Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:161 Michigan hunter encounters a Sasquatch

Episode Date: November 6, 2015

Tonight I will be speaking to Zach who had an encounter in Lake County, Michigan. He did not believe in Sasquatch and came face to face with the creature just a few years ago. The hunter says "It was about 4:30pm and was starting to get dark, I was on top of this hill when I saw what I thought was a bear coming up the hill. The creature was on two legs and walking like a man. Immediately I knew it was not a bear. This creature was HUGE and was built like a bodybuilder. The creature made it up to the top of where I was at in like 6-8 steps and he smelled horrible. The creature started sniffing the air and we made eye contact, he looked right at me. He did not have any whites to his eyes it was more yellow almost like you would see in someone who has jaundice. The creature then turned and walked off in the opposite direction. My heart was pounding and I waited several minutes to make sure he was gone and I started to make my way back to my vehicle and that is when I heard a scream off in the distance. I have never heard anything like that before in my life. I got to my vehicle and started throwing up."

Five, five, four, four, three, three, two, one. One. When I had come down this hill, I had seen this creature cross the road. They would have ripped my locked door from my truck, extracted me from my vehicle, and there wasn't a damn thing I could have done about it. This thing I got to notice in its eyes. His eyes was real, real evil, real sinister way.

The look it was given me. Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot. Sir? Yes, I'm looking right heading. Sasquot Chronicle. A place where people share their encounters.

Let's start the show. One, thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show plan for you this evening. My guest tonight is a hunter. I'll be bringing Zach on here shortly to share his encounter. You know, I always love talking to hunters. You know, they have their finger on the trigger. They're out there looking for natural animals.

They're out there. They're preying on animals out in the wild. And so generally when they come across something that doesn't add up or they've never seen before, they're usually very clear on their encounters. Tonight's no exception. So when I bring Zach on, I think you'll find his encounter to be very fascinating and very interesting. Kind of a scary encounter, too, even though throughout his encounter, you'll realize the Sasquatch didn't really care a whole lot that he was there.

Before we jump into that, I want to give a quick shout out to Joe, Tracy, Pam, Chris, and Mark on the website. I apologize if I'm missing someone from the group. But these members on the website, they were in the forums. And you may not, if you're not a member of the site, you may not be able to see the forums anymore. But I ensure you they're there. They're definitely there. What's interesting is they started researching this Miller doc. And I'll give you the cliff notes of the Miller doc.

Basically, the Miller doc, there was a gentleman named Dr. Miller. He was born in the early 1900s. He went to Harvard. He went to Yale. He's basically a scientist, is what this guy is. And he started working for the forestry department back in the 60s. Or prior to the 60s, he started working for the forestry department. While working for the forestry department, he gets a call one day to go out.

and do an autopsy on these three bodies. All three bodies were supposedly dead when he shows up. One of them was still alive. But he goes through and he examines these three dead bodies. At first, they thought they were just feral humans out running around. And when he went in to examine them, he said, no, these are animals. It's a primate. And he starts describing the creatures.

It sounds a little bit far-fetched at this point, but bear with me. He gets another call several years later to go and investigate another body that died in the Columbus storm back in I think it was 62 or 63. I had died, it had climbed up a tree, lightning had hit the tree, and basically the tree fell on top of this animal and killed it. So he goes out to investigate that creature. And he starts notating differences in the creatures. He says the ones in California look this way. have subtle differences, the ones in Texas. They kind of have, you know, here's some differences between this one.

And he's describing the creatures. He talks about their scent glands, the ones that he had investigated in California. The scent glands were in the forearms, and the ones he investigated in Texas, the scent glands were actually underneath their armpits, and they had this horrible smell to them. But he goes through and he's describing these creatures. And there's other documents that back up this. Miller Doc. But he's going through and he's talking about his research, talking about what he's found, talks about classifying them. He calls him Sibaday, Teladay, and then he gives him a Greek

name towards the end, like Texacanis for the ones in Texas, the ones in the Pacific Northwest. He calls them Pacific Connus. And he's describing that their differences are based on location. Basically, they're adapting to their environment. And he starts calling these things new world monkeys. And there's a little bit of communication with him back and forth between there's obviously other scientists involved in this and the government. But what's interesting is you read through his document. He talks about the government setting aside land, protected land for these creatures to reside in. And he talks about any names off specific areas in the document.

which coincidentally add up to what he's saying. He says in 2005, they'll expand this particular land to this, you know, they're going to expand it. And then again, in 2012, they're going to expand these natural areas that aren't really open to the public. And the areas that he mentions, actually, it did happen. So it's a real thing inside the document. And he talks about, you know, they can't live in captivity.

they die quickly in captivity. And there's something to what he's saying in a lot of his research and a lot of what he's saying about their jaws. Anyway, I'm throwing a lot at you right now. But what I'm trying to say is there's a lot in this document. And there's another document that backs this one up. It's from a biologist that basically can't stand Dr. Miller. And this biologist is wanting to classify these animals this way.

And so there's somewhat of an argument. But there's so much in this document. It's almost hard to look at this as a hoax. These documents have been sitting out on the web since I think 2009, 2010. No one's bothered to look at them. They've been buried in blog posts. It was originally sent to Linda Newton Perry, and it basically sat on her website. And so when Tracy, Joe, Pam, Chris, Mark, all these people got together and started researching this,

They found out, yes, Dr. Miller was a real person. Yes, he did go to Harvard Law School. Yes, he did go to Yale. Yale. He did graduate. Yes, he did work for the U.S. Forestry Department. So they're really looking into researching this document, and they need some help. I'm going to try and help him as much as I can.

Mark Zaski has agreed to help him as much as he can. But we're really looking into this document because I really think there's something here. If I thought it was a waste of time, of time. I wouldn't even bother mentioning it on air. But it's a very fascinating doc. And so if you would hang out with us tomorrow night, Mark

and I are going to go through the document and just do a quick introduction with the document, give you our thoughts on it. And then we're going to be having updates down the road as this investigation continues on what we find and we'll share it with the audience on

what we find. So look for that. Well, I've done enough babbling tonight. Zach, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Not a problem. And if you would, kind of start from the beginning. Tell us what you were out doing and tell us what you saw and what you experienced. Well, it was the day after opening day of deer season, which is November 15th around here.

So this was the 16th. And it was about, I would say, about 4.30 in the afternoon. And first, let me tell you, before this, we saw tons of deer. in the morning of opening day, and I bow hunted two days previous and saw lots of deer then. And that day, though, that morning I even saw deer. But that night when I went out, I didn't see a lick of anything, not even a trace of a deer, not even a, you know. And all sudden this silence came across that is almost an eerie, eerie silence, like almost to a point where you know something's not right. and, you know, the bird stopped, the wind stopped.

And just in the corner of my eye, I seen what looked like a dark black, like big thing in the corner of my eye. And the first instinct was, that's a bear. But then I noticed it was on its back legs. And I know I've seen a lot of black bear in my day. But unless you know something West, I don't know. I don't think black bears walk on two legs very long. And to my left, I would say 30 or, you know, maybe 40 yards away.

I kept seeing this thing, but then this smell came that the best way to describe it is rotting meat, like a sweet, like, you know, almost, almost like rotting meat and mixture of if somebody's got three or four dogs in a house that's soaking wet type smell, almost to a point where it could make you dry heat, basically. And when I looked over in the corner, this thing on the bottom of the hill, which I saw, I finally figured out this is not a bear. And like I told you before, you cannot misidentify this creature because when it got to the bottom of the hill, and this hill is probably, you know, I would say 30, 40 yards uphill as well.

And it took me quite a while to get up there. And I'm in pretty good shape. I mean, I'm not, I wasn't, well, I'm not in the best of shape now. Two years past them. But when I went up the hill, I struggled to get there. And when I got up there and I seen this thing on the back two legs move up this hill like it did, this is something that you just can't, like I said, misidentify because this was so effortlessly. And this thing walked up the hill pretty much, like I said, effortlessly with big strides.

And it didn't even struggle to get up. And previous before that I heard almost like a huff, not like a bare growl type deal, but almost like a huff, like, you know, I guess it struggled a little bit, I would imagine, but I know I was out of breath. And when I got up to the top of the hill, it stopped, and it looked right at me. And I remember, like it was yesterday, West, the nostrils on this thing were pink like bubble gum. And it looked right at me and kind of gave me a look like it was smelling me. But, and I was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun at the time on me.

And like I told you earlier, there's no way in the world with the state of mind I was in. that I could even think about shooting this thing. There was so much fear that was put all sudden in me. And it's almost like the feeling, you know, when your whole insides are like just sick to your stomach. Like you want to vomit type adrenaline nervous. What's going to happen? You don't know the future type deal.

And this thing looked at me and it kind of turned its head to look at me. It kind of bent down with its head more than its body. And it kind of turned towards me. And it looked back towards me. It looked at me, I would say about 10 seconds maybe, and it turned back the other way and walked right up over top of the hill. And for about, I would say, four or five minutes, I sat there frozen like an icicle. I mean, there was no moving. I couldn't move.

I kind of, because I know I made eye contact with this thing. And like we talked about earlier, I don't know if this thing saw that I wasn't a threat or knew that I was afraid, but I've heard that they, if, if, they know you're afraid it's dangerous. But if this thing wanted to mal me, West, this thing could have mulled me and torn me into shreds and threw me halfway across the world. And I wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it with a gun or not. And when this thing got over the hill and I sat frozen for about four or five minutes and I finally got the will to move and I looked over the hill and there's a good, I mean,

I can't really describe how far the woods go back, but it's a long ways. it would take me a good 20 minutes to get to that out of sight, and this thing was gone. But just when I thought, you know, maybe I was seeing something, I heard what sounded, it almost sounded, it was like a high-pitched scream in the distance. Like it was an obnoxious sound. And my buddy that I was hunting with ended up putting it that it's a fox. But I've heard foxes scream. I've heard deer scream.

I've heard, you know, rabbit scream. this was not, I mean, the force behind this scream, and it wasn't like the roar like you hear, it was a scream, like a literally like a human scream high pitch. And it was probably, I would say, half mile away. And I could hear it as clear as day. And that's when I kind of froze again. Because I don't, I don't know enough about the subject. Like I, like I forgot to say, I believed that it's possible, but I kind of just shoot it off was, you know, it would be cool if it was real. but, you know, there's too many hoaxes out there for it to be real, but once you see it in the flesh face-to-face, your whole mindset changes. And I'll tell you, that's after that scream, I knew I was either in trouble, it were that they were communicating, or that it was literally killing somebody in the distance.

So I wasn't feeling all that great, but like I said, the best describe its eyes, you know, people say their eyes are red at night. This was dusk. I mean, it was starting to get dark, but this thing's eyes were almost like a green, yellowish. Like, and like you said earlier, it might have been its, you know, the white of its eyes were that color, but that's all I saw at the time. And like I said, its nostrils were pink like bubble gum. And later that day, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself here. But as soon as he was gone and that scream, I got out of there.

And I got the presence of mine. But as I was walking, I felt as if something was continuously watching me, like the whole way. And that way, unless you've had it happen, the description of it, you can't explain it. But it felt like something had eyes on me. And as soon as I got in the clear, I sat on the ground and I vomited uncontrollably for probably five, six minutes. I think I looked at my watch. And I threw up for five or six minutes. and my buddy, like I said, heard that same sound, but he said he thinks it was a fox.

Now, somebody witnessed that scream as well, and he said it's an odd fox, but the vomiting thing, and I was sick to my stomach, and like you said earlier, it might have been adrenaline overload, but I threw up, I was sick to my stomach, I got, I had to get out of there. And I finally did, and when I got home, or when I got back to the, I don't tell anybody because of the ridicule that would happen, you know, what do you do? You can't say, oh, I just saw, you know, Bigfoot because people are going to laugh. And at that point, anybody laughs to me, I'd probably, you know, and like I said, I got home and I, you know, I went home. I couldn't be in the woods.

There was no way that day. Yeah. No, I hear you. Well, let me do this. Let's back up a little bit. So what time of day is this? Oh, this was probably, you know, with the daylight savings in Michigan, around deer season. in 4.30, it starts to get dark. Five o'clock, it's dark, and 5.15, it's pitch dark. So I was

ready to pack it up when this happened. And so it was dusk. I mean, it was starting to get dark and it was getting ready to time to go, but which seemed like hours ended up being about a 15-minute span. I mean, but it seemed, well, it's like hours. Like I was in a standoff, even though this thing didn't throw a threat to me. Like I said, it could have mauled me. And it didn't. It just kept going. Well, and let me ask you, so are you in a tree stand at this point or are you just perched up on a hill? I'm perched up on a hill up against a stump. My same stump I've sat on for the last 10 years, and I've shot and deer out of there. I've been in contact with bears

there. And like I said, this was probably 40 yards up a hill, kind of an incline. And the way this thing, I mean, it was about 4.30 in the afternoon. I mean, it was getting to be dusk. So it was already, it was already creepy out there and begin with, but because of how well I knew those woods. But when I seen that, my confidence went down the drain. Let's just say that. Yeah. No, I hear you. You're basically sitting there and you see what appears to be at first a black bear and it's on two legs. And it continues to walk. And it walks up this hill. How far away from you is a creature? I would say, honestly, and this is going to sound like a coincidence, but it was probably 40 yards. It was enough where I got a, because this, this hill on the incline,

he was halfway up when I first seen him, and he was about 40 yards away. But when he got to the top, I would say he was within 15, 20 yards by that point. So he was fairly close, enough to see features. And like I forgot to tell the audience, it was a male. And definitely anybody who's seen it knows that you can identify that with those. It's not covered. So you know darn well, it was a male. And like I said, I was probably 20 yards, I would say, tops at the point of him on the top and me on the top. Okay. And so you guys make eye contact, or he comes up and makes eye contact. He's sniffing the air and he looks at you. You mentioned the eyes. One thing I thought was interesting about the eyes. Can you kind of describe the eyes a little bit? Yeah. Well, when I was, I was already

looking over at him and he my my head wasn't going to move and he turned and looked right at me in his eyes i would the best way to describe it is like a greenish yellow like not neon but like it was a sick looking eyes like like when somebody's got jaundice or and anybody out there i don't mean to offend but it's anybody who has like has seen jaundice where the eyes look like they're like it looked like this thing was sick but i don't know that because i don't know enough about them, but its eyes were a, were not a red color. I didn't see the black of the eyes. I'm sure it was there, but the yellow and green was there. And it was, it was just not a healthy looking eyeballs. How about that? That's the best way I can describe it. And were you

getting eyeshine at this point? Is that what you're kind of describing? No, and not eyeshine. It was just, I could see when it looked at me, I could see the whites, but instead of whites, it was like a faded pale green, yellow type look to it. It wasn't, it was, there was no eye shine yet that I know of, of course. But there was no way it could, I mean, there was enough daylight at this point where I could see clearly his eyeballs. And there was definitely eyeballs there. And they were sunk into the face somewhat. But the eyeballs were, like I said, all I could see was that greenish yellow tint in the eyeball itself.

Yeah. And that's something that's common. and a lot of witnesses described that are able to get as close as you got. They'll describe it as being kind of jaundiced or almost like it's sick the way the eyes are yellow. I wanted to ask you, can you describe the face and the body and just do a full description for the audience of what you... Absolutely. Absolutely. Basically, like I told you earlier, I didn't really, couldn't really, in the point I was in to see below the knees, I couldn't really make out feet or, but all I know is this thing was ripped like a muscle man. And with all the hair that it had, it was pitch,

I mean, jet black, like the blackest it can get. And you could still see the tone on this thing. And you could see the genitals of it. And its arms, like I said earlier, it makes Hulk Hogan's arms look foolish. I mean, this thing, if it wanted to, we could pick up a grizzly bear and snap it on its back. and the thing that was so intimidating about it was how its head, its head was like set on its body. Like there was a neck, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't really, like I said, everything's kind of a, you know, because of the state I was in and I get chills talking about it and I get, you know, shaky. But the tone, it didn't, it was proportioned oddly. Its arms were very long.

It was almost, like I said, it didn't look like a chimpanzee or anything like that, but its arms were definitely not human tone to the waist. It was below the waist almost to the knees. And was that because it was climbing uphill? I don't know. But it was, like I said, it's nostrils where as pink is, but you could definitely smell this thing. You could definitely smell it.

I mean, there was no denying what you're smelling at this point. but its legs were really toned and its arms were tone and its chest and torso was as wide as anything I've seen. I mean, we're talking as wide as an armchair, you know, or not an armchair, but like a recliner. I mean, this thing, like I said, it's something you can't misidentify. I mean, it's something you absolutely cannot misidentify with a bear because I've seen them. And bears are big. Don't get me wrong, but these black bears here aren't, I mean, it even's bigger than a grizzly beer was and I've seen them as well and this thing's torso was the biggest part of its body.

I mean, and like I said, the head looked like it was just sitting there. But I know there was a neck, but it had really long hair. Like you could take two handfuls of the hair on this thing. And like I said, it's just the way it was effortlessly is what really kind of gives me the chills now is how effortlessly. And knowing how much I struggled to get up that hill, how easy that thing coasted up that hill. it was almost like it was on a, like on a ramp going up. I mean, it was, it was something, I mean, like I said, you can't misidentify it. Yeah, and the other question I want to ask you, so you're looking at this thing, can you kind of describe the face?

It was covered by hair, but its nose was really short, like wide but sunk in. There was no point nose like a human being has. There was no bridge, really. It was more a small bridge pushed in. Nostrils were big enough where I could see them from where I'd see them from where I've. was. And like I said, it's eyes. And I could see facial expressions, like when it was trying to smell me. It was kind of like an animal when it's smelling you. It kind of crunches its face together. But it wasn't quite like a cat or a dog. It kind of had its nose out more than anything,

kind of. But it had a facial expression kind of looking at me, like, who are you type deal or what are you doing here? Or maybe it was saying, good day. I mean, I don't know. I couldn't really. I was in such a state of shock at the moment. I really didn't pay as much attention to detail as I wanted to, but I saw enough to know that this thing was not anything that should be, that has been seen very often by people. How tall would you say the creature was? Well, it's funny to ask that because the next day or the next weekend I came up.

It was either the next weekend or next day and see everything so. But it was, you know, it was two days later. I went out there with my buddies and we, and I know that when he was climbing, he was he grabbed onto a tree and pulled on it now if that was to help him up or he was putting a sign out whatever they do because don't they twist branches or something like that or something along those lines and where his arm was he didn't have to reach his arm up his arm was you know just resting on it and then he twisted it and we measured and i was already uneasy being out there but you know my buddy didn't see it i had to measure and this branch went up to nine

feet. And this branch was at nine feet and then you give or take four or five inches for the upper part of his body, you're looking at nine feet four, nine feet five. And I could have been wrong at nine feet. It was over nine feet tall though. Now you mentioned your friend. Was he there with you during this encounter or was he? He was hunting about a mile away and he heard the sound that I heard and then he blamed it on a fox. And I, to this day, you know, I'm telling him that's That was not a fox. But he never encountered or saw it, but he heard the same sound I did. Yeah, it's interesting.

I almost wonder if that scream, like you and I were talking about earlier, almost wonder if that scream was kind of a warning to the rest of them that you guys were in the area. But the behavior of the creature is interesting that it just, the behavior when it walks up to you, kind of looks at you, sniffs the air. Did you notice any sort of expression on its face? Did it change it all? or was it pretty much the same?

Well, it was kind of a blank going up the hill look, but when he stopped, he definitely changed facial expressions when he looked over and sniffed the air near me. He definitely noticed the scent of me, and it kind of changed, like I said, to more of, hmm, what is that? And that was about it.

I mean, his face was blank going up the hill. I mean, his eyes were straightforward. But he did offer the attention towards me, definitely saw him looking at me and kind of having kind of a cringe on his face almost, you know, almost like when an animal's about to hiss and it doesn't. Kind of like a, yeah, I mean, it's hard to explain. Yeah, no, that makes sense. That actually makes a lot of sense.

And so what happens next? You run down to the car. You're throwing up. Yep. Do you tell anyone about your encounter? I wanted, you know, I wanted to so bad. but, you know, in the situation that I was in, you know, in the state of mind I was, I would have been hysterical, which I was, but in a different sense, not, you know, like hysterical, but like the throwing up thing. And, you know, instead of me making an issue like I did there and, you know, getting the ridicule that I would get, I just told him, you know what? I drank too much the night before, but my cousins who were up there too said I was white as a ghost. And I'm, I'm not. a tan person, but I'm not white either. And they said I was as white as a wall. I mean,

and I had a look on my face and I wasn't myself. And they knew something was wrong and they said, what did you see a bear? And I said, oh, no, I didn't see a bear. I'm just not feeling good. And a part of me wanted to say something, but I mean, the ridicule, I couldn't at the moment, I couldn't take it. I had too much mentally going on at the moment. There was no way. I didn't, I, I asked, the only thing I did was ask my buddy, I said, hey, what, what was that sound? And he says, oh, that's a fox. And I knew he was wrong, because it's too much of a coincidence of the timing. And like I said, I, I just couldn't tell anybody.

It's just, you know, it was, and I kind of wish I did now, but I don't at the same time. But, no, I just, I couldn't tell anybody, West. There was no way I could possibly tell anybody. Yeah, most people don't get that close. Most people don't have that close of an encounter like you had. And to be able to see the nostrils being pink like bubble gum, that's an interesting point. You know, when we're in these high intense situations, one thing I've noticed when I talk to a lot of witnesses is especially when they get really close, they'll usually focus on something. Like the guy I had on the hunter that shot one, his focus was the nostrils.

He's like, I just, he can give descriptions on more than anything else. He could tell me everything about the nostrils. And that makes sense. You know, when you go into like this tunnel vision when you're in this high intense situations and you tend to focus on maybe something that seems more normal in such an unnormal situation, you know. Yep, exactly. And the whole situation obviously was not normal for me. And like I said, I was focusing on that.

and then the torso, like I said, that I don't usually look at male's chests, but when you see this one, it was it was the nostrils and definitely the torso and the build of this thing. But yeah, the nostrils, because of the coloring of it is where my tunnel vision, like you said, went right to it to know this isn't, this isn't a good situation. It ended up turning out fine, but it wasn't a bearer I was coming across. You know, that's how I identified it, basically. And then the fact that it's walking effortously on two legs, which bears wobble around on two legs. So, you know, there was a big difference there. The other question I wanted to ask you,

I've never asked this question before, and the few people that I've actually seen the male sexual parts of these things, and I may cut this out of the show, but was it a larger unit or was it a smaller unit? it? Oh, he was hung like an ox. Let's just say that. I mean, he was, it was definitely there to see. And he would definitely, I guess, in a shower, he would be, people would be in awe about that. I wasn't in awe at the moment, but you definitely knew it was a male. And it was quite large, yes. Yeah, that is, and I don't know why I asked that question. That's all right. It's a big question. How big is, you know.

Yeah, yeah. Big, she mean big, you know. I asked another witness off the air one time. She actually saw it. She was unfortunately face to face with it. She was in her car. And the thing was standing up. And she looked over and that's what she saw.

And kind of like the nostril thing. She just was going on and on about it. And so I was just kind of curious. When the creature walked off, did it vocalize? Did it snort? Did it grunt? Did it do anything? Or did it just turn and walk?

off. It basically just kept walking like I never was there. Like almost like I was nothing to him more than, you know, just a creature sitting there and that he was not interested in what I had. And like we talked about maybe it was because I was making eye contact and there was no threat. But when he, the only thing he really noise he made was when he huffed when he was coming up and he was halfway up the hill. It was like one breath. But it was definitely loud enough where you could hear it. And it wasn't, and there was no bear, like a barrel of grunt. This thing just walked. And once it got to the top, it just walked right over the top of the hill.

And unfortunately, I didn't follow it because I was in a state of, I was in a state of shock where I just literally sat there and looked forward. And I was afraid to look forward at first because I didn't know if this thing was, but I knew that if this thing was going to get me, it was going to get me. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't run, and I didn't want to run because I didn't want to put it a threat towards it or, you know, make it any uncomfortable. I think it may have been, okay, if you just stay there, I'm not going to worry about you today.

And that's why I wonder if these creatures, they have personalities and like humans do, where they're more intelligent than people really give them credit for. And, you know, maybe they know how people are. You know, maybe they know, you know, compared to a guy that's like, oh, I'm hunting Bigfoot. They might know that. And that's where, you know, maybe sometimes they get aggressive or if, you know, like I heard on your show not too long, ago there was a camper that said that there, his wife was out of the car and the thing was standing there kind of crouched over and he basically gave him a warning sign to get out of there.

And that's why this thing didn't attack maybe. And maybe that guy that shot the one, maybe that was just one of those out of the blue ones where, you know, this thing was threatened. You know, they just feel threatened. You know, some people just, there could be a schizophrenic one out there. We don't, that's the thing. I don't know why this thing didn't pay. the attention to me. Thank God it didn't. It knew I was there, but it didn't, it didn't cause a threat to me in any way. I didn't feel like it anyway. And it never, and like I said, if it wanted to, it could have, it could have destroyed me, you know, could have ended me quickly. Yeah. And I think with these things like anything else, I think they do have personalities. And I think you do come

across ones that are godless killing machines. And then you might come across ones like you did, where it's just, it doesn't really want to mess with you. It really doesn't want to to deal with you. It's not going to growl at you. It's just going to move along and hopefully you'll move along. And that's the encounter you really want to have. You don't want it. I think if it was going to give you any sort of hassle, like you and I talked about, when it made eye contact with you, it would have growled, it would have thrown a tantrum. It would have and so to have it just walk off. Have you been back? Or go ahead. Oh, yeah. I've been, that's where I hunt again. It took me a year to get back there. And I did. And like I said,

I've smelled that smell again, but I've never had contact or seen it again. And like I said, I have a complete different thought than a lot of people do on them, that they're dangerous creatures and they can be. But I wouldn't just shoot one just because it's there. You know what I mean? Like if it posed a threat and I had the state of mind to do it, yeah, I'd probably protect myself. However, I'm not just going to go and shoot one when it's not offering a threat to me. at all. You know what I mean? But the best, I, you know, I can understand when they get, you know,

there's angry ones where they'll come right at you and they'll kill you. There's been plenty, like you said, the trapper story. And I think they get irritated when people are in their territory and I don't think this was his territory. I think he was passing through. And that, that's my true belief because otherwise, the behavior that I can, you know, you know a heck of a lot more and I do about it, but it didn't, it didn't, it didn't have any intention on killing me else it would have. And who knows, even if it did charge me, if I would have been able to get the state of mind or not, probably not. So, and it, like I said, it didn't, it didn't pose any type of threat at me at all, but it was scary as hell to look at. I'll tell you that right now. I mean,

at any moment they could turn and I knew that, but they, he, that one, he did not even, you know, give me a second look to attack or anything like that. That's interesting. So you've been back and you've actually smelled the smelling him. Absolutely. I've smelled it. But it wasn't as strong this time. It's more of a distant. And that's why I wonder if he, you know, it's been, you know, two, three years. I see, I think it's been three years. And maybe he knows I'm there. Maybe he, you know, knows my scent or maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me. You know, it could be anything. And I can't until I see it again, I don't know exactly what is, but it's very similar to the same thing I smelled.

And I don't know. I'm going to, can I ask you something really quick? Sure. Is there a lot of sightings in Michigan? I mean, this is why it was kind of iffy to come out with it, but is there a lot of sightings? And I know North America, you know, Northern California and stuff like that have the big the encounters, but I mean, is there a lot from Michigan? Yeah, there actually is.

I actually do get a lot of reports out of Michigan, believe it or not. actually a lot. And, you know, not only Sasquatch, but I also get a lot of dogman reports out of that area. Mm-hmm. And the thing is, is that, I mean, do they change color per different? And sorry, I hate to be asking you questions now, but, like, are they different colors and different regions and, you know, stuff like that?

That was always what I was curious, if they're black in Michigan and they're red in California or brown or gray. I mean, there's been sightings of gray ones, I guess, too, correct? And I, and that's what I'm always curious of is why was this thing black and the other ones are different colors. But at the time I didn't really worry about what color it was. I just knew what I was looking at. Yeah, no, and that's a fair question. To be honest with you, I think colors kind of irrelevant.

Sometimes you'll hear people say, well, the red ones are the mean ones or the, you know, and I think that's kind of irrelevant. I think like any other animal, you know, one black dog doesn't mean, one mean black dog doesn't mean all black dogs are mean. Yeah. But in, I would say even in Michigan, you know, I get reports mainly of Auburn, but I do get black, and I do get occasionally gray ones. But you'll find that universal all over the United States. So it's not just pinned down to one area, you know, as far as color. Exactly.

I figured as much, but I thought I'd ask. I mean, it's a fair question, like you said. I just, I don't know much about it. And, you know, this one counter before that, I didn't really pay any attention to it. You know, I didn't. I just couldn't. I didn't have any, you know, I thought possibly they could be real. But once you see them, there's, like I told you earlier also, you know, you start thinking, okay, aliens aren't real. Well, I didn't think this was real either until I see it. You know, anything's possible in my opinion now. I mean, you know, anything is possible now. I mean, and I even figured out how scared you can possibly be.

and I thought I could never be more scared than I've been before until that moment where the fear literally paralyzed me, crippled me. You know, literally I couldn't move. Yeah, and I think the fear is, and a lot of people might, you know, that haven't had encounters, look at that and go, well, why were you afraid? I didn't do anything to you. But, you know, when he sees something that isn't supposed to exist, people don't understand the size of these things, you know, like you and I talked about.

It really does redefine the word giant when he says. you one. Yep. Because I've been up close to Shaquille O'Neal at a Pistons game once, and I didn't think anything can get bigger than that, but you're talking two feet taller. I mean, two feet taller than Shaquille O'Neal is what I've seen. And that really puts it into perspective. Anybody who's been up next to Yao Ming or Shaquille O'Neal know how big seven feet is. And when you add two more feet to that, that gives you, like you said, the word giant, I would say so. Not only their height, but then when you start looking at the build of these

things, you know, like you mentioned the harms. The build on it was just, I mean, the build on it, you can't explain it until you see it. I mean, you can try to explain to people all day, you know, oh, it's huge. But until you see it, you don't understand how big this thing is. I mean, the fear that goes through you because of alone how big this thing is. Yeah. Now, seeing is believing, that's for sure. Absolutely.

I really appreciate you coming on, Zach, and sharing the encounter. You know, it's one of those things to where, as you and I talked earlier, everyone always wants to hear from police officers, but I would rather hear from, I like to hear from everyone, but I love to hear hunters talk because hunters are in the moment, they're armed, and they know what they're looking for. And when they see something, you know, you wouldn't have had the same. same reaction if it was a black bear. No. I would have had my shotgun aimed right at it every step it took. And I've been there where I literally would have had it aimed right on them and followed them and probably walked towards them to get them to shoe off. But this thing, there was no way in the world was I moving.

And there was no, you know what I mean? Like you said, it seems something that's not supposed to exist. And that's shock inside of the size and the, you know, the height and the stories you hear of what they do. I mean, that's, that's, and how they're, you don't know which one you're encountering. Are you encountering an angry one? Are you encountering one that just kind of wants to get out of there? But this one more was just, you know, I own the land. You know, he basically was saying to me with his eyes, look, I own this, you're not going to try anything. I'm just keep going. I'm not even going to worry about you. Because if he wanted to, he could have, like I said,

he could have snapped me in a half easily, probably with one arm, to be completely honest with you. Yeah. And like I said, even in my own encounter, when I said, hey, I think it could have flipped the car over. And when you see one, you realize what I'm talking about. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Like I said, I don't know enough about it really to be asking. But if I do, Ken put a shout there that if one's not, like in my case, if it's not posing a threat to you, don't pull out a gun and shoot it. because there's two reasons for that. One, you miss him, he's threatened, and he's going to mull you apart.

Two, you shoot him for what reason? What reason did you shoot him for? Out of fear, I can understand self-defense, but don't make a situation when there isn't one, and I luckily had one where there was no situation. That's basically all I'm going to say to people out there is don't jump to conclusions unless you have to, and it might be too late, but at that point, if it's too late, it's too late. You're not going to get out of that. No, I hear you.

Well, thank you, Zach. I appreciate you coming on. Absolutely, sir. You have yourself a good night. And again, hang out with Mark and I tomorrow night. We'll be going over the Miller document. And if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email, west at sassawautronicles.com.

Thanks so much, everyone. Have a great night. The country faster than the coronavirus and wagering week is your antidote. I'm Tom Martin, and I'm a veteran sports. analyst and respected sports handicapper who helped build ESPN's brand. I've been recognized and awarded by Pro Football Weekly and Gaming Today magazine as the honest handicapper.

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