015 at Diablo Lake. The lake is in WA state.  Its a glacial-fed lake and in the summer turns a turquoise color because of fine rock particles that refract sunlight. Crater lake in Oregon has that same appearance during the summer. Chuck describes several creatures vocalizing and then it came into camp. Chuck writes "In 2015 I spent the day on a motorcycle ride over SR20 in WA State. We rode around Winthrop and Twisp, then broke up and went our separate ways. I had made plans to camp with another group of friends that night at Colonial Creek Campground at Diablo Lake. I had spent plenty of time in that area and was very comfortable there. After a day of riding with one group of friends I was excited to meet up with my other group of friends. We had a great time hanging out. Eventually we went to our own tents and went to sleep. I guess I laid down around 12:15am. It took me a bit to get comfortable and doze off. I think I fell asleep around 1am. Around 1:45am I heard a call, much like the Ohio sound from across the lake. I estimated it was four or five miles away, but the sound filled the entire valley and woke me up. I smiled, chuckled, and told myself that it was Bigfoot. This call went on for about five to ten minutes, when all of a sudden there was a return call on my side of the lake. I felt like the return call originated about three miles uphill, coming from Pinnacle Peak or Colonial Peak. I felt a sense of surprise, and was taken back by the volume and duration of the return call. This call started out low and soft then crescendo to very loud and bellowing. The sound resonated through me in a way that it instantly woke me up and I became alert. Before I could fully comprehend the return call there was another call from across the lake. This call had a shorter duration, my instincts told me that the call from across the lake was a female and the call on my side of the lake was a male. This went on for about 20 minutes, back and forth. I was in disbelief. I thought of every animal sound I knew and there was nothing like it. The duration and volume was beyond any wildlife's capabilities, not to mention any human's ability. It was fascinating to listen to and was an experience all on its own. Then things got terrifying. What happened next still causes me anxiety just thinking about it. What I will call the male, calling from my side of the lake started coming down the hill. It would stop to call back to the female on the far side of the lake. Each time it called the intensity of the volume became increasingly more intense. I typically carry protection when out in the woods. Mostly for a noise maker, my theory is that the biggest barks wins most of the time. I've had to scare off cougars using this method in the past. Regardless, I white knuckle gripped that 44 magnum and was convinced it was not enough firepower to stop whatever was coming down the mountain, much less a bigger bark. I laid there in my flimsy tent, tucked into my mummy bag, grasping my 44 as I cowered with each return call getting closer. At some point I started hearing footsteps. With each step the ground shook with a vibration that resonated through the ground. I could feel each step getting closer. What was hard to comprehend was the gait between steps. In my mind I envisioned this thing as "jogging", not walking. I estimated the distance between each step to be 9 to 12 feet. This thing was now in the campground and still returning calls. The terror I felt was indescribably. I was literally frozen with fear. I didn't dare make a sound, I couldn't if I wanted to. My body went into an involuntary flight mode. I could not function my body, meaning I could not get out of my sleeping bag if my life depended on it. I was frozen in fear. My heart was racing, I was uncertain what was going to happen next. Not knowing was the worst part. And wouldn't you believe it, this creature ran right through my campsite, only feet from my tent. It let out a call that sent me into a state of shock. The volume, the duration, the resonating force of sound, I was defeated and terrified. As quick as it came into my campsite it left, and without hesitation it jumped into the lake. Which in my mind sounded like an elk being dropped from 20 feet into the water, there was a huge splash. If you have ever been to Diablo Lake you know it's glacier fed. That water is extremely cold. This didn't even faze it, much like a dog chasing a ball in to a cold lake, it didn't hesitate. This behavior suggested to me that this was some type of animal or "primitive". Not many humans would jump in that water at night, and if they did you would hear them screaming in shock, it's freakin' cold! The moment it jumped into the lake and started its way across the lake I started to feel some relief. However, I lived in terror for years. I believe I suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. After that event I listen to your shows and use them as a type of therapy. I am able to relate to others and their experiences. Knowing that I am not alone gives me a sense of relief. I have told many people about my experience. I often encounter people who are dismissive, but this doesn't faze me in the least. Once you know, you know. And for anyone who says they want a Bigfoot experience, I would caution them against it. It will change your life and most likely not in a positive way. It's been many years now and I have not tent camped since. I have hauled my travel trailer to a State Parks, but I am not comfortable remote/primitive camping anymore. I could not bring enough fire power, nor do I think I am smarter than these things in their environment. I would not have a chance if they decided to harm me. I do go out on day hikes, but I am armed and I'm constantly looking for signs. I have turned around on trails before for no other reason than my gut told me something isn't right. That being said I love the PNW and will continue to push myself back into the beautiful areas that this State and BC has to offer. However, I'm no longer naïve."

It looked like somebody was bent over and had their head in the window of the deer blind and it either heard me or smelt me and he pulled his head out of the tent and stood straight up and that shocked me. They don't make people that big. The way it moved, almost as if it was gliding across the beach. I've never seen anything moves like that in my life. They were screaming at each other in gibberish. It sounded like a language and they were chuntering away back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forward.

I know what a bear looks like and there is no way on this planet that what I saw were bears. What are you reporting? Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That's son of a bitch is about six years. Bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know. Do you see a bouncer? Yes, I'm looking right in it.

Uh-oh. And you're listening to the best podcast ever, Sasquatch Chronicles. Woo-boom! Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show plan for you. We'll be chatting with Drew. And Drew comes to us from Washington State.

He's up there in Snohomish County. And back in 1996, he described seeing this very large creature come up out of the ditch and cross right in front of them. And he also describes a very odd movement by the creature. Then we'll be speaking with Chuck. And Chuck had an encounter back in 2015 at Diablo Lake. It's a lake here in Washington State. I believe it's north of Darrington.

It's been many years since I've been there. But it's this glacier-fed lake. And in the summertime, it's really pretty. It turns kind of a turquoise color because of the fine rock particles that are actually in the lake that refract from the sun. Crater Lake kind of does the same thing in Oregon. Kind of has that real pretty and natural appearance in the summertime. But Chuck describes several creatures vocalizing, and then one came into camp. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email.

My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. And if you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Drew to the show. Drew, thanks for coming on. Thanks, Wes. Yeah, and if you would, take me back to 1996. What were you doing?

Who were you with? And what happened? three young men, 20-ish, and driving around because there was nothing else to do back then. Coming out of Kayak Point area, Warren Beach area, Snohomish County, basically driving along a coastline, more or less. And everything's sloping down to the right-hand side from the direction we are coming because we're coming downhill. and something crawled out of the ditch on its...

Oh man. It was big. It crawled in its fingers and its toes. It skittered. It skittered like Scooby-Doo. And I'm not even joking. I remember watching Scooby-Doo as a young kid. This thing skittered.

But it was basically its belly was parallel to the ground. Its elbows were not touching. Its knees were not touching. But it was on its fingers and its toes. And it came across right in front of the car. We're traveling about 50 miles an hour, approximately. And it glanced to the car.

like it recognized something was coming. And then it bounded. It just jumped. Like, it was so, so bizarre. After it took its first, because it was on fours.

And it jumped. And then it bounded, it had to go uphill. And it did. So it jumped across the road. and then up and over a ditch and up an embankment. And the last thing that I can remember seeing is the backside of a human-looking foot. It was charcoal gray, and it was enormous.

It was the left foot, the bottom of the left foot. I could, still, it's difficult for me to formulate the words. to describe what I saw. And, West, this, my sighting is within one and a half to two mile radius of my current home. I don't know, man. Yeah, it's spooky, man. When they move like that, it's very odd. I feel kind of a kindred spirit with you because that's what I saw.

And all the experts at the time are like, oh, they don't do that. They don't move like that. I don't know what to tell you. That's what I saw. And it's weird to see. It's a weird, weird movement. So you guys are coming up on this saying, how far up ahead is it? And if you would, would you describe what you saw? It was about 60 yards. We were still traveling approximately 50 miles an hour. We almost hit it. It just bounded. It just leapt. It was nothing can travel that. fast. No animal can move that fast. And it had hair. It was definitely some sort of being of something. It was not patty. It was not patty. It was not walking on two feet. Something

very large on its fingertips and its toe tips. But so fingertips, fingertips, toe tips. So, fingertips, toe tips, elbows and knees, parallel to the ground, just as your abdomen would also then be parallel to the ground. It was skittering across the road, and it looked over at the car. I think it saw the headlights coming, because we were traveling at 50 miles an hour or so,

and then it looked over and boom, boom. And it was gone. But it had hair. It was brown. It was shaggy. And this was not fur. It was hair. Terrifying.

It was a monster. You know? A demon? No. But at that time, I had no frame of reference to try to understand what to put, what category to put this thing within. And I know a lot of people around

here, they've seen stuff. And that's fine. What I saw, it looked more I'm in the sun like a kook. It looked more baboonish. But it was such a quick glance. So, you know, I can't

really quantify that with any it skittered. I saw the bottom of a human foot, it was hairy. It moved like nothing I've ever seen before. The face, man, I have no idea. That's just something else. Yeah, I don't think he sound like a cuck, Drew. I've taken a few accounts of this baboon-looking thing, and I used to always confuse it with Dogman. I'd be like, you know what? Because I had a hard time buying into Dog Man, this is many

years ago. And I'm like, people must be confusing this baboon-looking thing with the dog man. And obviously, I don't feel that way anymore. But when you saw this saying, did it remind you more of a canine? Did it remind you more of a primate? Nope. There's no category. This is something else. It was possibly partially human at one point, being that we have hands and toes and fingers and, you know, elbows and knees and all that crap. But no, this was, this is a different category of something. I don't know. Yeah.

And I could understand your answer, especially with, you know, watching the way it moved. And I realize all this is happening very, very quickly. But when you guys made eye contact, when it looked in your guys' direction, did the expression on the face change it all? No expression. It saw this basically, because we were driving at night. So it's approximately 10 p.m. And we're following basically the coastline.

And it's dark. And it, I think it was chasing a deer. And it came up off of the lower end of the ridge, basically. You can call it a ditch. But then there's, nothing else but uphill. And then it just bounded. It was gone. It just, it was a human, the bottom of a left hand human foot, approximately 18 inches long. And it was charcoal gray. Yeah, that's a big foot, man. And, you know, in moments like this, a lot of eyewitnesses will focus in on one thing or, you know, something that really, Because it happened so quick, and I think shock kind of sits in. You guys are in a car, and compared to the car, was this thing like King Kong going across the road?

No, it was skinnier. It was probably, if it was vertical, it would be approximately seven feet and probably probably about 650 pounds. There's nothing else around here. I'm like that big. It was huge. and fast. That was the creepy part. So after it goes off into the bushes and you're in a car full of your buddies, what's the conversation like after this happens?

We just looked at each other blankly. We just... There aren't words for it. because what we just witnessed doesn't exist. So we keep looking back at each other with our basically mouths agape. And there are no words to say because what we just saw, that isn't real. But it was just there. That was so bizarre, man.

Yeah, it is bizarre. And, you know, it's shock. You guys are in complete shock. And I get it. I get why no one talks after an encounter. I know that you don't know, and I don't know. You kind of mentioned you thought it was chasing a deer. And we talk about how intelligent Sasquatch seems to be,

but then you hear accounts like this to where, I mean, for an elusive creature, why run out in front of a car? And yet you hear it all the time from eyewitnesses. think it knew you guys were there or do you think you guys were just coming up so quick it was a complete accident that it stepped out yeah i i don't think it noticed that we were coming um it and as quickly as we were um i think it was on its own agenda and it just was doing what it was doing and we we came coming around the corner like you know 50 miles an hour in the dark we're going pretty fast but at the same time

It paused as it's skittering out on its fingers and its toes. It paused and it looked directly at us. And then it made a decision. And then it bounded across and then up and over the ditch and up the hill. And nothing should be able to move like that. It shouldn't be able to move like that. Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Drew. And I know this happened to you 28 years ago, but over the years, how did this kind of affect you?

It's not at the back of my mind anymore. It's in the front. And when I look out in my kitchen window, I have no backyard neighbors, and there's a ravine. And am I going to see this thing again? I don't know. dude, I don't want to see what I saw again. I appreciate the fact that there may be a creature out there that is doing whatever it's doing. It's fine.

Just please keep it away from my house because, man, I don't want to see that again. I don't blame you, man. I mean, this sighting took place a mile and a half from your home. And, you know, it would unnerved me being that close to home for sure. And I know you kind of alluded to it earlier that you don't know really what these things are. But I ask everyone on the show, and I'm curious on your answer. You know, what do you think Sasquatch is? And again, there's no wrong answer.

I think there are many different. many different creatures. I don't believe that they are all Sasquatch. I don't know that I can say that what I saw was the Sasquatch either. The framework of my knowledge of Sasquatch is basically Patty. And that is not what I saw. So I honestly can't tell you what I saw. It was hairy, strong, big creature with human feet. It was creepy. I have no idea what I saw, man. There is nothing normal about this. It's a biological entity of some sort, but beyond that, I have nothing.

It should not exist. exist. What I saw, I can only describe as a monster. It shouldn't be here. But there it was. Yeah, I understand the way you feel. I mean, I feel like that too. Like, this thing really shouldn't exist.

And I know it was a very brief moment in time, but, you know, these moments in time not only change your perspective, but it also really changes, I guess, who you are as a person, and it's kind of hard to quantify that unless you've had a sighting. It's bizarre, man. And the movement you describe, again, I've seen that firsthand. So I'm with you. There's something very strange about why they move like that. And it's so bizarre. It's like, why even get down on your fingertips and toes? Why not stand up and walk? Or, you know, I guess I'm thinking from a human perspective. And I know it's not the easiest thing to come on the show and share but I really appreciate you coming on and sharing what happened to you, Drew.

I really enjoyed chatting with you, man. And to be honest, we thank you so much for your show. I mean, dude, I've listened to every episode, except for episode 1,000, by the way. You still owe me that one. I hear you. Well, Drew, thank you again, man. I appreciate you, Wes. Thank you for all you do.

Next up on the show, I want to welcome Chuck. Chuck, thanks for coming on. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Yeah, and you had an encounter back in 2015 here in Washington. If you would, just kind of start from the beginning. What were you doing? And what happened?

Yeah, sure. So it was, gosh, I think kind of late spring, early summer. And I'm a motorcycle enthusiast. And so I have a group of friends that like to ride. And I, you know, have other friends that like to do other things as well. So some of them like to camp and whatnot. So this one day, it was a weekend, I made plans with two groups of friends. One of them, my motorcycle friends that we headed out in the morning and went riding and was going to meet up with my camping buddies later that evening.

And so we all met near Seidger Woolley to ride State Route 20 over the North Cascades Pass, which, if you're familiar with, is absolutely beautiful throughout the whole spring and summer and fall. It's gorgeous. With that being said, we rode over to Winthrop and we hung out. I think we grabbed a bite to eat and we cruised around and went down to Twist. And then from there, we split up and that was essentially the end of our riding day. And so I was kind of eager to reconnect with my other friends via the camping trip, which is located at the Colonial Creek Campground near Diablo Lake. Well, actually, it's right on Diablo Lake. So I headed back from Twist all the way over to State Route 20 and then back to.

Colonial Creek Campground, which is on my way home. So it worked out nice. Nonetheless, I had arranged with my friends to carry all my camping gear in their chiefs and stuff. And it was pretty much just car camping at the campsite. There wasn't anything too crazy. But I just wanted to carry all the gear on my bike. So it worked out really well.

So when I got there, they were kind enough to have my site all set up for me. And we just had a great time hanging out. And we kind of went a little bit late into the evening. And at some point, we decided to turn in. And I think it was about 12.15 is when I laid down. And my tent takes a while for me to kind of just decompress and settling. You know, when I was younger, I could sleep on a concrete floor, no problem. But nowadays, it's getting a little harder.

I like the comforts of a plush bed. So fell in the sweet spot, started to doze off. It was, gosh, I don't know. Closer to 1 o'clock is when I actually fell asleep. And then, you know, I think it was, I'm just trying to remember because it was so long ago, about I guess 145-ish that I heard this call. I'll call it a call. And I mean, just to put it kind of in context, it really sounded like the Ohio sound that you play so often. And it wasn't exactly the same, but that's the closest thing that I could probably relate to.

Nonetheless, it was on the far side of the lake. So kind of, I guess, on the northwest side of the lake, it was loud. It filled up that whole valley. But it wasn't like, it wasn't like resonating through me. It just filled the volume of that space. Like, it was pretty impressive. I was just laying there and I, in my tent, I woke me up and I kind of chuckled and I was like, sweet, that's a big foot. Finally got my big foot experience.

That's so cool. And I was kind of stoked about it to hear it. And it went on. It continued to go on for about five. 10 minutes and I was kind of like what's going on like how long is this going to go and then to my surprise there was a return call on my side of the lake which I guess is on the south side of well state route 20 on the if you're familiar with Colonial Creek campground it's split by state route 20 there's a north side and a south side I was on the south side and that's where the lake gets really shallow right

there. Nonetheless, that return call, that, that woke me up. That, I was alert. That, I could feel it starting to resonate. I've had cougars, I think had encounters where cougars where, I mean, their growl just kind of penetrates through you. There's something about the frequency. This, this also had something very similar where it, I was alert because two things. One, It started out soft, and then it became louder, and then the volume and the duration. The duration was what really woke me up because I, at first there's no way this was a human. Just the duration, the volume and the duration was unlike anything I'd ever heard of. And I was, you know, I kind of spent a lot of time in the woods.

I wasn't, I wouldn't say I'm like an avid hunter or anything, but in high school, we, you know, certainly car camp with our Toyota pickup trucks out in the middle as far as way we can get. And then I backpacked quite a bit. I've done Lake Havisbee down at the Grand Canyon, hiked around the northwest quite a bit. I love to fly fish in Alpine Lakes. So it's very familiar with like bears and cougars and things of that nature, just being in the outdoors and just being kind of aware of my environment and situational awareness. And just being aware of being outside and knowing that I'm not. not necessarily the biggest bark out there. Nonetheless, it made me nervous, man. This thing was like,

wow, okay, I'm awake now. So these two things were going back and forth calling each other. And it kind of was interesting because one on my side seemed to be louder and had more duration in its call. Well, the one on the north then was, it was obviously, I've had a guess, probably four, five miles away. As that's just a random guess. And the one next to me or closer to me was closer to maybe I'd guess about three miles. So maybe the distance had something to do with the volume itself. But the coal on the north and the lake just seemed to be, I guess, weaker. So my instincts suggested that, you know, this is just my head going at two o'clock in the morning or whatever it was,

thinking that maybe that's a female on the north side and male on the south side. well they continue to go on for quite a while and at some point the calls started coming down the hillside there's two peaks out there there's several peaks out there and if you're familiar with the area I think one is called colonial peak and I think the other one's called pinnacle peak so the calls are coming from that direction up on the hill there so as these calls were going I mean, each time they called, the one on my side seemed to get closer to the campground, whereas the one on the north end stayed kind of stationary, didn't move very much, at least from my perspective. And every time I heard a call, it was a little bit closer.

And the first call, it was enough to wake me up. Like, I was sober, like I had, it was a little bit shocking just to hear it. And if you can imagine, each time it called and it got closer, I got a little bit more nervous because I didn't know what it was. I kind of joked to myself that, oh, this is a big foot when I first heard it. But now I'm kind of like, what is this? This is not anything I've ever heard of. And it's starting to feel a little bit of anxiety. And as it got closer eventually, it got really, really close to the campground.

And now you're starting to hear this reverberation through your body, through the camp. campground through everything. It is filling up the volume of the airspace with this call. It's the loudest, I guess, biological sound, producing sound that I've ever heard of. And it's on the move. Eventually, it gets into the campground and it continues to increase intensity. I mean, obviously because it's coming closer, but I don't know if it's actually making a more effort to call out. nonetheless, it kept coming closer. And at this point, you know, I, when I go out in the woods, I typically carry. And so I had my 44 with me, and I was in a little flimsy three-man tent in a mummy bag.

And I'm just grasping that sucker. I just like a white knuckling. But I knew just from the volume and the sound and intensity, whatever was coming, 44 wouldn't make a dent in it. It wouldn't, I was pretty petrified. at that point I was pretty nervous, pretty scared, kind of going into a bit of shock, to be honest. And as it called out in the campground, it was terrifying. I'm not even sure how else to describe it, but terrifying. Yeah, to put in perspective, like, I don't go looking for trouble, but I'm 6'1, I'm about 215 pounds,

so trouble just doesn't really find me that much. Lived in very urban environments and kind of know how to care myself. and it's avoided confrontation. I don't know if it's confidence or what, but typically not too to worry about stuff like that. I felt like a kid. I felt very small. This thing had some mass on it to make this type of volume.

What was even more frightening is I started hearing the footprints now, the footfalls as it started getting closer to specifically my campsite. And it sounded like, not that it was like just walking, but more in my mind, like it was jogging. And if I had a guess, I mean, this is all just going on 2.2.30 at night now. And my mind is racing. But the steps, that's what really got me. Like, if the volume and the voice and the calls weren't enough, the steps just seemed like they were so far apart. Like they were just gliding.

And again, this, like in my mind, I'm thinking. It's got to be like 9 to 12 foot gate between steps. No way to like ever confirm this or whatnot. But it just, it just seemed unusual how far the steps were apart. And what really makes me focus on this is every time it stepped, especially as it got closer, the percussion of the step.

If you're familiar with like the northwest soil on the west side of the cascade, It's usually damp and it's not super dense, but it's sometimes there's like a lot of roots in there. And it's like you can step on it and it doesn't move, but it sounds kind of hollow sometimes. This thing really like you could feel the vibration of its step. And it wasn't even close to my campsite yet. It was in the campgrounds, but you could just boom, boom, boom. Like that combined with its call. Every time it called, it would stop, make a call and then keep moving.

Well, I was pretty much kind of in this fight or flight situation. My body kind of involuntarily shut down into a flight mode. And I was petrified. I mean, I was starting to feel like whatever this is is coming my way. And there's really nothing I can do about it. So I just try to keep quiet. It's not like I could even get out of my bag if I wanted to. My body was kind of, you know, just in shutdown mode.

Something about the intensity of this and the volume of its call, just resonating through you, where you can just feel it through like your chest cavity. It's just unbelievable. Like I've been to concerts, seeing, you know, all sorts of bands, anthrax, you know, Pantera, white zombie. I've been next to those big stacks and how, like, it just really resonates. This is, this was resonating through you. It's hard to describe unless you felt something so powerful just go through you.

Well, this creature started coming my way, and sure enough, it really unbelievably came into my campsite. Now, if you're familiar with that campground, I mean, the campsites are roomy, but they're pretty close together. It's still kind of more or less car camping. You put your tent, and you got a fire pit, but your neighbors are pretty close. And so this thing came right through my campground and stopped and made a call. at that point, like, I was completely defeated, like, given up. Like, there was nothing I could do. I could even move.

I was so petrified by the intensity of this call and just the sheer mass that was standing outside my tent. Like, in my mind's eye, just thinking about it, I've had a lot of time to think about it. And I keep going back. Like, this thing must have been, you know, it had to be, you know, eight or nine feet, maybe, more. I don't know. It's hard to say, but the weight, like the density, it must say had some dense mass to it to make that amount of impact on the ground where you could feel it at that kind of level. And so I'm freaking out because this thing's right outside my tent. It's calling and this other thing's calling across from the other side of the leg. And the frequency,

the cadence is becoming more frequent because I think they're getting closer. right? So they're just kind of zeroing in on each other. So like I said, I'm just terrified at that point. But as quick as it came into my campsite, it left. And I was really fortunate to have a campsite right on the water. So this thing just went right into the lake. And it, that water's cold, man. That's glacier-fed water. Even when the sun is directly out, it's cold. Yeah. So I think about like dogs, when you throw dogs, a ball onto the lake and they don't even hesitate. They just are so excited to play. They just jump in. They don't even worry about the temperature of the water and come out typically. This thing was kind of like a similar mindset. Like it must have known the water was cold. Like it's, I don't know, but it didn't phase it. Like it just jumped right into the water with no hesitation. And again, thinking like in my mind what I could compare the size of the splash to, I would really say if somebody took an elk, like a six to 800 pound elk and lifted it 20 feet up in the air and dropped it.

That splash is kind of what my mind was trying to convince me it was. The splash was just unusual. It was an unusually large splash. And I'm just trying to come to terms with what just happened as it. As I came through my campsite, made a call, jumped in the water. And if you know anything about that specific area on the south end of Colonial Creek Campground, that's where the water gets really shallow. And there's a lot of glacier flower or glacier silt. So it has kind of like a greenish tint to it.

But because it's shallow when the sun comes out, it really kind of has a really cloudy look to it. You can kind of see where it gets shallow and then kind of gets deeper and darker. So in the morning when I went out and looked, it definitely crossed like in a shallower part. And keep in mind that lake is also controlled by the dam at Ross Dam. So they let the water out night and let the water out of Ross Lake Dam at night. So the water level does come up and then it drains during the day and then they repeat the cycle. So it must have been up when he jumped into it or it jumped into it and made that splash. But it had to be so tall that to me it seemed like it was just walking through the waiting through the water to get to the other side.

But the geography of that area is so, for lack of a better term, kind of extreme. Like you have like these like rock-based surfaces going straight up. It's not like trails. Even if you're scrambling up there as like a human, you know, there's a lot of loose rock. I mean, it's not really safe to kind of just go right up the hillside. Plus you got the freeway going right there, state route 20. It's just not a designated area. It's just like really primitive.

And it just without hesitation headed that direction. And so it left and I felt like a sense of relief. And I was just like freaking out. Like I didn't sleep pretty much for the rest of the night. I was pretty much a wide awake. I think I started dozing off around 6 a.m. And my friends started getting up and making breakfast. And I got up.

It's not even saying a word. And I just started looking for prints of some evidence that it was there. And again, because of the Northwest, like that compact ground, it doesn't really leave an opportunity for for prints or tracks or whatnot. And so I looked, I walked all the way around the campsite looking for something and anything to prove that I wasn't crazy and I wasn't having like some kind of a hallucination or whatnot. And I went and talked to my friends.

I go, did you guys hear that last night? And I'm like, what? And I'm like, the calling, that howling all night. They're like, nope, we didn't hear anything. And to be fair, I think I think they were out cold. I think they just had a little bit too much a drink or out cold is what I was thinking because how could you not hear that? And I thought it was just going crazy at that point. Like how could you not hear that going back and forth?

And they're like, what are you talking about? And so they started just kind of poking fun at me a little bit like I'm hearing things. And so I just started walking around the campsite just to kind of catch my breath and kind of recount what just happened. And I heard somebody in their tent like, can you believe that last night? And I was like, I'm not crazy, but I'm not going to go knock on their door or their 10 and ask them about it. But like the fact that that little bit, that little comment was enough to like, okay, I'm not alone. There's something did go on last night. And as a result, you know, we loaded up my stuff that morning and headed out.

But man, I just started having a really hard time like coping with this. it was an experience, but I didn't expect it to have kind of like, I don't know if you call like an emotional impact on me or some type of physical impact or through like manifesting through like creating physical issues and like the nightmares. It was weird. Like I would have these dreams like that were out of control of being like totally helpless. And it was really hard to come to terms with. And so I just started looking online and YouTube and I started my big foot journey, of course, as a kid, you know, I saw the Patty film and everything. And, you know, when I was a kid, I just thought it was real. Like, nobody told me it wasn't real.

And so I just thought, like, as a kid, Patty was real and whatnot. And out of all the, you know, childhood monsters, that was the most real monster out there because it wasn't embellished at all. It was just kind of simply honest. Like it just seemed like a bear walking in the woods. Like it just seemed so natural to me. So I never second guess until I got older and whatnot. And everybody was like, oh, that's fake or whatever. And then it's, I never had experience.

There's no real proof and this and that. You know, I could pretty much convince myself or society convince me that it was just not real. But once you have an encounter, and I don't even know if it was Bigfoot, I just had an experience. And that's really what I wanted to share was just everything I found online, everything, it's kind of aligned with what you might call it Bigfoot or Sasquatch or something like that. And I started following all these videos online just to get more information and learn more about it. A lot of it just seemed, I don't know, kind of hokey or fake or looking for views or whatnot. And I eventually came across this guy up in BC, Steve, I forget his last name, but he seemed really passionate.

passionate about the topic. He shared a lot of readers, letters, which started to resonate with me a little bit. And I just finally found kind of something I could connect with. And then over the, over the, I guess, I don't know how long, but I found you, Sasquatch Chronicles and started at episode one and the early days. And I listened to every single one of them. And especially during COVID, they really helped me go to sleep just listening in the background. you know, the voices and the stories. And, you know, if I didn't finish the episode, I would listen to it on the way to work and then finish the episode off. And then it was really cool to see your show kind of mature to what it is today. And some of the episodes and guests really resonated with me. You can just, you know, you can never tell. Like, you don't know if these stories are true or not, but you can tell, at least I feel like I can tell the level of sincerity in someone's voice when they're telling the story. There's a few that were, you know, you can tell these people were really traumatized and I was grateful that they

were able to tell their story on your show. And it helped me just like address some of the concerns or issues that I was having and make me feel like I wasn't alone. Like there was other people out there that had similar experiences. And that really helped me kind of, I guess, address some of the issues that I had just about that experience or I should say the afterfacts or the aftermath, if you will, of the experience. And then continuing to listen to your show, I really just enjoy your format. I mean, you just allow people to explain or tell their story. And I just love hearing from all the different people and their experiences and just kind of like the honest format, if you will.

And so I felt like it was time that I pitched in and share my story. And I just reached out the other day with the quick. email. In fact, I was compelled. I just felt like at lunch, at work, I had a few minutes. I'm like, I'm just going to write a quick email, shoot it over, and see what happens. If nothing else, I feel like I've done my job or contributed in some way by sending off my message to Wes and let him do what he wants with it. But here I am, sharing my experience and hoping it potentially helps somebody else. Yeah, I appreciate the kind of words about the show, Chuck, and I'm glad to have you on. You know, it's kind of trying to find answers. You know, I don't have one in my garage

that I'm studying. And for me, talking to eyewitnesses, really, you get a ton of information. And you mentioned that Ohio, Howl, and I've played it many times on the show. And for me, it seems like a weird vocal for them to do because it gives away where they're at. But you hear eyewitnesses report this all the time. And I've come to kind of a conclusion or kind of a theory. It's not meant for us. It's meant for them. But as you were sitting there listening to it, I know that you don't know, and I don't know, but what was your take on that vocal? I mean, what do you think was going on? Yeah, absolutely. Good question. First of all, just to clarify, the one on the North End of Lake was very similar to Ohio, but the one on my side, I've never heard anything like

it on your show or anywhere else. It was intense. It was definitely what I might consider in my an alpha male that just was stacked like this thing was was literally a monster it the volume and whatnot i can't emphasize enough how how this affected me it but that being said to me i thought it was cool when they were first talking back and forth or just communicating back and forth um and the one the fact that one on the north end stage stationary and the one on the south end uh was moving it was it was moving closer to the one on the north end trying to get over there. I just, you know, to me, my kind of silly mind was like they're playing Marco Polo,

almost like trying to find each other. And I think they're just trying to connect or, you know, it could have been like a juvenile on the North End or stuff like that. You know, I had a lot of time to think about it. And I'm like, you know, I think nobody, oh, I certainly don't know. But I would think like a lot of these creatures, for lack of better word, are probably, they probably travel alone a lot and then they probably encounter others along the way or or or or and so when they do um hear each other they probably try to connect is is kind of what I'm thinking and so

I suspect they're both alone out there and they were vocalizing and they were just trying to connect in some way and I think it you know frankly as simple as that um any more than that is kind of probably embellishing a little bit. I'm just, usually the simplest answer is closer to the rightest answer. Yeah, and I appreciate your opinion on it, Chuck. And, you know, for these things being so elusive and having this reputation that no one can find them, yeah, you hear encounters like this where they run through people's camp. And again, I know that you don't know and I don't know.

I'm just very curious on your opinion because you were there. do you think the creature even knew you guys were there? Because that's pretty bullsy behavior to run into camp, vocalize, and then bail, you know, obviously out to the lake. And you write that water is cold. Do you think it knew you guys were even there? Or do you think at the last moment it was there and it was like, oops? No, I think it is the master of its domain. and everything else is insignificant that we were not a threat at all.

This thing goes where it wants to go. That's its environment. It, I don't think it appears much, to be honest. And so there's no real estate boundaries for it. It has free will to go where it wants, and I don't think it's intimidated by anything. And I'm sure it's, it's, it's, knows or is familiar with, you know, the humans, people, cars, campers, all that sort of stuff. And I don't think it even thought twice. Like, what's the shortest path to get from here to there? And it's right through this campground.

And it didn't even phase it. It was, it just came across like, you say pretty balsy, but so bold and confident that I don't think it was threatened by anything. And it, I can't emphasize enough that the level of terror that one feels in something like this. People that after having this experience and then watching some of the Bigfoot shows and people out there looking for Bigfoot and calling for Bigfoot or trying to entice a Bigfoot into its camp, they're absolutely crazy. Like it just, I realize those shows are now, you know, the ones that I thought had somewhat of some level credibility after my experience. I'm like, this is just pure entertainment. This is all this is. because anyone that knows or has had an experience knows this is nothing you want to encounter.

And I mean, it's one of those things that has impacted me where I don't tent camp. I used to be all about getting away from people and whatnot, get into primitive areas, get into hard to reach areas, and just enjoy nature and just kind of feel like that isolation. And to me, that helped recharge my soul and I'd come back to work or whatnot. just like a mental health thing. Now I, like even if I take my kids or my family out hiking, you know, it's a day hike. I'm definitely armed and I have kind of like situational awareness. I'm constantly looking for signs and, you know, if it's bear or cougar or deer or, you know,

we make a game out of it. I ask my kids identify tracks. What is this? What do you think this is? It's a deer. That's right. But realistically, I'm kind of paranoid. I'm just kind of constantly scanning and looking around.

And there's times where, you know, something doesn't feel right, listen to my gut and just turn around and go back the other way. It's just you don't want to have a run in with these things. And if you do, you're pretty much helpless. I don't care if you think you are armed to the teeth. These things are massive. And, yeah, I would just caution anybody about wanting to have an experience with one. Yeah, and this was 2015. I can't believe that was nine years ago. Gosh, it seems like just yesterday. You know, and it, when you have encounters like this, they never go away. But, you know, you said something there. I hear often from eyewitnesses where they'll report, especially people in tents. They'll say, I could fill the ground move when this thing walked. And, you know, I've never experienced that. And I almost wonder, is it,

fear kicking in and someone is just hyper-focused, or are they actually feeling the ground move when these things walk? Tell me, in your opinion, do you think it was more fear, or do you think it was actually the ground was actually moving? There's no other way to explain it. I definitely was in shock, but the sheer mass and weight of this thing, especially in its stride with this momentum, it caused a percussion in the ground that resonated. And you could hear this thing maybe like just the steps alone. Boy, I don't want to exaggerate, but like definitely at the end of the campground where it was coming in from, you could hear the steps.

They were just boom, boom. And then you started feeling the steps as they started coming closer. This thing had some mass to it. Did you ever go back to this place, Chuck? I have. I haven't camped there. two reasons. One, it's really hard to get camping spots in Washington State. People are on the dime, like at nine months for state camps or at 7 a.m. making their summer plans and booking things up.

And I think this is, I can't remember if this is a federal campgrounds. I think it's six months in advance. But it's really difficult to make reservations. I'm not opposed to going there back there now. But I have driven through there on my bike, my motorcycle, and kind of just revisited that spot where I had the encounter just to see. how I'd feel. It's easy to feel safe in the daytime when there's other people around. But it was a big step for me to go back to that spot where I had that encounter. It was very overwhelming. And I actually had a spike in kind of nightmares, if you will, for about a week after that, just going back to that spot. Kind of come to terms with it. But I kind of also, I don't know, this is kind of reaching a little bit.

But I'm, you know, I've listened to so many of your guests give reports and, you know, the whole spectrum of possibilities of what these things are capable of. And, you know, I don't know that one reason they're so confident is they have abilities that we aren't aware of. And I'm not sure, like, if those abilities, if they possibly have them impacted, or is the reason it impacted me so much in the way of just constantly. having poor sleep and frankly nightmares and kind of just trouble processing what happened to me. I don't know if they have any potentially other abilities and just the physical abilities that are apparent.

So, yeah, it was very traumatic. Yeah, what it scared me, Chuck. And, you know, I realized this 2015, people have heard vocals and, you know, you're sitting in the tent. and you're like, oh, cool, that sounds like Bigfoot. And moments later, you're like, oh, no, that sounds like Bigfoot. You know, with it coming into the camp, it absolutely would have scared me. You know, nine years later, ask everyone on the show, what do you think Sasquatch is? And, you know, for all these years of kind of looking into it, what's your take, Chuck?

What do you think that these things are? Yeah, that's a great question. And I hear you ask every night or every time I listen. And it's really cool to hear all the different perspectives. And, you know, to be honest, I don't know what it was. I just know the experience that I had. But if I was going to try to put some boxes around the creature that I had experience with, I would say it was definitely some type of biological animal.

It was as a physical creature. And, you know, anything more than that is kind of speculation. But it definitely seemed, I used the word primitial. because it seemed like it was intelligent, like being able to communicate, and then the way it was able to, like, navigate. And so it had some intelligence, maybe even a little bit more than just like a, I don't know, I was going to say just like a typical animal. But it came across to me, like the level of communication it had suggested that it may have like a little bit higher level of intelligence. So when I say a primitive, you know, I go back to the. that like the dog that runs into cold water chasing a ball, doesn't hesitate.

These creatures are displayed that behavior. And I'm like, well, it's something like with some level of intelligence, but yet still like primitive that it doesn't, it doesn't hesitate. It has no inhibitions to go through a campground, jump in glacier water. And it seems like it's more definitely on a wild animal side with maybe potentially dash more intelligence. To me, I thought it was interesting that it would stop and call. And it did this for, it must have, like I suggested, potentially three miles away from my tent, because it went on for a while. Like, it was calling, but it would, initially I didn't know it was moving and calling until

the calls got louder. And then when it got closer to the camp, I realized that it was stopping, because get here, it's footprints, make a call, and then it would glide or move again, and then stop and call. So why it wasn't a lot? So why it wasn't a afraid of civilization, if you will, like people, campers, dogs. I don't know if it's just, you know, the time of night or what, but I really don't think these things fear anything. They're in suggesting that they have a dash more intelligence than an animal might be an understatement. But everything I heard about these things have been so elusive, so hard to find. And then here it comes right through my campsite. It kind of reminds me going way

back in the 90s. He used to car camp and in my Toyota pickup truck with the canopy and I'd take my girlfriend out, my buddies and their girlfriends, and we'd go out to Edgewick, if you know where that is off I-90. It's kind of a truck stop. And back then, it was all primitive. And we would kind of foreby into some spots. And you'd be surprised on how many pallets can fit in the back of a Chiracro. But that being said, we'd have a good time. One day, this Native American comes out of the woods, just randomly. And I know this is a quick tangent, but he guys, He goes, have you seen the big guy? I'm like, what are you talking about?

Like, I didn't even know what he was talking about. He goes, Bigfoot. I'm like, what? And he goes, yeah, he's out here. I'm like, I thought this guy was just kind of shaking us down, like scoping out our campsite and seeing him waiting for us to go to bed and come back and not to stereotype anything, but like I just thought he came into, to get, you know, scope our gear out and stuff. So we kept, we stayed up quite a bit, just watching for this guy.

But it was interesting that he would just come into the campground and kind of warn us. that there's a big foot around. It's just kind of weird. Anyway. Yeah, that is strange, Chuck. I would have been right there with you. I'd have been like, this guy's scoping our camp. He's looking for something to steal. But you know, in this area, people are a lot more open about it than they are in other parts of the country. I wanted to ask you, if you had the chance, would you want to see one? I feel like I've seen plenty in my nightmares, and I have no desire to go. And I have no desire to go. And seek one out.

I even like, even if someone harvest one, I just wouldn't be interested in seeing it. Like the trauma I got out of that experience is I'm just coming to terms with it. So like I feel like it would reinvigorate all that trauma that I had and not necessarily in a positive way. And so I have no desire to mess around with these things at all. Like I do know when I go out. kind of let it intimidate me. It's taken me a long time to kind of get my courage back up to kind of go and enjoy kind of the primitive Pacific Northwest. And so getting out to remote areas, even up in BC, we rode up into Alaska and there's a couple spots we pulled out of it that were

just really, really super remote. And I was finally able to kind of put my guard down and relax, but that took a long time to get back to that spot. So you have no desire to mess around, which is kind of ironic because a lot of people want to have an experience. They want to see it. They want to have evidence improved. But I'm telling you, once you have an experience, it changes you. Yeah. It's hard to disagree with that.

And, you know, Chuck, I pull myself in your position. And, you know, you come to find really quick that how little that tent is going to protect you in these moments. And, you know, I always say sometimes it's worse when you don't see the creature. Because at least when you see it, you kind of have an idea of what's going on. But when you don't see it and you're hearing multiple of them, I would have been terrified too, man. And you know, nine years later, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share what happened to you, Chuck. I really enjoyed chatting with you, man. Wes, thank you.

You've done so much for us. The platform that you provide provides kind of a, in my opinion, like an honest and sincere way for people to kind of contribute. and share their stories. And for me, I just felt like it was time for me to share my story to contribute. And maybe someone will hear something or maybe was camping in a similar area and have an experience. And sometimes all you need is that one voice to say, you're not crazy. And if I could do that for somebody, that would be great.

Yeah, it's putting together pieces of a puzzle. And I really appreciate the kind words. Thank you again, Chuck. And that's it for tonight. everyone, remember if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. And if you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows. I'll see the members back on Sunday.

Everyone else, have a great weekend, and until next time.