The Confessionals - 178: Bigfoot Outside The House

Episode Date: November 12, 2019

On Episode 178: Bigfoot Outside the House, we have two guests joining the show! First, we speak with Jason, a former police officer who has always been fascinated with bigfoot and eventually became an investigator. Though he never really felt that he would ever see a bigfoot, that all changed when he walked right up on one! After we talk to Jason, we bring on Gerry, a teacher who has traveled all over the world, but when he moved to Southern Georgia he learned that locals were seeing things in the woods. Gerry has collected many accounts of other people’s bigfoot sightings and he will be sharing some of them on today's show! Become a member: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaI Subscribe to the Newsletter: https://www.theconfessionalspodcast.com/the-newsletter Email: [e-mail] Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcast Instagram: @theconfessionalspodcast Tony's Instagram: @tony_merkel Show Intro INSTRUMENTAL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyub39AXxUw Show Intro FREE DOWNLOAD: https://bit.ly/2HxNcw3 Show art: Ricardo Chucky ( https://www.artstation.com/ricardochucky)

This was all circulating around the base that a giant had to kill, but no one was supposed to talk about it. I saw three long, bony fingers, reach up underneath the door, curl up to grab it, and then disappeared. When he came over to me, dude, he slithered over to me. And this giant comes out of the cave and they're all frozen. And he starts running and firing at this giant. with a giant move he's got a spear in one hand and he's running really fast and spears dan holds him up like this somebody else shoot him in the face shoot him in the face they basically decapitated and i look over and there are two and they're literally i'm getting pulled off the bed

it's pushed and i touch air couldn't breathe and it couldn't move because i know i'm seeing a monster yep welcome to the show everybody you're listening to the confessionals i am your host Tony Merkel, thank you for being here. If you've had an encounter or a story, you'd like to share with me on the show, go ahead and shoot me an email. My email address is The Confessionalspodcast at gmail.com. That's The Confessionalspodcast at gmail.com. Or go to the website, The Confessionalspodcast.com, hit the contact section, and you can reach me that way as well. Either way works for me, just get a hold of me.

And if you want extra shows every week on Thursdays, we release a bonus show for members on the website. So that is an exclusive episode every week for members to the website. If that interests you, go to the confessionalspodcast.com and join today. I just got done doing a live Instagram chat with people on Instagram this morning as I record this for tomorrow's show. And it's a lot of fun talking with people on Instagram live. There are a lot of cool people there. So if you're interested in joining that community, look us up, the Confessionals podcast on Instagram and myself on Instagram as Tony Merkel or my handle, is murkification. Good luck spelling that. Now this week we have a great show coming up. Jason is coming on

as a former law enforcement officer to share his Bigfoot experiences. And then after Jason, we're bringing on Jerry, who is a teacher who's traveled the world and has a way of making people feel comfortable with him to share their Bigfoot experiences. And he is going to be relaying those experiences with us today. So without any further delay, let's get to it. All right, today we have Jason coming on the show. Jason, how you doing brother? I'm doing good. Tony, thanks for asking. How are you? I'm doing good. Doing good. So, you're going to be talking Bigfoot to me today.

And you've had two different Bigfoot encounters, one in North Carolina and one in Georgia. And the North Carolina one, you said, you were with a group of people. So talk to me, man. What happened? Lay it out for us. Well, at the time, I was with the BFRO. And one of our people had set up some camera traps on right on the Eauori Trail

I don't know if you're familiar with Eurie National Forest spread outside of Salisbury, North Carolina. There's a very kind of famous video that came out of here, the white green squeaky footage. I don't know if you've ever seen that. Yeah. Where the Bigfoot belly crawls up and he gets it

all on night vision. This was about three miles north of that by by where the curl flies. and so we were nighted in and we found the spot where where they set up the cameras

it was just a little low area this little flat area a little while before my buddy Tommy who had set up the cameras him and his friends went in and camped in the spot and as soon as they started

set up they started getting rocks thrown happened all night they didn't get a wink to sleep two of the guys that were with him had never been out before. As far as I know, they've never gone back in the... This was in like 2000. A bunch of us to get the cameras to see. And for some reason, they had set the cameras on the ground with no locks or anything on them.

So when we got there, we were looking for the first camera. It was on, of course. And then the second one was up his little hill, a little ways. So I went up there to look for it and didn't see anything. So I decided I was going to walk up a little farther. and when I got up there, my buddy Tommy, the guy who had set the cameras, made a pop with his tongue. Loudly, it sounds kind of like a tree knock. He does it really, really loudly. And I turned around, that's just Tommy screwing around.

And as I turned back, this thing started standing up in front of me. And it just kept on standing up. To its full idea, it was walking away. I only got a view of its back. I didn't see a face or anything like that, but I did see feet. And I walked down the hill. Now, at this point in my life, I was a lot. I had a gun on me, and everything in my body was telling me to pull my gun, but I couldn't get to it.

I was just looking back on it, I think it was fear. I don't know if I got, you know, what they call it zapped, but I was so much so that it's right there on the spot. I know it doesn't sound great, but it actually happened. A couple people came running, and when they got up there, I was just pointed in one direction because I was bent over. And they were over there. No one saw anything. They did see the brush moving. They saw the part of the area where it walked away, walked down the hill.

Um, so we looked around a little longer. We, there was definitely, uh, you were sitting on the ground when it stood up by me. Um, and aside from that, that's pretty much about, that, that's about all that happens. But, I mean, we kept looking and looked and we couldn't find anything else that day. So you threw up after seeing this thing. Uh, and you said, you know, you weren't sure if it was because you got Zat, things like that. Uh, what, were you like incredibly scared when you saw this thing that would maybe would have made you throw up? were you just like, you know, other than seeing a Sasquatch, everything was pretty much normal,

and then you just got sick and through yourself? Everything was normal. I think, looking back on it now, I think that I was just scared. For a while, I thought I had gotten that, but I didn't have the feeling of dread. I didn't have any of the other feelings people talked about. I think I was just really, really scared. And I've been a believer pretty much my whole life since I was a kid, you know, back when I saw the Patterson Gimlin footage for the first time. and then we saw Legend of Boggy Creek, my brother and a friend of ours and I.

And we went out after that afterwards, we went outside into the woods. We were living in Georgia at the time. And there was a big dog that lived down the street, and he started howling and screaming, and barking. And my brother convinced me he was a big foot coming to get me. Even though I didn't. And since then, I've been hooked. I've been obsessed.

So, you know, everything that I read, you know, every book I've ever read, everything I've ever read about. Thinking back on it now, I was just terrified. And you don't expect it. You know, it's not supposed to be there until you actually see something. You don't, you know, there's just a little bit of inside you that says, no, it can't be true. And then all of a sudden this thing that's not supposed to be there stands up in front of me. So I think I was just terrified. All right.

So this happens in North Carolina. How long ago from now did that happen? This is 2008, like February of 2008, February. Yeah, I think it ended up in March. Okay. So, I mean, you spent most of your... life obsessed with something that you never saw. Did you ever expect you to actually see that thing? No, I wasn't expecting it at all. I mean, I've been on, you know, like I said, I was with the BFAR.

We've been on a bunch of different trips for them, a bunch of different expeditions. I've heard wood knocks. I've heard howls, you know, had rocks thrown, things like that, but I've never seen anything. You know, I've seen a couple of footprints, but I've never seen any, you know, huge physical evidence like that. So I wasn't expecting anything. Yeah, I was expecting just, you know, a nice walk in the once on a cold February day with my friends, you know, making fun, you know, having fun and laughing, you know, being out looking for this thing and, you know, you never expect it.

And, of course, it was the middle of the afternoon. It was nice and bright and sunny outside. So, I'm not saying anything is going to be there. And then all of a sudden it's there. So what do you think was going on there? I mean, you see this thing in the middle of the day and most people, you know, usually don't come across them during the day.

Do you think it was just chilling there? Do you think it had a purpose there? I think, honestly, I think, that it was a century or a lookout for the rest. Because that area of the URI is, you know, the word hotbed is used way too much, I think. But I think, you know, that's exactly what that part of the URA is. There's tons and tons of sightings. There's tons of evidence.

There's a bunch of stuff, you know. And I think he was on the lookout for anything that would disturb everyone else from sleep. Yeah, you know, and you hear about the century idea and stuff of these things. One of them is as a lookout and stuff. And if these things are as smart as they are and they do travel together, that would make sense to me. And I've often thought about the century idea and stuff. And it definitely seems plausible to me. You know, I think it's, well, I mean, you know lions travel in packs and things like that.

And within the packs of different animal groups and stuff, there are pecking orders. There are jobs. Wolves are the same way. And so I would imagine it would be a very similar situation. I think so too. It makes perfect sense if you really think about it. I mean, if you really think about it, you know, I saw some unclassified thing around around the woods, so it doesn't really make sense. But you don't understand what I'm saying. If, you know, they're trying to hide themselves, they're going to have someone looking out for them. You know, it's because you never know, especially in that part of you are, there's a lot of people that go through there. It's really popular with the Boy Scouts and hiking and stuff like that. And even on the other side to have, you know, offer a train. and stables and things like that. It's just a huge park. It's awesome up there.

But, yeah, honestly, I do think it was somebody looking out for the whole cap or for the whole family group. How big would you say that thing was? It was taller than me, and I'm six-frey. If I had to estimate, I would try it around to them for the tall. Because, like I said, it took forever for the thing to stand up in St. Blake. By saying that, do you think it was because you had, like, this adrenaline rush, or do you think it was moving up slowly, almost like it was trying to be...

I think it may have been a bit of an intimidation factor. Like I said, I didn't see its face, but it stood up slowly and started a while. I think it was one of those, hey, I'm here, I'm bigger than you, I'm not going to do anything about it, I'm just going to leave, that kind of thing. There's no way in hell I would have followed that thing to begin with. You know, it didn't deter me from going back in the woods, but at that moment in time, there's no way you could have got me to move more than five feet. Yeah, you know, I've been, I've been in some hairy situations.

I was in law enforcement. I worked in a jail for a long time, you know, and I've been in a pod of inmates that, you know, one officer to, you know, 35 inmates that don't like cops. You know, I've been in some hairy situations. You know, I was trained for it. I was on the the cert team, the extraction, cell extraction team and all that stuff. and, you know, this thing, I wanted nothing to do with it. Yeah, now you bring up the law enforcement, and I was wondering, you know,

and this may not have applied to your situation that you just described to us, but, you know, you hear people say that, you know, law enforcement officers see these things and the credibility of it and all that stuff. But is there anything about your training that you go through with law enforcement that you think could have prepared you for what you experienced? not really you're trained to to look for details

you're trying to look for small things by new details and assess everything quickly but you're not you're also you know you do have combat not really combat training but you have training you know in riot contained things like that

so you're supposed to be able to you know handle you know big situations like that but you know this is you know like nothing this is nothing like you know dispersing a crowd you know this is

something totally different. Absolutely. And I can understand that. I always wondered that and stuff. And I don't talk to a whole lot of law enforcement officers myself, at least not yet. And it's one of those questions that you always just wonder, like, you guys go through the training and stuff for that. And I just always wondered, like, is the training that you receive in that? Is there anything about it that could prepare you for experiencing something like a Bigfoot, you know, or a dog man or something crazy like that? Yeah. You're trying to remain calm in situations, which Excuse me. Of course, my train just blew out the window on that. I did not remain calm. I freaked out. But, you know, you are trying to remain calm. And normally I'm a extremely calm person. You know, my wife is the one that freaks out about everything. I'm calm. You know, I handle situations. I'm good in a, in a crisis. But this is just something I've never dealt with before.

Yeah, I totally get it, man. When you saw this thing stand up and you were approaching the area, you know, people say that they smelled something. Did you smell anything? or did it all see natural? No, I didn't get a whiff of anything. It was also extremely cold. I think the night before it got down to two degrees. It was one of the coldest winters in North Carolina history. And so I didn't smell a thing. Gotcha.

Well, what about Georgia, man? What happened in Georgia? We were on, I was actually on. This is in North Georgia, just outside of Lake County, which is where Helen is. And also the Chattahoochee National Forest. it was a group of people it was actually at the FRO trip

we this is the second night we were out they had done the guy that was running the show had done a a week-line expedition the week before and he was doing another one this week so I came out

I took some time off where it and drove out there I was still in law enforcement and he asked me since I've been on a bunch of trips and we knew each other personally and also I could take a group of the guys because they had never been out

to see absolutely no problem so we walked down this trail probably about three quarters of a mile tomorrow and he's the guy who's running the show was placing groups of each spot and we were I think the third group to sit and we had this nice

once again nice little flat area it was right next to the trail the hill right behind us and a creek in front of us and we're sitting there and we're chatting and everyone's having fun to laughing

and I was standing in the middle of a matter, probably about 30 minutes after we got there. I felt something hit my leg. And I looked down and there was an acorn at my feet. I can't tell if I'd been there before. You know, like, if I saw something hit me, it could have been a bug, I don't know. So I said, okay, that's interesting, I'll just note that. Five years later, I got hit in the chest with the same thing.

I looked down, and I looked down in time to see it actually fall. like okay one of these guys probably throwing acorns at me so I had a night division medical at the time so I fired up and I look around and the guys are all behind me

like oh that's interesting okay so I said to the guys I just got hit with an acorn in the chat from in front of me and they all just went completely quiet and I look back at them and they all bunched up into like

really tight group which is great So if something's coming to get us, it'll be really easy for them. Because everybody's, you know, within a five-foot ring. I keep looking, keep listening, and I'm going to hear something walking down the hill in front of us. And so I fire at my motivation, and I didn't see anything, but I could still hear it. And it was definite footfalls. You know, it wasn't like, you hear a deer walking is just, you know, just one little stick because, you know, they got the tiny feet. So, you know, the thump of bipedal walking.

It's like, all right, guys, I think we have something coming in near us. Just be quiet. And they all start freaking out. Again, ask them to be quiet. And then the football stopped. So I'm like, all right, I'm going to, I look behind this tree. It's probably about 30 feet in the back of the clearing. There's a little lump sticking out the side of it.

I'm like, all right, that might just be part of the tree. And then the lump moved. And I saw an eyeball and half of the head stick out. Like, okay. That's interesting as well. So I dropped the monocchio. I'm like, let me look again. No one's going to believe any of this, unfortunately.

So I look up again and the head, almost the whole head is sticking out. At that point, I saw an eye and a half. I saw a nose. The mouth wasn't open. I saw the head, and I saw one hand grasping the side of the tree. I'm going to shot back in. So it's definitely something alive at this point. So I keep looking, and I get on the radio to tell the leader of the,

you know, what's going on? And of course, I can't get them because we're in the woods and those cheap Walmart radios or line of sight, they can't really go very far. I look again and the things looking at me again, but this time from the tree next to it. So looking out the other side, there was two trees that like five feet apart.

So it had moved. I didn't hear it moved, but it had moved. And grab one of them and give him the macula because I need a witness here, a corroborating story. and he couldn't figure out which tree I was pointing at. And as he's looking, all of a sudden we hear walking to the side of us where the other isers.

And this time it's two sets of feet that are making these footfalls. And we hear it go across the trail, and then we hear two sets of footfalls walking through the creek, through the water. And then we don't hear it anymore. And then about 15 seconds later, we're back up on the hill. And they're walking away. And we didn't hear anything else. stuff to that. So you had other guys with you, and

other guys actually were able to identify this as well, right? Well, they actually, they didn't see it, they heard it. Everyone heard them walking away. Everyone heard them walking. But the guy that I gave them the night vision, too, couldn't see it. He couldn't figure out which tree I was pointing at. And when he started to walk it away.

Gotcha. So, I mean, when you're going through these experiences and other people around and stuff, do you think that hinders the experience or do you think that enhances it for you? I mean, sometimes, you know, you might find more comfort because of the people around you, or are you the kind of guy that's like, man, I might have gotten more if it was just me? That was kind of 50-50. The guys that were with me, I didn't know any of them.

They couldn't see anything. I mean, I would love to have someone with me so they could see the same thing. People don't think I'm, you know, an idiot or something, you know, so I can get a corroborating story. So I'd love to have someone with me if something ever happen again. Then again, you know, that other side of if he kicks in and says, you know, if I'm alone, this is going to be even better, you know, because, you know, they're going to be more apt to approach one person. They are going to approach six, you know. So it's, you know, it's 50-50 on that. I think it would be cool to have

someone there so they can do the same thing, so, you know, they could tell the same story, but it's also cool to experience it by yourself and you might get more by yourself too. Right. Now, when you saw this thing through the night vision, And were you able to tell, first of all, I guess, how big this thing was, but were you able to maybe get to that location at some point to check out the area? Yeah, we went back the next day, and I was able to point out the tree and I was saying there was definite movement behind the tree. You know, the brush was disturbed behind the tree.

There were actual footprints. And oddly enough, there were no footprints over by the creek either. I think they walked, in my opinion, they walked through the creek formulas where they wouldn't make footprints. But, yeah, they were definitely behind the tree. that tree. And from where they were, we estimated they were going to be about, the one I saw was like about five feet tall.

What I think it was, I think it was too juvenile who's messing with us. Now, you never know, it could have been, you know, mom and dad said to you, hey, stay here. We're going to go hunt. And, you know, they heard people down there, they came to see what we're going on.

So I don't think we were in actual any real danger. And, well, of course, dad showed up, you know, that you never know what's going to happen. Absolutely. So you're part of the BFR. Are you still part of BFRO, by the way? No, I'm not. No. Now, being part of the BFR expeditions, I mean, I think you said the first one you were on some kind of expedition with the BFR as well, right? I was kind of an official thing. I was a bunch of people from there, but the one was, you know, we didn't.

It was just, hey, let's go camping this weekend kind of thing. Okay, I got you. You know, I'm not part of the BFR, and I've never been part of the BFRO. And I was always curious, you know, do you think that, you know, the BFRO has, is helpful in the way where they put you in certain situations to optimize the ability to have a experience? Or do you think that, you know, and this isn't to bash BFR or anything like that? I'm just saying BFRO as a group, you know, going out in a group and stuff in general, do you think that would just kind of hinder the overall experience because of being too many people maybe? Well, I would never say anything bad about the BFRO or that moneymaker. But all the expeditions and trips I went on, nothing ever happened. So I think that's, you know, it's, you know, because they take, you know, 30, 40 people out there at once. And that's just way too many people making way too much noise.

And if we can believe anything about these groups, they don't like to be around people. So, you know, that many people, you're not going to get much. However, on the other side, they do get people an incredible experience. You know, I mean, how many people really are, or, you know, get to go out and look for Bigfoot? You know, you can sign up, you can do all this stuff. They take you out to the spots where they know their stuff. And even if you don't see anything, it's still exciting. You know, because you get to hear stories around a campfire.

You get to interact with people that are the same, like mine. And no one's going to call you crazy at these things. It's a lot of fun. But on the other side, like I said, you get that many people in the woods at night, making no much noise, you're not even going to see a raccoons, you know? Yeah, so going out there with the BFRO and going out there, you know, looking for these things, I'm assuming you've been around other people that have seen them as well. Yes.

How do I say it? Because you never saw Bigfoot before 2008. And you were, you know, linked up with BFRO guys when that happened. But I'm trying to gauge because I know. for me, even personally, I've never seen one. And I've gotten to the point where, I mean, one, I don't go out like I used to anymore either. So that hinders my ability. But you got some other stuff going on right now. Yeah, it's kind of hard. But, you know, for me, I often say, you know, I've never seen Bigfoot. And the odds are I never will see Bigfoot. And I find myself getting

to a point where I'm comfortable with the idea. It's not, it doesn't, I'm not upset about it, but it's like, I'm probably never going to see this thing. Um, going, leading up to 2008 before you saw that Bigfoot, uh, being surrounded by other people who have seen Bigfoot, did that help motivate you to keep going until you had that encounter? Or didn't, not really matter? It did, but it, it, it motivated me. But on the other hand, you know, I'm just out having fun. You know, this is something I love to do.

It, it calms me down, being in the woods. These are my friends. I like being with them. You know, I like reading about the stuff. I like looking at the stuff online. I like interacting with people. So if I had you I would have told you before it happened

If I never see one oh well You know I still have the experiences Of going out and having a good time I have all the stuff that I've learned All the crop in my head Books I've read So if I don't see one oh well I don't really you know

It didn't matter that much to me I'd like to see one of course I'd like to see one again But if I never do again It's okay Because I already have the experience It's locked in my head You know

And I get to talk about them To some people sometimes You know And it's a lot of fun So yeah I mean, if it never happens to go great, if it does, awesome. But being around with many people that had the experiences, getting to listen to them and their experiences helps a lot

because it makes you even, you know, want to learn more about it and get more involved. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, it helps. You know, I'm kind of guy who's, I don't care what happens anymore. I've got other stuff going on now, so I really don't live as much time as I used to do it. You know, four kids and all that other good stuff. You know, full-time job and everything. I read about it, you know, I watch videos, I listen to your podcast, I listen to some of course. You know, so I get my big push-six when I can.

But at this point of my life, I'd like to get back into it, but if I don't, I don't. Yeah, I totally get it. So let me pull a Wes German, Sasquatch Chronicles question for you. What do you think these things are? Well, I used to think that it was, you know, a non-classified, upright, bipedal ape, living in a it's America. But the more I think about it, I don't know now. You know, because I've heard so many things, and there's been so many weird experiences that just can't be explained. You know, and I think at this point in my life, the words I don't know are a suitable explanation. I know enough to know

that I have no clue. You know, I'm not one of these guys online who I know everything about it. You know, I have no idea. You know, I'm open to anything at this point. Is it paranormal? I don't know. You know, is it, is it alien? I do not know. I don't know if it's, you know, government. I don't know. I'd like to find out. I mean, I would love to, I love it if it was just, you know, just an animal.

But it might be an animal with, you know, different abilities than we ever, have ever seen before. And we don't know enough about ourselves. How can we know something about this thing? Yeah. And I totally understand what you're saying, man. I'm very comfortable with saying, I don't know. I always have been. because when you try explaining things and talking like everything's factual that comes out of your

mouth, it's a quick way to make yourself look real stupid. So if I don't know, I just say I don't know. Last question before we get out of here, though, and this isn't on Bigfoot related, but you being part of this BFRO stuff and having your experiences and, you know, your explanation to what Bigfoot is with the I don't know and saying there's so many other experiences that you don't know what to make of it. What do you make of the idea of Dogman that people will see? Dogman scares me to no end.

I've heard a bunch of the interviews on your show, you know, West's your show. And, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not a religious person at all. I'm spiritual. I just, you know, like, I think the quote is I've no, no, I don't dismiss the concept of a deity. I just, I'm baffled by one that takes attendance, if that makes sense. Sure.

So, I mean, I'm not religious at all. But I think the dog, in my opinion, I think it's demonic of some sort. It's evil. It's pure, pure evil. Just from all the things I've heard, all the stuff I've read, I don't understand what the purpose for that thing would be unless it's to scare people and cause havoc. Yeah, I tend to agree with you. I don't know what it is, but the stories that I've heard, they don't seem nice at all. I've never heard a good experience.

No, no. I mean, and you know what the funny thing is? I mean, obviously Bigfoot, the topic of Bigfoot's much more popular and culturalized and put into pop culture more and things like that. But you don't hear about a whole lot. Now, I know there are some, but you don't hear about a whole lot of Bigfoot or Dogman researchers. Not a whole lot of people are willing to throw their hat, their name into that hat and say, yeah, let me start going out in the woods and look. looking for these things. I hear that they're in this area, that area. Let me go find them. You don't hear a whole lot of people about that. I've only heard of point. I mean, that guy,

Vic Cunduff is the only one I've ever heard of. Yeah. You know, are you familiar with him? Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, Vic does some great work. You know, he's got some great, right? He's awesome. He's the only one I know of that will actually go ahead and look for these things. So, and he's, he's got, you know, bigger ones than I do. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what, Jason. I do appreciate you coming on and sharing these experiences and stuff. It was a good conversation, brother. I appreciate it. Tony, it's been a long time coming. I've been looking forward to this since July when we got together last year. Looking forward to talk to you again, buddy. All right, well, before we get to the next interview, let's talk about a sponsor for today's show, which is Ember Wave.

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Jerry is a teacher who has had the opportunity to travel the entire world and he has spoken to many people who have had Bigfoot experiences. And he comes on the show today to share some of those experiences. So Jerry, how are you? Good. Thanks for having me, Tony. I'm excited to be here. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so I, I, I wanted to make sure that we had time to bring you on to share some of these stories because you're a Bigfoot enthusiast and you've never seen Bigfoot, but you've come across people who have seen Bigfoot and they relate these stories to you. And the way you even described to me is some of these stories you're hearing, you would think would have been on Monster Quest

because they're just so captivating. So you kind of got into this whole thing about, you know, Bigfoot and looking into it as far as like an enthusiast goes. But tell us how that all kind of unfolded for you? Well, let's see. I just turned 55. So I was born in 63. Patty film was in 67 and I just tell people, you know, that seeing that Patty walked across the screen as a kid was seared in my mind forever. And I'm sure many people in my age group have that same memory. So I've always had an interest in the subject. But what happened around 2005, I was poked around the internet and I was just totally unaware of how much information was out there. And I kind of rekindled my interest in the subject.

And more particularly is the Elkins Creek cast from Pike County, Georgia, which was about, I don't know, 40 miles from where I was living at the time in the Grange, Georgia. And I was shocked that a 18-inch cast had been taken in the state I lived in. So then I started asking around in Georgia and talking to people, if they heard still, stories and the shock. You know, people said, yeah, in this county, I heard a story from there. And so from that point on, probably about 2005, 2006, I just kind of took it upon myself to, you know, drop the subject whenever I could and ask people.

And I made my way to hear to Echols County in 2009, which is in extreme South Georgia, right on the Florida border. And if you pull it up on Google Maps, you'll see very rural. We have 4,500 people in the whole county. And that's when I started getting some stories that I just thought were Monster Quest caliber. And these were coming from normal people, not people just telling tall tales and trying to cash in and make money on it. The people just walking around with stories in them. And it just kind of blew my mind at how great they were in some of the stories.

and then just the sheer volume of stories I was starting to get. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things where when you start asking around and you start looking for stories and people see that you're sincere, that's usually when you start, you know, people slowly start coming forward and they start sharing their different encounter stories and things like that. And I know you spent time overseas teaching. I think you said you were teaching overseas, right? I played basketball and, yeah, I did teach. I taught ESL in Saudi Arabia years ago for about six years,

and then I was a basketball player in Argentina and El Salvador. So, you know, I have the gift to gab. I can talk to people, and I guess I'm able to just put them at ease, and I don't, I'm not going to ridicule someone's Bigfoot story. And I think once people realize that you're interested in the subject seriously, they really start opening up. And let me mention this first story that I got one of my students. He came to me and he says, Coach, you need to talk to my mom.

She's got a story that you would really find interesting. So I went and talked to her in the cafeteria one day at a little luncheon thing we were doing. And this is a meek, mild-mannered person, very quiet. And she said, yeah, my son told me you were going to talk to me. so I'm just going to tell you the story. And she was near, somewhere near Valda, Georgia. And she was driving. She said it started to rain a little bit, and her window started to fog up.

So she reached down to hit her to frost and looked up in the road, and something was in the road, and she hit it with her car. And she said to me, she thought for sure she had just killed a person. Well, she came to a stop on the side of the road, opened her car door and looked back across the road. And the other side of the road, she said there was this thing. It was all black. And I'm six feet seven, 240 pounds. So I'm a pretty big person. And she said, this thing jumped to its feet and screamed or roared at her. And she said, it was, thing was much bigger than me, she said. and she said it took off running into the woods. And she didn't know what to think because, you know,

she's thinking her head she's probably just killed a pedestrian. And so she gets in her car and leaves and got home and her husband asked, you know, what happened to the car? And she explained it to him that she had hit one of these creatures. But the car had to be taken in and fixed it the whole front end. And it was, I don't, you know, I haven't seen a picture or anything, but I didn't see any reason for her to lie to me about this. But it was she had to take it to the shop and get it fixed. It was that bad, the damage. But, you know, that story is, you know, fantastic. But at the same time, this is coming from a person who's, you know, I'm sworn to secrecy on who this person is and I have no intention of ever, you know, revealing her.

But that got me to ask even more questions around the county and they just kept on coming. Yeah, that's interesting, man. Did she say what kind of vehicle she was driving? Oh, I can't remember. I really don't know off the top of my head, and I could verify whether, and at some point I plan on getting, you know, these accounts, like maybe on a YouTube video if she wants to do it. But I think, you know, I don't know what I'm saying this, but like a mid-sized car, and this would have been probably about, I believe, about 14 years ago, somewhere around that. timeline. Okay. Yeah, it's interesting that she doesn't really want to talk about a whole lot. What made her comfortable to talk to you about it, do you think? Is it just the relationship that

you had with her son as the coach? I think that's part of it. And I, you know, I'm very, I'm at the point in my life. I don't care if people know that I'm, I'm interested in the subject. You know, if that's weird to people, I just don't care. And I noticed, though, that people feel at ease when they talk to me about it. And it's kind of a joke to some people, I guess, you know, because I'm the crazy guy who believes in Bigfoot and speak Spanish and all that. But that's led to other things. Like I got approached for someone at a church near a house we were living in.

And this was a lady who she and her mom were dropping off garbage one night. At a, they used to have a dumpster in a rural part of the county, I guess, so people didn't have to drive all the way in the town. They no longer have this dumpster. But anyway, she said she was like 12 or 13 and, you know, kids. You don't really want to do stuff, especially if it's like related garbage. And set in a truck. And her mom tells her, all right, time for you to, you know, get the garbage, throw it in the dumpster. And she's like, no, mom, I don't want to do that.

And mom's like, okay, whatever. so the mom starts open her door to get out and do it. And as she tells it, she opened the door and the door hit something. Well, she looks, and at that time, this big foot, squads, whatever, stands up and they scream. So the thing is, was squatted down, and made its way, it squatted down by the door. It stands up and takes off running into the woods. So, I mean, I guess you can speculate. that the thing was there probably just, you know, dumpster diving, picking through whatever he could find.

But she's told me, you know, she's very, I'm sure, but it had to be a big foot. And it took off running on two legs. This is a lady I knew from a church we were attending. I mean, an absolutely normal person. I teach her kids now at school. And I saw her a couple months back when we were talking and, you know, I just asked her, you know, of having new stories. And she said, no, she hadn't seen anything.

And I asked her also if she has shared her story with any other people and she said, no, you just really got to know the audience because, you know, it's a small community. And it can be an awkward subject, you know. Yeah. Now, is that story in geographical location close to the lady who hit the car? That would be within 20, 20 miles, 25 miles at the most. And that location specifically, you know, like I said in our before the show, I haven't seen Bigfoot, but I live near this area she's referring to. I know I used to run by this area every day when I would do my long trail runs.

And that would be going out toward the Alapaha River, which if, you know, if you poke around the Internet, you'll see there are sightings around the Alapah on various parts of Georgia. And that would probably be about a mile at the most from where it was that February I was jogging out there. And I told you I was near the Elapaw River. And I heard an unbelievable splash into the river. That is very near the site she's talking about. And, you know, not that I've seen Bigfoot, but I did see something go across the road one time at incredible speed, but it was kind of out of my line of vision. And I just remember I was shocked at how fast it went. from A to B, and it was going in the direction of La Pahal River.

So I can't say I've seen Bigfoot, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was a big foot. Yeah. And, you know, and I just had to run past that spot to get to my turnoff point. My heart was beating like one of those cartoon characters. So I don't have my own story, but I've seen, you know, experienced kind of a little strange things in that general vicinity. Yeah, I know you mentioned to me when we were talking earlier and stuff that, the size of what you saw run across the row was about the size of a horse, right?

Yeah, I mean, at first I thought it was a deer, but it just looked so much bigger than a deer. And I was, I mean, lightning speed across, like flash. And I just, it just freaked me out. And like I said, you know, it was down the road. I was tired. And I don't even think I had my contacts in that day, you know, and I'm near-sighted. I can't say it was a squash, but the speed was incredible. So, you know, that's as close as I can get to a sighting.

But, you know, that's in an area where I know someone swears up and down that she and her mom saw something, take off running on two feet. So it wouldn't surprise me. Yeah. So that's the best I can do, everybody. Sorry. And it's fine. I mean, I host the show, and I've never seen one.

so yeah but uh the the the woman and her daughter that saw one stand up that was near where you possibly could have seen something uh did they share details about what they saw i think it was at dusk and i i think they're really freaked out but you know i the only real detail i have is that it was big and it was black and hairy and it took off running i don't think they saw faith. You know, and I haven't, you know, like I said, I'm an enthusiast. I haven't sat down and I can't give facial details and things like that. And this was a conversation at church, but it's kind of light on the details, but they're adamant,

something ran from that area on two legs. Yeah, when somebody says that, it kind of narrows down your options as what it could be. Yeah, yeah. I know everybody says, well, bear can walk on hind legs, yeah, but run, I mean, when people describe running on hind legs, they're not talking about something waddling off. They're talking about something running off on two legs. And, you know, it kind of narrows down what you're talking about there, you know? That's the way I feel about the whole subject here. We've all seen a bear walk, you know, and, you know, bears don't stride. And I don't know. I just think people

are quick to try to explain something where to me, that's really kind of a weak explanation. nation. And, you know, and like I said, these people aren't trying to cash in. I'm just relaying these stories because I just didn't know this many people seem to have these stories in them. Let me go transition this one story from a co-worker of mine. She told me that she had a, cousin who was hunting. And the guy's a little older than me, and this is a South Georgia guy, you know, grow up hunting and fishing and used to being in the woods. And we have a lot of hunting clubs down here. It's very popular.

Well, this guy apparently was sitting in a deer stand a little north of Eccles County into Lanier County. And apparently, you know, there's a lot of timber harvested here. Well, it was a clear cut. and the guy's sitting up there and as she tells the story he looks and he sees in the tree line something come out and he was shocked at how big it was

okay and we've all heard stories of how massive these things can be and I never got an estimate but you know he's caught his eye definitely big but the thing that freaked him out is apparently this thing ran across the cross the

clear cut. Now, you know when they harvest timber, it's not like a football field. It's totally uneven. Well, this thing went from A to B, you know, dead sprint, you know, and we've all heard the stories of how fast these things can be. But when that happened, you know, once the other side, the guy called his buddy who was hunting in another location, told him to come pick him up. he gets in the truck and he tells him what happened. And, you know, now keep in mind, this is a South Georgia hunter and fisherman, you know, a good old boy, so to speak, who's done this his whole life. The guy said, well, let's go back and get your deer stand and he told him, you can keep it. And the guy doesn't deer hunt anymore.

And that really stood out in my mind that someone, you know, would give up an activity like that that's very dear to them. and my friend said that every year they see him at Thanksgiving at Christmas and they, you know, they razz him a little bit and giving grief about that. And his response is pretty much always the same. You can make all the jokes you want, but I know what I saw. And the guy hardly goes in the woods at all anymore. I think they've finally coaxed him in and doing a little turkey hunting again, but it's not a primary activity for him. Yeah, I mean, and he was out there deer hunting, you said, right? Yes, yes. Yeah. I mean, that, that's, I mean, for somebody to be out there hunting, they're out there looking for wild game

to take down and not just squirrels, but a deer is a sizable animal. And for him to be out there to see something that scares him so bad that he doesn't even want to step foot in the woods to hunt, period, anymore. When he was out there to take large game down, it's got to be something pretty serious. Yeah. Um, it's just, you know, when you step back and you think about it and the guy's making no money off it and he's stepped away from a very popular activity of his, he saw something in his mind at least. I don't know. Maybe he's delusional. I don't think he is. I don't think it's a misidentification. You know, you see something sprint off on two legs. So it's just yet another story that makes me scratch my head.

And that's a definitely guy I'd like to interview it sometime. And I have his number and I just need to get around to doing that. But, you know, I'm looking at my sheet here of stories. What was the other one I wanted to talk to you about? Oh, I have, I had my first year here, we had a really cold winter. When I say cold for us, it actually went to 18, I believe it was a new low at one point. That's the beauty of South Georgia, you know, it's poor man's Florida. We have very mild winters usually.

Yeah. But all the kids here, they like to hunt and they know how to hunt, and they know that when it's really cold, a lot of the deer like to come out to the road and, you know, get some of the warmth off the asphalt. And so they knew an area they wanted to go out and shine deer. And it was February, I believe, of 2010. Yeah, that would be the timeline. And one of my students, he was a soccer player, comes up and he's like, coach,

I got to tell you something. other night he and another guy saying they were out shining deer and it's an area when you pull up on a map it's Ruiz Road, R-E-W-I-S. And you can see it's very remote, very remote. It's a little bit of a marshy area there, but shining deer and he looks up and he's like said there's somebody, you know, and I'm 6-7 like I said, he said, coach there's somebody taller than you and he was like, one color, like a tan color, he said.

And he asked his buddy, said, what's that guy doing over there? And his buddy, who was a very mild-mannered kid. And he said, that's not a man. That's a monster. And they were trying to get it. And he kind of lost sight of it. And he said, by the time he was shining, he shined so far down the tree, line, he said, the thing had moved so quickly down the tree line, he realized it couldn't be a human

because the rate of speed it got from A to B. And he said, that's when they realized they needed to get out of there. But the one kid who told me the story initially, I thought, okay, I'm taking a little mental note here. And I wanted to talk to the other kids alone. And he was coming back from lunch one day, and I was doing lunch duty out there. And I pulled him aside. And I said, hey, I hear you, you guys saw something the other night, and he got really animated. I'd never seen this kid like that. And he said, coach, we didn't see something. We saw a monster.

He said, this thing was out there. It was big. It was fast. And he said, he thinks it was stalking deer. You know, that's what they all thought, because the big foot had the same thought they had that these deer would be coming to the road and enjoying a little bit of the heat. But, you know, and this kid, I see him on Facebook all the time, the first kid that told me the story. And I know he's going to want to record that story.

He's a very, very nice kid. And, you know, he's one of those guys. He's like, you know, I don't care if people believe me. I just know what we saw. The second kid, he, unfortunately, he passed away in a car accident about a year ago. But it was very interesting because they both, their stories matched up. and it, you know, they compared the thing to me, said it looked bigger than me, and it was just, once again, it was very fast.

It was like it was in its element. And that area, I know is pretty much the area they're talking about. It's kind of marshy. I know it was 18 degrees and stuff would have been frozen, but I just don't see one stomping around, but any human getting back in there, much less a guy bigger than me, you know, running down the tree line trying to, impress people. I just don't see that happening, especially since people have a lot of guns here.

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hired now. I mean, that was, you know, okay to use back in the 70s when they were just started looking to Bigfoot and reports weren't so rampant. But now, I mean, this is 2019, and we have reports all over the world of these things. And I mean, how many people are out there running around in monkey costumes and hot air, cold air, all times of the year, you know, that are on stilts just to scare people? I mean, it's... They're incredibly athletic, too. Yeah. They're athletic and they're out there.

Sometimes there's no sighting, but people find these gigantic footprints. I mean, seriously, like, what kind of loser does that all over the world? You know? Yeah, and I'm telling you, some of these places like here, I just wouldn't be, you know, I was told about doing these trail runs. They said, well, deer season starts in a week, so make sure. that you have an orange jersey on or a vest, I should say. And, you know, so, I mean, you don't want to be out in the woods here goofing off.

I just wouldn't do that. It'd be dumb, you know? And during those times, I just wouldn't run in the woods. I'd just do something around my house. But, yeah, yeah. And so, you know, many people are quick to throw out those type of scenarios. Well, you saw this or that. It's like, my buddy, my student, he doesn't, that's not what he thinks he saw, you know?

So, you know, let me put this one by you real quick. This was very interesting. I was teaching up in Douglas, Georgia for a few years. And this was probably three, four years ago. And I had a home room class, and we'd done all our activities for the day. And I'm sure you've come across thinker-thunker on YouTube. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, and he had that one really great video where he was comparing that Bigfoot that was running to Hussein Bull.

bolt, I believe. Yeah. And it's since been pulled down. But I just, you know, teachers, we have the magic boards that's big screen. So I put that up there and you can see the quads bulging on this thing and a big glute and the hamstring is just massive. And, you know, some of the kids, they're just kind of laughing off and some of them are looking at it and they're like, holy hell, that looks, you know, that's really great detail. And one kid, far into the room, he says, I saw something like that where I live. Wasn't that big, but he said he and his mom were going home from work or going home from school.

And this is a very interesting description. He said, they're living on a dirt road. And he said, this hairy creature on two legs walked across the road. and said they were just shocked. And he said his mom said something to the fact, hold on, I wrote it down. I want to make sure I, you know, she said, you know, what is that chimp doing in the road? That's the, you know, the first thing it came to her mind.

And the kid, though, the student, he said something was really unusual about it. He couldn't put his finger on it. And he thought about a long time, and he said, coach, what it was was, it walked and it took like two or three strides to clear the road. He said, even though it was walking, he said, it covered the distance like it was like sprinting. He said it was that fast on a walk. And he said he just never could put his finger on and he thought about it over and over a replay in his head. And he said it strided like a human, you know, but obviously it covered ground faster than a human would on a

a walk. Well, this kid tells that story. And another kid in class, he kind of listening, he nod and says, yeah, I know what you're talking about. And he starts telling the story about being on ATV. And they kind of, I don't think they even knew they lived in the same area. And he said, do you live out in such a such area? And the kid's like, yeah. Yeah. He said, well, I was on, you know, X, Y, Z road on my ATV. And it says, I come around a bend in the road and I catch out of my peripheral vision, like on an incline, he said, this big thing stepped out of the tree line, right as he's coming around. Well, it's interesting because we had a kid, a guy named Cole Minchu, who he plays offensive line at Florida State.

He's a kid 6-6. And I'm talking to high school, he's 6-6, 3-10, just huge monster, you know, not a fat kid. I'm talking an athlete. And this kid says, you know, I saw this and I was shocked at how big it was. And he said, for whatever reason, I instantly was trying to compare it to get reference. And he said, I thought of Cole, Minchu, because he's the biggest person I know. And he said, coach, this thing was bigger and you are Cole as far as height, much bigger. And he said, it was bigger than Cole though, muscle-wise, like, you know, width and just, you know, weight.

And, you know, this kid I'm referring to Cole. You can Google him on the Internet. He still plays at Florida State. He's a big kid. And it left an impression on this other student that whatever he saw, in which he said, when the thing saw him come around like a, it immediately just did a pirouet and walked back into the woods. But, you know, here I have two kids in my home room,

start sharing the story. And I'm thinking, man, here it goes again. Of course, you know, half the class, they're all, yeah, these two jokers there. But I don't even think that. Those kids, you know, knew I was actively seeking stories. And if they were lying, they were really, they had done some background research, it sounds like, and to get some of the descriptions right on, you know, the speed of which is thing can walk and the size. And so that was just a story that came out of nowhere and shocked me.

Yeah, you know, and it's one of those things where you're talking, you're the teacher in the classroom, you opened up the topic. This is something that the kids probably wouldn't bring up if you didn't because you're in high school. You're in, you know, it's like you don't, there's social anxiety, there's social pressures of being in school. And you don't want to be the guy that says that he saw monsters, you know. And so the fact that you opened up the topic to them, uh, kind of probably gave them a sense of, uh, protection where they're like, yeah, I, I've seen that, You know, I think you did a good job there, just letting them, giving them that opportunity to share. I don't think they probably ever would have done it otherwise.

Well, and I'm real quick to tell them, you know, I've heard similar stories, you know, I don't want to shut them down by any means. But you can really see how some of the other kids, they're just kind of like, you know, the naysayers or the people don't believe, like, man, that kid doesn't, you know, he's like a normal kid. you know, these two guys, I'm thinking of, they were a little rambunctious, but, you know, they weren't tall, they weren't guys going around telling tall tales all the time or anything like that. And I had a similar experience this year in a Spanish class where, you know, I forget how it came up, but I was talking and, you know, this is crazy, but I've had five stories out of one class

this past year. And the one I mentioned to you, We have a migrant community here because we have a lot of agriculture in parts of the county. And one of my Hispanic students, he came up to me, says, Coach, my dad was telling a story the other night. And he said, it really kind of surprised me because I've never heard him talk about subject. But apparently some guys were working, they were picking palmetto berries between Jennings and Jasper, Florida, which is right south of here. and I didn't, you know, I don't know what people do with palmetto berries, but I think they're used for nutritional supplements. I think that's why people will go pick them. And so there's a market for them. And if there's a market, these guys will, they will harvest it. And at any rate, the story

that I got was the guys went to lunch and they were coming back and going, I guess, to the picking area and something came out of the woods, one of these creatures, and took the guy's bucket and walked off with it. Now, the kid told me it ate some of them. I don't know. I haven't been able to talk with these guys. I've tried to set up an interview, but it caused such a commotion that they had to call in a priest from the local parish because the guys weren't sure if it was a demonic entity, they didn't know what they saw. And it caused a little bit of a commotion at the camp because they had this encounter. And they're still kind of spooked about it, I think, because I've asked my student twice. He's very interested in this subject too now.

And I told him, we need to go interview them since we both could speak Spanish with them. And I think we're going to try to do that again. Hopefully these guys will calm down enough. But I think there was a, in their mind, the notion that it might be kind of demonic really, really kind of shutting down that conversation right now. And in that same class, I have a kid. And you've always got those kids in high school that are kind of like the fearless types. Yeah. And, you know, we probably were kind of like that as kids anyway. But this kid said, oh, coach, I saw one in the hunting.

here and he said he's like he saw a squat down behind a tree and the kids were kind of razzing him about it and he looked and he said no I'm dead serious coach and he told me was just he and I one day he goes I used to be the first person to go through like

brush and stuff he says I just don't do that anymore he says I always make sure I'm in the middle and I thought you know he was kind of embarrassed to say that I think but I thought that sounds pretty rational to me but he's like I don't want to be the first and I won't be the last. He said, after seeing that, he said, you know, it left an impression on him, and he's pretty convinced he saw something.

Another kid said that he was near, he and some buddies were, pulled this up on the map, y'all. Fruitland, this is way out in the boonies of the county, right near the, I think it's called the Swanucci Creek. Well, these guys were out there, you know, probably having a campfire, and he said it was one in the morning. They were out in these timber roads. and he's, I don't know what they were doing, but he said he came around a corner and he said there was,

you just saw a huge silhouette of something on two feet standing there. And he says, you know, I just saw a silhouette. It said, but it was big. And he said, I turned around and ran. And he said, before he completed his turn, he said, this thing, it took off also. But he's convinced. He said, I, you know, 100% say he saw something. But he's got that in his head. Another kid came to me and said he saw one near his property. It's his uncle. We saw it in a region called Hickory Grove.

And so I really pressed a kid, you know, pulled him aside. And I was like, well, you know, is your uncle, is he a normal person? Does he have, like, you know, history of like, you know, substance abuse, things like that? And he's like, no, my uncle's like totally normal. And he said, he's very, you know,

he'll just tell you, he saw something on his his property one night. And then finally another kid, this is the fifth story. I've gotten in one class, said that two of his buddies were coming back from one of their soccer games. And they saw something go across the road also in front of their car. And actually, I do have another kid in class that has a similar story about one crossing the road in your Fargo. If you pull that up in the map, that's another remote part of the county.

But they saw something cross the road. And so my point is, I guess, is that there's a lot of people that have these type of stories. And I would say probably 90% of them sit on them until you can kind of coax them out of them. Yeah. And that's just, I find it very interesting that you have access to so many of these stories just through the small little community you have. I mean, for you as a person receiving these experiences that people went through and not ever seeing one yourself, it's definitely got to give you this feeling of validation of your beliefs in this thing. it's like I'm not in a huge community and all these people have been seeing this. I haven't,

but how many people, how many of these people could be just lying to me? I mean, eventually somebody's going to be telling the truth, right? Well, that's what they always say, right? If just one of these stories is true, you know, we've got something here. And, yeah, that's the thing. I'm always thinking just the normalcy level of these people. These are not weird people. Those are regular folks. And, you know, I, and I, and I, and I, and I, I've got even other stories I can talk about. But, you know, really, they're just stories. And, you know, whether there's smoke, there's fire, you know.

And I don't see these guys with YouTube channels and book deals and, you know, at conferences. They're regular people. And so, you know, I guess what I would tell the listeners is, you know, back in when I used to write a lot about this on my Facebook page, I would just always do Bigfoot in my backyard alert. and I would just monitor a few sites like the BFRO.net and just as sites were posted. And it's kind of amazing when you see that, oh, someone had a report two counties away from where you live. And I kind of like doing it from that perspective, like places I've lived. I'm always curious to see who's had reports, you know, and I'm originally from North Georgia and a small town Ringgold, Georgia.

And it's amazing, you know, up in Murray County. and you get up into that part of Tennessee, there's quite a number of stories. And, you know, and I don't know the whole procedure, but someone actually vetted those stories and the person came across as credible. When I was living in Troop County, I would monitor that site,

and there was another one. I can't remember the site in particular, but, you know, I read a story about a bus driver who said it was early morning and there was a car in front of him and something ran between the car and him on two legs. And he said, the only thing it could have been was a big foot. It's what it looked like.

But he said, it was such a dangerous crossing this thing did. He said, no human would try that. You know, and I'm thinking, wow, that's somebody in my community there is walking around with that story in them. You know, so I would encourage people to kind of just look at what's been posted where you live. You might be shocked. And this is the other thing I mentioned, and we talked about this earlier, people that live in cities and suburbs, it's very interesting in that you forget how wild parts of the country are. And I've lived near the interstate most of my life, and that's a pretty good indicator of like traffic flow and population. And you get off the interstate a while, 10, 50 miles.

It's like a different America. And where I'm currently living, you know, we've got the Okie Finokie. swamp that goes down to the Cala National Forest. There's, what is it, what would you call it, like preserve on the Florida side of the border of the county? There's not a lot. Like I said, there's 4,500 people that live in this county. When you look at how open it is and how forested and how swampy and how many creeks and riverbeds there are for, you know, to allude or travel, you know, you can't tell me that there couldn't be things here. And in a similar vein, we have a lot of stories here of exotic animals that,

and we had stories here, they called the May Day Lion. There was a sighting of a lion here. And I'm thinking, and this is one of the things that got me to stop doing these remote trail runs. I'm out there one day. I just had this thought, like, what am I doing back here? If this lion thing were out here, I have no chance. But, you know, there are multiple people that's where they saw a lion with a bold tail in parts of the county, all right?

And so, and there's enough deer here, enough animals, I think, for something like that to eat. My point is that it's pretty wild here, you know? Oh, yeah. I mean, I've mentioned this on the show before, how I don't think a whole lot of people that especially don't go out in the woods a whole lot or venture out. into, you know, the thick, forested areas that they don't realize how wild America is. I mean, there's a lot of land that is just wild land. I mean, sure, you have houses here and there and stuff, but in general, it's very forested. And, you know, you have this trend right now where over,

probably over the last 50 years or so, you have a majority of the population starting to migrate in closer to suburbs and the cities. And the more, you know, the more. And the more, you're going to, the population does that, the more these rural areas become more and more wild. I think it has a lot to do with, you know, work and things like that. I mean, we're in a technology age and where's technology close to cities and suburbs and things like that. But the more that happens, the more the culture kind of almost forgets how wild America is. I've said it before in my show, you know, between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania where I'm at, there's a whole lot of nothing. I mean, there's towns, there's Harrisburg, which is the state capital. It's not a very

big city. It's probably 100,000 people. But between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, there's not a whole lot of anything. And that's like a four, four and a half, five hour drive or something like that. I mean, it's a long drive. And so, I mean, it's just one of those things where people don't realize how crazy wild this country is. I remember as a kid, my grandparents actually had a cabin up in near Williamsport. And I went there one summer and spent two weeks with them. And man, when the lights were off, I couldn't believe how dark it was there. And it felt wild and rustic, you know. Yeah, not all of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Williamsport right there in the middle of the state and stuff. And I've spent

time up there and there's now a whole lot up there. I mean, really, there's not. So, yeah. But so have you ever had the chance to visit the Sasquatch Museum, I think it's called, in Georgia? I think it's North Georgia near like New Hope and stuff. Yeah, I think it's, um, what is that, Blairsville? I've seen a lot of ads and stuff for it recently, and that's definitely on my, my short list. I definitely want to go up there. Um, it actually, you know, I have the, uh, like the phone company or electric company, have their little magazine. There's a nice article here in Georgia on that talking about the guy who opened it and he's another one of these bigfoot addicts. And he just has, he's a good guy. He's a good guy. I know. I've met him a, uh, a, uh, a couple of, uh, a, uh, a couple of

couple times. And David, I can't pronounce his last name. I think it's Picara, B-A-K-A-R-A. But David, he's a good guy. You should definitely link up with him because he'd be somebody that you would get along with great. And I'm sure he would love talking with you about all the stories you've gotten covered. Yeah, I'll definitely, I'll Google him. I do need to hook up with him because I go up to that area to visit my folks. They'll live in the Chattanooga area. Hey, I wanted to mention, I don't want to forget this, You know, last year my wife, son and I, we spent the year in Mexico. And I've come across, I'm a Spanish teacher and people are probably wondering why is this guy in Mexico. I'm a Spanish teacher, so I wanted my son to learn some Spanish. And I also spent a little time in Brazil, so I speak some Portuguese.

So, of course, I wanted to see if there's any of these legends in Spanish and Portuguese. And I've come across a term, Sissemiti, and I've always asked my Hispanic students, have you ever heard any stories of the Sissomite, and sometimes Sissomitos and Sissomita. And no one's ever had an answer. They've never, they're like, didn't even know the term, right? So, and I've heard it's in, and, uh, Catana Roe, the Yucatan and the other state, Campeche. That's where a lot of these and into Honduras and parts of Guatemala, but never got any positive feedback. So last year, I'm in the Yucatan, Meredith, as I said, and I asked a kid one day at, um, in the town of progresso on the beach. And I said, have you ever heard the stories of like the wild man stories?

And I used that term. And he instantly went to a Mayan word. And he said, yeah, yeah, I've heard these stories. So, and he told me he had a friend whose father was hunting in the state of Campeche and came across one in a, and on the hunt. And so, of course, I asked, was it near a water source? And he said, yeah, it was actually near a river, he said. And so I was like, like, oh, great. So I got a little nibble there. And I still got to have the kids email. But he also, he, and I didn't write these terms down. There are Mayam words. And that's a totally foreign language to me. But he used another term. And I said, well, what is that? And he said, that's kind of like a, it sounds like, you know, these dog man stories you hear. But, you know, the thing is, they have some of these similar stories down there in the Yucatan. And so the past year, I was talking to the lady cut my hair and her

I don't know she was very she liked to talk as much as I did and so we were talking and asked her about the subject and she used

the term Che Uini which roughly translates into like Man of the Woods and then I've come across another term that they call

Weipatch so it turns out and even in that these stories are in the culture. And the girl asked her mom, who speaks like fluent Mayan, apparently, kind of a dying

language in the region, but it's kind of more in touch with that part of the culture and said, yeah, yeah, the people in the countryside, they still tell these stories. And I noticed at the bookstore, they have a lot of books that are related to the region. They were trying to preserve the culture. and they have a lot of stories like there seem to be some type of goat man story, but they had the one about the Che Eunich, the man of the woods. And so, you know, you look at it and it's a thing as tall as a tree and it's big. So I found that to be very interesting. And so in the future, I'd like to do a little more research in that.

And then, of course, last thing I'd mention in regard to this, even in Brazil, they have these legends of, they call it Paji Gajee Gajahfa, like Bottlefoot. which is like a wild man that apparently can walk in the woods and he can, you know, he can leave impressions that look just like a bottle. He can leave false tracks in a sense. So these stories are out there in various regions. There's stuff like this in Argentina, Ecuador. And it's a really rich area for future exploration, you know, for people that want to write about this subject. Yeah, it is. There's so much information. out there. When you start diving into other cultures and things like that, every culture has

stories of these things. And not just Bigfoot or Dogman, but just cryptids in general, paranormal stuff. I mean, just every culture has these legends of this stuff. And a lot of the stuff lines up with other cultures and even timeframes. It's very, very interesting. Yeah. Go ahead. I was going to say, yeah, sure makes the world an interesting place, you know, to see normal people talking about these things, you know. Yeah. Absolutely. absolutely does. And, you know, it kind of, it's a unifying thing if done properly, you know, like sometimes it divides people and things like that. But if you do this right and you really are sincere about looking at things, it unifies people together, cultures. It gives people things to

relate to commonalities. That's one of the things I find interesting about all these topics is stuff that the more I talk to different people, it seems like, you know, you got something in common with them. And you can at least talk about that. So, uh, Before we get out of here, I wanted to ask you, what are your plans, you know, for the future going forward here? Do you plan on, you know, documenting the stuff and publishing things, or writing a book or anything like that? Oh, man, you know, I have another blog. I'm a financial blogger. I'm in the fire space and I blog some and I'm, you know, writing takes a while. So I hesitate to say I'm going to write all this stuff, but, you know, I do have notes for this. I think at a

minimum, these would make, you know, an interesting e-reader type book. Because it's just one way to, you know, like you said, document it. Ideally, I'd like to put a few of these people on maybe a YouTube video, just let people hear a normal person describing what they saw. If they don't want their face shown, I have no problem just recording their voice. But, and I know a lot of the listeners, they know people, they have very similar stories. It just kind of lends more credibility to the subject when you have, like we said, normal people telling stories. So I do own the domain Squatchology.com, and I'm probably going to

bring that back online. I've just had it on Facebook and I haven't really done much with it. But I've got so many things to put out there that I really should. But I'm going to lowball all the expectations here because I'm trying to do my other side as well. Well, I'll tell you what, if you do get Squatchology back up and running, let me know. And I'll share it around our social media so people can check it out. Oh, great. Awesome. Absolutely.

Well, Jerry, listen, man, I really do appreciate you sharing these stories and just chit-chat a little bit about, you know, Bigfoot in general, Georgia and things like that. I definitely appreciate the conversation, man. It was great to be on and it was really fun to share these stories. I figured a lot of your listeners would like to hear these. Well, that's the show, everybody. I really hope you enjoyed it. And if you did enjoy it, please share the show with your friends. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, email, water coolers.

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