Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:1174 The Vagrant

Episode Date: July 26, 2025

Chad writes "Back in 1992, I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). We were running a force-on-force training operation. I don't recall the exact location—maybe an hour's drive from Lewis. Our task was to defend a simulated Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) site consisting of a trailer and container meant to resemble a rocket launcher. We had two Special Forces Operational Detachment Alphas (ODAs) involved, roughly 20 guys total, plus a few support personnel. The site was backed up against the "no play zone," so any attacking team could only approach from the west. It was fortified: two M-60 machine gun nests, a perimeter of seasoned operators, M-16s for each of us, a couple of HF radios—basic gear for a simulated "enemy" approach. No high-speed tech, no grenade simulators that I can recall. The terrain was layered: a track in front of the site, then woods, then a clean trail parallel to a ridge 150 meters to the west. Beyond that, a large field of tall grass. Ferns covered the ridge slope—dense and knee-to-hip high. Our mission was to intercept and resist any attempt to assault the SAM site, likely between dusk and sunrise. We ran rotating two-man patrols along the trail, each covering a three-hour shift. The night of the encounter, I was paired with a Sergeant First Class—an 18D medic whom I'll call "Guy." He'd been in group for years. I was 22 at the time, on of the youngest on site. Moonlight was strong—brilliant enough to allow stealth movement. We paced slowly, stopping every few meters to kneel and scan. After an hour, we paused under a shadowed area. Guy lit a cigarette with quiet precision—no glow exposed. I asked how he did that. He smirked and said, "Sniper check." Then it happened. A deafening scream rang out from the ridge. At first, I thought it was an animal. But then came a bizarre shift: halfway through, it took on a human tone. Eight to ten seconds of sustained vocalization that morphed into a frantic, incoherent babble… and finally, a coyote-like cackle or laughing sound. The volume never dropped. We scanned the ridge. I spotted a silhouette—a massive figure, turning swaying side to side near a tree at the top of the ridge. It looked human. I thought, "Who in group is that size?" We went guns up. The figure turned north and walked away. We pursued him, assuming a diversion tactic to draw us away from the site. But despite jogging, we couldn't close the gap. He moved quickly—strangely so. This went on for nearly a kilometer and a half. The forest thickened. The ridge narrowed – bottle necked. And then the figure veered east—straight toward us—charging downhill like a bipedal rhino through underbrush. Not sticks snapping… limbs breaking. I think at this moment, I realized It wasn't human and started to categorize it. We veered northwest off the trail to intercept. It turned north, the woods were dark – perfect place for a kill zone, an ambush, I could still track its movement. Then… silence. It stopped moving. Total quiet. We crept forward—as noted this was textbook ambush territory. But nothing came. The smell did. It hit in layers. First: wet dog tangled with decay. Then: putrid infection, feces, rot. It overwhelmed me. As the stench peaked, dread set in. Danger. Immediate and primal. I glanced at Guy. He nodded: time to back out. We backed out—me facing rear, unwilling to turn my back. I feared a charge. Surprisingly, Guy was only 15 feet behind. I suspect he walked backward too. Eventually we hit the trail again, dazed. We stood in silence. Not tactical—just stunned. I have no concept of how long we stood there. I remember being totally surprised by how far we went, and how far off the trail we went. Almost like an unexplainable time warp. We never spoke of it again. The only time I had heard what Guy had experienced was later that morning as he debriefed the CO and some of the others. There is much more to this encounter that I would like to discuss with you."

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 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 happened what are you reporting? Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That's son of a bitch is about six of a six years. This is about six foot nine. I don't know. Do you see a male, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at him.

This is Jack from South Mississippi, and you're listening to Sasquatch Chronicles. So buckle up and hang on. Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show plan for you. We'll be speaking to Chad. And Chad was stationed at Fort Lewis back in 1992.

He recalls this incident where his group came upon this giant creature that was screaming at them, and they decided to kind of give Chase. I'll let Chad go into it. 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 my Chad to the show. Chad, thanks for coming on. Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, and you had this incident back in 1992 while serving, and thank you for your service. This happened on Fort Lewis. If you would, take your time. I mean, what were you guys doing and what happened? Sure.

So, you know, like I said, it's been 33 years, but it's one of those things that you just kind of don't forget. So I'll be as detailed as I can as I can remember. So I was at Fort Lewis and I was in the first Special Forces group there. And we're doing what we called Force on Force. So that's where we'd have SF team or Special Forces teams, assault, whatever targets. And at that particular time, we set up a SAM site or a Surface to Air missile site, which was actually a trailer and then it had a container on top. It kind of resembled a makeshift missile launcher.

And I think that we had probably maybe 20 plus guys, and so equivalent to probably two operational detachment alpha, so two ODAs and some staff personnel. And we really didn't receive too much high-tech equipment. You know, it was just pretty much a M-S6. 16's, I think, a couple of HF radios, and we had a couple of M60 machine guns. And so we were fortified very well. And I don't recall exactly what training area we were at, but let's say it was a good half hour, 45 minute from Fort Lewis.

And the terrain was kind of in layers. So facing east, we'd had the SAMH site and then we'd have a, Just in front of us was a track or a trail for vehicles. And then wood line that probably went 100 meters in, maybe 150 meters. And then there was a trail. And it was a very clean trail. What I mean by that is like there was no debris on it. You can move up and down this trail very easy.

It wasn't a game trail. It was purposely there. And I don't know what reason. And then from the trail to the top of this ridge was probably, you know, a length of a foot. ball field. And then it plateaued it. It was a very large space field with tall grass. Our mission was pretty much fortify this SAM site while different ODAs or special forces teams would attack and number two, destroy the SAM site. So that was the mission. Our mission was, we We would patrol on that trail back and forth during the night hours.

And we'd do it two-man teams, and I think it was about three or four hours. We'd patrol back and forth. And that the particular night of this experience or this encounter was just a beautiful night. The moon illumination was just remarkable. And so it was myself, and I can't even remember the guy. name, which is a very odd part, but he was a sergeant first class, and he was an 18 Delta. The 18 Delta is a special forces medic, and we would patrol back and forth. So we'd use what we had, the elements in the forest to, you know, tactively move back and forth.

We'd move about five, ten feet, take a knee, kind of stay under the, The ferns, and the ferns were, I'd say they were between the knee and waist height, so they were pretty thick. So we would move back and forth. And, you know, so we'd move, stop, taking me, scan, listen, and we moved. So our whole mission was to assault any element that was coming for the SAM site. So we were looking for that SF team that was going to come through. we probably did this for an hour. And at the end of the trail, it kind of just came abruptly to a wood line.

It was pretty dark. So I remember we went there and we were standing. And since I can't remember his name, I'll just call him Guy. Guy pulled out a cigarette and he lit it. It was magical. He just did this. How he lit the cigarette was just, you know, because it tactfully, you know, people would cup it or they'd cover it and light it.

The way he did it was just, like, impressive. It was like, there was no light. And so I remarked, I was like, you know, that was amazing. And he was like, oh, yeah, we call this a sniper check. And so he did it how normally people would do it in the field. And so it was like a cup, cup in your hand over the cherry of the cigarette, and he drew on it. and it lit up his chest and neck area and part of his face with this red hue.

Just after that, maybe, I mean, right away was this very loud scream. And originally I thought, oh, this is some bizarre animal or, you know, I was like it was an elk or a sick elk or something, but it was very loud and it sustained. And I think I'm being very conservative when I say eight to ten seconds. It was a very long time. So it screamed and at some point it switched to within that scream like a male tone, a human male tone. And then it went to a male kind of gargaly babble and then into a cackle like a coyote. but it didn't sound like a coyote, but exactly like a coyote, but that's the best. And this went on for, like I said, 10 seconds.

So it was on top of the ridge, and so our backs were to the ridge. So we turn around, and 10 seconds was a lot of time to scan to see what was, you know, what we're looking for. So we're looking back and forth. And on top of the ridge, I've seen a silhouette. I know I've heard in podcasts of people saying, you know, like, you know, they peek around trees. This was this guy, this big dude, was just standing there, you know, two arms, two legs, and the silhouette. And I remember thinking, well, I was like, man, this is a big dude.

And I was also thinking, like, who in the right mind would do this? You know, this is not typical of, you know, any special forces team. I mean, these guys are masters of, you know, guerrilla warfare, no pun intended. but I was looking at these guys, this guy, and thinking, oh, he's huge. And if I knew who Shaquille O'Neal was back then, I would have said he was about the same size. So I was thinking like, who, who is this? And that silhouette was kind of rocking back and forth a little bit, at least it appeared to. And so we're facing east.

At some point, it turned north. And so that's to its left. And so it started walking across the top of the ridge. And I could hear it and I could see it. And so I'm, you know, so I'm thinking in my head, like, who's in, you know, the SF group that's that big? You know, I'm like, why would they do this? They're going to be embarrassed. This is silly, you know, but we were either going to go up the ridge after it or we were going to, you know, follow it,

which this trail paralleled with the ridge. So we were sticking with it and I kept on, you know, keeping a good eye on it, although, you know, I was losing visibility, but I could hear it. And it was almost, you know, we were thinking, you know, I was thinking this was a diversion. You know, they were pulling us away. So I was expecting, like, the SF team to move in and the South of Sam site. Again, though, I was thinking this is not typical. This is really weird. And then I was thinking, okay, it might not be an SSF.

team, is there any other elements? Who might be out here with us doing this? So we're on that trail and kind of following it. And years later, I didn't realize this at first, but years later, I was thinking, like, man, we were jogging. We were moving pretty quick. And I, we weren't, you know, an all-out sprint, but we were moving pretty quick trying to keep up with this. And I could see where it would break the moonlight or I'd see a shadow, but I could tell it was still walking, plus I could hear it, and it wasn't being quiet. So I originally at one point was thinking, oh, it's a big guy with a rucksack on maybe. That's why it's so big.

But we keep on moving, and it's hard to gauge, but it was probably a kilometer. So it was just under a mile that we're following and we're skirting. with this. Well, that trail that we were on in that ridge kind of bottleneck and the canopy of the trees were thicker. So we were kind of losing that moonlight. It started getting darker. And we kept on, you know, keeping with this thing as best as we can. It was walking, but we're jogging trying to keep up. And so we get to a certain spot. And then all of the sudden it turns west towards us and comes down this ridge and it's barreling through this to the brush. And, you know, the only way I could like describe it was it sounded like a bipedal

rhinoceros. I could hear it stomping. And it didn't just break sticks. It was breaking limbs. I mean, it was very loud. And I was thinking like, okay, you know, somebody's circus bear got loose or this is some big guy that kind of lost his steps and maybe he got momentum and I'm going to find him at the bottom of this ridge. You know, and so it barrels down and coming towards us, although we were probably, I don't know, 25, 50 meters behind where it actually came down. It was kind of charging towards us. So we did what we were, anybody would do, I guess, in this scenario, is we went to intersect it. So we turned northeast towards it to intersect.

So we went off trail and we started breaking bush. Mostly at this point it was just a thick ferns. And so we slowed down quite a bit. Like I said, it was kind of bottlenecking. It became even more dark. As we came up to where it kind of came down and I could still hear it, but I couldn't see it, and I don't recall seeing any movement. We were behind it at this point.

So I don't remember how far we moved into the wood line, but we were behind it, and I could hear it. So we were still tracking it. So at this point, I'm going, man, this guy has to be beat up. And I'm still waiting to hear for a firefight, you know, and then I started realizing like, oh, we're in the kill zone. So this is the perfect spot for an ambush. So I'm like, oh, they're drawing us into the ambush.

They got the big guy to chase us over here or to draw us in. And so me and Guy are moving in. Guy's right behind me. And it's darker. The trees are more of an older forest at this point. And so we're closer to the ridge. So we had like no light from the moon. It was very dark.

And so I could hear it, and then all of a sudden it stops. It goes silent. So I pause and, you know, scan, listen, looking for any movement. I look back at guy scanning. So I move probably another 15, 20 feet forward. And we're guns up. I'm waiting for muzzle flash, flash grenades. because that's our mission.

That's what we needed to get done. But I'm kind of going, all right, this is really still bizarre. So I pause again, scan, look back, guys still doing the same thing. I don't know how many times we did this, but I remember the last time we did this. I start moving and I walk into this. It was like a wall of stench. And I would always tell people when I told this story, and I haven't told this story to anybody except family for probably 24, 25 years. When I hit that, I would always say, yeah, it was like a dirty dog smell, a wet dog.

But I can define that a little bit more. When I was growing up, I had a good friend, and he had this dog that would get loose, and it would go, and I don't know, rub up against roadkill. And so I went over his house one day and he was like, he's like, hey, I can't go anywhere until I wash the dog. I was like, oh, I'll help you. Big mistake. But get the dog.

And it was such a foul smell. It was a dirty, wet dog with a decay roadkill smell. So that was the first part of the smell. So to me, and it seems it might be different than other experiences, but there was layers to it. And that first layer, I continued moving in. I mean, I'm like, okay, well, you want to be around whatever dead animal here. Because my only reference in Bigfoot back then was, you know,

Leonard Nimoy and $6 million man. So I start moving forward and then I hit the next layer of smell. And the only way, I mean, I've thought about the, for years and it can almost still smell it, but it's a, it's kind of like a fecal matter, a really bad infection and urine mixture. And it was very pungent, very strong. And that is when, you know, and I really, I think there was like some kind of pharmonin in it because instantly, you know, I don't want to say dread or fear because I think fear is awesome.

especially in those moments but it was um it was like instant I was like this is a bad we're we're we're in a bad situation this went from a play practice and exercise a training to you know like this is a real world this is this something bad's going to happen and the only so I had to categorize it and I couldn't I left the big foot the sysquatch thing in the back of the head my back of my head but I was thinking all right you know it's a lot you know it's I'll just go with the bear thing. I was like, but, you know, there's a grizzly bear in Fort Lewis. This doesn't make sense, but I had to, had to rationalize it because I paused.

I stopped. I didn't move forward. And I was scanning, looking, because it was quiet. There was nothing, no sounds. The ferns were tall. And it was, I was like, I know if I turned my back. back and it's, I'm going to be pounced on. So I look back over at Guy and Guy looks at me and it gives me the nod of like, okay, we're going to, we're going back out. We're not talking at all.

He turns around. He takes point. But I, I couldn't turn around. I just, I felt unsafe. I felt like this is going to be bad. I'm going to be attacked by Cody Young Bears something on Fort Lewis. This isn't cool. So I start backing up and I'm moving slow because I don't want to trip and fall, but I want to face whatever is coming on. And so as I'm moving, and I can't recall it was quite a distance that I walked backwards. I did not feel comfortable. But at some point I remember thinking, oh, no, guy's going to leave me here.

He's bailing. He's moving out. And so at some point, and it was quite a distance, I thought. comfortable enough where I was like, all right, back to my senses. And I turned around and I was so surprised to see he was only about 10, 15 feet away from me. So I assume that he must have walked backwards too. And I'm not sure, because I've never talked to the man about this. That's some of the weird part. So that was all very strange and weird to me and concerning. Another part of this that kind of doesn't add up and I could never rationalize really exactly what was going on.

When I was able to turn around and I was like, all right, I feel comfortable enough I can turn around, I didn't realize like how far we had went. I didn't realize how far off the trail we went because we were moving and I was like, oh, we must be coming up to the trail now. Nope, all right, we getting a little closer. Nope. And we're, we're getting a little closer. Nope. And we moved and moved and moved. Finally, we made it to the trail. And we were back into the beautiful moonlight.

They were standing there. And not at one time did the guy and I talk or say anything. And there was like a time warp. And I don't know if that's the best terminology, but there was like a where I can't account for a certain time. I think the whole scenario only took about, 10 minutes. I mean, we probably traveled a kilometer and a half or more. But I remember standing there, you know, staring at guy in the moonlight, you know, and neither one of us are

saying anything. And I'm like, please don't light another cigarette. I remember thinking that. But we were standing there and then all of a sudden, so we're, I hear coming from the Sam site, so we must have made it back to the front or the end. the area in front of the Sam site, I could hear movement coming. And I knew that was our replacements coming. So I knew there was like a loss of time. And I don't even know if that makes sense. But I remember hearing them coming and they weren't being tactful but are super, you know,

stealthy because I know they didn't want to sneak up on us, but, you know, they weren't trying to be loud either. and I remember thinking like how soft they sounded, how quiet they were compared to this thing that was on the ridge. And so they come in and I think this was the only time anybody talked. I didn't say a word. I remember a guy giving them a brief like, yeah, we encountered something and went across the top. And I don't remember exactly how that went down. But he gave him a detail like, yeah, it's north.

we're not sure what we were following and this is what happened. And so we went back to the Sam site and, you know, we didn't have tents or anything. So, you know, I just, it was still dark out, so I think I just climbed into my sleeping bag. And I don't recall if I slept or anything, but at some point, you know, it was daylight, it was early morning. And I look over and I see guy over there at the talk. So that's where the tops are the top individuals, the commanding officer and higher ranking individuals. And he looked like he was briefing him out.

And so I go over there and I listen to the tail end of it. And he was talking. He's like we were in pursuit of something. It was moving across. It came down. we followed it this way. He was like he was moving quickly. And he was saying the same things I would have said.

And if you, and Guy was, he was like, he had been in special forces for, I don't know, 10, 15 years. So everybody knew him. He was, he was a solid individual. So I remember the, I think the commanding officer. So he called on the radio, I think it was, you know, the training coordinators or whoever there was in charge of the entire training. And he called them and he said, hey, we experienced, you know, an element moving across this area and doing this. And was there any special forces teams in our sector, in our area? And they called back and they were like, no, the closest one.

I'll never forget this. They said, no, the closest one was 10 kilometers. I'm like, that's freaking six miles. I'm like, so, and so I'm like, okay. And then he said, well, was there any elements? Any known elements? And they were like, no, no, you guys are over there by yourself. There's nothing going on.

So I'm thinking, wow, all right, this is crazy. I didn't want to say out loud, like, oh, it's Bigfoot or Sasquatch or, you know. And I remember there was a guy, Mike, he, um, super, cool guy. He was on one of the team guys. He was one of the teams. And I think this is where things kind of changed a little bit. I learned a little bit about the encounters everybody else has had. So he slapped me on my chest and it was like, it looks like you chased yourself some big foot there, hard charger. And I was like, what is going on here? And so there was another team that was there. And I I was talking to them, and they actually had a name for it because there has been, there was a lot of encounters or experienced with this in, you know, in different ODA teams or special forces teams.

And I remember, they call them a vagrant, or they call them the vagrant man. And that was one particular team. And I remember they were like, I had asked. So what was this thing? They were like, oh, that's the vagrant man. I was like, why, what is that? A freaking hobo out there? What are we talking about?

And they were saying, no, this is a, no, it's a guy. He just was out in the woods. Just leaving alone. Stuff like that. And so it was almost like a right to passage. Like a lot of these guys had had experiences or due of experiences. But that didn't solidify it for me. I needed, you know, I was young.

I was only 2223, so I was really, you know, unaware I wasn't sure, so I couldn't hold back. I started asking everybody, and I started receiving stories. And so I went to a couple of, I told all my buddies, I was like, yeah, listen, this is what happened. This is what, but I had went to some seasoned individuals that I knew had been in that, SF unit for quite some time. And so I had asked one, he was actually in a Ranger Battalion prior to going into SF. And he was telling me in like the mid-80s, he was like, yeah, there was a whole squad of Rangers chased down in pursuit and couldn't keep up with a creature for, you know, I've heard the

difference that some say five kilometers, some say five miles. Because I had heard that story several times asking around. I then I went to, we went, it was probably a month later, we went to North Fort Lewis had a jump master school. And so I had the opportunity there to talk to a lot of different guys from different teams. And, you know, just like saying, you know, they were like, oh, yeah, that stuff happens. You just ignore it. He'll mess with them.

You know, so you get that kind of information. But I went to, in anybody that's ever been in first group, their battalion would know who I'm talking about. This guy's a legend. So I went to him and I was like, hey, Tom, have you ever had this experience? Because this is what I had. And I gave him the snapshot. And he said, yeah, I had my own experience. And he proceeds to tell me that they were out doing some patrols.

training at a training site. And it was just him and his team. He was a team sergeant at the time. And they were doing whatever they, whatever training. He said in the evening, they were, they're trained late into the evening. And then they kind of just chilled out around a campfire and, you know, debriefed. And he said, then, you know, they just all crashed out, went to sleep. He said, he woke up and he looked over and he was about 10 feet away.

He said there was this hair. very guys squatted over the fire, kind of like messing or poking its finger into the coals or using a stick, I think it is what he said. And then he said, he didn't even say that he just watched it. And he said it stood up. He said it wasn't very tall, very big. It was hairy and it had long hair hanging off its arms. And he said he watched it walk down the trail and then turned into the woods. But, you know, so there was always, you know, a lot of conversations, you know, when I had conversations about it with people, but there was always a lot of, you know, like, it was like, oh, yeah, no, you're going to see that stuff.

Yep, no, it happens. So it was way more common. And I can't, nobody ever made fun of me in that scenario. It wasn't until I came, you know, back home. and then I, you know, told somebody the story 24, 25 years ago. And I was like, okay, yeah, that was a mistake. And then, you know, just share it with friends, close friends and family. But so that's kind of the story in the nutshell.

You know, there's one thing that's been eating at me over the years, Chad, and maybe you can kind of help me understand. You know, on these military bases, encounters consistently happen. I could probably name off like 10 military bases right now where encounters consistently have happened over the years. And Fort Lewis is notorious for sightings. I've had so many people I've lost count of how many veterans I've actually talked to that were on Fort Lewis that encountered the creature. And what I don't get is it seems like if I ran a military base, I was in charge of everything. and I was getting these reports from enlisted men and women

about running into this creature, I'd be like, wait a minute, what the hell's going on here? This guy said he ran into someone as big as Shaquille Neal and they couldn't catch him. I mean, I would kind of want to look into it, but it never gets looked into. Why is that? You know, I don't know.

I mean, it's almost, And, you know, I know in that particular time with that SF community that there was quite a few guys that knew and they were higher enlisted. I mean, we're talking E6 to E8 and officers. You know, they were like, yeah, yeah, this stuff happens. You know, don't mess with it. It'll go away. But I don't know. I have no answer to that.

I don't know if there's just no value to them, because I think if there was a value to, then they're like, all right, let's snatch one up or put one down. But, you know, then I don't know. I think maybe others are like, yeah, no, you're probably spending too much time in the woods. Or, you know, so I don't know. I don't think I really have a clear answer to that.

Yeah, I think it's one of my main. arguments why I believe the government is covering it up because it's happening in their home and yet they have no interest. No one really seems to care. I don't get it. I interviewed a retired colonel one time and I asked him that question and he basically told me, you know, if you want your career to move forward, you know, your opinion is irrelevant. If you want your career to move forward, you keep your mouth shut and just do your job. Yeah, that's probably true. Maybe more and the officers, I would imagine. I think enlisted, they're like, yeah, we really don't

give a crap, you know. But I would say in officers, because that's more of a political, I think, drive for those individuals to move up and rank. So I would imagine. But I don't know. I think as far as the

enlisted, I don't know. I don't think it mattered as much. Maybe because I don't know. I don't know if there is any situation. where people were injured, I think if somebody was injured, maybe there would be more of an interest. Or like, all right, what's ruining our soldiers here? I know, you know, a lot of SF guys, you know, they spend their entire life doing that.

And they've put a lot of money in these guys. And if they're getting injured by some creature you can't account for, then I would think that there was probably, there would probably be more involvement by upper and upper echelon. Yeah, I can't say that I've ever interviewed someone who had been injured or reported an injury from one of these creatures on a military base. I interviewed this veteran one time and they were doing live fire on the range. I want to say they were firing mortars, but it was a live range. And downrange, what they thought was a guy dressed in all.

black comes running out of the woods right onto the range where they were firing and the range instructor called ceasefire and he was pissed he couldn't wait to get his hands on this guy that came out on the range when they were firing well the more they looked at this thing they realized even from a distance this is way bigger than a man and it's all black and i remember when he said this thing kind of looked in their direction and then took off for the wood line he goes, it was running like a man, but it was doing probably 35, 40 miles an hour. I mean, right then and there when it took off. He goes, I've never seen anything or any man run that quick.

It definitely goes on on these bases and it has for decades, you know. When you guys very first saw this creature, how far away from you was it? You know, so it was on top of the ridge and the incline to the ridge was it was not too much. of a challenge. Well, I would say maybe a length of a football field. Even that at that distance, I could tell it was a big guy. Plus it was very bizarre because, you know, that was just not a tactic anybody would go with. It was the scream that you really got my attention. At first I thought, oh, yeah, it's got to be an animal of some sort. But when it went into that male tone, that human male tone.

I was like, oh, no, it's a person. It was very loud, way louder than, you know, I think any human can, you know, sustain. But it was probably a football field length away. You know, you had mentioned the babble that you heard after the scream. Did it remind you of the Sierra sounds? Yes. Yeah.

very close because of, yes, it did. You know, Wes, it was like, um, years later, I, when I, I got dialed up internet, I, uh, I, I, I searched. I was a, I forgot how what I put in, but it was very similar and I think it was like 1974, uh, Sasquatch scream, Puyallup, Washington. And I remember hearing that for the first time since then, and it was very close. It had that long screech. And then there was like some cackling at the end.

You know, kind of a very similar to like a coyote cackle. But yeah, there was, it went from like an animal scream, mailtone to a, a, yeah, like that Sierra Babel, right into this really clever cackle that was very similar to a coyote. And when I say it was eight to ten seconds, it could have been longer. I was being very conservative in saying that. I just remember, like, it was long-winded. That's a lot of time. So as soon as I heard, I remember, we turned around.

we may even stepped off trail getting ready to go up towards it to make contact. But, you know, I don't remember if there must have been like it moved out behind a tree. But, you know, when I hear other podcasts and they're like, oh, yeah, I see them peeking behind tree. I didn't see any eyes shine or anything like that. It was just a dark silhouette. And it kind of rocked back and forth. And then it seemed like it turned. Like its upper torso a bit because that's when I was like, oh, it must have a ruck on, but no.

I think it was just it had some girth to its upper chest. It was just wide. And then when it was moving across the ridge, you know, like I said, I didn't think about this until way later was like how fast it was moving, walking and us jogging to keep up. and, you know, of course, I'd stop and pause for a second and then, you know, we'd keep moving. It was fast. So when you say, you know, that creature went 35 miles an hour, I think if this thing was at full speed, I'm like, yes, yes, I could see that thing moving quick. To me, it was a diversion, you know, and that's what I originally thought. I thought that we were being diverted away to either be ambushed or they can assault the Sam site.

I think this thing was doing the same thing. I think it was diverting us away for some particular reason. And I'm going to say this. I think when I was in that Bigfoot stench, if I would have took two steps forward, it would have been, I wouldn't be talking today. I think it would have been a, I think Fort Lewis commander would have to figure out why one of the soldiers was mutilated by this thing. And, you know, I, you know, it was so loud when it was coming down that, that, that, that ridge.

You know, I've had a bear encounter just last year. And it was a 300 plus pound male black bear. That was probably 15 feet away. And I didn't even hear that thing coming towards us. And it was being chased by hounds towards us. my wife and I when we were backpacking. And that little bear had nothing on this thing. That's why I was like, you know, it had to be a grizzly bear because it had to be that size.

But I could hear it, it was bipedal. It was running, you know. I remember, you know, I had nothing to base it off. You know, I heard these stories. There was a place, I forgot the name of it. and I think it was in Tacoma. C&L monkey store or circus store. It was like a thrift store.

I think C&L, it had like a clown on it on the sign. One of my friends was like, hey, you got to go check this place out. It's a thrift store. It's in Tacoma. And it had Ivan the Guerrilla. They had Ivan the Guerrilla in there. And so I was like, what? you know,

because I wanted, I wanted to rationalize what this was. So I can't tell you how many times I went and visited Ivan, but I would go to this thrift store, but, you know, I'd get a friend or somebody to go, and I went in there, and, you know,

I would, I stood there staring at this poor gorilla and going, like, is this what I'm seeing? Is this what I've seen? And I'm like, no,

he was smaller. than this thing. You know, and plus, you know, I've seen this thing walking. And so I think Ivan Garret, I think they moved him,

like, right after, not too long after that, maybe 1994 or something, they finally got that guerrilla of his summit prison or whatever he was in. But,

and I, I remember going, you know, I had to rule out big monkey guy. I wasn't even sure. You know, I couldn't even put that,

it put him in. I was like, all right, somebody's, you know, loose guerrilla. Where we were at, I, again, I don't really recall. I remember we called it Renier training area. And so I was thinking, was it near Mount Rainier? I don't recall. I don't think Fort Lewis has a training area there. I don't know.

I don't remember. Yeah, I want to say that they do. For some reason, I remember veterans tell me being up near. Mount Rainier when they were training at Fort Lewis. You know, you had brought up the Puyallup Screamer, and I think I have that here. And this was going on back in the early 70s. People were hearing this and recording it. It made local news.

No one could figure out what this thing was. But here is a Puyallup Screamer. I love the guy at the end where he's like, oh, my God, that's what I would have been saying. you know over 30 years later I ask everyone what do you think Sasquatch is what's your take you know that

I you know you thought about that over many years now and for me and I'm not denoting anybody else's experiences but I was a living creature you know

I you know I hear other people saying you know forgive me because I've really, I never really studied this. You know, I've watched very little to nothing on, you're like finding Bigfoot or anything like that. Maybe a documentary here and there, but as far as what that was, you know, I mean, like, did somebody get funky with a monkey? Or did somebody's, like, circus bear get loose?

You know, and these were all the things that, you know, you go over. I can't say it was a primate, but I, I know it wasn't human. It functioned human by the way it moved. I think it was drawing us. Like I said, I think it was drawing us away. Maybe it was drawn us away for a particular reason. I think it had the opportunity to remove us from the situation,

but it didn't take that opportunity. I think it gave us a warning, and we ignored the warning and kept on pursuing. And then it did this, you know, Bigfoot, spray of some sort to, you know, let you know you're in a danger zone. And so I think it's a definitely it's an animal. I think it's like the David Blaine of the forest. I mean, I think it uses its element because I think as a human, but I would have went low too. I wouldn't have went up a tree. I think a bear goes up a tree because it's afraid. I think this thing probably went low.

I think it will I went in once I learned about the um quadrupedal or that it crawls like a spider or like yep well okay there it is man I think this thing went low I think it went below the ferns and I think if I would have took a two steps forward just a few steps forward I think I would have been it would have been over um you know good thing guy was a medic but I think he would have been tore up too you know so I I don't know I other than I I know I'm pretty sure for me, my experience, it was a animal, it was a creature. It functioned that way. I just think it's like, it's an apex of the forest.

It's very smart. But, you know, so our orcas and gorillas. So I think it's this, it uses its environment. And it was able to pull us away from wherever it needs to be pulled away from. And then it had to give us warnings. But, yeah, I don't, I don't know. I just, I think it's an animal. Yeah, and I think that's a fair answer, Chad.

And I get why people say that. In your email, you talked about seeing the lights. Do you mind tell me about that? All right. So the first time was probably in 2000 and, probably 2000. 2001. My wife and I, we went to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan, where there's a Paulding, Michigan, or the Paulding lights. And I don't know if you've ever heard of them. And that was the first time. So we were going to go up there backpacking at the Porcupine Mountains. And so on the way, we're going to hang out there and see if we could check out those lights. And so we get there. We spend the day. And then we just kind of hung out in this like parking lot area apparently you know there's you know legends it's a ghost of a railroad worker that was hit by a train and I guess it could be gases or it's

UFOs or whatever it might be but we waited there it was probably around 2 a.m. We started to see the lights down this trail so we got out of the vehicle and we went closer to the trail. Earlier that day, I went down the trail and back, and I mean, there was nothing exciting, but when the lights kind of appeared, so it was like two lights and they'd kind of

shift in colors, it seemed like blue, red, and then white, and then there was two of these things kind of floating around. And they kind of move forward a bit, and then kind of move back. The creepiest

part of that was some lady was behind us and didn't even know. And she was like, you know, in a very raspy voice telling us that they come all the way up to the guardrail that was there. She said, oh, yeah, they've come up all the way to the guardrail and, you know, bounce around the cars. And this particular time they did not. So that was the first time. And I guess it's pretty frequent. So that's a Paulding, Michigan.

The second time, my sons and my nephew and I were backpacking on the North Country Trail and Manistee National Forest. And so we decided to camp for that night. And so I set up my camp, I didn't put a canopy or the rainfly over my tent. It was this beautiful night. So I was laying there and I woke up and I peered down the trail. So the trail goes to an opened area where power lines went across the river and then another forest or wood line was probably, I don't know, two, three hundred feet across or from where I was. And then just inside that wood line, there was a very large, I would say it was probably four feet. it was in the bright light.

It was a soft light. It was kind of dull. It was a circle light. It didn't seem to illuminate, but it was just a soft light. So I watched that for a while. It really didn't move much. It kind of moved a little back and forth. So I'm thinking maybe that's a reflection of something.

I had no explanation. I just watched it for a while. I think I probably dozed off. I wake back up and it was gone. It was still dark out. And then the next morning I asked my sons and my nephew. I was like, hey, did you guys see this? And they were like, no, we didn't see this at all.

So, you know, it was no big deal. Probably a few years later was my third time. And this one was a little bit more active. So I was doing on the same trail, but more north of where I was at that last sighting. I had stopped for the night, and I was sleeping in a hammock, and I, you know, kind of looking around, and I could hear some moving or movement in the tree line to my left. And I look over there, it looked like two people were moving around. Actually, I didn't see, like, people. I just seen what I thought was their headlamps.

But it was like, again, there was probably the same. size of a plate, about eight inches, 12 inches. And they were kind of moving around. And they were, it was, as they were moving around, I didn't notice if there was like any different colors. But they didn't illuminate the light. So I was like, this is weird. But so I just watched for a while. And they were loud over there. Like I could hear sticks being moved, things being dropped. and I'm thinking to myself like, man, people you know, hiking in late, you know,

and being allowed, you know. So, and there wasn't very many people on the trail that particular time. So I'm watching them, this went on for maybe a, I don't know, a half hour. A lot of ruckus over there. I could hear like, maybe like

a log or something being moved or dropped or tossed. Sticks being broke. I didn't recognize, like, like anybody's stepping, just a lot of movement. And so that next morning I get up and I was like, I'm just going to walk down that way a little bit and see what's going on. And I walk down that way and I'm like, there was nobody there.

There was nobody camp there. I couldn't tell if there was too much movement in that particular area. But it was like the worst place to pitch a tent anyways. It was on a ridge. And so that was probably the last situation. I don't recall having like any other. There was another time though. I was like, oh, yeah, this another light,

but it turned out to be the moonlight. So I'm always aware when I go backpacking in that area, you're probably going to see lights in the woods. And I remember that my wife and I, when we went backpacking last year, I had told her she hadn't been there in a long time. I was like, like you have, you, you'll probably see lights in the woods here, or, but, you know, that particular time I didn't see any. Yeah, the lights are very strange.

I could see how people would confuse them for, you know, people walking with flashlights or something like that. The second time I've seen them, that, that was the very first thought I had. Oh, that's somebody with a flashlight. But I wouldn't say the lights are really scary. they're just weird. You know, when you come across them and they don't put off a lot of light. It's more like a soft light and kind of a pretty light,

but I wouldn't say that they're terrifying. Yeah. You know, I, I know, I wasn't afraid. You know, it didn't, like, concern me. You know, I was just being interested and intrigued by it. Like, what is just a phenomenon. I remember somebody a long time ago telling me, like you're going to see a lot of things when you're in different countries, you know,

because I think we were talking about, me and my friends were talking about black magic and we were in Asia. And we were kind of talking about because we were concerned we were going into this area where, I mean, they practiced black magic or something of that nature. And I remember one of the older guys came and he was like, listen, you guys are going to see all kinds of stuff. you know, you're going to, you know, recognize that you're going to hear this. You're going to recognize that things are way different than we're used to.

You're going to see things you can't explain or understand and that you probably never even explain or talk about. He's like, but you respect their culture. Don't mess with it. You know, and he went through this litany of things to not do. You're like, don't mess with their women, you know, respectful to them. No, they're all their elders. know their culture, their rules. And so, you know, I guess, and I just kind of always carried that with me.

It's like, you know, I'm not going to mess with anything, you know. But you're right. You're just, you know, the lights are kind of cool. I mean, it wasn't, it was just different. I find it interesting that the same time you were seeing these lights, you were hearing this noise in the background, like somebody was moving something or doing something. And I've had, you know, people report rocks being thrown at them the same time they're seeing the lights, but there's nothing around that's throwing rocks.

They couldn't figure out where it was coming from. You know, before we started recording, you had mentioned this paranormal incident that happened. And I wanted to ask you about that. Well, there's quite a bit. So I've been working in a juvenile correction system for quite some time. And the building that the old building, which is actually scheduled to be leveled any day now. So there was two parts of this building. So there was like a 1926 building and then a 1957.

So it was a very large, secure juvenile detention center. And so when I first started working there, you know, I wasn't very in tune or caring so much about any paranormal stuff or really, not to say I didn't believe. I just didn't really care or paid attention or was interested in it. That was soon to change. So I worked there for 23 years. and there are, I got so many accounts. I have pictures. We had video of things that we can't explain, doors shutting, slamming, things like that.

So there, for example, one situation, and I got quite a few. There's a lot of stories on this. Actually, just today I was in a meeting and somebody was like, oh, was that old building haunted? And I'm like, yep, it was. We always get police officers come in and want to talk about it or experiences that they've had or hearing about this facility. So it was very active. So one example was we had this conference room that actually was at one point early on, probably late 50s, early 60s, it was the living room to the living room to the, the director of the facility.

And so we made it into a conference room. So we had a conference table in there, and that's where we'd have meetings. So during COVID, we put a computer monitor in there, a computer, and we would have Zoom meetings. And so this monitor was setting on there. And I was in my office, and I heard something smash. So I started walking that way.

And the secretary of the facility was standing in one doorway. And one of the staff was standing in the other doorway. And they're just looking at each other. I was like, what's going on? They were like, computer just flew off the desk here, off the table. I was like, oh, no, come on. So I go and I look and the computer's on the floor. And so I put it back up there.

And I called somebody up. I was like, hey, let's try to debunk this and rule this out. although I knew because this, you know, working all those years, there was, there's quite a few active haltergeist kind of activity. So we couldn't figure it out. We're like, we don't know why it went off the desk. So we set it back up and probably a week or so later, the union rep, he was like, hey, I need to talk to you.

And so we go into that room, we shut the door and we're standing at the far end of the room and he and I are talking. And he said something. We were talking about somebody we were dealing with. And he was like, oh, yeah. And he said, you know, this person was just a pain. And all of a sudden, that computer flies off the desk, hits the wall, and smashes on the floor.

And so we were just both standing there and we were like, we're like, did you hit the table? And I didn't hit the table. And it was like, how'd that happen? And, you know, there was just no answer to it. another experience or situation was I was a on-duty supervisor at the time so I picked up some overtime working the third shift so I went over to one other wings and they had a gym over there and they had a workout ball a crunch ball so I would take the crunch ball and I'd go back to the office and I do sets every 15 minutes or every half hour so I'm going to got this this workout ball and I going to the gym and shut the door, you know, check on the staff that was over there. They were all good.

I go back up to the front office where all the cameras are, and I'm the only person up there. There's nobody can get in the building or go through the building without me authorizing through the doors. So all of a sudden I get a call with the radio, and they were like, hey, are you over here messing with me? And I'm like, no, what are you talking about? I'm not over there. And they were like, are you sure? You're not over here? And I was like, no.

So I go and look on the camera, and I see the staff sitting in this room, and she's, you know, behind a table in the center of this room, looked like she was praying. Well, she was praying. So I was like, I better go over there and check it out. So I go over there, and that door that I was in was wide open. And I go over there, and I was like, what's going on? She was like, there was things being moved around.

I could hear like slamming in the gym. And then she said, all of a sudden this door slams open. And I was like, oh, yeah, I don't know. You know, just check that out. So that was like, you know, that happened in this one time frame. And then this one time frame, we started having a lot of unexplainable kind of activity. For example, like lights turning on and off. or, you know, I was sitting in this room and I had a group in there and we were discussing what was in a group of these kids.

We were discussing what was going on and all of a sudden the door, I mean, you know, there was no pressure change in the building. The door just starts opening. And so I joking around said, and I called it Danny. I didn't know what to call it. So I was like, Danny, you know, quit mess with us. Shut the door and door slams. So the ghost got the name Danny. but there was another time

I was coming up and there was like this intake area and I walk by it and there's nobody up there except one other person and she's in that area monitoring cameras and opening doors

and I come walking by and I walk by this what we call the intake search room so when they come in this is where we would search them and the door was wide open and it's pitch dark in there

and I walked by and like perfectly I heard hey you and I was just I just kept up walking and I was like no I'm not messing with that and I go and I look in there

at the staff that was in there and she looked at me and she's like I heard that too like dang it now I got to go look I got to see if you know who's in there so I go in there and there's absolutely nobody but there's a

I can go on and on with these paranormal kind of activities where doors closed slam When we moved out of that building and we moved into our new building, myself and the maintenance director was the only two individuals that were authorized to go in that building and had keys to it. So it's a high secure facility. So, you know, not too many people would want to break in. So I went in, I'd go in there and you could hear people moving around.

and so I would either call somebody like, hey, or I'd just go check and make sure that there was nobody in the building, but there would be certain areas throughout the building that you could hear movement. I had put a digital recorder on there that would only turn on when there was noise and I put it in certain areas.

One area I was like, you know, I really was dumb of me, but I was like, you know, I'll, you know, say something like, yeah, if you want to talk, just talk to this. And I don't do that stuff, but I did. And so I put it in this room where there was a really bad incident back in the 70s. And so I said, you know, if you want to talk or say anything, do whatever you want, just talk to this thing. And I left for the night, locked the door.

Nobody could get in that facility. Come back and listen to it. and you could hear doors slamming all night long. I mean, you can hear them in the distance. And so there's just a lot of little paranormal stuff like that. What do you think was causing it? So it's kind of like an old part of a building that you guys were no longer using or were about to no longer use?

Yes. So, you know, the old part of the building, which we didn't really use, was actually like it was a foster care. and adoption agency. And in like the early 30s, they had put detention rooms in there. And then they added on to that building with, you know, more secure back in the 57.

They added more of these detention wings, is what we call them. And then they did that also in 60s. And so I know that there had been two, individuals in the early 70s and I think the early 80s that had died in there. One was on one of the wings. The young man on Easter morning hung himself. And so actually I did get a lot of information from the previous directors.

So he worked there for 54 years, which is paranormal in itself. but, you know, he knew all these accounts. So I had details on this. But, yeah, so a young man committed suicide in one of those rooms back in, I think it was the 70s. And then, or the late 70s. And then another young man, he was in what they call a residential treatment program. So it was a medium secure. So he would go off campus.

And then he came back. I think he was, from my understanding, he was upset because family didn't come and visit him. And he had snuck, I don't think cigarettes, but he snuck in matches. And so he caught his mattress on fire. Back then, they didn't have fire retardant stuff. And it wasn't really that secure. But I guess he caught his mattress on fire in this one particular room. That's where I put the recorder that one time.

but we used to put kids in that room. Of course, this was many years later, and kids would tell us like, you know, I woke up in the middle of night and there was this kid sitting at my desk. Or, you know, we'd hear those kind of stories quite a bit. In the other room, you know, we, a lot of times.

I remember a kid came to me and he was like, he was like, listen, I got an issue. I was like, what is it? And he was like, would you please tell that kid did you guys have staying up late to stop looking through my window? Because, you know, there's cells, and there's these small windows. And, you know, he was saying that, I was like, how do you know what's a kid?

He was like, because he's short and he keeps on looking in there at me. Would you tell him to stop doing that through the night? I don't know who's bringing their kids in here, but they need to stop. So we get things like that. You know. Yeah, I don't think I would handle that very well. I think I'd probably quit. Did you ever have anyone quit over this?

You know, I don't recall. I know back in the day, we used to write instant reports. And so there was so many things going on that the former director, he was like, you know, write instant reports. But, yeah, I remember one particular time, a staff. She was, she kind of covered that. We called it the intake area. So that's where they would come in. And usually it's one staff up there in this whole area monitoring all the cameras and doors for the entire facility.

And there's really nobody around them. And she was like, you know, she was like, this is the most creepy place I've ever worked. And she would work late into the night. So she was a second shift staff. Yeah. And I remember, I don't think she necessarily quick. I think she was, well, she did quit, but I don't think it was necessarily for that. I think it was, you know, this is just not the job for me as the answer we got.

But she was, she was spooked. There was a lot of stuff. I remember the third shift supervisor telling me when I first started working there, he was like, yeah, you're going to hear a lot of crazy things in the building. You're going to hear them banging on the lockers when they walk down this hallway. You're going to hear, you know, and he was just going through this whole list of things. things. You know, and again, it was like one of those situations that were like, you know, you just didn't mess with it. You kind of went away, but there would be times where, you know, things would move.

Doors would open. I remember one of the staff he was working up in that intake area, and he was like, hey, can you come up here and check this out? So I come up there and he was like, watch this. And so he unlocked the door, and the door would slowly open up and it'd stay open. And the thing about this door was it had an automatic shut to it. So I go, what? No, this is crazy. So I go over there, I shut the door, and there was like a little resistant.

So, you know, you start trying to debug. You go, okay, is it the, you know, the HVAC kick in? Is there some kind of pressure going on? But there was nothing. And so, you know, that was like one of the examples. And it was almost there was some areas where it was a kind of a poltergeist kind of thing. Like it wouldn't toy with you, mess with you, move things, take things in certain areas. Yeah, like I said, I think I would have quit.

I mean, I've talked to so many people that have this going on in their home. and not everyone's in a position to leave, but if they could, they would. You know, it's something you're never going to find, and it's going to sit and screw with you all night long while you're working. You know, I don't know why that stuff just kind of bothers me, but I really appreciate you sharing it, and I appreciate sharing the Sasquatch encounter. I always love talking to veterans,

and I've spoke to many over the years that have had encounters on military bases, and that Fort Lewis is notorious for sightings. But thank you again, Chad, for coming on. I appreciate, Wes, and I just want to let you know, like I had told you, I've been exclusively listening to this podcast for two and a half months, just like educating myself and learning a lot. The people that you have on have really kind of enlighten me on, like, you know, It makes it a little bit more comfortable to come forward and say, yep, this has happened.

This was my experience. You know, and I can't say, I'm assuming it was a Sasquatch. It had to be. I can't figure anything out. But I just appreciate what you do. And, you know, it's great. And to tell you the truth, I really, I don't know. I don't know if I ever really want to know what it was.

I kind of love that mystery about it. you know, and learning what other people are dealing with. And my heart goes out, my prayers for those individuals that are struggling with those situations that are really that negative side of it. So I do appreciate you. Thanks, brother. And I appreciate you listening. And thank you again for your service.

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. Until next time, everyone.