The Confessionals - 538: Dogman's Trace Of Death

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

In Episode 536: Dogman's Trace of Death we are joined by returning guest, Sheriff Martin Groves. Martin first appeared on The Confessionals for Episode 514: Terror In The LBL, detailing his terrifying encounter with multiple dogmen and bigfoot on a hunting trip back in 1993. Since then Martin has been investigating the LBL and the dogman encounters within it. On Episode 538, he returns to share information about some of those investigations and other wild things he and his research partners have encountered in the LBL - like creatures coming out of portals.Martin Groves BooksA Trace of Death: https://amzn.to/40AjGxp Beasts Between The Rivers: https://amzn.to/3ZHo1hm The Confessionals Members App:Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrhGoogle Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZBecome a member for AD FREE listening and EXTRA shows: theconfessionalspodcast.com/joinCome Meet Tony:1. Smoky Mountain Bigfoot ConferenceTickets: https://bit.ly/3l1wZHR2. LIVE SHOW in Gatlinburg, TN!Tickets: https://bit.ly/3IC4IkxWatch Expedition Dogman: https://bit.ly/3CE6Kg0Tony's Studio Equipment: linktr.ee/mystudiogearSPONSORSGET EMP Shield: empshield.com Coupon Code: "tony" for $50 off every item you purchase! Listen to this episode for more information! Link: bit.ly/3YaMD1NGET SIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsGET Hello Fresh: hellofresh.com/confessionals60 Promo Code: "confessionals60" for 60% off plus free shipping!!!Get Emergency Food Supplies: www.preparewiththeconfessionals.comCONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.theconfessionalspodcast.comEmail: [e-mail] to the Newsletter: https://www.theconfessionalspodcast.com/the-newsletterSOCIAL MEDIASubscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaIDiscord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7hShow Instagram: theconfessionalspodcastTony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficialFacebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcasTwitter: @TConfessionalsTony's Twitter: @tony_merkelAre you a military veteran struggling with thoughts of suicide?Contact Watchman Readiness Corps for REAL help. A veteran-run organization that is designed to help through hands-on survival training.Website: wrc.vetEmail: [e-mail]: [phone]Instagram: wrc_survivalFacebook: colbywrcvetOUTRO MUSICVanTesla - ShutUp N DriveYouTube: https://bit.ly/3yH4kvGApple Music: https://apple.co/3nDfsU1Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3nErEUI

Hey guys, before we get into this week's show, I want to remind you, we are available on your app store now. The members have an app available to them. All you got to do is go to the app store, Apple App Store, and Google Play Store. Download the Confessionals app, and you can get access to all the membership goodies on an app. And we added a members community where you can socialize with other members, direct message them for private messaging, and contribute in these chat threads. and obviously you'll be able to listen to all the episodes and member episodes right there on the app. There's a lot of good stuff coming down the road from the app. It's not finished. It's just getting started.

We will add features and change some things up over time. You're going to dig it, and a lot of people have been digging it since I dropped it last Thursday. So if you're a member, go ahead, download the app, get yourself logged in, and enjoy the new app from The Confessionals. Media. 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 disappear. 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 up 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. Got sparser, got spursing, got sparser, got spursing, when he got spursing at my leg. And I look over and there are two small gray entities. And they're literally, I'm getting pulled off the bed. I reached my hand into this bush and I touch air. breathe and I couldn't move because I know I'm seeing a monster.

Welcome to the show. Everybody, you're listening to The Confessionals. I'm your host, Tony Merkel. Thanks for being here of you crazy, wild experience. You want to share with me on the show? Go ahead and shoot me an email. My email address is contact at theconfessionalspodcast.com. That's contact at the confessionalspodcast.com.

Or go to the website, theconfessionalspodcast.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. If you want more shows on a weekly basis, go to the Confessionals podcast. com, hit the join button, become a member. They're going to get access to exclusive Thursday member episodes plus the Tuesday shows ad free and overtime segments when they're available. All right, friends, listen, before we get into this week's show, I got to remind you, we are doing some events this year. We're looking to book a couple more events, hopefully, but right now

it started out as a vendor's table and then they moved him into the big leagues and he is speaking now at Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference. Your host, Tony Merkel, is going to be a member. It's going to be there not only as a vendor, but also as a speaker at the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Links to the tickets are available in this episode's description. Go get your tickets. I want to see you there. Come out, hang out, be part of the audience. Check out the vendors table because we're still going to have a vendors table, but I am speaking at the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference this year. I'm very excited about it in July. So go ahead, check out the tickets and see you there. Also, we're doing a live show in Gatlinburg in

September, September 30th, me and Hillbilly Horror Stories are doing a live show there. And you can get tickets to that as well. It's in the description of this episode. I'm looking forward to maybe adding a few more events that I'm going to be doing this year. I was going to be doing another one, but it turns out it's on the same day as my anniversary. And my wife said, uh-uh, you're not leaving town for business and go and doing whatever you do on our anniversary. So I'm staying home, being a good husband and not getting put in that dog house. All right, friends, listen, we got Martin Groves coming on the show today. Martin was, listen, Martin has the most popular episode we've ever put on YouTube at least. Last time I checked, I had 130,000 views,

and Martin's coming back for round two. You see, he was here for episode, I think it was 514, terror in the LBL. Martin came on and told his experience as a sheriff in the LBL and his dogman encounter that was just absolutely riveting. He comes back for round two because he has a second book out called Beast Between the Rivers, A Trace of Death. And this is going to detail his experiences in the LBL researching and talking about some things that they've come across, some wild things. And he comes on today to talk about those things. First time he was here, he talked about his personal experience that launched him into all this. Now he's here to talk about everything else that he's uncovered since looking into the topic of dogman. This is a great conversation.

I hope you guys enjoyed as much as you enjoyed the first one. So let's get it. to Martin Groves, author of Beasts Between the Rivers, the first book and the second book, Beasts Between the Rivers of Trace of Death, available right now on Amazon, and links are in the description of this episode. Let's get to Martin right now. All right, today we got a returning guest in studio, Martin Groves. How are you, sir? I'm doing great. I'm very glad to be here with you. Awesome, man. So this is our second time trying to record. We had some technical difficulties, but producer Jack is in the house, and he took care of it, thankfully. So I was, I was telling you before we had a kind of stopped the first recording, and I think this is the first time I've had a returning guest to the studio. I'm racking my brain in the moment right now. I just don't think that I don't think I ever had anybody else come in second time. So I am very honored to be here with you and I'm glad to be. I'm glad to be a comeback. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad to be here, man. I'm thinking you're going to be here often. Yeah. Because there's been, there's been since I had you on the show.

I've gotten a chance to talk to some of your friends who probably will be on the show. And I know we were talking before. I'm going to put this name out there because I know I talked about it before, too, Bart Nunley. He's going to be on the show at some point. And we're talking about how we can get him in studio, which would be awesome. Yes. So, yeah, it's just more fun doing it in studio. And so when I can have somebody to come in studio, it's what I want to do.

Being here live with you is just fantastic. It's, we forget that the camera's on and we're just, we're being ourselves and being able to talk face to face. That's the thing. The camera's not even here. Yeah. And that's the thing. I mean, it's just the energy is different. I enjoy it.

And, well, your story, when I put it out, I knew it was going to be one of the all-time type stories for the show. I didn't realize how much people were going to love it and identify with it. You never really know. there's a lot of times I put out an episode where I'm like oh this is amazing people are going to love it and people are like oh that sucked and I'm like oh well I liked it and then there's there's other times that I put out a show and I'm thinking you know I don't know if people are going to like this you know but I like it so I'm going to put it out and then all of a sudden they're like that was amazing and I'm just thinking I don't know my audience at all and and so I just kind of I operate in a philosophy

where I just I put out what I want to put out and what I like and if people like it cool if not oh well maybe next week so yeah but um with you we talked to we talked a lot about your experience the first time you were out i don't remember exactly what we covered in the overtime but you're here because you have come out your second book now and uh you have also you i think you said what in the next 90 days from this time of this recording you're going to have another third book out the third book will come out got you okay so we'll definitely uh we'll hit on that at some point but before we get too carried away with the third book, let's talk about the second book.

Sure. What is the second book? Why did you come out with the second book? So the first book, if anybody is listening right now, it's a beast between the rivers, and it details your personal experience that kind of launched you into these topics back in 1993.

Anybody who wants to listen to your original story, it was episode 514, we called it Terror in the LBL. But basically, in 93, you're a sheriff and you're out hunting with a partner who was also a police officer and you guys had the experience of your life where you had encountered multiple dog men along with Bigfoot at certain points of this thing. It was a wild night and you guys quite frankly are lucky to be, well, you're lucky to be alive today. You both were lucky to

survive it and because that night somebody else wasn't that lucky. Before we get into everything, else. I just want to clarify something for listening audience because we didn't do this on the first one. And it's because I read the book. This is why, this is why when I sit down to record people, I'm like, I don't want to hear your story until we're recording because I will forget to say things that I already know the answers to. And so I've had a lot of people ask me, the guy who died that night. Was it the same guy that you ran into, Bubba from Kentucky? Yes. And we apparently didn't talk about it on the show because I knew in the book, I had read

the book. And you said that in the book, I believe the verbatim quote was, after you guys part of ways, you said, little did I know, I would be the last person he ever saw. Yes. And so I already had my answer. And so I forgot to bring it up during the interview for the people. But so anybody listening now or that's going to listen to 514, just know that Bobba from Kentucky didn't make it. He was the one that was attacked that night. And for the official record, you believe it was Dogman?

Yes. It was no doubt what had taken the firefighter from Kentucky out. The description that was given to me later on and the details I won't speak about. It's too gory to talk. but the individual that I had met on the trail that day was a firefighter out of the state of Kentucky. And when they found him, of my opinion and what was told to me by a officer in that immediate area, he was ripped to pieces and that it had to have been a dog man. Of course, the official report will state that it was an unknown animal attack.

Um, in that time of 1993, well, just like anything else that has been hidden from us, that land between the lakes. Officially, there were no bear. Yet, when I spoke with officials, everything is a black bear that is not supposed to even exist in that part of the state in 1993, even though there are reports, uh, further north in the state of Kentucky. but I was told that it was written as an unknown animal attack. I don't believe what took place and what killed that man could have been a bear.

There were too many details that a bear just does not kill in that rampage like that. Yeah. But that was our Kentucky firefighter that I had met on the trail that day. day and it was in fact one and the same. In the book, it does detail, but we didn't talk to talk about it that day. I gave specific details, and because I am a police officer, I'm very astute to seeing things. And when you walk in, I can tell you your shoes and what you're wearing, how you talk, how you comb, anything. And that day that I met him, I kept in mind his tag number, what was on the back end of the windows,

and the bumper stickers and everything. And even though I did not see him again at that time, I knew the vehicle that they had pulled out of the trail, and I saw it on the back of the truck. I knew it was his. Now, since then, you have to keep in mind that almost probably eight, 10 years later, I have been contacted and spoke with the victim's family. And they gave me a little more in details,

but they too were advised that it was an unknown animal, and that was all the clarification that they was given. Wow. Yeah, that's wild. I mean, the cover-up goes deep, and that's kind of like what I think you're learning as you look into this more and more, and I've learned just from talking with people, is that at all costs, it is not an upright walking dog.

Exactly. You know, it is a hybrid of a mountain line and a bear before it's an upright walking dog. You know, there's something freaky happened in the woods that night and this weird hybrid was created, but it is not an upright walking dog. Amen. Totally agreement. Yeah, it's just one of those things where I think there's projected ramifications when it comes to this that they think could happen if it were to come out. But then there's probably the, you know, the ramifications that they know what would have. happen and probably there's a lot of there's a lot of trying to contain the human mental mind frame

into a way of thinking and understanding of what the reality is around us it's been constructed for most humans to believe reality operates a certain way and when you introduce the idea of an upright walking dog or a big foot all of a sudden the paradigm is shifted and the the nice little happy boxed everybody into to think is out of the question. And so, you look at the LBL situation, and it's like this in many, many areas, whether it's a national park or something as small as LBL with 170,000 acres plus. The last statistic I saw was $5 to $7 million in revenue in the tourist trade. I do not know why they do, why they don't embrace the idea like they do in some other areas that, hey, yeah, the Bigfoot or the Harry Man lives here because it would double the amount of revenue. However, they do keep this hidden because they believe that it will destroy the tourist trade.

That's a lot of money, five to seven million dollars. And that creates a lot of power. One story that's thought in the back of my mind is an individual that had come out with his story of seeing the dogman and a local mayor came to his business and told him to retract his story because it was detrimental to the tourist trade in the area of Grand Rivers. And this city mayor, I won't say the city, but it was in the area of Grand Rivers, basically, threatened him and told him to retract the story and do not be telling this because it will hurt the tourist trade. Is Grand Rivers in Tennessee? Grand Rivers is in Kentucky, which is just on the northern end of the LBL.

Gotcha. And you have like five or six small cities through there, you know, from Cady's, Cuttawa, Grand Rivers, and two or three other smaller towns. But you've got quite a community that's based on the tourist trade of the lakes and the fishing on the Kentucky side as well as the Tennessee River side. Okay. So let's get into your book, the second book, which is Beast Between the Rivers and A Trace of Death. Yes, which I am so proud of because you actually designed my cover. Yes.

And it is beautiful, Tony Markle. I thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Happy to do so. Yes, very nice. Everyone has complimented on it, and of course, I give full credit to you on the inside cover, and I was very pleased with it, and I thank you, sir. Absolutely.

Absolutely. It's fun to make that stuff. Yes. I was like, ooh, that's creepy. That works. It very much creeps me out. I see it at night. I was, when I remember I was making it, I was trying to make it look similar to what your first cover,

the same style of monster. you know. So yeah, I'm glad it turned out the way it did. You did very well, sir. Yeah. So let's talk about the book, though, and what the book's all about? Because I think that it's basically the next step in the process for you. So the first book is you talking about your experience. And now this next book is more detailing the experiences after the initial introductory experience you had. Is that right? Yes. This book will cover things that I did not want. to discuss. You know, I've been on a journey since 1993, and it's, as I kind of detailed with you, it's like going from kindergarten level through, I'm baby stepping through the walk and learning as I go. And I've accepted so much and opened my mind up to so many different levels of this type of activity and strange encounters throughout America and our national parks. So this, this book basically takes me to, I have to credit you for giving me the courage to actually come forth

and to tell parts of my story that I had kept hidden. We're discovering and not only myself, but other investigators that witnesses per se will hold things back. And I was no different and still the same way today. I mean, there are still parts that I withhold inside myself. When the story itself is so fantastic, witnesses will hold back those little bitty things that they consider are unbelievable. But these little aspects, these little parts that these witnesses keep hidden are so important. And my story is no different.

It's not about me. it's the intel and the story itself, not because it was my story. It's everyone's story. And so I came forth after speaking with you and meeting with you the first time. And you gave me the courage, and I felt like that it was time that possibility that the country or America, or I can't say America, because I've got readers in Australia and Germany and the United Kingdom, I was really shocked to the following and the people who have contacted me. But I wanted to come out and I wanted to tell the rest of the story. And I wanted others to understand why I had hidden it.

But you gave me the magic or the courage to come forth and to tell that story. And as I began to piece the book together, it was almost finished when I was in your office the last time. but I had to change some things because I wanted to come forward. And I wanted to tell such as what happened to my hunting partner that was with me, he wanted to remain totally anonymous out of this. He didn't want the ridicule and the problems that comes with it. And he especially didn't want the public to know what he had seen and what he had told me when we were standing in front of the fire.

When I rejoined him after what had followed me and had been the, pursuing me in the woods and I come back to a brand new story. I, you know, I thought this was just it. I thought I was the only one that had been, had been stalked in the woods and had been chased through the woods. But in fact, Harry's story is included inside of this book and the details of what happened to him. Yeah. So can you detail some of that stuff? Sure. Yeah. The book, I added a chapter, and again, after crediting you with giving me that courage to come forth, Harry, just about a week before he passed on, had written me a letter, and I had spoken and met with him in the hospital. And he told me that I could tell his story, but again, to keep his family, save them from the ridicule.

and he did not want public knowing who he was, but he felt like that maybe that his story should be, his part of the story should be told. And after he passed away, I kept it hidden and I kept it in my heart. And out of respect to him, I thought it was time to bring it forth. And basically what happened with Harry is he had a whole event that took place on his own that while he was in the cornfield hunting, I had taken out through the trails and decided to run the ridges and to follow a pretty good game trail hunting turkey that day,

but Harry had chose to remain closer to our camp. And he had entered a cornfield that was just real distal to the camp, and he didn't have to walk that far. He'd set up a small hunting blind and was in the edge of the woods, and this was in the devil's backbone. And this is part of the story, you know, that will come forth later on too, is that this is a real, really mystical and dangerous area. I mean, this is a very, uh, very dangerous place as the statistics show and the different witnesses that have come forth.

A lot of these stories have come from the devil's backbone. Little did Harry and I know that's where we were. We ran right in the epic center, the epicenter of, of everything that takes place. So Harry is in the, in the cornfield that day. and he's hunting by himself. And, you know, from the book, it tells us that Harry's not a, he is not a scary, he's not scared of anything.

You know, I've seen this cat at work when we worked together at sheriff's office, man, just absolutely destroy whatever type of danger that comes towards him. We're talking about a man that had no fear until that day. And I saw a man brought to his knees in fear, the same it did to me. So Harry's in the middle of the cornfield, and he tells me later on after we get hooked back up what took place. And here's what happened. Harry's in the field. He's hunting.

He's calling birds and he's having a good old time like a normal turkey hunter would be. I mean, we're in our element. This is what we do. And he's having objects thrown at him from great distance that he can't understand where these objects are coming from. first it begins with small pebbles or rocks then he has an issue with a corn cob that comes flying now this is a field that was left over from the year before and inside the LBL they will often put up many areas that they will leave and not harvest for the deer and for the turkey and this was a corn patch in the middle of spring that was left over from the previous fall and

also we discovered in the very front of this field where someone had put out bushel baskets of corn. So we knew that we were in a good hunting place. He's sitting there and all of a sudden a corn cop goes whizzing by his head that it would have taken great force from a great distance from the woods from where he was located. And that pretty well flipped him out. He didn't want to leave his area and he didn't. didn't know what he was dealing with at the time. He just didn't put two and two together. And the same for me. We're just old country boys. We're hunting. And as the afternoon progressed and the activity started and the, he began to hear things close to him, but he knew it was

in the distance of where I had gone and left the trail to go hunting myself. But one of the and this is hard to talk about, but one of the things that he saw was he saw two bright objects that came over the devil's backbone, one of the taller, what we call hills or mountains in our area.

There's nothing like the smoky mountains, but we do have some hills. The devil's backbone is a deep area with huge, deep hollers and high hills or mountains. So he sees these two bright objects that float right over the top of him, a distance of about 100 yards off of the ground.

And he sees two bright orange, reddish orbs circles. And he describes him smaller than a basketball, but bigger than a softball. They go flying past him. And if he was staring directly into our camp, it would have been to his left. and they go over his left shoulder and they enter the woods on the trail that I was located at. He knew that's the trail that I took.

It is the trail that I had spent my whole day hunting. When these two orbs come in, he hears an extremely strong metallic sound. That's the same sound that I hear. I hear it twice, he only hears it once. And this noise totally flips him out because he knows our location is totally off the road. There are no vehicles. There's no way a vehicle could make that noise. We both are aware that there are no buildings.

There are no other mechanical objects in our area that could make such a noise. So when you add up all the things that he's got rocks, and pebbles thrown at him. At one point I think he even said an acorn, but this corn cop things in the back of his mind that no human could throw this corn cob at him with such powerful ferocity that was thrown

and it goes flying over him. And now he's got two things that he cannot understand that goes flying past his shoulder and ends up disappearing into the woods. And it's late in the afternoon. It's almost dark. So he packs up and he says, I'm going to camp. He goes to camp, starts supper, got the fire going, and then I come in from the trail and begin to tell him my story.

Well, what I did not cover and what I had never told anyone is the discussion we had sitting at camp. And he begins to tell me all these things that happened to him and these two orbs that had come in past him. and then I tell him, you know, hey, I've got something in the woods that's been chasing me. So we have a long discussion right there in front of the campfire before all heck breaks loose and these things come in on us. That, in my opinion, and you know, we were talking earlier off camera. You said it best. I am one, and unfortunately my hunting partner has passed away. I am one of the 411 survivors.

They are some that have come close, but I have never been able to speak with another hunter that has went into the same type of scenario that has lived to tell about it. I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm thinking I'm maybe one, the only one possibly, you that has lived to tell about the metallic noise and of the struggle that we had to get out of our camp and to survive.

My story, me, I'm not important, but what took place is very important and holds a great card in the card game per se or a pebble amongst the rocks of what is taking place in the national parks. And it's not because of me, but I feel it's very important that this information and these details get out. Yeah. No, and I agree with you. It's very rare that there's the detail that you have, period, because in order to get that kind of detail, you usually are one of the missing. You're one of the missing or they find you laying in the cornfield ripped to pieces. Yeah. And that's why it's so important for me to tell this because if I can save one hunter or one hiker or just one, a family that recognizes, hey, man, there's something out there.

This don't look right. Let's kind of motivate and get out of this immediate area. That's important to me. I fully believe that whatever is in these woods, whether it's in the National Park or in the LBL or in Virginia. when the people are coming up missing and they're simply out for their morning run or walk or hike, there's something to this. Yeah. And it's interesting because all this stuff is happening in my mind in a confined area because it's happening in Kentucky.

It's happening in Tennessee. It's happening in the Smokies of North Carolina. It's happening in this region where it's a lot and it's changing, but there's a lot of rurality, a lot of forests. you know, there's a lot of space for these kind of things to happen. And I don't know if it's as simple as that as an explanation as, well, there's not as many people there. So that's where these things settle in. Or is there more things happening on a paranormal level? And I kind of, over time, lean more that direction where I don't necessarily believe anymore that this stuff happens where people aren't. I think it happens where, um, the veil is thinner. It happens. If it happens in a forest, it happens in a forest, but I've heard enough of people encountering these things in populated areas as well.

I don't have a really, in my mind, a good grasp as to why certain areas and stuff, but it seems like this area that we're in is, I'm trying to refrain from using the term, but I'm going to use it. A portal area. Yes. It just, it seems like, and maybe one day I'll have a better way of describing how I feel about it, but it just seems like the veil is thinner here, and there are things that come in and out of this reality. Yes.

And I believe that these monsters do that. And just for clarification for you and for people listening, that maybe are new and don't know, when I say that, I don't mean that all. all these things are interdimensional, all these things are hopping in and out of our reality. I believe that is definitely the case with some situations. But I do believe that the government has dabbled in creating these as well. And I also believe that along with that and the interdimensional aspect, there could be a remnant of an ancient. Listen, when we talk about, you and I were talking about earlier about Scott Carpenter.

and Scott Carpenter and his whole nephalam angle, I think that's a very real thing. And so I think that there's multiple things happening here. And if you encounter a dog man doing something and it doesn't match up with what somebody else is saying, they encountered, it's not because somebody's lying. It's because you might have encountered something that is from a different origin than what the other person did.

Yes. Does that make sense? Scott Carpenter is a genius, and you and I have spoke about him before. I truly believe the man is a genius. And he is groundbreaking. He probably wouldn't want me to call him a scientist, but man, he is it.

He is the groundbreaking investigator from everything, from Minespeak to portals to dogman, Bigfoot. The man is 100% on target, and I have learned so much from him. And I look up to him great. for instance, that's what took me from kindergarten walking to getting to, and I'm, I know nothing. I'm just a simple layman who is investigating and using what skills as a policeman I have to get to where he's at or to learn from him and others. I've heard it best said by other investigators.

We're not experts in anything. But if I ever saw someone that is at that skill level, it is Scott Carpenter, and that brings us right into what I want to come forth with the portal thing. That's exactly Scott Carpenter is what opened my eyes to be able to speak about things that I've seen or investigated. The portal is real. Just because we see something such as like what I saw in 1993, which was something. which was some type of creatures, unknown, beasts, whether if they be from the under earth or if they come from another dimension or realm, I know not, as they say, but I know what happened that we'll discuss concern in a portal that totally changed my mind.

I thought in 1993 that I was dealing with flesh and blood. blood. Now I look back as to as I have progressed with people like Scott Carpenter or David Politis, Barton Nunley. Barton says it like this, name me a creature that all of a sudden disappears in front of your eyes. Name me a flesh and blood animal that can be walking yet it leaves no prints. So we flash forward to October the, I think 19th of last year, which I know what took place is a portal opened right in front of us. And that's why we added that into this book as to what had taken place. And I wanted to open up and tell you that day, we spoke a little bit about it, but something happened. and again it goes back here. Here's a guy that that has spent 30 years of my life now. This will be 30 years of since 1993 that I have spent every waking hour and off duty time that I had investigating what I thought was a flesh and blood animal.

This journey that I've won upon and honestly over 300 witnesses that I have documented and that. and I have interviewed mostly face to face. Some would only talk to me by public service telephone, but most folks wanted to meet face to face and actually take me into the LBL where they had their experience. So I went all the way from 1993 to flash forward to last year thinking I'm dealing with flesh and blood. Harry individuals walking around that wants to eat everybody.

So I guess come forth now and tell the story what happened. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think it's, yeah. You said it up. Let's just keep it going. It's, this is a transition in your mindset is what you're saying, though.

Yes. In the last 30 years. And by the way, I can't imagine looking into this stuff for 30 years. And then suddenly having. a paradigm shifting moment where it's like I thought I had a semi-firm grasp on the topic and now all of a sudden that's being

shattered. So maybe either before or after or during, however you want to do it, I want to get, I want to kind of dive into what it was like for you emotionally, mentally to start grappling with this idea that this

is not just a flesh and blood monster. And you talk and you said about that and you said about other people. And in the reality of the situation is, because you're coming out and saying that, there are people out there that don't agree with you. And they're, they're like, okay, he's lost it. He's gone. You know? So that's stuff that you've had to grapple with when you're coming to this understanding. And I imagine the only reason why you are able to even do this is because you know what you saw. Yes. And you didn't see alone, right?

Right. Actually, there was a person with me that very night. Yeah. But you're very much right. I've went through this baby steps, as we call it, this walk of 30 years of investigating and listening to witnesses and actually going to the places and locales or locations of where they've had these issues at. And all of a sudden, you know, I'm, and please let me say the man's name one more time. I'm listening and I'm watching everything I can get and reading the books of Scott Carpenter. And people like Barton Nunley, and I'm listening and I am really, if any student has ever studied, I'm studying what these folks are saying because they were doing this long before it was cool to do so, as they say.

They were into it and they were ridiculed and mocked long before. I ever came along. And not knowing that these guys know exactly what they're talking about. These are the godfathers of investigations of any strange encounters. I mean, these guys are right on the target. And so I take this, I take this incredible journey of 30 years witnesses, investigating footprints, hair, DNA, anything that I can obtain. and all of a sudden,

wham, I'm not searching for any type of a encounter. I'm not looking to see one of these ugly things ever again in my life. All I'm on is a quest and thirst of knowledge. And so October last year, with everything I've said in mind and all these people's thoughts and education in my mind, we are in the middle of land between the lake,

It's October. It's a nice warm day. And I have a individual that I trust and I have worked with and known for 40 plus years by a man. The man's name was Daryl Denton, who has his own group and is one of the largest groups on the internet of trying to get people to come together and to spread their stories and to gain knowledge. and his Bigfoot Encounters group is, it's huge. And I'm getting information intel from across America and across the seas. So he's with me and we've decided going to LBO for a period of three days. And we had intended on staying for at least a three day period.

Normally, I don't like going in for less than three to five days. I like to stay in and get into the elements and get deep. into LBL. So we have spent a day that would have should have been our first day into LBL. And we had been all around the area of the devil's backbone. And we were investigating about one mile or further from my original camp. And we had gotten into the woods deep. And it was a little bit later than we wanted to be in the woods in that immediate area. And to be honest with you, we are both accustomed to have an activity. He has seen so much in his lifetime that it takes a lot to rattle him.

And it does me now seeing all and the knowledge that we have. We're in the middle of the woods, the devil's backbone, and we begin to hear noises. And we know that we are being surrounded. by whatever's in the woods with us. We haven't seen them, can't see, but we have a good feeling as to what has surrounded us, and we begin to hear tree knocks. We've been hearing, clicking, or clanking of what we believe would be rocks being banged together.

And we're getting them in three different areas that have surrounded us. So we made the decision. It might be a good idea to ease towards our pickup truck. we begin to get closer to our pickup truck and we know we have something in front of us. And we can see what is best described. We'll talk about that later too because I've come up with something on that too about the shadow figures. And we see some movement up in the woods in front of us. But we make it to our truck and we get in and we get cranked up.

We get a short distance from where our truck was parked. And I'm cruising at a very slow, very slow speed. And over on the right side of the road, on the passenger side, Darrell see something out his window. The windows were both down. And I see something at the same time that is so incredible that I did not want to put in my book. I didn't want to even discuss it.

I didn't want to tell anyone about it. And to be honest with you, there's things written down. I keep a personal travel or a diary of any of my expeditions into LBL, Real Foot Lake, and some into the Smoky Mountains even. And these are my private, they're very private to me. And for one, again, it goes back to who's going to believe what you see anyway in this day and time. We saw something that. Darrell decided to, after the account, he decided to bring forth.

And I did not even know that he was going to tell the story. That's why the story came out. Otherwise, it would remain hidden. He sat down and discussed with me why he had put the story out because he felt like that it needed to be told. This is what happened. we see something out of our truck window. We saw a creature that in my belief came out of a portal because we saw a mist.

We saw a what can only be described like a gray color mist on the side of the road at first. Nothing was in that mist and then all of a sudden a creature appears standing the side of the road. it. When he saw it, it was laid down. I saw it as it began to stand up, and the creature was approximately eight foot tall and height. This thing was massive. It was nothing like I had seen in 1993. It was even bigger than the big foot that I had saw. This was massive. And the only description that I can give to you is that it appeared to be something off of television. It was no way that this could be real right in front of my eyes. It was like I was seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie The Predator.

This thing was translucent. It was gray in color. The back of its head and around its shoulders had like a what was just, Darrell explains it as a lion's mane running down. I couldn't tell what it was. It was hairy coming off the back part of its neck and it stood up and it had a rounded snout and it had the head. I say it was bigger than a beach ball. It wasn't a helmet, but it wasn't a normal type head of what you depict upon what they call dog man.

This thing was just massive. The one thing the two of us could agree upon after speaking about it was that it had a rounded snout and it protruded from the face. And it had white glowing eyes that was deep set behind its forehead. I mean, it's just solid white like flashlight, strobe light, white light. And by this time, you know, I'm, I can't even believe what I'm seeing. in front of us. So as I'm passing this object, this beast, whatever that it is, it goes behind my truck, passes behind me, and I'm looking at it in the mirror,

and I'm starting to speed up to get some distance between it. And as it goes up beside of the truck, that's when something happens to both of us. Darrell's legs began to get numb and his eyes began to leak as if like a water faucet was turned on. I had similar symptoms, but twice as bad. As this thing passes behind my truck, it shoots up the side of the field

and go straight up one of the hills on the devil's backbone. this thing doesn't even look like its feet is touching the ground again translucent predator type or style it goes right up the mountain hill we can hear it breaking uh tree limbs but yet it's not touching the ground this thing is like it is floating uh i don't even see its legs moves or arm moves it's just like it's like watching a cart tune per se or some type of a sci-fi flick. So this thing disappears up into the mountains. Now, getting back into the truck where he and I are, I got the truck wheel in my hand and I'm trying to drive and my eyes begin swelling shut. What I'm about to tell you, I want you to keep in mind that I've been hit by every

type known CS agent. that can be used police or military government style of tear gas or what they would use upon humans to subdue them. My eyes are beginning to swell shut. My tongue is swelling and I cannot get my breath. It is if someone sprayed me with the topical agent, what we call Top cop or one of the other higher end great CS agents. that they spray to subdue someone. So I've got numbness in my legs like Darrell does and my eyes are swelling shut and I cannot breathe. I'm freaking out because I can't breathe.

The other thing that hits us is an extremely strong smell of battery acid is what I can, what I try to describe you. It was like a battery acid. I really believed at the moment that my truck was blowing up because of the battery or something had exploded. So all this is taking place in a period of just clap of the hands. Everything I've described you that's taken me 10 minutes to tell you, this takes place in the blink of an eye.

He's trying to get me to stop the truck, but yet he sees that I am having difficulty breathing and I can't. I've got to get out of there. I've got the flight syndrome going on. It's time to get to somewhere and try to get a, uh, fresh breath of air inside the truck. All this takes place and we disguided to get out of Dodge as per se and we flee the area. We drive about four or five miles.

I'm starting to ease up on the symptoms that I am having and I get out of the truck. I'm breathing better again, but my eyes are just like somebody has sprayed me good. I get out and I check my truck. I check the front end of the truck, pull the hood up, nothing wrong with the battery. There's nothing wrong with my truck. So all these things, if you can imagine to try to put into an equation and solve an answer of what is taking place, we're discussing what has happened, the smales, what's wrong with Darrell, what's wrong with me. There's, you know, there's no way of giving a logical explanation to what we saw.

That night, that incident, totally changed every thought that I had for 30 years of investigating a flesh and blood creature in the L.B. Is what I saw in 93 the same thing that I saw? No. Unless what I saw in 1993 changes from what come out of that portal or vice versa. I have no, I have no answers. But that's what I saw and that's what I've been in my book.

because all I have been taught since I was 18 years of age is to record your senses, what you see, what you smell. It's the same thing any police officer does when he writes down a report. Yeah. So there you have Expedition 58. Expedition 58. We did remain in the park that night for many hours, but because I still was having some issues,

we decided to cut our three-day expedition or investment. down and go home. Yeah. How did Daryl view this stuff before that experience? Was he more along lines of, you know, things could be less flesh and blood? Or was he, was this like still, was this very much a paradigm shifting experience for him like it was for you? Not for him. This man has been through so much that I've only discovered in the last probably two or three years after.

he's opened up and began to speak on podcast or appear in front of others and talk about, he's had the same thing occur with the orbs in Cheatham County. There's a couple places here in Tennessee that has reported there is one phenomenal case where they had an orb come in. And I'll let him tell you the story, but he had an orb come in and a possum walks out of the orb. Oh, I can't wait. And a possum.

Now, he had another person with him that night, but he sees this thing comes off. And this is the family I told you about that is being terrorized in Cheatham County. And where they've torn down the houses and this sat in the other and destroyed stuff. They're watching this house and all of a sudden the orb comes in from the Cheatham Wildlife Management area and lands just a few feet from him. and he's looking at this orb and it opens up, dissipates, and a possum comes walking out. So many questions. It's mind-blowing. It really is.

Darrell is going to be hopefully in studio at some point. I'd like to have him here in studio. Him and I have been talking about him coming on the show. It definitely sounds like we have a great conversation with him. My thoughts on that are vast. So, like, one, you share that and makes you almost feel like, if you want to go the, we live in a simulation type of gig, it's almost as if like the port, that orb was the carrying mechanism of just a, what they would call an MPC, a non-playing character in a simulation. We need, we need the possum. We need another possum in this area.

So deliver that's like the delivering mechanism. Yes. It also makes me wonder, it's like, okay, so was it really a possum, you know, or was it something else? It's just, I can't wait to talk to. Oh, gosh. He will tell you what the possum turns into. Oh, why didn't you just bring him today? Yes.

Holy cow. Okay, well, I can't wait to talk to the guy. And something tells me, just from what I know of him with you, the possum story is probably the least of it. Yes. Yeah, he has so many phenomenal, phenomenal events and incidents that he's investigated all over Kentucky, Tennessee. And I think he's been to Georgia and Louisiana as well.

We could go on and on about that. But going back to what you experienced, he's there with you. You guys experienced this together. It's kind of nice for us on the receiving end of the story, knowing that you have somebody else out there who went through the experience with you. You both are talking about it publicly separately, where you're here today talking about it.

He's been on other people's shows talking about it. I got to get you're saying so many things. I'm like, I got to get all these guys in the same room. Yes. I just do. Like, I mean, I'm just sitting here thinking you, Barton and Darrell Denton

together in the same room just talking about this stuff at the same time. It would be phenomenal. And I will be listening more than talking because these two guys know so much more than I. Yeah. And they're just, they have so much information and knowledge and see, they want to share it. They won't, you know, is the world or is America ready to hear of this phenomenon? And all these pieces of puzzles that I've laid out.

And you've heard me speak of the last 30 years. And then all of a sudden a new piece of the puzzle comes along. And I was already open and I knew that the portals existed and I knew that things occurred. Yet I didn't want to believe them myself to a certain extent. I'll say it like that. I had to see it to believe it, I guess. And I never discounted anyone. I never discounted whether if it was this person in another state saying, hey,

portals exist. I seen Harry Mann or Bigfoot come out of a portal. or I have found a portal in the woods. And nobody does it better than David Pilates when he discusses portals. Yeah. I mean, it's just awesome information that you can get from him. You know, I'll tell you, you've said this several times today to me, whether it's off air or on air, but, you know, about the idea of, you know, America or the world being ready. Yes.

And what I'll say to that is there is no gauging that. And you as the experiencer, you as the person with information and stuff, the only, like, what is it that that would take for you or somebody else that has that thought, like, I don't know if the world's ready to hear this. What would it be to get you to change your mind to this point? I think they're ready. The thing that most likely would happen is that you hear somebody else. talking about something and you see how it goes over and all of a sudden you're like,

I think they might be ready. Somebody's got to be the first one to do it. And the only way we can gauge whether the country or the world is ready is for somebody to be brave enough to start stepping forward and talking about the stuff. And so that's why I applaud you for doing that. I applaud you for Darrell doing that and others. We need to stop worrying about are people ready and just give it to them. You need to give it straightforward, just straight out.

Listen, like, we're not immune to criticism. Like, I see you with my show. I've not, I haven't seen the stuff you've seen, but I talk about it. And just by talking about it, I know there's criticism out there. But for you and those guys and even me, we need to put that aside. No, it's going to happen. And we don't care if it happens because there are so many people, because you mentioned to me before as well a day several times,

that if you can just help one person. Well, by you coming forward and sharing these things, it is allowing that one person to be helped that maybe they're not writing books. They're not on the podcast and they're just sitting here thinking, I think I'm crazy. I think I'm crazy. And all of a sudden, here you come along saying, no, I saw Harry Man or whatever it was come out of portal.

And all of a sudden they're like, wow, because I've been seeing that for years. backyard. Yeah, you know what I mean. He's coming out of my barn every Saturday night, you know. It's a party. Yeah, it's a party, man. They come right out and visit the farm. Yeah. And so it's just, I think, I think the world is ready when people like you decide to stop worrying about the world's ready and just go and do it. My greatest worry and my greatest fear no longer is being worried about what people think about me. I'm more worried about that little girl that disappears or that. that hunter that has a husband, that has a wife, I can't say that now because they're female hunters, too. Yeah.

They have a significant other and their family that wants them to return back home. Mm-hmm. But yet they never see their husband or wife again. They never see their son again because he disappeared hunting. And we have that knowledge and we have that thirst and quest for that. But everyone's in fear of speaking of it. Mm-hmm. I'm no longer scared of that.

Yeah. I no longer care about the fear of the ridicule. I care more about that missing person than I do anything. Mm-hmm. I think that there is a very solid foundation of people coming forward and talking about their experiences and then other people like Politey's coming out and talking about what he's learned and researched. And then even people like me, I'll throw people like me in the equation where we're hosting

the conversation and letting it go and no handcuffs. That's what I've always done. And so there's a healthy foundation of all these different types of people coming together now and saying, enough's enough. Let's just talk about it and see where it goes. And I think what we're going to find over time is that it's going to create a wave. And this wave is going to just totally open up the door for people to just deal with these issues. I'm not talking about governmental.

I'm talking about the people who have gone through these things, who are missing a family member. And they know what happened, but nobody is listening to them. Nobody listened to them back then 30, 40 years ago when they talked about it. And they're just not going to talk about it now. And all of a sudden, we're creating this wave where these kind of people are going to be able to say, okay, if my local sheriff doesn't believe me, at least I know I can talk to these guys. And at the end of the day, I can go to my grave knowing I taught to somebody to believe me. I told someone. Yeah.

I talked. What I'm discovering not only from this and for exactly what you said concerning that people need to talk, I've got something in that book that I have made a discovery that goes back to the late 1700s and early 1800s. And it's on that list we were going to speak of the shadow people. we have transcripts of letters and things that go back to the Transylvania Fur Company where they speak of the shadow people. We have the Shawnee and Cherokee people speaking of the shadow people and these dark and bloody grounds of the peninsula known as land between the rivers

or land between the lakes as it's called now. The shadow people is in this book and it's, It's going to go directly nail on the head to the portals. I've got at least three or four stories. And what I could not get into this book that is going to, it blows my mind. It may not blow everyone else's, but blows my mind. I have got so many witnesses coming forward saying what they are seeing in the cemeteries of LBL.

Whether if it was St. Mary's Cemetery and there is one I won't talk about until I get some, photographs. I've got a lady who has seen and I know she is a sound mind and I believe every word this lady, this witness has told me of a portal that opens up and dogmen walk out of a tree. And only recently within the last month, maybe two months, it is beginning to be a phenomenon that occurs all over America and in other countries where people are seen dog men like creatures walking and not only dog men but some I've read accounts of Bigfoot but there's a location that I've been studying for five years in the LBL of a huge tree in a cemetery.

this lady seen four dogmen not only enter the tree but on another separate occasion seen them enter and exit this tree. Oddly enough, this is one of the areas that they have closed down. Really? Now, per the agreement of the government, all cemeteries shall remain open to the the public at all times. That was the agreement that the government made with the families who have kinfolk. Their family is buried on the grounds of this peninsula. So what we have discovered, and you will see in this second book and in the third book, the third one is,

I've got to get back to this location, but they've got it shut down to us. They actually had barricades to the road about a mile away from this, which incidentally also is an area where supposedly in November, November of last year during the juvenile hunt where an individual was attacked by some form of an animal, but because it's a juvenile, we can't obtain the records and hepa laws. We're trying. That's the one with the grandfather that saw it, right? Yes. Yeah. No, that's a different one. The grandfather, that's the one that the juvenile died in content. Okay, so the suit, and I survived this.

Yes. This one survived, but they're not talking, and we can't even get the names. But this cemetery is in the same location. So you go back to the shadow people of the documents from the Transylvania fur company and the long hunters that were dealing with the Cherokee and trying to trade with Shawnee. you got the shadow people all from that that era we have the shadow people that have come forth that are walking among the trees and disappear into the trees you put all these little pieces of puzzles together and the shadow people become very important because they're coming out of what

portals the trees or the area there is a portal somewhere where they exit or they enter So witnesses are coming forward now across America and seeing the shadow people emerge and come from these portals. All right, it's sponsor time. And today, friends, we have HelloFresh. America's number one meal kit company. I love HelloFresh. I've been talking about them for years, literally. And I always tell you, pre-portioned ingredients is great because you save money in the long run.

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So if I'm understanding correctly, this is something that, is this something that you've been coming across the past couple of years or is it something that, is it something that, just starting to come out. Like people are rapidly coming out and talking about this more recently. It seems to be a phenomenon where people are now discussing it openly. Now, I have reports of dog men, especially being seen coming out of trees. But since probably in the last, especially since July of last year when we appeared in Paris, I've just an overwhelming amount of wealth of witnesses, I call it.

I have so many witnesses that have personally contacted me after hearing me speak in Paris, Tennessee. And what I'm getting from these folks are portals. And this one case that I'm working on now that is so important to me because I want to get in there and get close. I do have one photograph. There is a huge old-growth tree in the middle of the cemetery that this is where the lady says is a portal. She's not by herself. I have two other families that have told me the very same story. So this lady's not by herself.

In totality of these three witnesses, they do not know one another. They live in separate parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. they have not shared their story with one another, and I have not indicated to them that of this, Witness 1, Witness 2, or Witness 3. So they know nothing of me speaking to the other people. So there's something to this. Don't know what it is, but I want to discover

and I want to find out that answer. Yeah. While you're talking, I literally text my wife because you're talking about dogmen in cemeteries. Yes. And I was like, this is sounding, yeah, we had somebody right in that they saw what was a shadow in a cemetery that they thought looked like a dog man. They saw something walking through a cemetery.

And so, like, we, and this was just, I'd say the last couple months. We had, it was after you were on the show, I believe. we had somebody email saying that they saw what looked like a dog man in a cemetery and then somebody else was emailing about a dog man disappearing once the shots were fired at it and it's just this is something that is really it again it's the floodgates yes more the more you talk about the more people talk about the more people are going to come forward to talk the veil is being lifted and the truth is coming out I need to tell you something here before it escapes my poor old mind.

Yep, that's fine. For everyone listening that can see and hear us, let me explain something very close because this came up. When I tell you that a road has been closed down in LBL, it has nothing to do with tornado damage. One person said hurricane. We don't have hurricanes in Kentucky, Tennessee. What I'm telling you that when I see a road closed down,

Or they say the bridge is out of order. I've done crawled underneath that bridge and we've done looked and took pictures of the bridges. The bridges are shut down because they're trying to keep you from an area. The road is closed down. There's not trees down. And believe me, I was in the height of this last cemetery where this last storm that came through. Barton Nunley and Darrell Denton and myself were in the middle of this last storm, where it was throwing 18 wheeler trucks over on their side.

We were inside the LBL. So when I tell somebody out here in the audience that a road or a cemetery has been shut down, it has nothing to do with road maintenance. It has nothing to do with a tree down. It has nothing to do except they're keeping you from this area because there's something inside that area. And I want the audience to know that. And it's active right now.

This is something that isn't like five years ago, 30 years ago. This is happening right now. Nine days ago. Right. The storm you're talking about is something that just happened. Yes. I had to cancel an interview that day

because we were losing power here and the damage that just driving into the office the next morning was like, wow. Trees down everywhere. So we're talking about something that happened like nine days ago, like you said. Before we get into that, because I want to get into it.

So you bringing up the cemetery thing. It has me, It has me thinking, because what you're saying is this is something, a theme that you're starting to see where people are having these experiences with the cemeteries. Daytime and nighttime. It seems like, okay, so at one point in time, it wasn't a cemetery. It was just a piece of land. Yes.

And for all these things to be happening in the cemeteries, is it that, in my mind, there's certainly a possibility, and it's maybe even a rhetorical question. Maybe you don't even have an answer or thought about this, but it seems like the action, the human interaction and action of us collecting our dead and putting them in the ground at specific locations are creating the thinning of the veil that's allowing these things to happen. Yes. And it's...

Our activity seems to facilitate. if I'm saying that correctly. How old are these cemeteries in the LBL? Now, the one cemetery that I'm discussing actually was an old family cemetery over 150 years old. So it's not active. So this one is not really active, but it's not one of the LBL cemeteries where they had to move people from where they were flooding the area. This particular cemetery, and I would give its name, but I want to keep, I really, want to keep the, I don't want to keep everyone out of it.

I'm just saying until I get in there and make a discovery, I would rather it not be disturbed. Yeah. That's all I'm saying. But I would share it off camera with anyone who is a professionally seeking some answers. But, and I will later on after I get in there, I'll tell people where it's located. This cemetery is old, very ancient and dates back to the. first pioneers of this area.

Now, we have, as you've said, we have all the other areas that we are going in and they dug up people and they moved them. And some of these folks have been seated or buried on Indian mounds. What are a good idea. What I have discovered about the devil's backbone and where my can't. was unknowings to me and what I said in motion we were on the Indian mound. The Indian mound is above us. There are three Indian mounds there and they're in a triangle in that area. And so you then take people, you know, the Indian mounds thousands of years old.

And then all of a sudden you create a cemetery on top of them. Did that facilitate any issues or problems? I don't know, but it's a good question. But, yes, our activities seem to facilitate something, an activity of dog man. It's interesting. It's interesting. I'm sitting here, and traditionally, the idea of cemeteries and things, it's like, you know, it's a layup almost where it's just like, okay, let's go investigate a cemetery. you know, it's almost like stage because it's like, you know, it's like that,

that, uh, it's the, the cultural stereotype of, you know, graveyard's dead people haunted. And it, it, now it's like, well, maybe there really is something to this whole graveyard thing. And, and we, we should, and maybe it's, it's, it's suffering from the fact of the publicity of, you know, Hollywood and whatever, focusing on seminary, cemetery is being creepy that, you know, maybe other, the idea of, you know, the cemetery everything is almost like it's overplayed, but really, maybe there really is something to it that

needs to be seriously looked at it. Um, but, uh, anyways, so, so, uh, nine days ago. Yes. You, you, you guys were, it was you and Daryl and Barton? And Barton, yes. And you, so you guys were out there during the storm? We were in the very middle of it. We had old growth trees, some of them over a hundred foot tall that were the wind and the rain and terrific, uh, strong winds, but because of the amount of rainfall, it didn't take much wind even after the initial storm came through, the tornadoes that came through Kentucky. The root balls would give the trees up at the slightest wind blow. So we actually at one point had to change camps.

Now, we were in the backcountry area of the camps, but we had to leave the backwoods and come away from the trees because these old growth trees were just falling given the ghost up. And, you know, they, tremendous weight of them, but yes, we were right in the center of all that. So what kind of things have you guys maybe uncovered on this investigation two weeks ago? What kind of things happened? And I don't mind telling that at all because it's something that is going to come forth. And I have the photographs. For the last five to six years, I discovered probably, I'm going to say, 20.

2018, maybe 2019 at the most. There's an area, and I'll give that road name of Bethlehem, because there's three of them. So folks will have a hard time discovering which one it is. You're underestimating the audience, by the way. They're going to search all three areas. Yes, they're going to search all three. But we were, I introduced the two of them to an area that I've been watching for a long time. as a matter of fact, there are trails through this area that that look like an interstate.

Now, I understand. I know what deer tracks look like. I understand that I know what pig, the pigs look like, their trails they make and how the width should be and what they look like. We've got an interstate that runs through this one area in areas that most humans would not take unless they had block and tackle and rope climbing gear. and I actually Monday, two Mondays ago was in there by myself. The guy stay on to, Barton stays on to me all the time because if I don't have anyone to go with me, I go on two and three day trips by myself into the woods. And so we discovered something in there.

I had been watching it, but I had taken them. We found tree structures. We found marks. in the woods. We've found the X, X, X, X markings with huge trees. We were an area, this is on the Tennessee side where the storm did not hit, period. We went over into the Tennessee side because I wanted to show on this area. So there's no wind damage. This is important when I say the next, no weather relation, period. We have tree breaks where there would be a tree broke.

that would be broken 8 to 10 feet up. Fresh breaks that would take tremendous amount of strength. It didn't take the whole tree up. It was as if someone, something walked up and just snapped the tree. One little tree like this. And it would follow the trail. It might be every 100 to 200 feet. There would be another one broke.

Promise you not weather related whatsoever. I know the difference. So I took them and showed them this. There is a bay in this immediate area where I have discovered a feeding ground. They have a fresh spring. They have a place to get fresh water. We've got tracks of 14. The biggest I found is 16 inch.

And we have found an area. Tracks of what? Bigfoot. Okay. These are big foot tracks. I'm sorry. So excited to just talk about it. I just did.

Yeah, I get ahead of myself. So we have big foot tracks in this area. We have a feeding ground, a stone where they are beating turtles open. And the animal standing has a five foot width where it goes from left to right where it's standing. Standing still. Standing still and five foot between each feet. You're kidding. And it's been over this rock and it's breaking.

muscles open and there's a pile of muscles that are probably six inches deep in muscles. I mean, it's a muscle fest going on. I mean, it's like when, when humans are eating oysters. And so this rock is being used. And so this is all in this one area. And with the tree structures we found in some nesting or bedding areas and we have the tree breaks. and we've had two different locations in this immediate area where we have rock formations where it just looked like a brick layer had came through.

Now, understand, again, this is in an area where humans are not walking. They couldn't get into some, I'm old, broke, old man, there's places I can't get to.

Darrell and Barton both, there were areas where they wouldn't even go down into. so deep of crevices and in the deep hollers. But we've got rock structures where it looked like a, uh, a expert brick mason came in and stacked beautiful stones that came from the creek or the river for over five miles away, maybe four miles. Let's say four miles away. So these stones were packed from the river basin and stacked.

and stacked four miles away from there, almost like the intersection, like it was a marker. What the markers mean, I do not know, but I do not see a human doing that. But then I've got the prints. If it is a human, it's the biggest, uh, big foot human I've ever seen. It would have to be bigfoot bubble that is living in the woods and overhauls

and these guys moonshine still, you know, so. Wow. These are just things that we found in the, in the last nine days. And you guys were taking pictures of it? We have pictures. We have photographs. The footprints, so you're saying you have footprints that were like five feet apart as if it was standing there.

Like it was standing there with its, with its leg spread, its feet spread, like I would bend over to work on something on the rock. Wow. And so I've got this going on. And of course, we have the cemetery. How close? probably a half mile. Really? So we have Bigfoot there in the bay that's doing all this.

And then we have Dog Man tracks coming out of the cemetery that go in different locations on this trail. You have Dog Man tracks. I have Dog Man tracks. Some of the prints are, I believe, eight inches for the dogman. Can you imagine? Now, yes, they say that we have the Red Wolf that has come into LBL or has. been introduced. These are not wolf tracks. So we have all this going on. If it's eight inches, no, I would say not. No, no. And the funny thing that I always tell folks to, you know, when they say,

now you guys are just down there walking around the bays and you're finding from the summertime where some guy's been walking around, he's got his shoes off. Well, he must have weighed about 800 pounds because I'm a good fat man. And I can't make any marks into some of these areas. I can jump up and down, and I can't even leave a shoe print. So you're saying that these prints that you're finding are embedded into ground that deep. It's not like anybody could just make. Right, right. Me or you couldn't, we could, I couldn't, you couldn't stand on my back and us make a converse tennis shoe into something up through there.

You know, every time I talk to you, I just want to come out there with you now. Yes. I think when we're done here, I'm just going to follow you out. This is rock and roll, man. We're just going to go. I keep viny-weenies and beanie weenies and all that stuff in the car always. Yeah, just give me like 30 minutes. I'll run home, grab my crap, and we'll be out.

Just bring a fort, man. Bring a fort. Sounds good. I'm serious, though. I want to get out there. We have some things in the works. I'm not really ready to talk about yet, but I am going to get out there. I just, and I don't think it's going to be one time.

I want to get out there. This is the first time I think in my entire career as a podcaster where I have multiple people who are looking into the same area together, recording phenomenal experiences together, and it's not like I'm in Philadelphia and this is happening here at Tennessee. I'm in Tennessee. You're here. You're here. It's two and a half, three hours away.

it's a hop-skipping away. I could go and be home for dinner. You know, like, not going to. I'm going to spend nights there, but the idea is that it's so close, I have to, you know? And it's not even just the LBL. It's the area that I live in. Like, I had Scott Carpenter in here a few weeks ago, and he was telling me the town that the studio's in. This town has dogmen.

And he said that, I believe he said, I hope I'm not saying something that he said all fair. Yeah, I don't think I am. He told me that they come into town. They come into town. And it's just like, I just, I feel like I'm rediscovering my life purpose. Yes. In a sense, you know, it's just like, I feel brought here for this purpose. Yes. I really feel like that me moving to Tennessee wasn't an accident. I had no idea how, how, how, how good it was going to be for me moving here. I've got to tell you a story, man, because it's your, it's now your hometown, your new official. Yeah.

For about 20 years until I just got so tired and needed family time. I was president of the Fraternal Order Police. And I had served on a local and I'd served on a national level just as trustees or officers and stuff. there's a gentleman, Maryville, Tennessee, 1989. I won't say his name because and folks around here will only guess, but out of respect to the family, this was a judge of this area.

He was a local judge. And in that period of time, he told me of seeing two dogmen at the edge of the the city limits and they weren't walking from the hills into town. They were coming out of town and walking into the hills when he saw him. And he, you know, he felt like because he was the judge up in this area, but again, they had two or three judges, but I almost said his name and I don't want to. But he, he was a good friend and he was in the fraternal order police.

And he point blank told us, he said, there's dog men in the city limit. of Maryville, Tennessee. It's crazy because there's so many people moving here that have no idea what they're getting into. They have zero idea of what is when Fee-Fi, their little puppy disappears, you know, they let boots out, their little kitty cat, and boots comes up missing. Yeah. And, you know, oh, yeah, it's Cowdy or as we spoke earlier, the proverbial, the poor pit bullet gets

blamed on everything. Yeah, yeah. Before I forget it, I do want to tell you of a phenomenal photograph that was taken. Joe and Jesse Doyle of Hell Ben Holler, phenomenal investigative team. In this book, they allowed me to use their photograph, but go on their website, Hell Ben Holler, and please look at their photograph. They have a photograph and they have got, it's on a thermal and then it's also taken at night. It's very hard, but it's a clear photograph of a dog man and look at the face and the ears that are coming off this thing.

And just picture that this dog man is walking around in the edge or city limits of Maryville, Tennessee, coming out of one of the cemeteries or wherever. area they come from, that photograph will absolutely scare you to death. It does me. It scares me to death. But Joe and Jesse Doyle took that photograph in that image and it is terrifying. Well, I know you were talking about them earlier and stuff and maybe one of these days we can have them on a show too. Yes. I've been aware of them for a little bit now. They're phenomenal investigative team. The two of them, and they know no fear they will jump in there. And his wife, Miss, Miss Doyle, Miss Jessie, she, the lady knows no fear.

She will just jump right out there among them and chase, go after the dog man or anything they see in the LBL or what they have seen. Man, they've discovered something in the Brown Mountain. I believe they don't want to say the word. I know what they saw, in my opinion. they had a portal open and closed in front of them. So again, portal. Portal, portal, portal, portal. Portal day, man.

I'm telling you, it's becoming more and more clear that there's a real interdimensional aspect to a lot of this stuff. And I think over time, as time goes on, we're going to have more defined ways to describe what's going on and understandings. But for now, portal. I don't know what else to call. I mean, there's times I have stories that come across my path that

it's like, it's almost as if I feel like imagine like a hallway. Like the hallway outside the studio here. You have the door over here and you have a door down there. Imagine those doors being portals. And sometimes

it's not what people are seeing come out of portals, much as people describing going through this, but they're not totally onto the other side yet either. And it's like you're in a hallway, the portal hallway, where it's like you're in between two different realities and things are happening between those two. And I don't know how else to describe this stuff. So I started calling it the portal hallway or the bridge,

but it's something that is becoming more tall, talked about, I think, and I've been having people tell me certain things that's just like, wow, I don't even know, I don't even know how to sort it out of my own mind. It's like, how do you even understand it yourself and then relay that to other people? And so I think maybe the word I'm looking for is elementary. I think right now we have a very elementary way of understanding and describing things. And I think as time goes on, I think what I'm in old man. Yes. That people coming up, they're going to be like, oh, yeah, that's this, that, and the other.

And let me show you. And I'm like, when we were finding this stuff, we were just calling the portal halls, you know. You imagine if we can flash forward 50 years and, and if you're still here with us or we're gone. And these young, what I call whippersnappers, they, oh, look at this whole podcast. Look at this guy. He's talking about all portals. And it's just, you know, it's just, you know, Salavi, it's just. Yeah, they have some.

talk for them, you know. Yeah, it would be like some kind of fancy term that we don't even have yet. And they're just talking about it like, oh, these guys were just finding out about that stuff. That's just like. Yeah, those old timers really weren't with it, you know. Yeah, but at the same time, hopefully they look back and they have respect like we have respect for other people as well. Not that I'm asking for respect.

I'm just saying like the general generation that we're in right now, hopefully they look back at the people who were discovering these things and say, you know what? If it wasn't for that, though, we wouldn't be where we're. You know. Guys say it. You look at this man right here on this shirt. Martin Nunley. Yeah.

He was investigating when it wasn't cool. And it's the same thing you're doing right now today. Well, they look back upon you and they'll look at you talking about portals and then flip back a few more years back to the 70s and the 80s when Bartonnunley was being attacked. His family was being attacked. And then he comes forward and he goes to talking about it and how bad he was. was treated. That back, that far back. And I believe it was in the 1980s, 70s or 80s. Wow. And, and, you know, this family at one point was on television. You know, they were, they were being attacked. You know, you had Channel 5 or CBS News nationwide come to Kentucky to find out what

was happening in that area. Are you kidding me? And oh, yeah, the families, the farms. Yeah, oh, his story goes way back with his family and how that his, actually, his, actually, his father had actually brought them all into the house one night because they had seen their horses, their dogs, their chickens, everything was slaughtered. And the father had made a decision, we will all go together rather than me allowing one of the children being taken by one of these bigfoot and being slaughtered. The father, Barton's dad could not live with knowing that one of his children was going to be taken that night by this thing.

It got in that point into the house that bad. This thing was trying to get in, you know. So he'd made a decision, we'll just all go together rather than allowing one of you to be eaten. Wow. That is, but you go back and you look back, he was investigating and then we come forward. We got Scott Carpenter and David Politis and all these people. Wow. These are the godfathers or the grandfather's.

or the grandfathers of before it was cool, you know? And so. Yeah. Wow. That's incredible. So here this is, I guess, the curse and the beauty of it. So like I was telling you beforehand, and the audience knows this, I think for the most part, I don't like sitting down with somebody and already having them have told me their, whatever

they want to talk about, you know. And it's just I enjoy. if I'm not having fun, the audience isn't going to have fun. If I'm not having fun, there's not going to be a show because traditionally, and producer Jack can attest to this now that he works for me, I don't do things I don't want to do. And that's a good thing and a bad thing. And so the fact that I'm here, it's because I want to be here. If I'm not having fun, I'm not going to show up. And so I need to do things a certain way. And the way I do it is, I like sitting down with people, having conversation, and letting that first initial interaction be

what's recorded. That said, I don't dive into people's stories before they come on the show. So I know about Barton, but I didn't know the details like that. Oh, well, yeah. I thought you'd heard him, but I forgot. And that's why I love it. I forgot. You were doing an interview while Barton and I was talking in Paris.

And, you know, I knew of his story, but his story come out. And, I mean, you could hear a pin drop in this place. Unreal. And then they said, they said the same, you know, it was just like a pin drop. Everybody, you know, they're talking. This place is alive and is just wild. You can't even hear the people talking. Barton steps forth pin drops.

And he begins to tell. But that's the thing. It's like the cameras are not here. We're sitting here. And it's like we're the two old guys sitting in Grand Rivers, Kentucky like they are describing in some of the older books. And they're sharing. their stories.

Yeah. You know, we're sitting here, we're eating a, uh, a viny, weeny, and we're swapping pocket knives. The cameras aren't even here. I don't even think about them. Mm-hmm. So we're just having a grand old time and we're just telling, uh, the stories as they have been told or, or things that we have seen.

Mm-hmm. So the devil's backbone. The devil's backbone, man. This is going to be the actual name of the trilogy, this third. book that I'm going to come to some conclusions and actually present a synophysis the way an investigator would be investigating, whether it would be a homicide or a burglary. I'm going to give a breakdown to what I believe is taking place that I have so held back.

I've held this back and I've gained this inner strength or voice where I want the world to know because it's just not the LBL. It's the national parks. It's the family that disappeared and they said, oh, they died of some kind of poisoning. Or it's the family that's no longer found. Husband goes in elk hunting, but he's never seen again. This has taken place all over. So the devil's backbone is just a tiny story.

This is the peninsula. The devil's backbone stretches almost from one end of it, almost to the other. So is the devil's backbone. The land between the lakes, the land between the rivers, like physically. I'm not trying to name, but like literally the land that the rivers run around? The devil's backbone is the mountainous region and the deep crevices. And I'll have to take you and show you some. There are some that when you look down, it would be on a miniature scale.

It's like looking off into the Grand Canyon. It's on a miniature scale. but the devil's backbone starts in from the piney campground in and stretches all up going through the to the left of the trace it would be the west side of the trace and it will cut up through piney where the road goes to piney and goes all the way up towards Kentucky and it has one highest peak called Gordon I think it's called Gordon's Hill but this devil's backbone is and I see we never I never did brought bringing out but I've got the story in there and I and I had to change the lady's name and her her her uh in the new book

that she already have out that her brother died on the devil's backbone he disappears in the devil's backbone and then the tb i tba tennessee valley authority officer contacts her after he after he resigns and retires from there and contacts her and says, you know, we found your brother's tent. It wasn't as they said and told you that your brother had died with a heart attack or some natural cause. He was ripped from his tent and then dragged out into the woods and just strung apart.

She was told and the family was told that her brother had went a hike, which he did a lot. He was ex-military. And he goes up into the devil's backbone to do a like a three or four day camp, come back on a Monday. When he doesn't show back up, she alerts authorities. They go in and they say, oh, yeah, we, we can't find his body, this, this, that, and the other.

And then they find his body and they said, well, he probably died of a heart attack. And then the possums and other wildlife, you know, had predated upon him after his death. post death. So she's contacted after they, they bury him. And it's like a year, year and a half later, maybe longer. And this TVA officer retires and says, I'm one of the officers that, oh, found your brother's body. It wasn't as they said. He was actually ripped from his tent in his sleep.

And the tent was torn apart, everything. So that, that's in that. but that's that's the devil's backbone man we have so many missing or people found killed in this immediate area since 1960s and some things go back prior to that before the tv a took over do you know where the name came from i do not but if there's one thing i've learned from that great man david pylidas is that is some area when you look at a map and it's dubbed the devil's backbone or the devil's den or ape canyon, that might be, as that comedian said, there's a sign, stay the heck out of these places.

But the devil's backbone and you go into a hell's kitchen and all these places that are named in these national parks, that's where people have been killed and people have disappeared since the 1800s even. Back before we had the national parks and stuff, you know. Yeah. Yeah, I can only imagine, I mean, how these names come up. come about, but it's, that's what I figured. I mean, I just imagine, you know, 200 years ago, a hundred years ago, uh, the name, you know, some old lady, you know, just, it's just, you know, over her lifetime, they just started calling an area at the devil's backbone because, you know,

all the devil's backbone got him again, you know, and he went missing in a devil's backbone, no wonder. We told him not to raccoon hunt in the devil's back. You're, you're going to be shocked with the stories that come out from the devil's backbone in that book. But I've got to tell you something else. Model Tennessee. Was that a town? Yeah. Model it's on.

Yeah. Model Tennessee that no longer exist. Oh, doesn't exist? It doesn't exist. It's right where the Cumberland, the Cumberland furnace. I forgot the name of this one. Oh, Lord. But there's a furnace that still exists right by the Buffalo Prairie, the oldest Buffalo

prairie that's not the new one, but the old one where they give birth. that and it's the burthen fields so right across from that was a little town called model m o d e l so we go back to um i'm going to guess in the nineteen 40s or 50s a woman reports her husband missing he's found no other but in the devil's backbone 15 foot in a tree ripped two shreds devil's back your story the devil's backbone got him. Why would you want to play in the devil's back? Why would you want to take a ride on the devil's back?

I just imagine how these legends and these names come up with. Granny says stay out of the devil's backbomb. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, it's just like, like Granny is having to talk with their grandkids, you know, and she's like, the kids are like, you know, well, he said I should do it. He's like, well, would you take a piggyback ride from the devil? No. Well, then don't do that.

And all of a sudden, in the area that, you know, It's called the devil's backbone. You wouldn't take a ride on the devil's back, would you? Exactly. Stay away from there. Stay away from our youngans. Yeah. You youngans stay out of the devil's backbone.

Yeah. That's incredible. And it's just, I had to ask you because when you were saying the devil's backbone, I was like, well, that's probably the title of the episode for sure. But, you know, the only thing you'll find on there, you have to stretch that map up and you will see the devil's elbow trail. It's labeled that? Devil's elbow. which is on the eastern side, you'll see,

you'll see, I think, a trailhead named that. But the devil's backbone, if you'll come off of piney campground road that leads from Highway 79 into the Trace Road, that's where it begins. Okay, I'm looking right at it. In the book, there's a picture. I was privy enough to have an individual take me that showed me where we've named the kid Derek, the young man that was killed.

We found Derek's camp and where he was torn apart. Really? And the devil's backbone. Wow. And so, you know, you've got the devil's elbow, the devil's backbone. You got all these papers. And it's like you said, when Granny says stay away from the devil, you better stay away from the devil. Yeah.

This is fascinating. So, I mean, you've been on, I think you said, over 200 investigations in the last last 14 months in the LBL, right? Yes. Okay. That's a lot. It seems like you're not getting bored with it, which means that you guys are finding things and being in this area.

So like this is so phenomenal. I heard about the LBL since I started podcasting. People, I remember early, early in the show, somebody contacted me. I think a guy named Nick was on the show early in the show. And I remember him messaging me. saying me and my friend are going to go camping in the LBL, I'll let you know if something happened. I have never heard back from him. I mean, maybe I have. I don't remember, but I don't remember getting a report back on that. I'm sure he's fine. I'm sure he's fine. Let's hope so.

Let's hope so. But it's one of those things where I'm looking at the LBL now on the map here, and I'm just thinking of myself, there are so many stories that are coming out of there. and, you know, I'm sitting across the table from somebody who has done such extensive looking into the area. I would be foolish not to try taking advantage of your wealth of information and other people's and start pursuing it. And maybe even publicly, for the first time, I think maybe ever I've done this where I'll just come out and say it. I'm 37. I got hopefully, God willing, another 30 years of me being physically active, you know. hand um let's let's start diving into it and i i want to i want to be um the the the the torch carrier

for the next generation on this yes i'm not saying i'm going to be the uh the the the researcher that everybody wants me to be uh but you know i i i i i i think you and i were talking about it earlier uh and i mentioned about how the native americans they they have the storyteller of the tribe right and yes and yes and and and that that's uh that's kind of how i view myself in our in our situations where um you know i'm when when when the long time ago when the n i think they actually still do it but the native americans what they would do is they would identify a child who just had a remarkable memory unfortunately that's not me but uh that that was the that the person they would train to and they

would teach all the history of the of the tribe and that person was the one that carried that for the next generation and they relate to the next person. And I kind of view myself in that sense. And there's other people like me that have podcasts and stuff. And we're like the modern version of that. I am in a unique situation where I live just a couple hours away from the LBL and I'm in contact with guys who have been heavily looking into it. And I'm younger than all you guys. Yes. And so I think the logical conclusion should be. that I do some kind of going out there with you guys, learning the area and gathering the information just so that we can carry these stories and this stuff to the next generation.

You need to carry on where I've had to leave off. And that's my, that actually is my goal because I know that I'm old and I know that my body is failing me for many injuries I've received in the line of duty. But you always managed to take the guy to jail. You told me that. Yeah, I always drug that sucker to jail one way. of the other. But that's where you will take over where I have to stop. You know, and I'm smart enough to understand that my time has come. And so you need to take

over and lead where I had to leave off. You take everything that we've got. Every generation, if they're smart, will learn from the previous generation. Right. And they will take that wealth of knowledge, that tools per se that has been given them. And they will make that tool better. and that's what your job is now is to tell that story and investigate it and go where we had to leave off. That's what you're destined to do, and that's what my belief is. Well, yeah, I just think that I got to do something with it. And so, like I said, I don't know if I'll be what everybody wants me to be as far as, you know, what they want to have a research or something.

I don't know. Because, quite frankly, I wouldn't even know where to begin with it. idea of researching. What I typically do with our films is that, you know, the last three times that I've done it, and this is my philosophy always, is just put yourself in the environment and see what happens. You can't manage, well, maybe you can, but I'm not trying to manifest things, but rather just be in the environment and see what happens. And I just think that that mindset paired with the history that you guys have built up over the years and the documented in cases that you guys have looked into.

I just, I don't know. I just feel like I should be doing something with it. Sure. And so we'll talk more about it as time goes on and stuff, but it's definitely something that I just, I don't know, I feel compelled to. It draws, it does. And you will feel this compulsion to try to investigate and to keep going, but it will, it will draw you in because I believe we are so close to an answer.

There is an answer. We as humans throughout history, we discover and we obtain answers if we look hard enough. That one clue is going to pop forward. I agree. I think it is. That one clue will come forward. I think it is, man. I really do.

I think that what's happening right now with the shift in mindset and the understanding that, so I think 20 years ago maybe, probably even closer to today, actually. but the traditional mindset was, if you said paranormal, you're talking about ghosts. If you said paranormal, you're not necessarily, nobody's really thinking about Bigfoot or Dogman. Right, right. Because the idea of paranormal was like this other,

the spiritual, the interdimensional, these things appearing and disappearing. And that's not Bigfoot, that's not Dog Man. We're starting to see the transition. And when people are coming forward like you and other people coming saying, hey, I saw this thing come out of a portal. Yes. All of a sudden, it's like, okay,

okay, we're now in the middle of that transition now. And I think that's what we're experiencing right now. Going back to that instance, when you saw that thing appear, and you said how high it was, how tall it was, did you ever see it walking on two or four legs, four legs or arms,

whatever you want to call it and stuff, or was it always on two? It was actually crouched down almost like in a spider crawl when it first appeared up out of this. We've got photographs. We went back to this beat. Wait, you see.

You have photographs or what? We have where it was. Okay. Photographs. Now, you were so, it would be 24-carat gold coda chrome, would it not? Yes. This would be codicrome, man. I'm like, what is wrong with you?

For like an hour and a half into this. And you've not, show me the photograph. Show me the photograph. Holy graham, okay. So this guy, we went back. And I'm glad you brought this up to because, well, two things that need to come out. I need to mention a guy's name that has this. But we went back to where this location was.

So this thing was in a spider crawl. And from what I could see, I couldn't see its elbows. It was almost like I could see arms and legs. I believe Darrell may have seen feet. I did not. but this thing comes up and we've measured this thing was 10 feet down on the side of the road now we have photographs of where it came out of and we have went back and we've had to for me i had to go around the opposite direction walking to get to it because it's deep this thing comes up

out of this ditch line i never seen its legs move it was almost as if it was a football player gate like it was going to catch something but its legs were not moving almost like a hologram per se it's just like watching the the terminator this thing is gliding along and it is so fast it is a streak of lightning where it goes up a hill and we will go to the location where it goes up travels up the hill and it's just split second man this thing and it's effort effortlessly going up this hill No legs ever moved. So when you were telling me the story initially, you were talking about how there was a mist and it was down.

Yes. So when it was down, that's when you're talking about the spider crawl posturing. Okay. Did you see it actually walking like that? Or did you see it crouched down and then it stood up? It was crouched and it just like rose up. I never seen muscles or anything move like yet because it was almost. a translucent stage.

Right. But it come up out of the mist and rose. It didn't like physically. I never saw it like move my elbows pushing forward or or pushing up from the ground. It just like it rose. If I didn't know better, it would be like a ghost. Yeah. You know, it was almost like a ghost in appearance and with its gray appearance and the

mist that was around it. Interesting. And, uh, yeah, freaky is the only word that I can come up worth to, to describe it. It was just freaky, you know. And so Hollywood couldn't, couldn't have done it any better, man. I mean, for it to appear, rise and disappear up this and then do whatever type of physical attack or, you know, you can compare this as to a small animal that runs through our woods, which when I was a child, we used to catch and play with.

It was almost as if this thing skunked us. But it had phenomenal abilities a skunk 10 times over. It sprayed us with something. It caused some type of abnormal behavior that affected our, Darrell's legs, my body, I began to get numb. So from another world, military experience, experiment? Was this something military? Was this something that that has always been here?

That's the question. That is the question. That is the question. And there's a lot of questions. Before I forget, before I forget, because it wouldn't be fair not to mention this guy. Crypted and Critters Paranormal Group, it goes to paranormal. When you said paranormal a minute ago, it just clicked. Dewey Edwards, the Bell Witch.

scholar. I mean, this guy knows anything to do with anything about Robertson County and Tennessee history in general. But his, he's written a book. And again, this goes back to paranormal, where we used to it was just, it was, uh, unheard of to discuss Bigfoot dog man and paranormal. But then then let's add one because his book covers it, crypted in critters, portals. once again, portals, Graveyards, paranormal, Bigfoot and Dogmen,

all is coming together. Could it be that part of our answer is that it always has been? But we just never had the realm of the thoughts that they were separated. Each each person had a different, you know, group.

I think what it is is that you have all these hundred people that have different answers, right? And their answer, is already to them outside the worldly normal perspective. And so when somebody else has the same vibe of an answer only, it's a different aspect, it's hard for these people to compare notes and be like, okay, I can, I can, they already had to do mental jumping jacks just to get gymnastics to jump into the line I think they have already.

And now you're saying there's this as well and it belongs with this. That's too much to take. Yes, it's just way too much. I think what we're having now, though, is we're living in a world where information is being shared at rapid pace. We've never experienced this before. I mean, it's so fast that it's allowing people to consume things in such short periods of time. You can listen to a podcast talking about Bigfoot appearing and disappearing, and then the next hour you're hearing the same thing from Dogman. And then people are comparing notes and they're like, hold on a second. I believe this

guy, Martin grows. And all of a sudden, this person over here is saying, something very similar with different topic. And I believe this person too. And all of a sudden, it's like, well, maybe it's the same thing. And that's what being... Comes together. Exactly. And that's what me and Wes, about the Sasquatch Chronicles, he and I, years ago, we're talking about this stuff. And we both came to the conclusion that we believe that the lines between these different topics and categories are very much blurred. They used to be hard lines. It's like, nope, this doesn't apply to this. And now it's just like, you know what? I think there's crossover. And the more you get into this, the more you see the crossover,

happening. And, you know, if that makes me a woo-woo guy, that's fine. I wear that badge proudly. As hell-bent, as the hellbenders are hell-bent or hell-bent holler group says, the hellbenders say the woo-woo factor. The paradox, it goes to this last thing I want to say about Mr. Edwards. Keep eye on Dewe Edwards. Oh, he's coming here. There is a story that is coming, and I don't want to give his book away. But how about that? this. How about a portal that opens up in LBL? A body

is discovered of a man in a black suit dead. No visible markings on the body in 1970 something. I'll let him tell you. But his book is going, his brand new book

is going to cover the portals, UFOs, UAPs, and especially this body that just shows up out of the middle of nowhere. Did that body come from a portal that come from a different time dressed? Okay, what was men in black, the movie, men in black, Tommy Lee Jones and the other guy. Well, Smith.

This guy was supposedly dressed just like that, men in black. And this was in 19th century. Doey has the papers on it. Do he has all the records on it? We can't find the death certificate. But he has other. And he has, he did all this. I'm nothing to do with,

I'm just retelling it because it fits in with what we're talking about. Here's this man that come out of nowhere, unidentified, dressed men in black. Did he come from another, where did he come from? from. Where did he come from? Where did he go? You know, where did he cut and I Joe come from? Where did he come from, man? And he's sitting right next to a certain location and I took Dewey there and he took his photographs and Dewey took the photographs of

also where this this translucent beast came from. And it's all within two to three miles of each other. It's all on the devil's backbone. But keep your eye on Dewey. I mean, his story. Yeah, no, we talked about it last time, and you said that he'd come out, right? Yes, he did. And I talked with him less than two nights ago by telephone. Okay. And so right now he's going through some health issues, and he's going to be okay.

Say prayers for Dewey, but hopefully he'll be well soon, and he's ready to rock and roll and get back out in the field. As soon as he's ready, keep in touch with him, as soon as he's ready. Certainly. Just let me know. I've told him, but now Barton, I will bring Barton here so he said, so he doesn't get lost. Now, he, he'd find his way here. Barton only is a little longer. Barton Nunley is the kind of guy that you turn loose like in Alaska.

And he's, he's wearing Bermuda shorts and he shows up here with his spear that he carries. And I've been with him. He's got, he'll have his spear and he'll, he will be wearing, uh, Arctic polar bear clothes. and everything else where he is, but he'll make it here in just a few days. But yes, I have promised to bring Barton. He's wanting me to drive him up here. And so I'll bring him whatever day you want him. I'll show up here with him.

Sounds good. I mean, the studio is turning into the powwow circle, man. Yes, it is. That's what I envisioned when I came down here. When I moved here, I told people, I'm going to turn this area into the paranormal podcasting haven. Yes. This is like, like, I firmly believe in the next five years, you're going to see. other podcasters coming here because of what we're doing.

I sure hope you remember this old guy, man, if I'm still kicking. Brother, yeah, of course. You'll be on speed dial. Amen, brother. Amen. It's just, it's exciting, man. And I would, I want all these guys, I want all these guys here to tell their stories. I want them here together talking.

Like, that's the thing. Like, I mean, this is your second time here, right? But, you know, one day you and Dewey are going to be here. Which I'm honored to be here because I know I'm one of the very first, if not the first that you've ever had back twice. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Tony. Absolutely.

I just, you know, I got four microphones at a table. We can put a fifth here if we needed it. Yes. It's just, my philosophy is four is, five is a crowd. Can you imagine? Could you, could you imagine not, let's exclude me. I'd be happy if I can just listen. But can you imagine if you get Scott Carbenter, Barton, Unley,

Dewey Edwards and Darrell or maybe one of the older individuals that we know of. And, you know, there's something else now. I realize I was in seclusion and I kept it quiet for 30 years. I mean, I totally was doing all this, but I stayed in the background. Nobody knew what I was doing except the people I spoke to. But can you imagine there's others out there? They are others out there. Now, maybe they've been in the limelight.

a little bit more or in the light of the campfire, but there are others. And you get all this phenomenal information together under one roof. And you turn the camera on and let them slowly begin to tell the intelligence and the knowledge that has been given to them. Yeah. I mean, it really, like, I mean, talk about some legendary roundtable stuff right there. Yes, it would. But, you know,

It's something that I'm excited about. I can almost taste it. It's so real, I can almost taste it. It's only a matter of time until that those situations happen. And it's like I almost might need to come up with a whole, like not a new show, but almost like when I have a crew of guys together, like call it those episodes like something special. Like when I was hosting with my dad, Hammer Lane Legends, sometimes it would be me, my dad, Jack, and another person in studio together.

And we would call it the break room. and those episodes were just, you know, a bunch of guys together. We'd have to come with some kind of special name for it, you know, and not roundtable, that's overused a lot. But just the idea that all these guys coming together with their own personal experiences, their own investigative stuff and bringing into the table and just laying it on the table and saying, here it is, let's start sorting through this together and swapping stories and experiences and just talk it out loud.

Because how many times, maybe it's just me, I doubt it though. But a lot of times I have senses. I have ideas that I just can't put my finger on something until I start verbalizing and talking to somebody else about it. And all of a sudden, things start clicking in my head. I'm like, wait a second. Now it makes sense because you're talking it out loud. And imagine having three guys, four guys at a table doing that together. Yes.

I can only imagine some dots that would be connected during those sessions. Go back to the days of when our days of old when we had a president that would get on the radio and address the American people. by only radio. There's your answer. The fireside chat of the evening. You have the old fireside chat. You get them all together and they begin to share this, what I call the pool or the wealth of knowledge.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's going to happen. I really do. I just, I'm very excited. I'm very excited about what the future holds. I am too. I wish we were a little closer. Yes.

So it wasn't so much of a drive for you, but you made it just fine today. I made the old guy. I've just practically now can do it with my eyes closed. Perfect. Don't tell the wife, though, because I was driving her Honda today while I was sleeping. I got you. Yeah. Henry the Honda.

Yeah. So I have to take my son to, or my wife has taken my son to the doctor this afternoon. So I hope he's doing well, too. Yeah. He does well. So I had told you that we had to start a little soon. Yeah. And it just so happened. I came in here, like, I think it was like 5.30 I got here this morning. And I'm glad I did because you called me. I don't think it was quite eight yet. And you're just like, I'm here. I'm like, perfect. Come on inside. You know, let's get this thing going. So yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to have you waiting on me. Yes, yes. I was shocked when you had already gotten to the office, which I'm sure that's what you do quite often anyway, that you come in early. Not quite that early. But yeah. had known I would have been up because I was up at one o'clock, went back to bed.

I was up at 2 o'clock. And when I got up at 2.30 or 2.45 to get ready. And I'm like, I was stoked, man. And it takes a lot. There's only two things that will stoke me. One coming to see Tony Merkel. And the other is a new introduction to another, well, I probably should, another firearm. A new, something new in the firearm news.

The pew-pues. Yes. something new comes up. And we're able to go see it or go to a show or something. Yeah. I'll tell you, so you're on central time. So if you got up at 2.30, that's right when I opened my eyes at 3.30. It was 3.30.

Yeah. I woke up at 3.30 and I just was like, I can't go back to sleep. See? I just got up and started getting ready. It was our bonding. It was our mental thing, 2.30 and 3.30 here. But we got up at the same time. Yeah.

Absolutely. I loved it. And when I saw your hills and your mountains here in your home here, when I saw those hills and mountains, I got stoked, man, because I knew. The other, if we ever get the opportunity, there is some things missing that needs to be told here. And Scott's got it covered, but there needs to be more intel come out of these mountains. Because I'm telling you, I have two friends. One thing you have to always remember about old Bubba here.

I went to Tennessee State Academy here. Yes, I'm older, but I have younger friends and I've still got some old cats. I got policemen all over the state of Tennessee. And I've got two deputies in this immediate area and won't discuss their counties. You got people all the time still missing in the smoky mountains. What about the ones that was reported we ain't got no answer for, as they say? Yeah. somebody needs to do some answer.

Hmm. You got some explaining to do, Lucy. There is some explaining to be done over here in the Smoky Mountains. Yeah. I know Scott covers quite a bit, and he's right here, right here on it, but we need to get into them mountains. I'll tell you what, if I knew Scott was home today, he's working right now. I would have called him and say, hey, mine, come on over here. Come on over, man.

Yeah, because he literally 10 minutes from the studio. Yes. So please tell him I said hello. Oh yeah, yeah. Huge fan, huge fan. I think I'm going to hit him up maybe today and see if he's available Saturday because he's been wanting to take me out to the area that he's found a lot of this evidence of stuff.

But he said he wants to do it before the trees start getting a bunch of leaves on and stuff. It's harder to navigate and things like that. So I've heard, I've heard him discuss too about when the foliage comes out and stuff because you have no visibility whatsoever. But when I say I'm a villager of politis, I am of. of Scott Carpenter as well, man. I mean, I'm glued to anything. When he comes on the air, it's like,

wife, be quiet, get quiet. Cat, get over and sit down. Scott Carbenter's on TV. Let's watch him. I gotcha. Yeah. He's a good guy. And he's another one that we'll have back in the studio plenty of times.

I mean, shoot, he's my neighbor, you know. He was the one that opened me up and then I was able to actually begin to tell people that I had been Minespoke, what he calls Minespeak. But when you, that is something that is so personal. And if you'll never speak to a witness, that's one thing that they won't talk about because it's just, that's like the taboo of the Bigfoot world. Yeah. Is that these creatures communicate telepathy and communicate, in my opinion, can control you.

And he says as much, but they can control you. And that's why you have, in my opinion, that's why you have time lapse with hunters that they can't explain why they disappeared. You can look back to the initial story with me where I have no recall of why it took me 14 hours or so to go from point A to point B and back to my campsite. Yeah.

But Scott Carpenter covers it. He covers it. Absolutely. I think Scott Carpenter. Martin Groves, Bartonnelly, all these guys. They are all holding pieces that everybody needs to take in. Just a little sliver of pie that we all contained together. Yeah.

And so I'll be the pizza box that keeps all the slices. You got it, bro. You got it. So I appreciate you coming out again, man. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to share my books and the knowledge. And I'm glad to share Bart Nunley's inhumanoid shirt with you, brother. That is your shirt that he sent.

I appreciate that. Hold it up for the cam. And Inhumanoids. Awesome. He's got it together, man. Did he send this for me? Yes, he sent that to you. Well, Barton,

Barton, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Before we get out of here, tell the people again, names of your books, both of them and where they can get them. Yes. Beast Between the Rivers, folks, thank you guys. It's phenomenal.

You guys have treated me so well. Beast Between the Rivers has sold so many books here in America and is abroad. Thank you from the UK and Australia everywhere. The new book is a trace of death and it's named basically after the road it cuts right through the middle of the land between the lakes and it's called the trace. And read the book. It will tell you why we call it a trace of death. Absolutely. It's an awesome, awesome start to a trilogy. Amen. Amen. And the last one, of course, is going to be the devil's backbone.

Devil's backbone. The devil's backbone. I'm looking forward to it. And let's see here. It's going to be devil's backbone. We'll have you out. We'll have you out with Dewey. We'll have you out with Scott Carpenter in studio.

We're going to have you. I mean, I'm not pleased to come. I'm going to put a cot in the back for you. Just, you know. Vaina sausages is the key to get me to come. Just the six-pack of it, Vaini. They used to call them Vaini-Winis. but vina sausages, man, and I want the full flavor of the original, man.

Barbecue will do too. You got it. All right, man. Well, I appreciate you. Thank you, Tony. I appreciate you. God bless. It's good to meet all of you here today.

Absolutely. Well, that's the show. Everybody, I really hope you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, share the show with your friends. I don't care where or how you share the show. Just share the show because that's the best thing you can do to help this show grow. Share the show. And also go ahead and check out Martin's new book,

Beasts Between the River. a trace of death. Like I said in the episode intro, it is in the description. You can just click the link and it will navigate you to his books on Amazon and you can purchase them, read them, enjoy them. Reach out to Martin. He's very receptive. He loves talking with people and he will be back again several times on this show. I love Martin. He's become a great friend of mine and he has great people around him that are helping him get all this information out. It's very cool to see how the community that so often has so much drama in it has come around people like Martin just to help him get his story out. And I'm just glad to be part of that process. All right, guys, until

next week, stay safe, take care and remember. The members get a nap on Thursday, but I'll see you next Tuesday if you're not a member. Bye.