Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:922 Those Monkeys Are Back

Episode Date: January 28, 2023

Tonight I will be speaking to two brothers that were hunting near Crater Lake in Oregon. They had a scary night walking down the center of the highway while two creatures were screaming and growling at them. The brothers ended up in a defensive position back to back and started shooting. We will also be speaking to Jeff. Jeff said "When I was around 11 years old I went to visit my grandmother. She was at the beginning stages of dementia. My grandmother said "Oh those monkeys are back" as she looked out the window. No one in my family listened to her because they thought she was losing it. My cousin and I walked over to the window and there was three creatures walking in the creek bed. There was two that were upright walking on two legs and a little one wrapped around one of them. The creature in the front was bigger then the one behind him by at least a foot. The third one was small and hanging off of the creature in the back. I remember being in shock and telling my uncle to come look but he just said "They are just bears." At that young age I knew this was not bears. It wasn't until later in life I saw the Patterson-Gimlin film and realized that is what I saw that day."

What are you reporting? Jesus Christ, you better. Yeah. See them. Hello. Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot, nine, I don't know.

Do you see him now, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at him. Uh-oh. This is Dan. And this is Laura. We are from Berwyn, Illinois. And you're listening to Sasquatch Chronicles. Welcome to the show, everyone.

Thanks for being here tonight. What a week. What a week it's been. And I started getting into animation and I had this really cool anime. I finally figured it out. I went through, did my character rigging, had it so beautiful, put together, awesome. And I ran it out of Adobe Animate. And when I exported it, my computer just, I don't even know what happened.

But I lost everything. I lost all my files. I lost. So I had to kind of start from scratch. And this was just a day or two ago. And I was actually just going to cancel the shows because, I mean, everything's gone. I had all these interviews and everything's gone. But I guess I couldn't stay away.

So here I am. Tonight we're going to be chatting with Dan and Tony and their brothers. And they had this encounter in Oregon near Crater Lake. And I know the area they were at, I'll kind of let them explain it. But they had a pretty scary night trying to come out of that area. and a lot of people vanish in that area. We're also going to be chatting with Jeff. And Jeff comes to us from Ohio.

He describes this encounter of seeing his great-grandmother. They were out in West Virginia, and his great-grandmother said, oh, those monkeys are back. And Jeff and his cousin saw three of these beings walking through a dry creek bed. So I'll let Jeff go into that. 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 Dan to the show. Dan, thanks for coming on. You bet. Thanks for having it. Yeah.

And I also want to welcome Tony. Tony, thanks for coming on, man. You bet, you, Wes. Thanks for having me. Yeah, and I know where your guys is encounter took place is near Cretter Lake in Oregon

and that Cretter Lake area is beautiful but it's a creepy area If you would, take us back to 2001. What were you guys doing and what happened? Well, we were out deer hunting and our sister

and her boyfriend, her boyfriend of the time, wanted to go deer hunting. I know that I had already tagged out. My brother wanted to go because he hadn't filled his tag yet. And it was about late October. And so I decided to take him into a spot where I had hunted previously and had luck. And when we went up there, we'd gotten dropped off and we were supposed to have, they were supposed to come back and meet us at the end of the night when it got dark, you know. And when we got back, they, they, they were like a no-show. They just, they left us up there

because they thought we were lost or something. They just didn't wait long enough for us to get out. Well, we got a ride down the mountain to the highway from a friend of ours from town, and we decided to hoof it the next seven or eight miles back to town, because we were afraid that if we rode back in his vehicle, then we'd miss my dad. Long story short, we decided to walk Highway 62 back to prospect. While we were walking, we started hearing a scream. We were walking for quite a while, and it was pitched.

black. So just to, you know, as we were walking, we started hearing something scream at us. Way up on the mountain. We're talking like way up like in Ginko Canyon. So we're just about a Ginko basin. And we started hearing something scream at us. And well, we didn't really know what it was, but it, I can't describe to you. I didn't know what it was. Dan will ask me like, what do you think this is? And I don't know. I just didn't know what it was at all. And it was just really long-winded, was I can't describe you what it would sound like other than just like what I didn't I didn't think Bigfoot or anything like that I'd never crossed my mind um so it it started to like close this distance it went from probably five 600 yards out to to half that within it seemed like it went a minute

and and each time it screen it would just seem like it would scream for a minute or two straight it was just like really long winded I can't describe it like like it had four sets of lungs or something. It just had that continuous scream. It's almost like a howl mixed with a scream. So I didn't know if it was coming down to meet up with us. So I had my lighter in my pocket and I had taken it out. I'm, I'm an avid hunter, so I check my wind a lot. And the first thing I thought was, I wonder if he smelled us, something, whatever it is, it smelled us, you know, an animal, whatever this is, it smelled us. And when I, you know, check my wind, my lighter, I could see the wind was going directly at whatever it was.

So I was like, it winded us. So I told Daniel, we're just going to walk down the center of the highway. It's pitch by we can't even hardly see our hands in front of our face. That's how dark it was. It was no moon. And we were both armed. And as we're walking, this thing kept getting closer and it paralleled us and closer and closer. And pretty soon it's no more than 40 or 50 yards off off of the highway from us.

and it's just it's just screaming at us this thing is not happy that we are where we are we are and about about halfway through this ordeal another one started doing it off to my right which would be the west side of the highway um and started screaming out from that side and it seemed like that one was like whatever that one was it was the aggressor because it came close. Like it was, it was almost like it was, it was almost like they were trying to push us. Whatever they were doing, it was like they were pushing us. Because every time we'd move, they would move. If we stopped, they would stop. And they'd just scream at us. And I can't even begin to describe like the way the way the screen was. It's like when I first heard it,

the only thing I can think of is like demonic. I mean, I want to, you know, um, I never really thought Bigfoot at all, Wes. It was just a, The thing was just, it was just screams. It was like a ban sheet, I guess. And I could remember me and Daniel getting to a point where we had to, I mean, they were getting really close to us, especially the one off to my, off to our right. It was like it had flanked us.

Like there was two of them that came down or something because, you know, like one maybe crossed behind us or something to try to flank us. Like hunting, like you know, push a deer, you drive deer. You know, that's how I started feeling like in getting that instinct in my head. Like I'm an avid hunter. I've been in the woods in my whole life, especially back then, you know, before I, you know, had responsibilities and kids and stuff like that. I spent every minute I could out there.

It was my life was out there. And so I've heard everything from elk to bear to cat. I've seen a lot of things out in the woods have so many different types of encounters with wild animals and this thing. And I had no idea what it was. So it just got to the point where we had to, we just, we had to stand our ground.

And, I remember thinking back on it, like we had, there was a, there was another, there was a separate incident that had happened up there with us earlier in the year in, in the archery elk season.

It was kind of, I think it kind of matched what it would have went on before, but all we found were footprints, you know what I mean? Something was outside of our cam, circling us at nine, our dogs. It was like flipped out.

And it was in Ginkgo Canyon. This is where these things came out of. It was out of Ginko Canyon. So I don't know if it was connected or anything like that. But to me it seemed pretty coincidental that it came out of the same area within like half a mile of crowflies and where we had our encounter to where we were camp when it was. We found the footprints next day after that thing was circle and camp. And so I just kind of put two and two together. That's what it was.

And so. Yeah, I want to ask you about that. I definitely want to come back to this incident you're talking about. With regard to this encounter, now you guys are on 62. You're not on 97, correct? We're on Highway 62. We're like, at this point, Ginkgo Basin is probably six or seven miles or so from prospect. Yeah, I know exactly where you guys are at.

And I've been down that highway, and it's a lonely highway during the day. I mean, there's, you know, I can't imagine walking that thing at night, having two things screaming at you. So you guys are walking down this highway. And man, what kind of happens next? So we just basically had to end up standing our ground. And I remember telling Dana we just, you know, I'm not going any further, you know, I don't know what's up ahead of us. I can't see. We're going to bump into, if what if there's another one?

So whatever this is, what if there's another one up ahead? Like, I don't immediately start getting that feeling like we're, we're, we're. being pushed or something. Like they're, like they're doing this for a reason. Like, whatever it is, is trying to scare one into another.

Like, that's the first thing I thought of because I've driven deer like that. The fact that they were on both sides of us at that point, like you mentioned earlier, that one must have crossed behind us because suddenly it was like, it was on the same side as, you know, when they first came down,

suddenly it's on, now you got one on the other side. It only makes sense that it crossed behind us. And I want to come back to Tony, but I want to ask you, Dan, what did you think was going on at this point? It was really confusing time. You know, it was like, I didn't know what to think. I was trying to, you know, like anybody was like, what could that be? Could it be a bear?

Could it be a cat? Well, like Tony said, then we've heard all these animals and it was just nothing that your mind can grasp. You think of all these things and none of it makes sense. And so it's all everything at that point is like instinctive, reactive. You're like, we just kept trying to move and just, just praying to God that somebody would come down the highway and just kind of break up this whole situation. But nobody was coming. It was so dark.

I mean, in that stretch of highway, it's wall-to-wall timber. And all you got is that little strippable highway. And if the moon was out, you could look up and see some moonlight, but there was no moon. there was nothing. So the best we can do was just get in the middle of the road and kind of get back to back. And, I mean, we were in ready position with our rifles. Yeah, you're right, Dan. In that area, it's walls of trees on both sides of the highway.

And, you know, gosh, I would have been terrified too. Let me ask you, Tony. So what kind of happens next? Well, we got to a point where we were just to get to stand our ground. I told Daniel, I am not moving any further. This is it. This is where it happens. Whatever happens here and happens now, like, I can't do this.

We got to take control of this situation. Otherwise, we can't, we can't be afraid of these things. They're going to know it. And whatever this is, I'm going to stand my ground. This time I'm thinking it's animal. Something's going on. Like I said, though, there's nothing on this earth that can scream as loud. And it's like earth shattering.

I can't describe. That's the only way I can describe like this earthquake type of screen. You can feel it in your chest when they're that close. You feel it. in you. Like it just vibrated every bone in my body. And back then, you know, you didn't have all these reference guides like YouTube and sound you could reference into or, you know, like you do now, you can kind of go back and you can do your own research. And it took a lot of years to be able to hear anything that's even close to what we heard out there. So when we stood our ground,

I just said, Dan, you know, I'll face one, you face the other. You know, we're going to back to back. They're on both sides of us. We got to face, one of us got to face each one of them, you know. And I hollered at this thing. And it just made it matter. It made it more, more angry and aggressive. The one off to the west side was the aggressor to begin with, like it was trying to push us into the other one or something.

We kept trying to come in. And if I would add a flashlight. I'd have been able to shine it right in this thing's face. Whatever it was right there. I mean, I could hear it walking. And you get that feeling like it's a person almost. Like you're like, it just sounds like a person walking. It doesn't sound like an animal low to the ground, you know,

and bears up there. They're not like grizzlies where they get like the size of a volts wagon, you know. But anyways, when we stood back to back on the highway, we were like in the middle of the highway. So we're like on the yellow dotted line in the middle of the highway. And I hollered at this thing. And I remember saying something like, you know, you need to identify yourself, whatever you are, you know, I just try to get to stop. I gave it a warning because I'm getting ready to start shooting.

It's so close to us that I have to do something. And so we, we popped some shots off at it. And that's when it all went dead silent. When I remember popping some rounds off, we put some rounds off at it on the one of my right side. and I could hear it going through the woods, and it sounded like a freight train. I mean, it just took off, and you can hear it out there, and the other one just went dead silent.

We didn't hear it run off. We just, like, it just stayed there. And that's, we didn't have seen headlights way down the highway, and that's when it all, like, kind of abruptly ended. We waved these guys down, like, hey, you just right, pack the town, please. That's interesting. Somebody came along, almost like someone was watching over you guys. When you said you yelled at it and it got madder, what do you mean by that?

It started to come closer. It started, I could hear trees, just branches breaking like it was charging in. That's when I just, I told Daniel, I said, light them up. That's my exact words. I remember saying, light them up. And I just, I yelled. And I remember feeling when it ran away, like this moment of like relief, like, oh, my gosh, I hope this is over.

And I just kind of got pumped up. And I started hollering, you know, trying to be aggressive. and show more aggression back. So I started yelling at it, trying to make it where they're not going to come back. You know, I didn't know if Rigg was going to come along. I thought we had another, a long walk back home. So I didn't know what was going to happen after that. Yeah, I know that area well.

I used to live outside of Bend. And, you know, that area is, it's dark. It's lonely. And I can't even imagine the fear that you guys had of these, These things getting more aggressive as you're walking down the highway. I would have fired off a few rounds too. Tony, can I ask you? You had mentioned prior to this incident.

You guys were in the area and there was something that happened when you were when you were out there. If you would, tell me about that. Yeah, so we went up the Ginkgo Basin to go Alcotton and we went up Mill Creek, which runs along there. It's a little big that comes down there runs, you know, through into Mill Creek campground back into town. Anyways, we're along this creek. me and my dad had previously scouted this area and we'd hunt up there quite a bit for deer in the past we found a herd out down there the day before seasoned it open and we went back and we got our stuff packed up went up there camped out whatever we're sitting there at night and we got

a little campfire going or whatever and my brother daniel's there my brother chris my dad and we're just relaxing around camp and there's something around camp and you know that's not abnormal when you're out in the woods you know you hear stuff snapping around camp could be a bear you know, deer, elk, whatever. You never know what's out there. Whatever it was, it was serving camp. And we had these two Rottweather, a shadow and Capone with their names.

And these dogs are not scared of a thing. These were like just vicious guard dogs. And they weren't scared of anything. They were huge. And they started getting freaked out to the point where they wanted in the vehicles. They didn't want to be on the end of the chain anymore. Like, whatever it was was scaring them.

And one of the dog's shadow so aggressive, like, you know, like an animal, like a dog, will get that primordial instinct where you can't get near it if it's like life or death and it'll try to bite you or fight off anything around it. Even if you're like a member of its family, like it, it'll still bite you if you get near it. There's just some dogs will do that sometimes when they feel like it's something scaring him that bad. And I never seen him react that way. The only one that he would let touch him was Daniel.

So Daniel loaded him up in the back of the pickup. up. And yeah, the dogs just freaked out. And the next day, we did our hunt. And if you know that area up there, the pumice from when Crater Lake Blue, the pumice all over the ground. And it's real fine powder on the roads up there. So anything is going to leave a footprint that it came around camp. And there was a little loop road that went the back side of the road we were on that connected back to the road we were on. It's like a little old logging road that looped around. So I knew like there's going to be something. I was really curious about it. I said, dude, like I got. back to camp. I'm like, hey, we should go look for whatever that was, like, see if

if they left any footprints on the road. And that was kind of, that was kind of weird. Because my dad mentioned like, this sounds like somebody on two legs. That sounds like a person out there. And I was like, yeah, it does kind of, doesn't it? Like, we didn't know what it was. And we decided, my dad stayed at camp. So me and my brothers decided to walk down that little loop road. We get a couple, a couple of yards down that road. And a nice spot a set of footprints coming down, going off the bank, pretty much directly behind camp. So camp would be like couple hundred yards straight to my straight to my left and these footprints came out and we're talking huge footprints.

These footprints were huge and the strides. I remember the strides were so long that that I couldn't reach them and I stretched all the way out. That's how long the strides were. I mean, I didn't measure the footprints, but they were way bigger than my foot and they're all barefoot. One, like there was like a toe missing on one of them you could tell because in the pumice, like when you step down, it leaves a perfect indent. Perfect.

It's like a, I can't describe it. It's like people hunted it around and been on pumice when it's all powdering and been ran over. It's powder. Yeah, you're right. I forgot about the pumice there. I mean, you have pumice all the way down to Bend, Redmond. Whole area is covered in it.

Right. It's everywhere. Yeah. So, I mean, you could track elk for miles and that stuff. You know, they can't, they can't escape you. You just follow their footprints. Anyways, this thing, like, had a broken toe on one side. And, like, you could see hair in.

ends in the pumice from the side of the when it laid its foot down you can see the end of the hair everything was perfectly indented we follow this thing for a ways the tracks down the road and then it went down into into ginkgo canyon right there right the beginning of it and down towards the water and i'm like i ain't falling that thing in there nope this is where this track stops i'm not going that whatever that i don't want no part of it and when you see that obviously you think bigfoot right I mean, that's a clear indicator. And we were like, oh, my God, this is crazy. Well, that's like a half a mile as a crow flies or so to the highway.

And that's the same area that had happened, that encounter we had later that year in October, which is, what, a month and a half later in that same area. Yeah, there's a lot of encounters that come out of this area. And anyone in Oregon that's been in this area or Washington in this particular area of Crater Lake, I mean, it's a lonely area. The highway you guys were on is a very lonely highway. And I wanted to ask you, were you guys walking for a while before all of this started? Or do you feel like it kind of followed you out?

We were walking down the highway for a little way. So we had just come off Woodruff. Woodruff turns up there where we got dropped off by our buddy of ours. And Woodruff Meadows is right there, the turnoff that goes up towards where we were hunting, which would be the west side of the highway. And this thing came from our east. So I don't think it followed us out of anywhere. I just think that, I mean, my opinion, I think whatever it was smelled us.

It's the only thing, because it was so far out there, the only thing I could think of is while we were walking down the highway, our scent went up there and it smelled us. And that's when it came down, chewing aggression, and that's how I knew we were there. You know, there's a lot of encounters where these things will walk people out of an area. and it happens a lot. A lot of times people don't even see what's really walking them out, but they hear the step, step, step, throwing rocks and pacing them as they go out. And I've heard many of those encounters.

I think it's a different situation when they're going off, you know, as far as screaming at you. But I want to ask your opinion, and I'll ask you, Dan, in a moment. But, Tony, what do you think the intention was? I mean, there's two of them there. They're both screaming. at you guys. You guys are in the middle of the road, and there's really no place. I mean, you're in a very vulnerable position because there's nowhere else to go. The tree line's too thick,

and these things are there anyway, so I wouldn't go there. But do you think the intent was to harm you? Or do you think it was just wanting to get you guys out of the area? Oh, man. I don't know what Daniel thinks about it now, but I know I think now looking back and just now that I I've been able to do my own research and listen to other people's stories. It's hard to say. It really is. I felt if I felt as if we were being pinched in, like, that this is like, like it was endgame. That's what I thought.

I mean, that's, I still think that to this day. Like, it doesn't, the way it was happening just felt, it just felt off. My instinct was telling me that I'm being hunted. This is not normal. This, whatever this is, like, I'm being hunted. That's my instinct. And it's always been that way. It's always never back then to now.

Like, it's never fault. Or like, I felt like I was being driven into something like I was being hunted. Not more so. Like, they were really, really mad. Like, it was intense. It wasn't just like, hey, get out of here. It was like, hey, we're coming in to get you. Yeah, you know, a lot of times when they walk people out,

it's more or less just step for step. They're following you out. And usually it's from the side. You know, it's not from the rear or from the front. they're walking you out. And in most situations, I would go, well, they're just walking you out. They're just escorting you out of the area.

The only time where I think someone's really in big trouble is this situation. And I've heard this situation before. And in my opinion, I think if you guys didn't have those guns, I think you would have been in big trouble. A lot of people vanished in that area. And I'm not saying that it's all Sasquatch related, but look it up. Crater Lake area, a ton of people vanished there every year, never to be found again.

What are your thoughts, Dan? I mean, what do you think the intent was? I feel the same way. And the reason why is because, I mean, if these things did smell us, if they knew we were there, however they knew that we were there, whether it was before we got onto the highway or after, they had to have known that we were traveling down the highway and we were on our way. out. I don't understand. I mean, if it was a territorial thing, why would, why would they start from so far off and then continue to close in on us, you know, kind of get us in this, put us in a position. It doesn't make sense to me. Whatever they are, they knew the highway was there. They knew it was dark and that they can get close to us. So, I mean, you start thinking about all these things and you think these things were, they didn't need to get that close. I mean, obviously, I mean, both of us were scared to death. Our intentions are to leave.

And, you know, a territorial animal wants to push you out. I mean, that thing should have known we were on our way out. It just seemed like it was getting to be really, really aggressive. And it just got to the point where it felt like we were going to be attacked. Yeah, the normal way they pace people out or escort people out, like I said before, they'll match you step for step. When you stop, they stop. And if you stop for too long, they might throw pebbles or whatever at you. When they're going off this like this on both sides of the road and you guys are trying to get out of there, I mean, it's one of those situations where I think you guys were really in big trouble. I know I said that, but I really do. I think you guys were in big trouble that night. Tony, did you ever go back? Did you guys ever go back to this area? I didn't want you.

I, to this day, I will not hunt Giggo Basin. I just don't. I've driven through there, and I became a log truck driver way later, and I've hauled timber out of there. And when you're wrapping up your load, you're out in the dark, and I've been right in that same area hauling loads of logs out of there. And going up there just gives me a flashback that I don't want to have. it's scared.

To this day, I get PTSD. Like, I won't go back up there or not. I have nightmares this day about it. I don't blame you, ma'am. I don't blame you one bit. I wouldn't go back in that area. And especially for how aggressive they were with you guys. Let me ask you, Dan, what do you think Sasquatch is?

I know you didn't get a look at it. Neither one of you guys did. But there's no doubt in my mind you ran into two of these things. If someone were to ask you, what is Sasquatch? What would you say? It's hard to really give a good answer on that. I think they're just an unknown animal maybe related to the primate. I don't know because, I mean, we didn't see it, but then you kind of relate this story to other stories and start connecting the dots.

I mean, you know, the footprints and whatnot, obviously it left the physical presence and there was a very physical thing that was going on that night. And that's what I think is just an animal. It's really good at hiding, you know. Yeah, it could be. Their behavior is very strange. You know, if it was a cougar or a bear and their intent was to kill you, there's no dancing around it. They're just going to come out and do it. And these things, it's almost like they want to scare you.

And I think in this situation, again, you guys were probably in big trouble. I think a bum rush was coming next. Tony, what do you think? What do you think that these creatures are? Oh, gosh, I don't know. If you ask me, I think it's some kind of a, I don't know, it's like a, it's almost like a gorilla or something, you know, I don't want to say it's a gorilla because I don't really know the answer.

I guess nobody does, but it's hard to put the finger on that. and just identify it, but it just, whatever it is, it's extremely intelligent. It knows what it's going to do before you know what it's going to do. I mean, it's just maybe a cousin of, who knows me, could be gigantic, carpithicus or whatever they call that thing that came across the land bridge with the bollumammus way back on the day. I don't know. I don't know, Wes, but it's the thing that always threw me is, you know,

says, why isn't there a body? You know, why hasn't someone discovered one yet? Why isn't there this? Well, I don't know. I just don't know. Yeah, it could be. I know with giganticus, you know, after studying the jawbone and the teeth, they came to the conclusion that this thing ate bamboo and fruit and vegetation.

It wasn't a meat eater, meat eater. But you're right. I mean, based on the size of it, it would make sense that that would be Sasquot. Can I ask you, Tony, do you think it's a natural animal, like a normal animal, like a cougar or a bear? I mean, dating back as far as their stories go, because I've had plenty of time to do research, and ever since it's happened, I've been pretty fascinated with it myself. So I'd done my own digging. And there's, I mean, the Native Americans for hundreds of years had stories of these things. So absolutely, it's got to be some kind of natural, natural animal that's around that has been known for a long, long time, way before we ever settled here.

That's for sure. Yeah, I know it's kind of hard to say. You're right, though, Tony. I mean, the Native Americans have been talking about this thing forever, and it's just really hard to pinpoint what this thing is. And I really appreciate you guys coming on and sharing it. I love local encounters. You know, I'm not in Oregon now. but I know the area well where you guys were at,

and it would have scared me. It would have shook me up for sure. But Dan, thank you so much for taking the time to come on. You bet you. I appreciate you invite us on. And Tony, thanks for coming on, man. Appreciate you guys. Absolutely.

Thank you. Next up on the show, I want to welcome. Jeff, Jeff, thanks for coming on. No problem. Thanks for having me. Yeah, and I'm fascinated by this whole, account that happened to you in West Virginia. How long ago did this happen to you? And if you would, just walk me into what happened? Well, I was probably, I'm 48 now. So, you know, thinking back,

it was probably like mid-80s. I was probably like 10 to 12 years old. So probably, you know, probably happened in like 84, 86 range. I live in Ohio. My whole family, you know, kind of born and raised from the West Virginia area, you know, small town living. And we used to spend quite a bit of time down there, go down there a lot in the summertime. And we always went to my aunt and uncle's house, and my great grandmother lived with them. And, you know, she was typical old mountain woman.

She could tell you stories and ghost stories and stuff and just, you know, scare the heck out of us kids and we were all down there and everything. But we were there one time and it was just me and my cousin, And my grandma and my aunt, my uncle were there. And I don't know how the conversation came up, but my grandmother had said something about these monkeys that would play in the backyard. And, of course, you know, my aunt was like, oh, she's, you know, she's losing it.

You know, at the time, I didn't realize, but, you know, she was like in the beginning stages of dementia. So nothing that she said that would anybody, you know, they wouldn't take any, you know, they wouldn't think that she was, you know, had her, you know, totally same. or anything like that. So, you know, had been, we'd been down there for a week or so, and she was looking out the back door and where my aunt and uncle lived in this big ravine, real rocky, all wooded, just, you know, out in the middle of nowhere, beautiful spot.

But behind the house was kind of a pasture in the ravine where cattle would be and there was a dry creek bread that ran through it and woods up top, woods on the side, but the pasture was right behind the house. And she was looking out the back door and she said, well, there's those monkeys in the backyard again playing. And me and my cousin had got up and we walked over to the back door where we could look out. And I mean, right there. I mean, there was three of them. You know, they were walking down the creek bed.

And my cousin says, my uncle, dad, you need to look at this. And he says, they're bears. He wouldn't even get up off the couch. he said you're looking at bears and uh we watched them i mean realistically probably like a i would say a good minute and we watched them walk from one side of the pasture to the other right down the creek bed there was you know now being older and researching and you know looking at internet and stories and and you know what you would a male a female and a baby um you know the the female looked basically identical to the Patterson Gimlin film.

I mean, she was muscular billed, but she had breasts. The baby was basically had his arms around her neck, and she was kind of cradling it. And what I would presume was a male was walking with them. He was probably a foot taller than the female. And then, of course, the baby was, you know, I mean, it was, wasn't a human baby, but it was a baby, you know, looked just like them. And they walked right by us. We were probably 50 yards away looking down. They never looked up at us. They just walked down the creek bed and then eventually walked into the tree line and out of sight. And, you know, as I got older,

I mean, this was, you know, kind of pre-internet, pre-cell phones, you know, so I had, when I got home, you know, I did as much reading as I possibly could at libraries and stuff. And, when I finally saw the Patterson Gimlin film, I was like, that's what I saw. I mean, it was 100% other than the color of the hair. I mean, that's what I saw. I mean, you know, and I would tell people about it and family members. And, you know, of course, they would tell you that you're crazy. And you didn't see that.

You know, you saw bears. But, yeah, I mean, that was that's about the gist of it. I mean, size, I couldn't tell you. you know, then, like, I mean, you know, was one 10 foot and one nine foot, was one seven foot, one six foot. I don't, they were big. I know that. They weren't bears. I mean, there's black bears down there.

They were considerably larger than black bears. I do know that. You know, as I got older, you know, thinking back, I mean, because, you know, it's just that, that whole situation is burned in my head. I mean, you don't remember a lot from when you were a kid and stuff like that, but that situation was, it's just, it's burned in my brain, you know. my uncle was a chief of police very small town everybody knows everybody and his actions like now as i thought about it as an adult was has he ever did he ever see this because i mean he literally he just didn't even get up he was just like you're looking at bears he didn't even look up from the newspaper he's like you're looking at bears and we weren't looking at bears you know so i don't know if it's something that

he ever saw and he was like i'm you know chief of police this small town i'm not getting involved you know, or wanting to, you know, think, you know, that I'm crazy because everybody in town knew him. You know, I mean, he was, you know, he was pretty popular guy in town. So, you know, I don't know. But, yeah, and that's about it. I mean, that was the sighting. But it was pretty neat. Yeah, I get why it's burned in your mind.

And, you know, when you and I first spoke and you were telling me about your uncle, I thought, that's not the normal human reaction, you know, when your kids like, hey, come look at this after your great grandmother saying, oh, those monkeys are back and he doesn't even look up, he's like, oh, they're bears. That's a reaction of a man who's seen them before. That's not a reaction of someone who doesn't believe. Because, you know, most people are going to get up and go, well, what are you guys looking at? And he didn't do that.

Makes me wonder what he had seen. I wanted to ask you, I know you guys are at an elevated position, kind of looking down was there any details of the face that you recall? I mean, what kind of a distance are we talking about? You know, I mean, like I said, I mean, being a hunter now, and I would say we were probably, you know, 50 yards, you know, 40 to 50 yards. Facial features, I mean, I would say, you know, kind of, they were fully covered in hair, you know, longer hair.

The Patterson Gimlin film, I think Patty's a little darker. the color I would say was kind of like a cinnamon brown almost like what they call a cinnamon bear color you know long hair you know just kind of like a brownish gray around the eyes the nose you know not really much of an ear structure but you could tell it had ears and they were all three I mean they basically looked the same other than size. But, you know, kind of a wider, flatter nose, almost plainly the apes, but with a little more hair on the face. I mean, you know, it was definitely primate, you know, for sure.

Yeah, I hear you. And I know we're going back many years. And, God, I would love to sit down with your great grandmother. You know, I realize that people with dementia sometimes will say crazy things or things that makes sense. And, but for her to go, hey, those monkeys are back, you know, even in the mental state that she was in, that makes me think that, that lady's seen them before, you know. And I wanted to ask you many years later, did you ever go back and talk to your uncle after

you're an adult and say, hey, remember that one day? I actually saw them. I have talked to him about it. I've mentioned it a few times. And, you know, his response and same thing with my aunt. She, you know, she had passed away a few years ago. Her response was, all your grandma was losing it. You know, they, they wouldn't even address it.

My cousin, when we were in our early 20s, we had talked about it a couple times. And I asked her if she had ever seen anything again. And she said up above the house, like this was a really big ravine, like from bottom to top was probably 500 foot, 500 yards even maybe as far as elevation. And she said up above the house, she goes, I'm pretty sure I saw something walking up there one time. Now, she works for West Virginia government. And over the last probably 20 years, I've asked her about it. And she doesn't even acknowledge it. She says it never happened. And I just think it's, you know, her position that that she works for in her job. She probably, you know, she was probably ridiculed.

much like me if she told anybody, you know, you're crazy, you're crazy. You know, so I understand why, you know, but we all know what we saw. You know, she knows what she saw. Yeah, I could understand that, especially with the type of job that she has. You know, people later in life, they don't want to talk about it. They don't want to be ridiculed. And I definitely understand that. You'd mention the little one was hanging off of the female.

Can you kind of describe that? Well, she was kind of like left arm kind of just cradled and it was basically just kind of like sitting in her left arm and the, its arms were like holding on around her neck. Just hold on. Just walk just like they had a care in the world. They just walked from one woodline down a dry creek bed and into another woodline and just disappeared. And there was no hurry. There was no, um, they weren't scared. They were just, it was like they were taking a leisurely stroll in the park.

They were just walking right down this creek bed. Like they had a care in the world. Yeah, it's interesting. You know, the way you describe it, Jeff, reminds me of, if you ever watch like the Great Apes, you know, the gorillas, how they carry their young, it kind of sounds like that. I mean, one amazing experience, you know, for you at any age, really, but seeing it when you were very young. I know later in life you had a very strange experience in southeast Ohio. Tell me about that. Yeah, I'm a big, big hunter, big outdoorsman.

I got access to a pretty good sized piece of property in southeast Ohio. Close to the Salt Fork area where there's a lot of sightings and stuff. And there's quite a few reports down in that area. And, you know, never really thought of it. The guy that gives me access to the property, even though he has a Sasquatch statue in his living room, he tells me I'm completely full of nonsense. But he gives me access to the property. And me and another buddy were out. We went out one evening.

And we were in a really good spot. Been seen a lot of deer, a lot of activity. And it was just a weird evening. We went out. And I was actually kind of in a wooden blind down at the place. bottom of a ravine and my buddy was probably a hundred yards away from me like kind of around the face of the hill but on a tree stand up above me and as the evening went on it was just there was no birds there was no squirrels there was no there was no nothing there was no wind it was just quiet

there was no action going on and which i you know it was like well that's just a bad evening but I don't know, maybe an hour before it got dark, started hearing these big, heavy footsteps coming through the leaves. And, you know, a squirrel or a deer will come through the leaves and they kind of have that, you know, through the leaves. And this was heavy. It was foot, you know, boom, boom. And that wasn't making the noise, but you could feel these footsteps like, I could feel the footsteps inside of this wooden blind. And this went on for a few minutes. and then you didn't hear anything, and then maybe five minutes later, just hear this deep, kind of, like something was just grunting, and then all of a sudden you hear a tree go over, like a tree fell down in the woods.

And it was a heavy tree. It was big. It wasn't a sapling, and it, you know, made a big thud into the ground. And, okay, so there's no wind, but, okay, trees fall in the woods all the time. I get that. So maybe another five, ten minutes goes by and those footsteps start again. And it's just big, heavy, thump, thump, you know, you could feel it. And then the exact same thing, a few minutes later, you hear this, just boom.

And then another tree goes over. And so now I'm like, all right, I'm looking out of the front of this deer blind. Like I'm trying to look and see. And, you know, I kind of. thought, okay, this is what's going on, but I don't really know. And I'm looking, looking, looking. Normally, we would stay in there until dark. It was probably maybe half hour before it got dark. My buddy got down out of that tree stand. He came down to the blind and kind opened the door. And he was like, did you hear that? And I said, yeah. And I said,

did you see anything? He said, no. And he said, let's get the hell out of here. And we double timed it out of those woods, the normal 20, 30 minute walk. We were back at the house in 10 minutes. So it was unnerving. It was, you know, I didn't see anything. But just the situation, you know, you're thinking back, you know, to when I was a kid. And it's like, I really, really, really would love to see one to know that, you know, what I, what I saw wasn't a figure of my imagination. I know it's not. But I would give anything to see another one.

But yeah, I don't know. It was a weird situation, you know. So was there one close to me? I think there was, but I got no proof, you know, so I don't know. Yeah, I've heard this behavior many times from other eyewitnesses. Did you ever go back to that area? Oh, I hunt there all the time. I'm constantly looking, Wes.

I know I've listened to your show and people that have had bad experiences are, you know, they're kind of skeptical. Maybe they don't want to see one. I would give anything to see another one. I would love to. Yeah, I think that's more normal than you might think, Jeff. I think a lot of people, even people who've had terrifying encounters, and I'll ask them, would you want to see another one?

And nine times out of ten, the answer is yes. And I think the reason the answer is yes is because after the first time of seeing him, you go through a lot of self-doubt, like, God, am I losing it? Did I really just see that? Did that really just happen? and so you kind of want to have, see them again to make sure you're not losing it. I get it. And I think most eyewitnesses kind of go through that.

I ask everyone on the show, Jeff, what do you think Sasquatch is? And there's no wrong answer because no one knows. But what are your thoughts? What do you think this creature is? Well, I mean, I truly believe that they're, you know, flesh and blood. For the longest time, you know, just reading and stuff, I thought, you know, okay, maybe this is the missing link and it's just trying to be covered up or this is a you know a undiscovered cryptid or something along those lines um you know i truly believe they probably

live in a cave system underground that whole area where my family's from west virginia southeast ohio's just full of caves ohio's full of caves a lot of sightings out here but just with you know doing research and, you know, reading a lot and, you know, stuff you see online, people that I've listened to on your show, the whole, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, I think there's more to it. I don't, I'm just, really not sure about that part of it, because there's so many reports that involve that. It's just, you just don't know, you know, I mean, but I, I, I know what I saw was flesh and blood. I do know that. you know, whether they have superpowers or anything like that.

I mean, I, for the longest time, I've believed that they are covered up. I think the government knows about them. I've often thought that maybe they've, you know, weaponized them. I mean, it's just a theory. I mean, you know, who knows? And maybe that's why they cover them up. But, you know, or they're just trying to keep it out of textbooks. And, you know, it's the classic.

missing link that we were, you know, fed as children that, hey, you know, this is, you know, this is how it is. So I don't know. But like I said, I would love to see one again. Yeah, they appear to be very much so flesh and blood. I don't think I've ran into too many eyewitnesses that saw a ghost. And it's just weird that no one can catch up with them with so many eyewitness reports. And you bring up the government portion and, you know, so many reports from soldiers on these military bases running into them, and no one seems to really want to look into it. It's bizarre. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on the show and share the encounter, you know, especially with your grandmother, your great-grandmother, and that whole

situation, and then this hunting situation. Let me know if you go back to that area, if anything else happens, will you? Yeah. It's been a... about five years since that happened. And I was actually just down there last weekend. And I will tell you what, I mean, when I go out in the woods, I have always been uneasy, but it's just, you know, it's something that I like to do. And I would love for something to happen so I could give you a call and let you know,

for sure. Yeah, be safe in that area. And if you ever hear the forest take a deep breath like that where you don't hear the insects, you don't hear any, you know, anything from any one. and it's just dead silent. It's probably a good time to leave. Be safe, and thank you again for coming on, Jeff. No comment.

Thanks for having me. And that's it for tonight, everyone, remember you've had an encounter. Shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at saskwatchfronticles.com. And if you get a chance, check out saskwarchpronicles.com. You can become a member and get additional shows.

Until next time, everyone. my home