The Confessionals - 651: Expedition Bigfoot With Russell Acord

Episode Date: May 14, 2024

In episode 651: Expedition Bigfoot With Russell Acord, Russell and Tony dive into the transformative encounters he's had with fans at various conferences, sharing how these encounters have a profound effect on their lives. On "Expedition Bigfoot," he explores the adrenaline-filled adventures of filming in untamed wildernesses, capturing the essence of mystery and danger that comes with the terrain. Russell passionately advocates for a humane approach to researching cryptids, insisting that it's possible to collect evidence without causing harm. His tales from the field are filled with spine-chilling encounters with the inexplicable, each story intensifying his resolve to conquer his fears. Tony and Russell then debate the truth of Bigfoot’s existence, flirting with theories of interdimensional beings and pondering the creature’s true nature. Tony then introduces Russell to the concept of the "Clickitat Ape Cat", a rare and regional cryptid brought to prominence by James Szubski, a previous guest. They even spend time planning a 3 day dogman hunt!Russell AcordWebsite: https://www.russellacord.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/russell.acord/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RussellAcordPublicFigure Sasquatch and the Missing ManWatch the Live Premiere on REPLAY here: https://www.moment.co/sasquatchTeaser Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3b4tTY9bssThe 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/joinWatch The Shape of Shadows: merkelfilms.comWatch Expedition Dogman: merkelfilms.comAFFILIATESPrepare with Valley Food Storage: https://alnk.to/2uG55AOGet your Nephilim Blaster 2000: https://alnk.to/9mnHak1Bluecosmo Satellite phones: https://alnk.to/e769EipSee Bigfoot with Sionyx night vision: https://alnk.to/bEhxr3FEmergency medical with My Medic: https://alnk.to/dpr6QM4Black Beard Fire Starters: https://alnk.to/4BFcIbeEcoFlow Power Generators: https://alnk.to/flvpAQwGoDark Faraday Bags: https://alnk.to/5jke3rkEMP Shield: empshield.com Coupon Code: "tony" for $50 off every item you purchase!SPONSORSSIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsCONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.theconfessionalspodcast.comEmail: [e-mail] to the Newsletter: https://www.theconfessionalspodcast.com/the-newsletterMAILING ADDRESS:Merkel Media257 N. Calderwood St., #301Alcoa, TN 37701SOCIAL MEDIASubscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaIReddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7hShow Instagram: theconfessionalspodcastTony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficialFacebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcasTwitter: @TConfessionalsTony's Twitter: @tony_merkelProduced by: @jack_theproducerOUTRO MUSICJoel Thomas - MissingYouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

Hey guys, this is a reminder that we are still allowing you to check out Sasquatch and the missing man at moment.com.com. If you have not watched that, it is available on replay plus the live Q&A with me and Wes German from Sasquatch Chronicles. That's all available at moment.com slash Sasquatch. If you haven't checked it out, go ahead, check it out because on May 19th, it is cut off and it will not be available anywhere until I decide to make it available on demand at Merkelfilms.com. Merkel 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 boning 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 to running and firing at this giant. With a giant moves, he's got a spear in one hand, and he's running really fast, and spears, Dan, holds him up like this. Somebody else, shoot him in the face,

shoot him in the face, they basically decapitated. And I look over, and there are two small, gray and the teeth. Surely I'm getting pulled off the bed. I reached my hand into this bush, and I touch air. Couldn't breathe, and I couldn't move, because I know I'm seeing.

A monster. Welcome to the show, everybody listening to The Confessionals Podcast. I'm your host, Tony Merkel. Thanks for being here. If you've a 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 works for me, just get a hold of me. If you want more shows on a weekly basis, we have you covered. Whether you're a member to the website or a members on the YouTube channel, you can get that extra content every Thursday, bonus episodes available to members only. Both locations have the same content. So if you're on YouTube and you just like being on YouTube, all you got to do is be a member on YouTube. And if you want to be a member to the website

and get access to the Confessionals app, you can do that by becoming a member at theconfessionalspodcast.com. All right, friends, listen, we have Squatchella tickets available. Last Wednesday, they went live to the members only in the pre-sale. They went like hot cakes. Then on Friday. we went public with the ticket sales and they went even faster. So at the time of you hearing this, if they're still available, I highly suggest you get on the tickets to Squachella where it's going to be me, blurry creatures, ninjas of butterflies, and expanded perspectives doing our shows live in Nashville, Tennessee on August 3rd. So if tickets are still available at the moment that you hear this, I highly suggest you get on it if you want to be there in Nashville. I hope to see you

there. All right, guys, today we have Russell, a chord coming on the show from Expedition Bigfoot. He was doing a speaking engagement about 25 minutes from the studio. And I text them and I said, hey, man, while you're in the area, why don't you come to the studio and we do a conversation? And he thought it was a great idea. So we brought him in studio. It was a fantastic conversation. And I'll tell you what, friends, there was some curveballs in here. I expected to talk about Bigfoot. I expected to talk about the TV show Expedition Bigfoot. I even expected to bring up Dogman with him. But what I did not expect is for him to pull his phone out during the recording, compare schedules with me, and plan to come back to East Tennessee to hunt the dog man with me.

And that's exactly what we did during this recording. I'm super excited about that. I hope you enjoy this show. Well, I'm glad you're here. Glad to be here. All right, cool. So how was today? Today was amazing. Did the conference. And I got to meet some really, really amazing people. You know, I've never been in this area before. Wait, you've never been to East Tennessee before? I've been to East Tennessee, but never to Townsend. Okay. I did a conference in Gatlinburg.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, a while back, but the people that came today were a different breed, just a lot of really kind, humble people. And there were a couple people that actually just tugged on my heartstrings, just really, really cool. I lost a friend, you know, a while back, and there's a group that supports him, Charlie Hess. they came and just wanted me to sign an 8 by 10 of the two of us that they had taken before. And they gave me a gift from Charlie, you know, and it was just one of those things where you had that closure. You know, these people respected him and loved him. And they wanted to know or wanted to let me know that, you know, they still cared.

And so many people, you know, you lose people and how many people will follow up on it and show that they care, months or years later. It's like our life pace is going so quickly who has time for it. Yeah. And these people took the time. And that meant so much to me. It just, it got me today. It was pretty cool.

Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because you and I were talking on the way over here about this. And it's like you, you go to these events and you plan to do your schick. Right. it you know it's you know for you it's talking talking about these big the big foot at the big foot conference for me it's hey i'm the podcaster and you know let's get weird right and you that's your frame of mindset going into these days and then when it's unexpected when somebody

that's a complete stranger takes you and plucks you out of that mindset and it's just like now here here's humanity and uh and it's like a reality check um and you had a few of those today it's kind crazy. Today was, it's interesting because you'll hear, you know, you'll hear people's stories and they'll come and they'll say, hey, you know, I drove, you know, a couple hundred miles to come, you know, see all the speakers here and that kind of thing. Yeah. But I had a couple turning points today that just really put me on my heels. Yeah. You know, I had a woman that came and just, she said, I just came here just to see you. You were on my bucket list of people to meet. I just wanted to come and see you. And do you mind if I give you a hug?

And I'm like, yeah, you know, that's fine. I mean, that's cool. She gave me a hug. And after she left, somebody said, you know, she's dealing with a life crisis that is going to take her out. And you were on her bucket list. And, you know, it's just like in a movie where everything goes silent and slow motion and you realize, holy crap, this is a moment that she wanted to share. She came all this way to see me because this was.

valuable and meant something to her. And it was a great reset for me. You know, you start thinking about, like I said, life goes by so quick, and you get caught up in your own, you know, groceries, gas, bills, that kind of thing. She came to see me. And it was, I was the only person that she actually came there to see. And you talk about taking the wind out of you, you know, and I asked the people in line, And I said, can you give me a minute?

And I kind of got out from behind of my table and I walked back over to where she was. And I asked her, I said, can I give you a hug this time? And she held on to me. I mean, she just held me. And you talk about a moment that I will never forget for as long as I live because she, she's not going to be here forever, you know? And that was something that she wanted to, she just wanted to meet me. and in my world, I'm not important to anybody,

but for some reason she felt that it was something that she wanted to see who I was to actually meet me in person. And it was just, what a reality. You know, what a good reset for me because I'm looking at things, that moment, here I am at a conference doing my presentation, going back home tomorrow, you know, so what? But that was one of those things where you take

step back and you're like, you better start looking at things through this new perspective because you're not just meeting people. You know, people are being affected by what you say and how you treat them. And that goes for everybody out there, not me, not you, I mean, everybody. People will react to how you treat them. And if you treat them with respect and they walk away feeling good, you know, that's what you want to leave people with. but when you're less than kind or you act like you're too busy or too good for somebody,

that also impacts people. Yeah. So I don't want to leave that with anybody. And today was a really, it was a lesson for me. It was amazing, wonderful and tough at the same time. Yeah. Do you feel like you fight that at times, the busy schedule? I mean, you do a lot of traveling. I mean, tons of traveling.

and like for me my schedule is busy in its own right and it's hard sometimes to check that at the door when you're doing these events and not just be like okay I'm here today

and I'm flying out tomorrow and I gotta do this and it's just like you're not living in the moment and do you think that the busy schedule can kind of like contribute to the vibe

that you get where it's just like you go through these things and you don't even know what really happened It just kind of, it happens and you don't even remember it. Because we're talking about these people who kind of pulled you out of that moment. You know, like, I think if that didn't happen today, you would be just, well, I did the event today and here I'm at Merkel Studio and I'm going to fly back out tomorrow and it's done.

You're right. And so it's easy to get caught up in the motion of everything. And what does that do to the people around us, right? I mean, the people who are coming to check things out, I mean, it's like, I guess what we're discovering here is that, like, these topics that we deal with are like the underlying thing for a greater thing, which is touching people's lives. Right. And you don't see, like, you said about how, like, I'm not special. It's because you know you. I know me.

I don't think I'm special. I don't, like, it's nothing to me. but when people get a chance to meet you and they're like, this is the guy from TV. And all of a sudden, everything changes. And it's just like,

you are a hero to them. You know, I never thought about it that way. I just think that, I've never put myself, and I never will, put myself on any kind of pedestal. You know,

I lucked out, you know, here I am, I'm an aging guy. You think about who's going to be on TV and you think young, handsome guys like you, and they pick some old,

honorary military guy. Can I trade your body, though? I'll take the age and get it. Diesel. It's, it's, you know, I look at myself as, you know, I'm not, I'm not what you would pick to be in a Hollywood show or a TV show. I mean, in my opinion, it's like, I think they wanted just somebody old cantankerous, tenacious, military mindset, just kind of, but had some research experience. And they picked me just to see if it would fit. And so far, it's done good because, I mean, I get to do that wildcard thing.

I get to go out of my own and just, you know, do my research and be left alone. And they know that in a alone environment, I'm going to be comfortable and just fine. You know, they don't have to worry about me. And that has been kind of fun. And I think a lot of people live vicariously through that for the people that don't like to go out in the woods or won't go out in the woods or won't do the dumb things that I do. You know, because I mean, I take risks and I, and I, I'll climb and do whatever. It doesn't matter. But it's neat to meet people that look up to that and respect it.

I don't think they, I don't know, maybe I'm giving some of these people, you know, a chance to see what it's like to take that risk and come out being okay. You know, I'm getting older and I'm still out doing it. And it's like, I look at my classmates I grew up in high school with, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, you guys are old, but why aren't you? It's like, wait, we're the same age, you know? What did you do to yourself? Yeah. How did you let that go by? Yeah. And it's, it's, but today was a, today was just a beautiful lesson.

Yeah. You know, and it does. It makes me step back. And you're right. It would have been just like, and this thing happened with Charlie Hess. this lady and another woman that came along. So I had three moments of impact today that were just insane. You know, and these people are dealing with a life crisis. And I know a year from now, they're not going to be here to talk to. I know Charlie Hess has gone, and he has, and that was a

prime example. This man had people that loved him and cared for him enough that, you know, they're still chasing down that closure. And we could all be so lucky. It's like they're carrying his legacy on. That's wild. Yeah. I'll tell you about Charlie. I showed you a picture.

He's just a mountain of a man. I mean, he outweighs me by maybe 150, 200 pounds. He's a big, big man. And I let people carry my backpack when I do presentations. And I said, I need somebody in the audience that would like to carry my backpack. And he puts his hand up. And I'd already talked to him and I told him, I said, put your hand down, Hess. No, you know, because my backpack is going to look like a posted stamp on the back of this guy.

You know, it just said he's a huge, huge guy. And we laughed about it later. But that was what he remembers about me. He would tell everybody that story, you know, I told him, put your hand down, Hess, you know. And he got the biggest kick out of that that I wouldn't let him carry my backpack. Because I, you know, for me, it's 92 pounds. I struggle with it, but I, you know, pack it around. He would have run laps around me.

I mean, he's just a big giant guy, so it wouldn't look heavy anymore if S put it on. You know, I can't have you outshine me like that, buddy. Yeah. So, but what a, what a genuinely kind guy. If he had something on his mind, you knew what it was. There was no question about what he was thinking. And they came today just to kind of have that closure and to kind of close that chapter of me with them too. and let me know that he, you know, he felt the way he did about our friendship.

Yeah. So it was just another beautiful moment, you know, another reset. It's like, I want people to remember me like that. Yeah. You know, and to be able to do that. There's so many times we hear about people that pass and you're like, oh, gosh, you know, lost another one. And then you move on to the next crisis that you're dealing with. Mm-hmm. These people aren't letting that go and that's beautiful.

I'll tell you, I, you know, I, you know, I've had interactions with people that haven't been the greatest at times, you know? Right. And I often think about, like, just the long-term impact that that interaction might have had, you know? And it's like, was it really that big of a deal, you know? And I weigh things out so much in my head because, like, I tell you, like, I've, one of these guys that when I'm done with a conversation, I usually think about it. Did I say what I wanted to say? that I want to really, did I convey what I was really trying to convey there?

I'm doing with like this stuff, but I do it with just interactions what I have with people. And so when I have a negative interaction with somebody, it kind of like really weighs on me. Did I have to go that way? And I've had a few over the years since doing this show that, you know, I kind of regret and stuff. Speaking of interactions. Wes. Oh, that guy. What happened?

I don't know if it was your conference or somebody else's conference where you like went up steamrolling him or something. Because listen, I've been around Wes a lot. He's a big guy. Oh, yeah. He's a strong guy. Yeah. And like he told me, he told me he said, I think he said he was like sore for like a week after that or something. He felt it.

Like you trucked him. What happened there? Because, I mean, you guys had a very close interaction. It was funny. No, Wes is a force to be reckoned with. And I would never take anything from him. He's the last guy I'd want to have to interact with because he's, I think he's a super nice guy. Yeah.

He's kind. He's considerate. He's loving. He doesn't want anybody know that he really cares about people because he's got this, this demeanor of you don't want to mess with Wes. You don't, though. But you definitely don't. But there's also that side of him that you know is compassionate. He's good to people.

He, if he considers you a friend, he'll back your play regardless if you're right or wrong. He'll still back your play. And then he'll correct you later. You know, there was... Literally just happened today. He literally just today, he called me out on something. I told him he was wrong. This was a year ago.

Yeah. He backed my play. And today I had to call him and say, you were right. That literally just happened today. Didn't that hurt? Don't you hate it when he's right? Yeah. Oh, man.

Anyways, go ahead. Yeah, he's, you know, I would do anything for him. If he told me he needed me tomorrow, I would help Wes. He's one of the few people on the planet that if he said, because for him to ask for help, if he says, look, I need some help with something. He's not going to ask unless it's for real. And if Wes asked me, I'm on my way. I'll make time for that man.

Yeah. We were at a conference and I was trying to make it back to my table to grab something and somebody was carrying my backpack the other way and we were trying to race to the table to get there on time, you know, to see who got there first. Well, Wes thought he would step out in front of me and stop me from getting to my table before I was supposed to. And, well, I had to go through West to get to my table. Yeah. He stood in the way of me and winning this challenge. So I don't know. I think I was less than gentle.

I don't think he expected me to be that ungentle with Big Old Wes. I think he still looks at me as an old man. He's thinking, how's that old man do that? He probably was hoping that you, you know, zigzag around him. No, I wasn't going to go around him. I had to go through him. And he's just, I think, I think, I think more than anything, I think it was just unexpected.

I don't think I hurt Wes in any way, but I do know that it surprised him that I wasn't going to run from him either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's a big boy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So you do these.

Well, I don't know. Are you still doing the conferences or not? No, that was one that I was a speaker at. Okay. But I don't put on conferences anymore. Gotcha. I just assumed that it was the conference that you were putting on. So.

you know, people know that you go and speak at conferences, things like that. They know you from Expedition Bigfoot. I guess I'm working backwards here because normally I'd be like, what got you into Bigfoot? But like, what got you on the show? I mean, what was it that, like, that they said, Russell, we want you? Like, did you apply or did they contact you?

They contacted me and asked me if I wanted, wanted to, you know, just do a meet, on a Zoom meeting, that sort of thing. They said, they're looking for cast members. And I thought, I'm thinking, sure, I'll do it, but nobody's going to, you know, I'm aging, like I said, you know. I feel like an old man. If you'd count mileage, I am an old man.

But it's like, okay, yeah, sure, I'll do it. And then it wasn't, you know, a month or two later, there's a contract in the mail. Wow. You know, email. They emailed me and said, you know, we want you to look this over. And I thought, you've got to be kidding. I got on the phone, talked to their attorney, back and forth, and it was like, wow, this is real. I said, when I see a contract, then it's a little bit more believable.

At the time, I was working at Hanford in Washington at the nuke site. And I'm thinking, you know, they're talking about doing 30 days at a time out on the, you know, on this film set or 45 days. And I'm thinking, okay, I can save up that much leave and just go for a 45-day stretch, a big deal. that way I can get, I don't have to lose any pay. I just take my vacation for 45 days. And then if, and it just worked out. They did that first season in Oregon and I thought, okay, maybe this is just a one-off, you know, and Travel Channel did really, really good with that season. And they brought us back a second season, a third season, a fourth season, you know, and Warner Brothers came in and their, you know, networks is always going to bicker back and forth about, well, we don't know if we want to continue this show or not.

you know, there's this back and forth thing. And I got asked probably a hundred times a day, hey, you got a season five? It's like, well, network is talking about it. And I mean, honestly, that's all I can say. Yeah. Networks are, you know. And from what I understand, and it's very limited,

it doesn't always mean successful show new season. There's a lot of variables that go into it outside of, oh, people like this show. Right. I mean, as soon as like the money gets involved, and some people don't agree on, terms. And it's like, well, we don't care if it's the number one show. It ain't happening. You know? Right. Well, if we had, we dealt with Travel Channel. We dealt with Discovery Plus. And then

Warner Brothers came in. And there was this big changing of the guard, all the management, you know, everybody was changing up. And then you lose track of, okay, this is, I talked to this guy named Bob or, you know, we'll just make up a name Bob. And I talked to Bob every time we wanted to renew a show. And he was with Travel Channel. And then he merged him into Discovery. Now Warner Brothers, came in, Bob's gone. So who do we talk to? So it's just back and forth, who do you talk to, where do you go? Are we a successful show enough to have this negotiation or conversation?

And it's just a lot of, you know, discussion. And I don't know, I think the first four years went pretty good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. It was a lot of fun. I believe it. It looked like a lot of fun. I'm watching it. Just today I was watching season four, eight and seven, episode eight and seven.

and I was like, man, that looks fine. I mean, Alaska looks like a blast, man. You can't take a bad picture in Alaska. Every bit of landscape is gorgeous, you know, and the, you know, have, the wildlife there is insane. Yeah. You know, eagles all over the place. We had, Alaska was a unique location with respect that it was the first time in all of our seasons where we had to have, what they called bear guards because there was there were some viable threats out there. You have

bear dangers, you have wolves out there. I mean, so they give us an armed guard that kind of provides oversight as we walk in traversed the woods. Do they ever make an appearance on TV? The arm guard. Arm guards. I think in Alaska, one of them spoke a little bit, you know, about why they were there. Okay. You can't hide the fact that you've got a guy down with a big bore weapon. Yeah. You know, you only see, it's just me and my camera guy.

And then they added the, you know, this guy with a big rifle. Yeah. You're like, okay, well, we can't be, we had, it's going to be harder to be quiet, you know. But he always hung back. If I'm taking the lead, the camera man's behind me, the arm guard is behind him. That way he can just kind of have that distant watch and look at anything that moves in the forest out in front of us. So he's not up in our business, but he was close enough to where, you know, if something happened, you hope that he's got the wear with all to handle things.

Yeah. So how does that feel for you? Former military houseway looking out for you. Not good at all. I don't. And you know what? These guys, I'm sure they were vetted. I know you don't hand a guy a weapon and put him on a site without having former training, that kind of thing.

But I've spent enough time in the military where it's like I know how I will react. in a threatened situation. I don't know how this guy would react. Do you ever pull him aside and just say, hey man, you know who I am? We have an understanding here. Like if it really goes down, you give me the gun and you just sit there and let me take care of you.

Don't make me keep me off on anything and take that weapon from me. No, I just kind of, I never became complacent. I never got comfortable with somebody watching out for me. You know, I was always, you know, pretty hypervigilant, keeping my eye out, making sure I didn't put myself in a bad spot.

And the last thing I want is a guy having to shoot past a cameraman, past me at a threat that's coming straight towards me because I'm still in the line of fire. I didn't, I'd very uncomfortable with someone behind me with a hot weapon that I don't know that's supposed to be protecting me. You know, so it's like I mentally struggled with that, honestly. Heck yeah. But, and you don't, it's always in the back of your mind that there's somebody back there. And you have to have faith that he's got proper training. I mean, but I mean, there's people that can say I've got proper training that are going to fail you. It's like, I mean, I hate to say this in these terms, but everybody's a badass until somebody punches them in the mouth.

Yeah. You know, everybody can, I'm serious. Everybody knows, oh, yeah, I can handle this situation until they're actually faced with it. And it's amazing that they can't. That's what I was talking about at dinner. I was like, I'm not delusional. I've never been in certain situations, so I have no framework to build from say I can handle. I would like to think I can handle certain things if, like, say, somebody breaks in my house,

my family's in danger that I can, something would kick in, but I don't know until it actually happens. I'm not inviting it people. I'm not inviting anybody to come to my house to test that theory, but it's just, it's one of those things where I think you get a lot of people who are like, oh, oh, you know, but they've never actually been put to the test. So, you know, being out there, you're with a guy who's carrying a gun around. It's like, oh, I'm a train. I'm like, okay, but, you know, have you ever had to really put it underneath pressure? Right. Has he ever been put in that situation?

You're absolutely right. Yeah. It's like, there's an old saying, you train like you fight, you fight like you train. So if you train hard and you teach those, the muscle memory of the body to handle certain situations, it's like you go to karate school and they want you to do either kata or forms. You know, you go through the movements. over and over and over again. And people get bored with it. They're like, okay, I know these movements.

It's like, no, you don't. You keep going. And basically, you're training your body to understand that movements need to come naturally. So if your movement is to rotate your arm from inside your body outside to block a hit or to strike or to kick, you have to do that thousands of times for your body to understand that that's what you expect. and how you wanted to react. And then somebody who, there's two different things that you should know.

If you're very, very good at Cata informs, you will be a good fighter. But if you're, but if you're crappy at Cata informs, your fighting will reflect that. You could probably still fight. But if your body doesn't understand the mechanics of the movements that are expected to protect you,

and it's like, it's like the military. You have basic training. You learn everything about the ends and outs of your weapon. You know how to clean it, how to pull it apart, put it back together, how to cycle it, how to lock on a target,

pull the trigger, and hold it steady and know that you can hit it every time. Those are the type of mechanics that you have to understand. But there's also that basic instinct. Somebody breaks into your house and you see

the most precious things to you are your kids, your wife, your life. And when you find something that threatens that and you realize that it's a viable threat, those instincts will kick in and it would surprise you how many people can actually handle that challenge, but it would also disturb you how many people will freeze up.

You know, I've served in the military with people that are a prime example. I had a specialist that came in, trained with us. He was a African-American black guy with a bald head. He was built like Mr. Clean. When he walked through that doorway,

you're thinking, holy crap, I hope he's not looking for me because he looks like he could just pull you apart and pick his teeth with your bones. Just a, just a tough, wiry, bad dude.

And he trained with us. He was, he was everything you'd expect out of a soldier. But the first time he realized that, so if you get in a situation and when you're out on the range and your target shooting and everything else, the bullets only fly one way, sure, you're going to be a pretty tough guy.

But when the realization hits you that the bullets are also coming towards you, he crumbled. it was it was hard to see that you know all that training that he had he was only prepared for a one-way fight and it's like these guys that think they're tough

you know if I get in a fight I'm going to do this this this and this all the way up to the moment that somebody punches them in the mouth and it hurts and it snaps her head back and they're like oh wow I didn't expect that that's not like the movies yeah this is not Hollywood pal I mean, people are going to hit.

So it's about being, you know, trained, understanding the mechanics of it and also surrendering to the fact that in a fight, you're going to get hurt. I mean, it's not always going to go one way. You're not the one-punch hero that just takes everybody out with one punch and everything. It's just over. That's Hollywood. That is Hollywood.

You know, and glass doesn't break like sugarglass. It cuts you on when you go through it. Yeah, yeah. It's just pretty funny. But if you train well, if you prepare yourself for those situations, but I think in your case, it's amazing how those instincts come in. If you get in a fight and you get hit, a lot of times you're thinking, okay, your body says, dang, that hurt. I don't want any more of that. And you'll back away, you defuse the fight, you find a way just to kind of remove yourself from the situation.

but when it comes to family, you know, if somebody wants to hit me, that's fine. You mess with my family, game over. You know, and you're going to be the same way. You're going to think, okay, I'm, you're the man of the house. You're in place to protect your wife,

your kids, your livelihood, and you'll be amazed at there, you won't understand what stop means when it comes to protecting your family. I would hope that it's either, that, for sure that. Right. Or at least I do go into action to the point of death. It's like, it's not, there's no running away. It's like either I accomplish my goals or you

accomplish your goals, but somebody's accomplishing their goals today. Right. You know, I told you the old saying that our commander used to say, you don't fight, you, you don't fight to win, you fight to finish. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. You leave no, I don't want, I don't want somebody to think that if I get in a fist fight, I want them to understand that that's the last thing they want to do is come back for a rematch. They'll remember, you know? Yeah, they won't come to that table. Yeah. Yeah. Let me ask you a question that's, this conversation has passed, but I got to bring it back because I need the answer. Oh, boy. You guys split up out there. Where's the gunman go? Who does he go with? Oh, there are a couple.

Okay. I was going to say, like, who's the one that draws a short straw and has to go without the guy to guard him? There were a few. They have one for Maria, one for Ronnie. They'll have one for me. You know, and they have, I mean, they're very well prepared. They're organized. But I had, there were a couple times when I'd have a different guy for a few days, but for the most part, I had the same guy. So you have to get comfortable with somebody else then. Yeah. I was uncomfortable with no one. I mean, I wasn't comfortable with anybody. It was just like, hmm.

Yeah. And I always say, what do you carry in? I act curious. So what do you carry in? That way I understand how this thing cycles. If he drops his weapon and runs with it, I know what I'm dealing with, you know? Because I've seen that. I've seen people that will just picture you and I in the woods.

And you're told to protect me. And here comes, you know, 800 pound grizzly running towards you full speed. and you've only got a few seconds to react. I mean, what's your first thought? Is it going to be to protect me or to save your own tail? I mean, come on, instinctively. You want me to be honest with you? Yeah, I know exactly what you're going to say.

I'm running, bro. Yeah. I'm running. And that's the instinct, you know. People fight or flight, you know, and if there's a threat that that's that big. Yeah. I mean, you're thinking,

what are they paying me per hour? And I've got to protect this idiot. No, I'm going to protect me. You know? So it's like... He'll be fine. He'll take care of himself. I'm out.

Yeah. I'm going. Yeah, it would be... I'm glad we never... Honestly, nothing like that ever came up. We never really got, you know, a threat like that. But knowing that they were there, having it on scene, it just added another person, you know, with the tools.

to take care of a situation if it ever came to that. Yeah. But for the most part, I think if we think we're sneaking through the woods and nothing knows we're there, we're kind of naive, you know? So I would imagine we made enough noise that if there were bears in the area, they were more. They're gone. They're just, yeah. Yeah.

But every now and then, though, you'll get that wild animal that is thinking you look like a tasty little treat to test it. So, all right. That's a good segue into this. I want to ask you, before I take it into the direction, I want to go, I want to ask you, you have four seasons under your belt. What were some of these moments that you were out there that you're like, we really might be on to something? Because like just today, like I said, I watched episode seven and eight. We're talking the discovery of the handprint episode.

And you guys in, I think both episodes, but at least twice in those two episodes, you got upright standing thermal. Images. Yeah. Are those the moments of the four seasons that were the most magnified for you guys? Because I'm watching it, I'm like, whoa. Like, you guys, there was a, that you guys had a drone up in the air and you had something bipedal running to take cover in the woods to hide from the drone. Like, that's what I, that's how I perceived.

And I was watching that. Yeah. Those, you know, the thermals are kind of mind bending because. you're seeing something that's actively trying to get away from you. Yeah. So you think an animal isn't going to like something hovering overhead that

it's just an intrusion. Or you have, and I don't want to say this in a calloused way, but you figure Alaska is that final frontier. And a lot of people will go to Alaska to be left alone. You know, you've got

you've just got people that want that solitude, you know, And what we saw that was bipedal, I don't think had, you know, I don't think it had boots and a hat and that kind of thing. You're looking at one full solid heat trace. So I can't really go too much in that direction. When you see stuff like that and is running from you and it's avoiding you and we've spent all this time tracking something that is leaving footprints, handprints, noise in the woods, that sort of thing, you know you're on the right path. You know that there, you're just, and what, what I hate this, the sound of this, but you always

feel like you're right on the heels of it. And it's just always out, I'm going to bring you in just that little tiny piece. Always. And you always feel like you're just feet away, but it's, it's definitely light years ahead of you, you know. It's like if I walked into your house, I've never been to your house before, okay? But if I walked into your house, I would be, I wouldn't know which way to turn, if the lights are off, how to go down the hallway or how to find the restroom or how to find

the kitchen, that sort of thing. I don't know my way around your area. But if you go into the woods where something lives its entire life and knows everything about those woods, you're going to know how to avoid contact with anything looking for you in those woods. So you know your house, these animals or these beings know their surroundings or their environment. So for me to think that I'm going to be able to go in there and out maneuver, you know, them, I got another thing coming. So it's, it's about that cat and mouse game of catching that glimpse, you know, catching that look or getting close enough or I don't, I don't believe for a second I'm going to be able to sneak up on anything and get as close as you and I are sitting. It'd be nice. Yeah.

You know, I'd love to have something that close, that personal that, you know, I don't think, here's a funny question I got a lot today. Are you ever afraid in the woods? Are you ever afraid of what would happen, that sort of thing? And I've answered everybody the same way. Yeah, there is a fear of being out in the woods by yourself, a fear of being alone in the dark with something that you don't know what its intentions are. Everybody has fear.

So if I tell you, no, I'm not afraid, then I'm lying to you. And I love the guys and say, yeah, I'm not afraid of anything. Yes, you are. Everybody's afraid of the outcome of something if it goes sideways. It's how you handle that fear, how you overcome it and what you do with it. I have fear of twist on my ankle, you know, out in the woods. I have fear of running into a bear and getting a hold of me. I mean, the last thing I want to do is feel those teeth crushing out of my head or my shoulder.

You know, I mean, that just makes my skin crawl. So yes, there's a fear factor in every single piece of it, but it's what you do to overcome that and how you go beyond it and understand it and assess the risk and keep moving forward. Whatever is out there, I want to find it. Whatever can, you know, I want to have, I want to have that up close and personal interaction. I want to know what I'm dealing with. I don't want to have a body in front of me on a,

table to prove that it is it is it's here i don't want that i think that's the absolutely the wrong approach there has to be a way to get that close get the evidence get what you need without taking a life really absolutely wow i didn't expect that yeah yeah you figured i just go that's how i am i'm like slap it in the back of the truck yeah time magazine holding this thing up look bring it to murkle media studios throw it on table yeah goes live with it Look at the size of those feet. Wow. Okay.

Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't think something should have to give up its life to prove his existence. You know, I think there needs to be a better way. And I think what we're doing with our show is, I mean, that gives us the best chance possible. We don't have the means to kill something out there. We do have the means to get amazing footage, amazing evidence, and gather everything that we can. And I'll tell you what, if I have a cameraman over my shoulder like I have on the show and I get as close to you and I, we're going to have some amazing footage. You know, we'll have that good, clear, upfront, personal, you know, see the movement in the face, the muscles, the hair, all of that.

If I can get that close with a cameraman with me, then we own the moment. Yeah. Without taking a life. Yeah. I mean, that definitely, I hear it. I hear it. I hear it. I won't raise you, but I hear it.

So you're on the show, you're doing these things, you're capturing great evidence. I mean, and the tech is part of it. Like you said, I mean, like you guys have the means to be able to do that. And I've seen, I, well, this is my first time ever seeing it. I don't know what the heck she was holding. The scanner for the handprint, what was that? Was that like some kind of 3D imaging? Yep.

Yep. And you can take that back with the measurements. It measures. It scans every last piece of it. And you can build a mold back home of that of that. Did you guys do that with the handprint? I believe they did. Wow.

I'm old school, though. You scan all you want to. Have fun with that. But I'm still going to pour plaster in there and take it home with it. Did you really do that? Did you do that? On footprints, yes. No, on that handprint.

No, I didn't. Would you be allowed? Yeah, I'd be allowed to, but I didn't have it with me. I'm learning some valuable. 90-some pound pack and you don't bring the plaster? What are you carrying? Don't you even start. I thought you were a professional.

Apparently I'm not. Apparently. You know what? I'm going to go see Mountain Monsters is hiring. In honesty, the fact that you said that, I don't want to hear anybody give me a hard time when I'm out there and I'm doing something like, this is what happened. Did you cast it? No, I didn't even think about it.

Like you call you're so professional. I never said that. You did. Oh my. That's fantastic. Wow. There's the double-ed sword right there. Ouch.

I, you know, I'll cast footprints, that sort of thing. But at that point, and I do, I know we brought Ronnie in and Maria and myself,

and we were moving fast. You know, there's a lot of times when it takes an hour or two for that casting material to harden up. That's a good point. So if I'm,

so, okay, so in my defense, your honor. That's a very good point. So if I pour a cast and I know that we're not coming back through that, we were actually on a one-way run trying to chase this thing down because we had drones. We were on a quest to keep moving.

So a lot of times you have to take what you can, and that's where that scanner comes in handy. But old school me loves to take the time to do a cast. Because if there's any chance, just by chance, a hair fell from that body and is in the bottom of that imprint. I'm going to have it stuck to that plaster. So if I pull up a plaster cast and there's a big burly hair in it, I've got something besides the impression, measurements, you know, dimensions, all that. I mean, it's, and that's why I like doing that. And there's nothing cooler than looking at something that is the exact shape of the foot that made that impression.

I mean, that's, you're looking at it thinking, holy crap, that is big, you know. So I love porn casts. But it's bit me a couple times. How so? Well, if I get too overzealous, I'll pour a couple casts, and then I'll run out of casting material out of my backpack. And then I find something like super cool. And I look at the empty baggies in my backpack, and I'm thinking, oh, you're an idiot. I have, but I have food.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. That's good. Have you ever casted like a Bigfoot cast? Yeah. Yeah.

Tell me about it. It's it's it's kind of nostalgic and kind of weird. You see something there's I think in the late 80s, early 90s, I cast a print and I was still kind of new into research, you know, but I saw this thing and I'm thinking, oh my God, this is the, you know, the lottery of prints. So I pour this cast and I waited out and I finally get it out of the dirt and I, I, I, I, I, I saw this thing. and I come back and I'm looking at it. And what I failed to, I mean, you're looking at an impression in the soil and you're not seeing all the detail. I didn't have the experience to really detail it out. It was a bare print.

Really? A double step bear print where it was super long. It had the pads, all that kind of stuff. And then I'm looking at it's like, those are claws. Oh, man. Can you just like rub the claws out and just like smooth it out of it? A little file them off. Yeah.

Look. Yeah, it was a really, really dumb. That's bummer. Yeah, smashed it on the sidewalk and swept it up and put it away. Yeah. Pretended it never happened. But it's like when you pour a cast and you pull it up out of the ground and you see the in step and the ball of the foot and the separation of the toes.

And, I mean, it's just, it's weird because you're thinking, I was this close. But I've seen, here's the other thing is I've had people show me, hey, check out this footprint. And they'll show it to me. And it looks fantastic. But let's take a half step back and look at, if you take your shoe off right now and you look at your foot and you put a print in the sand in front of me, your toes are going to be close together because you've worn a shoe your entire life. So your toes are close together. And when I see these footprints with these nice, tight little toes, all five of them are just smashed together.

It's like I'm having a hard time with that. If I see a footprint and the toes are splayed out wide for gripping and everything else, because if we left our shoes off forever, if you see the Aborigines and the people that spend no time with sandals or shoes, their toes spread out. They're not bound or controlled. They actually grip the soil. For balance and for push and everything else, the toes will open up. And if I see a footprint that is really clean and tight like that, it's hard to validate that. It's a good word. Yeah.

I like validate. That works. Yeah. You're validating me right now, but you're just making me feel like I'm conducting a really good interview because you're getting really good answers. And I'm like, I'm doing a really good job here. Give me a second. I'm going to pat myself in the process. So you've been doing this a long time then.

Yeah. Did when you were in the military, did anybody know that you were doing this? Absolutely. Really? Oh, I got made fun of. Okay. Oh, yeah. Our team went to Hawaii.

Not Hawaii. I was stationed in Hawaii. We went to Japan for cross-training in Japan. And, yeah. It was mentioned a couple times. Did you tell people, did they find out on their own. I didn't hide it. I didn't hide it. And even as a kid, I wasn't the, I didn't hide that either. After I saw the Patterson Gimlin film, I mean, that's what launched me into this like so many other people.

I saw the Patterson Gimlin footage and my mind started just processing. It's like if there's something like that out there, I got to see it. And I'm going to tell you, I will tell you a story that's going to kind of mess with your head a little bit. We were in, so I got into this whole legends of, you know, what's out there, dog man, mothed man, you know, Bigfoot and taradactals, you know, I mean, who knows what's out there. I was a, let me think, we were in on White Horse Mountain in West Virginia. I was eight years old. Seven or eight years old. And I'm the kind of kid that you can't keep in a house. You know, and in West Virginia on White Horse Mountain, there's copperheads, rattlesnakes, there's black bears.

I mean, everything. Every danger you can imagine. And my parents never gave a second thought. Oh, you're going outside? Okay. And I'll be back five, six hours later. I'm a kid on White Horse Mountain just rolling over rocks and jumping over creeks and chasing chipmunks and squirrels and whatever else. And I saw the snakes, black snakes, the big black snakes.

Oh, my, those were awesome. because I'd catch them. Another dumb thing I used to do. I remember as a kid, I had just crossed a creek and was heading up a hillside, and I saw a shadow crossed between me and the sun. And you don't think about that that much. But back then, I'm thinking, okay, eight years old, let's go back. Yikes.

50 years. I'll be 59 in August. So 50 years ago, something crossed between me and the sun. And the shadow, I saw the shadow, which made me look up. And even as a kid, I saw a span of a wing that crossed over above the trees ahead of me, above me. And it was something that just even then seemed so out of proportionate. and so wrong that it terrified me. And I told my mom about it.

And she dismissed it and thought, oh, it was just a big bird. It was a bird. It was something that was flying above the treetops. But it was, I'm not kidding. It was probably, at the age eight, how do you know what dimensions are?

Sure. But it was, the wing was every bit as large as maybe a small aircraft, like a small airplane. But it made no sound. Wow. And that's what, even as a kid,

I laid in bed awake at night thinking, okay, what was that? Because it was silent, but it circled once, it circled twice, and then I never saw it again. So birds will do that.

They'll circle, but this thing was enormous. and it was above all the trees. You're talking, you know, the walnut trees, they're big. They go, they reach up to the sky quite a ways. This was well above the trees. So it would take a significant size bird to pass the sun for me to get my attention the first time. And the second time when I looked up, it was, it was just huge.

I only saw the wing. I didn't see the body of what the wing was attached to. Gee, so if you're just seeing the wing, and it's blocking out the sun, that's a really big flying thing. It didn't block out the sun, like make it dark for me. Sure,

yeah. But you know, I mean, if I have a flashlight and I pass in front of it, yeah. And it was enough for the shadow to get my attention.

And that second circle was just, it was huge. So what do you think it was? Like a thunderbird or what? No idea. No idea. That's haunted me for my whole, I mean,

for 50 years, I've never forgot that moment. You said West Virginia, right? Yeah. I'm pretty sure the Thunderbird is heavy in West Virginia. What is, okay, so educate me. What's the Thunderbird?

A big bird, I don't know. Okay, well, moving on, I guess. Big giant honking bird. Yeah, I mean, so you got the Moth Man there, right? But, like, I had this, when I think of Thunderbird, so a lot of the stuff that I learn about is through people, talking to people on the show. And there was this grandmother.

Yeah, she was a grandmother and her granddaughter were on the show. show this is years ago. And for some reason, I think her name was Vicky. I don't know why that sticks in my head. I can't remember half the things to go on in my life. And I remember this guest from years ago. But I think she said that her granddaughter was jumping on the trampoline. And they both saw a thunderbird, a very, very, very large bird flying in the sky. And I think it was in West Virginia. Wow. Yeah. I think the thunderbird is actually something that's commonly, not commonly. I don't want to say like that. But it's like, if somebody's going to say they had a Thunderbird sighting, there's a good chance it was in the Appalachian area. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it was a teradactal too. I don't know.

Yeah, who knows? Wouldn't that be cool? Yeah. It would be crazy, right? It would be cool to find one. Yeah, heck yeah. Now, the teradactal, we consider that a cryptid since it's such a rare thing. I mean, it shouldn't even exist. It shouldn't exist. You're right. So it'd be accruited. I would imagine, yeah. Even though it's like, well, it existed once upon a time. But a lot of people, I think Bigfoot is an ancient hominid. What do you think Bigfoot is? Let's take a second to talk about our sponsor today, which is Simply Safe.

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It's a hybrid. It's got to be something that is, it doesn't walk on that's, back feet and knuckles like a gorilla. It walks up right like you and I would, like a man. But then there's so many theories like the Canaan Abel, you know, was it the brother that was, you know, cursed to roam the earth forever kind of thing. You know, you hear that theory, you hear is a giant, you know.

And it cracks me out when people say, well, giants don't exist. It's like, well, what did David and what was that big guy? You know, what did David hit the hit with the rock? That was Goliath. The Bible is just a bunch of fairy tales. Oh, sorry. But you hear these, it's like when I gave my presentation today, there's been legends and myths and stories that have been going on for hundreds, thousands of years, long before

we decided to start making something out of them. Yeah. You know, you see petroglyphs that show, you know, these anomalies that are, we're starting to talk about today. It's like, we're not discovering this. This is something that people have been talking about dealing with forever. And every legend comes from something of truth, you know, something that has been experienced or dealt with. They didn't.

And what, here's the astonishing part is no Facebook, no cell phones. I think cell phones, Facebook, the electronics, that technology has really put us, not really advanced us in certain ways. I agree. Because suddenly, everybody has access to everything that's on every continent, right? but 200 years ago when they're all drawing the same picture on the wall of a cave of a creature and it all matches

that's not a that's not a Facebook novelty that's something that people were witnessing, experiencing and dealing with and we're trying to find it now so it's like a lot of this stuff that we're dealing with trying to find

the legends the cryptids that sort of thing they came from somewhere. Yeah. You know, they're not just an idea. I had to talk to a guy just this week, and I have no idea when it's going to air. But he wanted to talk to me about his research on the dogman throughout history. So this show talks about people's experiences, heavy, right? Right.

But he wants to talk about how he, and this guy, 25 years old. And I'm like, the amount of research he's accomplished in his adult life is incredible. Wow. He's he's compiled thousands of documents, not just like long documents, but like little short sections of ancient writings talking about these dog-headed. men. The one him and I were talking about, one of the things him and I were talking about was, in, I forget the one historian's name, one of these, there's two historians that he was talking about, Herodias, I think was one of them. And they didn't get out, they didn't like each other. So they were always throwing jabs at each other. But the one thing they agreed on was the dogheaded

men of Persia, or Libya. Is Libya or Persia? I can't remember. But one of the kings that in this area would every year give, it was in this document, 300,000 bows, like 150,000 arrows or something like that and like weaponry to these dog-headed beings that lived out there and they would exchange some kind of purple flower. And it's in these writings that this is what they did. and they even hired these dog-headed people, I guess, as mercenaries at time, because they were so agile. The Christians who went to, I think it was somewhere in Latin America, discovered this. And their debate wasn't, what are we seeing? It was, are they human enough to need to accept Jesus as their Savior?

So these missionaries were discussing and debating whether they should bother witnessing to them to accept Jesus as their Savior. So it's like, he's discovered that there's this whole history that for thousands of years was documented. And it wasn't until, I think he said, the 1700s where it just stopped. And he contributed that to the change in our society globally towards Darwinism and a more scientific perspective

versus thousands of years of humanity looking at our reality around us as spiritual. and supernatural. Where does the population like that go? He said there was like a, in the document, it said there was 120,000 of them. Where do you hide? 120,000.

They weren't hiding. I know, by me, you said the 1700s, where do they go? I mean, how, it's got to be less, right? There's got to be less now. I would imagine. Or maybe they went to the inner earth. Maybe they went to inner earth. Could be.

You guys were going through those ice caves. I mean, maybe. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe there's a shoot that goes down. You know that, okay, that's a whole, now I've heard a couple stories over my life of people talking about a, it looked like a human running down the road with weird, like weird ankles.

They said the weird ankles. And when it turned and faced them, it looked like the head of a Doberman pincer with the ears. Yeah. And took off. And I've heard two stories like this from two separate people from two separate states. And when you hear a story like that, it just creeps you out. You're like, okay, that's really interesting.

And it's like, you know, here I am. I'm doing research on Bigfoot. If you get me started on Dog Man, I'm going to be in some trouble. Oh, I got some links for you, my friend. Oh, boy. Here we go down the rabbit hole. Well, listen, when you feel like you can take a breather from Bigfoot to look at something else, I'll send you some of the documents he sent me that I had found. He didn't send him to me. I found

him online while he was talking to me and I read with him because he was reading some of these documents. I was able to read them with them. They're like on these archive websites. Where do you think they are? What do I think they are? No, no, where? Oh, where do you think you and I could go stumble across dog man? Tonight? I can take you to a spot tonight. No kidding. I think so. Yeah. So like actual dog man. Yeah. Yeah. How far? There's two spots I'm thinking of right now. The one is the layup, which is, where Scott Carpenter research, there's a lot of weird stuff in there.

Before you leave tonight, I'll show you what we call it on camera that will premiere next year. But me and Joel were charged one night in there, and it ran up on us, but we didn't see anything. It was very, very woo-woo. Which, you know, I'm the king of woo-woo,

so it's all good. Oh, man. I'm telling you, I'll show you, though. Like, anyways, I told the story at nauseam. But just this week, I got a text message from a local. There's a wildlife management area north of where I live outside of Knoxville. And they sent me a picture. So there was somebody that was in the woods.

I guess he's a local researcher. I had never heard of him before until this week. him and I started talking through Messenger. From what I understand is a young guy, and he started looking into Bigfoot and things like that, and he's had some pretty wild experiences from I understand. Apparently he has Bigfoot on picture. I haven't seen the picture yet.

But him and his father-in-law, from what I understand, were hunting out there or something. They were out there, and something was following them, and they could hear it. It was right there. And so he just took a picture. He didn't know what, it was taking a picture if you just kind of started taking pictures, right? And in the one picture,

it's in center frame. Could it be a log? Maybe. Because you never can tell. Right. But what it looks like is a canine head looking right at the camera. And what's interesting about it is I have seen that canine head before. See, in the very seat that you're sitting in was a guy who came in in the studio. and he's from middle Tennessee and he had a wild experience. He was on my show for episode 510, I think it was. But first of all, let me go backtrack for a second and say, what do I think it is?

I think that these things are freaking part physical, part interdimensional. I'm all over the spectrum. Okay. So like I, you're not going to say anything that's going to weird me out because I'm going to weird you out. So.

All right. Let me look at my phone here for a second. I'm going to make you a challenge. we're going to have fun with this because I think it's time we actually did something about this I have a let me see what that says and that and that and that good

all right I want you to say this out loud so you can put it on your calendar okay okay I have a appointment in I will leave Vernal Utah on the 27th of May my next destination, I have to be in Kentucky on the 30th or 31st of May. So if I can make it here by the 28th. That's where we're going.

Okay. Let me put my schedule out here. We'll go and we'll do a broadcast on the 29th. I'm not even kidding you. Discover our findings. I'm not even kidding. You look at my schedule. So you can see, look at the 28th.

I'll be in Pennsylvania that week on vacation. I have a family vacation with my family. Where are your priorities? Dog Manor family. Oh, man. But listen, life is long and we're going to get this done. We have to. Because, oh, hey, you know what?

Then let's backtrack. When I get back in, I fly to Florida on the 9th of June. Okay. No, on July. Okay. I have a pickup truck there that I'm picking up. I'm going to drive my truck down to Florida and I'm going to fly out and I'll leave my truck there.

I will fly down and pick up my truck on the 9th. On my way back on the 10th, 11th, 12th of July. Bet it. Bet on it. Let's do it. I'll keep in touch with you. Let's do this. Yeah.

We're going to. No cameras because you have contracts, I'm sure. No, I don't. Really? No, I can bring cameras whatever I want. This is dog man. This is different. Oh, you're going to be on my YouTube channel, sir.

You bet. And I'll tell you what, I'll bring gear with me. All right. Sounds good. I'll bring thermal night vision. I'll bring everything out. I'll bring out the big guns. Let's do it.

You know what? I might even have my backpack. How about that? Okay. All right. So we're going to plan a whole shindig and we're going to see how maybe we can hit multiple locations. 10, 11, 12. I'll give you those days.

All right. Let's do it. I'm putting it on my calendar right now. All right. Let's go. This is live, folks. Yeah. Okay.

Tony. Merkel. All right. And I'm going to give you 10, 11, 12. Yeah. All right. I just added it. You're on my calendar.

Shoot, dude. We're going to kill it. I mean, we're going to discover it. I ain't going to kill it. Not with you here. I'll tell you what, we'll, if it's discoverable, if it's anywhere around, we're going to get it on film. Let's freaking do it, man. All right.

All right. Let's do this because the area that Scott went to a lot. It has a lot of activity. That's where he got a lot of his saliva samples. Then, all right, let me finish the story here. So 20 minutes north of my house is this area that this picture was taken. In Middle Tennessee, the guy that came out here, he had been on my show once before. He had a dream about this werewolf creature.

Now, this guy's a worship pastor at his church. He's a coach of his daughter's softball. He owns his own contracting company. Kind of a busy guy. He has this dream about a werewolf. He wakes up sitting up in his bed. There's cuts all over his back because during, well, let me, I'm telling the story wrong. In the dream, he sees this werewolf and it's eyeing his family.

And so you talk about like how would you run or defend your family in his dream? And this was a very real dream. I don't know if you've ever looked into the dream stuff, lucid dreaming. this was one of those lucid dreams. It felt more real than this reality. And he runs, he gets between this thing and his family, it starts tearing into pieces. He wakes up in his bed, cuts all over his back. Now, one could say he probably did it in his sleep.

He's frantically scratching himself, nightmare. He tells his wife what the dream was. Probably, I don't remember the timing, maybe a week, two weeks a month later. He's out in the woods, his local woods with his boy. I think at the time his boy was 11, they both see this upright walking dog standing before them and it was exactly what he saw in his dreams. Wow. It escorted them out of the woods.

It didn't like kill him. And that's where like the savagery of dog man that you hear these stories, I do think there's some kind of, this is woo-woo, all right, just relax. There's some kind of rules of engagement that they have to obey by. and I don't understand it, but there's no reason why sometimes people are talking about these things escorting them out. Because when it comes to the Bigfoot, maybe you can say it's just a kind, gentle thing. Dog man, these things are nasty, nasty. Anyways, he had that experience, and him and I kept in touch. It was a really wild story. I don't do it justice. And so him and I keep in touch,

and I say, hey, man, why don't you come out to the studio? You know, let's talk because he had some other things happen. And that was a wild day for me in the studio. He had some really wild things to share with me. Wild things about me. He had a lucid dream about me. He literally dreamt about being at the end of my driveway and described my house to me. The two guys sitting here slept in my house the night before they could verify everything that he had said to me right there in that seat. And you could say, this guy's a stocker. He ain't a stalker. I've verified it for the best I can. Maybe he is. Maybe he's crazy. I don't know. I love you, Hunter. He's a good guy. Anyways, so let me just finish the story.

He comes out here. It's just going forever. I'm sorry. He comes out here and he has these pictures because he goes to this area where he saw this thing with his son and he felt like he was being watched and he just starts taking random snapshots. And in this Y of a tree down at the base, it's probably about this high. You see in the first picture, it looks like a dog head looking at him with, I believe that this is the order, with a red eye. red eye. And it's like, okay, well, what is that? Maybe it's just peridolia. The second picture, remember, boom, boom, boom, fast-taking pictures. The head moves. The mouth opens. Third picture,

the mouth is slightly moved. The mouth is in a different position, still open. The position of the cameraman hasn't changed at all. Whatever this is is moving. And I could show you the picture that I have on my phone. It looks like the head of the the hell dogs from Ghostbusters back in day on top of that building. That's what it looks like. And that's what looks, that's what I see in the picture that came from 20 minutes north of my house. And so we're going to go bag of dog, man. Let's do it. Let's do it.

I'm in. Hey, listen, if you're going out in the woods with me, I feel fine. Let's go. Like, here's the thing. So you said about how the guy's like, I never scared. I'm like, you know, I say that. I say I don't get scared. And when you said that, I was like, you're right.

I get scared, but I don't let it cripple me. Right. I, it's like, I'm scared in the moment, but the adrenaline kicks in and I want to go. Yeah, it's a healthy fear. Yeah. It is. It's healthy fear. And it's a, it doesn't allow you to become complacent and put yourself in a situation where you become unaware or uncaring.

You need to be pretty vigilant. You need to be careful. You need to be prepared. And fear is okay. It's okay to be afraid. It's, and it's okay how you handle it, you know, unless it's running. you know, and if that's the best thing for you, you know, some people, maybe that is the best because they're not prepared to face, you know, anything beyond just visual. So, yeah, I'm totally in.

That's wild. I didn't expect this conversation go this way at all. That'll give us a couple days and then we'll do, we'll sit down at this table and we'll talk about what we found. Yeah. Heck yeah. That sounds like an absolute plan. Heck yeah. Yeah.

So we can start, we can start talking about. about it and build up to this thing and take these people on our journey. Because I would love to have something we can discover and actually, you know, photographs, whatever we can get. Let's do it. So there's a guy here, just looking at the side of Knoxville, and he has a YouTube channel and he does a lot of the walking around the woods here. He does a lot of it during the day.

He flies solo for the most part. I go out with him sometimes, but I'm busy. And he put up game trail cameras in an area, I think he called it's called Frozenhead. And he has on camera a very large black panther chasing a wild boar. And it's like, okay, bro, you know, sure, I'll believe it when I see it. But he's not the only one around here that are saying they're seeing black cats. I had just like two weeks ago, my internet guy came here. I was having issues.

And he's like, so what kind of radio show do you got? I was like, huh, here we go, you know? And I tell him a little bit. And he goes, well, I don't know anything about that. But we do have big black cats around here. And he said that he had an encounter, it was 30 feet away from him. He said this thing was huge. He said it was about four feet tall on all four.

Oh, wow. He said it was absolutely huge. That's a monster. And then there's a sheriff about 30 minutes south of here who there's a pizza shop called Legends and Lower Pizzeria. And so a lot of people go. going there for this kind of stuff. He decks it out in Bigfoot stuff. My face is hanging on the wall.

It's great. He's my ego. And so he tells me that this sheriff comes in. And on his dashboard cam, he has a large Black Panther walking across the road and it was so large, it had a duck underneath the guardrail and his tail wrapped around the guardrail. And so, like,

we got large Black Panther cats around here. We got our dogmen. We got the Bigfoot. We got a lot around here. I think we have a pretty good chance to find it something in. I'm saying. I'm in. I'm in, I'm in fibergasted.

I don't even want to do the rest of the show. I got to try and call it quits here. I mean, this is great. No, this will be a great part too. Yeah. Well, I have to come through here. That's great. I'm going to be in my truck coming through.

Let's just load it up and go. Heck, yeah. And that gives me plenty of time to make sure I know all the areas to hit. Yep. Yep. Let's get prepared for it. I'll bring the tools that we, need to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, all right, let me just make a big U-turn and bring it back

in here away from my own personal journey of discovering Dogman and all that stuff. And let's get, let me ask you, though, with the TV show, was there ever a moment you were just like, this is my moment. This is the moment. It's going to happen. Was it? Because what I'm thinking here is that thermal video you got with something standing on two feet peeking around the tree at the beaver, that would be my moment for me. I'll be like, that's got to be it. I'll tell you the two pivotal moments for me that actually still, they still have my attention. We got bluff charged in Washington.

And my reaction, I don't like my reaction because of the way it showed on TV. It was just, I don't know. It was kind of ridiculous. But we were, Zach, my cameraman and I, we were cutting through the trees. And we hear something, you know, off in the distance, a twig or something like that. And we're talking. And I started to talk about, you know, being able to be quiet and the underbrush and that kind of thing. And something maybe 30, 40 yards away charged us.

Love charged through the woods straight towards us. And that's that defining moment where I turned towards it and I started advancing on it. And I'm making, you know, I put my arms out and I'm making these large noises and I'm headed straight towards it, heading into the pitch black at something that's rushing towards me. And my whole theory behind that is whether it's a bear, whether it's Bigfoot, if that's what it was, whatever it was, if something's going to charge me. me and run towards me and try to scare me or is going to take my life, I'm not going to turn my back and let you do as you please. And I faced it and I ran towards it and it stopped and took off. And on camera, it just looks, I think, whenever I watch it, I think, okay, maybe that was

kind of a foolish thing. Because if it was a bear, Zach would have got some great footage of me getting pulled shreds. But I wasn't going to, I'm not going to turn my back on anything. You know, those days are over. So that was one of those moments where, yeah, I was afraid. There was fear, but is how I handled my own fear. The other moment on this show of all four seasons was in California. And I'm watching the hillside down below me.

I'm watching a sow and two cubs, a bear, a mom, and her cubs down below. and I've been watching those for maybe half hour, 45 minutes until they went over the rise and they were gone. But up on the other portion of the hill, way up higher, I'm watching a single bear down by a log. And it had been there for about 30 minutes. And I'm waiting for it to just kind of get done what it's doing so I can get a good picture of this thing, just kind of walking out through the clearing. And the most disturbing thing is what I'm looking at as a bear for 30 minutes stood up, and walked like a man. No way.

In broad daylight. Now, it's like if you're sitting here talking to me and I turn into a dog and scamper out the door, that's the last thing you expect, right? Because you look at me as a human and suddenly I turn into something different and move. I'm looking at what I perceived as a bear for over a half an hour, and it stood up and walked. That is probably one of the most mind-bending things that happened on the show, and we have it on film, on the show. show. Are you serious? Oh, yeah. It stood up and walked. So, and it was 1.2 miles away. We put

the rangefinder on it. So I had to get my pack, get everything down, down into the bottoms, back up, down and back up on this hillside. So it was, it took six hours or more to get there. And by the time I got there, you know, I knew exactly where it was at. You know, there was a couple trees around it so I could actually landmark it to where I knew where I was going. That hillside was hardpan, soil, and rock. There was no footprints. There was nothing I could gather from that. Nothing.

And if I would have seen that and gotten a really good footprint from on that hillside, that would have been what I wanted. But there was nothing I could gain being on that hillside. There was nothing more than just that. So I couldn't pair up two pieces of evidence to point towards one thing. All I saw was a bear that stood up and walked, but it stood up and walked, knees bending like a human. That ain't no bear. Out of sight.

I know. That ain't no bear. Is that why you say you haven't seen Bigfoot yet because you can't verify that that was absolutely Bigfoot? Absolutely. Man. And I won't. Your standards are way too high. My standards will always be high.

And that's the thing is years ago in the mountains of Montana, I saw something traverse up a rock slide faster than any. human could have. And I'm six, eight miles back up in the Cooney Mountains. And this thing ran up a hill slide, a rock slide on the other opposite hill. And it looked like a man in the gilly suit with long, long gilly suit. Who's going to be up there on a hot day, six, eight miles from the nearest road running up a rock slide in a gillie suit just for fun? Doesn't happen. That would have been, I mean, I can't imagine how many people would have said, that's definitely big foot. But I had nothing else to go on. on. Hey, if it walks like a big foot.

It looks like a big foot. Wow. But there was, there was no way from where I was, it would have been two days to get, you know, down all the way down to the valley. Because it took me a whole day to get up to where I was. I would have to go all the way down to the bottom of the valley, cross that waterway, and back up that other side, which would have taken me two days. Jeez. And then, then try to pinpoint exactly where it was on the rocks. Yeah.

So it was, it was just one of those things where you see. it and your mind processes it and you're thinking, it didn't seem right. Did I see what I just saw? Was it real? And that's where I will always have my standards at that level. I'm not going to tell you I saw Bigfoot. And I'm certainly not going to tell you that Bigfoot is real until I know. There's people that say I'm a knower and a, you know, a believer. I don't know. And I need to know. I know you're real. I can reach across the table and feel your heartbeat. I'm looking at you. You're this close. I can verify that you are what you are who you are. Yeah. And until I have that with a Bigfoot, I'm going to stay on the fence. That's interesting. I'm like, I believe in Bigfoot.

I feel like I know I believe, I feel like I know Bigfoot's real just because of just being doing all I do. I'm like, it's my life. Everything, all this, the cryptids and all this stuff is just what I do. So I'm like, yeah, of course it is. You know, like, I don't even think about it. Like, it's just like, yeah, of course it's real. I mean, why would it not be real?

Like, you know? But I get where you're coming from on that. What do you think that thing was on top of the ice shelf then? And I think it was the last episode. You guys, it felt like the episode was over. And all of a sudden, the cameraman is like, hey, look on the ridge. And you just briefly see this black figure popped down off the ridge

and you guys hike across there. That seemed really big, man. It did. In order to be able to see it from that distance. If you think about, okay, you got to understand these ice fields, though. I mean, it looks like snow. snow and you walk across it and you disappear from sight forever.

The cracks in these glaciers, I mean, they go down. I mean, there's no way to retrieve a human body if you get caught in some of these spaces. So it was treacherous. It was very difficult. And even at that point, I mean, you're talking, the surface is absolutely hard. You can walk across it and leave not a trace. And that's the kind of stuff that just kind of blows my mind. You see things, you come across things like footprints, handprints,

thermal, audio, tree structures, all these things. Not one single one of those is going to convince me. Not one. It's going to take several different pieces all in the same area, all happening at the same time for me to say, okay, I buy it. Until I have that, you know, I'm a hard sell. So it's like you and I could go out and fake footprints.

you and I could go out and fake tree structures, howls, anything we wanted to. But until I have it all in one spot, all happening, or if I see Bigfoot making a tree structure, that's more believable to me. But a tree structure out in the woods with no idea of how it got there doesn't sell me. Yeah. You know, footprint, we could do that all day long. I never really got into the whole tree structure thing. Like, it's just to me, I'm just thinking to myself, why? Like, I don't understand.

Okay, a marker, but I mean, if it's your living room, why do you need a marker? You should know where the bathroom's at. You have a picture on your wall. Yeah. Okay. Oh, come on now. Okay. All right, so you're saying, like, literally decorative?

Decorative or directional or seasonal? I saw a tree structure that still is just outlandish. I'm not poo-pooing tree structures. Let me just be honest. I do, though. I mean, that's the thing is like, whatever. Yeah, but I'm just thinking out loud. It's just like when you see a few sticks put together,

it doesn't have to mean it's Bigfoot. It could be a lot of things. Right. What was this crazy tree structure? I'm sorry. I saw one that was in the season. And I'm like you. The first thing I do is I look at it and think, okay, who gives a crap?

A bunch of branches, maybe a normal tree fall, maybe a huge storm dropped, you know, or tornado-type winds moved the trees around and this is how they fell. Who cares, right? I saw a tree structure in Washington that defied everything I know about. It was placed there. It was squared and thought out and positioned in a way. that balance was key. And the first thing I do is, okay, that could have been a couple guys doing that,

but we were way up there. Number one, we were too far to bring a ladder or a scissor lift or articulating lift or a helicopter. Some of these things were up and balanced in a way, and I start looking on the trunk of the tree, thinking, okay, somebody shimmied up the tree, positioned it, but you have all these little tiny

branches that stick out, the moss. None of that stuff was disturbed or touched. None of it on either one. of the two trees. And there was a cross member. There were branches that held it in place. And when you see stuff like that that you know were positioned, they had to have been placed there, but there was no way you and I with a ladder could have done. That's the stuff that gets kind of tricky, but it still doesn't convince me. I'm not going to look at that and think, oh, yeah, Bigfoot. It doesn't. Who knows what did it? I think this was probably 2015, 2016, is before the podcast.

just trucker Tony going out in the woods trying to find this Bigfoot thing. Back then, I was like, I'm going to figure this out in about six months. Like, it's not that hard. This thing's big in the woods. It's not going to be that hard. Right. I was wrong. But this guy contacted me because I had a Facebook group called Pennsylvania Sasquatch Research.

I don't know if it still exists. I handed it over to other people. But he contacted me through there and he said, I have an area that Bigfoot's in, this, that, and the other. We found tree structure. Okay. So we go out. there. This tree, and I'm so glad I thought of this because I always forget about this tree structure when I talk about tree structures and how, are we sure? This one isn't what you described,

but everything was placed there in a sense that there were trees that were kind of like brought to this. They brought in and it made this TP structure. And it was probably about 12 to 13 feet in diameter. And you could go in. but there was no chop marks on anything and some of these were actual like trees that were brought there to make this thing. And so like with that, it's like,

okay, well, what could have made this, you know? I'm not saying it's impossible for humans to make it. But that kind of tree structure, I would give more credence to than, you know,

a few sticks, you know, you know, what's his name? Christopher Noel, I think his name is. He wrote a book I think in 2017 or 2018, all about tree structures.

And it was just like he was breaking down from what his perspective was of, you know, what these tree structures were saying, this is a kind of tree structure that means this. And I think I actually have the book somewhere. And it's interesting, you know, it's interesting. And he actually had real logic and thought behind it as to why he believed that these things meant certain things, you know. But I don't know. Like, I'd rather see the big footprint, you know, or the handprint.

or the Bigfoot itself, if I can. Is that too much to ask? A good thermal? A good thermal? Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's one of those things where I feel like it's going to be a lifelong pursuit of mine, but never going to get fulfilled. I just feel that way.

Our technology gets better, though. I mean, the things that we're seeing lately, from thermal to drones to night vision to cameras that are activated by movement that start filming. I think that's what's going to be the key to getting what we're after. Back in 67, when the Patterson Gimlin film was shot, you're talking 8mm film, you had to be standing there with a camera waiting and hoped that it came through on the film and when you develop it was in place. Now we have such amazing tools.

And that's what's kind of, I think that's where we're going with it, is it's going to be the technology that gives us what we want, not the, because I think the sightings have been, I think the sightings have been there. People just don't realize what they're seeing. Yeah. I think what we need is the tools to better navigate through that and to get better documentation and better data. You know, thermal, it's hard to, it's hard to fool thermal. Yeah. Either you're hot or you're not, you know, and you see something. something in Oregon when I saw the thermal that actually disappeared in front of me.

That disturbed me. Okay? So here's the thing that I had fun with. When you have a thermal that can vanish in front of your eyes while you're still looking at it through a thermal camera, I'm thinking, how can that be? How can you take heat from your body and make you vanish in front of me? And I found a way to do it. Really? Yes, I did.

How? I have it on my camera. I stripped down to where I just had my pants on, and I went into the water. I cooled off my body temperature, and I stepped back up out of the water in front of my thermal camera, and you could not see me. Okay. Until the heat started coming to the surface of my skin, and then I reappeared. Imagine if I had six inches of fur, thick fur on my body, it would take much longer for that heat to show through the hair. Yeah, but it disappeared in front of you.

And I'm thinking that it submerged in water. Even if it dropped down into the water and came back up. But how would it know that it had to cool off to disappear in front of me, though? That's so. Yeah. I know. Okay. Or maybe Bigfoot is interdimensional creature that disappeared in front of you and you just don't want to admit it.

All right, Ronnie. Okay. Okay, Ronnie. Is that how Ronnie thinks? He does. Oh, man, him and I would have gotten along great today. He should have. He should have came.

You need to have a conversation with him. You know, he's a very intelligent guy. I mean, and I'll deny I ever said that. I shouldn't have said it loud on your podcast. Now everybody knows I think he's smart. Don't plead that out, Jack. No, he is. He's very well researched.

He's a brilliant guy. We think differently. We believe differently, which is, I love that. Yeah. I don't want everybody to think the way I do. How boring would that be? Very. Yeah.

Hey, now, that hurt. But he does. He believes that there's an interdimensional, theme to that. And I think it's flesh and blood. I think you've got a heartbeat. You're going to put off heat. I'm going to be able to find you with the photo.

Why can't it be both? Why would you need to leave a footprint if you could do interdimensional? Yeah, but why would you leave a footprint that then disappears in the middle of field with no evidence of it going anywhere anyways? If I could do interdimensional, if I could make myself vanish and reappear somewhere else, can you imagine the trouble I could get into? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. That's a whole different podcast. I was going to say, like, yeah. But if you're interdimensional, why would you subject yourself to discovery? Why not? What we're suspecting that the whole point is that it doesn't want to be discovered. What if it doesn't mind being discovered? But what if times are changing?

This is a whole new generation of Bigfoot that's less like, hey, you know what? Our parents tried playing it's safe. We ain't playing it safe no more. Generation X, Bigfoot. Right? I mean, I mean, like, so, all right, so I think that other, I know other realms exist, okay? Like, they do. Other realms exist.

Science has proven that. And that why can't, how do I describe this to somebody who thinks flesh and blood? Because I'm trying to tell it to you in a way that you're going to not look at me as some crazy. A little late for that. Oh, okay. So I don't know. I'm going to agree with you on something there. I think that there are things out there that are in a different field.

It's like even sounds or colors that are right in front of us that we can't see. Sounds that we can't hear, but they're audible and they're there. So it's like x-ray. You can't see x-ray or you can't see certain colors, but they're present. Yeah. Okay, so I believe that portion of it. But I think that something that has displayed itself as a flesh and blood creature with hair, body weight, and heat, and body odor, and pressure on a soil to leave a footprint,

I think that's something that gives all of that off. What makes that different than a bear, a tiger, a lion? Nothing. Nothing. So how can you give so much intellect or so much inter-dimension capabilities to something that is just like every other creature in the forest? either there, I would believe that there are interdimensional things out there, but I don't think it's Bigfoot.

What if Bigfoot, let's just forget Bigfoot a second. What if there's an interdimensional being, right? That's something that's in another realm right now. And it has the keys to the door to be able to peek into this dimension. And when it comes through the portal. It takes a look at the mess we're making, slams door locks it runs. It's like, never again. But what if there's physical, and you're talking to a little.

retired truck jar on that science you run around a scientist i don't do that uh like what if when they come here to this realm this realm they become more physical than they would have been in another realm where the physics are different there why would they take on the shape of a bigfoot though what if that's what they are in the other realm it's just they exist different not as a physical form bigfoot almost like a spirit body versus a physical body do i need to smoke some weed for this i don't i don't know i don't know but i'm thinking that's kind of the conversation We'll have to, Jack, go downtown and figure something now

and come back, report back. I don't drink, I don't smoke weed. I don't know anything. I want this officially on the record. We do not smoke weed here. We don't drink here. No, we do not. But it's, you know,

it sounds like we're having a conversation like a couple of stones. I've thought about this stuff. Because, like, is it possible that if something was, if there was an interdimensional thing, could it be that it has different properties in different dimensions? Does it make sense?

You're going to drive me to start drinking, aren't you? No, man. I'm just trying to. I'm just having fun. No, no, no. I love this stuff. I do, too, because I like the mind-bending questions that I've always been satisfied with walking away from something saying that I don't understand it.

Yeah. And I can process it. And maybe, you know how, okay, here's a segue. If you ever get an argument of somebody and then two days later like, oh, if I'd have said this, I would have been such a good singer. Yeah. Okay. So it's like what we're having the conversation right now. I have to process things for a while.

And it's like, okay, I can wrap my head around this piece of it and this piece of it. I should have asked Tony this. And maybe he would have had a clarification for me because I'll take the information you've given me and I'll think about it and I'll process it. And so basically you're saying that in another dimension, it's Bigfoot. And if it comes to this dimension, it can be either one. It could be invisible or it can take on the form of Bigfoot. and be seen or not be seen. That's one of my theories.

One of my theories. There's also the 2D, 3D thing, right? So if it's another dimension, maybe exists something different. So like, if it's say, I don't even know what fourth dimension would be or fifth dimension, but like we have two dimensions, three dimensions. So if there's another dimension that they're bringing themselves down into for the third dimension, what does that look, what does that transition look like for something that could do something like that?

And I haven't even talked about the Nephilim. So, you know. What if CAT really spells dog? Backwards. That's wild. But yeah, I mean, it's just like, like, I think about, because here's the thing, at the end of the day, if Bigfoot is an ancient hominid that's always been here,

we just haven't been able to discover it, I'm okay with that. Yeah. What if they live subterranean, though? I mean, now you're getting into a whole different ballgame. Yeah. I think it's very possible. You know, I had that presented to me one time from,

a guy, I'm not allowed to say. But he did pose that to me. He said, what if they are subterranean? What if there is a completely different universe, a mile below the surface of the earth that has its own ecosystem and heat source and food source? And then he starts getting in, I mean, you can go into so many different things. what if the earth is just a speck of dust in a science room that's almost ready to hit the floor right now?

I mean, and we're just this little ecosystem that's almost ready to get stepped on by a student in the class. I mean, it just boggles the mind. Essentially, with the zooming out of these, I think they're fake. Not the space is fake, but like when they show the universe, some people are saying, the space is fake, the earth is flat, or flat, not me.

But they show like the zooming out of the universes and the galaxies. And all of a sudden it's just like, like, because you're trying to focus on the screen. You ever see what you see what I'm talking about? Oh, yeah. Like, because you're trying to watch the earth and it's zooming out, zooming out, zooming out, and all of a sudden it's, the galaxy. Okay, watch the galaxy. And then there's more galaxies.

And all of a sudden, like, this whole cluster of galaxies is that speck of dust. And it's just like, holy crap. There's a lot out there. If that's the other thing, you know, people say UFOs aren't real. If we think for one split second that we're the only intellectual, or smart beings in that vast universe. How naive is that? Yeah.

You know, I think spaceships go by and they look at the condition of Earth and they lock their doors and they keep going. It's like, uh-uh. They're doing a fine job of destroying themselves. Yeah. Yeah. So have you, do you, all right,

we talk about a lot of different topics here. You're known for Bigfoot, but are there other topics you dive into or have you just dived into Bigfoot? Because we're talking about things here, and I'm thinking, I'm thinking you might be able to... I'm pretty diverse. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. So have you looked into the alien stuff when it comes to what they've been saying? Mm-hmm. The non-human intelligence and the idea. That's a different podcast, buddy. Okay. All right. We'll meet at the table again and we'll have that conversation.

Yeah. I mean, maybe after we find Bigfoot in July, we can... Or dog man. Yeah, or dog man. I'm fine with, I'm not discriminating. Either one. Yeah. Other one's fine with me.

I had an experience with my sister. We were living in Arleigh, Montana, and we lived up on a hillside. My sister and I both witnessed something in broad daylight that, okay, I'm not going to say religion, but we were raised in a very religious background. And something happened in broad daylight that really got her attention. and she doesn't like to discuss it. I mean, she'll talk to me about it because we both witness it, and it's like, it's that thing that you share with one other person on the planet,

and it's like, how do I deal with this? But we saw two orbs come over the hill, and they were circling around each other. And for lack of better term, it looked like, you know how you have two balloons that are tethered together, and they'll just kind of dance around each other, you know, get caught in the wind. And that would have been an easy explanation for this thing. A couple balloons came over the hill.

and they're intertwined except the fact that they went straight up and took off to the left and then shot off across the sky and disappeared at a speed that is just, there's no way. It could have been anything but just supersonic and gone. And, I mean, it was like, it caught our attention. We're both like, uh, and neither one of us spoke. And we watched this thing and it went up, went to the left,

and shot across to the right, and it was gone. And it took her a while to talk to me about it. That was in the 80s. We have no aircraft that could have done that. It would be impossible for anything to navigate those, that pattern. It was just impossible. And ever since then, you know, I always toyed with the idea, you know, maybe there's aircraft out there.

And then because I was too young to really wrap my head around all of it. But it was that moment when I realized there's plenty out there that we don't even know about. And we look up in the sky, okay, you take two balloons. They're this big, right? It doesn't take them long before you can't see them anymore because they get out of the distance. We have no idea what's out there. A mile up, two miles up, three miles up. Yeah.

We can't see it. How do we always put a size on a spacecraft? Does it have to be as big as a football field? or can a spacecraft be the size of that water bottle? You will never see it. There could be thousands of them up there circling the globe and we wouldn't see them. I mean, you talk about something to wrap your head around.

I agree. We put a size limitation on, well, it's got to be as big as a human or it's got as big as... Has it fit anything in it. Yeah. Yeah. But there could be a whole universe in this water bottle. Stop it.

Yeah. I don't like what you're doing to me right now. Sorry, like, oh, you went interdimensional on it. Yeah, that's true. I did it to you first. And let's take a look below the surface of the water. Hey, let's do that. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, you're talking, we can only, humans can only take so much pressure. We can only go down so far. We even have equipment that can't go down too far before it implodes. But there are surviving beings down there that exist on the floor of the ocean that live down there among all that pressure. How do they do it? What kind of spacecraft is sitting down there waiting to come back to the surface? I mean, honestly, are they just down there cooling their jets for a little bit and they're going to come back to the surface?

What do you think about that? Do you think that there's craft down there? I don't doubt it for a second. I have the best pictures I've gotten on this matter alone came within my first year of podcasting. A guy, I think up in Canada, sent me pictures. He lived on the bay of some bay, and there was a storm coming in. was taking video of the lightning striking. And so he went back at the video, started scrubbing through the video, tried to try to get the lightning strikes, take a picture of it, screenshot.

And he saw something long. I met in my mind's eye, it's flat and round, but that's probably just my preconceived notions. But it's definitely something long that shoots out of the water in, I think, two or three frames, and it's going up into the air. Of the size of water bottle, maybe? Yes. Yes. It was very close to the camera.

Isn't that crazy? Yeah, yeah. And it was, if I remember correctly, it was all with like the same lightning strikes in the background. It happened that fast. I wonder if they resource the energy from the lightning. Maybe. I mean, if you think about... Are they Tesla's?

The UFO Tesla's? Maybe. They're taking the electricity. Well, think about this for a second. When you have a lightning strike... The amount of power that can burn through a tree in a split second, you're talking some amazing power and energy that happens in a split second. So what if you have to park your Tesla and it recharges for a couple hours?

What if a lightning strike isn't a recharge? Huh. What if it, I mean, honestly, what if that's not an energy source for something that generates, and that's a refueling source. Where does the energy go? Where does it come from? That's interesting. I think you're on to something there.

Did you just make that up on your own? I've thought about it for a while. Wow. That's interesting. But I've always thought about, you know, even in the mountains, in Florida is a wonderful place to watch lightning. I mean, some of the most amazing stuff I have watched out of Orlando, just the lightning just is continuous during the storms.

It's just amazing to watch. But I always thought you have this rolling energy that rolls in and comes across the land and regenerates and puts out this incredible amount of energy. And sometimes it hits the ground. Where does the energy go if it's not? I mean, is that a source of energy that something can use? How can we harness that or use it? You know, you get the same kind of lightning in a dust storm. That's scary.

I can imagine. I can't imagine being in a dust storm, let alone seeing lightning in the dust storm. It's static electricity. I mean, it generates and it's powerful and it's scary. Yeah. And it'll cook anything in its path. And then we play with nuke energy. So, I mean, you're thinking we're toying with things that are realistically, I mean, what do we have enough warheads to melt the planet as many times as we want to?

Why do we have that in our hands? I mean, why are we playing with that kind of energy and those kind of resources? It's like having a vault full of guns. It only takes one bullet. Why do you have 10,000 rounds and 80 guns? I can ask myself that same question, but still, because you can never have enough. It's called America, my friend. Yeah.

But I mean, we have resources when there's got to be a way to find, there should be a way to take that kind of energy that is raw, unharnessed, untouched, or is it already being used somewhere else? Is it being generated to resource, recharge, reignite something? And like you're talking about, something coming in or out of the water. That's wild. Yeah, that's very possible, I think. I mean, why not?

Oh, man. Well, I don't know what to say about that. Yeah. That's wild. I never really thought about that. Like, could that be harnessed as a source of energy for, forget, anything? Forget UFOs, just anything.

We put little shields on our houses to take energy from the sun and recharge a battery. There's got to be a way to take a lightning strike and draw that energy or position something in its path to where all that energy hits a box and it stores it. Can you imagine having the storage or the ability to take a lightning strike and harness that energy and reuse it wherever you want? I'll tell you one thing. I wouldn't have an electric bill anymore. Fair enough. Yeah.

I want to ask you this. Okay. Hanford. Okay. I'm not going to ask you any secret sauce stuff. Have you ever heard of the Clickitat 8-G? cat. No.

The click-a-tat. Ape cat. You've heard a click-a-tat count. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah. So there's this thing called the click-a-tat ape cat that people in that area. It's got a cool little sound. We can make a song out. The click-a-tac-tacat.

I'm on to something here. Yeah. So. Start our own group. I think Our own group. Say it ten times fast and you get a reward. There's no way you can do that. No. I'm surprised if they'll do it today. So there's a guy James Zubski

Foreign military Say that eight times Right, yeah And he's out there and he has an outdoor store He took over his mother-in-law's outdoor store She, I think, passed away And this was about three years ago, I think it happened. He took it over, and they started getting people coming in

asking questions about different cryptids and stuff And he started taking reports and people start coming in saying they're seeing this really large black cat with the face of an ape on it. And him and I were talking, and I'm going to send you this show so you can listen to it because I called it, I think I called it the Secret Guardian of Hanford. Because the click-a-tat ape cat is in that area. And people are, I think he's, I just talked to him a couple weeks ago. His episode is going to go in a few weeks from now. And he, I believe, has over a hundred reports of this thing, people coming into the store.

And he talked about Hanford and I guess something to do with alligators up there. Do you recall hearing about all right? There's something that he, sometimes I'm really bad recalling stories. This is one of those times. But it was something to do with the alligators and how they accidentally released alligators up there. and they had to go and get them back and they caught most of them. And they assumed.

And Hanford? Yes, in Washington. And they, and they, and they, they didn't capture them all. And so they, they just said, well, they're not going to make it through the winner. Um,

and I'm telling you that, I'm not going to tell you the story because I'm going to ruin it. I'm going to send you the audio. I just, it, the whole, the whole point was I was like, what if these alligators were being like,

mutated to, be secret, to guard Hanford, because I guess there's a river, the Columbia River maybe. And they were in there, apparently. And I was like, what if they created, what if Hanford created the click atap in a cap to guard the facility and it got loose? You know, that would really disappoint all the guys that go up and down the Columbia fishing. Hey. Yeah. Not my problem. No one. There's alligators. I'm in Tennessee. And, and ape cats. Yeah. Well, listen, the ape cat, it's a really interesting thing where he just started collecting, like, he stumbled into this. Like, he's like, I had this out

door store. The stories started coming in. I started collecting them. And I told my employees, take everybody serious. Don't make anybody feel like they're unwanted. Hear them out. Let them share their story. And he started collecting all these stories. And the click-cat ape cat, yeah. I wanted to ask you, as you mentioned about Hanford. And the unfortunate thing is, if I knew you worked at Hanford before today, I would have reviewed that story so I could actually relay it to you properly. Wow. Because now, like, you're not even going to want to listen to the episode. I don't know, you got my attention with the alligators. Okay, perfect.

Perfect. Yeah. Make some boots or something. Yeah, so he's got some wild stories and stuff. Out there in the West Coast, there's some weird stuff that happens out there. Hanford, you got to understand, Hanford is a scrub desert. It's high desert, and it's tumbleweeds and the Columbia River runs through it. And the reason Hanford is positioned the way it is, is you have to have a water source to cool the facility when you have a power.

plant. And it's far away from Richland and Kennewick and Pasco far enough away to where they strategically placed it there in case there was a meltdown because they tested the winds, however they, you know, drafts of the winds, heat, thermal, everything else, to where if there was a meltdown in on the Hanford facility that those towns would still be safe. And they're, I mean, you have to drive 45 minutes, sometimes over an hour to get to the far-reaching plants on the Hanford site. Once you get past Richland onto the Hanford's site and then out to the power plants.

So they're far away from the towns to where there's no, there's no threat of, you know, if you have a meltdown on one of the plants, the fuel rods, the contamination, the radiation, not getting to the town. So they have that far away. And it's in the middle of a scrub desert because nothing else can exist out there. You have a couple herds elk that occupy the space. But for the most part, anything else isn't going to survive. It's scrub desert. It's sagebrush and sand and just pretty unattractive in cliffs. Never heard of an alligator.

I'm telling you, I really might be making that story wrong. but I'm telling you he said something about alligators on that episode I'll have to look into that maybe crocodiles I don't know but it was one of the two I'm telling you I swear and the audience right now can back me up on it they know they heard it it was something I forget though but yeah I had never heard of Hanford until he was on the show talking about it I had never knew about it and so I've been all over that property yeah yeah it's it's a pretty amazing place actually you can actually take a tour of the B reactor.

And I'll tell you what, back when they built that reactor, it's when if you think about how things are now and how they were back then, you have your amazing electricians that you can look at a wall and there's 2,000 wires that come down a wall past behind where the fuel rods are to run this generating plant. And you can follow the white wire all the way down across the span of two, 300 feet because they were so precision and so precise.

And the work ethic back then was so clean because if you didn't do your job right during this depression time, there were 800 guys that wanted your job. So you did it to the best of your abilities, if not better than anybody else, just to keep that job and that income coming in. which was pretty sparse to keep your family alive. So when they built these facilities out there, they were built well and clean and with perfection, you know, and that kind of work ethic. I mean, I'm getting off track here a little bit, but to do that tour of the reactor,

if you ever get out there, try to do the B reactor tour and look at it because you can actually get behind the wall and look at the electrical wires and the way this building was put together and it's absolutely amazing. And you think from, you know, that long ago, how did we have the wherewithal

to come up with that kind of technology? Yeah. It's insane. So you ever get a chance? Check that out. Yeah, I think I will. I don't make it to West Coast often, but old man Gummer deserves a visit sometime soon.

Agreed. Yeah. Agreed. We should crash his house sometimes. We should. Yeah. Just kind of knock on those doors. I don't think he'd care.

I don't think he would either. Yeah, he'd be like, come on in. You want some ribs or steaks? Some coffee. Yeah. Yeah. That guy, I tell you. We began it.

We'll end it with Wes. A good friend of ours. And yeah, by time this airs, the world have been already seen Sasquatch and the missing man, but I'll shoot you a screener so you can have that too. That'd be awesome. Yeah. I'd love to see that.

Yeah, you're going to like it. It's going to be good. I think you're right, though. I think we should, we should find a reason just to go knock on his door. Hey man, we're just in the neighborhood. I wonder what you're doing. I want to go have a hot dog or something.

He's like swing through from Tennessee and Utah. Got it. You don't mind, do you? Can we park here? Yeah. Well, I mean, you park. I'll take the Uber from the airport because I'm not driving. I'll pick you up the airport.

Okay, that works. Strategically, we'll just crash his place. He won't see it coming. I can't believe. Well, he would because I'll listen to this. but I can't believe you drive everywhere. Yeah. That's wild.

I'm going to be driving. Well, that's what I said. It's like I'm going to go to a conference in Ocala, Florida and leave my truck there. Jeez. Now I'll come back through it and we'll go find Dogman and we'll get evidence of it. I'm telling you, I talk to the locals around here. Okay. I personally, or else I would have said it by now, I personally haven't seen Dog Man or

Bigfoot in person, but the locals around here, they swear this area, they're East Tennessee, this area, it is all over. Let's go get eyes on it. Let's do it. All right, man. All right. Let's wrap it's up. Wrap this up.

Thought my old motto was a VA. I was working for a cylinder. You could balking for my soul for a mention and a couple billboards, no less. Yeah. Thank God for a couple roadblocks. I don't know if I'd stop for the road. On the sidelines trying to be the highlight Righting of the bright lights breaking all the guidelines

Yeah Miss the boat with no lifelines yeah Screaming I don't need you Uh fighting but I'm free to Uh neon lights make a path for my breath like smoke in the cold every weekend I'm missing