The Old-Timer and the Bigfoot: A Conversation with Riley Woolner

0:00 Welcome to Big for Society. If you have Bigfoot activity to report from the same areas discussed in this episode, please reach out to me directly after this episode. And if you'd like to be on the podcast to discuss a personal Bigfoot encounter, please reach out to me directly at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com. Do you wish there was more Big For Society to listen to you every week? Well there is now. If you become a supporting member over at Patreon, you get a special members only episode every single week on Wednesdays, and sometimes even more episodes. Head on over to patreon dot com. Forward slash the big for Society, and now let's get on with the show. All right, Bigfast Society, You've got the privilege of talking to Riley Wilner today. I was on Reddit and I was over at our slash Bigfoot I think is how you say it? And I noticed there was an interesting post there from an individual that had some really interesting things happen related to bigfoot things. So I reached out and Riley said, yeah, I definitely will come on the show and share what happened to me.

1:07 So Riley, how's it going? Man? They're good man, how about you. Dude, I'm just having a good time working on podcast stuff and talking to people about their big foot encounters. And I mean, I can't complain life is good. So how about yourself, say. Man, I'm I'm just working. Just had my me and my life at our first kid, so we're enjoying that whole adventure. And yeah, I'm excited to talk to talk Bigfoot today. So dude, congratulations, that's a that's a huge change in your life. But it'll it'll bring you into some amazing events that you won't be able to remember what it was like before you had a kid. In good way, yeah, in bad ways. So it's a it's a good stuff.

1:55 But man, let's let's get right into it. So Riley kind of paint the picture of how you got into this whole bigfoot thing and what part of the country we're looking into and all that good stuff. Awesome. So, yeah, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Most of my you know, where I was raised was in Oregon. I did live in Washington for a few years as a kid, but yeah, most of this is I've grown up in the Willamette Valley, spent time on the coast. And I've also some of the events that I'll talk about actually took place in some of the places where I went to college, so out in Idaho and Utah. But yeah, most of what has occurred for me has been in the Great State of Oregon. So yeah, the kind of the way I got into it, I mean growing up in Oregon. I mean, Bigfoot's kind of like the the mascot of the Pacific Northwest and of the outdoors in general kind of. And I knew, of course, growing up hearing campfire stories about Bigfoot. Always thought it was a fun topic, and I always wondered, like, hey, you know, it could be real. I had kind of an open mind about it, but it wasn't something I took like super seriously until I was let's see, this was probably the summer of twenty eighteen when I was working on a fairy and the fairy captain was a

3:26 dude who I'll call Shane, but he me and him were talking and one time I just kind of brought up I was like, hey, man, what do you think about the whole bigfoot like in Sasquatch stuff? And he like looked me dead in the eyes and was like what do you mean. I'm like, well, do you think that they think it could be real? And he's like, oh, yeah, those are real. And I was like dumbstruck because he said it was such sincerity and he was not messing around, and he's not really the type to really joke around like that. And I was like, wait, what do you mean they're real? Like you, how do you know that? And he's like, I've seen them and and I said you've seen them? Like what do you tell me? Okay, hold on, and he's like he's like now I'm not gonna talk about it. I'm like I want to hear. Man.

4:11 He's like, you're just gonna make fun of me and I and I said, no, dude, I'm serious, Like I'm open. I'm wanting to hear what your what your story is. And so he told me a story about a time when he was hunting in the Blues which is in the Blues Mountains which are in eastern Oregon, and he his story was that he came across a mother and a juvenile and that they like kind of met in like a crossroads area while he was elk hunting and it was kind of snowy. He said, and I think from what I remember, uh, basically the mama one like picked up the baby and like gave it like a roar in his direction, and he was kind of like partially hidden, but he knew it was looking right at him.

4:55 And then they kind of like started hiking up the hill, and I think from what he said that there were some footprints of the baby in the snow, and the mom like shuffled around the snow with her foot to like get rid of the footprints before they like treked up the hill. And he for him, it was like a very like you know, intense, like visceral experience, because you know, he had no idea that these things real. And he ended up going back to where his dad was his dad and him were the ones hunting, and then kind of I think he said he'd let his dad know, and his dad was like, oh, you've seen him too, and like that was his kind of story. And that, for me kind of just blew my mind because this guy had no real reason to lie to me, and I was and he seemed so sincere, and so it made me question some of the old campfire stories that I had heard some of my buddies in high school tell So I ended up talking with them and they I can talk about those maybe later on in the episode, but it got me on this trail of wonder and I'm like, dude, is this you know his sasquatch real? So I started trying to learn as much about it as I could. And then I think probably what I would consider my first encounter was what I think could could have been a possible encounter, was in twenty nineteen. I was in I was going to school at Rexburg, Idaho, and I went on a hike at a place called Moody Creek, which is it's this is southeastern Idaho and it's kind of close more or less

6:27 to the Wyoming border. And when I was on that hike, I was by myself, and I came up this trail and I was overlooking out this ridge and in the forest behind me, I heard like a loud like snap, like a like a like a limb being popped, and it was probably the size of these limbs that were being broken were probably like, you know, the the end of a baseball bat, like the not the thick side, but the thinner side, like if someone were to like step on that or just break it over their knee or something. Then that was the kind of stuff I was hearing. And at first I thought like, Okay, maybe this is a cow, because they do allow for like free range cows in a lot of the This was in the Cariboo Targi National Forest. This is where I was hiking, and I thought like, oh, maybe it's a cow.

7:18 But I turned around and I could see on the ridge. It was a bit above me elevation wise, but I could see something real dark and real tall, like in the just beyond my line of sight in the trees, and I just I was frozen there. I just felt this like oh my gosh, like if this is what I think it could be, Like I have nothing to like protect myself with, like I don't hike with a gun, or I didn't even have bear spray at the time or anything. I was just on my own, and so I hid behind this big boulder and then start it still kept on moving around, and then I threw a rock in the direction of it, because I tried to say, I'm like, hey, you know, like if this is if you're a person, like come on out, like what are you doing like, and they never responded, and so usually if you throw a rock, like the cow is gonna get kind of spooked and run off, but this thing just stayed exactly where it was, and so that freaked me out. And then it basically like stood there for a while and made more snapping sounds, and then just a little bit later, I basically high tiled it out of there, and as I was running down as I ran down the trail, because I was, you know, a little bit scared of what it possibly could have been.

8:37 And as I was going down the trail, I kept on here and like more of these sort of snapping sounds to my right, to my left as I would as I was running back down the trail kind of fast walking to my truck, and I was like, dude, I don't I'm trying to not let myself think that I was a you know, like, am I imagining this? Like is there something like, you know, pacing me out out? Like what's going on? But I eventually got to my truck and then headed out of there, and that was like the first time where I was like, maybe that's maybe it was that was a sasquatch, Like I don't, I don't know. So fast forward about a year in twenty twenty, my wife and I had moved to Utah for a student teaching that I was doing down there, and I we went for me and her one of my best friends. We all went for overnighter in Little Cottonwood Canyon, So for those who are familiar with Utah, that's where we were at. And this is in kind of like northern central Ish, Utah. And we were camping that night. It was the end of summer, so it was really dry, and a ranger lady came and told us that we couldn't have a fire. We had already started the fire, so we kind of doused it out, but there was still some embers left and some coals.

10:01 So we were it was just me and my wife and my buddy and we were around the fire and my wife said that she wanted to go to bed, and so she went off to the tent, which was, you know, a few yards away from the fire. And as she was laying there for a while, it was quiet, and then my buddy and I we were just chatting and my wife said, hey, like she kind of called to us. She's like, do you guys hear that? And we're like, here, what And She's like, it sounds like there's something breathing over here, and I was like, breathing, what do you mean? She's like, is there an animal near the tent? And we went over and walked over there, and like we were like quiet and tried to listen to what she was saying, and like, this is how it seems to so often be sometimes with these experiences.

10:46 It felt like there was like this deep guttural breathing, but it was just beyond like our ears ability to like fully hear it really well. But like that's what we were kind of picking up on my buddy, who was like he's he's very against any of the idea of like not against, but he's more cynical when it comes to any of the any of this subject and stuff like that. So he, I think, was trying to write it off as just like a trick of the wind or something like that, because there it was amidst a bunch of quaking aspens, so when the wind goes blows through those trees, it kind of sounds like a jingling coins almost, and he was like, oh, that's probably just the wind. And so anyways, we were like, that's really weird. But it kind of stopped eventually, and we went to bed, and then that next morning I woke up to the sound of what I thought was sounded kind of like a baby bear or like maybe a moose or something. It was like this be kind of sound, and I was like, for whatever reason I just had this was probably super stupid, but like I almost felt like possessed with this like mad energy of like I want to go see this. It's like, you know, it's felt exciting. So I threw all my shoes and it because it was close enough to the tent in the forest area behind us that I felt like I was going to see whatever this was. I don't know what I was thinking, because if it was a you know, a bear or a moost like they could have you know, caused some problems. But it started, like the sound started

12:17 trailing off in deeper into the forest, and I started pursuing it, and then eventually it got to a point where I couldn't hear it anymore. But where I found myself was amidst a bunch of these What I knew after having researched this topic a bit like what people often will attribute to bigfoot, These sort of tree formation things. They were like all these little like teepee things. There was like a couple of small ones, and then there was like this one that was just huge, just like all these these like sticks that were all like leaned up against this one big log and like this log or not this log, but it was like this tree trunk that had been pulled out of the ground and its roots were like up in the air, and it's like the end of the like the top of the tree was like pushed into the ground, like someone yanked it out and left it there, and then they piled up a bunch of smaller sticks up against it, and it was like, you know, a thick enough trunk of a tree that I could like walk up and down it.

13:19 And I was like, dude, to my buddy, I was like, why would who would have could have pulled this out? Like why would the roots of the tree be up in the air. And he was just like, I don't know, man, nature is weird. And I was like I knew better. I was like, dude, this is I think this is something related to the whole sasquatch phenomenon. And so that was something that I thought was like kind of one of the first times where I'm like, fel felt like I was seeing signs of you know, these beings or creatures or whatever they are. Real quick. So I want to comment on that, because that's a really interesting scenario. Do you think that you were being led to the area by that sound? Perhaps?

14:03 I mean it, looking back on it, it feels like that, which kind of spooks me out because I'm like, that's really weird. But at the same time, like in that moment, it definitely kind of felt just like I was, you know, chasing after something and I happened to come across you know, they didn't seem really connected in my mind, but I look back and I'm like, oh, that's a kind of a weird circumstance. So, you know, and people will say like, oh, you know, these bigfoot creatures they can imitate anything, and the you know it that that's highly convenient of course from a skeptics perspective, you know. But at the same time though, I'm like, well, it did kind of like you said, like it almost seemed like it led me into finding out or finding these preformations.

14:52 So yeah, I can say one hundred. So I used to be in that camp where it's like, yeah, it's highly convenient in till I actually experienced that and someone talking back and forth via mimic bird noises. And I'm telling you, dude, like it's legit, like it's it's the wildest thing you'll ever experience. Once you are able to actually experience that that that mimic. Yeah, and I can identify it. It's it's so weird. Hm hmm, yeah, dude, that's it's that's spooky man like that, uh, because you know that that feeling of like you don't know what you know, it can imitate anything, like you don't know if you're actually interacting with an animal or or this thing you know, which is which is wild.

15:41 Big for society who will be right back after these messages. But yeah, so that was after that though, we we just explored around that area where all the tree formations were and these little like tepee looking formations, and then we headed out like that was that was it. So I'm trying to think probably yeah about it seems like I have within the past few years since I've been interested in this subject, I only ever really have some kind of experience like once a year, even though I do go out try to get out and go hiking and experience the outdoors as often as I can. I don't often get to go into like real remote areas.

16:33 Often I'm, you know, need to be somewhere closer to home. So but every you know, every once in a while, I'll have a time where I'm able to get out more, and often there'll be something possibly related, you know, that has has to do with this. So I think about another year later, like twenty twenty one, my wife and I had moved back home to Oregon and we were living in Silverton, And for those who aren't aware, it's near so over Falls State Park, which is one of the more I think like tourist kind of attractions of Oregon that people will come to its beautiful, gorgeous area. And I admit this old timer at at church who I was up giving a I guess what someone would call like a sermon, and I was just up there introducing myself first, and I had kind of I guess I think what I said was like in my spare time, you know, I kind of tongue in cheek, was like I like to go hunting for Bigfoot, And it made like the the what do you call it the not the crowd, but the congregation. Congregation. Thank you the congregation kind of chuckle. But then this old timer came up to me afterwards. He's like, hey, you serious about going, you know, squatching, And I was like, yeah, man, because i'm you know, I'm trying to figure out if he's legit about it or if he's like, you know, gonna try and mess with me. And I'm like, yeah, i mean, hey, you never know, they could be out there, you know.

17:59 And he was like, he's like, oh yeah, they're out there. He's like, we should get lunch sometime. I'm like, oh yeah, dude, let's do it. So we ended up going to this place called the Wooden Nickel and it was like this awesome, like you know, western saloon style place. And we're at this uh these get getting just lunch together. And he pulls out and he's probably in his i'll call him, I'll call him Sean, and he's probably in his he's got to be in his sixties, probably seventies, and he pulls out this hand drawn map of the area of all the different like wilderness surrounding the Silverton area, and he's just like so he's like me, and my friends back in the sixties and seventies, like we would track these things and we've mapped out all the places where the family groups reside in the area. And I was like mind blown. I was like, holy cow, like are you serious, and he's like, oh yeah, he's like and he told me his experience about how he'd seen one, and so it was really cool to sort of come across someone an old timer who who'd really put in the put in the work, you know, boots on the ground.

19:10 And he had some pretty wild stories that were also kind of in the realm of the supernatural that he'd experienced while out with some of his friends you know, back in the day that were sort of sasquatch related but different. We can go into that a bit later too. But he showed me this recording he had of a bigfoot like scream right like, and it was bone chilling. He just like pulled it out with an old school recorder, pushed play for me, and like I was able to hear it and it sounded like like the nosegool from the Ring from the Lord of the Rings, right like, but much deeper as well. And it just was like, Oh, I was like like I said, bone chilling, man, it was terrifying, but also likes just super cool. So I was like, well, let's let's get out and see if we can, you know, spot anything, and he's like, oh, yeah, I'll take you up to one of our hotspots. So a few days later I go with him in his truck and we head up into these logging roads and we're up there where no one else is around us, right, there's no other trucks or cars. It's just us in this one area. And there's this trail that the truck can't actually get up to. It's only meant for like a kuboda or like a like a four wheeler or something, right, And so we start walking up this trail, and as we're walking along, I'm starting to see about like eight feet in the air, like uniformly seeing these branches of

20:40 these trees, these pine trees that are all being they're all like like snapped and like bent in the same direction, and they're all kind of like pointing down towards this trail, but they're all on the same sides of each tree that goes along. And I recognize that from a lot of like here and from the native American folklore and just sort of the the stuff that gets attributed to the whole big Foot phenomenon. I was like Sean, like, are these what I think they are? And he's like, hey, good. I like I often have to point those out to people, and I was like, well, I mean that's weird, Like that wouldn't be something that like loggers would do, because this is like fresh young timber that's losing money. If they were to just break off branches and these are not small branches either, they're like pretty hefty size. Then you can tell that they're fresh. It's not from like winter over time, like you know, where they just sort of break on their own, like they're splintering, like they've just been pulled. And so they're kind of going along.

21:43 And when we come up over this ridge, I sort of peek my head into the forest a bit, just because I'm looking around trying to see anything I possibly can, and I see they look like when Rilla's like nest down, these like spots in the in the forest where there's like these everything's crushed and it's all like a place where something would lay down or sit. And I was like Sean, like, are these places where you think they could sleep or something like and and because they obviously hadn't been there for a long while, like this was what that all that stuff that was crushed down was really old. And he's like, yeah, I mean, they could have been here this last winter, but it's definitely been a while since they were over here in this in those particular spots, and uh. We get up to the top and he's kind of old school when it comes to like how he goes about trying to like, you know, interact with these things. So he just lets out this big bellow and he like you know, tries to make a sasquatch call. Essentially, we don't hear anything. He's talked about how he often has they do return the call.

22:52 But eventually we head back down to the truck and we're just sitting there and I say, I'm gonna go by myself back up the hill, and he's like, all right, that's cool. So I start walking up there, and I hear something in the forest next to me, like beyond my line of sight, like in the trees, and it starts kind of like every time I take a step, it takes a step. Every time I you know, stop it stops. It doesn't sound huge, though it sounds small. I'm like, is this just like a weird raccoon or a deer or something like or could it be one of these things? But it was weird that it did sort of seem to follow my moves. Eventually kind of got like as a little. Once I got to the top of the ridge and this thing was still doing that, I kind of was like, all right, I'm out of here. So I started like fast walking back down towards the truck.

23:34 We get in there. I don't say anything to Sean because I don't want him to. I don't want the power suggestion to like affect his opinion on what was happening. So we're just sitting there and to our right out of nowhere this like rock. It's not a huge rock. It's probably the size of like an eraser or something. It gets chucked from there from the forest at our windshield and it chips and and like scrapes in the windshield and leaves a like a like a line, and both of us, you know, we jump and we're like what the heck was that? And we like try and you know, stay quiet and look out that way, and we don't see anything. But I asked him. I was like, okay, what was that? Like there's he and he's like, well, let's go over what the possibilities are. And I was like, okay, I get like, was it a bird? Like? And he's like, I don't think birds can throw from an angle, you know, like cause they came from our right and it like scrapes scratched across the windshield. I was like, maybe like a deer kicked it, and he's like, he's like, that is possible, but it does seem once again, like it could have been more. I don't know, like that we we I don't know we would have seen a deer.

24:55 I feel like if that was the case and we didn't see anything over there, and I was like, maybe, you know, I guess it could have been like a ranger. But that's a really weird thing for a ranger to do, especially when they don't know if the you know, us two dudes in the truck are armed or not, like or if it's just some kid, but like, we're out in the middle of nowhere, and if it was a ranger, usually they wouldn't let themselves be known. So it was a very you know, spooky kind of experience or eerie I should say, because it's like, dude, something threw a rock at us, and then I that's when I told Sean what I had experienced, and he's like, oh, I'll bet that was a juvenile that was walking alongside you and it came down the trail with you, and then it was, you know, messing with us by throwing that rock at the windshield and be it. Oh, I forgot we had previously before we started walking on the trail.

25:43 We had just gotten out of the truck, and he was sort of interacting back and forth with this owl with what we you know, like you were saying, I don't know if it was an owl or not, because it would kind of hoot at the same you know who back and forth with it, and then it was gone and we didn't hear from it again. But yeah, so I don't And I know that's another common thing that I've heard people talk about is that they'll often try and imitate owls. I don't know if that's what the case was or not, but it was that was I think for me one of the first times where I was like, Okay, this is something I think that is I needed to start taking more seriously because this really actually interacted with me, you know what I mean?

26:27 Oh yeah, absolutely, I love I love to focus on this. I mean, that's that's an incredible like that's the time where pretty much you got pushed way over into the one hundred percent. I know exactly what you were feeling in that situation because I just experienced that in Oregon and dude crazy. So what this was right after lunch? You said, uh, this was actually a few days after that lunch or I'm sorry, what time of day did this happen at? It was probably like three year four in the afternoon. We stayed until probably like five or six. Wow. And he was kind of talking back and forth with an owl.

27:08 Huh yeah, that's what we were hearing. At least. Did it sound kind of weird or like it was off a little bit or louder than a normal owl or anything like that. You know, it's been a few years, so I'm trying not to like project my own memories or you know, confused memories of other people's stories onto it or anything. But from what I you know, take this with a grain of salt. I do feel like I remember it kind of sounding like an owl with a cough, because it would be like he would go hoho, Sean would and then it would go, you know, back, and it almost sounded like it didn't know fully how to sound like an owl, which, like I said, like, am I projecting my thoughts slash hope that it's a bigfoot like onto this situation? Possibly? But I think I do clearly remember that it sounded pretty weird like it was an owl that like as it sounded like I had a cough or a stutter.

28:06 Absolutely. Are you familiar with the Olympic Project. I have heard that's up in Washington, right. Yeah, the Olympic Peninsula and how they found the nests up there. Oh no, I'm not. That's that's pretty awesome. Okay, So your story is it is very interesting. So from what it sounded like you said is you were up there and you saw kind of like gorilla typed nests on the ground. That's what I mean. My exposure to what gorilla nests look like is based off of you know, National Geographic and Disney's Tarzan So, but that's what that's what I thought it looked like to me. How How long were they roughly.

28:50 Probably like five to ten feet. Wow, did you get close enough to see what kind of material was used in them? It was like grass like it was, it was like mostly like kinda yeah, it was just like long grass in the trees, like amidst the trees like that was sort of just flattened down. And some leaves too, some like deciduous leaf trees or deciduous tree leaves that were sort of squashed in there as well. Yeah, I have I have pictures. I can try and find them and send them to you. I would love to see those. I mean, man, if that was an actual like nesting site for a group of big foot like Riley, that's a really really big deal.

29:39 That's something super rare to find. I mean, I hope that's what it was. I mean, it'd be pretty amazing if it was. One thing as well I forgot to mention is that when we started walking up that ridge, right before Sean gave out his bigfoot call, there was a a Douglas fur like bow that was like across the spread across the trail, like a like spread right in front of us horizontally, and so it was like it almost felt like if we step over this we're stepping into their territory kind of thing. And I think I even mentioned that to Sean and he was like, oh, yeah, yep, that's what they do. They'll they'll put down those little things to indicate, you know, where their part of the woods is or something like that.

30:24 And I was like, oh, that's you know, it made me slightly nervous to cross it, but we did and that's when he made his call and it was Yeah, it was pretty amazing because I was like, there was a small part of me I was like, is this dude pulling my leg? Like, but I know he wasn't, because one like that would have taken a lot of effort because getting up, you know, eight feet in the air and breaking all those you know, branches and stuff would have taken a long time. And also like, he's a good Christian man who I know, wouldn't you know, lie to me if I straight up asked him, you know, like, hey man, you're not messing with me. And he's like, no, this is this is all real, you know. So it was uh, yeah, it was a wild experience to kind of feel like, oh my gosh, like I'm in a place where these things apparently at least at some points of the year like to reside in.

31:13 Big for society. Who will be right back after these messages? And if the whole rock being thrown at the car thing like showed that there at least was a member of whatever their people or tribe or creature group are like that was that was there, or at least it could have been. Have you heard a sound that was similar to the one that Sean made when he let out a yell?

31:53 Was it similar to any other Bigfoot recording? Uh? Like the kind of the kind of yell he made? Yeah, I think he just he didn't try to do like the ohio howel or something like that. I think it was more just like a like a like a crazy scream, like oh that kind of sound. And that was the he claimed. And I think I now understand why you're asking that, because I think that was what he would claim. They would It sounded a lot like the recording he showed me, is what he was trying to imitate. I think gotcha, man. And it was that like on an old tape recorder or what kind of device did you have that on?

32:38 It was an old tape recorder and the bummer part is we because we have since moved away from Silverton. We were only living there for a year, And I have texted and called him a few times and he hasn't gotten back to me. And like I said, he's an old fellow, and he's he might even be in his early eighties, and and I'm so bad with gauging the age of anyone over the age of like sixty five. But but like he also had some health issues and so he already I kind of felt like he was trying to sort of pass the torch onto me. But unfortunately we had to move away from the area. And that was the only time that him and I our schedules, you know, coincided for us to be able to go experience something together. But he would talk about how he would often like he said that there if you wanted to hear a lot of noise, go or go out in the fall in the autumn, because he felt like that was the time when there, like mating season was going on. And he said, if you want to see them more often, get out in the summer though, And what he said he would do often to make sure he had no like deodoranter cologne or you know, man made smells on and then he would crush pine needles all over himself and rub them around, and then he would like go, you know, uh hunting style like out into the forest, and he said that often would sort of trigger more interaction with these things. His story was that one time, he's the time he actually saw one was where it peaked behind a tree and did that whole like leaning out thing where they sort of have

34:10 their arm on the tree and sort of peek out. And he said that he saw it, you know, he saw its face, and I asked him what the face looked like, and similar to what the fairy captain told me, he said it looked very much like a almost like a Neanderthal like just like a very primitive human kind of face. But he said that this one had, you know, ran off super fast to the point where I almost made him wonder like did I just see what I think I saw? You know? But yeah, that was sort of his experience. What a special I mean, that's just that's a really cool experience that you were able to even though it was just one time. You know, just that is some most people don't get to experience things like that, So that that is very cool. You were able to go out with Sean. So that was twenty twenty one, and then I'm guessing after that you were kind of like, all right, something's going on here, let's go for it.

35:13 Yeah. And unfortunately, when I later that year, that same year that I was living there in Silverton, Oregon, me and him had tried to get together to go up again to that same area, and he let me know that he had previously gone up after our experience. He previously went up to go back to the area when he had some time off, and he said that the whole place was gated off. And I don't know if they were, if it's necessarily BLM land that we were on, or if it was like a private like I think he said it was like private land, not private well, like like a private company's land that was open when we went, but like at that time it wasn't. He said that from what he had gathered, like it basically was not a place where people were going to be able to go anymore. So that's super unfortunate because and I wouldn't be able to rEFInd it again because it was just one time and I wasn't super paying attention to how we got there anyways, But at some point I'd love to try and if I ever do am able to get in contact with him again, I want to find out about that spot again and see if we can go back up there.

36:20 I just want to talk to the listeners real quick, listeners. There's a big lesson right there where you never know how many times you're going to be able to go up to an area, So yeah, just make a map, track it whatever you need to do. You never know how many times you have in an area. But oh, man, Sean, that is that is so so wild dude. So then yeah, then what happened after that? Man? So yeah. Twenty twenty two was the year that my younger brother got married, and the night before his wedding, we were originally planning to have like a bachelor party where we were all going to go camping, but unfortunately none of his fellow or of his of his buddies who were his other bachelors, were able to make it because they were all out of state and they weren't able to make it until the day of the wedding itself, so it ended up just being him and I and I'm his older brother of six years, and so I was like, I want to make sure that he and I are going to have a fun you know, camp out together. So we actually that day had been surfing or or hanging out with our family on the on the coast at Pacific City, and that everyone else had gone home. It was just him and I that we're gonna stay go find somewhere to camp that night. And so we went. Oh, we drove over in more like

37:53 a little bit more inland from Pacific City into a little ports of town called Cloverdale out on the out skirts there. It's on the you know Oregon coastal mountain range, totally densely forested, and we found this area called the Lewis and Clark Logging Trails, I think is what they're called. And it's it said no camping, no fires, and you know, we were just like, hey, we're not the type that are gonna like, you know, set the forest on fire, and where we don't even like drink or get routy or anything. So we're I think we're fine. You know, Uh, I'm sure there are some listeners who where that makes them mad, but that's what we were, you know, we just wanted to have a fun time. So we ended up driving my Volkswagon up the trail and we get up to this ridge where we're not super far away from the highway, but we're you know, far enough into the actual like forest up on this ridge where there's a telephone pole that's kind of on this up on the top of this range. And then we wanted to actually camp like in the forest itself, because we didn't want like a ranger to come around and say like, oh, you can't have a fire and get out of here, and like ruin the night for us. So we kind of parked our car down this like dark trail and we made our we went down there to start making our fire. And this experience that I'm about to tell,

39:23 I don't really know if this is fully sasquatch related or if it's something worse like, because it was kind of a dark feeling over for the most of the night. And I'll explain more. But we got down there, and I think I had pointed out that there were some of the little tree formations, but they looked more like they also could have possibly been more natural. But my brother is he's somewhat interested in the subject. He's heard me talk about it a bit, and I was like, hey, man, like, could be bigfoot stuff. And he's like, oh, cool, yeah, it could be. And then he he points out that there's these these uh footprints or not, well, they might be footprints, but there are definitely marks in the ground that are sort of leading away from where we wanted the campfire into the forest more. And we were like, well, you know, are these footprints We don't know, Like he put his foot, he's got like a size ten shoe or so up to it, and it's about the same size as his shoe, but it's not really clear with whether it's you know, just old footprints from someone else or because we can't really see make up toes or anything.

40:29 It was just these kind of footprints. So we were like, hey, you know, getting all excited like maybe it's big foot stuff. And we ended up just having our fire, eating roasting some hot dogs and just chatting and the sun goes down. This is this is all occurring in the end of August beginning of September at some point, and for those who haven't been out to the Pacific Northwest, when you're in the actual forest, like and the sun goes away, I mean, even when the sun is out sometimes it's like pitch black inside so of those forests, but when the sun goes down, it is dark dark. So we decided to put the fire out because we were going to go to bed, but then last minute, we wanted to go up the ridge to go stargazing because so often throughout the rest of the year, not that's not the summertime. In Oregon and Washington, it's very overcast, so you don't often get to see the stars fully clearly, but in the summer you do. So we're like, let's go stargazing up at the top. So he and I hyped up the ridge with just our flashlights, and we get up to that ridge and we're just like talking, and then out of nowhere, my brother starts getting real fidgety and starts looking over his shoulder all the time, and I'm like, everything all right, man, He's like yea, y, I'm good, And we were just continuing our conversation, and then all out of nowhere, he's like, dude, let's let's go to bed, Like, let's get to the tent. I'm like okay, And we start walking back down towards the tent and within when we get to that trail that enters the actual forest, and we're starting to walk towards

42:01 our tent, which is probably like fifty yards away from the top of that ridge down this trail, I take like two or three steps and all of a sudden, my flashlight goes out, and it's a headlamp and it like goes out, and then like two steps later from my brother it goes out as well. And I'll call my brother Dane uh so because I don't know how if he wants his name out or anything, but anyways, I'm like, Dane, dude, did You're like, what happened to your light? Like both of our lights went out, and we're like, shoot, like they both died. It's weird. We had fresh batteries, and so we pulled out our phones and my phone was at like two or three percent and his was totally dead. And I was like, what the heck, man, Like my phone was at like fifty fifty sixty percent. He's like, yeah, man, mine was at like thirty or forty, like it should not be dead right now. But they both were dead or his was dead and mine was on for like two or three percent, and I was able to turn in the flashlight and get us just all the way down to the tent before it also gave out, and we were able to get new batteries for our headlamps and plug those in and get you know, bedded down for the night. And so we're laying there in our tent and it is like deathly quiet, like just silent, silent, and uh for Oregon in the summer, that's weird because usually you've got crickets, you got frogs, you got you know, owls, other birds and things like that at night that you'll hear, and for it to be this quiet, it was just really odd.

43:34 And we had been both trying to sleep and at some point I turned ho I'm like Dane, like are are you? Are you asleep? And he's like, nah, dude, I've I've been tossing a turn and I'm like, yeah, man, I haven't been able to sleep either. Probably a whole half hour had passed. I was like, it's so freaking quiet, and He's like yeah, it's almost like as if silence was a sound. And then we're hearing that. It's like it almost kind of muffled us in a weird way. We could hear one distant, little creaky bug off in the distance, but that was not enough to like help a sleep or anything. And we were both laying there and I thought to myself, like, dude, how crazy would it be if like something real freaky happened tonight, like there was a bigfoot or something like that. And I had this like sort of imaginary thought of like this this hand, this hairy hand getting like pressed in on the canvas of the tent, and it was like, oh, like kind of weird, weird in me out. Some people have asked me if they thought that was like a what's the word, like a thought that gets an intrusion of your thoughts or something like that, And I don't know, I don't think. Yeah, like the mind speak thing, I don't think it was. I think it. I think it probably more was my own imagination, but yeah, I don't. Yeah.

44:54 But right after I had that weird like thought in my head, I heard something walking over our car, which was probably twenty feet away from our tent, and it sounded like it was something that was walking around on two legs. I thought it was a person. It didn't sound huge, but it sounded like it was definitely someone out there and I was like, I whispered to my brother, I'm like, dude, is there someone near our tent or near our car? I mean, and he was like he was like in denial. He's like, no, bro, no, that's that's nothing. I'm like, dude, that's something walking. Because I started walking towards us from the cars, liked, that's something walking towards our tent. And he's like, dude, the holy holy cow, no it's not. And like I look over and he's like grabbed the hatchet because I have a gun, but like it's I didn't bring it on that trip or anything. I didn't think i'd needed it or any and so he grabbed the hatchet and I had, like I think I had like a knife that I pulled.

45:49 Big for society who will be right back after these messages. But as it's getting closer and walking towards us, I'm thinking like, Okay, if this is a dude, like a person like this is really weird. They should not be, you know, approaching us like this. And but I had this feeling and like if it's something you know in the more you know, realm of the crazy, like a bigfoot or something like, then I'm going to kick myself if I don't, you know, man up and try and actually see this thing. So I made the decision to grab my headlamp and then unzip the tent right as it had gotten probably within a foot of where we were.

46:45 And as soon as I unziped that tent and look out there there's and flash my light, there's nothing. And that was the craziest thing because whatever had walked up to us should have been within a foot from our tent, and I didn't see anything. And then within a matter of seconds, flashlight boom goes out again, and me and my brother are like knocking our heads trying to like freak out, trying to find the other flashlight, and we eventually finally do and we're like what the heck was that? And we both get out of the tent and start like flashing our light around the area of being like who's there, Like what's going on? Like like what is this? And nothing. We didn't hear anything or see anything like in that in that moment, and both of us had had this like it was like this the only way I can kind of describe it. I'm a spiritual person, like I'm religious and such like it felt dark, which is like a bummer because I find the whole big Foot topic very fun, but like this, I was like if it was Bigfoot, like this was an evil one, like this was a bad one, Like this just felt like ugh. And we decided. We got back in the tent and I was like, we were laying there trying to go back to sleep, I guess, And I was like eventually said, you know, dude, if you if you want to go home, like uh, I'm I'm okay with it, you know. And he's all being tough too, and he's like, well, I mean only if you want to, you know, if that's what you're feeling. And I could beat out and we were like all right, let's go. So we get out of there. We collapse our tent real quick, we'd throw it in the trunk, get in the car, and

48:16 we start driving up that ridge up where the telephone pole is where we were looking at the stars. And my brother when we get up there, we have our windows down this whole time. By the way, we get there and he's like, dude, I got something to confess. I'm like, what's up, man, And he's like, when we were up here, looking at the stars like I kept I swore, I kept on seeing like shadowy like figures, like just in my peripherals, like and every time I'd look in their direction, they'd hide behind like a rock or a tree. I'm like, what the world, dude, why did you not say anything? He's like, because I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, like I didn't want to ruin the night, like it's our you know, it's my bachelor party and stuff. And I'm like, dude, next time, if that is something you're suspecting at all, like you gotta say something. So we end up driving down the ridge back towards the highway. And when we get down there, like I said, a, windows are open, and all of a sudden, we start hearing birds or up birds, but like you know, owls and crickets and frogs and all the normal night sounds. And we're like, dude, that's what night's supposed to sound, like what was up at the top of that ridge. And as we get down onto the highway. Across the highway there's more forest and I see with my headlights that there's those broken tree branches again like about nine feet in the air.

49:25 And they're all pointing kind of in the direction of that ridge, and I was like, dude, look at that, and he's let My brother's like, dude, don't show me that this is good. Go go, go, go go. So we cruised home and both of us had a pretty rough night's sleep. My brother to this day will not go back, you know, to he he definitely feels like there was some dark entity or something that was in that area. And I being the curious one, interested in the whole topic of anything strange, like knowing this interview was gonna come up just a couple of days ago, I actually went and tried to find the place again.

50:07 Took me forever, but I did actually find it, not actually by it was actually kind of by accident. I ended up just saying, you know what, screwed, I'm just gonna drive a random road, and I ended up finding it. And then I drove up again and it was there was a gate there that said you can walk in, but you can't camp, and so I decided to just hike up there. Nothing happened, nothing crazy, although on my way back down I did hear a raven kind of croaking the whole time on my way partially on my way up and then partially on my way down, which I don't think is too weird. I just try to make sure I pay attention to everything. But then closer to where I was getting back down to the car, I did hear a little wop, but like it was very fast and that it was only once, and I'm like, could have been a bird, I don't know, but like it was like a little whoop, and then I could have sworn. I heard a little bit after that, like this sort of deeper sort of kind of sound, but it was further away than the whoop was, and it sounded like it was off in the trees more and I was like, ah, that could have been It could have been just my imagination, I guess, or maybe I mean, I definitely heard something like I don't know if that was bigfoit either. So I'm always very like trying to think of anything that it could be other than just you know, because I don't want everything to be bigfoot.

51:27 I don't want to have that power suggestion always be affecting me, you know what I mean. But it is hard to deny sometimes these circumstances where they seem very suspicious so anyways, I left that area, and uh, that was that's that's I think probably the craziest story that I have as far as all this sasquatch stuff goes. Yeah, I would say what would definitely do it for me was first off, I mean, hats off to you for actually looking outside the tent but having nothing be there. It's probably the craziest thing. That's that's wild, dude.

52:07 Yeah, that was for sure the weirdest thing because whatever was walking towards the tent, it should have definitely been there. There's no way a person or even a deer could have leapt away that quickly, like, because I could hear the gravel crunch a foot away from me right before I unzipped that tent with have my flashlight out there, like, and it was just there was nothing, and so it was just so spooky. Have you ever looked to see if there's any other things that have been reported in that same area, since you know where the location is, like on a BFRO or Bigfoot map or anything with that. I haven't. Actually, that's a good idea. I haven't. I haven't done that. I mean, it's it's what's crazy is it wasn't super far away from civilization, like it was on the outskirts of that town called Cloverdale, you know, between the actual beach and that town, and it's just like some forested area like uh and right down right down this I never thought of this till right now. Actually.

53:13 So the first house when you come off that highway that you encounter is this old barn with a bunch of chickens running everywhere. And I wonder I almost wanted to, Like I wish I could have just gone knocked on their door, like, hey, have you happened to have been seeing chickens go missing lately? Because that would have been that that would have been like the perfect spot for a bigfoot to want to hang out, like, because there was just like probably like at least fifty to one hundred chickens just in and around that barn, just clucking around and picking, you know, pecking food and stuff. So and it was like right down the ridge from where that all occurred.

53:53 Oh yeah, it'd be easy food. Soores. But I think something that a lot of listeners might not get in less they go out to Oregon or something. Personally, I didn't get until I went out there this summer is how you can be in a town and you can just drive out the outside of the town and really not be that far away from it and have some really crazy stuff happen. Yeah, well, I think you know, the whole western side of the state is just covered in you know, what we would call rainforest essentially, like it's just you know, Douglas fir and white oak for you know, and other kinds of trees and stuff too, but like just all over and lots of BlackBerry bushes that kind of make it harder for some you know, your average person to try and get to in certain locations. And it's just like as soon as you get out of a city like that, because in Utah, for example, you know, you get into the Salt Lake City area and you've got one town that just bleeds right into the next, and then it's like that whole like corridor or down to like Spanish Fork area where it's just town after town after town, Provo, Lehigh, all those areas. But like Oregon is different, Like you get out of a city and you try to make your way to another town or from a town to another town, you're going through a lot of countryside and often a lot of forest.

55:19 Absolutely. Yeah. I was out in a small town called Oakridge, way out in the Willamette National Forest, and that area is just Bigfoot central. You can talk to anyone in the town pretty much and everyone has has a Bigfoot story out there. It's it's pretty sweet. But you had mentioned that Sean had also some like paranormal type Bigfoot stories as well that he had shared with you. Yeah, there is, Uh, it was one thing that I remember sticking out where this was. This is I think probably one of the craziest things I've ever heard where he and he said this too. And I actually do have one other slightly sort of paranormal related story that isn't Bigfoot, but it is kind of in that realm that I can tell you after this too. But he talked about how him and his buddies back in like the seventies were hanging out somewhere in that Silverton area out in the forest, and he said that like they were up on higher ground and they were looking down into this sort of valley, but like the valley had like trees and such, it was like forested, and he claimed that there was like they saw basically a portal open and a green like shape of a human being

56:49 or something at least that had two arms and two legs come out of it and then like sprint super fast up towards them, but like more to their right, and it kind of veered off to a different direction. And he he just told me, he's like, I have no idea what to make of that, Like that was just the craziest experience. And hearing it myself, I'm like, yeah, that is a freaking wild experience, because what do you do with something like that, Like what do you I don't even know where to what, you know, what kind of place to start with when it comes to something like that. You know, that's that's pretty wild. I was not expecting the portals to come out, but man, I'll tell you, I'm at the point where it's like pretty much all bets are off and it's going to be interesting. If someone in the comments is like, like they know who Sean and his old school buddies were in Silverton. I'm sure the comments are so crazy and these things. I'm sure someone Yeah, but guys, don't don't use his real name, but reach out to me. Wank wank.

58:03 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it is pretty I mean that kind of a thing is something out of like Skinwalker Ranch, you know, like that's that's the kind of stuff that I'm like, what in the like because I want to believe him, but I have no frame of reference to to sort of where to categorize something like that, you know, I mean, I of course have a frame of reference in the sense that like, yeah, that sounds like something out of old you know, fairy tales and folklore or out of sci fi. Movie, but like out of reality. No, Like that's that's great. But like, you know, he already had been telling me about his bigfoot experiences and he was he also was like not really wanting to go into that, but I kind of pushed him and I was like, dude, tell me the craziest thing you've seen. And he's like, all right, fine, like you want to hear it, like this is the craziest.

58:53 And that was his And with you know, you always wonder like was that really the craziest if if if he are you know, or is there other things he's holding back with that many decades of experience, you know, I don't know. No, it wasn't there's no idea it's the craziest. You probably would have had to hang out with him for a few more years to get to that point, I'm guessing. But all right, still, that's that's that's pretty wild. So it was a it was a green like humanoid, you were saying. Yeah, he said. The way he made it sound was that it was like a being of light, like, uh, it was like a like a It wasn't like a you know, a lizard person or something like that, or even like a green alien. He said. It just looked like the whole thing was like the shape of a human and it was like just light, like vibrating green, bright light. And he was this thing was made up of that and it just ran out of the kind of the scene in the in the time and space or whatever, and then just ran off somewhere in the forest.

59:56 Like So yeah, that was that was the details he gave me, And that was I didn't push too much further for more because right that already was hard enough to try and like, you know, grapple with where I was like, oh gosh, like that's freaking crazy. Let's let's get back to Bigfoot. That's at least somewhat normal, you know. And the best part about this is just Sean is just an older dude who was into Bigfoot since the sixties or seventies, and like he's not trying to sell you a book or like, you know, anything weird like that big for society who will be right back after these messages. Like he's just like, dude, this happened. And I think that's the that's the coolest part of all. Really.

1:00:53 Yeah, he's just an old cowboy kind of guy living in you know, living in an organ with no uh, you know, no no dog in the fight. No, he's not trying to push an agenda or anything like that. Like, so yeah, I think that was one of the reasons why I felt like I could trust him, because I was like, he's totally there mentally, like with it, Like he teaches the youth groups at that church, you know, like he's you know, trusted guy in the community and everything. And I don't know how many people know that he was into Bigfoot or not, but yeah, that was that's who he was.

1:01:33 That's legit. That's so legit. I mean, just we need more solid dudes that are also into bigfoots as well. Yeah, that's pretty cool. You were saying that there is you had maybe another weird story as well. Yeah, and I'll try and keep this one brief because I mean, I don't know, I know everyone's here kind of more for Bigfoot. But one time in high school, this would have been probably in twenty ten or so, me and my this I live. I grew up in Dallas, Oregon. So Dallas is a little just a few miles southwest of Salem, Oregon. And one time me and my buddies were playing it was either like Cops and Robbers or Fugitives, you know, the kind of game where you chase each other in your cars and you run across the neighborhood and stuff. And so there was this neighborhood called Bridlewood, and then there's another like the rest of the actual outskirts of Dallas proper, that we were trying to get from Bridlewood to Dallas. In between those two areas there's mostly just like a field and a cemetery. It's the Dallas Cemetery. And me and my buddy, who i'll call Brody, like, we thought it'd be clever to jump the fence into the cemetery to run away from one of our their buddies in the car who's going to try and get out of the car and chase us. And so we

1:03:06 heard him, our buddy chasing after us. We jumped into the cemetery. We hid behind some headstone. The had what do you call those again, tombstones, and we were kind of like get catch on our breath there, and as we started, we felt like no one was around, so we stood up and we started walking towards the other side of the cemetery to hop that fence to get into that field before, so that maybe we could run through that to get to Dallas proper, where my other buddy's house was. So when we got up though, both of us heard something or someone running towards us. So we assumed it was that same buddy of ours that had we thought had given up, but that he must have snuck in or something. So we start running because we don't want to get caught. But as we're running, like, I turn around and I see this sort of it's in the dark, but there are some of those like cemetery sort of lamps that are around, you know, so I could just sort of make out something running towards us, but it didn't look like it was really a person.

1:04:17 It was like on four legs, and both of us like we're running in the same direction, and we kind of got separated, and this thing was still running after us, and I turn and I could have sworn I saw like a flash of red and it almost seemed like it was like canine and it was running at us, and there was like a flash of red in its eyes, and it was something big. I could tell. It was kind of shaggy and black. I thought it was. It was probably like maybe like a watchdog or something like that. But then when we actually get to the actual fence, we stop there and start to climb it, and this thing started running towards us, and when it gets to a point where it's in the shadows, it just seems to kind of disappear, like it just we couldn't see where it went or anything. And we fall over the other side of the fence and we both turned to each other like in a pile of hay, and we're like, dude, what the heck was that? And my buddy Brody was like, dude, did you hear the drumming? And I said, what drumming?

1:05:22 What are you talking about? And he's like, you didn't hear that it like I could hear like this this drumming coming from from back there where that thing started running after us, and I was like, dude, that's I don't let's just go. So we like we got up and started running towards our buddy's house there in Dallas. And when we got there, neither of us, like, I don't think we even told our friends. We just kind of like kept it to ourselves and we're like, what in the world was that. I think we talked about it a little bit later that night because I wanted to confirm what he saw, and he as well spelt like he saw a big black, shaggy dog with red eyes running towards us, and then it kind of disappeared into the shadows. And it wasn't until like ten years later when I was just hanging out and that memory came back to my mind and I was like, I just googled like black dog, red eyes cemetery. And it turns out there's like this whole folklore about what they call in England, they call it the grim or the church Grim, and it goes along with this whole idea apparently where they used to think that the first person to be buried in a cemetery had to sort of ferry the souls to the other side, and so they didn't want to condemn a human to that. So they'd usually bury an animal, often the dog, and that that thing would be sort of the guardian of the cemetery and would chase after you, and the description always is the same. Another thing they call it is the black shuck,

1:06:53 and it's always a big, black, shaggy dog with glowing red eyes. And I was like, dude, this is this is exactly. This is crazy. So I sent that to my buddy Brody and he was like, dude, this is I think this is what we experienced. And then I remembered the drumming thing, and I was like, what's that about? So I started learning about trying to find out what that was, and I learned about something that's sort of like a folklore motif called the wild hunt, which is like when all the the sort of other worldly creatures or beings come from the other side on certain nights and they like march through and they have like drummers in the back, and often like hell hounds or things like that will be accompanying it, and that whole thing was just really interesting. But I just thought it was you know, the whole drumming thing could have been maybe that I guess like, but anyways, like it was definitely a weird experience. And every time that he and I get back together were always like, dude, you remember that time in the cemetery, like and we try and you know, piece together more details and things like that.

1:08:00 Dude, that's that's weird that I I kind of tap out at the bigfoot stuff, you. Know that, yeah, man, And once again like I that's all just folklore, man, Like that's all just mythology and stuff. But like I've got a strong, like you know background ancestrally like in the British Isles, and so did my buddy, and so I'm like, you know, could it have been something related in that way? Like I don't know, like, but it was, Yeah, it was. It was weird. I've never I've never seen like ghosts or nothing like that. I've never had an alien abduction or other crazy things like that. That's the only other sort of thing that I'm like that could have been a little bit wild.

1:08:43 You know. Oh, absolutely, you have an interesting background. Have you ever or what do you think Bigfoot. Is Oh dude, that's the yeah, that's the big question, right. Like I started off, of course, like everyone does, thinking it was probably like some you know, unknown ape running around, and then I thought maybe the whole gigantipithecust thing. But it was it didn't take long for me because for a long time I would sort of reject any story that I heard on podcasts or in real life from other people I knew about, like there being any sort of anything that was sort of supernatural. I was like, nah, that's you know, that's weird. But then I eventually started to realize, I'm like, wait a second, Like, how come I'm cool with this idea that you know that science already rejects this idea that there's a giant wood ape running around? How come I'm cool with believing that but not anything else, you know, And people start I started hearing consistencies like the whole glowing orbs of light, which is apparently so common for people in their Bigfoot experience, and that I started hearing more and more often, and other like aspects to their tales that you know, this whole idea that they can disappear at will, and and these all things often align with certain Native American tribes and what they sort of believe Bigfoot to be and not just an animal. So I started, I think, not

1:10:14 too far into it, realizing I don't think this is just an ape. So it started making me wonder, like, well, what is it though, because you know, maybe it's like a relic hominid. I've heard people talk about that it's sort of like a you know, like a Neanderthal homo erectus denisovan kind of creature that just is a leftover from a bygone age. But that still to me, I love that idea. I hope that's what it is, because that would be that or an ape would be much more easy to explain and really cool because we at least have sort of a knowledge, you know, a fossil record or something that can kind of corroborate that idea.

1:10:54 But like, it just seems like there's a lot of other things that if we're going to take other all of the story seriously, like or at least all the aspects of it and all the folklore that goes around with it, like, then I don't think it can be just an ape or a relic commonid. And I you know, I started looking into the whole nephileine idea, and i'd really, I think it's cool. Personally, I don't think that's as likely for me. In my personal opinion, it seems to me like a lot of the nepheline giants and such were more human like and less animalistic, although there are apocryphal books like the Book of Jashure that indicate there might have been when it comes to this whole idea of fallen angels coming to the earth and messing things up, that they had relations with animals too, and that could be where some of these ideas of you know, centaurs and satyrs and all other kind of cryptid creatures could come from. But like my own theological kind of belief system, doesn't really I don't find find the argument of angels being able to procreate with humans to be that. I don't find that argument to be super compelling personally, so I've moved away from that so I look into the alien thing. I'm not as convinced by that either, although I do think it is weird that there are sort of UFO crafts sometimes that will be reported in connection with these creatures. Growing up in the church, of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It's very popular that people

1:12:26 will have this folklore that Bigfoot and his like are you know, are actually descendants of Cain from the Bible. And that goes back to an old Mormon kind of folk tale of one of the early church leaders in like the eighteen hundreds named David Patten, who had like it's like a third late, third hand account or something of him coming across while he's riding his horse, you know, something that's as tall as him while he's on his horse, and it comes out of the forest and covered in hair, and it talks with him, and he you know, rebukes him and says tells him to believe in this, this early leader, early apostle. I think his claim was that he thought it was Kine, because there's this sort of idea that Caine never died. I personally, I don't think that I think that that like there's I think that that was probably if he did come across something, it was probably a big foot, and he probably just projected his idea of it being Kine kind of onto the being of whatever it was. And people can go and look that story up. It's pretty easy to find to just look up Bigfoot, Caine, you know, LDS or Mormon, right like, find something like that. But the one Sorry that this has taken so long, but I've I've been thinking about this for a long time. The thing that actually I think is most convincing, or at least seems to have the most in common with, actually comes out of sort of the early beliefs of of of kind

1:13:57 of the various yere Pan religions or pagan sort of beliefs. And it coincides a lot where I think with certain Native American beliefs, which is they're very similar to what people will call the fay. And I don't know if your listeners are familiar with that. It comes that term comes out of Celtic folklore, which is basically the phae is where we get the word faery from. And I know people are gonna roll their eyes and think, you know, fairies and big foot. This is sounding crazy, but like fairies, we're not talking only like you know, pixies and things from tinker Bell and stuff from Disneyland like this. The fae was the word that was used to describe like nature, spirits, and other sort of other worldly entities that come from beyond the veil essentially into our realm, and like during times of the year like Halloween and stuff, is when like that time is when you know, the separation between our world and another crazy world kind of becomes thinner.

1:15:00 And these Faye beings, which can I think it's kind of an umbrella term for for anything that is like kind of unexplainable and strange. These creatures, whether they're you know, bigfoot things or like elf like creatures like from something out of Lord of the Rings or whatever, like or you know, the dog man wear wolf stuff, or or even if they are like actual little tiny, you know, winged fairies or whatever, like all those kind of things can be classified under this idea of the fay. And there's a lot of weird folklore, especially with the whole Missing four one one phenomena with David Poliita's and a lot of like old like old what do you call them, like the early settler stories of Bigfoot and some of the Native American stories of Bigfoot. Like there's all these weird commonalities where like these things are kind of like tricksters from mythology, like and there's strange things like horses on certain people's property will have their mains sort of braided.

1:16:07 And then the old you know European countries where these folklore beliefs were had, like in Wales and Scotland and Ireland and such, they would call those fairy fairy braids or you know, fay locks and things like that. But here in the United States and Canada back in the day when those things would be discovered, they would call them Sasquat's braids or big foot braids. So like is it's like a weird, weird like coincidence that like they do some of these similar things, or that you know, that this idea that they can come in and out of another reality big. For society, who will be right back after these messages.

1:16:57 It's just really fascinating. I think if people are to start looking more into the connections between sort of pre pre Christian beliefs of peoples in Europe and you know, the the Americas and other places, they'll start to realize that like the relation between you know, bigfoot creatures and then you know these the fay and and often I think the most classic depiction of the fay usually is like dwarf and and like goblin, like little little people like little creatures. And I know that there's Native American folklore like the puck wedgie and things like that that are that go along with with with that as well. So anyways, that's a really long explanation. I'm sorry.

1:17:41 Now I love it. That's a great overview of pretty much a ton of great options. And you know, I'll tell you outside of the podcast, I have a lot of conversations with different people, and uh, that whole fay slash fairy thing to do with Bigfoot has come up more than a few times. It's it's very interesting to talk about. But have you ever read the two book series where the Footprints end. I've heard about it. Isn't that Timothy Renner's book. Yeah, I haven't gotten the chance to order it and read it or anything, but I've heard it talked about, and I know that there he kind of goes into some of those ideas. In fact, I might have gotten some of my knowledge about the topic from listening to him talk about it.

1:18:28 It's it's probably I would say, the best book resource for looking at Bigfoot through the viewpoint of paranormal related type things. Yeah, it's pretty cool, so I would definitely recommend checking it out. And the and the bummer part about my answer is that it's we still have no idea what it is. It's basically me just transferring, you know, passing the book, just transferring. Oh, well, we don't know what bigfoot is. Maybe it's a fay. Well, what's a fay. Oh, we don't know what a fay is either, but at least we kind of have sort of a category that maybe it can fit in, you know, so uh, and you know, trying to figure out where that can fit for those who are a Christian is always a fun ride as well, because it's like, all right, well, you know, where does that fit in with my paradigm and stuff. So it's definitely something that will it's a mind rattler, it's a it's something and I find all that fun to think about.

1:19:27 I know some people they're like, you know, downright uncomfortable trying to consider anything that might be outside there the realm of possibilities that they're comfortable with. But like, I think it's something that is good for us to to wonder about and learn about, you know. No, I think it's good and especially if you're reading stuff like you know, the Bible and you realize, hey, there's weird stuff in here, and what's to say that the weird stuff start stopped happening back in the day, And like there's no weird stuff happening now, dude, there's still weird stuff happening now. We're just all too distracted, so. Right, yeah, we're all looking at our phones and and uh, you know, going to work in and day. It's That's something that I always find funny, is like for those who are really skeptical about the big footing, like my I know members of my family that feel this way where they're like, no, that's that's all. That's all silliness, that's all you know, there's no way that stuffs real that you've just imagined everything. Then you've gone into the woods basically. And I'm like, you know for someone who because they'll often say like, well, I've gone out in the forest plenty of times and I've never seen a big foot, or like they'll say like, I know hunters who've gone into the forest plenty of times, they never see a sass watch like and I'm like, yeah, like the someone who you know, for someone who just drives to work and then comes home and watches Netflix, goes to sleep, and then drives back to work the next day, and then yeah, occasionally has a hike on a trail that everyone else goes on on a Saturday. They'll wonder, you're not going to see a big foot, like you know what I mean? Oh?

1:20:50 Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, I agree with you, man, ah man, this is uh, this has been a fun conversation. Uh went in a lot of different areas. I didn't think we would be going. But I appreciate you coming on Riley and chatting and definitely keep me in the loop. If you continue to get out there and you know, do these little you know, kind of checking out different areas. Let me know if anything ever happens in the future. Yeah, man, we'll do I I uh, maybe the next time or if we have time right now. I don't know. But like my sister uh called me a few days ago or a few weeks ago, sorry, and let me know that she saw one. So that was pretty mind blowing for me.

1:21:37 I mean, I got I got time right now. Okay, sorry, I love that out there right yeah. But yeah, man, So I was just hanging out at dinner with my aunt and uncle and uncle and uncle's place, and uh, I get a call from my sister who's currently out in Stanley, Idaho at Redfish Redfish Lake, I think that's what it's called, Red Red Red something or other. So that's she's just working at like a campsite place out there, and she's pulled over on the side of the road and she skypes me and or face times me or whatever, and she's just like, Riley, I had to call you because I think you're the only person who knows anything about this. But like, I think I just saw something kind of weird. I'm like, oh, boy, like you know, rub my hands together, like, yeah, what did you see?

1:22:32 And she's like, so, I'm driving down the road and like, you know, fifty yards in front of me or so, I'm like, why is there a gorilla in the road? And then she's like and then I'm like, wait, there's a gorilla in the road? What the heck? And she said that this it's on a It's basically it's like a gorilla on you know, four legs, kind of loping off to the right to go off into the forest and it's like halfway across the road. And she's like, but then it stands up and I'm like, oh, wait, so it's a dude, Like, well, what's a dude doing out here? And then she's like as I get closer, you know, it makes its way into the forest and then it's gone and I can't see it. And I'm like, she's like, do you think I saw what I think I might have seen. I'm like, are you asking if you think? Are you asking if I think you think you saw a sasquatch? And she's like, yeah, I'm like I think you probably did. I mean to think about this logically, like, you know, there aren't gorillas in Idaho, and unless it escaped from a zoo and you're in Stanley, that's in the middle of nowhere, you're not in your boise or anything. And then they're like, if it, you know, it's gorillas can stand up on two legs, But the fact that you thought it was a dude goes to show that it looked pretty comfortable on its two legs, you know. But the fact that you thought it was a gorilla before makes you think, like, well, which one is it? It can't be both, you know, or is it something that is kind of like both? Which is you know what a sasquatch is. So I was like, what color was it? And she said it was really dark brown, which is, you know, super common to hear.

1:24:06 And I was like, did you catch any details? She's like, nah, I wasn't able to see like a face or anything. I was too far away. And I was like, well, if it was a dude and he was in dark brown clothes, he's, you know, wandering down the highway near Stanley, Idaho, in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness, covered in brown clothes, like and he just want I was like, is there any trails around there to go hiking. She's like no, I'm I'm like off on a part of the highway that's just straight up wilderness. There's nothing else around here. And I was like, well, dang, Like that seems like a really strange thing for a person to do, if it's a person. So yeah, that was that was really fun to hear, because you know, now I have someone in my own family who not only is like, hey, this could be real, but they're like, no, I've seen one, like you know, and it was so quick and so fast for her that she feels like, yeah, most likely was a big foot, but like it's not like she was able to, like, you know, examine it for a certain amount of time on a lab table or anything.

1:25:07 So wow, that's awesome. That is That is a really cool story too. Uh. It's because it's it's different than most of the ones you hear. Just I don't think I've ever heard another one where it's like on all fours in the middle of the highway and then gets up and walks off. That's just that's legit. Yeah, I thought it was I thought it was cool. I was like super jealous because I was like, that would be for me. The ideal way to experience that bigfoot is like in my car safe where I just see it and then it walks into the woods and I'm be like, boom, I know they're real now, you know. Yeah, man, I don't know if I'd be able to handle it, because every day after that I would be thinking why didn't I have a what's it called.

1:25:54 Dash cam? Dash cam? Every day? It would haunt me. Yeah, totally man. Yeah. And she's not even like I mean she she thinks it's a she Up to this point, my younger sister, she thought it was a fun idea, and she indulged me whenever I wanted to tell her about what I'd been learning and according to all the lore and all that. But like I still even now, it's not like she's I don't think she's ever like tried to like listen to any podcasts or about it. For her, She's just like, yeah, that was that was kind of crazy. I guess bigfos are real, and she just goes on with her day like different personalities, you know what I mean. Yep, totally. Oh that's that's cool though, good stuff. Hmm man, what what a fun conversation. Any any other any other things that you want to share, Riley before we wrap things up? You think.

1:26:45 I'm trying to think? I mean, there's one other story that is from the uh or I'll and I won't even go to detail on these, but two other things I can mention is that my cousin and his buddy they went down to Roseberg area Roseberg, Organ, which is kind of close to Eugene area hotspot. And yeah, basically they were hunting and they were that night like they went out and they had already previously talked with the dude whose property they were on, and he was like, hey, watch out for sasquatch out there. And they were like, ah, very funny. He's like, no, I'm serious, and they're like okay.

1:27:28 And and then so they go and are hunting, and that night when they were getting their fire ready, they my cousin says that they heard like whoops, like these whoop whoop, and then they started hearing the the chatter, like the sort of Sierra sounds kind of stuff. And he was like, dude, it was it was really weird. It was like it sounded like they were talking in a language that we couldn't understand, and it was like they were whispering and we could hear it, but we couldn't fully make out what they were hearing. And then that night, apparently my cousin just sacked out and didn't actually experience anything. He claims that his or not, he claims, but his buddy said that all that night they were bluff charging the tent, like they'd run out of the forest apparently and like skid to a halt right in front of their tent and then would run off in another direction and then come back and like skid to a halt and then run off and and he's he's had it freaked him out, and I talked with his buddy I met. That was the first thing we talked about when we met, because my cousin basically just said, you know, Riley, meet Dan, Dan, meet Riley, Bigfoot, go you know, and we were like, okay, and so we were like just talking about that. But then so that that was a fun thing to hear about. That was a few months ago that my cousin told me that.

1:28:46 And then the last thing was like the very very first bigfoot story I ever heard was that buddy of min named Brody, his older brother who all call Sam. Sam and his buddy were at Camp Merryweather, which is a boy scout camp on the Oregon coast, and their story basically was that they were hiking along at night when they shouldn't have and they see this cow and they're like, dude, have you ever been cow tipping? And they're like, no, let's go try it for the So they start walking over to this cow and they say that the cow stands up on two legs and they're like, holy crap, it's not a cow. And it's like in the moonlight and they can see it clear as day, like it's got like, you know, dreadlocks hanging off it.

1:29:31 It's like this beast of a bigfoot and basically looks at him and he says, it runs off faster than a horse could run, you know, and the you know, they scared him. And I was like, you're messed with me man growing up and he's like, nah, dude, I'll go to my grave, me and his buddy Mike, Like those are their names I'm giving them, but like they're like, yeah, dude, we'll go to our graves knowing that we saw freaking bigfoot. And I was like, okay, and it was I remember texting him after I got into this whole subject and be like, dude, was that a real story? And he's like, yeah, man, that was real. Like and we're out of high school now, there's no reason for him to mess with me. Yeah, you know. So yeah, like we're both dudes with kids and you know, out of college and everything, and he was like, yeah, that was real.

1:30:18 The uh so, the dreadlocks thing is weird because I've gotten that in reports multiple times too. And yeah, even out by uh there's a place called Spirit Lake out by Oakridge, Oregon. Some guys got chased out of there by what they said, we're uh sasquatch with uh why am I just blanking out dreadlocks hair? And uh you know I used to think like, okay, how did the Sasquatch get dreadlocks? But then I'm just now thinking, well, okay, logically, if they can braid horse manes, why couldn't they do both?

1:31:05 You know, I don't know. Yeah, And I mean drugs do sort of form naturally if you're not showering and stuff as well, but like if it if it looks if they're cool looking, dreadlocks, usually they're on purpose, right, Like, so yeah, it's like they could definitely give themselves, you know, as a style. I guess, so so funny to be talking about bigfoots hairstyles, but yeah, like you know, it could be so anyways, that is literally everything that I had a little list on my I wrote down on paper that I was like, I don't want to miss any of these that they're all like, that's everything, that's all the interesting stuff I have. That's basically, uh, the anything, the most fascinating stories I think I'll ever tell anyone all in one podcast.

1:31:53 So that's fantastic. I just want to say on the side. Roseberg, Yes, is a definite hot spot. I took many Roseberg reports from when I was at Sasquatch Summerfest and Oakridge, which is a great festival that takes place out there. Now second year is going to be next year. I was at the first year just taking reports. But Riley, it has been a pleasure chatting with you. As I said before, definitely keep me in mind for if you ever go out and weird stuff happens in the future. But dude, thank you so much for coming on. Sure man, I was a blast. Thanks for chatting me and enduring the lengthy discourses that I probably unwantingly was giving.

1:32:38 Everyone on your show. Please take a minute to help out the show by subscribing on YouTube, making sure you hit the bell so you don't miss any notifications, and share the episode on YouTube with a friend. Also, if you're listening to us on a podcast, thank you so much. Make sure that you're subscribed, share the show with a friend, and really it's all about sharing the show wherever you can. If you've had a Bigfoot encounter related to the following, or know someone who has, please reach out to me at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com or pass on my email. Here's the list. If you've had any encounters in Oregon, which I'm sure there's probably a few of you out there, please feel free to reach out immediately. You can use email Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com. A special thank you to all the Bigfoot Society, Patreon and YouTube channel members.

1:33:32 It's your support that helps keep the show going and I extremely appreciate it. If you want to join in the fun, you can join over at patreon dot com. Forward slash the Bigfoot Society. I'll see you there, and again, thanks for listening.

1:34:38 Her and I can get on here. We can tell our stories. Maybe there's somebody else out there. Listening that's too afraid to tell their story. Maybe this will give them the courage to come out. And I feel so bad about it. Who cares what anybody thinks. I know what I saw, I know what's out there. That's all I care about it. Please let people know, Please let them know. If you ever see one of these things, you need to tell because if you don't, then shame on you. You have shame on you.