Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:924 A 10,000 Mile Journey

Episode Date: February 4, 2023

Tonight I will be speaking to Jake. Jake writes "My encounter goes all the way back to when I was about 12 years old in Greenfield, Tennessee, which is a small town in the northwest portion of the state. When I was growing up, I would spend a great deal of my time playing out in the woods. This one time, which is when I had my encounter, I was walking along the sand creeks as I often did. These creeks run for miles and miles through the woods, and I was probably about a mile out from my house. Anyway, I was alone and walking around a bend when I thought I saw a bear. I had never seen a bear out there, nor had I ever heard of any being in the area, so I was really shocked to it see it. After I walked around the bend, I was probably fifty feet from it, which, being a kid with no experience with bears, I figured I was at a safe distance, so I stood there to watch it. I quickly realized that it had a deer underneath it and it appeared to be eating it, although it had its back to me, and I couldn't really tell what it was doing. After watching it for about twenty seconds, I realized it had arms and was pulling the deer apart. And right as I realized that, this thing stood up, and I knew then that this thing was not a bear at all. I immediately took off running back to my house and never told anyone this encounter until now. I never saw it's face or anything because it had its back to me the whole time, but it certainly wasn't a bear and it certainly wasn't a man. It was probably around 7' tall or so and had jet black hair. Actually, at the time, I didn't even think that I'd seen a sasquatch. I went years thinking there was some kind of monster living in the woods and didn't want to tell anyone out of fear of being ridiculed. I have gone back into those woods since then, although I never went back to that location. I never saw anything again, though, but I was always uneasy after that. Fast forward a few years, I ended up joining the Army and became homeless after I got out of the service due to losing everything during a tornado. I then began walking between towns to look for work, but I wasn't having much luck at finding any work. However, I realized walking and sleeping under the stars seemed to be helping with my PTSD, so I decided to walk across America to see if any opportunities would arise, as well as being my kind of therapy. Alone and unsupported, I spent the next three years traveling on foot from Tennessee to Delaware, to California, to Florida, to Alaska, back to Florida, and back to California again. During that time, I had, what I believe to be, two other encounters. I never saw anything during those two encounters, but I did have rocks thrown at me and heard sticks banging against trees. One of those times was near Silver Creek, Mississippi and the other was just north of Rumsey, California." Check out Jakes book called "Walking America: A 10,000 Mile Journey of Self-Healing" Jakewalksamerica.com   You can also get it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Walking-America-Mile-Journey-Self-Healing/dp/B086PPJJKZ      

It looked like somebody was bent over and had their head in the window of the deer blind and it either heard me or smelt me and he pulled his head out of the tent and stood straight up and 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 moves like that in my life. They were screaming at each other in gibberish. It sounded like a language and they were chuntering away back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forward.

I know what a bear looks like and there is no way on this planet that what I saw were bears. What on now, sir? That sort of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know. Do you see a bouncer? out there? Yes, I'm looking right here. This is Boston Billy. You're listening to Sasquatch Chronicles. Let's go, baby. Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show plan for you. We're going to be chatting with Jake. And Jake's actually a veteran with the army. He served our country, and he has a really fascinating story. Fascinating life, actually. He wrote a book, Walking America,

A 10,000 mile journey of self-healing. And it's up on Amazon. I'll throw a link underneath this episode. And there's more to it than what you might think. Jake's website is jakewarksamerica.com. You can also find him on Facebook. But it's this incident after he left the military where he lost everything in a tornado. And he was kind of dealing with a lot of things from his service to our country, being

over in Afghanistan, and a lot of really bizarre things happened to him on this journey. But his first encounter was back in Tennessee when he was about 12 years old. It's a really cool account because these type of accounts I usually only hear from hunters who are up in tree stands and observe these creatures doing this. And I'll let Jake go into it tonight. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. And if you get a chance, check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows.

Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Jake to the show. Jake, thanks for coming on. Thank you. Yeah, and first and foremost, thank you for your service to our country. And I really want to get into this book and some of these weird things that happened to you, on your journey. Before we get into that, if you would, take me back when you were about 12 years old. You were out in Tennessee. I know your folks kind of lived out in the middle of nowhere.

And you had this experience. Kind of start from the very beginning. What were you doing? And what happened? So it was the summer break. And I just went out playing in the woods like I always did. and there's a creek that runs from the town that I grew up all the way from in town, and that creek runs all the way to the next river, which is about, I'd say about a 10-mile stretch. And it's a sandy creek, and it has, you know, a lot of clay pits and things like that. So I was just walking along that creek like I always did. And so it was a big storm a few days.

prior to that. And once the water comes through, I like to walk along that creek and see what has changed out there because, you know, there'd be different kinds of erosion or if I want to see if trees have been knocked down or whatever, you know, just to explore. And I like to be quiet when I'm out there walking because I can come up on animals pretty close. You know, I can see a lot of deer and turkey, bobcats, or just whatever if I'm quiet. And this was probably maybe two miles from my house. I wasn't too far, but pretty far out. And I walked around this bend and I saw something sitting there and it was just, it was jet black. And the first thing that came to mind was that I'm looking at a black bear. And I was surprised because I'd never

seeing any bears out there and I'd never heard of anyone else seeing any bears out there. So I was just, you know, stunned to see this and I'm just sitting there staring at it for probably, I don't know, 10 or 20 seconds or so. And I realized that this thing has a deer underneath it. And I'm like, okay, this bear's eating a deer. You know, I'm kind of focused on the deer at that point. I can kind of see its bottom half sticking out to the side of it. And I'm looking at the deer and I'm like, is it eating this thing alive? You know, it's kind of gruesome. But, you know, just the kid's curiosity.

But yeah, then I saw this arm come out and it was like pulling the hide, like, I guess, down the deer. And towards the bottom half that I could see, but when I saw that arm, I knew instantly that it wasn't a bear. And I kind of thought, you know, oh my God, this is a gorilla? Like, why don't there be a gorilla out here? And then right after that, it stood up. And I, it wasn't a man and it wasn't a bear. And I was just, I was terrified.

You know, I had my mouth open and it felt like I was screaming, But it was a silent scream. Yet it never turned around, at least as far as I know, because so it had this back to me. And as soon as it stood up, I just kind of froze for a second and kind of did like a slow turn and kind of tiptoed out of there. I don't know if it ever saw me or not, but I, yeah, I was trying to be as quiet as I could for probably 20 feet or so. I got around this bend, and after that, I took off running, and I ran all the way home after that. I mean, I was going full speed, jumping over logs, crawling under things, just hauling it through there. And, yeah, I just, I went a long time not knowing what I saw, never told anyone.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want people to think that it was just my imagination or I didn't want to be told I couldn't play in the woods anymore because I spent a lot of my time out there and I enjoyed it, you know. Yeah, I understand that. So when you when you walked up on it, I mean, it has its back to you and it's kind of bent over and it's eating this deer. I mean, I could kind of see why you would think it was a black bear. Yeah. It was like a big, just a jet black ball, you know. And I didn't think it was a Bigfoot or a gorilla.

You know, my mind just immediately went to a bear. It was just a big solid black ball. And I was probably, I would say about 50 feet away from it. So I just see this big black ball kind of over this deer. Can I ask you when it stood up, did it stand up like a man? Well, it didn't like put its hand down or anything. It just kind of raised. But then I don't know.

I'm guessing it was it probably went up. It was going up over six feet, definitely. It was going, it was still going up when I turned around the left. But yeah, I would say it was probably 17. And, you know, I listen to your show a lot and I listen to people talk about the head shape. and I can't even remember what this thing's head looked like. I don't know if even finished standing up before I turned around or if I just can't remember. Yeah, and that's big.

That's big for a grown man to see, let alone, you know, a 12-year-old kid. And I try and put myself in the mindset of you at that time. And I want to ask you what you thought you saw. I mean, I guess the only thing I would think is a monster. You know, you just ran into a monster. Yeah, I did. It almost looked like the back of this thing was like the size of a normal black bear. So it was like the size of a normal black bear, but it had arms like a man and legs like a man.

But it was covered in just jet black hair every inch of it. I can't remember if I saw Blair Witch project before that or after that, but they were talking about the Blair Witch, how she was just covered in hair. and I just kind of went a long time thinking that I saw some kind of witch out there or something I had no idea what I saw I definitely it wasn't Bigfoot never crossed my mind actually until the last year or so

and I've been listening to your show and I was like oh man like did I really did I see a Sasquatch out there because it that's like the only thing that really makes sense I didn't really think there was I had a hard time believing it was a witch you know. Yeah, I've talked to a lot of eyewitnesses, mainly hunters, and they're in tree stands when they observe this, and kind of how you describe it is exactly the way I've heard it over

and over and over again. They're kind of bent over, eating the deer and ripping the hide off as they're eating it, and, you know, tearing pieces off and ripping the hide off as they eat. That's terrifying, man, especially being that close to the thing as it was eating. How far away from your home was this where you saw this creature? I was probably maybe a mile and a half, I would say. But then after that, so I had a friend that lived about a quarter of a mile down the road from my house, and we would walk to each other's house and then we would walk back and forth together, especially if it was dark

he didn't like walking at night and I didn't mind so I would usually walk him home at the end of the day and then I would walk back but then I was walking him home one night and we both heard something scream but it was also making some other sounds so it sounded like we kind of thought it was like a baby

or something that we were hearing but then there was also a scream that came after it but it was you could tell it was coming from the same thing It wasn't a woman out there with a baby, but that's kind of what we thought it sounded like. So around that same time, there was definitely some weird sounds going on. Yeah, it's strange. A lot of baby crying type sounds, a lot of people hear. I want to ask you, I know you kept this pretty close to the chest, and I kind of already know the answer to it.

But did you ever go to your folks? I mean, did they ever describe anything odd going on or around? that property because you know you're a mile and a half two miles from your home seeing this creature i would imagine somebody must have heard something out there they've said that they've heard a lot of weird noises out there but that was about the end of it i guess um i never told them what i saw or actually i did tell them about the screams and the sounds that we heard out there and they're just you know yeah that's where we hear stuff out there you know as far as i know they never seen anything, but they've heard things out there.

And I get the ridicule and you don't want your parents to think you're crazy. And I think once you start hitting about 12, you know, right around 12 years old, you start thinking about those sort of things. But why not tell your folks about what you saw that day? I don't know. I just, I feel, I don't want them to think that I was crazy or that I'm making something up. or I don't know. And I also kind of feel like, I don't know,

like maybe if there is something out there, it's been out there a long time, and I don't want them to, if they actually do believe what I saw, I don't want them to feel differently about living out there. You know, they seem pretty peaceful out there. Yeah, I get it, man.

And, you know, it's one of those situations. I get where you're coming from because you're not even really sure what you saw, you know, and how do you explain? You saw what you thought was a bear. It had arms. It stood up like a man. I mean, it's hard to really describe what you saw to someone. And I get out there, you know, you grew up kind of living out in the woods and, you know, that was your playground and the thought of them taking that from you.

I get it completely. After this incident of seeing it, did anything else strange happen out of the way? They're beyond hearing vocalizations? No, I haven't out there. No, that's kind of why it was so strange to me. I played in the woods a lot before that. And even after that, I never went to that same location again. I was always kind of scared to go in that direction.

But, yeah, I never saw her. I mean, I heard a couple of things, but I never saw anything else. just this strange, like almost sounds like a woman's screaming kind of sound, but, I mean, there's definitely not a woman out there. So it wasn't, you know, I grew up playing in the woods all the time. I know what a bobcat sounds like. They can sound pretty scary, but it definitely it wasn't a bobcat. So. Yeah, I would imagine, you know, living out there all the time and, you know, you know the sounds of bobcats and some of the, you know, coyotes, some of the different animals that make bizarre sounds, but that is fascinating. You were hearing them vocalize.

I want to go back to the encounter. Do you think the creature, I mean, you're 12 years old. Most 12-year-olds aren't very intimidating, but do you think the creature knew you were there, or do you think it was too busy eating to even notice? I kind of felt like it stood up because it sensed that I was there. Like it felt like it knew I was there. Maybe it didn't know exactly where I was at. It was almost like it sensed me. And that's why it stood up.

And that's when I, how I tilted it out of there. Yeah, I don't know if it smelled me or just felt my presence there. But it felt to me like whatever it was, it knew I was in that area. It makes you wonder if it had a feeling like it was being watched. You know, us humans, we tend to get that a lot from these sayings. And it makes you wonder, I mean, maybe it had a weird feeling it was being watched

and it was trying to look around to see what was watching it. You know, in a lot of situations like with bears or major predators, when they're eating and you stumble upon them, you're in big trouble. They're going to come after you. But that's not always necessarily. true with these things, which I find very weird. Like I said, I've talked to a lot of hunters that have observed them eating. And I even had a couple eyewitnesses described, stumbling upon them eating. And it wasn't happy, but it didn't, you know, everyone walked away with their

life, which is kind of a head scratcher a little bit for me. Thus, fast forward. So you join the military, you join the army, and then you get out of the army. And, you get out of the army. And you wrote this book, Walking America, a 10,000 mile journey of self-healing. And I'm going to get a copy of the book. I know it's on Amazon. And I know you have a website, Jake, jakewarksamerica.com. And I really want to read this book, actually. But tell me about that.

So after you leave the Army, how did you find yourself in this position? So after I got out of the Army, I went back to Tennessee. and I opened a recording studio and I had that for almost a year and then I ended up losing everything during a tornado there including my car and so I started walking between towns

to look for work and wasn't having much luck at finding any jobs it was a different time back then everyone was working it's not like after COVID and now jobs are open everywhere but back then where I was at, it was hard to find anything. You know, not having a car that didn't help my case.

You know, they're like, how are you going to get to work? I was like, well, I'll just live over in the woods until I can get a car. And, you know, they didn't like to hear that. So, yeah, I just got walking between towns. And I was probably walking 20 miles a day. And, yeah, I eventually realized that, you know, all this walking and, you know, just sleeping under the stars, to be helping my PTSD.

So I decided one day that I would walk across America just to see what kind of opportunities came up. I went from Tennessee to Delaware, to California, to Florida, to Alaska, back to Florida, and back to California again. I was actually doing it for different charities at the time. And so I wasn't actually making any money, but I had an app on my phone.

and they were donating so much money per mile that I was walking. So it felt kind of like work to me. You know, I was just out surviving, basically. I did a lot of hunting, trapping, fishing, foraging, or even dumpster diving, whatever, just to get by or find little odd jobs here and there. And, you know, I was just kind of living life, you know. But one of the times I had a buddy walking with me

when I was in Mississippi. Well, actually, before that one, I was walking with someone else in California. And this is my next strange encounter. So we were around Rumsey, California. And we decided to camp underneath this bridge. And there was a creek running along the side of it. And we put the tent up right next to the bridge wall.

and we were laying there, I don't know, a couple hours after dark, maybe an hour after dark. My friend actually drank, or not drink, but he took some NyQuil to help him sleep. And I can't remember if he had a cold or if he just wanted to sleep better. But yeah, he took that. So he was real loopy anyway, but I was wide awake when all this started going on. but I guess an hour or two after we were laying there I heard a really loud splash like a rock had been thrown into the river

or the creek right next to us I popped my head out and I didn't see anything I thought maybe it was either something fell off of the bridge or maybe there was a beaver out there but I didn't see anything so I zipped the tent back up

and was laying there for maybe just a few minutes and it happened again. So I, you know, I unzip my tent. I get out and I start walking around and then a rock comes flying and it hits the bridge wall that's behind the tent.

And then I wake my friend up and I told him, yo, someone's throwing some rocks at us and he's really loopy when I wake him out and he just wake him up and he's like, what are you talking about? And he gets out of the tent with me, we're standing there. And then rocks just start coming flying towards us. like they were all coming from one direction, but it was several rocks.

And they were hitting the creek all around us. They were hitting the wall. They started hitting the tent. And we got back inside of the tent and we put our backpacks and sleeping bags and stuff up over our heads. So if any rocks came in through the tent, then they would hit the sleeping or the backpack and not hit us in the head because these were like some good size rocks. And we just laid there with our backpacks over. our heads for, I don't know, an hour or so before they finally stopped and we just laid there the rest of the night. And how is that? We were thinking someone was throwing rocks at us. And we

didn't want to get out and try to leave because we would get hit with those rocks. So we just laid there and just let the rocks fly until they stopped. Yeah, that's really unnerving. Very dangerous too. Were you guys near a town? I don't think I've ever heard of Rumsey, California. Were you guys near a town or just kind of out in the middle of nowhere? So, Rumsey is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I don't think there's even a store there. There are a couple of houses in that area, but that's about it. I think the next nearest town would be Gwenda, and even Gwenda is really small.

They have a, they have a post office that, you know, it shuts down. I mean, it's open from like 11 to 2. It's a really small town, just a couple of people there. And then the next town after that is clearly, which is maybe 20 miles, maybe more than 20 miles, actually. So it's very rural out there. Even the next morning when we got up, started walking around looking for footprints out there. I didn't see anything. The only thing that I saw when I got up was an older man who'd come down and he was fishing.

But I don't think he was throwing rocks at us that night. Yeah, I want to ask you. I mean, in that moment, let's say it's a human being for a second. If a human being is going to start throwing rocks at you guys under this bridge and they're that pissed off, they're going to come down and confront you. But, you know, you hear of this situation in Sasquatch encounters where people get rocks thrown at them. I mean, in this moment, what did you think was throwing rocks? I mean, I didn't hear anything though.

I never heard. There was a lot of brush around us. And if someone was out there, you would have heard them walking around out there. So, I mean, and if it was, I mean, my headlamp, it wasn't very bright. It was probably 150 lumens. So, you know, I can't see too far with it anyway. I mean, it was coming, the rocks were coming further than what I could see with my light. Like, they were coming down the creek.

So something was down the creek throwing rocks. I really had no idea. Honestly, I was just scared that we were going to get hit in the head with one of those rocks if it came flying through the tent. They were hitting, some of them hit the tent, but they didn't go through it, thankfully. Bouncing off. But, yeah, when we got up in the morning, there were rocks all around us. They were not there whenever we went to bed.

Yeah, it's unnerving and dangerous, especially being in the middle of nowhere. And, you know, 150 illumine flashlight, you can see roughly about 400 feet. And these rocks were still coming in. I mean, thank God, no one got hit with one. Tell me about this other incident you'd mentioned there in the beginning. Was it Mississippi? Yep, that was about probably a year after that. And I was going through, that probably wasn't even a year.

is probably like six or seven months. And then I had another guy walking with me. He walked from Florida to a little bit after this happened. I think he went back home. It was a border of Mississippi when he decided to catch a bus home. But he was with me then. And we were in this little area called, I think it's Silver Creek. And it was almost the same thing.

And he was, he started freaking out. out because I had told him about what had happened in California, and he thought it was happening all over again with him, you know. But so with him, it was, we heard a loud splash in the water after we'd set up, you know. So it was also a bridge next to a creek, but we weren't under the bridge this time. We were in this patch of grass right next to the tree line. We had a fire that night, and right after the fire died down, we went and got inside of our sleeping bags in the tent.

and, you know, we're just laying there maybe 30 minutes or so after dark, and we heard this loud splash, and then he's like, oh, no, not this, you know, not after what you told me. And then I'm like, oh, it's probably a beaver or something. So I get out of my tent and I walk over there and I'm looking around, looking for what I thought would probably be a beaver, because, you know, sometimes I'll slap their tail on the water. And I didn't see anything. So I was like, oh, I don't see anything. So I went back to the tent, got in, and we were laying there just a few more minutes.

And then we hear this really loud, like a wood knock, and it was super loud. Like, if you took a two by four and just hit a tree as hard as you can, like hard enough, it would probably damage your arms. You know, it was super loud. And, yeah, we both jumped up after that, and we got out of the tent. and we're shining our headlamps around and trying to figure out what it was and it did it again and then there was another rock

that got thrown into the water I mean I assume that's what it was I couldn't see the rock but that's what it sounded like that big g-hmm after it hits and and then we were like yeah let's get out of here

so we get everything as quick as we can get on top of the bridge and then when we get up to the top of the bridge we're still shining our head you know, we feel safer from up there because whatever's down below is like we're kind of out of its reach. And for some reason, I guess being on the road, you kind of have like a false sense of security too. But, you know, we were up there looking around, didn't see or hear anything once we got on top of the bridge. But then we started, we focused our headlamps back to the road and started walking.

And then as soon as we started walking and pointed our headlamps the other way, we heard the wood knock again. So we ran. I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly, we ran for a little while after that. Yeah, I bet. I bet. I would have been scared too, especially when you really don't have a place to go. I think a lot of this sort of behavior is them trying to scare you out of an area, trying to make you leave. You'll hear this sort of thing over and over and over again, or they'll vocalize or throw rocks or hit trees, bang on trees. I think a lot of it is just meant to terrify you. It's meant to make you want to leave. And I know you spent three years walking across America.

The book, again, for the audience is Walking America, a 10,000 mile journey of self-healing. And you can go to Jake walksamerica.com or Amazon and get a copy of his book. And I'm going to get a copy just because I'm fascinated. I want to hear all of it. but I'd buy a copy anyway because you're a veteran. And, you know, that's a part that really pisses me off. And I probably shouldn't go off on this tangent, but I'm going to. I generally try and stay away from politics because I think it's all cancer.

I think it's all theatrics and BS, whether it's left or right, it's all nonsense. But the fact that we send so much money to all these other countries, and yet we have a veteran that lost everything in a tornado. and is basically homeless, and it's like, well, you're on your own. It just like enrages me to hear that. I think that we can do better as a country. But when I was reading your email, the sense that I got is this whole journey kind of brought you a sense of peace. Yeah, I enjoyed it.

So, I mean, even if I had found some sort of help, you know, financially, if they'd hook me up with a housing or whatever, then I'd still be stuck there living that same life, I guess. Yeah, I hear you. Let me ask you, Jake. You know, you've had a sort of life and been in this position and been able to see America in a way, very few people have seen. Along this journey, what are some of the craziest things that you've seen? And it could be Sasquatch related or not? I was in a...

I was in Pennsylvania at one point, and it started raining right after it got into my tent. And when I woke up the next morning, there was a big dry spot, like a big dry circle right in front of my tent. And that was very bizarre. And the rain stopped, you know, maybe 45 minutes or so after I got up. So something was there all night long to keep that spot dry. So that was really strange. I don't know. Like, I'm a light sleeper.

If something was out there making any noises, then I would have known it was out there. I don't know why that spot was dry. I have no idea. I mean, I don't know what the odds are, but not raining in that one spot. But probably pretty, that's a pretty rare thing to happen, I guess. And then, I mean, I've had, you know,

run-ins with all kinds of different people. I've been, I was shot at. a couple of times, actually. Stumbled across a meth house when I was in Kentucky and got shot at. You know, I've been in a lot of tornado or a few tornadoes. I've come across a couple of bears. I had a really close call with the grizzly when I was up in Alaska, got charged up there.

I ended up using a whole can of bear spray. And I didn't carry a gun with me during any of this because, you know, I didn't want to get stopped by the police and then have them check me. and you'd have to get permits to carry in whatever state, well, usually. And, I mean, some states carry over, but I didn't want to have to deal with that or whatever. So I just carried bearspray with me for protection. But yeah, I ended up using a whole can on a bear up in Alaska before it finally backed off. And I'm glad it did because, like, the can, it sizzled out.

You know, the whole can was gone and that's all I had. and that was up in a Denali National Park. So I was still a few days walk just to get back to the nearest road. So that was pretty scary. Tell me about that. Did you stumble upon this thing? I went down to a river up there to get some water because I was staying pretty high and it was clear. There weren't a lot of trees and brush and everything where I was at.

And I could see everything. and yeah I had to come down one day to get some water and when I did there was well I didn't know it was a bear on the other side of this bin where I was at but I went to get some water and I pulled my canteen out and there was like an elastic band that was holding my canteen in place and when I pulled the canteen out

I just heard some splashing coming around the other side and it was I guess it was a bear in the river I'm guessing it probably had a kill over there or something because they'll get real defensive if they have food. So it came running around the corner and it charged me right there. And I scurried up the bank as quick as I could. And when I turned around, it was right behind me and I just whipped out my bear spray and let them have it.

And he kept turning his head away and kind of like hit like scratching at the ground and rubbing his face on the ground. and he keep coming right back. I mean, I say he, I don't know if it was a male or female, but yeah, and it just kept turning around and coming at me. And eventually it just decided to have enough. It was like, man, this thing is just, you know, it just keeps spraying me with this stuff. And I'm sick of it, thankfully.

But it took the whole can to get it to back off. Yeah, you're lucky to be alive, man. You're real lucky to be alive. And that kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier. You know, the thing that you ran into when you were. a kid was sitting there eating and you were able to kind of walk up on it and it didn't really come after you. It's not the normal animal reaction with Sasquatch.

What you ran up there in Alaska, you know, those grizzlies, that's a normal reaction. And that's really why I'm not a fan of bear spray because, I mean, you got something the size of a car coming at you and it's pissed and you're going to, what, blind it? with spray and then what happens, you know? And that's just my own personal opinion. I understand why you had bear spray and weren't carrying a bunch of guns with you. Yeah, it was definitely scary. I mean, I had the bear spray and then I had a big knife for me, a big honey knife.

But, I mean, what are you going to do with a knife? I against the bear. It was charging at me. It was angry. It was, yeah. And I had the bear spray. I kept my bear spray on my belt. right next to my, you know, the front of my belt there.

So it was, you know, that's what it's for. So I used it. Yeah, as much crap as I talk about bear spray. I mean, I would have blasted that thing too and hoped for the best. And, you know, being out there and traveling as much as you did by foot over three years, I just don't think I could do it, man. I think after about a week, I'd be like, okay, I'm calling mom and dad. and I'm going to live there.

You know what I mean? After about a month of doing it, you just get used to it. It's just kind of whatever. I felt, you know, like a just normal. It just felt very casual to me after that point, unless, you know, something crazy comes up, you know, like the tornadoes or the bear or something. But, I mean, you make it through the night

and the next day, it's all just the day starts over again. Yeah, I hear you. And I know there's a bigger picture to it. you know, there's a portion of trying to heal from watching your friends die. And I would imagine things you've seen in war and that sort of thing. I understand completely getting out there. And I've actually talked to other veterans that have done that or have been in this situation. And there does seem to be some healing getting away from civilization.

But, you know, you run into dangerous situations too. You brought up earlier that you came across a meth house and you were shot at. Where did that happen? By the Daniel Boone National Forest, it was out that way. And there was a pumpkin patch, and I didn't know it was a pumpkin patch, but I saw these little orange balls out in the field, and I walked over to it to see what these little orange balls were. And when I picked it up, someone had a shotgun up by that house, and then after they shot at me,

and the pellets kind of hit on the road and everything is scattered about. And I was like, oh, oh, like this is, I saw the smoke coming up and I could smell it at that point. You can smell that chemical smell. I just wasn't paying attention to it because I was focused on those pumpkins. At first I thought they were shooting at me

because I was in their pumpkin patch. I was like, oh, that's a little much guy, you know. But then I realized, yeah, they're definitely cooking meth up there. And there's no cell service. out there or anything. So I just highted it out of there after that. But it could have gone pretty bad.

There's no one out there. There was hardly any traffic at all through that area where I was at. It was just you could, they could do whatever they want out there. You know, Jake, I, I've known some veterans who have done basically what you did. And there, there's a couple of them have, I've had on the show. where they kind of live like a hermit. They kind of get away from humans, just trying separate themselves.

And being alone, the sense I get is they get some sort of peace from it, you know, just kind of being, it's a freedom. And this is all my opinion and impression from talking to eyewitnesses that we're veterans. And when they do this sort of thing, when they go out and live like a hermit in the woods, they'll have run-ins with Sasquatch. And there's one, the gold miners encounter and a few others that I can think of, of veterans I've actually interviewed.

But as I read your email and as we talk, you know, I want to ask you, what is it about getting it away from civilization? Because it doesn't sound like you're in downtown L.A. I mean, you're going kind of the back roads, small towns, and just walking, how does that, how did that kind of help your PTSD? Because it sounds like a harsh way to live. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, it was harsh, but I mean, that's part of the, I don't know,

I guess it makes you feel more grounded, I guess, kind of in control of yourself and not everyone else being in control of you and pushing you around when you don't want to be pushed. you know, you're living on your own time kind of thing. If you don't want to do something, you don't have to, if you feel, you know, if you feel overwhelmed, then you can just take a break and no one was going to tell you, no, you can't take a break, you know, just kind of doing your own thing. It's just, you know, you can focus on just nature, I guess, is really nice. You don't have to worry about anything else.

But then a part of it was also I kind of felt like I couldn't trust people anymore. I saw, I was in Afghanistan for two years, two one-year tours. And I kind of lost faith in people. I saw a lot of really bad things and was involved in a lot of bad things. But, yeah, I really just didn't trust people anymore. But walking across America, I mean, I ran into some bad apples, but I also ran into a lot of really nice people when I was doing it. And that kind of restored my faith in people, too.

So I kind of needed that. Yeah, tell me about that. You know, I'm sitting here thinking about probably all the scumbags you came across, walking across America. But tell me about the good people you ran into. Well, I mean, I've had a lot of people let me come back to their house and stay the night with them. They would cook me dinner and let me sleep in a spare bedroom.

this one time I went into a McDonald's somewhere in Texas and I just I walked in and I had a sore throat it was during the winter there and I was like I just walked in I said does anyone have a cough drop and like 10 people came up and they just started giving me money and cough drops

I was like whoa like that was super friendly you know and this one time I tried switching from a tent to a bivie and this was also during the winter and my BIVY ended up getting soaking wet during a rainstorm I don't know if it was condensation

or if it was leaking but regardless all my things got wet including my sleeping bag and the next night it was supposed to be like I don't know like 15, 20 degrees and I came up to a motel and I just asked them if I could use their dryer just to dry my stuff so I wouldn't freeze at night

and they ended up giving me a room and let me stay there for free and I was able to do my laundry and then the next morning they let me come into, you know, they lived in the motel that they owned and they let me come into their house with them and had breakfast and it's just stuff like that that kind of helped me out too. I try to avoid the big cities because when you get into areas where there are a lot of homeless people, then people are treated more poorly.

I guess. They just kind of shut people out. And if they saw me walking through there with a backpack, then they would just think, oh, he's a homeless, drug addict, alcoholic, thief, whatever. So I would try to avoid those situations or those areas. And I would try to stick to smaller towns where people would see me. And they'd be like, what is this guy doing?

You know, I just didn't look apart to be in that kind of area, I guess. Yeah, you know, it kind of warms my heart to hear that. You know, we live in a world full of narcissists and people that will cut your throat to get ahead or whatever. And, you know, hear situations where complete strangers and they're bending over backwards to help you, it kind of restores your faith in humanity. Yep, exactly. So, yeah, recently I was walking with a car. and it had a big sign on the sides of my cart and then a sign on the front of it and people can drive by and they can look me up and then they would come back and try to help out. But when I was doing it before, so right now I'm doing it to promote my book and I'm using my book sales to try to start a campground.

It'll be set up to help vets with PTSD. But when I was walking before all of this, I just had a backpack. I didn't have any signs or anything. People had no idea what I was doing or who I was or why I was doing it unless they stopped to talk to me. I feel like if I'd had more bad experiences than good experiences that I probably wouldn't be trying to do what I'm doing now. I probably would have gave up on people.

But they definitely sit me in a better direction. Yeah, you know, this being a Bigfoot show, Normally I wouldn't take a show to interview someone about walking across America, but with your military service, I feel like you've earned the right to be here. You know, and for me, being a civilian, it's a very least I could do for you. And again, for the audience out there, the book is called Walking America, a 10,000 mile journey of self-healing. Pick it up at Jake walksamerica.com. Jake, when people get the book, is it kind of a log of just different experiences you've had

while on this journey? It kind of starts when I lose everything in that tornado and then it's just kind of, it goes all the way until I stop. It's not really a daily log thing because a lot of days were very uneventful, just walking and nothing really happened. But I try to kind of talk about the people that I met and then the things that I had to overcome, like the hardships, you know, just kind of the highlights, I guess.

But, yeah, I mean, I think it flows pretty well. It doesn't really throw people off. Like, how did you do all of this in three years? And it's only a 380-page book, you know? So I tried to cut out the, just the boringness of it. Yeah, after this interview, I'll definitely be getting a copy of it. and I can't wait to read it. Going back to Sasquatch for a moment,

you know, you had that experience when you're very young, and then he went on this journey of self-healing and had these weird experiences while you were out there. And I ask everyone, Jake, and there's no wrong answer, but what do you think Sasquatch is? What's your thoughts? I think it's an animal. I don't think there's anything misd,

I mean, it's kind of mystical, but I don't think there's anything like supernatural about it. It definitely seemed like an animal to me. I mean, the one that I saw, I mean, it was definitely an animal out there. You could be right. He definitely could be right. And I get why you say that, Jake. I mean, what you saw, I mean, you saw a predator eating its prey.

I mean, I don't know how much more of an animal or animalistic behavior you can get than seeing that out in the wild. why do you think that we can't catch up with it? Why do you think that it hasn't come out yet for the public anyway? I think there's probably a very few number of them or they're really good at hiding. I really, I don't have an answer for that. I mean, the woods where I grew up, it was no trespassing. We didn't have hunters out there. So, you know, and it was pretty much just me.

And that's a lot of woods out there in northwest Tennessee, just miles and miles, like hundreds of acres are just woods. You know, there's just little small back roads that go through and then houses are even spares out there. So they could be out there easily and just be hiding. I mean, it wouldn't be very difficult. I don't know why we don't have a body of, one yet. I think we will. I think at some point we're going to. But as we're growing in civilization,

we're going more into their habitats. And at some point, someone's going to get a body, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, let's hope so, man. I can't wait for that day. And, you know, last question I want to ask you. And I realize, you know, when you, I try to understand serving. I never served. And I have great admiration for people who did. I almost kind of feel a sense of guilt that I didn't. But I do admire people who have. And it's very hard to imagine war.

You know, I know younger kids might think it's like call of duty. But when you start having a roll of bullets fly over your head. and you're seeing your friends die and all the terrible stuff. It's like that old saying, you know, war is hell. My heart goes out to a lot of guys that, you know, lost buddies and, you know, you have all this stuff go on. All of that aside for a moment, what was kind of your best moments of serving? What was kind of like your best memories of serving the country?

Just the camaraderie between me and my platoon and everything. And then even after the. military if you if you served you know you feel close to these guys um yeah i think that's just the best part of it and then you know in our downtime we're just a bunch of goofballs hanging out you know with just normal people outside of work you know it was fun we had a lot of crazy experiences almost like being in college you know yeah i hear a lot of veterans say that it's a brotherhood it's uh family you know um and it's something very special and, but there is baggage when you come back and you got a lot of strength, Jake.

I don't think I could have walked across America, you know, and tried to find peace, try to get your soul back. And you did. And I admire that very much. And again, for the audience, go to Jake walksamerica.com. You can get it on Amazon as well, but it's Walking America, a 10,000 mile journey of self-healing. Jake, thank you so much for taking the time to come on. It was an honor. Thank you. 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. Until next time, everyone. tone