Sasquatch Lifts Car at Shotgun Creek—Terrifying Encounter Stuns Oregon Locals

0:00 You're listening to Bigflat Society, and I'm Jeremiah Byron. In this show, we go beyond the campfire stories to bring you first hand encounters from people who say they've seen something impossible. From backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers to quiet farms and crowded highways. The stories come from everywhere, and each one leaves us with more questions than answers. These are the voices of the people who've lived it. To settle in, because today you'll hear another account that just might change the way you see the woods forever. So stay with us, all right, Big Puts Society, You get the privilege of talking to sy Marie Johnson today. SI is an author that focuses mainly on writing paranormal books out there from the Pacific Northwest. And SI has some things that she's experienced over the years out there in mainly Oregon, right, Yeah.

0:52 Mostly Lane County, but some other little spots too. Yeah. Lane County is a fun area. That's where I like to focus, and I go out there and it's hard to go most other places. Welcome to the show, Si, and it's thanks for having me. It's fun to have you here for sure. So let's start out with this. Did you grow up in Oregon so one hundred percent Pacific Northwest, or did you move there maybe later in life. So it's a little bit of nuanced because I was born in Eugene in nineteen ninety four, but in nineteen ninety five my mom moved to Tennessee and I lived for basically all of my life till I was eleven in Oregon, and my dad at times lived more in southern Oregon and at times more in ore than Oregon.

1:39 So when they got divorced, I would go visit him in different spots. So I got a lot around Oregon, and then I lived in. The south until I moved back to Oregon in two thousand and fourteen, and I've been back since then. That is fantastic, though, because growing up you're getting both the weirdness of Oregon in the weirdness of Tennessee, which how many people can say that's extremely special? What state do you think is weirder from what you've experienced. I also lived in Alabama, down on the Florida border whereabout skunk Ape is, and I was there for five years. I was married to somebody who was in the military, and they were stationed down by Aiglin Air Force Base.

2:21 That was where I had the most weird experiences, to be real with you, was down there in that little town in Alabama, other than here in Oregon, the primary and I've had a. Lot of other types of paranormal experiences. And I never really am like out trying to ghost hunt or anything like that looking for these things. It's usually just happenstance. Florella, Alabama. Yeah, I had a lot that was really a weird place. Interesting. Interesting. Let's let's start with why we're here today, I guess would be a good place to start. So you were telling me before we started recording that you have a lot of interesting anecdotes from your family history as well about experiencing things in Oregon.

3:06 I told you a little bit before the show started that I come from family, a lot of which has generations in Oregon and some of whom also helped pave log roads and stuff like that. So some of. These lore if you will, were already in my family ahead of time. And the first time I remember hearing about Bigfoot, I was about five, and this happened with my dad. Now he passed away in twenty and twenty two, so it's been three years now, but this story stood out because it was the when I first really was like, what are you talking about? But this is one of my family's stories. Was with my dad and his hunting buddy, and they used to go up particularly near McGowan and Shotgun Creek, and there's this place called Old Camp Creek Road, and people that are familiar with the area will probably know that if you go drive down to the end of the road there, there's like some old blm land, but there's some roads that you can still go on.

4:01 It's not forestry land. You can still go up there, and people go and throughout these different spots looking for deer. Back then, I'm a little bit older now, gonna give away some of that, but this was like nineteen eighty nine, so it was a lot more remote then, and there's still abundance of deer out there, but it was just a lot more remote than it is now. There's been more building and lots of fires. They were going into serious timber country and they were seasoned hunters. They know these woods like the back of their hand, basically familiar with every sound like anything. They'd be like on it. They were really good at tracking, and I guess what they were talking about was they were telling my mom the story and I was sitting there listening. Was there was this sudden, deep, guttural, grunting noise and it wasn't like any other animal that they had ever heard in the forest out there, and it was like heavier, not quite like a bear sound. And my dad was instantly like, that's not that's something different, and he said that there was this kind of weird, strange smell that came over and he it was like really musky, deep woodsy smell, kind of yeah, like an animal musk if you will, and if you're a hunter, you get a nose for that kind of stuff. So it was really pungent. And he said it just washed over the area and he

5:32 was hearing this sound and smelling this scent, and he looks around in his friends, do you hear that? And he's yeah, And then all of a suddenly they heard this earth shattering crack and it was like some it wasn't quite like a shotgun, but it was like somebody took something and hit it really hard. And now, like after the fact, I pretty much have figured out that that was tree knocking, and it seems like it was trying to scare them away, is what my dad had said. That it was not really like violent or aggressive, but that they had gotten up there in the woods near something or in an area it didn't want them to be in. And he said that his friend was like, no, there's something up there. I can see it. And he looked through the woods, but it was really hard to like completely make out, but it was like a tall entity and it had like darkish blackish fur and it was standing just like looking at them, and it had really like intense, like dead on them eyes and they were both just frozen.

6:38 What do we do? And my dad was like, this seems like it might be bigfoot. We should let's just get out of here. So then they turned around and they went back to their truck and they came back, and they immediately came back. And that's part of the reason why this conversation stands out so much because it was like a core memory for me, was because they came back early. And my mom was like, you guys, didn't you didn't maximize the hunting day. What's going on? And they started like, no, there was something weird out there and we didn't want to stick around. So they just after hearing that grunt and then that loud crack. They were gone. So you said Shotgun Creek and that's up by Marcola, right. Yes, And Marcola was a place that they would often go to like stage and get gear before they would go up there. And you can get to McGowan and you can also go out Camp Creek like through a couple of different intersectional roads out this way, so it's like Markcola bleeds in and Shotgun Creek is the closest to Marcola store, and it was they started to go out Shotgun Creek that day. He never really told me or took me to the exact location that it happened, but he was just like, if you go up there, only go to know, you know the places that are like where they do the ATV or they do the shooting range, or go up there to the summit. Don't go further up driving around. And he always kind of warned me not to do that.

7:52 Oh, that's really interesting. That is actually an area that has That area is starting to come up more and more over the last few months. For some reason, came up in another episode where Guy found a flipped bronco and some weird stuff out in the woods and possible nests and hearing weird stifled breathing. Just a large figure ran away from them too in the trees. Sounds like a really weird area. And it is it out there in the sticks a bit. It's the way it seems. It's not very far from Springfield when you think about it, so oh, you can get back, like you can get back to the super Walmart and no time at all, within ten to fifteen minutes.

8:35 But because of the way the mountains are in the logging roads, you can go up there and you can get lost in the thick of everything, and like some of them are gated off and they're just not even opened for years. One time I actually went out there and we experienced where we went down one. Of these roads. And this is off topic, but just to give you some insight, it had an open gate that hadn't been open for years. It looked like it was a great road, and we ended up breaking an axle. So yeah, oh man, that that's some scary stuff especially, and and gates that are open can become closed when you're in there too. That that's another thing. But yeah, those roads, those four service roads I tried to drive.

9:16 Do you know where Hills Creek Reservoir is down by Oakridge? Yes, yeah, the big one. So I got the bright idea this last time, I'm going to go across the bridge onto the other side and I was going to try to find that boy scout camp with the hot springs. Did not turn out well, I had to I was going up a hill. I was like, I'm going to break an axle. So I had to go backwards down this hill with like almost breaking axels. And I was like, Oh, I don't know if I should be out here by myself. This is not a wise choice. Goes the show that definitely just be careful out there, guys when you're on these Oregon service roads. Go with someone who knows what they're doing and be prepared. But so that was the first thing that pretty much you had heard where you're hearing this family Bigfoot story.

10:03 Yes, And then I started to get older, and when I was about nine, my dad started gold prospecting in Myrtle Creek and that was when I had my first weird experience of like my own where I was like, maybe they're not just tall and telling me tall tales so I won't be scared of the woods. I was about nine, like I said, and it was the spring, and we were actually my dad at that time was living in Myrtle Creek and he was prospecting, and they were out at this one remote location not far from Myrtle Creek, but it was just like one of their spots where they were prospecting for goals, so not everybody got to know where it was. And we were spending the week with him, but he still had to work.

10:43 So he had made an agreement with his boss that since he was camping on site, if he made sure that we stayed in certain areas, could we come camp with him. And of course, my dad raised his kids to be like woodsy and smart and listen and pay attention and all those kinds of things, so he knew that if he told us to stay in certain areas that we would listen. For the most part, every kid has moments where they test their parents. But so we got to go and we were camping down there, and my dad was down and he was panning, and he was teaching my little brother how to pan, and I already knew how to do that, so I was not that invested or interested at nine playing with dirt and water. So I was like, I'm going to go for a walk over here through this field just when he's okay, don't go past the spot at the wood the forest line where I told you, and just watch out for anything, because there could be cougars or there could be squatch.

11:36 And that was exactly what he said, is exact words, watch out for cougar's or squatch. Oh wow. I was like, are you kidding me? Dad? And I walk out there and I didn't think anything of it. I was a skeptic at this point. They're over doing their thing. There was nobody else around there. It was the like one o'clock in the afternoon, bright day, beautiful oregan day, honestly for the spring. And I'm just walking through this field like a kid collecting daisies daydreaming board. And all of a suddenly I hear like this breathing sound, and then another one of those little knocks. But it wasn't like the cracking, loud one like my dad described.

12:18 It was just like a little tiny, just a little bit of an echo. And I turn around and at first I thought maybe my dad was messing with me, and him and my brother come around and they were like in on the sidelines in the trees or something. But there was nobody there and I didn't see anything. That was the weirdest thing about this experience. But I was like, you, you're just freaking out because you know what my dad just said, Just keep walking, don't if you see anything, go back to the camp. Don't be scared. Continue walking. I hear it again, turn around, still nothing. After I heard it the third time, I was like, no, you know what, I don't know what that is, but there's something out here that is smart enough to to signal like that, and whatever it's doing, watching and doing that doesn't make me comfortable and I don't want to test it. So I went back and I told my dad, and he of course went back to, what did I tell you there're a squatch out here? Like, we're way out here in Myrtle Creek is pretty remote. Honestly, Douglas County is really thick den it's forestry.

13:24 So yeah, man, that's something to experience as a nine year old. Did you ever have a conversation with your dad later in life anything. Okay, did something happen to you when you're prospecting down there to make you talk like that to us? Be careful to squatchr out here. He said when they first got down there that that same smell was around one of the time when they were just starting to set stakes and set the camp, and they had different kind of equipment because he was working for a company, he had like real prospecting equipment and stuff, and so he was like skeptical, but he didn't hear any more knocking or anything. And he walked around the parameter and he was like, I didn't see anything specific, but just the smell and the fact that they were out so far and a lot of the locals had told him that they had sasquatch experiences up there was why he felt that way. And then when I told him that I heard the knocking like that, and there's nobody there were three people, me, my brother, and my dad that were in that vicinity. And he knew that for sure because he was very and with the company too, having to make sure the equipment didn't get stolen and stuff like that. They were very vigilant.

14:41 And yeah, he didn't say that he had any weird experiences directly or that he's seen or heard anything, just that one smell, and on account of what he had heard from locals, he didn't want to test it. And one of the things that I got told when I was young, because I do have some Native relatives as well, was that watch like to take young girls or young maidens women. So I don't know if they did that to do the boogeyman effect, but that was enough for me when I heard that. At that point, you're nine years old and you had this very strange thing happen when you're out with your father. Are you one hundred percent then okay, Bigfoot is real, it's out there? Or are you still I don't know, maybe it was a bird or something.

15:29 At that point, I had actually had a weird experience just the summer before at Hasda Head, which was totally unrelated to this, but because of it, I started to open my mind a little bit more and I was like, wait a minute, and that Hasidahead, like I said, totally unrelated, wasn't about sasquatch, but it was enough to make me go maybe some of the local tales that happen here aren't just made up. Tall tales. Maybe I need to be a little bit more open minded and consider the source of what I'm being told and their experiences and not. Just be such a skeptic. When my dad had given me that warning and that experience happened, I didn't test it. I just was like, for the rest of the duration that I was there, I stayed near the camp, I didn't I was like, Nope, I don't need to find out more from where I'm at.

16:24 Yeah. Absolutely, It's so weird because I'm looking at the map at the same time. I know stuff happens down there, but there is such a gaping hole inciting reports around Myrtle Creek and Roseberg right now, and I think some of that might be just people that know things might not want to come on record about it because I know stuff happens down there. As far as like that experience with me. Then I after that happened, and I went and I told my dad about it. When I got back, I talked to my mom about it, and that's the native side of. My family comes from my mom. And I talked to her and my uncle who most of their life they grew up the Mackenzie and they were like near Blue River, which a lot of these places are burned up now, but they grew up where a majority of the holiday farm fire was out there.

17:18 My mom told me that one time her and my uncle were swimming out at mean Crazy Bridge and they were just this is something they did all the time. So this was the middle of the day and they were both said that they were chilling swimming and they were startled by the sound of something moving in the bushes and it was really fast and like the bushes were like shaken really fast, and they didn't know what was coming through because they were like because they're in the middle of the water, in the middle of the woods, and they were expecting that they were going to see a big animal, like a bear maybe, and nothing came. Though they seen the movement, but nothing came bumbling through brush and so they're like, okay, what was that? And I guess they were like ten and eleven at this time, and so my uncle, he was he's the younger one.

18:10 He was like, come on, let's go check it out. My mom was like, no, there's something wrong out there, and they she didn't want to, but reluctantly because he decided to just go running after it, She's okay, so I'm going to follow after him. She goes, and she follows after him, and they went some distance into the woods until he stopped because he said that he seene a dark, hairy figure similarly to like what my dad's buddy had seen, and it had eyes intentally staring at them like it was trying to like it wanted like from the beginning, it did the whole bush shaking thing to draw their attention, like to lure them in. And after that he remembered the native stories and my mom was with him, and he was like, no, we need to go back. I think it wants to take you.

18:53 And they ran away. And so then after that, I'm like, okay, so now I've got it from both my dad and my mom's and you're more likely to start believing something once both of your parents believe it. That's always a thing, right, So I think that definitely opened my mind even more. But then I left Oregon for a while and I didn't come back until January twenty fourteen, and at that time, Bigfoot immediately came right back into my life. It was funny because I was with a friend group and a person who ended up becoming my boyfriend and is now my ex boyfriend. In that friend group, him and two of our mutual friends had all had an experience like two three years before up Shotgun Creek as well. These were three guys that liked to go, for lack of a better word, drifting around the woods doing things, being crazy and real junkies. But they happened to be going up Shotgun just to drive around to do that.

19:56 And my ex was. Trying to become a drift racer as a profession, had some kind of excuse for doing it. But anyway, so they were going up there doing this, and they had been doing it for a while, and they decided to just pull off and take a break, and they were sitting there talking and it was starting to get to dusk, and wherever they had pulled off up there at Shotgun Creek was off on one of these log roads. Still can't identify which one. I know that if this has happened on enough of those logwoods that you're more than likely to find it if you do it enough. But anyway, so they are pulled off and all of a suddenly something comes up and it comes on the back of the car and I My theory is the reason why I chose to do this was because of them acting like hooligans and making noise and drifting around, knocking rocks around and stuff like that. Right, and it came up and it lifted like the back of the bumper, and it shook the car. And as they look back, they said that they've seen a hairy man that was like And this is the best description I got from anyone that actually really saw it, because my ex was the driver.

20:57 I looked in the rear view mirror and I could see like the ape band of the eyebrow and the eyes and they were angry and red, and this thing was like trying to rip back of my car off, like it was trying to get us. And I slammed on the gas and got out of there. And the other two guys that were in the car when it happened were right there sitting there and they're like, that is exactly what happened, and we all saw it. Oh my goodness. And just to clarify, so when you say like drifting, so like in Fast and Furious Tokyo drifts like that kind of Oh my goodness, that makes this story so good, So they're like drifting around for service roads, and then Bigfoot gets mad and just like stap it and just lifts like, oh it's such a good account.

21:40 Yeah great, I was told this that. I'm like, holy crap. So then you know that that brings me to the antidote that happened with my brother and my uncle, which was actually on worm Springs. Res Oh nice. I never hear stuff from there. This one. I have to be careful because I have to respect the native culture. And that's part of the reason why I'm telling this antidote is because it's a warning to other people. Okay, if you ever do get a chance to go on to worm Springs and you're invited by any of the natives and they tell you not to go to certain spots, do not go to them. Don't ask them why, don't.

22:21 Just don't. That's basically the long and short of that. But the story goes, so my uncle is actually really good friends with most of the elders on the council at Worm Springs, and this comes from a lot of the things that he's done to help the community and mutual aid and stuff like that, which is important to talk about because it is Native American Heritage Month to respect them and help them and listen to their stories. So this one's really cool and also scary. My brother was invited with my uncle to go up there to camp on the edge of the treaty line. And what I mean by that is within Warm Springs. When they got pushed to that reserv it's in the middle of the desert. Really, there were other things, and there are two things that they'll tell you that they that were there when they got there, and that was the little people and Bigfoot, and that since they had to go live on these lands, the elders decided to make a treaty agreement with both the little people and Bigfoot that they would go so far to where the river was, and that none of their people would go to pass the halfway point of the river. And as long as no one goes past the halfway point of the river, that the treaty agreement between the creatures and the.

23:33 People would be. There would be peace. They wouldn't come and take anything from the people, they wouldn't mess with them. So my brother got invited with my uncle to go do that and also participate in Sweat Lodge, which are honors. Yeah, totally, and. There was one other gentleman who had also been invited to do the same. Unfortunately, he was not able to continue because when they got there, the first things that they were told is, look, these are the rules. This is the treaty line. You don't go past it. If you hear anything over there on that side of the bank of the embankment of the river, whether it's howling, knocking, screaming, shrieking, anything, you ignore it. And you don't go over there if you fear it. Because they brought dogs with them, if you fear that your dogs will go chase after the noise, you need to make sure that your dog is kinneled and tied up in your tent or under control as soon as dusk falls, because if your dog runs over there, you can't go after it. You're not allowed to go over there. If you go over there, you will be immediately removed from the rest. My brother and my uncle are like, okay, that's fine. So then the course of the night begins and everybody's having a good time, and then it gets like my brother said, it was like ten o'clock at night, and the other gentleman that was there with them decided for some.

24:57 Reason that he was hot. He wanted to go swimming. So he starts going towards the water, and they're like, you should really not go over there, and he's, no, wait, you guys, hear something. I'm hearing something. This is just so weird, all of it, but they're listening. And then the dog, my dog, my uncle's dog, Angel, she stood up on her haunches and all the hair went up on her back and she started barking. And this dog was a Golden Retriever who was on point, like she lived for eighteen years, and she was used to going in the wildest wilds with him. But she also didn't move because he told her to stay. But she's still she was growling, sitting like that with her teeth snarled, And this man continued to run through the water.

25:45 So finally the elders see that he's going to go past excuse me, and they run out there towards him, and they grab him and they pull him out of the river, and they went and they got a car, made him pack up everything and drove him off the whoa And my brother said, for the rest of the night. Even after that happened, they heard shrieking, screaming, knocking on wood cracks. It was, like he said, as much as it was beautiful, it was the worst sleep ever because you were sitting there every single little thing and you heard it louder than you would ever expect because there's nothing else out there. Oh my goodness. That And I've driven through the Warm Springs Reservation, but I'm not overly familiar with it. Is this talking about how the border of the reservation is the to Shoot River? Yes, okay, I get it all right, very interesting.

26:45 He described it. He's like, is this one little spot that they do these things that's considered kind of ceremonial ground. So it's not like it's the whole to Shoots River. It's just a specific area. And my theory is that might be a nesting ground. Oh yeah, I mean, I don't think it's out of the question. It's a beautiful area to drive through. It's weird because you drive down from out hood and it's just forest and then all of a sudden it comes into high desert and you go through canyons, and if you've never it's just like you're getting a little taste of the American West, like the old view of it. It's very cool so be a pioneer.

27:25 Yeah, no, it really is. Yeah, it was cool to see a guy from Iowa who doesn't really get to see that stuff. It was pretty cool. But thank you for sharing that story from Warm Springs. I've always wanted to talk to someone about that area. I've even tried to reach out to elders on the reservation. I haven't gotten anything yet, but I do appreciate you sharing that story. It's very hard to get brought to that point. And that is also another reason why when my brother told me with my uncle with him, they both told me together, look, well we'll tell you what happened, but we're going to leave some things out, and we can never tell you where it happened.

28:06 Did they ever have so after they so, they eventually both get home, they're off the reservation. Did anything weird happen after that or no residual things? Yeah? Not to them. No, I can't tell you if anything happened to the other gentlemen. And I don't think that from the way that it went down, my dad, my brother, or my uncle wanted to have any affiliation because they didn't want to lose respect. That they had named. Yeah makes sense. Wow, Yeah, very cool. And what year again, would you say? That was? Approximately? I think twenty fifteen? Okay, twenty fifteen? Okay, cool, cool, cool, Wow, that is fantastic.

28:49 Thank you for sharing that. And that pretty much brings me to my personal own experience as an adult before I tell you some of my theories of why I think they're starting to show up in more places. Awesome. So with me the same ex that had the experience in the car at Shotgun Creek, except this time him and I were driving. So my dad happened to live in Cottage Grove at this time, and there's a back road called Goudyville that can connect if you take it to go through Cottage Grove and get through the back roads and connect back to basically the Territorial Highway and that goes through Lorraine and Crow and Venina and all that. But before so we had driven through Goudyville. We were on Territorial Highway and we pulled off on Wolf Creek, which is between like that area of Cottage Grove and Lorraine, and locals will recognize that name pretty well. Wolf Creek is very close to Crow. And also there's some places up there like Panther Creek and other notable places, and it connects to the backside of No Tie so too a lot of different forestreet angles. But yeah, we were up at Wilf Creek. We had decided to stop there because there's this really pretty spot and water that we usually liked to just stop and talk at and I take pictures or whatever. At this particular time, he happened to me to have a rest break, and so he pulls up to this Why and it's a pretty known

30:20 why intersection at Wolf Creek on the Log Road, and he parked like on the side of the road, and then he walked across the road in the apex of the y if you will, to stand by a tree so that he could relieve himself. While he's doing that, and again it's the it's not even dust yet. It's maybe four o'clock, but it was the summertime, and this was in twenty nineteen. I decide that, okay, here's an opportunity I should probably pee too. So I decide to open the door that way I can if somebody does come happen to go by, I'll. Be in between the car and the door. Somebody will see me, and I'm not thinking anything about the trees behind me. No, sooner do I get my breeches down. I hear a huge loud knocking sound, but it's not far away. It's beside my ear, like boom.

31:12 And my ex heard it and he's WHOA, what was that? And I did as fast as I could to not pee on myself and pulled my plants up, and I was like, I don't know, and then all of a suddenly again the same whack. After the second whack, I was like, uh uh, nope, and I slammed the door. And he is still trying to get hisself together from across the road, and he heard it and he knew why I decided to slam the door. And I was looking at him like, come on, let's go. And apparently as he was coming back to walk across the road, he said that he saw like a nine foot tall figure hairy man run across the road like maybe four feet from him from the forest where I was that was to my back, across the road to the other side where he was peeing. And I said, so you saying you've seen a sasquatch And he goes, oh, absolutely, and it ran that way and we're not sticking around.

32:12 Oh wow, and he gets the car. Pills out and we're gone, and that is That was the one that made me go I am absolutely a believer at this point. There's just too much things that have happened. There's just too many people, too many incidences, and how it all overlaps. I don't see why all these people that I've known all my life or in all these different experiences would tell me these things. About the woods if it's not real. My theory on why we're starting to see more is because I think, especially with referencing Mackenzie, the Holiday farm fire was huge, it burned for a long time, it burned a lot of woods, and we've had multiple in the last probably since twenty sixteen ish, we've had several very large forest fires all throughout the state that have burned up old growth areas. And I think that all of our wildlife that's starting to look for places to thrive and live that they're having.

33:10 To come down to. I agree with you one hundred percent on that. That lines up exactly with a lot of interviews that I've done lately. Two years ago, when I went out to Oakridge for the first time there was a huge fire in the Oakridge area, and I mean that July, people from our group were having sightings all over the place. And so one hundred percent the fires have something to do with it. It has got to be the fires, which is too bad because the fires are terrible. I'm not a big fan of the fires. I don't think anyone is out there either. But controlled burns I understand. I thineah logic and like we have some floor in Faunta that has to but a lot of this is not. It's man made, either negligence or stupidity. And then some of these though, they were like the Holiday fire and fire I believe was a lightning strike fire, and it was just horrible. And it's going to take probably forty years before it's all the same, and so all of that anything that was up there, it's going.

34:13 To have to go find new places for resources. This last year, I've I learned firsthand just how you have to be really careful with large fires out there, like the Prineville one. Yeah, when I was driving through Warm Springs, I actually drove too close to that fire and it got to the point where I was pretty much. Almost. I almost passed out a few times driving, which is extremely scary. That's your really close buddy, And thankfully I was able to drive west to Sisters and get out of there. But man, that was so scary. It was absolutely scary stuff. You do not mess around with fires out there, anyone who's listening, Do not mess around with them.

35:00 Yeah, take the warning seriously because it's not just the actual flame, it's everything else that you would not think of like it. The flame is dangerous, don't get me wrong, But the way that it travels through the air and the way that it stifles the oxygen is yeah. Oh that's true. That is true. Are insane. So after you've had all these anecdotes from different people in your family and your friends, and then you've had these experiences yourself, how has this affected the way that you view and you treat this. It's a phenomenon that happens in the region where you live. Is it something where you're drawn to it? Now, maybe you go out looking yourself or you're just treating with respect.

35:50 Or I wouldn't say I'm an avid bigfoot hunter. I don't go out of my way to go find things. I do treat it with respect. I feel well, especially after some of the things that I've heard from natives about the way that they are and even being able to if it is intelligent enough to make treaties, what does that say about it? You know what I'm saying? So true to me, that's just I feel like maybe it's just an unknown simian species we haven't completely got to understand. And I look at it as I would any other thing in the natural space. Protect it, protect and respect the spaces, conserve them to the best of your ability, and don't harass nature. Just let mother and nature do what it does.

36:39 Respect it. If it's given you the warning sign that it doesn't want you there, leave But that's the way I feel about. It, absolutely, absolutely, so thank you for sharing your experiences in your accounts. We also talked about, or at least we mentioned at the beginning that you are an author. Do you mind Jaron a bit about what kind of books you've written or so people can maybe check those out. I would love to. I'm really more of a multi genre author, but I tell people because I write a lot of paranormal stuff that I mostly paranormal, but I've also done suspense and romance, and so most accurately, i'd say I'm a Gothic author.

37:24 Biggest influence was enn Rice. I actually have a new release that's coming out on Friday. It's in the romanticy genre and not totally related to all of this stuff, but all of the mystical and mythical and folklore, if you will, is what really influences me. And because it's folklore and that can cross so many different intersectional genres and belief systems and cultures, I've noticed that's what's showing up a lot and what I write, whether it be romance like the Romanticy or some of the horrors like I'm also about to be featured in an anthology from a publisher named Wicket Shadow Press. It's called Unholier Than Thou and it's a two part anthology, so I'm going to be in the second volume I believe it's called Dark Divinity for a story called The Vessel, and the Vessel is a sci fi kind of religious horror, if you will.

38:21 Yeah, Wow, WHOA. What's the name of the book that is going to be out on Friday. It is called Embracing His Empire. And again, like I said, it's a romanticy. It's got like empirical influences, like I'm very fascinated by Roman and Greek mythology and history and stuff like that, and so it's kind of loosely empirical like that, but it's also on a fictional planet that I created. It's the first in the series, and it's the series is called The Captive Heart of Pretus. Nice. That's cool. Good thing is when people listen to this, it will already be out, because this will be out past that Friday. Is what's the best place for people to check out books that you've written.

39:07 I have some that are just and kindles unlimited, which embracing as Empire. With my publisher, they decided to go ahead and just put it in KDP, so you can get it on Amazon, and it is on preorder right now, so even if this is airing after the date it is on pre order, you'll know that and other ones though I have twenty four different titles out and then again obviously I'm in several anthologies as well, that just depends on who the publisher was, and most of them are available on like your common like Barnes and Noble. All of them are on Amazon. Some of them are on like Kobu and things like that. You can find me just about anywhere if you google sim Marie Johnson fantastic.

39:51 Hopefully we'll have listeners check that out. I'll have the links to those where you can check out size work down in the descript or the show notes for this episode. But it has been really fun talking to you today side. Thank you for sharing some anecdotes and some experiences from from your life. And we're going to cut this short because the northern lights are causing havoc to my electronics right now. Yeah. Yeah, the geomagnetic storm has been kind of crazy. I need to I'm sorry, I do need to shut this down because I can hear everything going.

40:31 Like all right, it was great to meet you. Thank you for having me. Absolutely Before we wrap this episode, I want to say something directly to a very specific group of listeners. If you're in the military, any branch or forces, and if you've seen something that no one can explain, or if you're a National park ranger or forestry worker who's been told to stay quiet, if you're a pilot who's seen something strange down on the ground, or if you're with the FBI, a federal agency, or working intelligence and you've stumbled upon something you're not allowed to talk about. And if you're a firefighter, paramedic, or search and rescue responder who's heard screams or found tracks that didn't make sense.

41:14 If you're in the logging industry on a remote oil field, or a trucker with government contracts and you've had something happen that you've never told a soul. And if you're a biologist, a wildlife specialist, or a field researcher under contract who has found evidence you're not allowed to report. If you're a pastor, a missionary, or someone on a spiritual retreat and you saw something that shook your faith, or if you work in the shadows, CIA, NSA or anything with clearance and you've seen what the public hasn't, then I want to talk to you, even if it's anonymous. You can reach me at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com.

41:56 The world needs to hear what you've been forced to carry alone. And you're not alone. You've got the story, We've got the mic. See you in the woods. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Bigfoot Society podcast. Every encounter we share reminds us that the world is bigger and stranger than we think, and that the truth is often hiding just beyond the tree line. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the channel on YouTube hit the bell so you don't miss the next episode, and share this with a friend who's into mysteries, monsters, or the unexplained. And if you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple Podcast, please follow the show there and leave us a five star positive review because all that helps more people discover the show. And remember, if you or someone you know has had a Bigfoot sighting, please I'd love to hear from you, so email me at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com and let's start the conversation. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, check out our membership community over at www dot Bigfoot Society podcast dot com and that's where you can hear Tom Tomorrow's episode today early in ad free and members only episodes every week. Also, it's a place to connect with other people that are into the Bigfoot subject as much as you are. Thanks again for following along with the Bigfoot Society. Until next time, keep your eyes open trust your gut and never stop asking what else might be out there, And see you in the woods.