Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:908 The Coon Hunter And The Devil

Episode Date: December 3, 2022

Happy Holidays! Tonight I will be speaking to Joe. Joe is from central Texas and 34 years ago he was hunting and came upon a creature with red eyes. Joe said "I thought I ran into the devil." We will also be speaking to Ben. Ben had an encounter in New Hampshire. Ben said "I thought it was a guy dressed all in black but he was big and he had this ridiculously long arms.

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 chumtering away back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forward.

I know what a bear looks like and there is no way on this planet of what I saw were bears. What would you report? Jesus Christ, you better. Chair, see ya! Hello? Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot and nine.

I don't know. Do you see him down, sir? Yes, I'm looking right here. Uh-uh. I see it, I see it, but. Get a bit from that. Don't touch that. Oh, look at it.

Hey, get it from that. No touch that. Bubba. Hoomta. Hoomta. Oetty! I can't stand those Jawa's. Disgusting creatures.

Happy holidays, and welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks so much for being here tonight. I took a little break last week. I did a member show, but it was nice to just kind of unplug for a while. Spend time with family and friends, and I hope you did it as well. Tonight we're going to be chatting with Joe. And 34 years ago, in Central Texas, he used to be a coon hunter. He was out there, and he had to run in with one of these creatures.

And for the longest time, Joe thought it was the devil. When he kind of explains what he saw, you'll understand why he said. said that. We're also going to be chatting with Ben. And back in 2020, this happened right around Richmond, New Hampshire. He was out there on a hike and had a run in with one of these creatures. And what's fascinating is both of these guys, they never really gave Bigfoot a second thought until they had an encounter. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. And if you get a chance, check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows.

Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Joe to the show. Joe, thanks for coming on. Thank you. If you would, Joe, take me back 34 years ago out there in Central Texas. Kind of what were you doing and what happened? Well, at that time, I was 16 years old and I'm now 50 years old. and I had a dream.

And I woke up to a dream that I went on Coon hunting. I got me a big coon, you know. And back then, the Coons, you can sell a hide for $25, $30. You know, for my age, that's a pretty good chunk of change for me back then. And I got up and I went up and my dad up. So, Dad, do you mind if I go hunting to this ranch? There's a ranch. It's called the Blue Mountain Ranch, but it's not Blue Mountain.

The reason they call it, the old folks used to say Blue Mountain because the mountain looked blue. and it's 25 miles away from town in the middle of nowhere. There's a ranch where he used to go hunting, and my brother worked for the rancher, a wealthy family rancher there. But my father was friends with the rancher, and we had hunting rights to go hunting farm meats or deer hunting during the seasons. So, and I would go with dad and go hunting. And this particular night, I woke up with a dream, and I woke up with my dad.

I said, Dad, I woke up and said, Dad, can I go hunting at the ranch? I want to go cun. Would that be okay? It was like, I'm guessing in October, the late part of October, I know it was a, I'm trying to think Saturday night. It was not a school night. And he said, okay, that's gold. Just be careful. So I have a, what I have a 96622 rifle.

It's a long rifle. And I put my covers on because it gets cold out there. It was that season. So I got in my Bronco. I had a 74 Bronco. My dad let me use to go hunting or to school only. That's the only privilege I had. So I took off on the store, I filled up, I got me a duck to paper, and I got me a burrito.

So, and I went home, I got my dog, I had a dog, got a two and a half year old. He was a cross mix with pit bull and a cur dog. And I named him Chato, you know, in chapter name, he's short, but stocky, I called him Chato. So shorty, you know, in Spanish Chato. So I named him. So here we go. I loaded him in the truck, and he was excited. He mean, he's hyper, he's tried to go.

We've been hunting before. He gets so excited. So we took off west. We go out in the past 25 miles and I got to the gate and I got off to open the gate. And when I came back, I looked behind the truck and he was just, he was just in an upright position looking down at the ranch. Just looking. It was kind of like alert. I saw him and, you know, he didn't have wagging his tail, but he was not wagging his tail.

I knew something was up, but I didn't pay no mind. I'm just being a kid. Okay, let's just go have fun, you know. Went in, closed the gate, wind drove down. Well, I got to the ranch house. We see the ranch house and there goes around the corner, goes around the house. When I got there, there was all the ranch had, the rancher had a bunch of cows and bulls. They were all bunched up in a pile together, like together, like a huddle.

They were all together. I said, that's strange. That's weird. And it was foggy. It was kind of like 50 degrees, 40, more than. I'm guessing it's cold to have my cover all my jacket with me. And that is weird because I used to see them in a pasture. They're scattered.

You can see their eyes shine. They're just scattered, you know, sleeping, relax and doing their thing. But they're all bunched up. So I just kept driving by real slow. As I'm going real slow, I was getting close to the creek. I stopped. And I couldn't feel any movement behind my truck. I said, oh, my gosh, I said, Chato jumped out and chasing the cows.

And I looked, went through my light and looked. No, he was back there. He was back there with, he had his head up. He had head up, his chairs popped out, and his tail was up, and he was just looking directly towards the gravel creek. This gravel creek ran for miles. I don't know how far I went. It was a big ranch, but I can't tell the acreage.

I didn't know. And, well, I got off, and I got off for a minute, so I just ate my burrito. I got my dog, opened my dark to pepper. I closed the lid, half a bit, so I put half of it in my coveralls. It's okay. So I got up and I went to the back to open the tailgate and I said, let's go, Shato. And he was not moving. He was staring at the creek. I looked at him and then was all of a sudden he had this deep growl. He started growling. Not at me. He just had this deep growl and he kept looking like a low growl. And it kind of, okay. And I came to myself, what's wrong with you? Something's wrong or what? I just got in, I didn't register.

And so I got my leash. I have a chain leash. At the end, I got a loop on it. I looped him, and I jerked a little bit, and he kind of hesitated. I said, he usually jumps off. He usually jumps off and goes with me. Took him off, and I put the loop of the leather through my arm, through my left arm, elbow. And I took it there so I can take him with me, and I had my rifle on my right hand.

I went maybe, I'm guessing, 500 feet, not for sure. on the, and what the, the creek bed, it drops down like a little valley. It drops down like 10 or 15 feet and then it hit the creek bed. Well, I stopped and as I was walking, West, you know where you were the coveralls? You walk in and you can hear the grass and the thorns hit. That's all I could hear. Silent. It was so quiet.

I couldn't hear the frogs. You can hear frogs at night. You can hear crickets. Sometimes you can hear from distance. the coyote's yelping, not a sound. There was no moon. It was just split dark. And I could see, and I couldn't see very far.

My light is those little six-volt batteries back then. You put the positive and negative cable to the cable, and you tighten it, and you put it on a sign. You have a little lamp. You can fold up and you have a little switch, left and right switch. So I would turn it on, and I couldn't see much, but that was, it would give me enough to see a little eye shine, you know, in the tree. Tree line. I went down the creek. As I'm walking down the creek, I could hear the gravel as I'm walking.

I could hear the dog. I walked a little ways, maybe half a mile, hit this little corner of a bend. You go in a bend there and usually there's like a little water hole where the ground hole's water. And I expect maybe I'll see a deer. Maybe I'll see a hog or something jump up and go. Didn't see nothing. So I walked a little further west. And kind of got windy and kind of cool.

I got a breeze and then it hit me. I got a horrible smell. A smell that, and I have a weak stomach. So I wanted to gag. And I moved up faster. I ran up the creek and I talked to with me. I could feel jerking, but I was pointing him to get away from that smell. I didn't want it.

It was making me gag. And I popped the smell. And finally got my breath. And I got in look and I just looking around scanning, so I started walking in it. And when I started walking, I heard like a thump. And I heard, and I walked, I heard another thump. And I said, you know what? Maybe I, I woke up a bull, you know, when you're in the past, you spoke a bull and he starts, goes up and moves.

That's what I thought I heard. I just a bull. He spoke to him. He's moving. That's what the thumps. I thought in my mind, I said, it's just a bull. So I moved there. I kept walking and then when I walked, it kept walking with me.

It was a thump, like, I don't know if you do. Ever heard a thumper with those cylinder pistons, air machines, or you thump in the ground, you go thomp. It was like a heavy foot hit and then a little bit heavy foot hit. I didn't, and I thought it was a bull. So I stood there listening, so I just kept walking. And I kept the dog, I kept Ving Chopin Chappo tugging. And he started whining.

At this time, whining, when he gets exciting. When he wants to whine, he gets excited, he wants to go. He wants to take off and whatever they ask. No, if I let him go, he's going to go find a skunk or a deer. He'd done that before a porcupine. I had to pull a bunch of porcupines out of his face. And I didn't want to do that, you know. And then I walked, and then I heard a loud break.

It's like if you grab a limb on a tree trunk and you snap and break it, I heard a loud break and I stopped. and I said, you know what, I want to let you out to go. And if there's a bull, he'll run them off. Well, I turned around my lamp to my left, we had him. And Wes, he was choking himself. He was backing up, crawling, jerking back with his head choking in his toes under his belly. He was just trying to get away.

And I looked at me, it kind of gave me the crepe. And I grabbed the pulling towards me. When I grabbed, he jerked away from me. and Wes, he took off on me. And I got this leery feeling, oh, this is not good. And I stood there, I don't know, I can't tell you how long, 30 seconds, maybe, listening. And I just got real nervous. And then I heard this growl, this deep growl.

If I'm looking at you, look to my right, right on the kind of corner up the embankment there, I heard a deep, deep growl. I can't say it's a growl. It's like, how would you say a gargle, a gargling gargill sound, or you get an old door and you try to open it and it's been rusted old door and it's real loud. Like gargle growl. It's not a dog growl.

Automatically, my mind registered a mountain line. I said, I'm feeling to be jumped by my outline. I didn't know what to do. I said, and then I looked. I said, I'm going to look. I'm going to face it, whatever it is. I'm going to look. From distance, I saw the tree line.

My headlamps on, and my handlap was pointed up because I'm looking at the tree line. So I had to bring it down a little bit to look down, bring my head down. And as I looked down, I saw these red eyes shines. I mean, it was big red eye shine. I'm giving to you, if you look at a californ distance, but these were red and big eyes, red eye looking. at me, but I could not make out. It was too far.

And I'm trying to focus. And then out of the blue, right there and then, a horrible scream, down the creek from me, a horrible scream. It's just a scream. I can't explain to you. In my mind, I'm out why. I said, this cat's circling around. I thought it was an eye.

When I saw the eye sign to me, it was an owl. It was high up in the air. I'm an owl. So, but when I heard the screen, I looked to my left. I couldn't see nothing. And that scream freaked me out. This cat circling me.

And I only had a 22. So here I'm taking my 22 off of safety because I didn't have a clue. And then I didn't have a clue. And then on my right again, on my right side, I heard the sound thumping. Like it was, whatever was coming to me. I could hear it a little bit louder and hear the vibration. and when I turned to my right and I looked up, it was looking at me. I saw this huge, the eyes, and I went down and I saw this huge human figure, huge.

I don't know if you seen, you know, you open the double door freezer, white, and I saw a head. And I couldn't make the silhouette or the human figure out. I just saw the head and come down, big body, and then I could see the leg figures. And I looked, and instantly to me, came to me, I saw the, let's see the freaking devil. I thought, now, Bigfoot, I don't know about Bigfoot. I had no clue. I didn't even know what that was or existed. I saw, I said, oh, my God, this is a demonic, the freaking devil.

I said, why, I mean, why does this happen to me? And I panicked, got scared. And I don't remember. I used to know where the devil has horns and has hoof like a horse. And I just glanced real quick. I thought I could see the horns. And I saw it and just all I could see was big eyes and a huge body. So whereas at that time, all I could think of, hey, drop the gun, put my head down.

And I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see it no more. Whatever was, looking at me, whatever was. And I knew at the time. this thing, this thing was whatever it was going to kill me. I was waiting for the blow. I was waiting for just to grab me. I couldn't move. I just panicked. I went in a fright and all I could think of my mind is pulling my head down and I started saying the Lord's Prayer, Psalms 23. And I started saying it. I started saying it and just started praying and I started praying

and saying the Lord's prayer. And I knew I was going to die. It just, it just terrified me. inside it. I just, I felt this cold feeling and, and I couldn't move. It's like I had 300 pounds on me or somebody on me. I couldn't move. I couldn't back up. I couldn't do nothing. And I just kept saying that prayer rule, never looked up. And I started backing up, rest. I backed up and I started backing up a little bit. And I'm just praying. Well, all I can say and all I can remember is I walked up to my truck, the Jeep, my Bronco, I walked up to the Bronco. I can't tell you how I left from there and I walked to the Bronco. I don't know how I got there. All I know is I got there, I opened the truck, got in the truck, I took off and I was just, I was a mess. I was messed up and I didn't

know what to think. I was just terrified. I just wanted to get out of there. I left. I got on to the gate, the ranch, got out, got on the highway. I'm going down the highway. Maybe I'll give it a quarter mile. And then I saw something and it was Chato. He was running. He was running on the highway towards town. And I stopped and I yelled at him.

And he heard me and I put over to the side. He ran and jumped in, laid down on the passenger floorboard. Just jumped in, lay down, he was shaking. I went home. I mean, I hate to say it's going to be embarrassing, but I'll just tell you. Went home, put him up, got in the house, the room. I just couldn't think. I was so nervous.

I took my clothes off and my underwear was wet. And I wanted to smell, and I pissed in my pants and didn't even know it. And I never told my dad nothing. I didn't want to be made fun of it. I didn't even mention it to my brother. It just shot me. it saw me secure me so bad

and I didn't want to talk about it I just didn't want to talk about it I tried to go two weeks I was afraid my dad was going to ask me about the rifle where's your rifle what you do with it I was scared to ask my dad about the rifle

because I didn't want to tell him I didn't want to lie to him and tell him he never did two weeks I got just enough nerve during daylight to go out there to the gate I got to the ranch gate I didn't go in I got there and I went to Pedant Chato

and Chato had the same behavior. He's just looking and just wouldn't acknowledge. He had the same behavior. You know what? I got in my truck. I went home. Never again.

I went back. I let my gun there. Yeah, that's a scary account, Joe. I mean, I would have been terrified too. You know, and most coon hunting dogs are crazy in the sense that they'll go after just about anything with, you know, completely fearless and the way your dog was acting. I wanted to ask you, you know, when you were looking at this thing, it might be hard to tell.

I mean, it was at night you had your headlamp on. Would you say those eyes were glowing or would you say it was more eyeshine? Bright red. Just bright, bright red with a light. It was like a piercing red look. And this one with my flashlight, you can see just bright, bright red. I can't recall glowing. I just saw big red eyes.

Yeah, I've heard it describe the way you described it as well, Joe. You know, as far as people say it was basically a refrigerator with the head and legs, you know, that big square, just a huge body. How far, I know we're going back 34 years, how far away from you was this creature? You know, I'm guessing, and I may be telling you incorrectly. I'm guessing when first saw it maybe 100 feet when I first saw the eye shine. when I thought it was an owl, the second time when it was right there, we're looking maybe 25, 30 feet. And I was looking right at it. And that's when I took a second glance because automatically the devil the horns, I want to see the horns. It's just something that just,

I look and I pull my head down. And that's when I dropped my gun and that's when I just, oh my God, I knew I was going to die. I would just wait for the blow or for it to attack me. I just didn't know what they do. And then I didn't mention this to you how Bigfoot got involved. I watched the years later, I ended up watching a movie called The Legend of Boggy Creek. And I saw this little boy shooting at this creature from distance in the brush line. And when I saw it, that's when it tricked me. And that's, that's what I saw the figure.

Yeah. How big do you think this thing was compared to you at that time? Oh my God, he's big. It was big. Afrigerator size. He was just, I don't know, three, four feet, the width of refrigerator. And I can't tell you the height because I was down in the creek and it was up and it was down looking at me. So I can't tell you.

Sometimes the mosquito trees or old trees, the branches hang from six to ten feet. I could not tell you. Yeah, it's a terrifying account, Joe. And I, you know, I can see why you would be confused and think it's a mountain long. up until the point to where you saw the figure and the red eyes. And I always tell people to pay attention to your dog because your dog will tell you when these things are around. You know, I want to ask you, why do you think it didn't attack you?

That's a good question. I don't know. I just started praying. And maybe I wasn't a threat. Maybe I don't know. I just prayed. I knew I was going to get attacked. I knew I was going to die.

And I just couldn't do nothing. I would just wait. I was just praying. just waiting for it. I was just waiting for a blow or something grabbed me. I was just, I knew something was happening. And that's when I started praying and praying and started moving backwards. When I started moving backwards, that's when, to me, everything went, just did silence. And all I remember is walking up to my truck, the Jeep, open the door. I can't remember how I got there. Yeah, you're in shock. You're in complete shock at that point.

And, you know, and I don't blame you. I mean, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. I probably would have pissed myself too. You know, you're out there. I would never hunt at night, but I know Coon Hunters, you guys hunt at night. And you're, sounds like you're being surrounded. Do you see the red eyes and this huge figure standing there looking at you? It almost makes me wonder if there was more than one because you're seeing this figure, this huge figure standing there looking at you.

And you're hearing the screaming from a different area. It makes me wonder if there's more than one. Well, the screams here, and then I look, and there's things right there already looking at me closer, right there. I don't know. I mean, I don't know what to tell you. It's just that's my two plays, and that's all I know. Yeah, and I know you went back to look for your gun, but beyond that time of looking for your gun, did you ever go back to that area? I don't want to go back no more.

I don't want a part of it. And it ruined me. Whereas since then, I don't go cune hunting. I don't go deer hunting no more. It just ruined me. I don't want, when it comes, when it gets dark, I get out of there. I don't want to be around the dark anymore. By myself, I won't be.

And they can invite me and all that. I just don't, when it comes to the dark, I don't want to go out there no more. Unless I just have to. I have other people around something like that. Yes, I will. But by myself, you won't catch me out there no more. I just don't. I complete loss going hunting or doing anything anymore.

I get it. I definitely get it. You know, it's one of those things, Joe. It's amazing to me how these creatures react in different situations. And this is just my opinion from interviewing a multitude of eyewitnesses. What strange is you'll find with fishermen, it's almost more aggressive. They're way more aggressive. It seems like with fishermen, with hunters, what they'll do, same behavior you're describing what happened to you.

but it's more of an intimidation. They're trying to scare you. They're trying to make you leave. But generally, you know, they're not going to throw rocks, especially if you're armed. It's very strange because you'll hear a fisherman and these things, these creatures will come out, bluff charge them, throw rocks at them, you know, almost torment them. They're not quite so balsy with hunters. It's more of intimidation, making you scared, making you want to leave. I know you kind of dropped a gun, put your head down, and started praying.

It sounds like your prayers were answered that day. I hope so. I'm here. Except for my dogs to leave me hang and dry, but I'm here. I mean, maybe somebody's watching over me and got me through it. Yeah, and I know this happened to you 34 years ago, and it still bothers you to this day, and I know you still struggle with it. And to be honest with you, I think most.

people who have had an encounter, it still bothers them. It's one of those things that you just can't wrap your head around and you can't quite get out of your mind. I want to ask you, what do you think, and I ask everyone, you know, what do they think Sasquatch is? And there's obviously no wrong answer. But what are your thoughts, Joe? Honestly, to tell you the truth, what I thought at the time was the devil, a demonic, a loose devil. What else can I tell you? That's all I need. Yeah, at that time, that's what I would have thought to you. What are your thoughts now?

What do you think it is now? Well, the way I saw it and what I'm thinking, maybe, I got intrigued by Bigfoot. That's now that I'm older and I've seen and I've lodged and I've learned, I think, and I saw the human figure. I had an encounter with it. But I can't tell you. I saw the face, hair, and nothing. She saw the figure and the eyes looking right at me.

And I saw the body. Yeah, I think based on your description, its behavior, I think that you ran into one of these creatures too, no doubt. One question I want to ask you about the smell. How would you describe that smell? To me, the best I can describe with is an old man that has been in a nursing home, because mom used to work in nursing home, an old man that poop in his pants and a wet goat that urinate himself mixed together, just a harbor smell. And it made me gaggy. I can't say it was dead because I smelled dead deer, dead animals. I smelled fresh blood of a deer killed cows. No, it's just something that, I don't know. It's a unique smell. I could place it.

Yeah, that's how a lot of eyewitnesses describe it. You know, just think of like the worst smell possible. You know, it's almost burning your eyes. It stinks so bad. I would say the majority of eyewitnesses describe it that way. Not always. There is a small portion that, you know, they'll say, well, it just stunk. It just, you know, but I wasn't gagging from it.

But a lot of eyewitnesses say that they do gag from that smell. And to be honest with you, Joe, there's a lot of, of coon hunters that run into these things, especially at night. There's a lot of hunters that run into these things. And, you know, I would have probably reacted the exact same way you did. You know, your 22 isn't going to help you out at that point. You're just kind of at its mercy. And not remembering how you got back to your truck, you know, I think that's just shock setting in. But I can't say that I would have reacted any different. Right. Well, my reason behind calling you was, it just maybe you'll give me an explanation,

or maybe you could help me give me some kind of closure, because to this day, it bothers me. It still eats at me. Yeah, I think based on what happened to you, Joe, I think you absolutely ran into one of these creatures, and I don't think it was alone, and that's just my opinion. I, you know, from you hearing the screaming and the different vocalizations, and then you see the creature in a different spot. And they generally don't run around by themselves. You'll see one, and there's usually one or two nearby.

They seem to travel in groups, and especially at night. And again, a lot of this is just my opinion based on eyewitness testimony, but I think they do a lot of their hunting at night. And, you know, I would have done the exact same thing you did, Joe. I think in most situations with these creatures, they generally don't attack unless you you provoke an attack. They're going to intimidate you. They're going to scare you. They're going to do everything they can to make you leave. And that's probably why the one came out and they saw them. It was intimidation trying to get you to leave. But they, again, I don't think that they'll

attack you unless you provoke an attack. If you had a shot or something like that, we may not be speaking today. But I know it's an encounter that's bothered you all of these years. And I know you're nervous about coming on. And I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share with us what happened to you. No, no, no. No, no. Thank you. I'm glad I was able to talk to you and need you can give me some kind of closure.

And give me an idea, maybe that's what I ran into. Next up on the show, I want to welcome Ben. Ben, thanks for coming on. It's my pleasure, Wes. Thanks for having me. Yeah. And if you would, Ben, take us back to 2020. almost three years ago now.

You were in Richmond, New Hampshire. It's right on the Massachusetts border. What were you doing? And walk us into what happened? It was April of 2020. And I was geocaching. Some people may know what that is. Some may not.

Basically, it's an excuse to get out in fresh air because it's something to do while you're there. Kind of more importantly, pertaining to my story, Part of it is keeping an eye open for other people because what you're supposed to do is find a package at certain GPS locations and it's supposed to be secret. Whether it is or not, that's not important. But the point is you kind of keep an eye out for other people

because you don't want non-players to know where the secret is, I guess. So my point is, yeah, I was keeping my eyes open while I was there. Nonetheless, when I got to the parking lot, there was nobody there. It was just myself. It was at a town forest. It was actually, it's called the Widow Gage Town Forest. It has a Circle Loop Trail, and the NET, the New England Trail, runs through the property as well. The New England Trail, you can also call it the...

Metacomit Manadnach Trail. That's more on the northern portions, but as far as I understand, they're interchangeable. The New England Trail runs from the Connecticut border to up to Southern New Hampshire, to basically to Mount Menadnach in southern New Hampshire. So that runs through the property. I head in. I'm going, it's a nice place, whatever. It's very early spring. There isn't any greenery on the trees. I don't even think the ferns were coming up yet. And it was a nice place. It was mature beach, trees, old sugar maples, nice old sugar maples.

And I was enjoying my time. Probably about a quarter of the way into my loop, I came up upon a beaver pond, kind of in the northern portion. and when I came up on, I didn't know it was there. I was coming up a rise on the property. As I came up, I said, oh, there's a beaver pond up there. As soon as I said it, some ducks took off, spooked them like they do. Gave me a quick fright.

That was it. I poked around a little bit more, you know, check it out, see if there's anything else in the pond, nothing. and I moved on. At this point in the trail where that Beaver Pond is, the NET Trail enters the property. So for a very brief portion, the Widow Gage Trail and the NET Trail share the same walking path. I moved on off of the shared path back onto the Widow Gage Trail. I was looking for one of those geocaches. and I was keeping my eyes open, you know, but before or after I got there, I started hearing voices.

I just figured it was people coming up behind me. The voices were behind me. I figured they were coming up behind me. Honestly, the first thing I thought was it was those ducks again. I thought they had come back. It's early for nesting time, but I would say it's nesting time for them. And when they come back or they're in any numbers, they kind of murmur to one or they're to one another. I thought it might have been the ducks out of

because I couldn't make out what they were saying. I just heard voices. Regardless, I didn't see anybody. I moved on. The next portion of the trail goes up the highest portion, the highest part of the property. It's a hill. I don't know if anybody out of Massachusetts would call it high. It's only about 900 feet. It's not too strenuous to say the least. but I got up there and I was catching my breath, looking around, investigating some, going off trail, not far by any means. While I was there, I heard an owl. I heard a bard owl, which, in my experience anyway, I don't typically hear it.

It surprised me. But the thing that has surprised me was as soon as I heard it, I said, this is somebody imitating a bard owl. I immediately, my brain knew it was somebody imitating a pirate owl. I knew it wasn't an owl. An owl has a very, a very breathy voice, if I can put it that way. If you hear morning doves, their call is very, very from the lungs. You know, you can hear it. This was crisp. This was like a, here.

This was a person. This was like a human. It was crisp, it was sharp, just like we would do it. Anybody who isn't a professional, I guess. I turned around because it came from behind me, fully expecting the owners of the voices I had heard earlier, the people, to be behind me, to be coming up the trail. There was nobody there. I didn't see an owl. I looked.

They're not easy to spot, but I didn't see it. and I didn't see the people. Shortly, I heard the voices again, coming from behind me, from where I had already been. And I said, all right, they got to be coming. They have to be coming soon because I can hear them. I don't hear very well. I hear well enough.

But if I'm hearing voices in the woods, I fully expect to be able to see somebody. and soon. And there was nobody. And like I said, I farted around a little bit up there. So it's kind of wasting time, but kind of in anticipation of seeing these people coming. And nobody did. I didn't know anything about the subject at this point.

Nothing like I do now. I didn't know this was, I guess you could say, repeatable behavior. from these animals, the Sasquatch, I mean, that hadn't even crossed my mind. So anyway, I didn't see anybody. I said, all right, well, I'm not going to hang around, you know, I'm not intended on making friends, I'm going to keep going. So I did. I came down the hill, found another geocash.

I don't believe I heard the voice is coming. behind me. And then again, I wasn't waiting for them. And I didn't hear the owl again either. So I just assumed, all right, if it's anything, it's people on the NET trail. They diverted, for whatever reasons, the top of this hill, thinking, hey, maybe there's a view, maybe there's a picnic spot. I don't know. Turned around and continued on their way. That's all I could figure. And I really didn't waste too much time thinking about it. It was confusing, but like I said, I didn't hear the voices when I got down the hill. So I didn't give him much more thought.

I continued on the trail, and it came out to a nice clearing where an old cellar hole was. I assume where the widow gauge used to live. It was a nice little property. It overlooked another beaver dam. pond, excuse me, a separate beaver pond than from the first one I came across. That one was uphill. It was a nice property. I spent some time walking around.

There was old glass, old metal. I took my time. There were old sugar maples, again, beautiful carcasses of old sugar maples. The thing about this position, this property, there was good sight lines all around. Like I said, it was a nice property. It was on a little rise. there was an older cot road that ran through it

it ran north which you could follow and there was a second cot road which ran perpendicular to the first so this cellar hole was at the corner of the two roads the one that ran perpendicular disappeared into the woods you know like they do

importantly before it disappeared it passed a low-lying area where a stream came down the hill into the beaver dam. I keep saying beaver dam, into the pond. This being springtime, and we had a good spring. It was a wet spring, and we had had some snow. It was flooded there.

Like I said, you could follow that cart road. I could have, it eventually disappeared, but I was confident I could find the trail again. But it was wet. And it was, you know, April, I'm not going to bother with that if I don't have to. So I stuck to the main trail, and there were a couple boardwalks over the stream area, kept my feet dry. And the trail continued kind of paralleling the shore of the pond. And it began up a slight rise.

and you could see well. And that's where I was. I was on the slight rise on the edge of the pond, and I heard the owl again. And this time, there was no doubt in my mind that it was a person because I'm going to sound like a fool now, but there's no way to barn owls when they call. they're ho-hoo, who-hoo, who-hoo.

And then this thing went, Yahoo! Like Tarzan, like Captain Caveman. It was, in my mind, undoubtedly a person, undoubtedly, fooling around, imitating an owl.

I think to myself, aha, I knew there were people. I knew it was someone on top of hill imitating an owl and I turned to see back where I had come from because that's where the noise took me and when I turned to look I looked down the noise took me the noise took me down not up in the trees owls typically sit low in the trees not up high it didn't take me to that level in the in the trees the noise took me to the ground and I turned and looked and I saw this thing.

And I said, initially I said, wow, that dude's tall. Like I said, it's funny how your brain works, you know? And it's hard to explain, but it was like I was stupefied. I was flummoxed. I was bamboozled. I was looking at it like I couldn't, I mean, I see it perfectly clear. And by saying those things, I don't mean that I got zapped by it, by no means did that happen. It's just my brain was too ignorant of the fact of these things existence that I guess I couldn't comprehend what I was looking at,

even though I could see, I went back. I went back to this property this year because I was entertaining the idea of getting in touch with you. And I wanted to have my facts straight. And I eyeballed it. And I would wager to say I was about 40 yards away from it. That's my best guess. 40 to 50 yards, no more than 50. And I had clear sight line.

I had a clear view of it. There were trees, but not enough to hide this thing. Back to looking at it, what it was in the process of doing was, it's kind of hard to explain. It was turning to its left. I could see its right arm, and it kind of, of the right side of its body. It was turning and going down to the ground all in one motion, all in one, just turning and down to the ground.

And I don't mean crouching. It wasn't squatting. It was like going down and reaching out with that right arm to kind of go down flat. which is odd because like I already explained, that area where it was was the wet, was the flooded area. It was just confusing because why would a person, why would a person belly flopped down onto the flooded ground? it was confusing. And like I said, I knew it wasn't a person. Yet my brain was working to try and make it be a person in my head.

I was trying to rationalize it. I said, oh, well, he's all in black. It's an odd choice, but it wasn't a hunting season. I thought it may have had a hood on, wearing a hoodie. And then I thought, well, maybe the dude had an afro. I figured, I settled on that. I figured, all right, it was either an afro or a hoodie. I should be able to tell.

I should have been able to tell for sure at that distance, but I couldn't. It was, like his head was that shape, as if a person were wearing a hood. And you saw them from behind. Because that's what I, basically that's what I saw. I saw the briefest of what I assume was the side of its face. But then it was all back in the head. It was all, so that would be the shape that I saw.

saw that cone head, if you want to say that. It was huge. Like I said, the first thing that went through my head was that dude is tall, and it was tall. I, um, this is all after the fact now, thinking about this. But thinking about it years ago, my ex-wife and I, we had tickets to Celtics, and we were right on the floor. And at halftime, they walked right by us. And those guys were tall. You know, every last one of them was tall.

And that's who this thing reminded me of a tall basketball player. It wasn't bulky. It wasn't, you know, four feet at the shoulders. It wasn't five feet after shoulders. it was lean. And by that, I don't mean sickly. I mean maybe like a LeBron. Maybe like a LeBron.

That's the way I picture LeBron James. He's not overpowering in his size. I'm sure he is if you were to meet him in person, but he's not like a, like a, like a, Rob Garnkowski, like a pro tight end, you know. And that's another reason why I think my head was trying to convince me it was a person. But something it did in its movement stuck in my brain, and that's when it was reaching its right arm and going down to the ground.

And for some reason, that particular movement stuck in my head. And I couldn't place it. And I didn't know why. And it was a while after because I think I knew what I saw. I didn't admit it to myself, and I sure didn't tell anybody anything. but I was looking, this may have been the time Expedition Bigfoot had come on. I don't know.

But I was looking for new entertainment, for myself. And one way or another, I found your show. And that was a relief. That was a relief. That was very helpful. And through your show, I learned of all the other shows out there about the subject. Let me say, though, I was aware of Bigfoot prior to this. I had seen the famous in search of.

I just always thought it was localized to the West Coast. to Canada, to Alaska, not New England, and definitely not where I was that particular day. Yeah, it seems like I get reports from pretty much everywhere, and I do get a lot of reports off the air from the New England area. Can I ask you, Ben, when it dropped down to all fours, did you see it go down on all fours? It went down. I never saw it again. that arm movement, that freakishly long arm. What it did, like I said, it was almost as if it belly flopped.

But it went down. And at that point, like many roads in New England, there's a stone wall. It's old and it's falling down, but it's there nonetheless. It's a single stack stone wall. And at the time, I don't think I realized that's what it went behind. It just dropped out of sight. I figured it was behind something. At the time, I don't think I knew what.

When I went back this year, this spring, and stood in the spot where it was, there is a snowm wall there. So I think it was, it dropped down behind that stone wall. Now, when I had seen it, when I had turned around to see it, I was still moving forward. I hadn't come to a complete stock. My momentum was still carrying me forward on the trail. So I was slowing down, but I turned to look where this owl person imitating an owl was. So when I saw it at him drop down and it disappeared, I turned and caught my step, you know, and turned back around to see, well, what's this pool doing? You know, I saw him.

Where's he going? I turned back around and never saw him again. I didn't see a second person, and by that I mean whoever this thing may have been talking to, the voices I had heard, because it wasn't somebody talking to themselves. It was two people. It was two people talking, undoubtedly. I didn't see another figure. I didn't see the original figure. And like I said, at the time, I wasn't like.

Like, holy cow, that's a Bigfoot. Can't believe I just saw a Bigfoot. Because Bigfoot aren't from around here. They're not here. It's a person messing around with me, and I didn't have time for it. And I continued on my way. Like I said earlier, I was confused. I was, I couldn't.

I wanted to forget it, but I couldn't forget it. I wanted to stop thinking about it. I'd go back and forth. That was just some guy messing with me. But I'd come back to it. I said, no, man, that wasn't talking to myself, saying, no, that wasn't a guy. That wasn't a man. You know it wasn't a man.

No, it was a man. Yeah, and I think that's normal, Ben. I think every eyewitness kind of goes through that. You know, it's you try to make sense of what you saw. You know, it must have been a bear. It must have been a person. And in your heart, you know that's not what you saw. I can't tell you how many hunters I've talked to off the air.

And they're like, I've never seen Bigfoot, but let me tell you about this weird bear that I saw. And as they're describing it, it does, I mean, nothing in their description adds up to a bear. Or they'll go, well, I saw this weird homeless guy. And, you know, nothing in their description adds up to a homeless human out there. The arms are too long. The behavior's off. There's just nothing quite adds up. So I think it's normal to try to put it in a box that we understand.

It must have been this. It must have been that. And I think everyone kind of goes through that. You know, one of the things you brought up was at Yahoo. And I've told this story many times on the show. But I heard that at the Brown's property here in Washington. Jonathan and I were out on his property. And it reminded me of like a deaf person saying Yahoo.

There was something very off about it. And, I mean, he lives, he's got a huge piece of property. He's on a Native American reservation. I mean, there was no one around. And just that Yahoo, there was something very off about it. It wasn't quite human. It wasn't quite animal. Now, you're about 40 yards away from this thing, 40, 50 yards, something like that.

How big do you think it was? I would put it at around 6.6. 6.6, it's hard to say because it wasn't standing up straight. It was already going down. Maybe 7 feet. That's probably an exaggeration. I'd be comfortable putting it at 6'6. It was clear he was taller than the average person. It was as if I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't focus on it. I couldn't though my eyes were working fine, I think it was my brain. My brain was just couldn't keep up with what I was seeing. So as for details, I mean, it had a long arm.

It had to have had two long arms because I kind of saw the bottom like the hand, the left hand kind of coming, you know, below its, I guess where it's, where its rear end would be kind of sticking out as it was going down because it only kind of threw that one that I could see anyway, that one right arm out in front of it. It's not as if it did a full-on Superman down. It was that kind of that right arm going down. And it was all black.

It was it was all black. It was it was like a shadow in black. It was it was all black. It's hard to describe. Yeah, well, you know, I only ask people to tell me what they saw nothing more, nothing less. And in these moments of shock, there's also kind of that tunnel vision. So I can kind of see, especially when you know, saw the long arm and realized, you know, hey, that's not a guy. They're not human anyway.

You know, I know that after we're going on two years, almost three years now, you've had time to kind of research this, investigate this topic. And I ask everyone on the show, Ben, and there's no wrong answer. But I'm curious, what do you think Sasquatch is? you know obviously I knew you were going to ask me you ask everybody and you're right I have thought about it I've thought about it

I you know I I try and come up with my own gas this is the best way to put it but I think these things have been here as long as we have

I think I think they're flesh and blood I think they can be killed I don't think they're aliens anything like that I just think they're a relative of ours a relative of an ape

I don't even like saying the word the gigantopithecus theory isn't too kosher with me it's simply because we're lacking so much information on what exactly that creature was We have very little evidence on that creature itself.

I think they're their own thing. And I think the benefits of being around as long as they have been is they have so many different abilities, some that maybe we have forgotten how to use. I'm not into the whole woo, but I think there's something to it. And I think you'd be a fool not to think that way, because there's just too much, too many reports indicating that there's something unnatural

with these things. I think they're masters of their environment. They can communicate. Does that mean they have culture? The definition of culture? I don't know. It appears they have family units. Why wouldn't there be?

If they're a relative of ours, I don't see any reason. and why there couldn't be. They would win a gold medal in whatever event they chose to enter in the Olympics. They're freakish athletes. Yeah, I respect your answer, Ben. Do you think they are more human-like, or would you consider them more animal-like? I think it's its own thing, Les.

I think it has different aspects of each. think because, and now we're only going, I'm only going, on whatever reported behavior I've happened to learn. But it shows, it shows characteristics of each. It shows, uh, uh, quick to anger, quick to be, uh, defensive, uh, like an animal. But they show plenty of human qualities as well. They seem to know what a firearm is. They seem to, they seem to be helpful. They seem to be curious. Like we said, they seem to have a language. I believe they have a language just based upon the investigations by, I don't know his name, but he's a linguist. I'm sure you're aware of who I'm talking about. But it's clear they have a language. At least that family unit that was recorded

had a language. Are they all the same? Meaning the ones in Arizona are similar to the ones in Massachusetts? I don't think so. I think there are different, there are different dogs, right? A hot dog is different from my pit bull, you know, but they're both dogs, right? But a hot dog doesn't look much like a pit bull. It has, they have four legs and two ears, same typical body shape, but so doesn't a raccoon, you know. But you can tell their dogs, right? I think that's similar with these things. They may not look exactly the same, whereas mine was lean, maybe the one,

up in Alaska are just absolute behemists. They're giants. But looking at them, you know, oh, that's a big foot. That's a Sasquatch. Yeah, I like your answer, Ben. I've kind of come to that conclusion, too. I would say most of their behavior is very animalistic. But there is moments in encounters when people are talking about what happened to them. You'll kind of get a glimpse into these creatures that not always do they act animalistic. They seem to assess situations they're in. For example, you know, where you come across another predator like a bear or a cougar and you spook it or you startle it or there's something wrong with it.

It's on or off. They're going to either kill you or they're going to leave. There really is no in between. With these sayings, they seem to really, I don't know, I would say empathy, but more of, they just seem to really assess the situation that they're in and kind of react where they, I guess, they feel is appropriate as the only way I can say it. But it is fascinating. And, you know, the other thing, too, Ben, I wanted to tell you, I talked to a lot of people in the New England area. We talked about this before we came on the air.

And I get a ton of reports from there. But people from New England are very, very tough to get on the. air and I really appreciate you taking the time to come on. Well, of course, Wes. I thank you. I thank you for what you've done and what you're doing. It's been a big help. And like I said earlier to you, you know, hopefully maybe by speaking with you, maybe I won't be thinking about it as much as I have.

I think it's a bit of a relief. Everybody says that, but they say it because it's true. It's a bit of relief. It's a bit of relief to be able to speak with you and get it off my chest. Thanks again, Ben. And that's it for tonight, everyone. Remember, if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com.

And if you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member. and get additional shows. Happy holidays, everyone. And Jingle Bell Square in the frosty air What a bright time! It's the right time to rock the night away. Jingle Bell time is a swell time To go gliding into one horse lay

Gatty up the jingle horse, pick up your feet Jingle up around the clock In the jingling that's the jingle bell rock About chimingle in jingle brins it in jingle bell square To go gliding into one horse lay Giddy up the jingle horse pick up her feet Jingle around the close to jingo bell