The Confessionals - RELOADED | 24: Bigfoot, Ghosts, and Light of Saratoga

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

In Episode 24, Nick from Texas discusses his life of strange experiences, including bigfoot, an aggressive demonic presence, and the Light of Saratoga!Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts List: https://www.theconfessionalspodcast.com/helene-reliefSasquatch and The Missing Man: merkelfilms.comMerkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.comThe 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/joinAFFILIATESGo Silent with SLNT Faraday Bags: https://alnk.to/clXuRY5EMP Shield: empshield.com Coupon Code: "tony" for $50 off every item you purchase!SPONSORSSIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsUNCOMMON GOODS: uncommongoods.com/tonyGHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tonyCONNECT 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_theproducer

Merkel? Medias. I guess it's time to go back in time. Are you telling me you built a time machine? Kind of a Dolion? Time is but a stubborn illusion. I have a lot of memories of the past. People are time traveling within themselves.

Time travel is possible. Thanks out. They're four. You guys hear that? Hey, I'll reload it. Welcome to the show, everybody. I am your host, Tony Merkel, and I am really glad that you're here, and I'm really glad to be here.

I got a lot of great stuff planned for us tonight. We're going to be interviewing two different people tonight. One is Nick, and he shares his encounters that he's had throughout his entire life, living in Texas. And we're also bringing on Callan. Callan actually runs the popular YouTube channel Slap to Ham. He's got over 400,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel today. And he wants to spend some time with us talking about his channel and talking about some articles that he has posted on his website.

Before we get into these guys, though, I want to bring on Lindsay because Lindsay has some really exciting, fun news to share with us today. So we are excited to announce that the Confessionals podcast is now registered for the 12th annual podcast awards. This is a worldwide podcast competition where podcasters, usually amateurs, they, they register for the award and then from today July 1st through July 31st, it's an open voting period. So what we want to ask is that people who listen to the show and really love the show, please vote for the confessionals. What you'd want to do is go to www.w.com. At the top of the page, you'll see a button that says nominations are open. And what you do when you click that, They just want you to sign up quickly.

They send you a link just to verify who you are. And then you're able at any point to go on and vote for the confessionals. Thanks, Lins, for that update. And I really appreciate you coming on and doing that for me. Hopefully, people go and check out the website and vote for us and help us win this competition. Next up on tonight's show, we're bringing on Callan. Callan is running the YouTube channel Slapped Ham from Australia. Slapt Ham is one of those YouTube channels that makes lists of top 10 or top five, whatever.

Usually there's scary pictures or scary videos. And Callan is coming on with me tonight to talk about one of the articles he posted on his website. So let's get to Callan. Okay, tonight I have a special guest coming on for a short little segment before we get into our main interview here. I'm bringing on Callan and Callan started the YouTube channel Slapped Ham. And I would definitely recommend you guys going in and checking out Slapt Ham on YouTube, give it a subscribe and actually hit that alarm button or that little bell. next to the subscribe button, that will alert you every time he puts a new video up.

So I definitely recommend you guys doing that. And check out his website, slaptam.com. He's got a lot of good articles on there. And actually, we're going to be discussing one tonight. Callan, how are you? Yeah, I'm good, man. Thanks for having me. Oh, man, it's great to have you, man.

This is something that we've been trying to do for a while, but it's kind of hard. We're learning. It's hard to arrange a schedule when somebody else is in Australia and I'm in the United States, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we've been playing a bit of town. But yeah, welcome to my world. Working from Australia, it's tough doing business with America.

Absolutely, man. I mean, I know when we were talking a little bit there, I couldn't believe it was a 14-hour difference between you and I. Yeah. I mean, it just definitely makes a little harder. Yeah, it's Tuesday morning there, Monday night here. Gotcha. Yeah, I'm in the future.

The future is bright. So how's Tuesday? Yeah, it's great. All right. So, well, listen, you and I were talking and we came across this article of yours on your website, the most creepy ghost photos we've ever seen. And before we get into that, why don't you let people know, how did Slap Ham come about? And what exactly do you do on Slap Ham? Yeah, sure. Well, basically, yeah, I had just finished up a degree in professional writing and editing and was figuring out what on earth I'm going to do with myself. A friend of mine, I'm actually close friends with Danger Dolan, so some of you listening might know him. He runs Planet Dolan, which is quite a significant YouTube channel.

And basically, yeah, he just showed me what he was doing and how he was making videos. And that just struck a chord with me. And I just thought, yeah, I could absolutely do that as well. So gave it a whirl, you know, he showed me how to do it. And he gave a shout out to our channel, which in the beginning is absolutely. absolutely crucial for growing a YouTube channel. So that was a massive leg up. And basically it went from there.

It was super hobby level in the beginning, sort of one video a week. And then just kept growing and growing. And yeah, now my brother and I do it full time from our house here. And, yeah, it's just the best job in the world, basically. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm looking at your YouTube channel right now and your top most rated videos, or I should say most viewed.

And the most viewed video on here is 10 real photos that cannot be explained. It seems like a lot of people gravitate towards the mysterious list that you have on here, the more I look at. Is that what you have seen as well? Yeah, absolutely. For some reason, our audience just loves the paranormal stuff. We do all kinds of stuff, you know, like we'll do, you know, top 10 weirdest toys. or today we did the viral hoax videos that have sort of fooled the media and stuff like that. So we did that today.

But generally, yeah, our audience absolutely loves the paranormal stuff. Yeah, I've noticed that myself. Obviously, with my show, I do a lot of paranormal stuff as well. And people just, they're really intrigued by things that they don't understand. And I think that's the basic root of things is that as human beings, the things that you just can't make sense of. you're compelled to look at more and more because it's just so mysterious. Yeah, absolutely. It's the basis of the internet, basically.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So this article that you sent over to me, and I was looking at it earlier, and I really liked it. Actually, I liked almost all these photos in here. I was seeing some crazy stuff. And I know you have about five photos on here that you would like to talk about. But I want to start you off. I'm not sure if this is on your list, but the number nine, Great Lady of Hampton Court, that photo looks crazy.

What's the story behind that, do you know? Yeah, yeah, it's a crazy one, isn't it? Particularly because it's so sort of high-deaf, normally ghost photos, you know, there's the old potato camera joke that people always say, it's always like low definition, you can't really see much. But this one is crazy because it's so, like the lighting and stuff. If you look at it is amazing.

So for someone to hoax that, it's incredible work if they have. But basically what it is is, so this young girl, Holly, she was at Hampton Court, which is there's a big palace in Surrey, UK, there in England. And she was there with her cousin. And they were walking around and she was taking some snaps. And she took this photo. And basically they think it's the. this kind of, they call it the grey lady of Hampton Court.

So they think it's this Dame Sybil Penn, which was an old servant in the Hampton Court, who died of smallpox back in 1562. Basically, the story goes, they all through Hampton Court, they kept seeing these strange sightings of this strange old lady, you know, walking down the hallway and, you know, out the side of their eyes in the periphery and all that sort of criss. They, in 1829, they moved her tomb after some renovations. And then after that, they heard some weird noises filling the place and all that sort of stuff.

And then late at night, they could hear this spinning wheel kind of like ticking every night behind one of the walls in the palace. And so they opened the wall. and they found this secret room where there was this old spinning wheel. So basically they think that this was this old lady, you know, Dave Sybil Penn, Dame Symbol Penn who, you know, haunted the place and had this old spinning wheel behind this secret room, which is super creepy and very fitting of an old creepy English palace, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. Almost like that holds the key to the whole mystery, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's like a movie almost, you know, like, you know, finding a secret room and there's an old spinning wheel. Yeah, it's a crazy story. And this photo just backs it up. It's, yeah, it's an amazing, amazing picture. Yeah. So what is your most favorite picture on this list of top 10 here? the one that it creeps the most I'll just bring it up here one moment it's the one taken in the so it's number two on the list

it's called the crematorium ghost and this one is probably the most realistic ghost photo I've ever seen basically so this mother and daughter we're just hanging out in their house taking some selfies and they took this photo and you can see on the right there there is this

creepy spectral figure kind of just floating there and i mean if if you're in a photoshop to pull that off you would have to be an absolute master you can kind of see it's it's almost like the figure's floating and you can see on her face it's like it's bloated almost oh it's just gives me the creeps, but basically what it was, this photo started circulating in 2014 after she took this photo of herself with her daughter, and they saw that creepy figure in the background. And it scared the mum so much she hired this paranormal investigator to look into the history of the house. And basically, what they found was that the house used to be a fully functioning crematorium

where there would have housed hundreds of dead bodies. So that just with the backstory and the realisticness of this photo, it just, yeah, it gives you a bit of chills, I reckon. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I didn't notice the bloated face until you said that. It would be our right, her left side, the whole left side of the face looks distorted and almost blown out. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, like almost like as if, yeah, there's some swelling there or something, you know, and her hair is kind of almost floating there just to the left.

and the whole body looks like it's elevated. And yeah, when I saw this, I was like, yeah, gave me the creeps for sure. Yeah. You know, it kind of reminds me, and I don't know why exactly reminds me. Actually, I know why, because I covered a story early on in this show's history where, and you might have even seen it go around the internet, a girl in Georgia took a selfie in her truck and she caught a picture of a ghost standing next to her brother in the background. of the pickup truck, well, I actually was able to track down that girl and her mom and I interviewed

them. And this really reminds me of that because of the whole mom and daughter taking a selfie thing and it goes popping up in the background. It's very interesting. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's always the kind of, they swear that no one else was there. That's always the backstory for a lot of ghost photos. But yeah, this one sort of has a lot of those details that make it just that little bit more credible, I think. Yeah. Okay, so I'm looking at this list and I have to ask you, number three, missing limb. What is going on in that picture? Yeah, this one I stumbled across in a, so it was a ghost forum where so a whole bunch of people get together and discuss photos that they've taken themselves. And this was taken on a, I think it was like Christmas Eve or something.

and so he's taken a picture of his young son there and his daughter and basically yeah her her sort of be her right arm is just vanished and in its place is this super creepy shadow with like long slender fingers and the other thing too is the the shadow looks like it's wearing a long dress whereas the young girls wearing shorts so that that little deal. detail in itself is just super creepy. Yeah. And yeah, so basically this guy, it goes by that alias Peter, he submitted the photo to the to the forum, just wanting to get some support and some advice on what on earth is going on with his daughter.

And no one could really explain it. The closest explanation I've seen is that it could be that it's some kind of motion blur, that her arm was moving so quick that. So if you kind of, so the tip of the arm there could be. actually be her hand facing forward and then it it's created a motion blur and then the shadow but then yeah it doesn't really explain the shadow to me no so yeah this one is is is off the charts creepy i think absolutely i mean i'm looking at that that shadow and you're right i mean those fingers they don't even look like fingers it looks like there's an arm and then like a stub at the end of the

arm and off that stub is almost like these long strands of thick hair or something it It really looks creepy. And I didn't even notice the whole dress in the shadow until you mentioned that. Yeah, because if she was wearing shorts, I mean, you would have a more slender kind of profile there. But it's like the figure is wearing a dress, which, yeah, does my head in a little. Yeah, absolutely. So this, I don't even know how to describe this picture. It looks like a family photo.

It's number five. It looks like a family photo and it looks like there's somebody there, but they're highlighting it as they're not supposed to be there. Is that what I'm supposed to be getting at? Number five. Hospital ghost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This one, hang on, just bringing it up. We have incredibly slow internet here in Australia, so you'll have to bear with me.

Yeah, the Newsham Hospital ghost. So this one's an interesting one too because they were all on a ghost tour. So they're all walking around this hospital on a ghost tour led by an instructor who basically that's his full-time job, you know, telling about the creepy ghost stories that sometimes happen at this hospital. So they took a group photo and when they reviewed the photo, they saw right in the middle there, yeah, there's this pale, creepy ghost-looking figure with sort of long black hair. And even at the bottom there, too, just under the initial pale face, there's another second pale face just below there. I don't know whether it's a T-shirt or what, but there's two incredibly creepy figures there.

And then when the, basically, when the group leader was reviewing the photo, he asked around and asked all the group members whether they could remember anyone that matched that profile. And everyone was just dumbfounded because they were certain that there was. no one there in the middle there right next to, you know, that lady there, the old guy there, he said basically there was no one there. So they've clearly captured something very unnerving with this photo for sure. Wow. Yeah. You know, I didn't even notice the second face below, but it definitely looks like...

Yeah, needed it. I initially, when we released the video on our YouTube channel, everyone was like, yeah, but what about that second creepy face? And then I was like, oh, yeah, there is totally another figure. So who knows what's going on with this one, basically. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I come from, I've got my start and all this stuff with the whole

big foot scene. And when I'm looking at these different photos and stuff that people send over or, you know, I'll do a video analyzing something. A lot of times I'll say, this isn't, you know, anything. It's a tree stump or whatever. And a lot of times people say, yeah, but what about that in the background? And I look and I'm like, there's nothing there. What are you talking about?

But this time, there's actually another face. there. It's very visible. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, often it's like some sort of distorted pixel or something and they're like, look at that. It could be something and it's like, yeah, clutching its straws a bit there, but this one, yeah, it's incredible. I wonder

what the guy standing behind this ghostly figure and the girl standing in front of it think, knowing that there is something right there that they didn't see, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy in the back there, he would have had a clear view, basically.

there wouldn't have been anyone there. And then to review that photo would have been chills for sure. Yeah. So let's look at one more picture. What picture would you like to wrap this up with? I, hang on, let me have a look. Just loading it. I think it's number six.

Let's bring it up. Six and seven are pretty amazing. Six is probably the creepiest, just because that. So we're talking about the faceless girl here. So basically this was 1943 in Hungary. A guy and his wife were out walking and he decided to take a photo of his wife

against this pole here. And then when they, so they said that no one was around when they took this picture. And then when they reviewed, so I guess back in 1943, he had to print it and all that sort of stuff. So when the photo was developed, there is clearly a armless girl in a white dress in the back there with no face, no arms.

And then just below that, there's another leg jutting out sort of from the left of the lady in the front there. He's somehow hiding behind her. So there should be almost a whole other person there that you can't see. You can just see his leg jutting out. So, yeah, there's. There's just two inexplicable objects in this picture that the guy that took the photo has no explanation for. Yeah, that's... And they're just the creepiest thing in the world, I think, a black, ghostless girl with a white dress, you know, that's classic horror film pretty much.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's nothing scarier than a little girl, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Just kind of staring in the background, absolutely. Yeah, but I mean, I guess if you're trying to look... at it skeptically, you could say maybe the little girl is standing, you know, like she's, you know, trying to be cute or something and she has her hands behind her back. And that's why you can't see the arms. But it does not explain the lack of face. Yeah. And it's kind of oblong. Like the face is

almost long and tall and black and just, I don't know, maybe she's wearing a mask or something and they didn't notice. But yeah, very strange. And then that leg, I'm not sure what going on there. Yeah. And another thing is you look at the time frame, our time period, in 1943, I mean, what kind of masks the kids wear in those? I mean, you'd have to really kind of look into the culture and stuff. But I mean, you're looking at a time where you're just coming out of the Great Depression.

You know, there was no luxuries at that time. I mean, people were standing in lines for bread and milk. And so to have a mask of some sort of just for fun, it doesn't make sense to you. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. pretty indulgent stuff but yeah so super creepy image for sure yeah now you mentioned it so let's do it i mean number seven fatal motorbike accident talking about this one man yeah and this is a relatively new one which which is great like if you i mean because we quite regularly do ghost photos

on our youtube channel and it can be hard to sort of dig up some new quality images so this one's Yeah, very interesting. July 14th, 2016, so just last year, a truck driver called Sol Vasquez. He took this photo while passing this kind of, there was an accident on the Bert T.combs Mountain Parkway in eastern Kentucky. So just as he was driving by, he snapped this pick. So you can see there's two paramedics there and a whole bunch of onlooking people. But then just above the people's head there, there is what looks like some kind of white, I don't know what you'd say, a white figure or some kind of ghostly sort of looking apparition

rising up into the trees there. So at the time, he didn't know what was going on. So then he's reviewed the photo and then looked up the news. And basically, yeah, a motorbike accident had occurred and the man died on site pretty much as this photo was taken. So he posted it on his Facebook page and there was a lot of speculation. But yeah, basically a lot of people think that this could actually be his spirit or his soul, you know, like lifting up from his body at the moment of death, which is something else, basically. Yeah, amazing stuff. Yeah, because I mean, people could say, okay, well, he's driving by,

motion blur. But the thing is, when you're looking at this picture, nothing is blurred. you can see details of the people standing there in the crowd. There's nothing blurred. So you can't really say there's motion blur here. Yeah. It definitely looks like some kind of white humanoid figure ascending above the crowd of people. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because, yeah, as you pointed out, I mean, the guy's on the right there in the high-vis shirt.

He's very detailed. And then the whole group looking on, yeah, you can make out everyone. And then the white figure, yeah, it has a different quality to it. I mean, it's possible it's photoshopped. I mean, it could be just a little smudge or something like that. But, yeah, it's a hard one to explain. And yeah, it went crazy on Facebook. It got shared, you know, thousands of times because it's just such an interesting story.

Yeah. So, all right. Before we get out of here, let me ask you one question here. You post a lot of these pictures and videos of the paranormal ghosts, you know, and people like it. What are your thoughts on it? What do you think about the whole paranormal thing? People are saying they see these ghosts and or they experience hauntings. What are your personal thoughts on that stuff?

Yeah, I mean, it's a tough one because I generally, I don't know, sort of identify as agnostic, so I'm kind of neither here nor there. There's not quite enough evidence for the afterlife, but then there's not enough evidence that there's not sort of thing. And then as I got into this YouTube channel doing more and more of this paranormal stuff, I mean, you see some dodgy Photoshop jobs all the time. But I mean, you know, sort of the ones we've looked at tonight, they do make a question, you know, whether there is something else going on that we can't explain. And, you know, maybe these photos are some evidence to suggest, you know, there is something else going on that humans can't quite perceive. So, yeah,

I mean, I'm still on the fence a little, but the more I work on Slaptam, the more I see these kind of creepy images, yeah, it definitely keeps me up at night. sometimes thinking about some of these things. Yeah, absolutely. So the jury's still out for you. Yeah, basically, yeah. I'll tell you, I really enjoy the channel. I think we kind of connected because you saw we were sharing some of your videos and stuff.

But yeah, I absolutely love it. I really would highly encourage you and your brother to continue doing it, continue to expand. You guys got a great channel going. I highly recommend everybody checking it out. It's slapped ham. You can look them up on YouTube. and like I said, hit subscribe and hit that little bell button so you get alarmed every time he posts a new video. And also check out his website, slapped ham.com. He's got a lot of great

lists of pictures and things and not just paranormal stuff. There's a lot of good stuff on there. Definitely go check it out. Callan, thank you very much for coming on. Yeah, cheers, dude. It's been amazing. Absolutely. I'll talk to you soon. Yeah. See you later. Okay, so hopefully you guys go ahead and check out Callan's YouTube channel, Slapt Ham, go ahead and check out his website as well, Slaptham.com. He's got a lot of good stuff on there, so give him a subscribe on YouTube, and hopefully you enjoy the content. Next on tonight's show, we have Nick coming on. Nick has had a life of experiences down in Texas. Anything from

Ghost to Bigfoot to UFO? I know you guys are going to enjoy hearing what he has to say, so let's get to Nick. Okay, tonight I have a great guest coming on. Nick, he actually contacted me on Facebook on the Facebook page, the Confessional's Facebook page, and him and I have been talking for a while now, And it's just been, you know, one of those hit and miss things. I know, Nick, you just graduated college or something like that, right? Yes, that's correct. And I'll be transferring to a university pretty soon to finish up my degree. That's right.

That's right. Yeah, because I know when you first contacted me, you said something about graduating in a week or so, and I was like, okay, so the guy's busy. So I knew this would be a process of getting you on and stuff, but I'm really glad that we're talking tonight. you mentioned in the messages, and we talked about it before we came on air tonight, that you had some UFO encounters and also some kind of like, you know, spiritual, demonic encounter that you had.

Why don't you walk us into the UFO encounters, the first one when you were about seven or eight years old? What happened there? Living in Cleveland, Ohio still, I was about seven or eight, like we, like you mentioned. and my family we were visiting our great aunt for Easter and so it was a nice day out, you know, clear skies,

not a lot of clouds really and I just remember being in the front yard with my brother who's two years older than me so he was about 9, 10, 11, somewhere around there and so we were just, you know, talking, whatever, doing, what kids doing, front yard playing around. So then

we left up in the sky and we're like, what is that? And sure enough, it was an ice cream cone. And as weird as that sounds, I knew it wasn't a kite. Like, I flew kites when I was a kid. I know how high they go. And this thing was so high in the sky. Like, I don't think like airplanes could go that high. And I knew it was an ice cream cone because we saw, like, the tip of it.

And I want to say it's vanilla. I don't know, but, yeah, the ice cream cone, I told my brother, I was like, you know, is that an ice cream cone? We were like, yeah, so then we didn't make anything of it. And we just went to the backyard of our aunts and made a genderbread house because of Easter time. But, yeah, I don't think we really talked to our parents or anybody about that situation. He just kind of brushed it off. And later on, we were just like, oh, yeah, fine ice cream cone. I never really put the two together until I actually was Googling.

And I was like, you know what? Let me see if I'm crazy or not. And so I found some things on Google on this one website called the Mercury News. And they say they have multiple reports. and one of them comes from 1950 in San Jose and mine was about 1997,

1998, so about 40 plus years since then. And basically what this report says is that people saw including military officials a flying ice cream cone in the sky and they were saying what colors

it was, vanilla or chocolate. So that got me thinking. I was like, you know what? Maybe that was something legitimate that I saw, you know, like maybe something real in that make beliefs and not a kite because I knew it wasn't a kite at all. So that's something I'm still skeptical about today and believe it or not, a lot of people online have seen something like a ice cream cone shaped in the sky flying. So yeah, that's, That's the first encounter.

Wow. So, all right. When you first say something like that, I'm sure, I mean, have you told a lot of people about this? Because I'm sure you get really mixed reactions. Right. Yeah. No, I've only told, like, a handful of close friends. Okay.

I mean, nobody's going to believe in ice cream cones in this guy. Right. So, okay, because when you first said that, I kind of was taken back. I was like, really, an ice cream cone? So let me ask, let me ask you. It wasn't, from your details, it wasn't just the shape of an ice cream cone, but it literally looked like an ice cream cone. Yeah, exactly. And like, it moved, like, a airplane or something would move in the sky.

I don't know how else to describe it. It was just moving in the sky. And I could tell clearly it was an ice cream cone with ice cream on it. That's bizarre. That's absolutely bizarre. So, all right, so I'm actually looking on Google right now, as you were saying. Because I was like, I had to look this up. And I do.

I see people talking about this flying ice cream cone. I guess this is why when you and I were talking, you said it's a flying something, a UFS, I know that I'm not going to fly flying something because it's just not your typical UFO sighting. But there's a lot of people that are saying similar things. And I'm seeing a lot of different sketches of an upside down ice cream's cone. Was yours upside down or upside right or right side up? See, I don't know.

I mean, like when you move your head up to look at the sky, it kind of distorts your viewing, I guess. But I guess because we turned around, we were looking at it. We're looking at from all different angles as much as we could see down on the ground. But I saw it from both ways, I guess he could say. So you saw it from both ways. Is that because it moved or it was just a different vantage point or what? I mean, both.

Yeah, it was moving as we saw it. And, like, I believe we, like, looked down and looked up and it was gone. So that was really weird for us. And, you know, we were kids. We didn't make anything of it. So how long was the encounter roughly? I want to say maybe, like, maybe a minute or so. Because we were, like, my brother and I were talking, like, oh, that's an ice cream cone.

we were looking at it while we're talking and that was about it really so maybe 30 seconds i'm not really quite sure so let me ask you how many people were with you when you saw this uh well my brother and i were on the front lawn looking at it but my parents and my great aunt and uncle they were at the house but they weren't at the front lawn all right so is you and your brother right have you ever talk to your brother about this since. Oh, yeah. I mean, I brought it up to him. And for both of us,

it's kind of like a running joke. Like, oh, yeah, you remember the flying ice cream cone? Oh, yeah. You know, we laugh about it, but that's about it. I mean, he's not one really for the supernatural, paranormal sort of thing. But I don't know. I kind of question a flying ice cream cone,

you know? Yeah. I mean, so what do you think it was? I mean, do you what do you think UFOs are, first of all? You know, what are your thoughts on that? And then how does that relate to your experience? Your first experience here?

Well, I've been doing research online about UFOs, what I've seen. I think that they can be in all different shapes and sizes and looks and sounds. And if they have any lights on them, I think they can all be different like that. So I think after finding other people having reports even way before I was born that there's reports about a flying ice cream tone, I don't think I'm so crazy and believing that it's true. But I don't know, I have to, I guess I have to believe it's true. I mean, other people are saying it. I'm saying it.

And I still believe it's true to the day. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you saw what you saw, and nobody can take that away from you. Right. So, I mean, when it comes to UFOs and the things that you've looked into, before we move on to your next encounter here, what's your general senses as to what these things are, though? Not just the ice cream cone UFO, but just in general,

like when people are seeing things in the sky, do you think it's all the same thing? Do you think they're different sources? What do you think? See, that's kind of hard. Like a lot of people are like, oh, you know, it's military ships. And people are like, no, I know it wasn't military because of how they look. I don't know what they are.

I wish I knew what they were. But I feel like it's something that we as humans can't fathom or can't explain until we have some sort of evidence in front of us, I guess, you could say. But I don't know. I want to know. I want to know what I saw that day. And I want to know what other people see. But I don't know. I don't know if it's something of this world, out of this world.

I have no clue. Yeah, it's a fair assessment, man. Most people don't. You know, most people don't really know about these things at all. I mean, everybody has their ideas and thoughts and guesses, but nobody really knows what it actually is. So you're seven or eight years old, and you see this. Later on in life, you see a UFO again.

What happened? About two years ago or so, two to three years and it was a summer night. I was taking out the trash to the front yard, you know, and, you know, everything was fine as usual, hot out. I was living in Houston, Texas at this time, so it's hot no matter what time a day or night it is. So, you know, I was taking out the trash and I was just looking around, looking at the

sky and such. And so then I see up above my house in the sky, it was a cloudy night too. And I see these lights going around these clouds. And I was like, you know, that's strange. And it got to thinking that at car dealerships, you know, how they have those lights that go, they move back and forth to try and, you know, tell people that they're there. And I was like, you know, that looks like it but it's not because i know how they move and this isn't moving like that there was about six lights or so and they're all circling each other like in a circle motion and they're just going around in the circle and just moving on the cloud and i could tell it wasn't being portrayed on the cloud it was i guess you could say through the cloud like the clouds didn't

it wasn't there. It was above the clouds. And those card dealership lights, they don't go above the clouds. So I was like, okay, I had all these thoughts were running through my mind. So when I take up my phone in my pocket

and I call my brother, who's in the house at the time, and I was like, hey, come outside right now. And I just hung up and I was still watching it. So when he came outside and I said, look. and then we watched it and I was like, what do you think that is? And he was quiet for a moment.

I was like, those aren't lights. And he's like, no, those that's, no, he's like, that's something different. And that's all we were saying for the entire time that was there. We're like, that's something different. That's not real. That's not right. And, you know, I told him about the car dealership lights. And he's like, no, that's not it.

I know it's weird. It's not normal. And so we were watching it. And we were up in the sky. We saw a plane like an airplane at nighttime. And we saw it. I don't know if it's because of we couldn't see or what. But so as these lights were going around, we saw the plane fly into the clouds. And we never saw it fly out. So, I mean, we could just not see the plane. or who knows. But then that got me thinking, too, when that happened to us. As I was happening, I told my brother, I was like, you know, on Facebook, we were, we had some friends that lived in the area and they lived like north to us. And they said the other day, or the previous days, they saw some strange lights on the sky. So we were like, you know, whatever. But then when it happened to us, I brought that up. And we're like, that's strange.

So these lights either moved or they're just something that was citywide and they are no longer here. So I have no clue what it was. I just know that it wasn't normal at all. So was it, how many lights were you seeing? It was about six lights. Okay. And so would you describe it as the source of the lights were above the clouds? Is that what you were trying to say?

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I would say that it was definitely coming from above the clouds. Okay, gotcha. Now, when you saw the plane go into the cloud, did that startle you at all that you weren't able to see? see it or was it one of those clouds it was just so big it could have gone anywhere i mean did you even maybe hear about a missing plane after that see that's the thing uh it wasn't like a heavy cloud you couldn't see through we saw you know the lights through it and we saw the plane go through it

and then we didn't see it come out and so my initial thought was you know if this is something we would hear about a missing plane the next day or hours from now since it was you know the nighttime and to my understanding, I never heard about a missing plane, so maybe we just couldn't see it when they passed through the cloud or I don't know, but I just remember seeing a plane go through there and not coming out. Okay. That's interesting. Kind of like Bermuda Triangle-ish, you know? Yeah, definitely. So, all right, so that happens to you. Is that something you and your brother have talked about since? Uh, not really. No. I mean, we don't, I would say no. I was just trying to think of if we did in the past couple years since it did happen.

Now, do you think that's because of his lack of interest in these kind of topics? Or do you think, you know, maybe something else? Because I've heard people describe that they saw a UFO with several other people. And after they experienced the UFO, they just went about their business and didn't really talk about it. Or they saw a Bigfoot together. And they go about their business and they don't really talk about it. They just kind of like let it go. And to me, that's not natural behavior. Because if I saw something that was, you know, extraordinary, like seeing a UFO or even seeing strange lights in the sky

that you just can't really describe the source of and you're like, what is that? I'm the kind of person that I would talk about it right away with whoever I experienced with, and I probably would talk about it several times after that because I'm just unlike that. Now I understand not everybody's like me, but I do find it odd that sometimes people experience these things, and they just never talk about it. And so, I mean, I was just wondering, is it something that you think because your brother's just not into these topics, he doesn't talk about it, or do you think maybe there's something else going on?

Um, see, I think you've had a good point. Uh, I, I would say out of both of us, I'm more of the skeptical kind. Like, if I see something and I don't know what it is, I want to see it again or keep learning about it to actually know what it is. Uh, I would say that something like of that, I would have to bring it up in the conversation or it would never get brought up, you know. so I don't know if I don't think he's like scared of it or like doesn't really want to talk about it. I think it's just something that he's not as interested as say I am if that makes any sense.

No yeah, absolutely. It does make sense. When you saw these things and even the even the first UFO, so both these, you know, UFS experiences, you know, unidentified flying somethings. When you experienced both these, did you hear? hear any sounds? I can't remember any sounds. I mean, like one was in the daytime and one was at night.

They're both, well, the first one was clear blue skies, you know, and the second one, it was a cloudy night, and I didn't hear any sounds whatsoever. And looking back, I'm like, you know, people hear sounds and people don't hear sounds. So I wonder if there's a certain reason why

I didn't hear anything. Yeah, it's just, you know, one of those things where sometimes people hear the sounds and sometimes they don't. I do find that interesting because, you know, a lot of times if you can hear a plane going over your head, even if it's, you know, pretty high. And, you know, for people not to hear sound, it's just a little odd, but it is what it is, you know. So when these things are flying over your head and everything, are you feeling? I don't know. Are you feeling different? Is there any kind of feeling that comes over you that is different than just a natural curiosity? See, I think the reason why my brother and I were talking, well, I mean, maybe for me, is because I kind of was aware of, okay, it's real. So I'm going to talk about it. So I can remember that it's real rather than being in a state of a trance, you know, maybe.

And that's kind of why I kept saying, you know, to my brother, like, oh, yeah, you know, our friends saw it the other day. And, you know, we've seen it now just so it would, I don't know, I guess be more real in a way. and I forgot to mention too that we didn't have our phones in our hands as we were looking at it so after I hung up with him for him to come outside I put my phone in my pocket and just stared at it

so then it was about a minute that passed we both took out our phones and I was about to take a picture of it and I think he was too and they just vanished they were gone it's like someone turned off the light and it was all gone. And I was like, that doesn't make any sense.

Like, it was right there, and now it's not there. So I have no clue. I mean, it was nighttime. It was probably hard to take a picture anyways, but the point is that they just vanished. Yeah. That's really makes you feel like there's an intelligence behind it, you know? And if there is an intelligence behind it,

then how does it know you're reaching? for your phone if that's the case. You know what I mean? How does it know that you're about to take a picture and it doesn't want to be taking a picture? Just very, that's very interesting. Well, with your UFO encounters, I find them very fascinating,

especially the first one, because like I said, when you first said it, I was thinking, what? And I did a quick Google search, and you were right. I mean,

I started looking at a bunch of different sketches and different accounts of people, seeing an ice cream cone flying through the sky. So I find that very interesting. Now, when you were, now that happened a few years ago, right? Your last UFO sighting? Right. The lights happened about two years ago or so.

Okay. So after that, you've had some kind of spiritual, demonic encounter. You want to talk about that? Yeah, sure. I believe it happened around the same time this UFS, UFO sort of thing happened. Because I have a feeling they both happen around the same time because I actually brought it up with my friends who I told them later on about these two experiences and they believed too it happened around the same time.

So, well, getting into it, whenever I would wake up in the morning, I used to have scratches in my back a lot. And so I was like, you know, that's weird. Like I'm Wolverine, you know, scratching my back in my sleep. And that happened for years on and off. And it wasn't until one night, I guess, or one morning, whatever, you know, I go to bed like normal and I wake up. And like normal, there were scratches on my back. And I was like, okay, you know, that's really odd.

Like, who does that in their sleep? So, like, my brother and my friends, it has to deal with my brother again, which is a weird coincidence, I guess you could say. But so something happened, and I can't remember what exactly, but I remember, like, there was a weird presence in my room. one night or one evening. And I kept on getting continual scratches on my back. I have no clue why. And then

it was like one day my brother, he told me. He's like, yeah, you know, because he has to walk past my room to get to his room at nighttime to sleep. So he said as he was walking past my room, he felt like something came from my room. room and tried grabbing him and not letting him go into his room and he like I never heard him

sound scared before and that was like the one time only he was kind of scared and I was like you know my friends and I were joking we're like oh yeah look you know Nick's got a demon in his room you know whatever but I was like you know thinking of the back my mind I was like that's probably not something to joke about so Like, I'm a Christian, and I know that in the Bible, it says that we have, like, dominion over evil spears and demons, and we could cast them out. So I didn't know what else to do. I prayed. And so I was like, you know, I guess I'm just going to cast wherever this is, if it's something bad.

If it's something good, I don't know, but try to attack my brother. And I think this is where the scratches are coming from. So I kind of cast it out or try to. I did one night. And ever since then, nothing else happened to him. Nothing, no more scratches on my back. So I don't know. But it seems like it was something.

That's for sure. Yeah, that's, I don't know, man. It's odd that your brother keeps being part of all these different experiences. and you want to say it's a coincidence because, you know, especially going from the two UFO experiences to that, they seem unrelated, you know, but it also makes you wonder, are they? So when you were waking up with those scratches on your back, were you thinking demonic paranormal happenings going on?

or were you thinking just, you know, you're catching yourself on the bed or scratching yourself weird at night? Yeah, it's a weird coincidence if you say it's a coincidence, but something, I don't think it is a coincidence, that's for sure. And I don't know, like I said, it happened years on and off, and I never felt any weird presence or never, you know, felt like I was in danger or anybody. else was in danger until one night something actually happened and I wasn't you know delving into any sort of like witchcraft or anything like that or hanging around with some people that would cast some sort of spells or anything I was just you know living you know my life with my friends and family and doing what I normally do and one night that happened so I don't know I don't know why happened and like I said ever since then I don't get these scratches my back so I don't know I'm just glad

that's no longer here whatever it was did your brother describe physically how he felt did he feel something physically grabbing him and pulling him uh yeah actually he said um like he was trying to like sort of fight his weight into his room like hold hold on to the door and the, what would you call it, like the molding and like hold on to it. Like he thought like something was like grabbing him. And so I was like, that's kind of strange. You know, like I don't like, I don't like putting people in danger. I don't like myself in danger.

And when I heard that, I was like, all right, wherever it is, it needs to stop. Because if something's trying to grab somebody that is close to me, that's, not something good. Yeah, no, I agree with you. So let me ask you. You said you're a Christian. Where's your brother at with that stuff? Is he a Christian?

Yeah, he is, but I mean, I don't know exactly how close or how far he is in his faith. So I can't say for sure. But, like, my whole family are a Christian. and, you know, we have, like, crosses and stuff in the house. So, you know, I didn't think, you know, anything would ever happen to us, you know. But it did, apparently. Okay. Yeah, because it just, you know, it makes you feel like there could be something on a deeper spiritual level going on as far as something or whatever trying to claim, I don't know, like authority almost.

that seems like what it is. It's like, it's trying to, like, not like a possession, like in the body, but, like, claim almost like authority over, um, the area, you know, like with you waking up with scratches on your back, something trying to pull your brother into the room. Like, it's, it just seems like something that's trying to claim itself as a top dog, you know? That's what that's just what it made me feel like some kind of like spiritual, um, entity warfare, if that's what you want to call it. But that's very interesting.

And since then, you haven't had anything happen, huh? And ever since I listened to episode 22, when the guy said that he had a handprint on his throat and he went through that whole ordeal, I was like, you know what? Wait a second. What if the same thing was happening to me, but in a different form or different fashion? And so I kind of, I want to believe that it was something like that just because the presence is gone.

And like I don't wake up, like I said, with scratches. And it seems like it's all back to normal. I got you. That's really interesting, man. And I'm glad things are back to normal because nobody wants to live life like that, you know. Has your brother ever, you know, expressed to you anything? else that's happened to him? No, no, not really. I mean, as far as I can remember at least, but the strange thing is, is like all these things, like we said, it has to be with him,

but I feel like I'm the main focus in all three of these, like the second encounter for the UFO I saw first, the demon thing, or whatever it is, it happened to me first. So I don't know. Maybe he's kind of like the middleman, I guess you could say. I don't really know. But, yeah, I'm glad that's all gone. Yeah, it presents an environment where you want to read into things and try to figure out what's going on.

Because you're left with a feeling of there's something going on behind the scenes and you just can't put your finger on it. It makes you want to just kind of, it makes you want to figure it out, you know. know right yeah definitely like uh i mean i'm very skeptical about things i like learning new things and something like this i'd want to know more about it but there's also that i mean that's like okay the more you learn and the more you do more deeper research into it something may pop up that you may not be uh mentally or spiritually or physically prepared for or could harm you. So that's kind of why I don't like to, I guess, all the time,

if that makes any sense. No, it makes perfect sense. I understand where you're coming from. So, all right, so that all that happened to you and your brother. And I want to ask you, kind of transitioning here on topics, you heard about this show and myself on Sasquatch Chronicles. So clearly you're a bigfoot enthusiast because most people who listen to that show are bigfoot enthusiasts to certain extents. Now, you wanted to tell me about something that you've experienced out in the woods.

Had you first of all come to the point where you were going out into the woods doing, for lack of better terms, Bigfoot research. Yeah, yeah, that's where I actually did hear about you on Sasquatch Chronicles and I do have a fondness for Sasquatch Bigfoot or whatever

you want to call it so my good friend he pretty much is the main guy and I'm kind of like his right hand guy about Bigfoot like he knows more about Bigfoot than I do but I try to learn more and try to want to up him

more you know whenever I get the chance to So he's the one that actually initiated Like hey we should You know Find out any areas close to us And see if they have any bigfoot activity And see if we could actually see some sort of evidence Not that we don't believe other people

But you know to see something for ourselves Whether it be a print Whether it be you know scat or Maybe bigfoot self So yeah he's the one that basically we're going out in the

force to find this thing or not find it and find evidence of this thing okay I got you so walk us into what you experienced out there I believe you said it was the big thicket yes that's correct

the big thicket in southeast Texas and it wasn't our first time there. We were there a few times before then, and we kind of did research online what to expect of it. You know, like if it had any venomous snakes,

which it does, and learn the environment, and kind of figure out which trails to go to and all sorts of things like that. So after we did all that, we kind of went there once, and it was a very different scenery than what we're used to. The first time actually we went there, it rained about a day or two before. So as we got to our destination, the trail, a lot of it was actually flooded,

and it was interesting to see because there was these bridges that we couldn't go across. because they were flooded, like, a couple feet of water. And we were like, yeah, we don't feel like getting in the water today. So we actually had to turn around the very first time. But it was really cool to see how the forest was with all the water. And we couldn't really go off the trail and look for any kind of sort of evidence. But we were just kind of seeing how the trail was and learning. the whereabouts of everything, I guess you could say, for the very first time being there.

So then we went there a second time, the same place, the same trail. And this was about two weeks to about a month later. And the water was receding and it receded because there's still water there, but not a whole lot as it was a couple of weeks ago, well, a couple weeks before then. So we were actually able to go across that bridge that was unacceptable the first time. So we went across it and we kind of went off trail a little bit here and there and, you know, we didn't see anything or, you know, see any evidence of anything, but we hiked in about two hours in

and we went off trail in different areas and we kind of went to an area that was kind of out uncharted but once again we didn't really see much of anything just you know your average woods

and you know river here and there and bridges and it was pretty quiet the big thicket but so we kind of knew what we were getting into you know like where the

Pass were, you know. So, when the third time came around, it was us three and two of our other friends, so there's five of us. So it was about 9.30, 10 o'clock at night. And we went to the big thicket, and we pulled up and parked in the parking area. And we got out, you know, put on back. backpacks, you know, sprayed bugs, spray, got the flashlights ready, you know, all that sort of stuff. Because there's lots of mosquitoes and other stuff in the woods at night that you can't see. So as we were doing all that, you know, getting ready to go out and go venture into the big thicket,

we heard these strange sounds coming off in the distance to our right. and we were all, you know, around the truck. And so it was all of our right. And we kind of like just shut up and then there and listened to whatever that noise was. And we knew it wasn't a coyote because I just kind of had like a distinct call. And like I said, we did research prior to what kind of animals lived in the big thicket. And it wasn't anything that was. listed and this was something that we've never even heard of before. So we were like,

is this actually happening? Is this legit? You know, it sounded kind of faint off in the distance. I have no clue how to describe it, but I know there's something I've never heard in my life before. And I just kind of felt like, maybe we shouldn't do this, you know, but I wanted to do it. so I could hear more of it. And so it lasted. It was like three or four calls or whatever it was doing. And it was just dead quiet. So we were like, okay, whatever.

So then we actually started walking on the trail again. And our friend was actually recording all this. So I don't know if he ever got anything worth listening to or not. But so as we were walking through the force, granted it's 10, 10.30 at night and it's super dark. So our flashlights that we had, you know, on our head or some of us we were carrying in our hands, they weren't really that powerful. So we only could see like maybe, you know, 10, 20 feet ahead of us. So it was about 20, 30 minutes of us walking. and we heard a faint whatever that noise was before.

As we got out of the truck, we heard it again, but it sounded like it was coming where the wolves were, but it also sounded in the same direction because it kind of like twisted and turned the trail that we were on, but it sounded like it was coming from the same direction. And so we're like, okay, that's definitely something because we heard it twice. So we were like, all right, we're going to just, you know, there's five of us.

You know, if someone's going to get us, you know, there's five of us. And we kind of, you know, outnumber it, whatever. But so we went around the trail and we left and we didn't hear anything since that other second time. But it was interesting that we heard it again. And nothing came into contact with us. we didn't hear any sort of animals. We didn't even see any animals. So that was kind of interesting to us, I guess.

And the noise, I don't know what that was. That was definitely something I've never heard of. Yeah, I mean, when you're out in the woods and stuff, you hear things that you just never could imagine and that you never even heard of before. And for somebody who's familiar at the woods, it's even more creepy when you hear something that you just can't describe because you think you know just about everything that's out there.

And so when you hear something, you're like, I have no idea what that is and you're out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, it's a little creepy. Your friend that was recording, now you said that you never heard the recording that he had made of that day. Is that something that you think he would have right now? Yeah, I mean, he has it. I keep asking him, hey, you know, I want to hear it. And He's one of those friends that you got to tell, you know, hey, you know, I want to hear it. And then he just forgets or things come up. So I know he's not, you know, keeping it from me, just hasn't sent it to me. But he told me the morning after that he's like, yeah, you can definitely hear something that we couldn't hear, but the microphone picked it up.

So that's something I want to get my hands on and listen to whatever it is. because he actually tried recording it on his phone and sending it to me, but obviously the audio distorted it and all that. So I want to hear it in person and see what it was that we heard. Yeah, absolutely. And if you do get a hold of it, send it over to me if you can, because that's something I'd be definitely interested in hearing. Now, when we were talking earlier, you said that something else happened that same day.

Am I right? Definitely, yeah. Definitely send it to you if I get a hold of it. But, yeah, something actually did. After we left the big thicket woods portion, we all packed up our bags down the truck and left. and right over by the big thicket, there's actually something called the Ghost Road. It's maybe five, ten minutes away from the Big Ficcet.

And apparently, a lot of people have gone down at it. The Ghost Road actually has its own Wikipedia page. And I was like, okay, whatever. So apparently on this Ghost Road, people see light. either like in the beginning or at the end of it we don't you know that's what the wikipedia page said so the one friend that actually got me into more bigfoot research he was actually on his road before with two of his other friends and he saw the lights that time so he was wanting to take

us out on it to see the lights and so you know we're like all right we heard something and it didn't kill us. So we're going to do something else that would try and kill us, you know, whatever live with on the edge, you know. So, uh, we, we weren't exactly sure where this road was. Like we knew the vicinity of it, but we weren't 100% sure. So we kind of pulled off to the side of the road and let these two cars pass. And so, uh, we, uh, ended up getting behind one of the cars that passed us. And they pulled up to the, ghost road and they were debating about going to it because you can miss the ghost road if you just like follow the normal road and so going into this road this dirt road and there's a little sign

out there that says something like welcome to the ghost road or something so they kind of like pulled off to the side and they were kind of like unsure or uneasy kind of tell and there was five of us guys in a big truck and we're like all right you know whatever we're just going to go but uh so it's like a eight or 10 mile road i i can't remember exactly but we took her time down that we were like going like 10 15 miles an hour we were just cruising down you know whatever people say that they saw light so we want to see some light so uh it didn't help that the car was behind us you know like the car lights were on but we were like oh man you know

that car so we were kind of upset about that car behind us but they kind of slowed down for us so we kind of had a an opening between both cars so we could see something so it wasn't until about

halfway down the road we could see something and it was for like a split second in front of us. Now, on a Wikipedia page, people say it's from a, like, they see lights from a close

nearby highway, but there's no nearby highways. Like, this is just a dirt road that is just in between woods. And some people live on this road, I guess. I mean, we saw

trailers on this road, but there was nobody else in front of us. and only the car behind us and it was so far behind us. So we saw like this light. It was very bright. It looked like a car light,

I guess you could say, but it was brighter than a car light and it only lasted for like a second. And I was like, okay, there was only one of them. So either A, it's a motorcycle with a super bright light

or B, it's a light that people see on the ghost road. So we kept on going along the road and me and two of the other of my friends, we actually saw the light because you don't know if it's going to be in front of you. It's going to be behind you. You don't know. So we kept driving on. And the weird thing is it didn't have anything to do with this light on the ghost road, but we drove up on the road and to our left.

there was a fire going. Like, it looked like somebody literally just, like, started a fire and left. There was no cars nearby. Nobody was nearby. No trailers were nearby. We're like, that's kind of strange. Like, that's something you know, like horror movies, you know? So we're like, okay, you know, that's kind of uneasy.

So after that, we were debating about pulling off to the side just to, like, go outside of the truck and just kind of wait and look for these lights. But then as that was happening, the car behind us finally started to catch up to us and we're like, okay, now we see its lights. You know, what's the point? So we just got back in the truck and started driving again. And it was about 10, 20 seconds or so later we saw those lights again. And we saw about two to three times. And this time all five of us saw this light.

and it was as bright as it was before. And it was about as far as away as it was before, but it was just one light going, and then it was off in like a second. And then like another one, and it was off in like a second. So I don't know what that was, but as we were continuing to drive along the dirt road,

I mean, it seemed like it lasted forever. So as we neared the end of the road, we saw this vehicle on the side of it we were like, okay, that's kind of creepy like it's all dilapidated and we're like okay and then as we're getting closer to it it was this broken down bus

that you can tell it's been there for like years. It looked like somebody just like this bus has been in like an car accident or something and just was left on the side of the road and we're like okay that's kind of creepy. Like, you can tell the thing has been there for years. But the thing, though, is my friend that has already been on that ghost road said that wasn't there when he was there the first time, which was only, like, six months beforehand. So we think it was kind of like a prop, because it said, like, something elementary school. I can't remember what it said. So I Google it right away just to see if there was something fake or real. And I couldn't find. anything on Google if it was like an elementary school so I was like okay you know whatever

it's probably like a prop whatever but yeah we saw the lights and we saw some we saw that fire and that bus maybe is real maybe it wasn't we don't know but yeah well uh that was the encounter at the ghost road yeah that's pretty pretty incredible it reminds me of a story of experience that I had actually out in the woods and maybe I'll tell that story. I don't know, but is this the lights of Saratoga? Is that what you're talking about? Yes, actually, yeah, that's another name for it.

Okay. In Hardin County, Texas, I'm assuming, right? Yeah, it's over by, uh, Kentucky, Texas, over that area. Yeah, I was just, I was doing some searching and stuff and trying to kind of look into this as you were talking. and it's pretty fascinating, man. It seems like a lot of people are seeing this. And some people are trying to, you know, blame it on swamp gas and stuff like that.

But I don't know. It seems like there's a real phenomenon going over there, going on over there, and you experienced it. I know I asked you this earlier with the UFO thing, and I'll ask you this with this, too. When you saw the lights, did you feel any different? or was it just more like awe and amazement? Actually, before I answer that,

the friend that was on a ghost road, the Saratogalites before we were, he said that his encounter was totally different than all of our encounters together. Like, they were the only vehicle on the road, and out of nowhere, he thought that a cop car was behind him and that was shining their light,

you know, the bright light that they could see people with, and he's like, you know, that's the top behind us. And then they saw the light move up and up and down. And it, like, was like right behind them and then just vanished. And so he was saying, you know, oh, yeah, it's going to be behind us. It's going to be behind us. No, it was actually in front of us. And we saw it like four times.

So I think that was interesting that he had two different encounters on the same road. and I didn't feel any different. I just felt glad to see I was able to see these lights that he saw because it's not that I didn't believe him, but it's that I wanted to see it with my own eyes and to experience that for myself. Yeah, that makes sense for sure.

You know, I wanted to ask you about that fire that you saw, you know, I think it was after the first time you saw the lights. did the fire look like almost like a wildfire or did it look like it was a campfire that somebody had set up? Yeah, it was actually like a campfire. Like it looked like somebody literally just wanted to have a fire there for no reason. Like there was a couple sticks and you could tell it was just like lit, just then and there. Like it wasn't going on for like maybe not even five minutes.

So I don't know. and we could have seen it as we were driving, like the fire, you know, but we didn't until we literally, like, pulled up right by it. So, I don't know, that was kind of weird. We were like, okay, there's a fire here, and there's nobody around. That's weird. Yeah, that is weird. You know, I experienced some lights in the woods at night. I don't think I've ever told this story on the confessionals, and I'll tell it now since it's relevant.

If I have told the story, I apologize. So I went to the Ohio Bigfoot conference in 2015, and me and three other guys went out into the woods, you know, just your typical night hike. The problem is everybody else is doing the same exact thing. So you're not going to really see a Bigfoot out there. At least you wouldn't think so, because there's just so many people in the woods, those nights.

We're walking along a path in the woods. It was a really thin, narrow path. And to your left, it was a very steep hill. And I think there was a creek at the bottom of this hill. And to your right, it's a very steep hill going up. And we're walking along this hillside, essentially, in the dark. We had one light, and the guy in front had the light. And I'm second in line, and there's two guys behind me.

And we're walking this hillside. and, you know, I'm a little edgy, you know. I, for one, I had just met these guys. I didn't really know them real well. Now they're good friends of mine, but at the time I didn't really know them. And, you know, I'm out in the woods by myself with these guys at night. We're looking for Bigfoot. I just didn't, I was a little on the edge.

And so I'm looking around. I'm trying to keep my eye on everything around me. And I look up to my right up this hill and I see a light inside the canopy of the trees. At first, you're like, okay, is that a plane flying over the trees? And I had the guy stop. We all stopped, and I pointed it up for us all to look. And the more we looked, the more I looked, you could tell the light was on the inside of the forest canopy, like on our side of the trees.

And it was pulsating. It would go, it would be illuminated and it would slowly pulse out. And then it would slowly illuminate. and then slowly pulse out. And it continued to do that for quite a bit. I would say a few minutes we stood there watching this thing. And it didn't move. It wasn't like a plane moving over the trees.

And you can see kind of in between the branches. That's why it looks like it's pulsating. It wasn't moving. It was staying in one spot, just pulsating. And I'm saying to the guys, do you guys see that? And I believe the two guys behind me saw it. The guy in front of me, he never saw it. To this day, I think I talked to him about.

and he said, no, he never saw it. He remembers us stopping the look, but he never saw it. And I just found that whole situation interesting because we're out there looking for signs of Bigfoot, and I look up, and I had heard about people seeing these lights in the forest, but I had never seen lights in the forest until that night. But sure enough, that night, that light was just pulsating in and out, in and then it just slowly pulsated out and it was gone.

because the pulsating, it was never completely like deluminated. You could always still see it as it was going in and out. But that last, it just like it diffused and it was just gone. And we actually continued on our way. Like, I mean, it was just, you know, we talked about it, but we continued doing what we were doing. I think I was more fascinated by it than any of the other guys. They just kind of brush it off like whatever, you know.

But, you know, the one guy actually saw a big foot. from its shins up. So he saw a Bigfoot in daylight once from about 90 feet away. And the other guy had his own experiences and the other guy in front of me had his own experiences. So I was really the one out there that really didn't have many experiences. I never saw a Bigfoot, never came close to seeing a Bigfoot, you know. So I think maybe that's why they didn't, they're like, oh, yeah, light, okay, whatever.

We're out here looking for Bigfoot. That's the goal. But me, I was like, whoa, look at the light. Yeah, definitely. I would be mesmerized by that light, too. I just find it interesting because I know I've seen on TV shows. And, you know, I feel like, do you know if they ever did a TV show on the light of Saratoga? To be honest, I like, I only heard about it like two months ago.

So I haven't really done much research into it except go there and see it for myself. Okay. So I don't know. It does be something to look up for sure. Yeah, because I know I've seen different TV shows where they focus on such kind of lights. And one, I remember, I believe they actually, I think it might have been fact or fake.

They actually did an experiment and they actually went out to this road where I think it was like every night at a certain time this light just came up over the road and like hovered there and it was super bright. And they did this experiment to see if they could see it themselves. And sure enough, they got it on camera where it illuminated.

And it was bright. I mean, this thing was, it wasn't just, you know, some little dim light. I mean, it really lit up the area. And it was very luminous. So when I think about what you're describing to me, it makes me remember that show. And I didn't know if it was the same thing or not. But from what you described, if I'm correct, you described these lights is actually moving. The one that I saw, I don't know if it moved, but I saw it four different times.

And they were about the same distance, the same brightness and the same length far away from me, I guess you could say. I mean, they were bright, but they weren't moving at all. And they only lasted like a couple seconds. So if you blink to you, like, you would miss it. So, yeah, very different from my other friends' encounter of it. Okay, gotcha. And, you know, before we get out of here, I wanted to ask you, when you guys recounted your story together and you guys are talking about this,

did you guys all have the same story, or did anybody say any details that nobody else really experienced during this whole thing? The thing, though, is we're kind of pretty close. Like we all known each other like 10 plus years. So if something like happened that night or during the end, we would point out like, hey, look, this. So, you know, when we were driving down the road, half of us was looking behind us and the other half was looking at front of us to see the lights. I don't think none of us saw something that the other person didn't see, except if they didn't look in the directions that the lights were in. but like we talked about the fire we're like yeah you see the fire we're like yeah that's kind of weird

like the bus we kind of like got all quiet hand talked about that but yeah i don't think like one person saw something that the rest of it didn't see okay and these lights that you guys saw were they up in the sky kind of or were they more low to the ground uh see, that's probably where our descriptions may vary, but we all saw the lights. Like, they weren't eye level, if that makes any sense. Like, I was behind the driver, and I saw the light, and it was kind of above the truck, but I could still see it through the window. So if it was something, it had to have been higher than the truck,

and trucks aren't usually low to the ground. Okay, I got you. So it wasn't like super high in the sky, but it wasn't hovering just above the ground either. Right, right. Yeah, definitely. Okay, Nick. Well, listen, man, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing these experiences you had.

I mean, you've had quite a life of experiences, starting with that UFO ice cream cone. It's very different. And I'm actually looking forward to looking into that myself and finding more stuff about that because that short search that I did on Google showed some stuff. And I'm thinking, man, there must be something to this. So I definitely want to check that out myself. But before we get out of here stuff, do you have any parting words as far as, you know,

you've seen UFOs and also lights, you know, recently? I think you said that was up to, what, two weeks ago? Um, yeah, it was actually like two, three weeks ago. Yeah, so it was pretty recent, actually. Yeah, that's very recent. So with all that stuff, you know, throughout your life up to two weeks ago, you know, do you have any parting words for the audience that might be experiencing similar things as to you? You know, what would you say to them if they're not sure if they want to talk about these kind of things? I'm not the most vocal guy. I'm a better listener, but if something has happened to you

and you need somebody to talk to about it or you just want to get off your chest or you're just not sure what it is, I would definitely talk to somebody about it. I mean, you never know what it is unless you research it or talk to somebody that may have heard about it or seen it. And I would be careful if you just go out there

not knowing what you're getting into and not really worrying about the repercussions that could happen to you. So, yeah, I would be careful. Yeah, that's some good advice, being careful, for sure, because I think a lot of times people get excited about these topics and they just jump into it and they don't really think about the danger aspects of things. Natural dangers of running around the woods at night looking for something, let alone the supernatural aspect of things as well. definitely some good words of advice. And Nick, I really appreciate you coming on. And if you ever have any other experiences, you know how to get a hold of me, man.

Oh, yeah, definitely. And thank you so much, Tony. It's been a pleasure. I enjoy your show a lot. And I look forward to hearing it later whenever you post it. Absolutely, man. I look forward to posting it myself. I'll talk to you later, okay?

All righty. Thank you. Well, that's the show, everybody. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a chance, go ahead and like us on Facebook. follow us on Twitter. The Twitter handle is T. Confessionals. That's T. Confessionals. You can also follow me personally on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. My Twitter handle and Instagram handle are the same, which is Tony underscore Merkel. Tony underscore Merkel. If you've had an encounter of any kind

that you'd like to talk about, whether it's a ghost, Bigfoot, alien, government conspiracy, it doesn't matter what it is. If you want to talk to me about it on the show, go ahead and email me at or go to the website, the confessionalspodcast.com, hit the connection section, and you can reach me that way as well. Until next week, friends, take care.