Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:830 U.S. Marine And The Creature

Episode Date: February 19, 2022

James writes "Around 2006 I was about 16 and I had a girlfriend that lives about 2 miles away from me in ft. Drum which is a very small town puts of okeechobee." James describes running into a creature. Mike will also be coming on and sharing an encounter from MI in 1981.

It looked like somebody was bent over and had their head in the window of the deer blind. It either heard me or smelt me, and he pulled his head out of the tent and stood straight up. That shocked me. They don't make people that big. The way it moved, almost as if it was gliding across the beach. I've never seen anything moved like that in my life. They were screaming at each other in gibberish. It sounded like a language and they were chuntering away back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forwards.

I know what a bear looks like and there is no way on this planet but what I saw were bears. What's going on? What do you report? Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know. Do you see a bouncer? Yes, I'm looking right here. Uh-uh.

Hi, this is Carol King from Music City, and you're listening to Sasquatch Chronicles. Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show plan for you. We're going to be chatting with James, and James comes to us. He grew up in Florida. James is a veteran. He's a former Marine, and like I always say, I don't think you're ever really a former Marine.

But he is willing to come on the show tonight and kind of share. what happened to him. He has a few encounters he wants to go through while growing up in Florida. And we're also going to be chatting with Mike. Mike comes to us from Michigan. And back in 1981, he had an encounter with the creature. Very fascinating stuff tonight. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. And if you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, can become a member and get additional shows. Let's jump into it tonight.

I want to welcome James to the show. James, thanks for coming on. Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate you having me, man. Yeah, thank you again. And I know there's a couple encounters we're going to talk about tonight. If you would, I know all of this took place in Florida. Take us back to the very first time you saw this creature.

Kind of what were you doing and walk us into what happened? Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. So it was in 2006. So my parents, we kind of live in a country area. It's not really that big of a city life. It's right outside of Okochobee, Florida, which is a really, really small town. That's where my dad had moved for work. And I had a girlfriend that lived there when I was 16.

And she lived about two miles away from me. It was probably close to 8, 30, 9 o'clock at night. these back country roads don't really have, they don't really have too many lights or street lights and stuff like that. So I think my parents had made me mad that evening or something like that. So I just wanted to sneak out of the house

and just kind of get away and just kind of clear my head and just kind of hang out with her for a little bit. So then I kind of called her on the landline because I didn't have a cell phone or anything like that. So I just kind of called her on landline and said, hey, why don't we just meet halfway

and then we can just chat, hang out and talk and stuff? And she was like, yeah, sure, like we can do that. be fine. So I kind of just act like I'm going outside to go play around and stuff. And being 16, my mom and dad, they had four other kids that they were worried about. So one kid missing wasn't really wasn't really that big of a deal, I guess. So, and so I just kind of grabbed like a water or something like that and just started walking. There's only one hardball road that leads like up and down the streets where we live. And just to kind of set the scene for the area. So there's probably about eight or nine houses along this two miles stretch on both sides. So they're, they're pretty spread

apart and they're kind of off the road a couple hundred feet. So most of the, most of the way there is just really, it kind of goes like pavement, and then it kind of goes into the ditches, and then it just goes into deep and wooded areas with, I'm talking like palm meadows, oak trees, pine trees, and just swamp and like, kind of like marshy land. So about, I think I get about half a mile away. and at this point, you know, I'm not, I don't have a flashlight, I don't have anything, there's nothing really to, you know, kind of see my way. There's a little bit of a moonlight, not really a full moon, but kind of maybe like a half moon. So there's some ambient light to where you can see, like in front of you, but not really that well.

So, and I get to this point in the road where it kind of takes a little curve, not really much of a sharp turn, but a little bit of a curve. I look forward and probably I would say about 50 feet in front of a 40, 50, 50, 50. feet in front of me, I see like something on the side of the road. And I'm like, you know, I mean, I'm not scared of the dark green like that, but I was just like, what the heck is that? There's not, you know, there's nothing, there should be nothing that close to the edge of the road because the trees were pushed off maybe 10 feet off. So before the brushes and everything started. So I kind of start, I'm just walking, not thinking much of it and stuff like that. And at the time, I was probably like

five, six, maybe 110 pounds at the most. So I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, a tiny kid, but as I'm starting to get closer to this figure that I see on the side of the road, I realize within about 20 feet of it, I'm like, holy cow, this thing is a heck of a lot bigger than me. And I would say, as for like a size reference, I would say it was at least like seven feet tall. And I'm thinking like, no, there's no way this can be in this can't be a person. There's no lights out here. There's nothing going on. Like there's no cars on the side of the road or anything like that.

So I'm like, what the heck? So then like the little, you know, like kind of like the hair on the back of your neck just starts standing up. And I'm like, oh, man, what is this? Is this a person? I hope it's a person. Like I'm thinking, you know, and I've grown up in Florida all my life. And, you know, I've seen hogs, deer, elk, the occasional wolf, coyotes, and just all kinds of animals. And this thing just completely called me out guard.

I couldn't figure out what it was. So as I'm walking closer, I mean, I didn't. panic or running anything like that at the moment. And I get about 10 feet away from it. And whatever this is, I didn't know what it was. I'm like, this thing is not moving. It's not, it's not trying to like go across the road. It's not trying to dart off into the bushes. It's just standing there. And I'm like, man, like, no, man, I'm not going to go out like this. Like, this isn't the way, like, like, I didn't plan to sign up for this. And I'm like, my girlfriend at the time, I'm like, she ain't that big like it can't be her so at this point i make a conscious decision to be like

you know what i think i'm just my mind is playing tricks on me so i try and stare away from it a little bit to kind of let my eyes adjust kind of a little more to see if maybe it's something that my eyes are seeing or something going on and i realize this thing's not moving and it isn't going anywhere so it's not my eyesight it's not anything going on so i just kind of panic at this point i'm like kind of screw it i'm just going to shoot on the left side of the road and run as fast as I can because I didn't want to turn around because I didn't really want to turn my back to it at that point of whatever it was. And I kind of just get into like a full sprint and run about, I would say eight feet away from this thing as close as I was getting. The thing doesn't make a noise. It doesn't say and do anything.

But as soon as I get close enough to it, I feel like I scared it just as much as it scared me. And this thing just takes off into the woods. Like I'm talking knocking down trees, brushes, everything in its path. And there's no houses around there. So I'm like, what the heck? So I just sprint and take off. And it's not like a normal area where you can just like, you know, it's not an open fields where you can just kind of lollygag and run around and just run through this stuff.

There's briar bushes. There's the palmettos have like barbs on them and stuff like that. So if you're running through that, you would immediately trip. But whatever this was, this thing took. off so quick. I don't know if I screamed, but I probably did and just kind of just took off as fast as I can. I ended up getting to my girlfriend's house before she had even started even trying to leave her house. We meet up and she has a cell phone. So she turns the light on. We start walking back and stuff. And we get to that same point and it's just eerily quiet. You know, you hear like crickets and stuff and frogs.

but there's like literally nothing going on. But I didn't say nothing to her because, you know, I mean, I didn't want to seem like, you know, like I was scared or anything like that. So we kind of just walk past the same area, get back to the front part of my house. And I'm like, okay. Like, so like I didn't, I was like, I wasn't going to tell her about it. Like I was like, oh, I hope she gets back home, okay and everything like that. So I just kind of like, all right, well, I kind of see you because that I just kind of ruined the whole evening. Like I didn't want to be out anymore.

I didn't want to do anything outside at that point after that. So I just kind of go inside and then my parents are kind of like, where are you at? And I just told them like, hey, I was outside. So they never found out. So and to this point, I think I've told maybe one person about that at most. And he's kind of a weirdo too, kind of like me. So he kind of understood it. And he was very intrigued about it and stuff like that.

So, yeah, I mean, that was the first one. Yeah, that's a terrifying encounter. especially when you're 16 years old. I wanted to ask you, so when you're running towards it, you're trying to go around it. As you got closer, I realize you're probably seeing an outline, but as you got closer, were you able to see any details? The thing was pitch black. I know that. At the glance that I had at it, I mean, its arms were extremely long, like way longer than a normal human being should be.

And kind of the makeup of the head, it was hairy. Like, it wasn't like bald or anything like that. So it was hairy. That's really all that I could make out. I mean, I just took a glance over. I was thinking I was more panicked than anything. So it wasn't like, I was like, oh, yeah, let me take a look at this thing because I was like 16. And I'm like, heck no, I'm out of here, dude.

Like, I was like, no, heck no. Yeah, I hear you. Can I ask you, you know, I realize that you're 16 at the time. But what kind of made you keep going? What made you go towards a creature? I realized you were going around it. but I mean, in the same direction of this saying, do you think just being 16 made you kind of make that decision, which don't take offense to that? I made a lot of dumb decisions when I was 16.

Yeah, I think it was just because I had no, I had no fear about it. Like, there wasn't like, you know, like, I'd never heard of anything about Bigfoot or anything like that or anything crazy. So, I mean, there was nothing really to be scared about. And at that point, I think I was already too close. I think I was already in enough shock at that point to where the only thing that I thought about was just going straight. Like I didn't want to turn back or start backing away and stuff. And just, and I think that was my only thought was like that fire or flight mode and I was just like, I'm out of here. Yeah, I get all of that. Definitely. What did you think it was at the time? I honestly didn't know what it was, man. I mean, I had seen enough animals throughout my day.

and stuff like that. And growing up in Florida, I mean, you've seen, you know, I've seen elk around some places, and I've seen hogs, pretty big hogs and some alligators and stuff. And me and my brothers, man, we played out in the woods for until we,

until that time frame, we'd played out in the woods every single day from dust, from the beginning of the day to the end of the night. Like it was just, there was kind of nothing to be afraid of out there. I mean, you had your animals and snakes and stuff like that,

but I didn't think anything. of it. Like, I didn't think it was, I knew it wasn't a person because they don't make people that size and that kind of, like, wide. And to have it, like, in the area that it was, like, it wasn't just like a normal, you know, it wasn't like 200 feet was a house. The next house was like a quarter of a mile away. So it was in between a lot of things. And it was just very random growing up there and stuff like that to see this kind of a, this thing that big and that wide and it just it just freaked the hell out of me man yeah makes me wonder what the creature was doing just kind of standing there not that i have not heard that before i definitely have

um tell me about the next incident that happened to you um i know you guys were four-wheel in but kind of walk us into it what were you doing and and what happened um so we ended up moving from this little house that we were in a little two double wide we didn't move

into this other area and what we called it in Florida it was called the prairie so it basically butted up against the forest

preserve and as a crow flies I would say it was probably about eight or nine miles from the original the first time

that I had seen this creature so out on the prairie there was less people out there than there was

at the other house we live just because it was kind of a newer area and it and it was right up next to a forest preserve so not many people lived there because it was so far away from town it was about 45 minutes from town and um we had just moved out there and i met a couple buddies and stuff like that that you know we kind of all went to the same school and got off at the same bus stop and uh they lived about two miles away from me

and we had a couple uh a couple full wheelers that we would just kind of put together and just kind of mess around with and stuff like that. There was a lot of trails to ride and stuff. So we would always go out there. And then I think it was about, the time frame for this one was probably, I would say at least like six or seven months after this. So after this, I mean, I had forgotten about the whole situation, you know, it just kind of went about our business. I mean, it didn't do none to me. It didn't, I wasn't that scared of it, obviously. So we kind of just, you know, we went out for an evening. It was about probably about 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock in the evening. And, and, and And we go riding around these trails.

And at the prairie, there's a lot of open fields. And then in like certain areas, you have patches of, like, huge trees and stuff like that. The same kind of concept, you got like sawgrass, palmetto fans, pine trees and oak trees. It's all just bunches. And the people who live out there are some of the families that live out there, they have, like, some people have cattle, some have goats, some have cows and stuff like that. So they put like in random spots. At the time that this place got built up is there was no like, like, hey, if you, if you owned like an acreage of land, you kind of just owned whatever was around unless

somebody bought up something that was close to you. So people will let their horses and everything just kind of roam around and people started putting up cow feeders is what we called them. So basically they're like little, little huts that just held feed and stuff like that. So we come around this bend and we're all just kind of following each other and stuff. and I'm the first one. And I come around this bend and there's a cow feeder probably about 10 to 15 feet away from a big opening with a bunch of trees in it and stuff like that. And I went past it and the headlights hit the cow feeder.

And I'm like, wait, like there's no way that I just saw something there. So I slam on the brakes and I kind of reverse and I shine the lights on it. And at this point, I can see this creature that looked all. most 100% identical to the one that I had seen maybe six months ago. And my friends kind of went past me a little bit and they're like, what the heck, why did you stop? So they kind of reverse a little bit and they pull up next to me and they're like, what did you stop for? Like why? Would you run out of gas or something like that? I'm like, no, nothing like that. And then they kind of see where I'm looking at and they both just look at focus at that. And I think,

one of them let out like a huge cuss word and he was just like what that is that and i'm like i don't know man but we're probably about 60 feet from from this cow feeder and stuff and we can see this thing clear as day and it was taller than the cow feeders and they're usually about six feet um at the at the biggest ones and these two guys like both my friends well who i thought of my friends they don't even hesitate they throw their full wheelers in the drive and they take off. And I stay there looking at this thing and I'm just like, I think at this point I'm in shock because then I go right back to the previous incident when I saw the creature that looks identical to this almost six months ago. It's just standing there. Like it's just breathing. It's not

moving. I don't know if it was trying to eat the feed or something like that. I don't know what it was doing. But it felt like I was watching this thing for like 10 minutes, but it was probably only like 10 more seconds, to be honest. So then I throw the full-wheeler in to drive and I take off as quick as I can. And we used to play this joke like all three of us. So on a full-wheeler, you have like an on and off and a reserve on your fuel. Well, at the previous spot that we had stopped at, we were chatting it, they had turned my full-wheeler to reserve. So reserve will only get you maybe 800 feet before your full-wheeler cuts off. So I take off and I'm like in straight panic mode at this point.

Like I don't want anything to do with this. I don't want to look at this thing. Like this thing is going to give me nightmares. That's all that I'm thinking. And I take off and about 800 feet the full wheeler completely dies. I'm talking like light shut off. Everything shuts off on this thing. So then I'm like panicking at this point because now I'm thinking all dang this thing's

going to come after me. It's going to see me like it knows where I am. Like this full wheel is loud. And at this point I'm. I'm screaming my head off. What the heck? Like, why do my folder shut up? And then I reach down and look.

And I kind of, like, I guess when you're like into like a panic mode, you're kind of my fine dexterity kind of went away. And it's a really fine knob that you have to turn. And I think like, oh, man, they probably turn my fuel off. So I turned the fuel back on. And then I'd sit there for like another 10 seconds trying to start it up and stuff. And I start this thing up. and I just take off.

I didn't look back once because if you've ever seen taillights on a full wheeler, they kind of show you about four or five feet of as far as you can see. And I didn't want to look back and see this thing like right on my butt and me just panic and wreck. And then I'm like, damn, I'm dead or something like that or something crazy. But then we kind of just got out of there. So we all get back to their houses and stuff like that, which is probably about a two and a half, three mile ride. which feels like I drove like a hundred miles with my adrenaline going. I mean, I'm hitting branches, everything.

Like I was straight lining for the highway. Like there was no, like it was no tomorrow. And I get back to their house. They got there maybe, I would say maybe about five, ten minutes before me. And they're just waiting in their barn and stuff like that. And they were freaking out because they're thinking like I'm dead or something crazy like that because they remembered that they cut the gas off on my full wheeler. So I whip in and stuff like that.

And of course, our first question is, are like, what the heck is that? Like, what did we see? And I'm like, and but I didn't tell them the first time that I had saw that one previously because I mean, I didn't really at that point, I'm just like, this is the first time I've seen it to them. So, and I don't want to seem like a weirdo like this thing is following me or something like that. So I'm like, I don't know, man.

I'm like, but did you guys see it just like me? And they were like, yeah, yeah, no, we saw it. It took us at least three or four days to kind of calm down. And we would see each other in school and stuff like that. and just like that thousand-yard stare like all three of us had. And it freaked us all out. Like nobody's business, man. It was crazy.

Yeah, I had to chuckle a little bit about your buddies, turning it on the reserve tank and made me think of when me and my brother's all got motorcycles or a little brother, we did that to him. And we were like, oh, this is teaching him good life skills. He'll figure it out. Let him go troubleshoot it. And I guess boys will be boys. But so when you pulled up on the four-wheeler and you're looking at this saying, can you kind of describe what you saw?

Yeah. So the thing that stuck out to me the most was when I first pulled up to it, it had a rank, like a nasty smell to it. It almost smelled like if anybody's ever been hog hunting and stuff, you have wild boar and stuff. And they have like a rank musky smell to them. So that was the first thing that I noticed in the air was this thing smell. like it had been through, like it hadn't showered or bathed for like months. And the way it looked, so its face was flat. Its eyes were kind of set back into its face. And what I could see mostly was its teeth. They didn't look like human teeth, 100%. There's no way that those were human teeth,

but they weren't white. They were like an off yellow, like like, like, you hadn't brushed your teeth for like weeks and stuff like that. The thing that I've remembered, 100% is the way the hair looked. So the way the hair looked is it started out as like a black at the roots and then as it kind of got longer, it went into like a brownish, a brownish color almost. It had really long arms the same as the other one. And the weird thing that I could see was it was kind of chilly that night, not blizzard temperatures, but enough to where that late night you could see like your breath. And you could see this thing breathing on top of the roof of this cow feeder, which is one thing, like 100%, I will never forget that

ever a day in my life. Yeah, I get it, man, definitely. You know, a lot of times when people see these creatures, they'll say, well, it reminded me more of an animal, kind of like a non-human primate. And then there's people that'll go, no, it didn't remind me of an animal at all. It reminded me of a human. And then some people will say, you know, somewhere in between a man. man and an animal. And quite frankly, other people say neither. You know, it's something completely separate. When you were looking at this creature and it's by this cow feeder, what was kind of

your impression? I mean, you know, I've seen pictures and stuff like gorillas and monkeys and stuff like that. And keep in my, I've never done any research on Bigfoot or anything like that prior to this. And I've seen people before. It didn't look like either one of them. This thing looked out, looked straight up like it was out of like a horror movie. Like the worst kind of, the way the arms and how big it was, you can obviously tell it wasn't a human. It was just, this thing was so big.

It was just outrageous at how big this thing was. And being at the time, I think I was like just turned 17 or something. I had never seen anything this big. But still, the long arms and just, it just didn't look anything human-like or ape-like to me. Yeah, I'm curious. Did the creature, did it freeze? You know, kind of like when you see kids play a freeze tag. It's reported that these creatures will do that. They'll just stand still and just not move. Was it doing that or was it looking directly at you? No, it didn't. I didn't really get a look at the eyes. I don't think it froze on me. I think it froze on me because I was the last one there for that last little bit. I didn't see if it was focused on me or my friend of my right or my friend of my left. It was just kind of standing it. I'm thinking it was,

it thought that it was covered enough behind that cal feeder that we couldn't see it. Like, I don't, I don't know. But it didn't, it didn't seem like to be panicked or scared of us at all. Yeah, and I'm sure the feeling wasn't mutual.

I would have been like you, have been like, I'm getting the hell out of here. I know that you served our country and, you know, I hold people who serve in our military in very high regard, admire them, because it's not the easiest gig on the,

planet and it is volunteer. And you were just getting out of boot camp when you had to run in with a wolf or something. And it was kind of a strange encounter. Did this happen many years later? Yeah. So actually, no, it wasn't that, it wasn't that long after that because I joined the Marine Corps directly out of high school. So I think I was about 17 when the second incident happened. And then I was 18 at the time. So not that much, maybe like a year. and a half after after the second incident. Still in the same area, though. My parents, once they moved out to the prairie, they never, they never moved again.

That was kind of like where they liked it. They liked the woods. They like the area and stuff like that. They don't like people. So I guess this is the best way to say it. So I was back from boot leaves. So I basically did my three months in boot camp and you kind of get like a week and a half to kind of just relax and stuff like that, visit family before you go to your next

training. So I get back to the house and stuff like that. And I'm bored. There's not really much to do in this small town. So I'm out visiting my parents and stuff like that. And my dad has a bunch of dogs. Like he uses a fence as dogs. He has 12, 13 dogs. And he's probably going to, well, he probably doesn't listen to stuff. But he just, he likes his privacy, I guess is the way to say it. But every day, he'll walk a dog. He'll walk every single one of them, the same time, every time. And I just kind of thought like, well, I'm already here, Dad. Like, why don't you just let me take one of the dogs out? So, and I can just go get a run.

And, like, at that point, you know, I'm a little high and mighty, like, just got out of boot camp. I'm like, oh, yeah, I could run as far as I can see and stuff like that. So I kind of just take one of the dogs. It's on like a probably like a five foot little nylon rope and I just take the dog for a run. I get about almost a mile and a half away from my parents' house. And it's, it's not nighttime. It's probably about like four in the evening. in. So, but the only bad part about it is out in these woods and stuff like that. When the sun

starts to go down, it's, it gets fairly dark quick because the trees are so tall and stuff. But at this point in time, you know, I'm not thinking like anything's going to be out there. I might see like an armadillo or a snake or something like that. So I'm just running down these little full wheeler trails and stuff, just, just kind of just moseing along with the dog. I get to this point in the road where it's kind of a straight shot about 300 feet. on this four wheeler trail and I just had a funny feeling I'm like man there's something

it feels like something's watching me like you get like a weird feeling sometimes with somebody staring at you and stuff like that and I had this just weird feeling man that something was watching me so I just kind of stop in my tracks because the dogs are pretty good at you know kind of noticing things and stuff like that

and I stop and I just try and listen to see what's going on and I'm like what the heck and then I look in front of me and about I would say about 30 feet in front of me. I kid you not. I see the mangiest, ugliest, wolf that I've ever seen. This isn't like a coyote that weighs like 30 pounds. This is like an 85-pound, 90-pound wolf. And I'm like, no, there's no way this thing's out here. Like it's right at the end of the day, like, what is this thing doing out here? I look at the dog and I'm like, oh, no, this dog, because these dogs my dad had were

bread for hog hunting. So they would go after anything. I'm talking anything that moved they would go after. I look down to the dog and the dog isn't even focused on this thing. The wolf basically gets right in the middle of the road and just stops and stares at us like just froze. Didn't move, didn't do anything. I take a look at the dog and the dog is looking to the right into the woods and I'm like, well, what the heck? Like, why isn't this dog focused on this, this wolf in front of us? Like, what the heck is going on? Like, this thing's about to attack us.

And I'm sorry, dog, I'm going to let you go and I'm running. Like, that's what I'm thinking. And all of a sudden, I just hear trees breaking, branches breaking, and all this stuff. And this wolf, I kid you not, within two seconds, is gone. Like, it doesn't even hesitate. Like, it doesn't care about us. It doesn't care about what's going. on. All I knew is that whatever was chasing this thing scared it like almost like the first time

that I was. Like it scared me just that much. And this thing took off and whatever was chasing it, never crossed the tree line where the full roller trail cut off. Whatever it was, kind of ran away in parallel and scared this wolf completely off. So we just kind of turned tail and ran the other way back to the house and I just put the dog up and shut my mouth and went on about my business. I don't know what it was, but it was something big enough to scare away this, this wolf, which had, as far as I'm concerned, wolves don't have too many things that they're terrified of. Yeah, you're right. Wolves really aren't terrified of much, and they'll throw your real beating if you get too close. I didn't know that there was wolves in Florida. There's a few of them, man. You don't see them. There's not a lot of them.

They're all indigenous to Florida, but either people buy them and stuff like that and they get them illegally and then they just kind of let them go. And then I maybe saw four or five my entire 18 years that I lived there. But none like this one. Like this one was just by itself. Sometimes you see like one or two and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, there's wolves in Florida, man. It's insane. Yeah, sounds like your parents are on an active property.

have ever heard vocalizations or stuff you really couldn't pinpoint what kind of animal it was around this property? No, I mean, I have, I've never, I never even thought about it. Like, you know, you would kind of go outside and just listen to the, like, the sounds of, like, the woods and stuff like that. But there's all kinds of things. And, you know, my brothers and stuff lived out there. And I never once asked them because I didn't want them to think anything. But I never heard anything like this, not once in my entire life lived. out there. Yeah, and then you see this wolf and then you hear what sounds like something large,

you know, breaking branches and coming that general direction. I would imagine that moment in time you were thinking, I've seen this movie before and, you know, kind of flashbacks to that first time it happened to you. Right. And it was just like, I don't know, man, but like, like, I'm, whatever was in those woods, man, I'm glad it was there. Because with seeing that, the wolf out there, it was just, and like, I just got out of boot camp, so I thought I was all high and mighty and stuff like that. But seeing that, it took me right down to like I was, like I was a 13 year old kid. Like, I felt so small. And all I thought was, I'm sorry, dog, that's the end for you, bud, because I just got to, I just got to get out of here.

And I know you're going to stop and fight it. So. Yeah, I hear you. I might leave someone else's dog behind, but not my own. I'm not even sure if I would do that. But I get what you're saying. The last incident that I want to talk about happened in Jacksonville, North Carolina, I believe, and you were serving at the time. Did this happen on base?

Yeah, so on base, so on Jacksonville, like in the Marine Corps, you have all these different ranges and stuff like that where you go out into the woods and they're in the middle of nowhere. I mean, I'm talking, it's hundreds of acres that just go into woods and thick, just shrubs and stuff like that. And of course, that's where the Marine Corps likes to train the best is in the worst positions you could ever think of. So I think I was just like this one happened. Let's see. So I deployed in 2011. So this is about 2013, 2004. It was right towards the end of me getting out of the Marine Corps.

It was kind of my last deployment. So we do like pre-deployment training and stuff like that. And we were doing like patrols at night and stuff like that. So we have NVGs and we have like our black jacket and our rifle and stuff like that. We don't have any rounds or anything like that. But we just kind of do like training and stuff to prepare you. So I had just come to this unit. So I didn't really know too many people.

I just kind of got thrown onto this thing. We started doing patrols at night and you always do patrols at night. They try and sleep deprive you as much as they can and stuff like that. And we do this patrol at night. And I'm the last one in the patrol because at that point. I was like a team leader and stuff like that. So I was like, well, I want to make sure nobody comes up behind us because, you know, you have opt four who are in the same platoon as you're trying to, you know, trying to like

disrupt what you're doing and stuff like that. And it's pitch black out there. So with MVGs, like you need ambient light to see better and stuff like that. So the MVGs aren't really that well and they only go over one eyeball. So the other eye is just kind of seeing just nothing but darkness. And we get to this point in the patrol. and like you're supposed to look back like every six feet as you as you're walking and turn back and look and stuff like that. And most people do it like every 20, 30 feet or something.

And I do it one time. And right next to this set of pine trees that we were walking by, I kind of see something pop out. It was just a, it was kind of like the first experience I had. It was just kind of a shadowy figure. And I'm like, okay, well, I don't know what that is. Maybe it's a person that's coming up behind us and stuff like that to do this. And then we just kind of walk. And we're walking slow.

You know, we're not like a fast pace because we have time and we're just trying to make sure we get all our fundamentals correctly. So we walk. And I walk again. And this time I do the actual three to five steps because I'm like, man, that was kind of creepy. And I look back. And the thing is just kind of moving with us, whatever it is.

And I'm like, no, man. This can't like, like, is my life. like this benign and I'm like I'm like what the heck is going on like is this thing just like following me or is something I'm seeing in my head so and I'm the last one I'm like well I don't want to say nothing you know I'm gonna we're on a patrol I can't just yell out like oh my god there's someone behind us and stuff you know so we just kind of keep walking and at one point I just kind of turned completely all the way around and just started walking backwards for maybe 10 to 15 feet and this thing every chance it could move or thinking that it couldn't, that we weren't seeing it, it would move just a little bit closer.

And it never, it never really showed itself completely, like completely out of, out behind the trees and the shrubs and stuff. But whatever it was, it just, it was kind of trailing us about 20 to 30 feet behind us. And we kind of get back, like we get closer to our, our, um, our operating base where we, like, got our tents and stuff set up. And it starts to get a little lighter. And we get to that point and I look back one final time and this thing is just still like it's just kind of like leaning out peeking out like to see who we were or what we looked like and stuff like that and then I get back to the group and you're supposed to do like a debrief after you kind of you know after you do a patrol you do a big debrief and say like what you saw and stuff like that or what was going on

or things people need to do better and our um um CEO was there and he was just he was like so how'd everything go and I'm like um did you guys have like some opt for you guys have like some opt guys out there who were trying to like disrupt anything they were like no it was just a standard night patrol there was no one everyone's here like no one's no one's out there and i was like what the heck i'm like so so then it just threw my meter up like i was like what the heck was that like it just did it just threw me completely off because i was thinking they were going to be like yeah that was joe that was joe who was out there to try and see what you guys were doing but they were like no like all the squads are here they're waiting on you to get back so they can do it again and then that night when i went in my tent

I was just like, man, I was like, what the heck was that? Like it just didn't, like it didn't make any noises. It didn't trip over anything because when you walk at night with MVGs, a person like walk with that stuff, you make a lot of noise because you can't really. Your depth perception is way off. But no one else heard anything. The next guy in front of me who was about 10 feet in front of me, he didn't hear anything. And he was looking back to. And no one else saw this thing except for me.

I was like, man, I was like, is my mind starting to build this? thing up or is it something, I don't know, man. But it was, it was really weird, man. It was a really weird night. Yeah, sounds like it. And I hear encounters like this all the time on military bases, you know, being in Washington, Fort Lewis. I get reports out of there all the time, you know, spanning many, many years. And they're very similar encounters like this where guys in the military will report, hey, something was pacing us. I couldn't really see what it was. But something was there. I mean, time and time again, and it's not obviously just Fort Lewis. I hear about it on almost every military base we have. There's something weird going on or guys that are experiencing,

you know, strange things out there. Can I ask you, James, I know after all these years and you've had this experience, I know you don't live in Florida now your folks still do, and I appreciate you sharing what happened to you. If someone were to ask you, what is Sasquatch, what would you say to them, there's obviously no wrong answer. I'm just curious on your opinion. I mean, you know, in Florida, man, we got a lot of the Indian reservations out there, man. And I've heard some stories and stuff like that from everything people have seen out there. Honestly, I don't have an answer for that. I mean, I've seen it like, like, you know, some people are like, oh, man, I believe in aliens and stuff like that. I mean, but when I bring it up, like, hey, you know,

Like, I believe in Bigfoot. They're like, well, why? I'm like, because I've seen it before. But I don't think it's, it ain't a man. That's 100% sure. And it ain't an ape. It's something else that just, it wants to go and do its own thing. And it's one thing that I don't want to, you know, I live in the suburbs now and I live in a

cul-vastack with a bunch of houses. Ain't too many woods around here, man. So it's not, it's definitely not anything that I want to look forward to anytime soon. but I mean it's just I feel like it's its own thing and it wants to do whatever it wants to do and no matter what happens or what goes on it'll avoid whatever it needs to avoid and it'll it'll continue on and live on whatever the heck it is man so yeah I hear yeah it's so hard to figure out what these things are because it's such a weird topic and you know even though everyone's encounters are kind of the same they're kind of not I mean there's so much to

unfold from this topic. So I get it, man. And I respect your answer. I kind of feel the same way most of the time. And I know you don't live in Florida, as I said before, but your folks still do. It'd be kind of cool to go and check out that area to see if they still have activity there. Yeah, I mean, I haven't been back. You know, I visit Florida and visit my parents maybe once, like every five years. I'll tell you one thing, though. I'm a 32-year-old man at this point. And I am completely and utterly terrified of the dark because of these events. I don't, I'm good with other people and stuff, but alone, man, it just, my mind starts to wander and think about these things and stuff like that. And it's just not, you know, it's, it's, I definitely wouldn't go back out to my parents property and be like, you know, let me just go for a walk in the woods at night.

Like, it's just not, it's just not something I want to do, man. Yeah, I get it, man. I get it. and who could blame you, to be honest with you. I really appreciate you coming on and sharing what happened to you. And thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed chatting with you. And thank you for your service.

Oh, yeah, for sure, man. It was a pleasure talking to you, Wes. And next up on the show, I want to welcome Mike. Mike, thanks for coming on, man. Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you again. And I was fascinated by your account. I know this happened in Michigan.

and we're going back to 1981. You were just a young boy when this happened. I think you were nine years old from what I read. If you would, would you take us back to that moment? Kind of tell us what you were doing and what happened. Okay. Well,

I grew up in a subdivision that was really close to back then was a really large golf course and a nature center that bordered the Saginaw River. And approximately, I don't know, it was about a mile from where we lived. You know, it was a pretty good-sized neighborhood. A lot of kids, you know, the kids played in

that area. We went to the neighborhood. We always frequented the nature center trails that walked out, you know, right to the river. There was quite a bit of forest back then. I think things have changed now, but, you know, as a young boy, you know, you don't sleep that great. You're up all the time playing and stuff. Well, I just happened to be awake in the middle of the night, I want to say it was probably 1 o'clock in the morning, and I just happened to be peering out the window at my school, which was kitty corner from the house. And we had a streetlight intersection where it was all lit up. You could see it. And this was probably the tail end of winter, if I remember, right? It was still cold. We still had some ice around. And, you know, the kids

played hockey across the street at the, you know, the park and stuff like that. I looked out the window in the middle of the night and, you know, I saw somebody standing in the intersection. It appeared to be a really tall guy with long hair. I thought to myself, wow, that guy's got really long hair. And as it stepped out into the light, it was covered in hair. And it was really tall. And the first thing that came into my head, you know, being 1981, which was, you know, right around Star Wars, was, wow, that's Chebacca, you know.

The only thing that I could think of, it stood there for a few minutes and kind of looked around before it moved and then it only took a couple of steps and it was gone. You know, being young and stuff like that, I didn't think anything of it. I wasn't scared or anything, but the next morning I woke up and I told my mom about it. You know, she said, of course, you know, like a mother would, but, oh, you must have dreamt it. You know, you had a really vivid dream, you know, it really didn't happen. So I just kind of blew it off as a kid thought, well, she's probably correct. You know, maybe I watched too much TV or whatever and got ready to go play with the kids down to the

hockey rink, suited up and went down the road. And as I walked over to the snow bank in the same direction where this thing had walked, there was tracks in the snow, bare footprint tracks. I remember putting my fingers into the toe marks where the big toes were. And I thought, wow, that's weird. Why would somebody be walking barefooted, you know? And I didn't think anything about bigfoot or anything like that. Like I said, I referenced it as Chbocker because I really didn't know any better. Well, I went back and told my mother, that and she said the same thing now that's just got to be something else you know somebody stepped in there whatever with a boot and it looked like a footprint you know and so i just kind of

blew it off over the years and never thought anything of it and then here we are today and you know you go through some of the stories that you hear from people and so i started doing some listening to obviously your podcast and other things and topics would come up that referred to the same things that I remember and I thought, man, that's, I need to tell somebody about this. And the only other person I've ever told about it was my wife and probably told her 20 years ago and the subject never came up again really until recently. We started to, I stumbled across your podcast and listened to a few of them. I thought, man, this is, this is pretty interesting. I'd like to talk about this now.

And I blew it off because, you know, I have a, you know, pretty high profile job in the community here. I really don't speak about things like that. We live in a very rural area now, northeast Michigan, which is about 120 miles north where it's all wooded. And I've been in the woods all my life up here since, you know, we left the Saginaw area. I've never seen anything like that, but I've heard a lot of different things that I just kind of blew off too.

Yeah, I think it's fascinating. I know it's a really short encounter, but I'm fascinated by it. And even at that age, you know, being nine, ten years old, your mind goes to Chabaca. And whenever I interview kids, usually off there, that's kind of where their mind goes. They don't really say, well, it was a guy. They'll say it was a monkey man, Chabaca, you know, they'll kind of make their own verbiage for what they're seeing. Did you ever get a chance to talk to your mom later in life and go, hey,

that wasn't a guy and I wasn't seeing things that night. Actually, it wasn't maybe a week or two ago before I decided to send you the message about it, that I asked her about it if she remembered anything. And she didn't really remember it. And I thought, well, I guess I can understand that. She probably blew it off as a dream also, kind of like I did. But, yeah, it was a strange encounter that I couldn't explain. and, you know, that area has since been turned into a wildlife refuge.

So the golf course is shut down, and it's all a huge wooded area now. So it's hard to say. There's a lot of acreage right there. It just was strange that, you know, looking at it now at this age, what would something like that be doing in a residential area? You know, so close. It's almost like it was just, you know, wandering around searching for something. I'm not sure what. Yeah, the strange part, though, Mike, I would say most encounters happen around residential areas.

You know, the thought of, well, I got to go 100 miles out in the middle of nowhere to see something like this, in my opinion, is delusional because most encounters, if you look on a map, they kind of live on the outskirts of humanity, which is strange. Yeah, I can imagine. And the thing is, as kids, we roamed those areas all the time. and we walked in nature trails, and, you know, we were back in that creepy golf course where, you know, I boarded the river and stuff like that. And there was an old factory over there and just, yeah, it's a different story. It's so cool to have you on, Mike, because I know you do have a high profile job and I don't want you to go into it. But it's really cool to have you on. You know, you have this encounter back in 1981.

You think it's a dream or your mother convinces you it's a dream. you get up the next morning, you go out to play with your friends and everything, and then you see these tracks, you know, which obviously it wasn't a dream. Let me ask you, after all these years of looking into it, what do you think Sasquatch is? You know, I've thought about that a lot, and it's really hard to understand what it would be. I guess until there's more evidence of it, I really don't know what you would call it. I guess it's, to me, it's so unexplained. Yeah, I hear you. hard to explain. It's hard to know

really what they are. Would you want to see another one again? I would. In fact, I live up north now where it's all wooded, so I'm out all the time. I've seen strange things out there like

you know, footprints of bare footprints of like a human foot, like on a roadway. And you're like, why would somebody be walking barefoot here? But it wasn't an ordinary size. It was you know, just like a normal person, but I'm talking about a super, like a real out in the woods setting where there's no houses around.

You would be like, well, that's kind of strange. Yeah, I think if I had the opportunity, I would like to see something like that. Yeah, I can understand that, especially with your encounter. And like I said, it's so cool that you found evidence the next day that what you saw is what you saw. And I know it was a short encounter, but I really appreciate it. appreciate you coming on, Mike. I enjoy chatting with you. Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks again, Mike. 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. If you get a chance to check

out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows. Until next time, everyone. What you're about to hear are thought to be the sounds and vocalizations of a California Bigfoot. A gigantic man-like creature of legendary repute whose kind have been sighted and tracked that never caught for decades throughout West Coast mountain ranges. Imagine yourself as I was, with three other men cramped within the confines of a small but ruggedly built shelter located in a remote region of the high Sierra. It's after dark, but outside the shelter which is constructed of heavy logs and branches and resembles a Bieber's Lodge, moonlight filters through the trees, brightening thin patches of snow here and there. Downhill, near a small spring which feeds in Alderchok Ravine, there's a stove where you cook your meals and gather for warmth against the autumn chill.

Uphill, a dense stand of timber faces the shelter and remains dark and foreboding despite the moonlight. It was a sheep camp at one time, then it was a hunting camp used by a handful of men and their families. But it's yet a different kind of camp today because of something which happened before you came, something which has continued to happen off and on, and something which for the first time in your life, presence is happening now. We'd bedded down for the night. At least that's how we wanted it to appear. We'd rolled a big upright log into the space between two tree trunks, which serves as the shelter's door, and were lying quietly on her sleeping bags inside, pretending to sleep. Suddenly there was a whistle-like call outside, coming from somewhere uphill. It was a big

sound, and it was startling, for it seemed that no man could have made it. And there were no other men in the area anyway. I've been warned that it might happen, but a chill surged through me as one of my friends whispered, that's him. They're with us. Within moments, there were other sounds, huge sounds coming from the same direction. There were sounds I'd never heard before, and my knees began to tremble involuntarily. It was a gibberish, a chattering, strange and eerie, almost like an oddly distorted human tongue. Yet it couldn't be, I thought. One of my companions began calling out, softly but in a firm voice, here, Biggie, come on in.

Come on, Big fella, let's be friends. Was he joking? I could hardly believe he was serious until I realized that he and the others had been trying to coax the creatures within view for months now. And they'd heard the weird vocalizations many times, and that the calling out had become routine.

I got up unsteadily and squeezed my head and shoulders up through a small opening in the shelter's roof. I had to see what was making the noise and try to photograph it. Nearly a half hour passed, and the vocal exchange continued. Then two of my friends stepped outside, brought food from the camp stove area, and placed it uphill in a clearing where I could watch. I wondered what would happen,

but nothing did until the men were inside the shelter again and now the view. Then there was an angry display. It came on suddenly and started my knees trembling again. Was the thing about to rush down an attack? Here's how it sounded. Listen now to a living legend, as it was recorded during these moments. On side one, you've heard what was probably bluffing behavior, a chest slapping display,

followed by what seems to be two creatures arguing between themselves, then a series of more conciliatory vocalizations. You've also heard the voice of one of my companions calling out to the creatures, and what sometimes appears to be their prompt response. For the recording, a stereophonic cassette recorder was located within the shelter, with a wire leading to a remote microphone taped to a tree outside, several yards uphill. The voice of my companion was coming from inside the shelter, or the voice of the creatures was coming from outside, more than 30 yards away, and beyond my view from the shelter's roof from within the dense stand of timber uphill. From this, you can gauge the dimensions of the vocalizations, the awesome magnitude of the sounds as they reached our ears.

Even though they seem very close to the microphone, they're actually far away, perhaps even as much as 150 feet in my own judgment from having heard them firsthand. In all, on this night of October 21, 1972, what seemed to be two bigfoot creatures vocalized and carried on for more than an hour and a half before apparently tiring at the game and wandering off. As evidence from their huge footprints the following morning, not once had they stepped into a clearing or area where they would have risked being seen and photographed. Yet they had moved about with apparent ease, at one point almost soundlessly approaching behind the cover of trees within a few yards of the shelter's door and the hole in the roof where I'd maintained my post.

If they'd wanted to bring harm, there was every opportunity. Instead, it seemed as if they were rather contemptuous of us and drawn in by curiosity or perhaps hunger, even though the food, a few apples, and a pot of fruit-flavored drink was not taken. Were our efforts to make friends with them to any avail, listen now to another sequence of sound, as the same gentleman previously heard, stands beside the shelter outside in my view from the roof and strikes up an extraordinary exchange. Like actors on a stage, there could be little doubt, it seemed, that the creatures, whatever they might be, were playing to us.

We were their audience. Listen now to some primitive rhythm and blues. or, as it were, rhythm and blas. Over the course of four years, beginning the summer of 1971, sounds such as these you've just listened to have been heard and recorded many times in and about this high Sierra camp. I personally listened to them on several occasions,

and once for a full night in sub-freezing weather, which stopped all electronically devised methods of detection, including my tape recorder and several self-initiating camera traps. Is the sound source truly Bigfoot, the hair-covered gigantic man-like creature of legend, or is it, as some people will suppose, simply an elaborate hoax? A human voice, or the voices of known animals,

artfully manipulated and amplified to sound like a very big and unknown creature. As the tapes have yet to be verified by a photograph of the creature, and even as I, myself, have not yet actually seen the creature, one would be on safe ground to reserve some doubt. However, careful tape analysis, acoustical tests, and two years of intensive investigation of the circumstances under which the sounds have occurred strongly suggests that they may be exactly what they seem to be,

Bigfoot sounding off. What can be said on the basis of scientific scrutiny is that they originated at the time of recording in this camp area and that they were spontaneous. This means that if the vocalizations were human-made, a person capable of remaining undetected would have to have been on the scene dozens of days and nights throughout 20 seasonal months when the camp was occupied

and the sounds or other evidence occurred. To obtain sound fidelity and sufficient amplification, a person would have to have packed dozens of pounds of well-insulated, unbreakable electronic gear. To obtain simultaneous sounds, several similarly equipped Confederates would have been needed. To create the footprints, each would have to have had a walking step of from four to seven feet. To reach the area, each would have had to have climbed in rough terrain, a minimum of 2,500 feet in elevation for each staging. All this without detection by from 2 to 7. watchful observers. Is it really the creature Bigfoot then, which is so incredible? By way of a parting word, perhaps this is the kind of commentary Bigfoot would have on the matter.