Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:234 I thought I was going to die

Episode Date: July 10, 2016

A listener writes, "I was hiking up this trail with a couple of friends. I had a hiking pack on my back and my friends had gotten ahead of me on the trail so I decided to take a break, drink some water and then catch up with my friends. I heard some movement in the bushes below me and I did not really think much of it. I unsnapped my hiking pack from around my waist. I heard it rush towards me and as I started to turn to look at what I assumed was a bear…the next thing I know, I'm in the air and hitting a tree….I am now on my belly. I was confused and when I lifted my head up, all I saw was hairy legs and huge feet. This thing was standing over me and than it screamed/roared at me. I thought I was going to die. I tried to look up at it and it screamed/roared at me again.I noticed the creature was breathing heavy and rocking from side to side. I heard the bushes below me rustle and the creature was focused on the noise….that's when I looked up and saw it's face….I….I am not sure what these things are but it was strange... I never thought Sasquatch was real, I always put it in the same category as leprechauns and unicorns. A lot changed that day…."

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 looking.

You know, the look it was given me. See ya Hello Get somebody out here What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know You see him now, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at it.

Uh-oh. Sasquatch Chronicles, a place where people share their accounts. Let's start the show. Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. I got an announcement. I, uh... Where did I start with this?

You know, I've been very. doing this for a long time. I see a lot of people out there trying to copy what I do, trying to copy the things I do. And at the end of the day, it just doesn't work. It just really doesn't work. And so, you know, it's, I got to thinking last night, I was with family and friends, and I got to thinking last night, you know, I think I'm going to retire. Maybe I'll step in from time to time, see how things are going. But I think it's time to hang it up and retire from this. And of course I'm talking about poker.

I smoked my brothers last night. Old Griger, I'll put you in the back, Gregor, destroyed him in poker, destroyed Woody and poker. I'm starting to think at this point I can't be beat. I really can't be beat. I put together a little montage here. Hope you enjoy it. This goes out to Woody and Greg. Hey,

loving man. You've been called. Oops. What's that now? The 12-hands-in-row holiday, son of a bitch nobody's that lucky. Why, Ike, whatever do you mean? Take it easy, boys. Amazing poker is just not your game.

Mike. I know. Let's have a spelling contest. I thought if I'd just ring your scurly down. I'd play that song. That's why they call it the blues every time they would try and call me all in and I had the upper hand. A great time last night had a blast. You know, sometimes in life you've got to step away from what you do full time just to kind of recharge the batteries and had a great time last night. Even though I'm a poor winter, my brother's are actually pretty good losers. So thanks guys for, uh,

thanks for your money, I guess. I want to give a shout out to Andrew from Springfield, Missouri, uh, or Missouri, depending on what part of the state you're in. Andrew,

thanks for listening. And I also want to give a shout out to, uh, Jennifer and her husband, Mike. Happy ninth, uh, wedding anniversary.

Thank you so much for listening to the show. Uh, Mike, I apologize. I didn't get back to you on the email. Don't be bummed out. I don't even remember seeing it, to be honest with you. I may have ended up in my spam folder, but I will check it out.

But I want to give a shout out to Jennifer and Mike. Thanks so much, guys, for listening. 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, please go to the website, Sasquatch Chronicles.com. It blogs up there. There's some additional shows. If you get a chance, go check it out.

But again, if you've had an encounter, please email me. I'd love to hear about it. Love to talk with you. Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com is my email address. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Wolf to the show. Hey, Wolf, thanks for coming on tonight, ma'am. No problem.

And if you would, kind of start from the beginning. I mean, you had a pretty terrifying encounter with these things. And actually, before you start, I think it's important for people to understand. You really haven't told anyone this story before. No. As you and I talked last night, it became really clear to me that, you know, as you and I talked to you, you really didn't buy into the whole Bigfoot thing prior to this. And that's what makes it even more fascinating. But if you would, for the audience, just kind of start from the beginning. Tell us what you were out doing, who you were with, and then what happened. Sure. You know, like you said, I mean, I'm a pretty open-minded guy. I wouldn't call myself a skeptic, you know, about Bigfoot. There were a lot of things. I mean, as far as, you know, like vehemently deny, you know, something like that against the whole idea.

But it was just really something that I didn't really think that much about in general period. You know what I mean? Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 50 years or something, you know, you've seen the Patty. You know, you see, you know, stuff on TV and movies and things like that. Pretty much, you know, in my world, that's pretty much all I knew. And it just wasn't something that, you know, I ever really thought that much about, you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. How many years back did this happen?

This happened, I guess, would be in 2008, so that would make it about, what, eight years now. Yeah, about eight years going on nine. Yeah, if you would, just kind of start from the beginning. What were you guys out doing? and this whole thing well uh to set the you know kind of stage for uh everybody that this took place um in late the late summer uh late august um not sure exactly what day but late late late august um of that year i was living in uh upstate south carolina um around the clinson you know greenville area and um Having moved up there a couple years prior to this, you know, I met a couple really cool guys

became pretty tight friends with, and, you know, we shared a lot of the same interest. We all liked, you know, fishing, hunting, backpacking, hiking, all that kind of stuff, camping out. And, you know, we all had our nine-to-fives, but we, you know, whenever we could, make plans to, you know, get off work, you know, just kind of like a lot of people do, I guess. You know, what we like to do, you know, on our free time was, you know, get out of town, get away from people and unplug. And, you know, to this day, it's still one of my favorite things to do.

I wasn't born, you know, even though I'm from South Carolina, I'm from, you know, the beach. And, you know, so I'm not, you know, I'm a southern boy, but I'm not, I'm not from. you know, the country or, you know, a farm or anything like that. And, you know, I've been doing the camping out in my spirit time. I definitely wasn't, you know, like a pro at it. I wouldn't call myself an avid. So you and your friends go out hiking pretty often. Right.

We do this. We started doing this, you know, fairly regularly. I'd say, you know, a couple times a month, you know, three times if we could. If we could all get in-tard, you know, for three people with different jobs, to all get the same time off all the time. But, yeah, you know, we'd pack up our gear, throw it in the truck, and it's only really like a drive of maybe 30, 40 minutes to get to the North Carolina border and maybe another hour after that.

So it's not really a long drive. We would go up to – what we'd like to do is go up toward the Asheville area. and if anybody isn't familiar with that part of the country, you're in the Smoky Mountains, particularly the Blue Ridge Parkway, and it's just one of the most beautiful places on God's Green Earth, if you've never seen it. And I'd recommend anybody to go there. It's just great if you're into wide open spaces in the great outdoors. Yeah.

So that was our place, and we would go, you know, as far as we're, you know, as far as, like maybe the Tennessee border, Mount McCann, in between there and Asheville and the surrounding Asheville area, Black Mountain. There's a lot of great spots up there if you're into. So you guys are up there. Walk us into what actually happens up there. Are you guys camping or you guys hiking? We were. Well, we were doing both. What we would usually do is, you know, we really wouldn't have a game plan. We would just kind of, the only plans we would kind of ever make is to just find a good spot. And we like to be, you know, away from the campgrounds, away from, you know, the noise and people in RVs and, you know, a bunch of people in a spot. We try to get out

on our own as best we could. And we would, being in kind of a mountainous terrain that, that kind of landscape, what we would actually do is we'd sleep in hammocks. When you set up a tarp, you know, to kind of like have something overhead in case of any kind of rain or anything like that. And you just, you know, sleep in a hammock, you can, you don't have to necessarily be on flat, you know, even ground. As opposed to, you know, sleeping in a tent. You know what I mean? As you find two trees, you know, you could be on a really steep. place and still, you know, kind of camp comfortably.

The only thing you really need flat ground for, I guess, is cooking and stuff like that. But, yeah, we would set up a campsite. We'd find a cool spot, a place that we liked, and we'd leave, you know, the majority of our stuff. And just kind of put on the packs and just hike around. and this particular time, we had planned to do a three-day thing. First two days were pretty uneventful, and we got used to being up there, and it was the third day is when. Okay, and if you would, just walk us into what happened.

So you're out with your friends. This obviously isn't your first rodeo out in the woods. You guys do this a lot, camped a lot of times, and you're out there for three days, and then on the first two days, nothing happens, and walk us into that third day, because that was a terrifying encounter. Yeah, it was pretty heavy.

Yeah, on the third day, we were out there, and we were hiking down a slope of the side of this mountain, and we were fanned out. There were three of us, kind of uphill from me, were my other two buddies. I was the furthest one down, down the mountainside. In other words, we weren't all walking together,

out of sight from each other. But not that far, but, you know, no visuals of anybody else. I was pretty much by myself at this point. And I was walking. What I was doing exactly was I was kind of traversing this. I was going across. I'd say it was probably about, you know, it wasn't steep like a rock wall,

but definitely, it was probably, I'd say, 45 degrees slow, maybe a little bit less. It's when you're walking across a terrain like that, you kind of have to take it slow, especially when you got gear on, stuff like that. Deadfall and leaves, foliage and stuff, rocks, you know, if you take a wrong step, you know, you can go sliding down a little bit way. So you have to be careful. That was what I was doing. I was kind of just track it along there and decided to take a break, set my stuff down, and get a drink.

I found a tree, and I could lean, you know, my pack up again, so it wouldn't go sliding downhill on me. There was, I'd say about between, it's hard to remember exactly, between 10 and 20 yards downhill from me, there was, one of those, it's just really, thick, just bramble, saplings, undergrowth, all kind of stuff. Making in the woods, you kind of, you know, you see a spot like that. It's, you know, you think to yourself, but there's no way I can even come close to making it

through this stuff, so you kind of walk around it. And that's actually what I did. I kind of went up and around this little area. When I was right above it, you know, was when I stopped to kind of take a break. I had to kind of pack on where, you know, it latches around your waist and then you've got two back straps. It's a big, I had a big, big, big pack on me at the time.

And I had unlashed it around my waist, and I had about half of one of the shoulder straps off when I started to hear some noise. and this really thick It wasn't quiet. Like I could tell it wasn't so quiet where it was just like a squirrel or a bird

or something. But it didn't to me at the time it didn't seem like something that heavy like a bear or a person or anything like that either. But I could tell that there was something there and honestly I didn't really

pay that much attention. and, you know, I heard it for maybe five, ten seconds. This whole thing happened really quick. The whole experience just happened so fast. I try to slow down and recall, you know, the details of it. But I'm taking my pack off to lean up against this tree or that was the plan. And I start hearing this noise kind of rustling around below me. And at this point, I'm faced uphill, so I have my back to this noise.

And everything just happened from there on. It just happened so fast, and it was just so crazy. Basically where I heard this coming from, you know, it turned from kind of like a rustling to just like a semi-truck coming through the woods. And, I mean, in two seconds, I basically, you know, when things, are happening really fast, you know, you still have a million kind of thoughts going through your head every millisecond. And I knew, I knew something was about to happen. You know what I mean? Something was obviously charging me from behind. And I knew it was something big, here's something.

But by the time, what I tried to do was I tried to, you know, kind of turn around, see what's coming at me. Kind of, like I said, I'm a really steep slope. So I kind of started, pack on my back, I kind of started to slip. I can picture it, I'm kind of sliding. My feet are sliding down because this thing really, you know, surprised me. I started sliding downhill behind me, so, like, kind of flying down and onto my face. And the last thing I kind of remembered was before I could slip and fall, I just felt my body kind of being lifted up off the ground.

And whatever had picked me up, had sent me just flying forward into this tree. You know, that was ahead of me. So this thing actually hit you. Actually hit me, man. It wasn't a blood. I got charged. That's what happened. And, you know, at this point, I didn't know what it was yet.

All I knew is I kind of got startled, tried to turn around, slipped, and then just kind of got lifted up off the ground, hit this tree. So you get thrown. You're now on your stomach. Right. And what happens? Well, you know, this thing came from behind me pretty much. I think what it did was it kind of took a swipe at my head or neck, and if I hadn't slipped the way I did, it would have connected pretty good.

But what it ended up doing was catching my pack instead. And, you know, like I said, it picked me up. I mean, like a rag doll, the left side of my face had. went into this tree and kind of bounced off and just landed on my belly. The first thing you think is like, damn, what just happened to me? You know, I'm laying on my stomach and the first thing, first of all, I'm just really, I mean, I'm in pain. Adrenaline is pumping and all that at this point, but my entire, my face, my head, my whole body is just wracked with pain.

I mean, I was, I really, the wind was really knocked out of me. I kind of felt like, if anybody's been in like, you know, any kind of, something like, it was a kind of feeling like that. Like, you know, you're just kind of in a daze. The first thing I saw after that, you know, laying on the ground, um, there of feet standing over me, that's, that's when I kind of started to call. coming to grips with what it was that it actually.

And like I said, I hadn't, you know, didn't have that much knowledge of Bigfoot at the time. And it's kind of one of those things. To be honest with you, West, at first, like, I thought, like, something had, like, knocked me silly and I was tripping out. Like, I was like, really? Is there like a giant gorilla? in the woods of North Carolina, I don't think so. Like, this thing really knocked my head good or something,

but just snapped back to reality and, you know, it didn't happen. I was already there, you know what I mean? There's no reality to snap back to. I was face-to-face with it. And, you know, like I said, I was laying on the ground, and I just saw this pair of legs and feet standing over me. What did the feet look like? Well, they were giant.

They looked, oh, they were hair, dirty. If you tried to put a shoe size on this thing, it would probably been like a size. Long foot, it was wide, but it was a lot longer. They were a lot longer than they were. Both ways, they were just coming down. I'd say to about an inch or two started,

but what made me instantly, you know, And it wasn't like any primates' foot I've ever seen. If you take your shoe off and you look at your own foot, you kind of got big, get smaller, and uniform. Well, most people's feet, this thing's feet weren't like that at all. Some of the toes were longer than the others, and they didn't all go the same way. Some of them kind of went out crooked from the others.

Like I said, they were just really big, funky feet. The skin where there wasn't hair was kind of like an ash, I would say. And, you know, it had toenails. It had all this stuff, you know, I guess a foot would have, but just, you know, dirty or funcier, hairier. And so what happens next? You're laying there. It's now standing over the top of you. Your face down.

What happens next? Well, I'm terrified. And I'm thinking, I'm dead. That was the main thought going through my head. You can imagine just the state of your fear face down in the dirt with, you know, bark embedded in my face. But I tried to, you know, kind of turn my head. As soon as I do, I just get blasted. And it was like being blasted like somebody taking a bullhorn, you know, putting it right next to your head.

I mean, it almost like blew my hair back. You know what I mean? It felt like that. You hear people talk about, you know, hearing a big foot vocalization, feeling it in their chest. You know, you hear a lot in their organs. Exactly what they're trying to say.

It was just like that. It was like this went through my head. It didn't like me, in other words, trying to move and look up at it. Much as let me know, you know, don't look at me, don't move, you know, I'll crush you like a bug. It's truly terrifying. After it blasted me, the first time I tried to look up at it, it pissed it off even more than it was. And it started doing this kind of like a rock sway.

I could tell it would kind of sway to the left and then sway to the right. And it would kind of rock forward toward me and then rock back. It did this kind of motion four or five times, I'd say, you know, for a few seconds. And I tried to turn my head again. It did it again, you know, it let you, you know, it's, you know, don't move. So it roared at you again. It did. It roared at me two times.

After the second time, I heard in the area from where this thing initially came from. you know, again, downhill. And I could tell what happened, went to turn around and look, this noise below us, and that was when I kind of took the opportunity to, really, you know, the first I saw of it, you know, above the, you know, above the knees.

Can you describe what you saw? Just, I mean, it was like, you know, basically, you know, I'm seeing something that's not still in a day, but six and a half feet tall. So I was looking at was probably a good foot and a half taller than me, at least. Very good at, you know, guesstimations and weight.

But this thing was just giant. I mean, it was just a giant standing over me. See, the first thing I noticed before I saw its face, the body was just, this thing was just, it reminded me of like a pelican or a shipping container something this thing was just massive it it's shoulders were probably was weird was it it well the whole thing was weird but it what I noticed was it it kind of kept that that general width a midsection right down to the hips I mean this thing was just wide all over just big and

wide so dark it was black but not quite and um it was round like a barrel then is what you're saying it was kind of had that round it was so So, yeah, it was around. I mean, it was just, it had some, you know, I saw, I noticed some muscle and stuff, but it wasn't like a lot of accounts, you know, I've heard on the show where people describe, you know, that cartoonishly ridiculous, like, you know, wrestler or a bodybuilder, but, you know, times 10. It really wasn't like that. It was just more stocky. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, I get descriptions like that here, especially like in Washington State.

If you go to the north-east side of the state, a lot of the reports, witnesses will tell you is it looked like a barrel. It was just, it was huge, but it was just thick, round and thick. And building like a barrel than like a, like you said, a bodybuilder. So it's not the first time I've heard that. Yeah, it's like a huge oil drum, you know. Yeah. And that's what a lot of people here in Washington State say. Let me ask you, were you able to get a good look at the face, and how would you describe it?

Only briefly, but, you know, it doesn't take, but, you know, just a glance for you to get a lot of details. I caught the face as it was looking back downhill. It only did so for, you know, a couple seconds and turned its attention right back around to me. And as it's kind of coming back around is, uh, I didn't. I was scared of getting caught, you know, turning my head and looking up at this thing because it had warned me twice at this point. And I was really in fear for my life. I saw it coming back around.

But, yeah, I saw it briefly. That's the part for me, you know, to put it into words, it's kind of the hardest thing, the hardest part about it to describe to somebody, I guess. You know what I mean? face. Well, first of all, this thing kind of had like a hairdo. It had longer hair. The longest hair that I noticed anywhere on this thing was on its head. And it's almost like it kind of had this mullet hairdo. As, you know, strange as that might sound. But it also had hair on its neck. So there is really, you know, above the chin to right above the eyebrow. This thing that didn't, wasn't

covered in here where I could actually really see skin. The same color, again, you know, like a chart. First thing I noticed was the eyes. That's the way I could describe expression on this thing was just, I mean, if looks could kill, I'd have been, this thing would have killed me. I mean, it was just on the face. And you could tell this thing was not,

wasn't like your eyes and then a black pupil in the middle. This thing, I could tell it had something in there. It wasn't just in colors and tones, were very to each other. So what it looked like, you know, at first, at first glance, it's just these really intense, dark eyes. And these things were kind of set kind of deeper into the face to where the brow above them, you know,

it made it look even more pronounced. It makes sense. From there down, I had a really, really, really wide nose. It probably only came out from the face, maybe an inch or so. So really wide and flat, even wider than the nose was the mouth. I mean, this is pretty much what I saw. It was really scary, really scary to look at.

Yeah, no, I can imagine. I've heard they're not real pretty to look at in the face, especially if you had a no, no, no. No, and it also kind of had this look to it where, you know, like kind of like a down syndrome, kind of look. It was surprisingly, you know, I hear people try to go between, you know, if the thing was more human-looking. I hear, you know, a lot of people say, and others say more guerrilla. What I saw really wasn't, it didn't really strike me as either one, you know, but what it did kind of have a look of was kind of like Down syndrome kind of.

you know, mostly what I noticed. As you were saying before, so you wouldn't really say it looked to gorilla or non-human primate, and it didn't really look human to you what you were looking at? No. Not really either one. And so as you were laying there on your belly, was a creature, besides looking off in the distance, was it breathing heavy?

Was it doing anything else besides rocking back and forth? It only did the rocking for a second after, you know, the first time I tried to kind of turn around and look up at it the first time. It didn't do that for that much longer after that. The whole time, though, it was breathing heavy. I mean, this thing was really worked up. Could you tell was it female? Was it male? Did you see any organs showing it might be male or female?

When I looked up, I didn't see. I didn't notice anything in its crotch. I mean, it was directly above me. So, you know, if there was something dangling there, you know, I would, I think I would have noticed. But I didn't, I didn't see anything like that. I didn't see any breast on the chest. But I had to guess, you know, I'm no expert. I guess female.

If I hadn't heard, you know, other, I wouldn't know this. But, you know, you hear a lot of the time, you hear people talk about the males. You know, they have this really, really wide set of shoulders. And the whole thing, it's, you know, big all over, but it compared to the shoulders, it kind of tapers down, that kind of thing. You know, just these big arms and shoulders, this didn't really have that. You know, like I said, it was just really wide and stocky all over. And, you know, although I did, you know, this thing was, it was caused.

But it was, you know, it adds a muscle on it. That's for sure. But it wasn't, like I said, the cartoonish big bodybuilder look to it. And also, I kind of, you know, not at the time, but since the encounter happened and I had time to kind of think back on it, the roar didn't sound. So what happens next? You're laying there on your stomach. you've seen its feet pretty well, and you're trying to get a glance of what you're looking at. What happens next?

Well, basically, you know, I'm laying there. I'm hurting. This thing had kind of blasted me a couple times. And at that point, you know, my other two buddies had heard this, of course. I mean, you could have heard this thing for a mile around us. But, you know, they started calling. I heard them, you know, calling my name. And, of course, you know, I'm not moving.

I'm not answering them. I guess, you know, they start of them coming down my way, you know, to check on his buddy. And this thing, you know, we both realized, you know, heading this way. And it basically just, I mean, it almost just turned back downhill. Six steps and this thing was gone. You know, one of the two buddies that I was, I pretty much just myself, I was just in shock, man, and I kind of just blacked out. Couldn't believe what it just happened to me.

And I come in to my friend, you know, like I said, you know, are you all right? You know, that kind of thing. And from then on, it was just a matter of, you know, I had to be helped up. I couldn't walk for a minute. I was literally beat up that bad to where, you know, I kind of had to sit there for a minute. know, get my breath back. What did you tell your friends? What happened?

Well, you know, immediately they were asking, you know, what happened? What was that? That sounded crazy. You know, are you all right? You know, I've got, you know, like I said, you know, I've got a tree inside of my face. And one of them took his back off, got his first aid kid out, and they're, you know, kind of treating that. And I didn't tell him anything.

out of it at the dirt, you know, all the time, you know, they kind of looked at each other and could, and get his stuff and let's get him out of here. And, um, we didn't stay the rest of the day. I mean, I don't know. I've never told them. It happened. And I think, you know, the whole way back, you know, in the town, there, was it a bear? You know, was it a, what was it, you know, and I just couldn't. The word until we were really back at my house, a couple hours later. Why do you think that is? Were you worried that they might ridicule you over it?

Yeah, kind of a little bit. Later on, I was at first. I just really didn't, you know, these were really good buds of mine. And if anybody, I think, in the world, if I would have told, you know, told the truth and told somebody what actually happened, I think if anybody out there would have

I think, you know, because, you know, they're two of my best mates in the whole world, but, but even with them, I mean, this would, it's never, it never been a subject we'd ever talked about. And, you know, other people talking about that kind of, this kind of stuff. And, you know, you see the reaction, you get laughed, you know, the butt into somebody's joke or, I just didn't want it to be that. I didn't, you know, I know my friends and I know what they would have thought. But at first, you know, I was just, I didn't, before that, before, you know, I got to thinking about that, that kind of stuff at first, you know, it was just, I just simply didn't know out of what I'd just seen and what it just happened to me. Um, I'd believe. Did that put an end to your guys as hiking? Um, you know what? It didn't, it didn't put an end. For them, it didn't.

For me, it didn't put it. For me, it was quite a long time and out again together. Yeah, it was quite a while. I mean, at least a year or so. Do you think the creature was protecting young ones? And why do you think the creature didn't kill you? You know, I think basically luck. I don't know.

It's hard to say, you know, I've had plenty of time to think about this. And that's one scenario, you know, I thought of. You know, it's not young, you know, youngens maybe did, it definitely, when I had the time to think back on it, it did really come across to me as a more or less instinctual kind of protective. It obviously wasn't trying to intimidate me or it would have just barked at me from the bush. and, you know, we might have had a, you know, kind of stare-down kind of moment or, or something like that. But, so, yeah, you know, intimidation, you know, just didn't, that doesn't really, really did kind of come across as a kind of protective thing, yeah. Well, I'm glad you made it out.

You know, I'm glad it didn't kill you. It's a terrifying account. I mean, I can't imagine being there. And, you know, it probably thought you were reacting, trying to come towards it as you were actually slipping and falling. and that's probably why it actually charged you and hit you the way it did. But, you know, it's interesting, too, the creature's behavior. I mean, if it really wanted to kill you, it could have just stepped on your head and squashed it like a grape, but it was just kind of holding you at bay.

And it makes me wonder why it was holding you at bay. If it was trying to, you know, as you looked up, it was looking off in a different direction. It makes me wonder maybe if there was young nearby or something else nearby trying to get you to don't do anything. You sit here and don't do anything. And then when your friends came up, it probably heard your friends coming and thought it's time to go. That's my uneducated opinion on what happened. Well, you're more educated than me by far on the subject. But, yeah, you know, before we even heard noise, you know, I thought it was just me and it at first.

Before we heard the noise after, you know, I got charged, and even before we heard, you know, the noise, you know, downhill in this thicket, you know, before that, even when I tried to even look up, it just obviously didn't want me looking at it. And I don't think, now I don't think it was so much concern of me looking at it, But it was kind of me having a chance to realize that there were other ones. Yeah, and it's interesting. It's, you know, a young guy in your mid-20s running into something like this.

God, I can't even imagine. It's probably a good thing that you were in shock and you weren't freaking out because I think it probably would have gone a lot worse if you did. The fact that you just kind of sat there and every time it word at you, it's kind of that old primate behavior. You know, a lot of times with primates, if you present, yourself as not a threat, not always, this doesn't work always, but sometimes, if you present yourself as a non-threat and you're really not going to harm the creature in the primate world

anyway, a lot of primates will back off because there's no fight, so they'll back off. And that doesn't work always, obviously, with chimpanzees, you've got a whole different demeanor you're dealing with. But with these sayings, I just think it was interesting how it just stood over the top of you basically told you to shut your mouth in not so many ways and sit there. It would have been nice to get that peripheral vision of what else was going on because you'd mentioned you heard the bushes move. I really think it was protecting it's young or thought you were a threat and then realized once it was on top of you, you weren't really a threat. You weren't doing anything. But that fighter flight man, I say it every time. It really does save our asses as humans because it puts us

into positions normally where you would freak out because there's so much adrenaline, so much fear, we kind of free that whole saying, you know, I'm frozen with fear. And I think it throws these things off. But thank God that we have that mechanism built into all humans, that we have this fighter flight mechanism that I think saves our life more than, more often than not. That's right. And you know what? It's, you don't even think about it, you know?

It's like it's programmed into you. I didn't know anything else to do. So I had to do with the fact that, you know, I was just wracked with pain and hurting all over so bad. You know, I freaked out or done anything. Yeah, didn't you tell me your hiking pack was bent, the metal part of it was bent from where the creature hit you? It was.

I was. And that's what really makes me think this thing, you know, if I hadn't started to slip forward, this thing would have, if that blow would have landed on my neck or on my head instead of that, the frame of that pack. That's it, you know. You're done. Yeah.

So, you know, in one way, I was really unlucky and lucky at the same time. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's a curse seeing these things, man. It really is a curse. You know, you're in a position like you were to where, you know, I think there's people that go into your position, to be honest with you, and don't ever, we're never heard from again. They're completely banished.

They disappear. and luckily in this situation, that didn't happen. And it's terrifying, man. It's a terrifying encounter. I mean, it's an unprovoked encounter. I honestly think you slipping, just reacting to this thing coming your way, it figured, well, knock this guy down, you know, this isn't a bluff charge anymore. Even though it probably technically wasn't a bluff charge,

because like I said, if it wanted to really get you and really harm you, it would have been a, it would have been in a perfect position to do. it. I think it was more or less to get you to back off. It was kind of neutralizing the threat. And, you know, sometimes I think with these creatures, too, you may have surprised it. By taking your

pack off, sliding, it may not have heard the other two guys passed, but it obviously heard you. You mean like, what's this guy about to do next kind of thing? Yeah, kind of thing. You're, you know, snapping a buckle,

those middle buckles that go around your waist, might have sounded like a safety going off. And, you know, like on a gun. It's the same type of click. It might have been the sound of a safety going off, or it thought it was a safety going off on a gun. You know, if you're ever in the woods and you're a distance away from deer or any sort of prey, click a safety off a gun, they can hear that.

I swear to God, a mile away. I've noticed that before. I've hunted white tail, and I've noticed that before. Yeah, they hear that, and they know what it is. And usually they bolt after they hear that. I mean, so I'm wondering maybe if that had something to do with it, too. Maybe I thought you were going to pull a guy. It's hard to say.

It's hard. I'm just speculating. Yeah, I've never really thought about that before. It's interesting you bring that up. But I can't thank you enough for coming on and sharing the encounter, man, very much. It's probably one of the more interesting encounters I've heard, especially being able to walk away and not be harmed by it. And then, you know, I realized you were hurt.

It knocked you. It probably just slapped you and you went flying through the air. but I'm glad I didn't do any permanent damage or, you know, kill you in the same breath. It's one of the more interesting encounters I've heard for sure. Well, I appreciate it, and I really appreciate you, you know, when I reached out. I appreciate you, you know, getting back with me. I, you know, you're the first person I've ever came to with this in eight, nine years. and I wouldn't even have contacted you if, you know, I didn't really like you guys' show so much.

When I came across, you know, you and Woody and Will, and, you know, when you guys first started doing this thing, I immediately kind of struck me how down to earth and laid back. And, you know, you guys are obviously, you know, sensitive. intelligent, you know, nice, regular, regular dudes like me. And, you know, I said to myself, you know, this is the kind of guys, you know, I could talk to about this. So I gave it a try. I'm glad it worked out. No, I'm glad too, man. Thank you for the kind of words, and thanks for coming on.

Yeah, no problem. And that's it for tonight, everyone. Remember, if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. You got to know when to hold them, when to fold them, fellas. Until next time, everyone. Have a good night. Country faster than the coronavirus and over 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. Let the other guys give you the same old boring sports talk with the same tired storylines. We'll give it to you straight here every Friday. on wagering week. Don't gamble with other podcasts. Let SportsGarten Network's Wadering Week help your bottom line.