Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:1200 Tumalo Creek Creature

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

JD writes "I was 17 years old. Heading into my senior year in high school. Life was good. This was in 2001, over summer break. On a blue sky summer day, my friend and I decided to go out for a drive and walk around a park, known as Shevlin Park. Now, back in 2002 you could go out to places in and around Bend and it wouldn't be overcrowded by tourists. Shevlin Park was on the outskirts of town with trails along Tumalo Creek that backed up to nothing but nature. Of course today there's houses and it feels more like a park surrounded by residential housing. I included a photo to help understand my encounter. In the photo, the red dot is where my friend and I parked. The yellow dot is where we had our encounter and the direction this creature went. That day we got lucky as there was nobody else around. We decided to take a walk over to Tumalo Creek. Within minutes of walking I noticed in front of me a large pine tree that had fallen over. The tree was resting up on its stump and it had fallen over into a thick growth patch of pine trees and aspens and your random shrubs. I got the immediate idea to hop up onto the tree and attempt to balance my way along the fallen tree. Now this tree, resting on the stump and the top of the tree now resting in a thicket of trees, there was probably about 3 feet of space from the tree parallel to the ground. I was about 5ft 11inches so I figured once I was up on the tree walking along it I would have been close to 9ft. My friend stayed on the ground and walked along the side as I walked my way on the fallen tree. Now I had only been up on this fallen tree for a matter of seconds and as I started to walk on the fallen tree I suddenly started hearing what sounded like branches breaking, shrubs being smashed, basically, trees being disturbed by something. I glance up towards the sound and all I can see is this black mass at the end of the tree behind the thicket of trees and shrubs. This black mass starts to rise and my first thought is, "oh shit, we just woke up a bear!". Only problem was this black mass kept rising and rising and rising. I froze, not knowing that I was seeing. I knew there were no animals known to Central Oregon that were that big. I had no idea what to think. And that's when this black mass steps out from the thicket of trees and shrubs into full view. My eyes could not believe what I was seeing. Frozen in fear, hair standing up on the back of my neck, here was this huge dark brown bipedal creature that I would estimate to be maybe 2 feet taller than me. The head rested right on the body as if there was no neck at all. The shoulders on this thing had a massive width. And the arms seemed to be long, which would place the hands right around the knees. At the time I was experiencing mostly fear, but I know a small part of me was also amazed. I was seeing something that wasn't supposed to exist. I had heard about the legendary bigfoot and seen the Patterson footage. But I never thought much on the subject. When this creature stepped out, it was clear as day what I was witnessing and when I try to describe what I saw, this thing literally looked like the creature from the Patterson footage, except the hair seemed a bit shorter and cleaner. As this creature walked off into the woods, it never looked back. My friend and I only saw the back of this creature. I think it was possible we woke it up. In Shevlin Park there is a pond (the green dot in the photo) that was usually stocked with fish. I could only think that it might have come down in the night, had some fish, and decided to sleep a little longer than planned. As this creature walked off into the woods every step sounded like if you took a brick and threw it on the dirt and heard that thud. We watched this creature walk away for about 20 seconds until it was no longer in sight. This whole experience from it rising in the thicket to stepping out into view and walking off probably lasted around a minute. But during this encounter it felt like time almost stopped and my friend and I were frozen in fear for an hour. After the creature was no longer in view I turned to hear and all I could say was "what the heck was that!". She couldn't respond, still being confused about what she had just witnessed. We headed back to the car and when we both got in the car, I turned to hear and said, "I think we just saw bigfoot." From that day nature has never been the same. I still have a huge passion for the outdoors but since that encounter, I always catch myself scanning the tree line or taking a moment to pause and listen, wondering if I would run into this creature again. I remember being excited to share the experience with my mom once she got home from work. First thing she asked me was if I had been smoking anything. She found the whole thing funny and she listened to my whole encounter but I could tell she did not believe me. It turned into a joke, a laughing matter, that to this day, I still get laughed at if I bring it up. It was the same way when I shared my encounter with my friends. That was a huge blow realizing that nobody believed me. I realized that this was something that I couldn't just share with people. So I kept it locked away. I figured, although terrifying, what an awesome experience to get to see something that most people think doesn't even exist. I moved on with my life after that encounter figuring that was a once in a lifetime encounter. Odds of something like that happening again, yeah right. Which brings me to my second encounter. Encounter #2 In Bend there wasn't much back to do on a weekend when I was in my early 20's. You could go to the bars, or find a house party, or take off into the woods and have yourself a nice bonfire party with friends. Those were very popular back in my day. Now I cannot remember the specific year this took place. Maybe 2004. It was summer. My group of guy friends and I were always looking for the next best place to have a bonfire party so we would cruise the forest roads, or even unmarked roads, looking for the perfect spot. In the photo I included you'll see the yellow dot is where we had found this perfect little cul de sac at the end of a dirt road. This was just south of Bend so it didn't take long to get there either. It was perfect and became our go to spot for just us guys. The cul de sac had a huge manzanita field growing next to it. In the photo you'll see the manzanita is the light green area and we were also nestled up next to the lava flow. However the end of this dirt road was lined with fresh pine trees that ranged in heights of just 1ft to around 20 ft. They basically created a wall to where you couldn't really see the field unless you pushed through the wall of trees to the other side. So, one night my friends and I head out to our spot. It's a normal night of relaxing, having a very laid back time. At one point during the night, out of nowhere, we heard this scream/howl off in the distance. In the photo the red dot on the other side of the lava flow is where I would have guessed this sound came from. This scream/howl lasted for maybe 10 seconds. We all got real quiet wondering what that was. And of course, after the encounter I had a few years prior, I immediately said, "That is bigfoot!" I of course received plenty of laughter from my friends but I told them again, "I know it's crazy but that is legit a bigfoot. That's what they sound like." After my first encounter I dove into my research and listened to recordings of howls, read up what research was available at the time. They kept poking fun and eventually I just brushed it off. I was reminded that it didn't matter that I had an encounter. I knew they would never believe me anyways unless they experienced it for themselves. So I brushed it off and we continued through our night. Now I would guess around an hour and a half to maybe 2 hours later, there we are, chatting it up. It's nice and quiet. The fire is going strong. The sky is filled with stars. And then it happened... Out of nowhere, the loudest scream, growl, howl, which seemed all combined into one poured into our little cul de sac area. It sounded like a monster. That's the only way I can put it. And whatever this thing was, was directly right behind the wall of trees. It had to have been maybe 15 to 20 feet from us. I'll never forget, when I play the event over in my head, the feeling I had in my chest. It's like I could feel this animal's growl/scream/howl inside my chest. It felt like I had been stunned. All I know is when this vocalization hit me, it knocked me over in my camping chair. My friend to the left of me also was knocked over. But my friends that had their backs to the wall of trees, they lunged forward out of their seats unbelievably fast. Myself and my friend who had also been knocked backwards in our chairs got up from the dirt at lightning speed. I think myself and my 4 friends were in my car, doors locked, in a matter of seconds. In the photo, as mentioned, the yellow dot was where our site was, and the red dot next to it, is where I believe this creature was. My friends and I sat in the car for over an hour debating on who was going to get out and put the fire out. None of us wanted to exit the car after hearing this beastly roar. I could see in my friends faces they were scared, as was I. I kept thinking, that could only have been a bigfoot. But instead of hearing one of these vocalizations from far away like others have heard, we had front row seats. Only difference was that this creature sounded mad. The vocalization gave the feeling that this thing wanted us out of there. Eventually we all agreed to get out together and put the fire out. I had never seen my friends move so cautiously and on the ready for retreat in case this creature was still around. In the end, we got the fire out and left. And after that night, we never went back to that spot. The car ride back into town was quiet. I could tell none of us wanted to talk about what had just happened. And after that night, we didn't speak of it again. We all knew we experienced something that night that scared the toughness out of all of us. Almost like the feeling of being a little kid scared of a monster. And I hope to never hear a noise like that again in my life."

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 forwards.

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. Bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know. Do you see a bouncer? Yes, I'm looking right in.

Uh-uh. This is Cameron from Queensland, and you are now listening to Sasquatch Chronicles. A listener writes, What kind of an animal is this? My wife and I live out in Elsie, Oregon. We live in what the South would call a holler. State Forest back up to her yard. Last night, my wife said she heard something sketch

when she went out to the porch at 920. I went out and started recording a voice memo. This thing yelled for about 45 minutes. It would yell and then we could hear another answer across the mountainside, maybe a couple miles away, but then it stopped answering and the yelling that you hear got closer. The neighbors said Cougar, but it sounds weird and more of a howl. I guess they've seen a wolf out here, but the forest service says it doesn't exist. Either way, I don't know what it was, but it was weird, and all the animals ran away when they heard it, and the dogs inside seemed freaked out. My neighbors said all their dogs were weird and on guard today. Let me know your thoughts. Probably just a known

animal, but I wanted to run it by you just in case. Let's take a listen. And if you want to check out the full email and listen to the audio yourself. It's up on Sasquatch Chronicles.com. I want to thank the listener for sending that to me. I know some people were commenting saying coyotes. I don't think that's a coyote. Tonight we'll be chatting with J.D. And J.D. comes to us from Central Oregon. And about 24 years ago, he had a very unexpected encounter with one of these creatures and I'll kind of let him 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, check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows. Let's jump into it

tonight. I want to welcome JD to the show. J.D., thanks for coming on. Yeah, thanks for having me. And you had this encounter in Central Oregon. We're going back about 24 years ago or so. You were 17 when this happened. If you would, kind of take me back to that moment. What were you doing? And what happened? Well, this took place in Bend Organ.

Like you said, I was about 17 years old. During the summertime. And my friend and I, we just decided to go out and enjoy nature. and bend, I mean, you can be out in the middle of nowhere in like 15, 20 minutes. There's just surrounded by nature up there, but we decided that day to go to a place called Shevlin Park, and it's kind of on the northwest side of town, and it's a nice little area where you can hike up along the Tumalo Creek, and back then in those days, you know, it wasn't crowded with tourism, so we went there and we got lucky that we only found,

there's only like one of the car park there which was surprising. So yeah, we went to Sheldon Park and just decided to get out and walk around. And it's weird replaying this whole thing in my head because at the time of the event, you know, just feels like everything, I guess you could say like time slowed down. But everything happened so quickly when I realized how long everything took. So we got out and parked and just started walking toward the series. of the creek and it's not even like there's like a little aspen field there's um a building there called aspen hall and i know there's a pond there and people use the building for like getting married

or other you know public events if they want and the pond there i know they stocked with fish and then during the winter time um back then you could go and ice skate on the pond so that's kind of an idea of the area where we were in aspen hall they named it that i think because there's also like little aspen field mixed in with the pine trees. So we get out and we just kind of go on this little trail through the shrubs and not even like a minute into walking toward the creek. I see a big old pine tree that had basically fell over. I assume maybe during the winter or maybe the log was dried. I don't know. But of course, back then, you know, being adventurous, I wanted to climb up on the tree and try to balance and walk along the tree. And this tree, of course, where it broke off

on its stump, it was like resting on its stump. So the tree, when it fell over, probably like, I don't know, there's probably like three feet of space between it from the tree and the ground, just to give an idea of how far off the ground it was. And, you know, I got up there and balanced myself and thought it'd be fun to just walk along the tree, try to, you know, keep my balance. And the way this tree had fell, it looked like it had fell into kind of like a big old dark, thick patch of pine trees and aspens and just overgrown shrubs kind of all mixed together. And it just kind of grew around this fallen tree. And my friend stayed below on the ground. She was just walking alongside of me.

and not even getting on the tree and walking like for 10 seconds, all of a sudden at the end of the tree, I just hear what sounds like, I guess you could say like, you know, leaves and sticks being shrubbed around, but then the noises got a little bit louder, like branches were breaking. And I looked toward the end of the tree, and all I can see through the screen of like leaves and branches,

is it's just a black mass and it just kind of started rising and rising and you know I'm thinking okay this is a bear and you know being 17 I didn't really have full knowledge of what to do with bears and stuff like that so I start freaking out thinking like are we supposed to run I don't have any bear spray like or do we just hope that the bear is not being just I'm thinking we just woke a bear up and this thing's going to be pissed off and, you know, possibly charge at us. I did not know anything really about nature and, like I said, how to deal with wild bears out in central Oregon. But the problem was this thing kept rising and it didn't stop. This black mass, and it was huge. It was like the, I couldn't see any shape of the mass. It just looked like a black

blob, basically just rising. They kept trying to figure out what I was seeing. And it was huge. It was like the, I was seating. But eventually when this thing kept rising and I'm, you know, I'm about 5 foot 11 standing on this tree. I'm already like three, three and a half feet off the ground on. So that's like around eight or nine feet at my eye level. And this thing kept, once it got to look like it was maybe up to my chest level, I immediately donned me that whatever this thing is, it's not a bear. I, of course, didn't know what to think because I couldn't see what this thing was, but I'm already terrified. I'm already frozen. My friend below me, she's frozen, but we're just staring at whatever this is.

And then split a second later after this thing, this thing finally did stop rising, but I'd say probably maybe when it was like a foot or two taller than me. And once it stopped, then that's what. when this creature at the time, which now I'd refer to as Sasquatch, but it stepped, it basically stepped out. Like, that's the best way I could describe it. Almost like if, um, someone standing behind a curtain and you see like an arm and a leg just kind of step out into the, you know, on the main stage, uh, this thing stepped out into a full view, but it is basically just the back of it. This feature never once turned our direction to look at us, make any noise.

I almost, when I play it back in my head, you know, like when you wake up and you realize you've overslept and you kind of need to get up quickly and just like get going, that's kind of the sense I got with this thing. Like it overslept and realized from the noise like, you know, oh crap, I need to get out of here. I did not mean to be here this long. So this thing stepped out, and I'm in total shock and awe at the same time. More fear, I think, than awe. But, you know, you can feel like the hair on the back of your neck rising,

and you're frozen and trying to figure out what you're seeing. And the best way to describe what I saw is literally like the Patterson footage. Now, I didn't see the front of this thing, so I don't know if it was female or male. and this thing looked bigger than what was in the Patterson footage, because I think she ended up, they figured out that she was only like 78 feet tall. This thing just covered hair to hair. All I can see that I focused on to see was the head, and the head looked like it was resting on the shoulders.

I couldn't really see any type of neck. But I remember the arms being extremely long. And, of course, you could see at the end of the arms, huge hands. I couldn't really see any feet, but I could hear this thing walking off. Like, I described to people, if I ever tell them the story, like, if you take a brick and throw it on like dirt, you kind of hear that thud. That's kind of what every step sounded like was just a thud going off. You could hear this thing had weight to it. And the width of this thing was, I don't even know how to, it felt like it was two of me put

together like wide. It was tricky and we just stared at this thing as it walked just did just like I said I was on a mission to get back to where it was going probably watched this thing walked for about 20 or 30 feet and it kind of just disappeared into the woods and that was like I said it was a quick encounter but the whole experience I guess when I played in my head The thing felt like it took an hour long as you just, you're frozen, trying to figure out what you saw. And like I said, this thing covered from head to toe in hair. The funny thing was that the hair, it was kind of a dark brown. And the hair was, I would say, it looked kind of like it was kind of long, like shaggy.

But almost like it was, I guess the best way to say it was almost like it was a clean, a clean cut creature. Like it had bathed recently or something. It didn't look dirty or, you know, I know some people think that sometimes they've described seeing like, you know, the hair all ratted and just covered. This one looked clean like it had just got back from the groomers. It was very, very odd. But trying to figure out what I had seen, you know, I just remember seeing like when it would walk off. You could see the arm swinging and they hung down probably do about what I would guess were where its knees would be. but with the hair on the back, you can see like the muscles underneath moving, you know,

as a walk, like when someone, you can see like their shoulder muscles moving and stuff like that, which just freaked me out because being 17 years old, being raised Catholic, I was, you know, kind of led to believe that stuff like that is just like myth and legend, you know, that stuff's not supposed to exist. and it's just apparently it does exist because I know what I saw. And once this thing disappeared, you know, my friend and I just kind of looked at each other like, what the heck was that?

She's terrified. I'm terrified. We just kind of walked back to the car because after saying this, that adventure, like we're done. That was enough for us for that day. And when we get back into the car, I remember I just looked at her and I said, I think that was Bigfoot. and she just was kind of confused as much as I was.

And we didn't really talk about it too much after that, but I could tell it both. I think we didn't talk about it much because we both, I remember we both shared it with our families, which, of course, did not go very well because it was just laughing. My mom asked me if I had been smoking anything that day. Like, thanks, you know, real supportive.

But that's basically, like I said, it was a quick encounter. But I run this, that encounter changed my life. I mean, it opened up my mind to realizing that there's more to the world than what I had been told. And, you know, I was told that, you know, these creatures are not real, but I know what I saw. You know, and this thing, like I said, was huge. And I think personally, with the pond being stalked with fish and Shephelen Park, I mean, you can disappear. go up Tummelau Creek and that'll lead you up toward like the disheesh national forest and

like broken top area. I think that this thing must have known that there were fish there or something and came down and had a night, you know, midnight snack or something and then took a nice nap and overslept. That's the best thing I could think of is why this creature was down in that area. How far away from you was this creature? And do you think the creature even noticed that you guys were there. I think it was about a tree, you know, from the stump where it broke off and was resting on the stump to the top of the tree. It was probably like 40 feet. I mean, we were pretty close. And I think we woke it up. I think that's, it was, I kind of felt like we woke this thing up because we were, you know, we weren't just being quiet. We were chatting, laughing, you know,

getting on, like I said, balancing on the log and just being kids, you know, And I think before we were there, it was, you know, nice and quiet, peaceful setting, nice blue overcast day, you know, windy, you know, just a good summer day. But I felt like we woke this thing up, which I'm glad it woke up before I got to the end of the tree. But that's kind of like the feeling I got is that we just kind of woke it up from its nap. And just the way it walked off, I felt like it realized it overslept. I don't know why I had that feeling. That's just kind of the feeling that I got. Like I said, it didn't even turn to look at us, but I know it had to have heard us because we were pretty loud just with, you know, getting up to the even point where the tree had fallen.

So that's kind of what I could gather from the thing. Maybe we didn't like it up. I don't know. Maybe I just woke up on its own. but all I know is it was a terrifying experience and it was so quick but you know when I play it in my head it feels like it was stuck on like I was stuck on that log watching this thing for like an hour you know time kind of slows down and I know a lot of people kind of describe and that's one thing I definitely understand time just kind of grows yeah I want to come back and ask you about its

behavior because I've heard this behavior a million times and it surprises me every time I hear it. But I know you're like 17. You're standing on this log and this thing, like many eyewitnesses report when they stand up. It just keeps going up and up and up. How tall do you think it might have been? And was there any other details that stood out to you? I realize he didn't turn around and face you.

But was there any details that stood out to you beyond the long arms? I would say this thing was, if I had to guess, because like I said, on this fallen tree and the tree was probably had about three feet of space underneath it from you know the log to the ground and then me on top of the tree being about five foot 11. I estimated this thing is probably around maybe 11 or 12 feet. I mean it was huge and I remember kept thinking in my head this thing should not be taller than me because I'm so high up off the ground already but that'd be my guess, maybe around 11 or 12 feet. And I guess one thing that stood out more than just the arms with the back,

seeing the way that it walked when its arms was move, I could tell that there was like, I guess you could say muscle mass in the back. You could just see the way that under the skin, I guess you could say, I guess it was, you know what I'm trying to? like the, I could just tell it there was anatomy underneath the hair, you know, that you can see like the, I don't know how to describe it, like the muscles, I guess, moving in the back, even though it was covered with hair, if that makes sense. Yeah, I understand what you mean.

You're kind of seeing the muscle structure underneath the actual hair. Yeah, I remember paying attention just to the back and the arms and then you could see the hands. I mean, this thing clearly had hands and it looked like. I guess the best way I can compare them to is like orangutang hands on a giant, giant, well, back of the time, I just said giant monkey. That's kind of what it just kind of plays, almost like a chimpanzee head, you know, like a little, like not too small of a head, but just a little head sitting on top of these broad shoulders and then these long arms.

Yeah, it's terrifying, especially because you guys were as close as you were. and I know from talking to you off the air, a lot of times I'll ask people, you know, what was your idea of Bigfoot prior to your encounter? But I know from talking to you off the air, you didn't really buy into it. No,

I had heard, you know, of the Lochness monster, you know, stuff like that. I've heard the legend of Bigfoot. I had heard of the Patterson film. I had seen the film.

I'm just like, I remember being a kid. I was just like, oh, cool. you know, it's, I'll be somebody in a costume or something, you know, just, well, you know, having a laugh, you know, just, I felt it fell into the category of, like, you know, aliens and Bigfoot and Lochness Monster and werewolves. Oh my, you know, those things aren't real anyway, so. Entertainment purposes only, you know what I mean? But I was not entertained that day during my encounter. You know, it was, like I said, it was mostly fear, but I do remember a small percentage. enemy did feel completely fascinated by what I was seeing because I realized that clearly what I had been growing up to believe is not accurate. Clearly, there is something much more going on and out in these woods than what I was led to believe. I definitely know we have

Black Bear's in Central Oregon and they're rare to see and they don't get that big, even if they do stand up. Yeah, you're right. Black Bear really don't get that. big. And if you would have come across to Black Bear, I think you would have been in for the fight of your life. That's what's weird about this behavior. And I've heard it time and time again where people stumble on these creatures most of the time when they appear to be sleeping. And I'll say like 90% of the time or greater, their creature just gets up and walks off. There's really like no reaction. And that shocks me. You know, any other animal, on the planet.

If you stumble upon it and surprise it, you're in for a fight. But that's not really the case with Sasquatch. Did that kind of surprise you that it just got up and walked off? Like I said, I thought that we had pissed it off, whatever it was. Like at first, like I said, how I mentioned, I thought it was a bear and it was going to get angry with us. But the fact that this thing walked off and didn't look back at us, especially when I I mean, now, you know, being so much older and I've researched a lot more into Bigfoot.

And as you know, with your experience, it changes your life. You know, you start looking into these things and learning more and more about it and hearing other people's encounters. And it shocks me now that this thing didn't look back or growl or, you know, make any type of like, you know, grunt noise at us or anything. that's why I feel like we woke it up and realized that like, you know, I am way past the time I should be out here and I need to get going. That's just the only feeling and reason I could find that makes sense in my head of why this thing kind of ignored us, you know, and just wanted to get like, I sail it out of there. After you had this encounter, did you guys ever go back or did you ever go back to the location? where you saw it? I've been back to Shefflin Park many times.

Unfortunately, now it's so different, you know. A couple years ago, I went back to Shepardham Park just to go hiking and look at the area, but of course, now that area is. So it's completely changed. You know, they've, you know, demolished a bunch of trees in there. Now there's a bunch of, I don't know if they still have them up year-round, but there's now like three Native American TPs that they set up for people. people that enjoy. And they have like summer camps there for kids. And, and now if you go there

during the summertime on a blue day, you'll be lucky to find parking. It's just, bend is so overgrown. But, you know, back in the day, you know, I could, like I said, my friend and I went to Shelvin Park, and there was only one other car park there. We never saw any other people. It was just her and I out there. And after that encounter, I don't think, if I recall, I didn't go back at Shelvin Park area for maybe a year or two because it's a nice it's a lovely trail to walk up along the tumolo creek you can do a whole entire loop but um i do remember it took me a while to go back but eventually i did go back and like i said they changed the area pretty quickly and that um you know the fallen tree had been gone that you know more of the trees have been cleared out there was a

much easier path to get to the river and now these days i mean there's subdivisions around shoveling park and it's much more surrounded by like residential neighborhoods, stuff like that. But back then, you could, like I said, take a clear walk and you could keep walking all the way out to Broken Top and you're not going to, you know, Broken Top or the Three Sisters, you're not going to run into any housing and development or anything like that, all the creek all the way out toward that way if you wanted. Yeah, around the time of your encounter or maybe a few years prior, I lived down. and bend and it has changed a lot.

And I remember Shevlin Park kind of being out in the middle of nowhere. It's kind of a shame. It's grown up so much. But yeah, I used to live out in the, uh, it shoots River woods. Oh, really? DRW. Oh, man. I know that. Eric, my, one of my best friends lived in DRW.

So, you know, they are you well. Yeah, there's no doubt. I'd probably not even recognize it today. Back when I was living in, uh, DRW, that's where all the poor people lived. And now it seems like that's where all the rich people live. This second incident that happened to you, it was about four or five years later. Tell me what you were doing and what happened.

Well, my good group of friends and I, just me and the guys, you know, back in Bend, you could either go out to the bars or go out and have a nice bonfire, which a lot of people, you know, there's a road anybody growing up or has grew up from. Ben's probably heard of China Hat Road, and you could go out there and have lots of, you know, bonfires out there, not having to worry about being bothered. Everybody having a good time. But we were, my friends and I, we just love to explore out into the woods and try to find new spots to have, you know, maybe we could have like a different bonfire spot. And when you're heading out of Ben, south toward Sun River, there's lava beets that's, you know, before you get to Sun River up on the right side. It's surrounded by a huge, huge lava flow.

I mean, it's gigantic. And before we got to the lava butte area, my friends and I turned off of Highway 97 onto a dirt road. And you could tell this road hadn't been traveled too much, but it was there. You know, clearly people had known about it, but just it looked like many people traveled it. So we got curious and just decided to venture on this dirt road. and it took us kind of close to lava but eventually it came right up almost to the lava flow and just kind of went along the lava flow so we just kept driving seeing where it would go and it comes to like this dead end cul-de-sac I would say like in the you know just a dirt pit

and the dirt pits lined with these nice little you know immature pine trees you know from little baby pine trees that are just freshly grown to maybe pine trees that are, you know, 15, 20 feet tall. But it made a nice little like protective fencing, I guess you could say. So wind couldn't get to you because we're also right next to the lava flow. It was like the perfect spot for a bonfire. And once we found that spot, we used that spot quite a few times. And on the other side of this little fencing of pine trees on the edge of this like little cul-de-sac dirt area is a huge man-thesact.

Manzanita field. I mean, it is just huge. It just goes on forever. And of course, when you're sitting at a bonfire, you know, even if it's like sunset, you can't see the manzanita field. You'd actually have to like push your way through these little grouping of pines to get on the other side of them to even see the, you know, Manzanita field. And it seemed like it was kind of almost up on a hill. So Manzanita field kind of dipped down a little bit. And you could see the lava flow extend off into the distance. It just went on. And you know, you can see the mountain range with Mount Bachelor and stuff like that in the background. It was a gorgeous, perfect spot.

And one night, my friends and I just decided to go out there and have our typical, you know, obsession of just drinking some beers and just relaxing around the fire and having a very, just low, laid back night. and I remember, you know, we get out there at like sunset, get the fire going, you know, we've got our hot dogs, you know, ready to roast over the fire and just having a good time. And I'd probably say once it was fully dark, once the stars started to come out, we heard, the only thing I can describe of is like a very long owl, but kind of a scream mixed involved. And from my first Bigfoot encounter, I, of course, had done some research and listened to like the Ohio Howl and other howls like that. And in my head, I immediately, you know, almost like PTSD. I almost got a little freaked out thinking like, oh, I know.

I know what that is. That's what they call Bigfoot, that thing, you know, way out there. But my friends are all trying to figure out like, you know, what was that? And, you know, I'm thinking to my head, should I even say it. But I just couldn't help myself. I was like, you know, I know what that is. That's what they call Bigfoot. That sound way out there, whatever that screaming is, that's a Bigfoot.

And, you know, friends are looking at me like, ha ha, you know, that's funny. You know, a couple of them knew that I'd had an encounter and, you know, back in younger years. And, of course, they were like, you know, kind of give you the eye roll thing. Like, oh, of course, you would say that, you know, duh. Of course, Mr. I've seen Bigfoot over here. And I was just like, I swear that. That's what that thing. I mean, I was like, tell me what else that would be.

You know, is it a wolf? Wolves don't sound like that. And if it is a wolf, that thing sounds like it's the size of a semi-truck. You know, that loud, you know, howl going on for like, I don't know like it was like eight to ten seconds. I mean, this thing just carried out throughout the valley. You could just, whatever it was, you could tell it was big. And, you know, of course, they're being like, you know,

it was maybe coyotes, which I knew once they said coyotes, I'm like, okay, now they're just trying to comfort themselves because all of us who have gone out on China Hat Road and had our bonfires out there, we all know what coyotes sound like. I mean, we used to call coyotes in for fun, you know, kind of making the howls

and then, you know, all of a sudden you'd have like a pack of coyotes come around your bonfire and you could see their eyes, you know, glowing from the fire and stuff like that. I guess that was fun for us back then, but we knew what coyotes sounded like, but I guess they were just searching for whatever logical answer that would make them comfortable.

So anyway, after, you know, being laughed at a little bit and them trying to figure it out, we just kind of blew it off. I was just like, and I kind of blew it off. I was a little bit angry. You know, I'm just like, okay, whatever. I didn't think too much about it because I'm like, oh, well, I know what that was. And I'm fine because it's really far away. This thing had to have been what I assumed was on the other side of the lava flow,

which is where on the other side of lava flow, there's the, it's the Dechutcheutte River that runs. And, you know, there's a bunch of like Benin Falls and Big Eddie out there. And just nature out there. But I'm like, like I said,

things on the other side of the lava flow. So like it's going to come bother us because, you know, my friend growing up in Deschutche River Woods, him and I used to go climb on the lava flow for fun. And if you've ever climbed on a lava flow, it's not easy at all. So like I said, in my head, there's no way this thing is near us and it's going to come

nearest at all because we're protected by this lava flow. So anyway, we blew it off, you know, just went back to our night, you know, went back to making some food, having some beers around the fire, just chatting like guys would, just, you know, a very relaxing night. I mean, if you grew up or even if you've been in Bend and you know the night, you know, the night sky there, especially if you're out of the city a little bit. And this was a clear night. There's just so many stars out there. It's perfect. And our night ended up feeling like after that howl, like we finally went back to being perfect. You know, you can tell where the Milky Way was.

There's this perfect night. And I'd say this was after like maybe an hour and a half to two hours after we heard this noise, you know, we forgot about it. You know, we were just having a good time. I don't even know how to describe, like, this, whatever, something behind this wall of little pine trees that were blocking the view of the Manzanita field. We didn't hear anything, approach us. We didn't hear anything. Just guys having a good time. And then out of, out of nowhere, I heard, like a, almost like a growl, roar, scream, all mixed in one. but this whatever made this noise um it's it was the loudest thing i've ever heard come from

what i would call like in you know organically like an animal i mean i assume a creature of the bigfoot world because i don't know what else it would have been unless it's just a it sounded like a monster a monster that was raged pissed off and like i said we're just sitting there and we just get blasted with this growl, scream, roar. And I mean, it was loud. You could hear it, you know, in your head. I remember feeling like, almost like this, almost like being stunned. You know, you're like not like shocked, but I felt it in my chest. It almost felt like I got hit with like a wave of sound or something to the point where my buddy. and I, we were sitting next to each other. And of course, we're facing this like wall of pines. And then my other three friends were on the other side and their backs are to it.

My buddy and I, we fell over in our chairs backwards. I mean, it just, like I said, it's done this that much. Just freak this out. And my other three friends, they kind of like lunged forward. And I can't even remember us getting in the car. I just know that within like seconds, We were in that car and my Subaru, with the doors locked, you know, eyes as big as, you know, like we had just seen a ghost or something and we're all terrified. But I always played the sound over my head, even though I kind of wish I couldn't hear it anymore. But it's just, I always just think of whatever this thing was. Like, it had to be like the size of a semi-truck.

I mean, this thing was whatever made this noise, it was huge. And when I hear like recordings of howls off in the distance being recorded from, you know, other Bigfoot researchers that have been out or just even witnesses that have captured train sounds or screams or I've heard a couple like growls like off in the distance. I feel like, well, that's similar to what I heard. but instead of, you know, being one of those witnesses where they hear it off in the distance, I got to hear it from like 15 feet away, and I wish I didn't. That was the most terrifying sound I've ever heard in my life. I mean, I've never been that, like my first encounter, yes, terrified, but also slightly amazed. You know, there was a little bit of fascination, but the second encounter, no.

I wish it didn't happen. I mean, this thing terrified me. And I could tell if my friends were terrified, even though none of them would even mention the word Bigfoot. But, you know, of course, me in the car was like, you know, I told, you know, I remember, like, I told you guys that, I don't know what else that could be. You know, you want to tell me that that's a coyote or just a pissed off wolf.

You know, I don't even think we had wolves in Central Oregon back then. Or a bear. there's no way unless that bears the sides of a semi-truck. And we never saw anything. Never saw... I remember the car, the way it was parked, it was facing right at these little wall of pine trees. And I turned the car on and blasted my bright lights at that

so we could see better. And never saw me eyes shine. I mean, we sat in that car for like, I think an hour and a half or so, just trying to debate who was going to get out to, you know, to put the fire out. I mean, none of us wanted to get out. here's a big, you know, a bunch of tough guys.

And, you know, now we're all feeling like a bunch of little kids who want their parents and don't want to be out there. And I remember we never went back out to that spot either. Like, that was a beautiful spot. And no, we just never went out there. Nobody ever really talked about it after that. I think they didn't want to become, you know, the people that are like, oh, we experience like a monster or possible Bigfoot screaming at us. know, they didn't want to fall into that category because they had already seen, you know, their friend here, me, who had just encountered like five years ago, you know, what people,

you know, already think when you even mention that type of encounter. But this thing, like I said, now that I've done more research and I know, what's it called, like infrasound or is that the right? Yeah, infrasound. Yeah, that's, when I learned about infrasound and like, you know, I learned that like lions can, you know, growl at their prey and it kind of stuns their predator or their prey. And, you know, that's how they can kind of catch them easier. And I almost feel like that's what we felt was the infrasound from this creature.

Because like I said, it had this, when I play the sound in my head, it had the mix of like the howl from far away that we had heard. But like not far away anymore, obviously, right close up. and there was like a scream in there, but there was also a growl and what I would describe as like a roar, like a lion would roar. I mean, whatever it is, that's why I just say monster,

because all these sounds mixed into one, going off at the same time, being way louder than it should be. I mean, I didn't, I don't know anything can even make that loud of a noise, you know, especially an animal.

And that's why I always just say it sounded like a monster. It's the best way. could describe it as it was just terrifying. Nothing fascinating about that, even to this day. I was like, you know, I could do it with the first encounter. That was, you know, now I look back and like, oh, I'm really grateful to even have such an encounter, you know, so that it opened my world so much. But that second encounter, man, no, I wish I wish I didn't have to deal with that one. So that changed my view on me and nature, because I love nature, love going hiking, love cruising the back roads,

love doing dispersed camping, but ever since that encounter, my nature experiences have never been the same. I'm always, you know, keeping an eye over my shoulder, keeping my ears open, you know,

just always checking my surroundings, even going on just hikes that I love doing. There's always that like a fighter flight, you know, wondering if I'm going to run in anything that I don't want to hear or see or hear anything that I don't want to hear.

Yeah, I've heard that Lions roar before. Woody and I heard it after our encounter. We were kind of in the area, and it was shortly after our encounter. And I didn't realize that they could even vocalize like that, but it sounded like a freaking lion roaring. And ours was pretty far away. It wasn't close, you know, a mile away.

I don't know if it was a mile, but it really wasn't that close to us. But it still shocked me. I remember just the amplitude of the noise, and I can't even imagine being as close as you guys were to hear a vocalization like that. Do you think it was the same creature that you guys had heard earlier that night that was farther away howling? I, you know, if it was, it had plenty of time to get over those, over the lava flow. I mean, two hours, and I assume, you know, now that I, you know, I've done more research and know that they, you know, I've done more research and know that these things have a nice long stride and are pretty quick.

I've obviously never, you know, seen one move fast myself, only seen from the first encounter walk off, you know, at a nice leisurely pace. It's possible. I know that when we heard the howl earlier in the night, you know, I've got my ears open, trying to hear if there would be, you know, one responding back or, you know, off in the distance.

Maybe it was communicating with another one, but all we heard was that one single how that lasted for, like I said, I think it was like maybe eight or ten seconds, maybe a little bit longer than that. But I wonder in my head if that was the same creature, because I feel like that first howl and then hearing this monstrous roar that happened like maybe an hour and a half, two hours ago, that might have been enough time for it to get to where we were. all I know is that when we heard this noise that whatever this thing was,

it clearly was pissed off, angry, and did not want us there. And it did the job and we never went back. I mean, it got what I wanted, I think. Because like I said, we never, for this day, I've never been back to that area. I just, I don't care to. I know the area. It's beautiful. It's great.

But, you know, I've learned, I got the message loud and clear. you know, get the hell out of here, basically. And I'm glad that whatever it was didn't show itself because that would have been even more terrifying. My buddy who fell over in a chair, we both described to each other that it felt like we got stunned, basically. I mean, we were just sitting in our chairs.

There's no reason we should have fell backwards, but we just, it just knocked us, it was like a gust of wind coming right out. It's just like stunning in the chest and you're falling backwards next thing you know in the dirt. and trying to get up and run for the car as fast as you can because you have no idea what the hell is happening.

Yeah, just the power and the amplitude of that roar that I've heard, and it sounds like you heard the same thing. I mean, I can see why guys fell over in your chairs. It's terrifying to hear. I don't care how big and bad you are. You'll take the scariest man on the planet, and I guarantee he'll be shaking once he hears that, especially as close as this thing was.

It's kind of a shame your friends won't talk about it. No, no, none of, I mean, I lost touch with a couple of them, but a couple of my other friend, one of, unfortunately one of my friends, he passed away a couple years ago. And he, there was a couple nights where we had talked about it. I just, you know, like, hey, you remember that one growl, you know, that one night, we heard that one thing and, you know, yeah, I remember. But then the subject would quickly change. like they didn't want to talk about it, which I don't really blame them. I put myself in their

shoes if you've never had, like, you know, I had my first encounter, you know, saw this crazy creature that's not supposed to exist, but although terrifying, I was safe. I lived to tell the tale and didn't have to hear anything frightening. And then from, you know, their shoot, you know, their point of view, that's the only encounter they've had. And all they have is just this monster roaring at him. I don't know if I'd want to really relive that in my head either. I mean, I don't

care for that second encounter. I'd have been just fine with the first one. It makes you wonder why they vocalize that roar because it's so aggressive when you hear it. I mean, you think whatever is in this thing's path it's going to kill.

For such an elusive creature, it's a strange vocalization. because it gives away exactly where they're at. I don't know if anyone really wants to go check it out, but it gives them away. And I've often wondered why they would vocalize like that. I used to think territorial, you know, it's kind of a territorial vocalization,

but I don't know about that anymore. I'm most wonder if they have young in the area. It's kind of what I thought. I'm like, now that I play in my head, I'm like, obviously this thing wanted us out of there. And it did the job. I mean, it got us far and gone. You know, maybe on the other side of the lava flow,

it could smell our fire from the smoke and it figured out where we were directional-wise. I don't know. I mean, it was a pretty good size fire. So, you know, anybody, if they, I know on the other side of the lava flow, if they got up on one of the little higher mounds, you could probably see the glow from it

on the other side of the lava flow. And those, the lava flows, I don't know if you ever explored the lava flows when you lived in the future woods, but our friend and I used to climb those all the time, and there's areas in that lava flow where you can hear, like, water running underneath. And there's other parts where you'll find, like, little, just single pine trees growing up all nice and big, and they'll be, like, you know, some little underground covers where you could get down into, like, a nice little secure, I don't want to say a cave because it doesn't go all the way back, but it's a nice, like, you know, rock covering and I could hear water flowing. And I know we never really found an area, but I'm sure that there's some areas in that lava flow where you can, you know, access part of the water flowing underneath. And, you know, you kind of have, like, a good little source of protection from anything out there because not many things are going to be crawling all over the lava flow because it's not, it's not, like, it's not, like,

Like, it's a fun experience, but it's not easy, you know, cutting your hands up and all that stuff. So that was the only thing I could think of is maybe we stepped on their territory and a place they might have called home where they thought nobody really would come around. You know, it was 24 years ago when you saw this creature roughly, give or take. And over the years, you know, I know you've looked into this. And if he had the chance, would you want to see another one? Yes. So since my first encounter, you know, I have become fascinated with the whole idea of Sasquatch and Bigfoot. And, you know, these days, even though I still, like I said, I remember of a first encounter,

I can't tell you how excited I was to tell my mom when she got home. Because I didn't know, I didn't know that people's reactions were the opposite. I thought people were going to be fascinated and amazed and want to hear the story over and over again. But no, people that have not had their own experience, it's hard for, they kind of look at you like, like you're little nuts. Like, you know, are you sure it wasn't a bear or, you know, my girlfriend, bless her heart, you know, she's been, she's always supportive when I like to do a little big foot researcher. or I'll go up to Mount Hood and travel like Lolo Pass Road and go out to a couple other areas I've learned where some other Bigfooter researchers go where it's a supposed hot spot where they call like the blueberry bog. I'll go out there and just cruise around and look for Prince and she's supportive in that, which is nice. But if I talk about the experience, I can see it's hard for her not to laugh.

or if I bring it up to my mom again, you know, she just, she thinks it's funny. And, you know, if I even meet new people and talk about it, you know, I can tell, you guys are going to be careful what you tell, you know. Some people might just think, you know, this person clearly has got a couple screws loose. And that's a bummer about the whole Bigfoot community is because, you know, on Facebook there's so many Bigfoot groups you can join. And I've joined a lot of them, but it sucks when you see people posting. you know, their undeniable proof of Bigfoot,

and here's the photos to prove it. And you're literally looking at a picture of like trees. And, you know, you look all over the image to see where this alleged creatures, they're saying they caught. And they're like, well, you just got to use your eyes and really look. And then they circle, you know, on the photo.

And it's just, it's leaves, or it's a stump, clearly behind the rock. You know, what I mean? where people just, they really are good at making it to where the Bigfoot community is almost a joke, you know. Yeah, I definitely know what you mean. The biggest problem with the Bigfoot community is the Bigfoot community. Yeah, that, yeah, and the people that think that they, well, they know, you know, like, you know, you ask one person, are they migratory?

And they're like, oh, no, no, no, you know, they're not. I know they're not. And other people are like, yeah, they do migrate. I'm like, well, I don't think either of you really can say you know, you know, because none of us really know yet. We might not ever know. One thing I didn't mention the email, my friend Julie and I were up on Mount Hood. I don't know if you ever, have you ever gone up exploring around Mount Hood on like Lolo Pass Road? You know that road at all?

Yeah, I don't know that road by name. I've been up to Mount Hood many times. I'm sure I've driven down it. Yeah, it's just a dirt road where you can go on the west side of Mount Hood. And you're out in the woods. I mean, you're going along the, what's the one area that's closed? It's like a protected water area that I think is the water for the city. I can't remember the name of it right now.

But the whole area is closed off. And there's been a lot of over the years, Bigfoot sightings or people finding footprints and stuff like that that have been discovered out there. And so I've always liked to go cruising the Lolo Pass Road. You can, you know, head out of Sandy. and take a left-hand turn around, I want to say like rotodendron or zigzag and just go get lost out there.

And there's some of the other back roads that can take you up, you know, close to Mount Hood. And a lot of cool hikes up there too. But Lola Pass, you can just find some other areas, you know, that are great for bonfires. And I remember one night, my friend Julie and I went out there and I took her out to, you know, have a nice fire

and cook some food by the fire and play some games. And I remember there was a very small little encounter, which was why I didn't really include her in the email. But one night when we were out there, we heard what I can only describe as like grunts going on. And she didn't know anything about it. And I was fascinated because at that point, you know, I'm kind of keeping my eye open to possibly have another experience. you know, we just heard a couple grunts that I couldn't really put my hand on what they were. I didn't know if they were bears that were grunting.

They seemed kind of loud for a grunt. But I do remember one grunt was kind of a little too close for comfort. And she within like a second was in the car, you know, and she already was ready to lock the doors. And I'm still sitting by the fire. Like, you know, don't worry about me. Just leave me behind. and when I had stood up to go to the car, I know that probably off in the distance

there's like a little mound, like a little butte with trees all grown over it. And for like a split second, like I mean like three second, I mean it just was very quick. I do remember hearing what sounded to me like, the only thing I could describe is like female monkeys chattering. And I was so bummed that she was already in the car

because she didn't hear it. But I know that whatever that experience for her that day, that completely, I mean, changed. I understand where she comes from because she didn't see anything, but she heard noises that she can't describe what they are. And, you know, she believes that what she thought she heard might fall into the Bigfoot territory. And now she's completely, you know, researches about it

and listen to your podcast as well. And, you know, which is kind of cool to see somebody, you know, who had a little experience and now they wonder about it. That's what is cool when you see someone who, yeah, they had experience. It was a little bit scary, but it opens their mind, you know,

to explore more about the possibilities of what out there, you know, we're out there, even though it's changed how she is now in nature, you know, she goes camping or something. She's kind of on alert, which I understand.

But that was just a very short encounter. And I know that area out there where we were has had experience before. I even think I remember listening to one of your podcasts where a guy had bought property up maybe near Parkdale area and he had his trailer on there and had a few run-ins with several creatures that were giving him, giving him a while the runabout, I guess you could say. Yeah, there's definitely a hotbed of activity out there because once you get off the main

road, I don't think anyone really ever gets off the main road. It's just the way you go to get to the mountain. But it's real country out there. And I know many, many encounters come out of there. After 24 years, what do you think Sasquatch is? What's kind of your take? It's such a hard question. And I knew you're going to ask that, too.

I want to say that I believe it's flesh and blood, first off. I do believe it is flesh and blood. You know, like I believe they can get hurt. I do believe they bleed. But, you know, sometimes I get thrown off when I read more into the Native American stories about them, you know, when, you know, you have Native American folk that say they've seen these creatures and then they, like, vanish, you know, they just disappear right in front of them. How do you think that's flesh and blood? Or when you hear people say they've had encounters where they've literally seen, like, beams of light pick these things up or seen. seeing strange lights in the sky and then all of a sudden they're having bigfoot encounters.

I'll always believe that this creature is flesh and blood, but, you know, were they here first? Were we here first? Were they but here by something? I don't know. It's so hard to know what this creature is. I just think it's flesh and blood creature that we, clearly we're not supposed to know about too much about. I think if we knew about where they came from their origin, I guess you could say, it would change a lot of how we view ourselves as humans and you know, where we came from. And I think it would change a fair amount of history too as well. I think that's one reason why it'll never be public too, because I mean, if these things were discovered and made public, you know, I mean, you know, how much of the forest would be?

shut down for you know protective lands and stuff like that just it would screw up a lot of stuff you know economically with the you know forest industry and also how many people go missing every year just without a trace i mean that up in what the grifford um what's it the grifford prenoche national forest on the washington side uh the two men that died going looking for bigfoot you know nobody thought that was a little weird but um i definitely think it's a bold-blooded you know, like I said, blood and skin and hair creature that has some type of feelings. But will we ever get to know any more than that? I don't know. I've heard too, I've definitely learned in the Bigfoot community, you know, people can gather footprints that, you know,

show like the dermal ridges and people can gather hair samples and send them in and, you know, they can't find the match. And people can, you know, find the head. handprints on the side of their truck, you know, from sleeping in a truck overnight while hunting or something. And to this day, you know, as sad as is to say, nothing comes with it. There's no big, I know there's lots of awesome conferences that go on around, you know, about the creature. But mainstream media and science, I don't ever see it entering into that. And I think it's for a good, I think it's, you know, I think the government or whoever has a reason for it. Yeah, I think that they're flush and blood as well.

The two guys that you had mentioned that died over there and on the Washington side of Columbia River, and I don't want to speak poorly of the dead, but those guys were foolish. The night that they went up there looking for Bigfoot, we had a major storm come through here. And, you know, as you're in kind of the gorge there, you get the Columbia River,

and you get hit 10 times as hard as you would in like downtown Portland. And I think they just got lost. And it's not hard to get lost in that area. I know that area well. I used to hunt there. And I've actually gotten lost there before. But it's tragic.

You know, you've got to plan ahead and be ready for stuff when you go out and you're looking for these creatures. And keep searching, man. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share what happened to you. Yeah, appreciate chatting with you. It's nice to share in my encounter and not see somebody try to smirk and hold that, you know,

hold that laughter back. So I said I'm very hesitant with these days if I even bothered calling new people I've met on my encounters. Yeah, I get it. Well, thank you again for sharing it here. 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, check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com.

You can become a member and get additional shows. Until next time, everyone.