Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:256 I ran so far away

Episode Date: September 25, 2016

The witness we welcome to the show tonight was out in the forest late one night when he had an encounter. Here is a small portion of his message: "It felt like SUCH a long time just standing there waiting for something to happen. Then I heard a car. It was somewhere behind me. I didn't even think about it I just remember I turned started running toward the sound of the car. As soon as I turned I saw headlights driving down the canyon road. I remember running so fast I was afraid of tripping on something and I knew that if I fell that… that would be it. I remember kicking my knees up to my chest as I ran to make sure I didn't trip. Honestly all I thought about when I was running was PLEASE GOD let this car see me. I started yelling at the top of my lungs and bolting towards the car. I've never ran faster in my life. I came close to the road but not seeing the hill down towards the road. I completely lost my balance and fell down the hill towards the road. I remember a pop in my collar when I hit the road. I got up just thinking that that thing was right behind me. The car had already driven past but I started running down the road. I knew I had broken something, (my collar bone) I kept running and running praying that thing didn't come grab me. I never stopped. I finally got a car to pass again and I stopped it. It was a woman and a man. They asked if I was alright. I was so exhausted that I basically collapsed. They took me to the little ranger station. I really just am trying to get this off my chest and hopefully get some closure or something. I don't know. I just wanted to write in and tell my account cause it sounds like you all take this very seriously and also have had experiences as well. Thank you for your time and I appreciate your professionalism on the show about this."

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 no one of that 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.

You know, the look it was given me. What were here putting? See you. 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 at him. A Saskwatchewatch, Chronicle.

A place where people share their accounts. Let's start the show. To the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show plan for you tonight. I'm going to be speaking with Wayne. And Wayne had a very interesting encounter late one night when he was out with his friends, ran into one of these creatures.

And it's, you know, I know some people listen to this podcast, and, you know, they might snicker a little bit, but these things are real. They're out there. They do exist. You can run into them. And Wayne's a perfect example of that tonight. I know I would tell people, don't run. You come across one train, back away slowly.

Don't run. But sometimes fire, flight kicks in, and sometimes people run. And it's hard to judge someone unless you're in their shoes. You're in that moment in time when they run into one of these things. It's really hard to say, well, I would. do this or I would do that, until you actually see one, you know, I'd probably relax a little bit on what you say you would or wouldn't do until you run into one. We're all different as human beings. Sometimes we run. Sometimes we don't. If you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is

Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. Again, my email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. Please email me your encounter. I'd love to speak with you. I'd love to talk with you. If you're interested in being on the show, even if you just want to talk about your encounter, shoot me an email. If you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, the store is open. At the top of the browser, you'll see the shop link. I hope you're able to go in there. I hope you're able to get yourself something nice.

I would say my two favorite items that I like from the store are the beanies and the sweatshirts. Those are the two most favorite items for me that I tend to wear all the time. But I hope you're able to go in there, check some things out, get yourself something nice. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Wayne to the show. Wayne, thanks for coming on, man. I appreciate you being here. Hey, no problem.

Glad to be here. And if you would, kind of start from the beginning. Tell us what you're doing and then walk us into the encounter. All right. This happened in Utah up in the American Port Canyon. and happened about two years ago. Let's see, I've had the same friends for quite a while, so what we typically would do is we'd get together about every year

and go camping or go backpacking or just something that all of us wanted to do together. Anyway, so this one year we decided to go up in American Fort Canyon and, you know, camp for a few days. we had a three-day weekend that we were taking advantage of. And anyway, so we headed up and we passed the reservoir. And I don't know how far, but we got past the reservoir that's normally where people camp. And we kept going up the mountain pretty high because we wanted to be alone and kind of do our own thing. And we fought and pitched our tents.

And friends suggested that, you know, when it gets dark, we should, you know, play a night game. It was like, you know, kids games. And so, you know, we are all pretty excited to be there. So, you know, we all said, yeah, let's go do it. So the sun was basically setting when we started to head up the mountain in the car. And we were going to play a game called Fugitive. And what the game is is there's two people in the car and four people on the road. People in the car are the police officers and they have a spotlight.

and the people on the ground are the fugitives. And if the cops spot you in the spotlight, you're out, you've got to jump in the car. And if the fugitives make it to the campsite, then, you know, you win. My buddy and Rami was, the four of us jumped out and hired the two friends went to the left, and me and my buddy went to the right. Oh, sorry, we went to the left, and they went to the right. And we just started booking it down this road. and me and Mark went into the brush to our left

and we just started getting deep because they had a pretty powerful spotlight that they could see us. So we just started running and we figured, you know, if we ran the whole way that, you know, we'd get there quick and they wouldn't catch up to us or anything. Maybe that didn't really last too long because we got tired and, you know, we started talking and, you know, we were walking and stuff.

Anyway, we saw the car coming down the road. I think it was about an hour into the game. And we ducked behind these pretty big boulders. Anyway, so they kind of came to a slow little crawl in their car, and they spotted my buddy Mark and called out his name, and he jumped up, and he didn't really want them to find me. So he just jumped in the car and didn't say anything until they took off. And I stood up, and I was in the middle of the woods alone.

Anyway, so I just started walking and I started headed because we had come into the brush and then we came back after the road and that's how they caught us. So I came, I started coming back into the brush and just started walking. And, you know, it's late at night. It was, it wasn't a full moon, but it was pretty big moon. I could be, you know, pretty well. And I want to say, I want to say maybe 15, 20 minutes into me just being alone, I start, my mind started playing tricks on. me, you know how you are when you're alone and you just, you know, your mind gets the best of you and you just start thinking weird things.

Anyway, I thought I had heard a lot of brush, you know, being broken. I don't know if it was footsteps or just just moving in the wind or whatever, but started hearing stuff and it started to creep me out. And so I started, so I said, okay, you know, it's kind of been a while since I've seen anyone. and maybe I'll just start heading back towards the road. So I turned right because I knew the road was to my right, and I started heading back towards the road. And after a while, it started to make me nervous

because I figured, you know, I wasn't too far into the brush. You know, I thought the road would be here by now. But, you know, I guess I was thicker in there, or maybe I got turned around or something, and I had stopped with this big tree, and I was trying to get my bearings, and just, you know, just trying to figure out, you know, if I was going the right direction or not.

Anyway, I started hearing more branches break and just the more rustling about where this tree was where I was standing. I stopped and I was listening because I was trying to figure out if it was footsteps, if it was an animal, if I could hear anything. And I was standing there

and all of a sudden I hear this like just this deep kind of echo grunt. And it sounded like it was on the other side of the tree. And it happened really quick and it startled me. And I just stood there and I was trying to think to myself, you know, did I actually hear a grunt? Did I hear something that made noise? And I couldn't, my mind couldn't understand if I heard it or if it was just my imagination or if it was a wind or something else.

Anyway, so I stood there for a while waiting for something to happen and nothing did. So I was like, okay, it's probably just in my imagination. and I decided the direction I was going to go, so I just started slowly walking. In the back of my head, I'm still thinking of, you know, this grunt. And I want to say I was about maybe 10, 20 feet away from this tree that I've standing by. And I hear these, you know, brush moving again. And I spin around and I pull, for a second, I think it's one of my friends that's messing with me.

And I turn on a flash up to my iPhone and it illuminates, you know, in front of me. And I'm just looking for something, any brush moving, anyone. I don't see anything. But I know I heard it. I know something that was there. And so I just yell really loud. I just say, hey, this is an animal. Maybe I could scare it.

Just get it away from me. Nothing happened. So I picked up a rock. And I remember throwing it as hard as I could at this tree that I had been standing by. Just make a loud noise just to get it away from me. And as soon as this rock hit the tree, it was almost instantaneous, this this unimaginable deep growl that I heard. I can't, I can't even begin to imitate it. It's nothing that I had ever heard before.

Scared the living daylights out of me. And I remember, I remember standing there. And as soon as I heard that, I instantly just, I said, oh, fuck. because I literally thought it was a bear going to charge me or a mountain lion or something and it just totally just froze me and I was like I'm about to get killed right now anyway so I was standing there

it's kind of waiting for something to happen and my flashlight was still out in front of me and I was thinking about my pocket knife I was thinking about just anything maybe I could use and I was trying to figure out you know where this thing was if it was in front of me or behind me or if it was behind the tree

and as I'm standing there, I'm not moving the flashlight at all. And I don't know if, I mean, at the moment, I thought it might have been my imagination, but it looked like someone was staring at me from behind the tree. And it looked like they were just peeking out just a little bit, and they weren't moving, but it looks like almost like this little, just figure standing there. And I was like, it's not my imagination or someone standing there staring at me. And I was too afraid to move. I was too afraid to say anything.

And I don't know how long I was standing there. Maybe it's 10 minutes. Maybe it was an hour. But all of a sudden, there was this, I thought it was a tree falling at first, like a smaller tree. But what it was was this arm that came up and wrapped itself around the tree. And I saw this thing's arm. And I instantly knew that it wasn't a bear. it wasn't a man, but it was something looking at me.

And I've never been more terrified in my life. And after a while, this thing stepped out from the tree and walked from right to left and went behind another tree. And it maybe took one step before it was behind this other tree that was, it would have taken me maybe five steps to get to this tree. But it was one step and it was behind this other tree. And I just remember, I just remember this look that it never took its eyes off me. It didn't, it didn't glance at me. It didn't, it was just staring at me. And when it was walking sideways to this other tree, it just was looking straight at me.

And this is nothing like I had ever seen in the movies before. This is nothing that I had ever seen a picture of or a drawing or, or in a movie or anything. This thing was massive. I want to say it was maybe seven, maybe eight feet, foot tall. And it was just stacked. It was, I have a friend that's a bodybuilder, and this is far how it surpasses him.

And his hair was like a grayish brown. It's hard to describe, but I don't want to say his hair was thin. but I could see his muscle. I could see his muscles on his shoulder and down his arm and his chest. And there's no way that this is a joke. There's no way this was some guy in a costume. This was a living breathing thing. And the face was to look exactly like a man.

This wasn't like a chimpanzee that walks on its hind legs. it had hair on its face and it just had this dead blank stare and I didn't even no you're fine I'm trying to kiss my breath um no you're fine it's uh it's terrifying to when you see how large they are how physically large they are and the uh yeah and when you hear that growl too going back to the growl i've you know i've heard that before and it i've never heard anything like that. I've never heard anything in the movies like that. I've never heard, you know, any recordings. Sometimes these researchers look up with these recordings of the growl, and it's not even close to what I heard, not even in the same ballpark of what I've heard.

It's not just the sound. You feel it inside of you. Absolutely. You feel it in the bottom of your stomach, and it shakes you. Anyway, I remember just standing there and he disappeared behind this tree and I knew he wasn't walking off because he didn't make any noise after that tree. And I knew he was literally just standing behind that tree. And I had never been more scared in my entire life. The pocket knife didn't even come to my mind. I don't even know if I would have had a gun, I probably maybe not even thought of that.

There's nothing I thought that could stop this guy if he came at me. And I remember shaking, and I'd never shaken that much. I'm shaking right now, just thinking about it. And I don't know how long I stood there, but it felt like an eternity. And I remember standing there with my flashlight, and I remember thinking about my wife. I remember thinking about my family. I thought I'm never going to see them again.

This is how I'm going to go. And it's just, I don't know. It was almost like my life was flashing before my eyes. This is how scared I was. Anyway, I remember standing there, and I heard this car, and I think it just snapped me out of my train that I was in, and I heard it behind me. I didn't see it anywhere.

I heard it behind me, and I don't know if it was just a trigger or whatever, but I turned and I ran as fast as I could. Now that we were talking yesterday, where you said that it's probably the worst thing to do with these things is to run because you look like prey. And anyway, so I really wasn't thinking of anything but just, you know, fight or flight. And I knew I couldn't fight this thing. And anyway, so I was running as fast as I could and I saw these high beams coming down

the canyon road, which is a huge blessing because it illuminated the road. It told me where it was and I just ran straight towards this road. I was trying to get towards this truck that was coming down, but it had zoned past me, but I still knew where the road was, and it was coming as fast as I could, and I seriously felt like the devil was chasing me. I mean, I know you know you've had an experience before, but I don't know if you've ever been chased by one of these things. And honestly, I don't know if it was chasing me. I didn't hear anything, but when you're running through the forest and you just see something like that,

I mean, you think the worst in your head. anyway, so I'm coming to the edge of the road and instantly I see this drop off. And near the tree line, it drops off near the road. And so I missed my step and I basically front flips down and I landed on my shoulder. And I instantly heard pop. And I stood up and I just started running down the road again. My shoulder was killing me, but I knew that I couldn't stop. and I just kept running down the road, and I don't know how long I was running,

but all of a sudden I see these high beams behind me again. I turn around and I stop. I'm panting. I probably look terrible, and I'm holding my shoulder. I knew my shoulder was, like, kind of slumped down in front of me, and it hurt to kind of stretch my shoulders back. Anyway, I'd ended up breaking my collarbone. I didn't know at the time, but I popped my collarbone.

And anyway, this couple, I didn't flagging down. I literally was just running and I stopped. And this couple stopped. They were in a Cherokee. And I went to the driver's side and they're like, hey, are you all right? And I was like, I need some help. I need to find, you know, somebody. And they're like, okay, yeah, get in, get in, get in.

And I got in their back seat and I honestly don't remember a lot of what happened after that. I don't know if I was just exhausted, but I remember laying down on their backseat, and I remember the wife asking me questions. And anyway, we got to the Ranger station down near the entrance of the canyon. Ranger helped me, and I guess they sent another Ranger up to the campsite because I told them where we were. Anyway, my friends came down, and they had been worried about me. They said I had been gone for a few hours. The game had already been over. My buddy Wes took me and drove me to the hospital, and I was just so shaking, and I just couldn't believe what I'd just seen, what I just ran from.

I thought that this was the end for me. I thought that I was going to die on the M&M. And I remember just in the car, and he kept asking me, he kept asking me, what was the matter? What was the matter? And I don't know if it was my nerves or whatever, but I just, I told him what I saw. I told him what happened. He didn't laugh or anything. He just, he just kind of nodded and he's like, okay, yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, you're pretty shaking up. You might be in shock, you know, maybe you saw a bearer. And I just shook my head out. I was like, this wasn't embarrassed. I know exactly what I saw. Anyway, we got to the hospital. You know, my wife eventually showed up and happened. I told her what happened and, you know,

she kind of just had this kind of dead stare. I don't know if you're crazy or if you're just in shock and kind of the same response that my buddy had. Anyway, but I haven't been in the mountains since, and I was going to, I mean, I got invited with my friends to go to this camp out this year, but I passed just because of how bad this has affected me. Yeah, that's terrifying. You know, it's very terrifying. And it's really hard to describe to someone. I know for most of the audience listening, who hasn't seen one, it's really hard to describe to them how imposing these things are,

how large these things are. Yeah, I didn't know. I couldn't, like, I didn't know anything could be that big. Like, I was talking to yesterday, and, I mean, I told you I'm a huge fan of basketball. We go to games all the time. Got pictures of basketball players. Those guys are huge.

but this thing was enormous and not just tall like this thing was massive just wide and just shoulders and arms and it was huge and it you cannot describe it to someone that hasn't seen it how tall would you say the same was um i'm 6-1 and felt like a munchkin compared to it i i want to say was maybe seven, maybe eight foot tall, maybe somewhere in there. And for the audience, can you describe the face? Yeah, it was covered in, it almost looked like it had like a beard, but not over the lips, just like almost kind of like a, just a beard. And it was dark skin.

I only saw it for like maybe a second just because it went from one tree to the other. weather. But from what I saw, I mean, I didn't see any eyes. I don't know if they were just shaded or just because of the shadows of how dark it was. But yeah, it was just hollow. It felt like hollow eyes. And I think that's what terrified me the most of just this thing staring at me. And I couldn't see, I couldn't see the white of its eyes. I mean, I was shining a flashlight basically in his face, and it was just, it was almost like it was just deadness. It was like a demon or something. I remember the nose being pretty big.

It was almost like it was pushed kind of flat, but like pushed in. That's probably the best way I could describe it, though. It's interesting seeing these things, because you're right, the hair on them, a lot of witnesses, when they see these things, you expect them to be really hairy. And I would say most witnesses, when they talk about their encounter, they talk about seeing the muscle structure underneath the hair. And it's not as thick as you would think it as you would think it would be. Yeah, like going through my mind, like replaying what I saw and trying to describe it, it's almost as if, like, it's obviously covered in hair, but you can see the skin underneath. It's like, it's almost like if you just cave it a quick shave or something that it would be human skin kind of thing.

Does that make sense? Yeah, that does make sense. Prior to this, how did you feel about the Sasquatch topic or the Bigfoot topic? Yeah, I mean, everyone's heard about it. Everyone's heard stories. Everyone's seen the Robert Patton, not Robert Pattinson and Robertson, is that what it is film? Patterson and Gimlin? Yeah, Patrickson and Gimlin.

You know, everyone's seen that. Everyone's, you know, seen the YouTube videos. And, you know, I grew up, you know, hearing about it. You know, my dad had talked about it a few times. He was, I wouldn't say he was super interested, but I know he had talked about it a few occasions. But, I mean, little to nothing, I didn't really have an opinion about it. I didn't really have a strong, oh, it exists, or, oh, it doesn't exist.

You guys are fools. I just, I didn't have an opinion about it. And I mean, the best Sasquatch I could refer before my sighting was, you know, the beef jerky commercials with the Sasquatch where people mess with them. And it was humorous. It was a joke, you know. Yeah, you're right. And I think that's what a lot of people think. But when you actually see one, you see how physically large they are, it's not even in the same ballpark because even that guy in the costume in the jerky commercial.

Yeah, that's the good reference. It doesn't even compare to the guy that's in a million-dollar commercial. It doesn't compare to that. How would you compare what you saw compared to the Patterson Gimlin film? Well, after my encounter, we did a lot of research. I was up on the Internet as watching every video. But in regards to the video of Patterson, it's... I believe the Patterson film, but I feel like this is a different breed almost.

I feel like the Patterson Sasquatch was almost an overweight Sasquatch compared to the one that I saw. And, like, not that it was overweight because I know that they've done in detail and shown muscle structure and all that kind of stuff. But it just, it was just completely different from the one that I saw. the one that I saw was literally you take a bodybuilder and you shoot him up maybe four or five feet into the air and just spread them out wide and that's what this thing was. It looked like it was bench pressing out in the forest somewhere for the last who knows how long. Yeah, and that's the thing. I know after my own encounter, somebody asked me that how would it compare to the Patterson Gimlin film? to what me and my brother saw. And it's, Patty looks like a sloppy old lady compared to what we saw.

I mean, what we saw, and I don't know if you would agree with me or not, but it could probably snap Patty in half if it wanted to. Patty just looks like a sloppy old woman compared to. It's like you and I were talking last night. The one that we saw reminded me of someone who did way too many steroids and lifted way too many weights. compare, I mean, it's so hard to compare just a giant. That's the best way I would describe it, just a giant. Yeah, I've never thought of something that big before

before I saw this. I didn't even know anything like that could exist that big. Yeah, and for a lot of people listening, I mean, your ceilings in your home, generally speaking, are about eight feet up. And even then doesn't really do it justice when you see this thing, but if you

think of the height of something, if you want to compare it to something, I mean, Most ceilings and most homes are about eight feet up. Yeah, man, it's terrifying. What do you think the creature's intention was? Honestly, don't know. I mean, I've replayed that night a million times in my head. I remember listening to, you know, a couple of your, you know, shows

and listening to other people's encounters. And from their experiences, I was trying to figure out what this thing was doing. if I had stumbled across it or the scariest thing if it was literally hunting me I don't know I mean I feel like sometimes you know sometimes when I'm at odds with someone I try to put myself in their place

and I try to think about what I would do in that situation and it kind of sounds dumb but I've tried to think okay if I was a Sasquatch why would I do this Why would I walk from one tree to the other? Why would I let them see me?

And I don't know. I mean, I don't feel like it was scared of me. It didn't run off in the woods like 90% of these Bigfoot videos we see. I seriously thought it was, I seriously think it was literally showing itself to me and saying, I'm not going anywhere or I'm here. It's just, I just feel like it was just telling me that it was here. like maybe maybe I stumbled across it

and I wasn't going anywhere with my flashlight just because I was so afraid I don't know I mean I have so many thoughts in my head about it it just I mean but the most terrifying thing is the thought of you know it was hunting me that whole time

like it was watching me the whole time every time I was alone it was just waiting for that time to sneak up on me and when I got to that tree and I was waiting there trying to find my bearing, like, how long was it standing there? Was it literally on the other side of the tree that whole time? Like, that's what scares me. Like, my flashlight I wasn't on. I was looking around, just like normal, I was trying to figure out where I was.

Like, was it literally standing behind that tree the entire time? Like, or did it walk up later? Like, I don't know. Like, your mind just, your mind sometimes is very cruel, you know? It tells you a lot of stuff that scares me. Yeah, it almost makes you wonder if there was more than one. I know in the beginning of your encounter, you were talking about walking, hearing sticks break, and had that feeling of being watched. And I think, you know, when you're out in an environment like the forest,

and you had that feeling of being watched, or you just get that sense of dread, you almost have to pay attention to that. And I know you guys were out having a good time. So obviously you weren't afraid of the dark, you weren't afraid of the forest, your mind really wasn't playing tricks on you. It sounds like you guys have done this a couple times over, and so I can't see you being terrified by that, but from the point where you were walking and you were hearing the sticks break,

and you kind of felt like you were being watched to the point where you got to the tree, how much time are we talking about between those two incidences? Well, when I was walking alone, I want to say like maybe 10 minutes into it, I started hearing sticks breaking, and I thought it was my other. friends that maybe hadn't been caught yet, and they saw me and they were trying to catch up to me. I remember looking around a few times thinking, you know, okay, did I hear something? And then when I got to the tree, you know, I don't, I don't think I had heard anything after that, after that first time that I was walking.

And then when I got to the tree, I started hearing it again. So, I don't know. I mean, that first time, maybe 10 minutes, and then when I finally got to the tree, I'd want to say it was like maybe 30, maybe 45 minutes later. So, yeah, it could have been following you that whole time, or there could have been more than one, which is probably the case. Yeah. You know what's interesting about these sayings is a normal wild animal, when you yell at it, it'll take off. Or if you throw a rock, it'll take off.

Even a bear, 90% of the time will run. Initially, that's what I thought. Like, I mean, my past, I mean, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would. be in the woods all the time. My dad grew us up in the woods. We'd go camping every weekend. We'd go hunting. And I've encountered a bear before. And I remember sitting there and I was scared. And my dad just told me to be calm. It's okay. Don't worry. They're more afraid of us than we are of them. And encountering a bear and seeing it, I mean, doesn't compare to this. And I mean, the feelings that I felt when I saw the bear has nothing.

I mean, I was like an eight-year-old kid when I saw it there, and I was scared, and my heart was racing. But the feelings that I felt when I saw this Sasquatch step out was beyond anything I ever felt before. I've never been more scared of anything my entire life. And I don't think I don't think anything will top that. Yeah, it's hard to top. And that kind of tells the audience, too, how big its arm was when you originally thought it was a tree falling over. You know what I mean? Yeah.

were you able to see its hands when it wrapped its arm around the tree? No. Well, kind of because it, well, at first when I saw this thing moving, like I said, I thought it was like a little branch or tree like falling over. But when it like swung up and like wrapped its arm around the tree, its fence was clit or his fist was clenched. And I mean, it was just, it was literally just all hair. And I was trying to, I was trying to comprehend what it, what this was. And a few seconds after is when he stepped out. And so I was just so blown away.

It was just, I don't know, I didn't really get a, I didn't really focus on his hand at all. But I do remember his fist was clenched. Yeah, and that's interesting. And there's no shame in running. You know, as a general rule, I tell people not to run because you become prey. It's like I always say, though, you know, go back and live in that moment where that person had that encounter and then tell me, what you're going to do. You'll probably do nothing of what you'll say. You know, most people, I think, will run in that situation. You obviously knew you couldn't fight it.

As far as weight goes, I know you've got a glance at the creature. Could you put a weight on it compared to, like, the bear that you saw when you were younger? I don't know. I'm not good with weight. I mean, this thing had to be, I mean, over 500 pounds. Like I said, I'm not very good with weight. I don't even know how much a bear typically weighs. But, I mean, this thing had to be just enormous, just in weight. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't even imagine how much. And that's okay.

I thought I would ask just in case. And I mean, that tells you how much fear you're in when you take off running. You break your collarbone. You get up. You keep running. And it kind of hurts, too, when you, and I know this too, you know, it kind of hurts when you have an experience like this. And then you tell friends and loved ones, and they don't really, they just kind of give you that dead stare. like, have you lost your mind or are you going nuts?

And I don't know if that's what your impression with your wife and your friend were. Your friend's got a great name, by the way. Wes, that's a good, good strong name. Yeah, Wes is a good guy. Yeah, that's probably been one of the hardest things after this is just not being able to talk to anyone about it and not being able to relate to anyone about it. I mean, like I said, I told my buddy less, and I mean, he probably did the best that he could. You know, he just kind of nodded and said, yeah, yeah, you know, you might have seen a bear, you know, just kind of tried to calm me down. And then he's never mentioned it since.

And same thing with my life. I mean, me and my life are best friends. We do everything together. We look on camp together. And she's never mentioned it since I've said it. And I can't blame him. but, I mean, at the same time, it does hurt, you know, because I feel like I'm alone. And after, I mean, when I got home and I don't know how long, it was a couple months after, I mean, I didn't sleep.

I would stay up late, you know, looking into this stuff. I, you know, I just, I mean, I remember when I first got home, I had like a mental breakdown. I mean, it messes with your reality, just the thing, because the world that we live in, it portrays these things as a joke and the people that have seen them are portrayed as a joke like redbells or redneck hillbillies or people that want to become famous

or just you know just people that want to tell stories or whatever like they tell it as a joke and I've seen you know YouTube videos of you know oh we're going to go hunt Sasquatch today or oh we're going to go looking for Sasquatch I've seen TV shows

where it's I mean it's just It's just a joke, the society that we live in. And it's just, I mean, it's hard for, I mean, you and me that have had any experience and just live in the world that we do. Because if we talk about it, I mean, we'll be laughed at. We'll be told that we're crazy or we're drinking too much or we're smoking too much. And, I mean, it's hard, you know? It is hard. It's like I was telling you last night.

You know, I can drink it up with the rest of, you know, with the best of. them. And I can tell you, and, you know, after drinking, I've never, ever had delusions of grandeur of seeing, you know, an eight, nine foot tall giant running around in the forest. It's just never happened. So I always laugh, laugh when people say, you know, what were you drinking? What were you smoking? Because it's not, I mean, you just, it is portrayed as a joke. And some of these people, I still go out and I still, I've gotten to the point where I just go out in the woods and I'll go look for them. But in the same breath, I always go armed. And then I always think, well, what if I do? What happens if I catch up with one again? Because I know how large they are. I know the damage they can do if they

want to get a hold of you. They'll rip you from limb to limb if they wanted to. And that's probably after you got off three, four, five shots. They're probably sure to rip you from limb to limb. And so when you see a lot of stuff, I understand what you're saying. It's frustrating when you see it as kind of a joke. And then you have an experience like this. And it's not a joke. It's terrifying. And it's hard to relate to people how, and I've said it a million times already in the show, but how physically imposing these things are, how physically large they are. And then for you to see the face and the facial expression not to change, and then the creature really didn't leave.

And that's the other part I think that messes with your mind when he see these things. You know, if it would have ran off, you would have been okay with it. If it would have charged, well, you probably wouldn't be okay with it if it would have charged you. but the fact that it just stays there and doesn't leave, and you're kind of in a standoff, that's the part that messes with your mind because what is this thing's intention at this point? Why is it still here?

It's already growled at me. I threw a rock. A normal animal would run off if you throw a rock in the general direction. This thing didn't leave. I think that's a part that kind of messes with you a little bit, the fact that what happens if I would have stayed four minutes longer? What would have happened to me? I always think about that.

like, what would have happened if that car hadn't have gone down the road? Like, would I have run in a different direction and gotten more lost in the woods? Would it have kept following me? And like I said, you know, I just took off running out. I didn't think about anything else so much to the fact that I broke my collarbone

because of it. But I don't know if that thing was chasing me. I mean, it might have been. It might not have been. I mean, I don't want to say that it was when it wasn't. I didn't hear anything, but it definitely felt like it was straight to me just because of the feelings that I had. And like I said, when you see something like that and you take off running, I mean, your mind just tells you that you can't run fast enough. And this thing is right on your heels.

It's like that thing when you're a kid and you're afraid to go down into the basement. And when you finally do and you turn all the lights off and you have to run back upstairs, you think something's on your heels. And it's just that feeling you just get scared. Yeah, and for you to break your collarbone, I don't know, most people out there probably haven't broke their collarbone. That's a really painful break, very painful break. And to get back up and take off running, I mean, that tells you right there how much fear and adrenaline you head pumping through you to be able to get back up. And, you know, most football players don't get back up after they break their collarbone.

They'll lay there on the field until a stretcher comes out. And to get back up and go back into a full sprint, that's pure adrenaline. I mean, pure adrenaline. How far away from you was a creature when you were shining the light at it? I was about like maybe 15, 15, 20 feet. Yeah, too close. Yeah, extremely too close. And like you were saying before, you know, what if this, what if that?

And I thought, what if I hadn't started walking away from that tree? What if I had turned on my flashlight at that tree? and I turned around and that thing was literally standing right in front of my face. Like, would it have just reached out and grabbed me? You know, it just so many scenarios, you know, start flying through your head. And, I mean, I've had plenty of nightmares about it just to keep me awake at night, you know? Yeah, the best thing I could recommend to you is try to get back out in the woods. Don't let these things take that away from you, even though they have at the moment they have.

don't let them take it away from you. I would try to get back out if you can, back out. I know that's easier said than done, and that's probably the last thing you want to do at this moment. It helps to get back out in the woods and realize, I even hate to give you that advice. That's what I would say to you, though, is try to get back out there.

Don't let them take that from you. Yeah. Well, I haven't been out since. I haven't been out since then and I don't know, I just kind of push it in the back of my head of going out again and you know, I've driven through canyons

and that kind of stuff and I've never gotten out and walked around or anything just when I was on my honeymoon we went to and I remember sitting on the beach with my wife and they closed to the beach because now in a resort a woman got attacked by a shark

and she had to be rushed to the hospital and an hour later they opened the beach and said oh it's okay it's all clear anyway so my wife was really eager and we went into the ocean and feeling like you're just terrified you i mean you're sitting in the water and there's you know there's sharks around and that's what i feel like when i feel like i'm going into the woods it's like they're there and they're they're monsters and they don't give off this happy feeling they don't they don't they don't give out this creature of the forest that, you know, loves animals or it, it doesn't have that feeling. It's this, it's just this, it's almost like a demonic feeling that you feel.

It's just, it's not a great feeling and it's not something I want to relive again. But, you know, I, I have thought about going back in the woods and, you know, maybe now talking, you know, it'll push me out, maybe a little bit soon. than I would have. It's definitely something I need to do. Because, you know, I definitely don't like living in fear. I definitely don't like letting this thing take

it from me, just like I wouldn't let a shark take the ocean from me. But I'm not going to say it's going to be easy. Yeah, no, I understand what you mean. They do give off kind of an evil, sinister feeling most of the time when people run across them.

And like I said, I think that these things are a very large predator. they're not stupid. You know, they don't act like normal animals. That's the other thing, too. I know when you saw the face, it looked very human-like, but they don't really act like animals. Like we talked about earlier, when you throw a rock at a bear,

even a cougar, you throw a rock at a cougar. I've done that, and they'll bolt from you. They'll turn and run the other way. And the cougars we have here in Washington State, I mean, they're like small tigers. I mean, they're huge. They could easily, easily kill you if they wanted to. And it's so interesting that it didn't run.

It just growled, almost like you piss. it off when you threw the rock. It almost makes me think that it was maybe a thought that I was calling it out or I was trying to be the alpha male of the group or just something. You know, it just makes me think that I pissed him off

and maybe that's why he stepped out. Like, maybe he was curious about me and he was just following me and then I pissed him off, which probably isn't the smartest thing to do, you know? Well, I'm glad that... Yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean. And I'm really glad that you were able to get away

and talk about this and it didn't harm you. Because that situation could... Yeah, me too. Yeah. It could have gone bad really quick. That whole situation could have gone bad really quick. It's tough, man, and you'll get through it. I mean, you said this happened to you about a year ago?

Two years ago, yeah. Two years ago. Yeah, I mean, time helps. Time helps with an encounter like this. It still freaks you out. It still freaks you out to think about it. You'll still, the nightmares will start to go. go away. I mean, you'll have them occasionally, but as time goes on, that situation kind of

will alleviate over time. And my best advice to you would be maybe start out small, go to a known campground where there's other campers, take the family and go to an actual campground and just to try and warm back up and to get back out in the woods. You know, this thing could have killed you if it wanted to. In this situation, my own personal opinion, is it might have been just interested or fascinated with what you guys were doing. You guys were probably being watched from the moment you got out of the car and you started running off into the woods. It probably was watching you at that moment

and probably started coming in and didn't realize when you threw that rock, I think you're right. It probably thought you had seen it, so it might as well just step out. It's an interesting encounter, man. I know it's going to stick with you for a while. Yeah, I don't pick over or forget that. Yeah.

Well, I mean, if you ever want to talk, you know, like I said, you have my cell phone number, you're always welcome to give me a call, man, to talk about it if you ever need to, or I'm always down for talking about Sasquatch. So you're always welcome to give me a call anytime if you ever want to talk. Well, yeah, I mean, like I said, the only people that I've told is, you know, my buddy Wes and my wife, and they obviously don't want to ask to me about it or talk to me about it again. And I haven't told anyone else since because of, you know, that experience. And, yeah, I mean, it's been a huge. relief talking to you. And I know I'd set my encounter in, you know, about a year ago. And I hadn't heard anything back. And I mean, you told me there's like a tiny emails that, you know, that I could send it to. But, you know, I'm very grateful that you called. And I could actually talk about this because I've talked about it to myself in the car sometimes just to try to relieve some stress and thoughts.

But, I mean, actually talking to someone else that has had an experience is, I'm sure you know the feeling. It's just, it's like a relief. It's like just stuff off your chest, you know? Yeah, it definitely helps to talk about it. I think in this situation, there is PTSD with a lot of people after they have encounters. A lot of people have PTSD. And it does help to talk about it.

You know, I think in situations like this, if we don't talk about it, we start going to more negative behavior. You know, you start drinking. You start trying to mask the feelings of running into this and the, you know, the nightmares and, you know, all this other stuff. I bet you'll sleep good tonight. It definitely helps to talk about it. I hope you sleep good tonight, getting off your chest. Yeah, I hope so too. I can't thank you enough for coming on the show and sharing it. It's a terrifying encounter, man. I want to thank you again for calling me and, you know, you're respecting me and my story. And I know you've had your own encounter and, you know, just visioning my story.

And I mean, I just, I mean, and in general, I want to thank you for just having the show and just respecting what actually exists because I think so many, so many different shows and so many things, so many different people try to just bank off of this Sasquatch, his theory, books or whatever it is, and just, I don't know, they just, usually just make a joke out of it. And I mean, I've, I mean, I found your show a year ago. And ever since then, I've been, you know, keeping caught up and listening to other stories. And, you know, every time it's just, it makes you feel a little bit better just hearing someone else's story. Just know that I'm not alone.

So I definitely appreciate you listening to the story and kind of getting a community together of people, you know? Well, thank you, man. I appreciate the kind of words. Yeah. I really appreciate you coming on. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks so much, Wes. 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. Again, please go to Sasquatch Chronicles.com. If you like to show, you want to support the show, become a member, get additional shows. Please also check out the store at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. I will see you guys next time. Have a great night, everyone. Frost the country faster than the coronavirus and wagering week is your antidote.

I'm Tom Barton and I'm a veteran sports analyst and respected sports handicapper who will help 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 Wagerie. week help your bottom line.