The Confessionals - RELOADED | 510: Dogman's Interdimensional Portals

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference!If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890Description:In Episode 510: Dogman Interdimensional Portals, we are joined by Hunter. I believe Hunter holds a key to better understanding the depths of the strange topics we cover on this show. Hunter has dreams that he says are more real than the "waking world." During one of these dream experiences, he encountered a dogman that was targeting his family. When he stepped in-between them, the beast turned its attention to Hunter and started to rip him apart. When Hunter woke up, he was sitting up in his bed, but had scratches on his back and handprint bruises on his shoulder. One could say the dream was so vivid Hunter injured himself while sleeping, and Hunter would have been happy to believe the same thing. But he can no longer entertain that theory because one day, shortly after the dream, he was out in the woods with his son when the same dogman beast revealed itself to them and chased them through the forest. How can Hunter's dream beast appear on this side of reality? Are dreams more than what we are traditionally taught they are?  Is the human mind a gateway or portal to a whole other realm that is as real as you and me? Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/joinThe Confessionals Social Network App:Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrhGoogle Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZMy New YouTube ChannelMerkel IRL: @merkelIRLMy First Sermon: Unseen BattlesSasquatch and The Missing Man: merkelfilms.comMerkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.comSPONSORSSIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionalsGHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tonyCONNECT WITH USWebsite: www.theconfessionalspodcast.comEmail: [e-mail] 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 - Agartha (feat. Nergui)YouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

Merkel Medias. I guess it's time to go back in time. Are you telling me you built a time machine? Out of a Delorean? 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. This was all circulating around the base. that a giant had been killed, but no one was supposed to talk about it. Boney 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. The giant comes out of the cave and they're all frozen. And he starts running and firing up 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 them in the face shoot them in the face they basically decapitated and i look over and there are two push and because i know i'm seeing hey i reload it welcome to the show everybody you're listening to the confessionals i'm your host tony merkle 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 or go to the website the confessionalspodcast.com hit the contact section you crease you that way as well either it works for me just get a hold of me if you want more shows on a weekly basis go to the confessionalspodcast.com hit the join button and become a member.

There you can get access to all the member shows of the past, present, and future. All the ad-free listening Tuesday shows will be ad-free for members. And you get access to all the overtime content right there on the website and the castosap. Thank you very much for those who are members. We greatly appreciate you. And if you're interested in becoming a member, go to the confessionalspodcast.com slash join. All right, friends. Now, listen, we have a great, great, great, great, great show planned for you today.

we have Hunter coming on. He is a fellow Tennessean, and he contacted us because he had a dogman encounter, but this is not your normal, usual dogman encounter, which is what really got me up for it, because he started out having this dogman encounter within a dream. This is a dream that I have high suspicions of if it's even actually a dream or him accessing another world, another realm. But the fact is, he had this quote unquote dream, woke up with some. scratches on his back and handprints on his shoulder. And then not too long after, he's strolling through the woods with his 11-year-old son. And he actually comes across this very creature he thought he dreamt about. This dogman creature was in the woods right there in front of him with his boy

standing next to him. He details the whole experience. We have a really good conversation. I know you guys are going to like this. So let's get to it right now. All right, today we got Hunter on the show. Hunter, What's going on, man? Not much. How about you, Tony? Hey, man. I just found out we're both Tennesseans. Love that. I love that. That makes you, that makes you A-OK in my book. That makes you great in my book. So I'm telling you, man, like, listen, I love Tennessee. I consider myself a thoroughbred, even though I've only been here for eight months. You can bury me in my backyard. I'm not going anywhere. We'll take you, yeah.

Yeah, I appreciate it because I need it and stuff. listen man you contacted us and uh this this email you sent was just like okay we got to talk to this guy lindsay told me about you okay so like lindsay is the first line of attack you like in the future if anybody listening right now actually wants to start putting this in the practice you don't have to you can say team or whatever but in the future you could say hi lindsay i'm so-and-so and here's my experience because that's that's who's getting it she handles the emails and stuff and then she talks to me about them and things like that. It's the way it works. So Lindsay gets this email and I get home and she just is like, we need to talk. And so I was like, all right, let's get them

on. And so your story is interesting because it's not just dogman. It's not just a dogman encounter. It's not just one dogman encounter as far as I'm concerned. It is, it is a very multi-layered encounter that starts with the dream state. In the words of the great notorious B-I-G, it was all a dream. And so it all started there. And I think I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on it, but I want to hear your story first. So if we want to start there or wherever you feel like the best place to start is, but I'm going to hand it over to you and let you start detailing this experience. In fact, actually, let me ask you this before you even get into that. Had you ever heard of dog man?

What were your thoughts on those topics before you had this experience? So I had never heard a dog man up until this year. I had, so basically I started working for a company before I opened my own business. And I befriended this guy. He's a great guy. He's actually a pastor at a church part-time. in Murphsboro, Tennessee. And he kind of explained to me that the dream that I had sounded like dog man.

And I was like, that's crazy. Like, dog man, what are you talking about? And he's like, yeah, dude, people see a wolf, like running around the woods on two legs. And I'm like, no way. Like, that's not real. Like, that's like movie stuff, you know. And so, you know, I'd heard a big foot. I'd heard of, you know, people see encrypted UFOs, that sort of thing, but never heard a dog man.

And pretty much just dive right into it. Back at the beginning of the year, sorry, man, I'm nervous. That's, that's fine. That's fine. It's my first time going through this to anybody. Let me tell you something before you go any further. Okay. What you just did there saying, sorry, man, I'm nervous, is the exact thing that comes.

Kyle did on episode 335. I know you heard that episode, Dog versus Dogman. It's what he did several times on the recording. And I chopped it up and edited a lot of that out. But the fact is, this has happened several times with people who have come across these things, is they are incredibly nervous about talking about it. And for different reasons, some people believe that they're summoning them. So I'm not sure if that's what you think, but it's just one of those things where this is a topic people are very nervous about talking. Yeah, I am. I mean, ever since he told me about dog man and I started looking into it, you know, you get into the whole Skinwalker thing and, you know, like Native Americans are really touchy about that. Like,

they don't even want you saying that word. So I don't really know how I feel about it yet. I don't know enough about the subject. But I'm just really nervous. about it because it sounds so freaking insane. It just sounds so out there and crazy. It's like to even feel like I'm having this conversation is just nuts to me. But I'm 33 years old and like my whole life, you're told like, you know, this is just stuff in movies. This is like, this is just like made up stuff, you know. So it's just crazy to think.

I've loved my whole life thinking something. and then what I see in a dream, and then I see later in life, like it's just, I don't know, it's mind-blowing. Like, my heart's racing, just talking about it. But so at the beginning of the year, I started having these dreams. Like, I don't really know how to explain it other than when I'm in these dreams.

It's like more real than real life. it's like I can smell things I can feel things like I feel the wind blowing I feel it's just as real if not more real than me sitting here right now

and so I I'm having this dream that I'm in my front yard with my wife and kids and they're playing and I look over across the street

and there's a like a big, big hedge, a big bush. And there's this, like, gigantic black thing standing behind the bush. It's in the middle of the day. And I remember thinking, I'm seeing things. And I look back over to my wife and kids. They don't see anything. They're just kind of hanging out.

My wife's sitting on the front steps. And I look back over at this thing. And he's not looking at me. He's looking at my wife and kids because I'm standing probably 50 feet over towards the street from them. We have a creek that runs through our front yard and I was over looking down in that creek with my son and he had walked back over to where they were. And he's like paying me no attention whatsoever. And sit there, I watch him for a minute. I look back at my wife and kids.

I yell at them. I'm like, get in the house, get in the house. And my wife's like, why? What's going on? And she's like, what's going on? Like, well, why are you freaking out? And I'm like, do you not see the freaking giant wolf over there across the road like 100 yards away? And she's like, no.

And I'm like, man, I guess I'm seeing things. I thought I was going crazy. Like, that's how real this dream was. And after I yelled at them, it turns its attention to me for just a split second. It looks back at them. I look at them. I'm like, get in the house. I look back at it.

It's gone. And I'm like, where to go? You know? And about two or three seconds later, I look over. it's in like the tree line and it looks like a freaking blur. It's moving so fast.

And it's running around me towards my wife and kids. I don't know what to do. They're my wife and kids. I run at it to kind of meet it in between. And this thing grabs me by the right shoulder

and it was a hand. It wasn't like a dog's paw. Like this was a hand. and throws me to the ground, like, pushes me down into the ground. It felt like and, like, scratches me, like, claws at my back. And then boom, I'm sitting up in my bed. And I'm like, what just happened? And a little bit later that day, it was a weekend day.

It was, I think it was a Saturday. And I get up, I start getting ready. and I go in the bathroom and I'm taking my clothes I took my shirt off and I'm standing in the bathroom I'm fixing the kind of shave whatever before I get in the shower and my wife comes in

and she goes what happened to your back? It's bleeding. And I'm like, what? And she's like, yeah, like your back literally has scratches on it. And I turn to look in the mirror

and there are scratches on my back, where this thing scratched me in my dream. And I'm like, this is like, way beyond my comprehension. Like, I don't know if I needed to talk to a therapist. I don't know. So, and also, I sent you pictures. I had a handprint on my shoulder. It wasn't, I don't know, I can't really,

that's what I'm assuming it was. because it looked like three or four finger marks on my shoulder, like bruises. I don't know. And I didn't know how to file that. I talked with my wife about it, and she's like, I don't know. Like, that sounds crazy. Like, you know, and I didn't really want to go to, like, a doctor or a counselor and talk to them.

And they'll be like, we need to put you on. medication, like, that's nuts, you know, like, you're going crazy. So I just kind of like put it in the back of my mind for a while and, uh, and set on it. And it, it's like really bothered me for a long time. So fast forward, um, a couple months. And me and my son like to go in the woods behind the house. And we got about, we don't. There's, it's my brother-in-law's grandmother.

She's still living. She's in her mid-90s. She has like 800,000 acres. So we like to go back in there, and we got trail cameras and stuff. And we like to go back in there and shake for deer. And, you know, just chill in the woods. I grew up hunting, fishing, you know, been in the woods. it's my whole life.

So I wanted to pass that down to my son. So, you know, I take him in the woods. The only kind of hunting we're really doing more is deer hunting and dove hunting. But we're in the woods and there's a big open field. It's about a 50-acre field that they just use for hay and stuff. And then there's a wooded area that's probably. golly, a couple hundred acres. It's just woods that's right off that field kind of to the southwest.

And we have a tree stand back there and a couple of cameras right there. So we go back in there. We're going to check them. And we've never got any pictures of anything other than deer. the occasional box or skunk or something, you know, like, I've never been scared in the woods in my entire life. And I think it was probably, I don't know, 4 o'clock, 430 when we decided to go do this. So we go back in there and we got our flashlights. I always carry a pistol with me

just in case, you know, it was in the springtime, you got snakes and whatever. We have copperheads, a few rattlesnakes. But I didn't have a rifle or anything. You know, it wasn't hunting season. And so we're back in there, and there's like a little holler where we had the tree sand set up.

And, yeah, what sounds like like whispering. Like, I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain. It sounded like gibberish

or like another language or something. I don't really know, but it sounded like gibberish, but whispering. But it sounded like at first it was coming from behind us, and then in front of us, and then it kind of sounded like it was like all around us. And I turned to look at him,

and he's like, do you hear that? And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, what is that? And he's like, I don't know. And I'm like, you know, you're 11-year-old son's with you, so you got to like think of something. So I'm like, I guess it's the wind,

making some weird noises through the wood. I don't know. And a couple minutes later, we hear what sounds like, like branches break in, or not branches, but sticks, like old dead sticks on the ground breaking. So I just assume there's probably a deer or, you know, something behind us. We turn and look, there's nothing there.

And so I'm just like, you know, maybe it's just way off back there. It's sound like it was closer. And this is the insane part. we step over a log and these logs been there forever. We just go kind of chill there sometimes because it's right by the tree stand.

We step over the log. We sit down there. We take a break for a minute. And about a minute or two later, we hear the branches breaking again or like leaves rustling, a few branches.

breaking. We just hear some noise kind of down the hill a little bit to our left. Probably like our 10 o'clock. And I tell him, I'm like, just be quiet.

We'll see what it is. And I start seeing something black. And it's right at dark by now. So we both have our flashlights. I'm like, on the count of three, we're going to cut our lights on, we're going to shine over there and see what it is.

Because it's like, you know, when you're in the woods, it seems darker than when you're out in an open area. So I'm like, you know, on the count of three, we're going to shine our lights over there, see what it is. And we count, I've counted three, we both get our flashlights up, shine over there. And this freaking thing, it's like two, like, uh, orangish, reddish colored balls raise up. And we put our lights on it. And the only thing I can tell you is, is a werewolf. This thing, it was, uh, it was just a black wolf. standing up on two legs, and it made, like, the most terrible noise I've ever heard.

Like, this thing, dude, it felt evil. Like, I don't know. It felt like, oh, man, I don't know. It's just like, as soon as we saw it, I had this sinking feeling in my stomach. Like, my heart jumped in my throat and my stomach went the opposite way. And it was like, because I got my stomach. with me and I'm like, what do we do? So he, I'm, I'm just like in shock.

And what's crazy is he's 11 years old. He's like pushing me going dad, dad, dad, dad. We need to go. And I turn and I look at him when I finally like collect my thoughts enough to look at him. And I go, don't run. Because the only thing I've ever heard about predators, is you don't run away from them. You don't turn your back on them.

You don't run away. So I'm like, you know, don't run. Don't turn your back. Let's at least get out of the woods before we try to get away from this thing. So we start backing up and like the first step we took, like the only thing I can compare it to,

I sent you an email and I said, I think I said it sounded like what I would imagine a dinosaur sounded like. But since I sent that email, I've heard something that sounds really similar as a crocodile. It was like, golly, this really deep, like, from your gut route. So we take another step, and it sinks down. I don't know if it went to all fours. We couldn't really tell because we were downhill.

or we were uphill from it. It was downhill. And I'm like, okay, just start backing up. And we're going to back our way all the way out to the clearing, which was probably 75 yards. You know, maybe 605, 75 yards.

So we didn't really have a long way to go. So we start backing up, backing up, backing up and this thing is hell not like pacing us but every time we back up it comes towards us and by the time

we get to the edge of the woods I can hear it it's running and I turn as soon as we get to the edge of the clearing to this open field I'm like run just go don't look back

just go So when I hear it running, when we take off running, I hear it running. I turn, I just take my pistol, fire some shots in his general direction. I don't know if I hit it. I have no idea. We take off running. And I don't know how, like by the grace of God, I guess, we make it back to the house. And we sit there and we are looking at each other.

And we're like, what is that? And my son's like, was that just a wolf? And I'm like, yeah. And there's nothing else that could have been. He's like, I didn't think we had wolves in Tennessee. And I'm like, we don't. And I'm like, what will you tell your 11-year-old kid? You know, I mean, anyway, we get in the house.

We're telling my wife what's going on. And she's like looking at me. and she's like, didn't you have a dream? Wasn't that what was in your dream? And it's like, it just hit me. Like, yeah. Like, the minute I saw it, like, that was it. And ever since I've been thinking about that, like, how does that connect?

How does what I saw in my dream and what came at me in my dream, how is that now in the woods. Like, how does that come to life? Like, what do they call it, a Taupa? Like, where you bring a thought to life? Like, you know, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. And if you had told me this before I saw what I saw, I'd have been like, no, man, like, you're, you're, you're crazy. There's no way. Um, I mean, that's, that's basically what I haven't, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't seen it since. I mean, I haven't been back in the woods since either, but, like, I haven't a deer hunting at all this year. I haven't done anything. Like, I know that's, and people, people can call me what they want to, but when you see something like that in the woods,

like that's, that's life-changing. Like, that's earth-shattering, dude. Like, it's like I was telling you before we started, like, when you see something that's not supposed to be real, and it's right in front of you. Like, you're in shock. And like something you're told your whole life isn't real, and then you're sitting there freaking looking at it. Like, it just changes, it's changed my whole perception of life and reality.

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's going to, and moving forward, it's going to, as you continue to think about this stuff. And I can just tell you from experience on that side of, things. I've never encountered a dog man like you have, but the sheer fact of me doing what I do for the last six years, my thought processes have changed so much, the way I view the world, the way I view reality. And with this experience, I'm sitting here listening and my heart and my gut are just like squeezed because um i can't imagine what you felt like being there with your kid

i mean it's like i go out so you saw expedition dogman we went out hunting for the dog man i going into that situation know that the odds are stacked against me or if it was that easy to find a dogman everybody'd be finding them so i i knew that there's a good chance i was going to get home i was still doing it at certain points. I can't imagine actually seeing something like that and not just seeing it, but having your 11-year-old there. You mentioned about how

it was almost like when you guys first saw it, it almost like mesmerized you, hypnotized you almost like, you were just like stuck. And your son snapped you out of it. Do you think subconsciously, your wife mentioned about you having that dream and everything starts clicking.

But in your, in your head, do you feel like your brain was reeling? Like, there's something here. Like, there's something that I, like, they're like, almost like, I know this, but I don't know it. What's going on? Like, almost like there's like a glitch because you had that dream and you're just like, well, wait, what? Hold on a second.

You know what I mean? Like, because your son, who's 11 years old, is the one that kind of snapped you out of it for you guys to make your exit. and you would think it would be almost like the opposite way around. Right. Do you think that consciously, subconsciously, there was an effect there because of the dream? I had really thought about that, but I mean, yeah,

it does make sense because when I first saw it, it's like my eyes are lying to me. Like, that's kind of how I look back at it now. It's like, like, I saw it, but it's like, am I really seeing what I'm seeing? And then it just took me so, it felt like I stood there. It felt like I stood there for like two or three minutes. But in all reality, it may have been 15 seconds, but like, it felt like, I just couldn't take my eyes off of it because it, like, that's not supposed to be real. And like, it is weird.

It's like I was trying to place it because after I got back and my wife said that, I'm like, man, that's where I've seen that before. Like, I was trying to think the whole time before, like, have I seen this like in a movie? Like, I kept thinking I've seen this exact same thing in a movie or like, like, I've seen this exact same thing in a movie or like, a, I don't know, like a TV show or something. Like, I knew, like, God, this thing is so familiar, but I couldn't place it. But as soon as she said that, like, it took me back to the moment when I was in that dream, and it, like, clicked. So I don't know.

Maybe that had something to do with it. But, like, I, it's like you say, you think it would be opposite. Like, my son would be sitting there, like, mesmerized by it. And I would be like, come on, dude, we got to go. But it was, it was. It was the opposite. And he's like, dad, that. I can hear him saying that, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it. Yeah. You know, I would say, in all honesty, if it wanted to get you, it would have got you both.

Yeah, I agree. And there's, and that for me, like, I'm glad you're here to tell the story, right? But there's an uncomfortable part of acknowledging that because it means that it can do whatever it wants and there's nothing you can do about it whenever. and I would say that on that note, I'm trying to navigate this conversation the best I can because there's information that you and I are going to talk about at some point, and I just don't know if it's going to be on the recording or not for this. Right. But I guess what we'll do is I'll start talking about this.

First of all, let me ask you this. You mentioned about the red, orange balls. Was that the eyes? It had to have been. I mean, because it was like they weren't, they weren't more than a foot apart. Like, I can't. Like, I'm going to say we were, I don't know, 50 yards from it. But they couldn't have been more than a foot apart.

They were identical. Same shape. Same color. And they rose simultaneously. And then I put the light over there. and it's like they turn a different color. It's almost like when I hit it with light, it went to eye shine, like a deer.

And you hit it with light, you know. So it had to have been. That's interesting. Because the way I'm looking, so let me ask you this, how do you view this experience then? When you look back at this whole thing and you know what you saw,

you know what you saw in your dream, how do you define this? Do you define what you saw as a monster of the woods, have you had a chance to even try to define it? I mean, you said that happened in the beginning of this year. We're recording this in December of 2022. So this isn't even a year old for you.

I don't know if you even had enough time to really define the experience in your mind. What do you think it was? Essentially is what I'm trying to say. If I wouldn't have had that dream, I would honestly say that, that what I saw was just an animal. But I think since I had that dream and what I saw was the same thing,

I don't know, man, it's got to be something more to it. I don't know if it's like a spiritual thing. I don't know if it's demonic. I don't know. But I'm telling you, like, I just got to feel an evil. So, like, it's hard for me to say that an animal around the woods is evil. You know what I mean?

So I really feel like it was, something more than just an animal. Yeah, a lot of people who have these encounters with dog man, they say the very same thing. It felt evil, you know? Yeah. And it's understandable. It's understandable. And there's part of it where you do want to rationalize things and you start thinking, okay, well, I mean, if werewolves are real, how do we subconsciously when we have these encounters first identify and rationalize it? We're like, wherewolf? Where do we know werewolves from, evil things on movies. And so I think, I think that that feeling that you get when you watch a movie about werewolves is, it's very, I mean, it's very logical to say that that feeling

would come in person when you have an experience with a werewolf. You have no way of identifying it other than that, especially if you don't, if you're not a dogman hunter, you don't listen to the confessionals podcast. Like, you don't know what a dog man is. You would say it's a werewolf. And so I think the cultural definition and the way culture will shape your view on these things will impact how you feel about it in the moment. But at the same time, there's something more to these things. And it's not just these things. I don't want to, how do I say it? we often want to look at these topics as categories.

Bigfoot's a category, dog man's a category, Lochness monsters a category, moth man's a category. And as time goes on, we are, at least I am, and I know my listening audiences, getting more and more understanding and comfortable with saying,

uh, the lines get blurred. And I'm not comfortable. saying that, you know, dog man is this, but Bigfoot isn't. First of all, let's get it straight. I have never seen these things, so I can't tell you what they are. I can't be a definitive, all-knowing answer on these things. But I have talked to a lot of people and understand through people's experiences. What you're describing in this, and the reason why, for the audience to understand where I'm going with this me talking here is you and I'm not sure if you said it on the

recording in the beginning but I know you mentioned several times since we've been talking that you're looking for answers and that's why I'm kind of talking to you this way and that's why I just said I can't be a definitive answer on anything but um there is there is another realm so you mentioned about how in the email I don't think you said on the show here but you you're a deacon at your church. So you, you're a religious person. And as a religious person, as a Christian in America, it's a hit and miss as to how people comprehend the spiritual realm, unfortunately. But there is a very real working realm that exists beyond what we can taste, feel, and see. and that realm might be multi-layered and very complicated.

And especially in the Christian circles, that's a hard pill to swallow for people. Because people just want to believe that in the other realm, it's either heaven or hell, God exists, the happy little angels exist, and we just float around on clouds and be all happy and stuff. That's just what the other realm is, nothing else. The reality is there's a very real operating world. realm of good and evil happening right around us. The Bible talks about it. And there are creatures that exist in that realm. And I'm very, very much convinced. I'm not saying I'm factually, like, this is the truth. But I personally am very, very convinced that those evil entities that

exist in those realms know how to access this realm in the physical, not just, hey, this, this demon appeared in this misty form, but very tangible physical, hey, I'm here. I could eat while I'm here. I could poop on your front lawn while I'm here, but I also can go back to where I came from. That's a trip. And what I just said, a lot of people, I lost, especially people who are new to the topic. They're like, what the, this guy's crazy. I don't care what you say. I already know I'm crazy sucker But the way I'm looking at your situation

man I think some people would want to look at your situation as it was a prophetic dream right that you had a dream that you were going to have an encounter and you did from the way

I feel not what I know but what I feel about this other realm is that actually no let me rewind it what I know is that this other realm that operates around us does access us through our dreams. We've seen that in the Bible. And I say the Bible a lot just because of your spiritual background, but also the people listening. And I can tell you that I think there's a possibility that what you quote unquote dreamt that night came to visit you in this reality.

And that is not a comforting thing at all. But you said you're looking for answers, and I'm not going to give you answers, but I can give you my opinions. And from what I do know, from other things that I'm working on, what you're calling a dream is not what you're thinking is a dream. So I think dreams are just dreams at times, right?

I think that for sure we have dreams. But I think that there are times where people identify something as a dream that the dream state was the doorway, the portal to accessing a very, very real world. And I think that's what you were talking about when you described how real these dreams are. I think that and the reason why I say this is because I've talked. to a lot of people within the last year or so that are going through similar things as you. And it's really changing my perspectives on the quote-unquote dream state. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

I can tell you that I know of somebody who... And so here's a thing. So this dog man thing, it's multi-layered. It's not just one thing. It can look like, oh, that's a dog man, but where did it come from? Because I think they come from very many different spots and places, and I think they originate how they become dog man. I do think that there are people that have these abilities through occultic rituals,

but also very supernatural means. And I will just say this. And this is really crazy. It's never been on the show before. But... What I've been dealing with and dabbling with the last year or so with this, I don't know how much you've listened to the show, but I'm working on another podcast. It's going to really change a lot of people's perspectives on things, the storyline I'm working on. But I know of a guy who at one time in his life, I don't think he can anymore. At one time of his life, he could shape shift into a dog man, what he called a werewolf. And he was very well known amongst these types of circles. And he's not the only one.

There is a guy I talked to earlier this year in another state that I actually sat down and talked with him face to face. And he talked about how he had a girlfriend that he dated. And she was one of these werewolves. And she wasn't the only one. There was a group of them. And there was warring fractions. And there was a group of, we'll just call werewolves,

that were from Tennessee and Lower Kentucky that were coming to their state. And it was like this underworld-type-esque fighting amongst these werewolves, territorial type stuff. That's that story. But then the guy, so like one of these groups, came from a very specific location in another state. It's a town. It was named to me a very specific town that this guy was telling me,

he's like, this gang of these were warring with this group over here. Shift to this other storyline I'm working on. The guy that I'm referencing that at least one time could do this, he was so well known that this other guy talked about him in his story to me, where he, this guy, he found out that there was this group, these groups fighting amongst each other and it actually spilled over into a real problem where,

like, it was public. It happened into public. It wasn't like happening in darkness of night. And so he stepped in and he took care of it. And, and so like what I'm trying to say is, this is very real. There's very many different aspects. But the guy that I'm,

referencing, he was able to access other realms. And in those realms, lichen, werewolves, dogman, are very real and are active. And I think that if he was able to go to those other realms, not just through sleep state, but instantaneously as well. So if he was able to do it through his sleep state, but also do it instantaneously, he had the ability to do these things. And I know it sounds crazy. I know it sounds crazy. But I'm telling you, I have the ability to back up a lot of this stuff. After what I saw, and nothing sounds crazy, dude. Right. So I'm going, I'm going all the way back to this. I think that if he could do that, then why wouldn't the liking that exists in that

realm be able to do it to come to our realm? And because he could. And going to the other story of those warring groups of werewolves, dogmen, whatever you want to call them, the guy telling me the story specifically referenced Tennessee. So we know that these things exist in Tennessee. They happen. And he was talking about how these are people who are transforming. But I do believe that there are hybrids that are created by government. I think the government knows this happens.

I think the government, their very high advanced science is a combination of alchemy and science. you know, where they're actually doing some dark magic type stuff. So I say all that to tell you, and I don't know, that probably came out really messy, but I get this vibe that what you encountered in Tennessee might have followed you from what you call a dream. Because the way you say you woke up, sitting up in bed, and then you had the marks on your back, which I have pictures of them looking at right now, it seems like almost like there was unfinished business.

And so I just dumped all that on you. What say you? I just... I agree. I totally 100% agree. And I get this feeling, man, this is what really bothers me. It's not over. Like, I just, I have this feeling in my gut.

Like, this is not. this is not over. I feel like it's just starting. And I don't know why. Well, in the backtrack, I feel like it's just starting because I have these dreams. And like, that's not the first dream I've had

where it's more real than real life. Like, it's happened before. Like, nothing more I've ever seen a freaking werewolf. But, I mean, I've had dreams before with, like, My granddad, who was like my dad, who died in like 2007, where I'm there talking to him.

He hugs me. I can feel it. Dude, it's, it's, it's just as real as sitting here. So, I mean, like, I just get this feeling like, this is not over with. And that's, that's like, it keeps me up really late sometimes, like, I'm not like, I've never gotten depressed over it or anything, I don't think, but, because I'm a generally happy person. I'm like, I trust God. You know, I know he's got, he's got, he's got it under control.

And I've listened to other stories. And when they say, you know, when they're encountering something like this, they, they just rely on Jesus. They use the name of Jesus. So makes out of heavens. That's what I'm going to try. I mean, you know, it can't hurt. More than likely,

I say this with almost 100% certainty that in any situation you find yourself in with these things, the name of Jesus is the only thing that's going to save you. Because unless you have the right-sized gun, which most of the time you're not carrying, it ain't going to do nothing. I talk to a guy who killed these things. So like, like, yeah, not on the show.

It hasn't been on the show. It was on Josh Turner's show, a paranormal portal. I don't know what episode. But I met this guy face-to-face here in Paris, Tennessee at a conference. And he told me this story. And then he went on Josh's show and talked about it. But he was driving his truck one night, tracked a trailer driver, and this thing came up alongside of his truck. And he blew its head off.

And it's much more detailed than that. But I'm just giving you the cliff notes. But you can't kill these things. But I also believe that these things come from many different sources. So some of them are created. some of them might come from another realm that are more metaphysical. Josh Turner talks about how he believes that these things are metaphysical, and the longer they're in this realm, the more physical they become.

So sometimes people talk about having an encounter with these things, and it seemed very metaphysical, not very physical. But from what I understand, I won't put words in Josh's mouth, but from what I understand it, he believes that the longer they're here, the more physical they're going to become. along those lines, I will tell you that there's a video that I believe personally is very, very real of a dog man. And it's somewhere buried on my Instagram. I'll try to find it and post it in the show notes for this episode. But it was a guy in Florida and he had taken pictures of a dog man and posted it on his Facebook page.

I still have yet to see those pictures. I don't know where they're at. But what he did do was when he posted and people were commenting, he went live on Facebook. So he's on Facebook live and he's filming where he saw this thing. Maybe he didn't take pictures. Maybe he made a Facebook post about it or something. And that's more likely the scenario.

And while he's live on Facebook, about three minutes into this 30, 45 minute video, you see a very large, upright walking dog that you can see through, it's metaphysical, run extremely fast underneath the streetlight. And he freaks out. And he's like, there it is. And he spends the rest of the video inside his house reading comments off the Facebook live of people who saw it with him live on Facebook and talking about what they all saw together. So this is something that wasn't pre-recorded and produced. It was done live in person. And not to knock the guy, I don't know him stuff, but when you

when you see his demeanor and stuff, he doesn't strike me as somebody who's going to, who's going to create this grand master plan, technologically master plan, and then dumb it down and make himself seem like somebody who couldn't pull something like that off. You know, like I just don't think that's the case.

Now, along those lines, I will transition into my own personal experience. And I've probably talked about this on the show before, but I don't know if you've ever heard it. So I do believe it is, it's it's it's it's very much relatable to this topic uh i i always say i've i've never had an encounter with dogman i've never had a counter of bigfoot and i haven't i haven't been out the woods

and saw this creature barreling down at me like kyle or like you uh but when i went to kentucky and filmed for expedition dogman we all went back home and we geared up with the editing and all that stuff. And the week leading up to Expedition Dogman release on March 25th, 2002, we initially dropped it on YouTube. It's no longer available on YouTube. It's in the show notes right now. It's on Amazon. But we were talking about this launch. And everything in my house was Dogman, everything. Me and my wife talking about it, having meetings in the studio. Because this is the first time I ever put out of film. We went down there and I thought this was going to be an action vlog for YouTube. It was just like, hey, guys, here we are walking around the

woods. I had no idea the caliber of guys I had with me, you know? And so it turned into this whole film thing, and it turned into a very serious effort into putting out a production. So we're talking about it all the time that week. We got some pictures from Ward from a game trail cam that was interesting. And we're like, oh, what is that? It's a weird looking dog. That's for sure. And me and my wife go upstairs. It was like 11 o'clock at night. We left the studio getting ready to go to bed. We're in the kitchen, probably having a snack.

And I'm sitting in the middle of the floor in the kitchen. She's leaning against the counter. We don't have any dogs. We have one cat. She's declawed. And that's important. The entire downstairs of that old house in Pennsylvania was hardwood floor. And once you got to the carpet, it was at the stairs going upstairs

and all upstairs was carpet. So the only place, the only surface in the house that had hardwood floor was downstairs. And we're sitting there, we're standing there talking, not long.

The cat's sitting right in front of me. She's sitting there. I know where she's at. She's not moving. And we heard something bipedal walking and its nails clacking on the floor. And it was big

because my wife, I looked at my wife and I said, did you hear that? And she said, I didn't just hear it. I felt it. And I was like, oh, good, me too. Like, you could literally feel the weight pushing down the floor, like you could feel the vibration of it. It was very physical, but not totally physical.

It was metaphysical. And it's like, did we summon it by giving it so much attention? You know, I don't know. I think that this is a very complex topic. I think that the more we look into it, the more complex it's going to be and it's going to get. I think that what you're experiencing is the bridge between the metaphysical, the other realm, and this realm. I think that I almost, not that you are the bridge, but you're kind of the bridge.

You've been to both. And you have, you've brought physical evidence of the bridge. the other realm here in the sense of the pictures, which if you're okay with, I'll post with this episode. Yeah, sure. But you have the scratches on your back. You have those prints on your shoulder, like something grabbed you by the shoulder and pushed down extremely hard where it bruised you.

And that's something that happened in your quote-unquote dream and was brought back here in this reality. So how is that possible unless somehow you... were somewhere else. And maybe your body was here, but part of your body wasn't here. Something about maybe the inner us, the inner you,

goes somewhere else to another realm where it's very physical, it's very real. That's why you keep saying it was, it felt more real than here, because it is. Yeah. And then you brought the physical

things that happened to you back here. and it's hard to contemplate because it's hard to understand because I don't understand it. All I know is you're not the first person I talk to that have had these experiences and it's becoming more and more frequent. See, that's what gets me is like I've done, I'm the kind of person. I get like something on my mind. I wear it out. Like I have that real, I guess it's the ADHD like we were talking about.

Like I just, I get something in my mind until I figure it out, I wear it out. and trying to figure it out. So I've been doing research, even into like dreams and stuff like that in dream states. So I have this condition where my heart rate is super slow. So the only thing I've been able to piece together out of this whole situation is I wear an Apple Watch all night just to keep up with my heart rate. Well, I wear it all the time. But I wear it especially at night because my heart rate is. it's so low.

And the only thing I can piece together in this from reading research and other people's experiences, because my heart rate gets down in the 30s, sometimes the low 30s at night. And from what I understand, your brain will kind of begin to shut down, and it releases a certain chemical, which is the same chemical that releases when you're in, REM sleep or when you die. So I don't know if that's what's happening, like for sure. I've never done a sleep study. I have no idea.

But what if that's a gateway? What if that's, you know, I don't know. I'm just, I'm throwing out all possibilities or I'm not throwing out any possibilities until, you know, I can for sure rule them out. You know what I mean? Absolutely. I'm so glad you said that because this has given me new things to think about and to ask other people as well.

Because if you think about it, when you hear somebody's story, and I don't know if you've ever heard the stories like this, because like I said, I really don't know how much of my show you've listened to, but I've talked to people who have died and come back to life. And they describe what they saw and how real it felt and the understandings that they came back with.

It was like it is another realm. It is another form of existence that they experienced and then came back to this world, this experience, this existence. and the common denominator is they died, which is what happens, obviously, your heart stops, your heart drops. Well, what if through people like you and your experiences,

what if that's a common denominator where people's heart rates are dropping so low that it allows them to access that other realm without dying? And they go into that realm in a not so safe and organized way that opens them up to experiences of things in these other realms that are very real, but without the proper organized fashion

of entering that realm, it could be very dangerous. I have heard of people dying in these realms. And when they die in those realms, they die here. Yeah. And the way I know that people are, I know people are saying,

well, how do you know if they died? People who, people who are accessing these realms. This is something that's done together with other people. other people do it together and one comes back the other doesn't and so uh it's it's very it's very complicated and i'm still trying to understand it all you know uh and and like i said i'm i'm working on a whole other podcast it's not going to be called a confession it's going to call it something totally different it's based off of this stuff like it's based off this stuff um and and and the snag on that whole thing is the central character of that story

that launched my whole thing here. The focal person, I don't think he's the only person, but the focal person that brought this all to my attention that somebody else told me about, that person now knows who I am, has listened to my show

and is contemplating sitting down and talking to me face to face. If that happens, I can't produce another podcast until I know that person is either willing to talk to me or not. Either way, his story is going to be told,

but does he want to tell a story or does he want me to tell a story? Because I'd rather him tell the story, but if not, I'm going to have to tell a story. But until I know for sure, because I don't want to put it out in him, be like, all right, I'll tell my story. Like, no, no, no, no.

You should have told me that before I put it out. Like, you know? But, but, but, um, but yeah, this is, this is crazy. I know, and this is why you were saying, like, I don't know how to talk. Like, this is crazy town. I understand it.

Like, this is crazy town. Like, listen, I've been doing, I've been doing this show for six years. right? And people see how the show is grown. You know, people in my, not the listeners, obviously the listeners, but the people in my life were back home and stuff where I'm from, the people who I grew up with who laughed and thought I was crazy for doing a Bigfoot show, you know? Like, like, they're thinking is, me, like, Tony's crazy, you know? Like, seeing it all, right? Like, they can't come to grips with the fact that, one, I have a successful podcast,

but it's more than that. I have a successful podcast because people are having these experiences and they're sharing them on my show. They still can't come to grips with the fact that this stuff actually happens. In fact, I was just at my sister's wedding in November and my cousin and I were talking and he and I, like we grew up like it's like brothers, you know, and you know, as you get older, as you lose contact. But we're talking and he's like, let me ask you a question. And it's like, yeah. And he said, you do your podcast and everything. And I'd say, all great. He said, but do you actually believe these people? And I was like, bro, it would be so soul-sucking to sit down multiple times a week with people to hear their stories if I don't

even believe them, but pretending to believe them. I was like, yes, I believe them. And it's, but that's the attitude, you know? And so when you come forward to talk about this, you already feel self-conscious about it. And you know it sounds like crazy town. Most people are going to say you're crazy. And so I want to applaud you on reaching out to me and saying, hey, I'll talk to you because it takes people like you to come forward and talk about this stuff to get anywhere. Or else we'd still be 20 years ago when it's just this weird topic that people talk about that, you know, it's just, you know, nobody believes it kind of thing. Podcasting has allowed it to change the landscape for sure. It is, man. I mean,

Like I told you in the email, like, I know lots of people have come forth before. And, you know, I don't know that I'm going to make that big of a difference in anybody's opinion. But people need to know, like, this is like, this is like not a joke. Like, I know what I saw. My son was with me. Like, he saw the same thing. We've talked about it a couple of times since then. But, you know, he's 11.

Like, I don't want him to be scared to go to bed. you know, so I kind of tried to bounce a couple of things off of him here and there, but he just kind of plays it off. I don't know if it's going to wind up being like a repressed memory for him or what, but

like if people don't realize, like, you can't be so narrow-minded, you can't be closed-minded. Like, there's something else to this life besides what we can hear and see. And like that people got to realize that.

And like, your show gives people like me before I knew about your show. I was driving me nuts, dude. Like, I'm thinking I'm crazy. And I'm thinking, like, we're hallucinated. Do we see what we saw? And then I hear other people's stories. And I'm like, God, you know, I'm not the only one. There's a lot of people that have seen or had the same experience I had.

So it makes you feel better. Because, like, I talked with my mother about this, not about dog man. but about the whole dream state and how I feel like I go somewhere else. And do like my mother, I love her to death and she's been my best friend since I've been an adult. Like we get along great. But she acted like I was a nut job for saying what I said about, you know, feeling like I'm somewhere else when I go to sleep. So, like, you know, when your mom makes you feel that way,

it's kind of hard to discuss it with anybody else or, you know, I had the confidence to discuss it with anybody else. Yeah. So when I found your show, I was like, man, I feel like I need to talk to him. Like, it would almost be like therapy, you know? Yeah, well, I'm not licensed. I'm not licensed everybody, okay? I'm not claiming to be licensed counselor.

Man, Tony Merkel, the counselor, the cryptic counselor. There you go. I'll tell you what. Do not be surprised if another podcast pops up. up around six months to a year from now called the cryptic counselor. That says a nice ring to it. Yeah, like that's a nice ring to. Somebody is going to call a podcast, cryptic counselor or cryptic counseling, something like

that. I promise you, you just coined something that's going to be a future podcast. I'm sure, man. I'm sure. Oh, man. It's a copycat world. Yeah, but, you know, like what's really, I don't know if you want me to go into this right now about like any kind of paranoia.

stuff or not? Well, I'm looking at the time here and stuff, and I know what we have in store here moving forward. You have the paranormal where you grew up in a paranormal situation with the haunted house, and you, correct me wrong, you did have a Sasquatch encounter, right? Yes. Yes. I did.

About 12 years ago. Okay, so it was before the dog man. Yeah. Which is really interesting to dissect a little bit with the psychology of that, going from a big foot encounter to, you know, this whole dog man thing. And I want to, I definitely want to get your insight as to what that mental transition was because you have this big foot encounter. And then the dog man thing, it's an encounter, but it's a little more complex than I was strolling through the woods and it was scary. You know, like this is much more complex than that. And I want to shift into

that. But I think what we're going to do, we're going to make it an overtime episode. And so before we start wrapping this section down. I don't want to move away from this topic yet, just yet, because I did have in my notes that I wanted to ask you your son's position on all this stuff, and you kind of just hit on that, him being 11. Was he 11 years old when this happened? Was he 10 and now 11? So that would, no, yeah, he was 10 or 11. He was already 11. He won't turn 12 until February. Gotcha. Okay. February 3rd. Yeah. Gotcha. So, listen, I understand your hesitation with bringing it up because you don't want to scare the heck out of him. I mean, that's probably going to be the scariest thing he's ever going to go through in his entire life outside of maybe losing a loved one, you know?

Yeah. But I think it would be very beneficial for you to, as he gets older, just poke around the topic with him. and just see if he remembers it. There's a difference between remembering it and not wanting to talk about it and not remembering it and can't talk about it. Just because I think, listen, you're 32, he's 11. He's going to be 20 soon. You know how it works.

He was a baby just yesterday. And so one day he's going to be old enough to talk about this stuff. And you're not going to be an old man. You know, you're going to be in your early 40s. and you can have a heart-to-heart man-to-man conversation with your son and hash that stuff out. What did he see? What was his experiences?

And that's going to be therapeutic for you. And hopefully there is no future encounters for him or you. That said, your wife, how does she view this whole thing? You mentioned about how your mom thinks you're kind of like loopy with your dreams and stuff. What's your wife feel about this whole experience that you've had with the dog, man? she at first thought I was nuts. I mean, she was like, you know, you're just, it's just a dream. Like, whatever you're dreaming about, I have crazy dreams too.

And I'm like, no, babe, like, this is not a typical dream where you're somewhere and you know you're there, but it seems like it's somewhere else. Like, this is like, this is more real than me and you sitting here talking. So she just kind of thought I was crazy. but then the night I had the dream about the dog man and with the scratches and everything. She started realizing like,

there's something going on. Like, you don't, normal people don't just wake up from a dream, a good night's sleep and have scratches and a handmark on their shoulder, you know? So she kind of took a step back

and was like, you know, maybe there's something going on. But, now we're to the point. That's why I wanted to ask you about the paranormal stuff, because there's been a few things happen where she's, she's very, she's completely open-minded now to,

there's something else going on. This is not your average, everyday dream or, you know, there's a little more to it, you know what I mean? Yeah, and that, you know what? That's, I'm glad that, uh, that we're going to talk about that. because this like I said earlier, the line is not a hard line anymore in my book. It's very blurry,

the transition between all these different types of topics. You see similarities amongst these different type of topics and stuff. So let's start the transition, I guess, into more of an overtime conversation. Before we get out of here, though, I forget what I was going to say. I do it all the time. It's the ADHD, man. Like, golly, man. Like, I knew I should have wrote it down. I knew I should have wrote it down.

I was like, no, I'll remember it because I'm going to say it in like 20 seconds. I can't remember what I was just going to say. Holy cow. Well, okay. So there's that. So you saw a dog, man. I could rehash the last hour just to remember that one little silly question. question I was going to ask you, but I think we'll just, we'll just wind it down, I guess.

So in this over time, we're going to talk about the more paranormal things and also, I guess, how it relates with your wife and the topic with Dogman and how she kind of, maybe her mindset is changing a little bit. And we're also going to talk about your Sasquatch encounter. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. That's what I want to ask you. Before we get out of here, though, listen, I drove from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. It was like a 10-hour drive to hunt the dog man. You live in Tennessee, man, like two, three hours away from me. If I came out to you, would you be able to walk me to where you saw this thing? Sure. Absolutely. That's what I wanted to know. That's what I wanted to ask. And I'm not saying

we're going to turn this into an, you know, Expedition Dogman Part 2. Not saying that maybe, but probably not. I just want to, for my own curiosity, listen, you're too close to me. Like, there's people. Yeah. I've driven further for people. So, uh, But if you're okay with it, I would love to come out and, you know, consider it part of my job. This is what I do. So, like, let's just go and do it. So if you're down, I'm down. And we might be a little different if it was the place where the dog man thing happened.

Like, I'm really, that was different, you know, like. But with the Sasquatch, that one wasn't really, I mean, up until that point in my life, that was the scariest thing that happened when I saw it. But, you know, it's been. 12 years, I've, you know, come to terms with it. It didn't hurt me. It didn't even really notice me. So, I mean, yeah, I have no problem to go back out there. All right. So I was referring to the dog man saying, thing. So you're not ready to go back there. Oh. If you, if you're not ready to go back to that's fine, would you be able to at least find it

on Google Maps? Give me the coordinates so I could go to it? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Like, maybe if you give me a little time to process it a little bit. Oh, I know it's going to you know, it's been like, you know, eight months now. But, yeah, I might, I might do it. If I was, if I wasn't alone, I would feel better about it. You know what I mean? I just haven't gone, I haven't gone back out there by myself, you know? I just, and I don't want to take my son out there.

And he's the only one I would ever go out there with, you know what I mean? Yeah. No, I understand. Listen, let it breathe. I wasn't saying we'll come out next week either. But listen, if you want to show me where the Bigfoot thing happened too, Like, absolutely. I'm out there. If you want to do both, let's do both.

If you don't want to do the dogman thing, show me where the big foot thing is, give me the pin drop for the dog man. I'll go find him myself. Or not, hopefully not dog man, but find the location myself. I'm not looking for dog man. I'm just looking for the location. I want to see if there's like a portal around there. I can mark on the map and jump through later.

So, you know, I'm always portal hunting. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's just one of those things. It's fun. But, all right, listen, let's wind us down and move into. the overtime. I appreciate you joining me on this first segment here. I'm really excited about talking about all this other stuff. People listening right now, if you're a member, you know how to do this. Go to the website, log into your account, and you can listen to the overtime segment right now

underneath the overtime tab, or you can go on the Castos app and right underneath the episode you're listening to right now. You can see the overtime episode. You can just hit play and continue listening. Everybody else, I appreciate you being here. Thanks for listening to the show. And until next week, stay safe, take care, and remember the truth was set you free, but first they'll piss you off. Bye.