The Sasquatch Killing Fields of Hatcher Pass, Alaska

0:00 It jumps, it lands and immediately goes into like a spider crawl position, and it is like puffing its cheeks and just breathing and like looking around and like like what's going on? Like like like it was clear that I was not supposed to be there. It was trying to like size me up and try to figure out what to do with me because I wasn't I wasn't moving. I stood back up, let him see me, and it was just like keeps looking at me, and he looked at the trees behind me. As soon as I break eye contact with him, he looks at me again and he starts with his long arms. He starts to pull himself through. He starts moving. I was like, no, don't do it. And he looks again and he like SLINKs in there. You could hear him just like crashing and I could see his arms grabbing like branches, just crashing through the woods. And I was like, all right, I'm going, I said, I'm going. Hi there. You're listening to the Big Society podcast.

1:00 I'm Jeremiah Byron. Every week I talk to individuals who have experienced sasquats in some way or another. So you won't want to miss an episode, make sure you're subscribed on the platform that you're listening to and share this episode with a friend. Does not cost a thing and it helps the show continue to grow. I'm heading out on a big Foot expedition soon with t Horonymus and others, and I want to take a few minutes to thank those who have bought me a coffee to help me go on that expedition. Thank you to Brian Corbyn for buying five coffees, he says, keep the great content coming, I sure will, friend. Thank you to Michelle Almager for buying three coffees and her message is get there. I plan too. Very soon you'll be hearing all about it. Special. Thank you to an old friend, Rogue Spear Bastige for buying a coffee to help out. Thank you, Rogue Spear, and to thank you to Andrew Spaulding for buying a coffee as well. He says, love the podcast. I'm glad you do, and I hope you continue to listen. Friend. If you'd like to hear Bigfoot Society episodes early in ad free, you can do so by becoming a Patreon supporter or a YouTube channel member. Links to those are in the show Notes and Bigfoot Society, I've taken far too much of your time so far, so let's get on with the show. All right, big Society, thanks for coming back for another episode. Got the privilege of talking to a new friend, Josh today. Josh contacted me over the Internet and he said he had some interesting stories to share about Bigfoot from his time growing up in Alaska.

2:34 So how's it going tonight, Josh? Oh, it's going great, beautiful day. You know, I can't complain about that. Oh, absolutely it is. You know, we had some storms roll through here, but now the grass is growing. Everything's nice and lush and we are loving it. So same out where you're at, or well, I mean the weather's nice. It's like it gets really like really hot and dry out here in the summertime and the winter it's from like a mild, rainy, kind of easy winter. So I can't complain about that. But yeah, a little it's been. It's a been a little like because like how I grew up in Alaska and like the experiences that I had previously, like I'm most slightly more aware of my surroundings, and like I've noticed it's a little bit squatchy out here too, like a little a little off pudding, like to say the least, especially like because I still like to hunt and I've been drawing.

3:46 I drew a couple of great tags, and you know, I had, like, you know, on our way back from the beach off here in Oregon, the highway cuts across where my my tag was supposed to be, and I'm like just keeping an eye out and just just to sort of like size it up, because you know, I don't I don't like to just you know, willy nilly will wander into the woods unless I know it's it's it's okay, you know, and low and behold, like just along the road, a big, big hairy para lais, I'm stepping out of the woods and stop at a little like rock outcropping right at the edge of the highway. So I'm passing by, I'm like, I gotta change my tag and that that That's what the for the most part, it's been like out here when when you notice like the little the little things, the subtle things that people might not like pay attention to because they got their lives and all that stuff, but they're there is a lot that goes along, goes on in like the woods surrounding like just about anywhere. I've noticed sometimes like animal noises and stuff. You know, you got your standard like deer and

5:17 like, you know, maybe a raccoon here and there, but like sometimes there's stuff that's out of place and it sounds big and it doesn't it doesn't sound correct, like it sounds out of place. And it's been like an actual struggle to like psycho camping or anything like that, just because I'm aware of it all. Have you ever do you experienced that? Or have you ever experienced that? Josh and long time listeners of the show could probably tell the story a little bit as well. But so I've experienced I would say maybe more class B type things in Iowa. You know, when we went out last year tainting myself and you know, I experienced a tree being pushed over in the woods in front of us. Would Knox capture that night and then my tent was on zipped at three forty five am on a Sunday night when we were out in the woods. That that still messes with me today.

6:18 I've not really gotten over that. And we are going back out there and listeners can watch Sasquatch. A search for Sabe Tates documentary the Iowa episode you can find out more about that. So I've not yet heard of vocalization or actually seen a big foot, Josh, but I am getting closer, right, Yeah. If if you ever, like if you say, you go on YouTube or something, look up what a Caribos grunt sounds like. And it's like a certain kind of like like a like a like a grunt.

6:59 Like I'm was, like, I've heard other other people you've had on a show mentioned like a like a like a like a grunty, piggy sound, h like a huff, and then like a like a like a nasally like sort of like a deer we'll give up, We'll give like a certain kind of grunt like Carriboo is much heavier and like they got bigger lungs and so it's much much louder. And my what I've noticed is like if if they're if they'd say they When I've been in a hunting in Alaska for Cariboo, I thought that was a great sound at first, but then I was like, you know, I'm sleeping on the side of the road. They're not even up in the mountains. Yet I'm about to like hit the trail in the morning, and I've already got like a cariboo next to my tent, and like I'm like looking at my revel. Okay, I guess I'm getting up. It's my lucky day. And then all of a sudden, I hear you know, a big like heavy like like like a hordle and then like and then like they're just it's gone by the time my mom zipping, just like nothing was there on like a cariboo would just hang around and there was nothing, you know, and like this thing was like sniffing and grunting around the tent, and I'm like, I'm like, is it a bear? Is it a caribou? I hope it's not a mouse, you

8:33 know, it's a It's a stuff like that where you can't see directly what you're what you're dealing with, and there's like a handful of things and in the back of my mind I tried not to think about it. It's like they could be a squatch just like checking me out, and like I just felt funny. Well, like when I actually dealt with that, like it was a little terrifying, you know, because like you don't. You don't know until you know, and then you gotta get out and face the music and just see what's going on. And that's a little crazy. Yeah, I can understand. I can feel you. Like if a zipper though a zipper, that's that's like way beyond like you know, yeah, it's like it's like you're you're, you're your safety bubble is like that thin vinyl like wall of the tent, and like like a zipper is like the one thing that animals can't really figure out. But then some things I can Marie like, oh my gosh, not cool, Like I don't know if i'd been Yeah, Josh, when you heard what whatever it is you heard in that tent? You heard it that huff noise outside? Did you hear actual like do you think it was it something running away? Can you remember, like, yeah, what that sounded. I it it sounded like it was like

10:05 you could hear it's it's footsteps. It was like a lot of roads are like gravel out in the back parts of Alaska, and so when something's stepping out there, it's it's gonna be make that crinkly noise. But the crinkly noise it made was kind of soft, and that that's what I've noticed. It's very it was very soft, like a caribou. It's gonna be a hoof and it's gonna have like a a really pronounced like like step sound to It didn't have that, but it only had maybe I could hear it circling, and then when I started to unzip the tent, it gave the huff and then I could hear it like maybe like three or four steps, and it was it was like moving away. And so then I got out and it was already gone like into the brush and that that now looking back that stuff, so I was like, that's way squatchy. That's very squatchy, and that that's just like you know that the like the like the not confirmed sighting kind of just I heard something funny kind of thing. But then like the the Reels the Reil stuff happened when I was a kid, like, uh, the worst of it. Chuck me getting into that part yet real so real quick. There's probably some people that are curious. Can you share anything about where the area was where you had that tent encounter? Yeah,

11:39 okay, if you if you go past willow up into up the the Highway. There there's a there's a place called Montana Creek, and I know that the bears go there during the silver salmon run to get the salmon, and up in the mountains there the caribou will be coming through to feed and the berries are usually starting to ripen. And but you can it is just north of Hatcher Pass. It's just like pretty much on a map, you could see it's like kitty corner to too close to where I grew up and had my previous encounters. But if you just go on like Google Earth or something, you can find it. Just type in Montana Creek and it should just take you there. Most of the stuff that I experienced was just around those Takita Mountains there. But later on, I guess I'll just jump into that story with the tent. The after I experienced that, I decided I'm not gonna I'm not sleeping anymore. So I packed up the tent and I decided

13:13 to just push on and just get out of the area. And so I packed up my little one man tent and I just hopped it down the road. I had my uncle dropped me off there because I thought that's where the trailhead was turns out it was like another five miles down the road. So I had like quite a high get just to the just the trail out, just so I could get up the mountain. My main focus at that that exact moment was like to get into the high ground because I knew the bears were feeding on fish and they're gonna be in the low ground. And so I just decided after that, I was like I was out of there because I didn't want to contend with the bear. I was just I just wanted to get my get my egg and and go, you know. So I start hiking up up the mountain, gets to the trailhead Montana Creek, started heading up there. There's like a like a like a four wheeler trail that goes all the way up into the mountains and and it just hugs the canyon to the Montana Creek below. There's like waterfalls and all that stuff and big timber and look, I hiked for all morning, Like I got up probably about four in the morning, hiked too, got to the trailhead about five thirty in the morning, and then I just started walking up. So right around eleven o'clock, eleven thirty in the afternoon, I'm like, you know,

14:50 really starting to hop it, and I'm getting into the berries. I'm like feeling better about everything, and I'm starting to see big rocks and all this stuff and a less sign of bear and it's just looking a little, a little, a little better for me. So I'm like taking breaks and working my way up, and right right when I started to get to this bend in the trail where I can't quite see around the corner, We'll be back with more big Foot Society after these words from our sponsors. Uh, I just hear all this like an a ferocious like a roar, like a like and like arf and a big like huff, and then like a boulder the size of a basketball went like like just just over my shoulder, like I almost got clavered by this big rock, like a big granite boulder, and I could not see what did that like, because like I've never had that happened. I like stopped, saw the thing, and I ran up just to pick up the corner, and the thing had already like dude, doe doe, douche. And I saw like the branches on the trees above the trail, they're like rustling because it just like I'd just smacked through and

16:23 it sounded huge and about as big as a grizzon would be. So whatever it was, I'm on like looking back on like that was another experience. And that's like two two and like a two in the morning. That's that's crazy. Uh. And so it was big enough. I had a thirty odd six rifle with me. It was big enough where I was like looking down at it, I was like, this is a pea shooter. Like I don't I don't need to be going up here. So I immediately didn't about face and just like walk back down the trail, called up my uncle and like had him picked me up and all that stuff. But if you're looking for a little excitement, go to Montana Creek. So there you go listeners, and it sounds like you could be taking your life into your hands.

17:21 Whenever you're doing Alaska stuff, you need to be well prepared, even probably beyond prepared, is my guess. I've never been up there personally, but from what I've seen and heard, it is an extremely wild place and you really only get a chance or maybe two chances when you're out there. So yeah, on my way up, my uncle said, I think you made the right decision. He said that there's been a there's been four or five hunters that have disappeared up there, and I'm like, after the fact, I'm like, oh, that made me feel so safe. I was like, all right, it'll just get out of here. And it just sort of put things in perspective when it comes to hunting, like you really do have to like look at the little things like is there a lot of do people pull a lot of animals out of there? Or do they pull very little? And why are they pulling very little? Or is there something else eating the animals besides besides just like wolves and bears, because there can't be that many wolves and bears eating all the deer, especially if surrounding areas have like a fifteen hundred deer come out maybe five miles down the road in either direction. Yeah, this one only pulls out like twelve and then you see a pair of hairy legs, and you know what's up. You got to be going in there, and you just you gotta just be aware,

18:56 more aware than the normal. It's camping is stressful. I thought it would relaxed me and stuff, but it's like it can be it's stressful and just in that way. Once you know what's actually out there and it's like just cruising around it, it takes on a whole level level. It's like it's becomes way more real. And I've I've become accustomed to just camping and really crowded family camp and campsites now where like there's too many people where they're gonna be trouble, you know, Okay, interesting, so you have you stick to the groups for safety. Yeah, it's it seems it works, okay, but even still, you know, you got that in the back of your mind all the time, like thinking about like is it safe, because I like, do these people because I know none of them are looking out for that sort of stuff. They're just playing having a grand time. But they're making lots of noise, and I like when people are making lots of noise, that's the best thing. Have you heard of any other encounters happening in that Montana Creek area? Have you ever looked into that. I'm just curious. I haven't heard of anything. The only thing I heard was what

20:26 my uncle told me was that people have ended up missing up that very trail. So well, but I do know that like farther south. I just like looked into like what's going on in the mountains, and like, as I understand it, this is all the secondhand. I haven't like directly like asked any of the local natives like if this is a true thing. But apparently the Willow side of Hatcher Pass is like they stayed out of that area because it was designated for the the wild people, the Sasquatch out there, and where I grew up was just south of that and down in the so just a little farther south you got Hatcher Pass. It comes out to Willow and just over that mountain is like Government Peak and then it like slopes down and then you were at the Matanuska Valley. You got Bishook Road, the little suicide of the little suicide of rivers. Coming out of the mountains, you got like a string of lakes and like it it was like just about endless forest all the way up to the mountains. And since then it's like

22:00 they've a bunch of developers have come through and like just putting in like like a hundred houses in there. And but before that, when I when I was there, it was it was just like raw wilderness and it was like on the back side of a military reservation that like so nobody went went in there. You know. The house I grew up in was like just just across the street from this this wilderness, and so there was little creek in there, and there was like a few lakes that they were all connected to, and like it was like a blast. You know, you just look forward to just like going into your friends and just like cutting into the woods and like splashing around and you know, wrestling and whatever, you know, boy stuff. But at times, like one one day, like the my brother and I went out to the backside of the lake and we had never actually been out there before, but it was like this little meadow that had grown in off of this little marsh, and we decided to just like slink in there and just check it out. It was just me and my little brother. We weren't very big, like I think I was like maybe ten,

23:33 he was like seven or eight, uh, you know, just you know, playing with stuff, picking things up and looking at things. I think he was tying his shoe swats down and I look over and in the tree line. This was like the very first first time we saw something there was like just a huge sassquatch like in in the tree line, sort of like his hands on like the highest branches and he's just watching us. But he's like rocking from side to side. And that's once he realizes we saw him. He looked down in a way and he just sort of slipped and disappeared. He got real low, super low, and like kind of like disappeared into the brush, and my brother was like, we need to get out of here, and I was like okay. And just the fact that, like I know, people have mentioned that they have like a like a silvery shimmer to some of their fur. What I've noticed about them is like they have an undercoat like denser fur, but then there's like these like like a much lighter, whisper, longer coat on top of that. So this like a more like so like two layers for the upper earlier is more like

25:04 a it picks up the light. And when you're like, say, if it's like it when the sun starting to set and the dew starts coming in, it's harder to pick them up. They started blend in with like the mist a little more, but like because the sun was still out, I was able to pick up the red in his fur, his under fur, and it just silhouetted him enough for us to pick it up and just notice him. And that was like the very first time, and so that we never went back to that area at least for a few years. But that that following winter, we hadn't mentioned it to anybody. That following winter, we were we found this little closer to home. They found a nice little like gentle sloping hill and we wanted to go sliding, so we went with our friends. We're sliding down this hill. We get that. We get out there and we notice these these tracks, these big tracks, and like either it's a bear or a moose, and my brother and I both knew it was. It was like probably one of those things. And I said, I think it's a big foot. And the friends were with, we're not having that stuff. There's just some people that just don't unless it's in the zoo, it doesn't exist. And I've got time or any of that stuff. I mean, he's like, I don't believe you. I don't want to hear it. Blah bladih blah. I was like, okay, whatever. We dropped it, but the the trail led out from where that

26:40 creek was diagonally towards the Anderson Lake, which is a the lake we lived next to. There's like three lakes there, Anderson Lake, Dry Lake, and then they removed the name of it. I'm thinking because of like real estate reasons, but it was called Mud Lake. And then there was like a creak network connecting all the lakes, and in there it was like rainbow trout and and landlocked salmon and stuff like that. So a plenty of food, you know, moves coming through there. It's like a very like like in terms of like stuff to do, stuff to eat. That guy's got everything. That's bountiful. But we saw that the tracks went from our little hill, i mean out of the out of the bush, diagonally across the street and towards the other side of the lake. And I thought it was odd, was like, why why would somebody be just walking through there.

27:48 He's like they had snowshoes off. Let's just drop it, bah and you know, it's stuff. Was like you just sort of go with it, but like, you know what it is, right, And these guys have said, Hey, our neighbors having a barbecue, you want to come and enjoin us? Because we were going to go over there after we were sledding. I was like, Okay, it's almost time. You want to take a shortcut. So we took a shortcut through the woods, and we get through the woods across one lake, up a trail across the other lake to the backside of this guy's little barbecue he had. So there's already like thirty people there. They're all gathered around this big bonfire in the backyard. They're cooking and hot dogs and hamburgers and all this stuff. It's middle of winter.

28:40 Alaskan's got a party. When they got a party, I guess. But so we show up and then and they're like, oh my gosh, And like the owner of the house was like, man, you kids are brave for coming out of there. She knew what I saw. And then I'm like, what'd you see? And then like the neighbors like no, no, no, no, we want to give him nightmares and we don't want to tell him. And then he started talking about how like the howls he heard at night, and and I go, I was like, what kind of howls? It was like, I've seen things, kids, you know what. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Well, let's not talk about this. And you're getting kind of frustrated because I kept probing him, and we just sort of sat there eating hot dogs about this band Bonfire. This guy kind of just doing in his memories, and like the mood sort of went from like laughter to a little like this weird awkward silence.

29:34 But he's just eating quietly, and he said, like, boys, I want you to promise me you'll never go back into those woods again. I was like, okay, And of course those kids are right. We went right back into the woods like all the time that following summer. My mother and I were like it was a hot day and like we just got done visiting family and like we're sorted over it and we wanted to go and run around the woods and mess around, and so we got to We asked permission. They said we could go, and so we jump across the street and start heading down the hill to him. Like the creek that's there and there's like a couple of logs that press across across it, and it's like it's got like a nice little deep hole where I'd love to it was my favorite fishing spot. Like I just I would always catch something there. We'll be back with more Bigfoot Society after these words from our sponsors. And so I'm leading the way. My brother's like maybe ten feet behind me. He's he's on the hill hilltop. I'm at the bottom of the hill. On the log. There's a I think this tree had fallen and uprooted a different tree, and I had like lifted up the root sort of the root mass

31:10 of it, and so it was like blocking the creek. And when I was like went onto the log, I saw this hairy leg step into the creek and like I'm like, oh, is that a bear? And like my brother froze. I froze, and like we just heard it like darting its arms around and just like put like a cat, you know. And then all of a sudden, you just here see him like lift up h a rainbow trout and like he's just like h and she's just like smacking on this fish like just like golf, like just making just we'll just say, masticating on this fish. Like just it sounded like loud smacking, crunching, like chewing on a raw fish. And then he like we're sort of like trying to just like our brains are trying to wrap our heads around, like what we're looking at, to make sure we're looking at what we're looking at, if it's a bear or not, or if it's another one of those things we saw, you know. And it stops for a second, and it peeks over in the creek and I catch a flash of red eyes, you know, like the just a little bit, and then it backs in

32:42 and then I think it a fish bumped it, and it grabbed the fish, and it starts smacking on another one. And then after it was done, it stood up because it was down on a like squatting down in this creek, and it had been like there was a hole in the creek, so it had been like four pp It it stood up and its head went way over the root mass of this birch tree, and it was like it hair was messy. It wasn't bear shapes, and it was like black skin, like jet black black hair like straight, but like kind of messy. And I could make out the because it had splashed water all over its face.

33:27 It was picking up some of the light and the sun was starting to set a little bit, so it was a little dark in the in that depression where the creek was at, but I could make out it like when it was looking at us. We were looking at him, and my brother was looking at me, and I looked at him and he was looking for She was just like, are we supposed to be running? You know? But I'm like just mesmerized by this thing. Like just it puts out its hands and it moves the branch out of the way so it could get a better look at me. And there's just like a little like birch branch. It just like huge long black fingers with a care on top of the on top of the hand just like just like gently like moves the branch out of the way. And I'm just getting a full glimpse of this guy's head and it and it's the pupils were dilated so big. It was like about the size of like a nickel like on each side, So it was it couldn't have been a person. It had to be one of those things, right, And it's like the hair is just crazy and it's looking I'm catching the light and I'm catching like the finer details like that the nose like had really flared nostrils, and uh, I almost thought it was a bare for a second because the nostrils were so flared. But they had like a bridge, a wide bridge on the nose and like the hairs on the on the cheek,

34:58 which is it was like a human face, uh, but just below like the cheek bone. The hairs came out to a point up to the nose and they were like a lot looser, a bit more wiry straight, uh and like with like a little bit of like you know, a little bit of water ripping off of them, just a little bit, but like it really like the moisture really picked up on this game, and was they're able to really see the gauntness of like the cheeks, those really lean like cheeks that they didn't have any He didn't have any fat on him. He was I guess he was hungry. But at that moment, I was like, Okay, even if it's not very we shouldn't be here. And my brother's like, we gotta get out of here. I was like, I looked at run and so we start running up the up the hill and that thing starts running too. Everyone's in the opposite direction, so it's like splashing through the creek. It gets onto the grass and then it gets super low.

36:01 It's like doing a spider crawl, and I could and like I get up to the top of the hill. It's only maybe like thirty yards right, so it's not very far off the road. I stopped to look and to see it, like I want to make sure I can see it as it was like coming out where it went. If I'm ever going in these woods again, I wanted to see where that thing was going and it and I got to see it, like how it moved through and it was like it's such such a long reach with the with the arms, and it was just using the trees and the saplings to sort of pull itself through the underbrush. It pulled its massive body underneath like this this nasty spruce tree, like a dried out spruce tree. I had tried to clap across that thing once or twice, and I like just get my shins all tore up, and I just stay off of that thing. That thing just busted through that just swimming, just swimming through the brush. And then it gets to the opposite bank and up next to the road and it climbs out and it is like massive, it's tall, hairy, like the whole thing was like it was just like head toe hair and not long hair, just really frazzy like short hair maybe three inches for the most part. The longest part the hair on the body was on the shoulders and on the top of the hands, a little bit up the forearms, the backside, like his his glutes, his

37:35 little buns, they were like massive actually there, and they were like covered in a consistent hair. And like he's just like one two like bounds and he's up this embankment and he's looking back at us and he just gets those roof he just gives like a that grunt, that keep away grunt, and he gives like about three of them, and he's like already running with his huge arms, that just long arms. And like what was incredible was like I could see I was shoulders because he was like slightly slouching. His shoulders were really droopy, really droopy, but they were super broad, and how he ran was like his body sort of narrowed and it really like slimmed down his profile when he was running because the mechanical I don't know, it's like his arms are swinging at an angle in front of him, and his legs were like like criss crossing in front of itself, and like he was like had it been like like fifty fifty yards within like six or seven steps, Like it was just like he was he was like leap running. Essentially, He's like douge dude, and he just gives out this ferocious howl. He's

39:06 like who, and like he just cuts into the woods right where we saw those tracks previously, and so I knew that that that's that was a big foot and that was like right where we were playing, and like like there there was no mistaking it. And like the whole time I'm looking at this, my brothers like yanking on me. We gotta go, we gotta go, And I'm like it's like focused on it, and like I snap out of it. We run inside, you know. I tell the family. They're like there's a debate, Like no, they're only down south, I heard, And like my Dad's like I've never seen anything or any of that.

39:49 He actually worked up in the gold mines up in the Tuckta Mountains and so he's been up in Hatcher Pass and all that stuff, and so he's been up in and around the whole area for decades before he came to him with this little story. So he didn't believe us one bit, and it was just like he just said, well, whatever it is, it ran away, it's not going to come back. And so I trusted him enough to just say, Okay, he did it, did run away, So that was gonna be it. Like I was not going to see anything about it. So then I sort of put it in the back of my mind and eventually, you know, you sort of forget about it a little bit and you move on with your life. And that part was sort of left me with, like, you know, you have the occasional nightmare here and there, but you know, you always gotta check, you know, like you always look over your shoulder. What year about did that happen? This was probably I would say this was about I would say nineteen ninety or nineteen ninety one, okay, yeah, and yeah, you're about white age again.

41:06 I am forty three now I'm about to be forty four, gotcha. Yeah, the I think a little while, like a few years later, I'm you know, I worked at the courage to still go into the woods and all that stuff, and like our friends, we all would go mess around in those woods. Even after all of that stuff. We're still bored, I guess. I would often take this trail that went between the two lakes, and it went diagonally towards a Wolf Lake, and that's a an old military reservation that's sort of like it's like butted up against the Takina Mountains and into right at the bit and the opening of Hatcher Pass and all that stuff. But what was I would often go up there and take my dog or whatever and go like grouse hunting with like a little twenty two. I did it all the time, and sometimes like this this time that I went, I ended up leaving my dog behind because I just didn't want them barking.

42:37 I just wanted them to like get the jump on the birds and you know, come home and everything. And like the dog got excited a lot, and he didn't like guns, and it was just a there was always a hassle. So I left the dog and as I this, this trail like cuts straight through the woods for the ways for a couple of miles and then it opens up to this clearing where I think they were like head for whatever reason, like cut out of whole swaths of trees, like for whatever reason they had, but like every time I passed this spot, I was like, I noticed that the mountain looked really close. I was like wondering if I could walk up and like actually get to that mountain, and like decided, you know what, today is the day I'm gonna do it.

43:37 And so you know, I'm I got my like I'm looking around making sure the coast is clear for me to just go off trail because it was so clear and you could see so far, and it just seemed like such an easy little pike to like poke around and explore. So I decided to just do it. I get to about two and a half three miles in, I get really I started to notice like the mountains getting pretty close, but it's so really far away, and maybe I ought to just turn back. I'd gotten too a lake and I was tired, and I was like, it's this is good enough, this is nat But I actually get back and I turned around. I'm like right next to this cluster of trees and I can it thins out at the point and there's like another cluster of trees like a little farther out and like than this like huge like clearing, like a huge field, and like I look over and I sees what seems like a guy, you know, he had a jacket, just sort of walking like a lanky looking guy, just walking through the field. And I in Alaska in general, like if you're out in the bush at any point, there's a possibility you might run into a trapper. Because like they did, they did to do like work the creek systems, and like they'll go up along

45:07 the mountains and like the backcountry. We'll be back with more big Foot society after these words from our sponsors, and like they'll they'll set some lines every now and then. Uh, And so I assume that's what it was, just a just a trapper or some guy hiking around. So this guy, he's he's walking like like he's really just like swinging his arms like he's really tired. He looks a little slouchy. And then but I can't quite make it up because like the moisture off of the grass and the sunlight was creating sort of like a mirage effect, and so it was distorting what I was seeing, So I couldn't quite make out a silhouette until he got really close and I realized it wasn't a guy, it was another one. It was another Sasquatch, and it's walking right at me, and I'm like, he doesn't see me because I'm just just out a line of sight behind this cluster of trees. I'm looking. It's like if I try to go that way, he's gonna see me and he might try to follow me home. And I didn't want that either, and so I just sort of hung back.

46:31 I waited, and I just had to really think, and I looked around make sure nobody else and the others were on me or something, or if I wasn't getting surrounded in any way, and it looked like it was just just a alone one just walking through. And I didn't want to, like me too aggressive or anything like that. I just realized, like I just have to be really calm and cool. It's like it's like, you know, you run into it like a bear, you go bear rules. Just be real, calm, ever real like stern voice, and just look big. And that's all I could do because all I had on me was like a little twenty two rifle. It was a little one of Apache. I think it was a Remedy Team apatche, but I only had like three or four rounds left from like like missing shots, and so I didn't. I had no way to defend myself. Really, I was really flapping in the wind, and I'm just like sort of make a decision to just just hang back a second and just see where this thing goes, and I might not have to deal with it. And I decided to. Like what my dad taught me was like when we were attracting caribou, you can go up to the herd and if you just like slowly squat down, they won't like see you right away and they'll think you're part of the terrain. And so I did that, and because like they're not pretty animal like he saw me.

48:02 He saw me do this move and then he immediately stops, looks and he just starts like makes a straight b line straight for me, and he's running on like this. He's covering ground like crazy, like like it looked like a football player like just rushing me. And then all of a sudden, it's it gives like a bound and a bound and then it leaps. It did like a long dromp essentially, but like farther than like you're like a normal long jomp. It was like it must have been like twice twice the distance, but like it jumps, it lands and immediately goes into like a spider crawl position, and it is like puffing its its cheeks and just breathe in and like looking around and like like what's going on? Like like like it was clear that I was not supposed to be there, and it was it was trying to like size me up and try to figure out what to do with me because I wasn't I wasn't moving. I stood back up, let him see me, and it was just like keeps looking at me.

49:14 Then he looked at the trees behind me, and then he's looking at me like he looks the trees behind me. I look over and I see as soon as I break eye contact with him, he looks at me again and he starts with his long arms. He starts to pull himself through. He starts moving. I was like, no, don't do it, don't do it. And he looks again and he like SLINKs in there. You can sear him just like crashing and I could see his arms grabbing like branches as he's like pulling in like sort of like swinging through and then like just crashing through the woods. And I was like, all right, I'm going as I'm going, and I start walking. I don't I don't run, but I'm like walking briskly to the to the other cluster of woods. And as soon as I get to the next cluster woods, I start running. And so as soon as I get out the clearing of this cluster of woods, he's already running up to the next cluster woods in front of me. He's already ready to intercept me, like he'd beat me to like the next field over. And it was just I was thinking he was just still like messing around, about to come out of the bush or out of those trees behind me, start chase me that way. But he didn't. He backtracked.

50:42 He went all the way around and like caught up with me, and he was ready. He was looking. He yanked a tree, He yanked the tree cleaned down. He just broke the branch right off. He's like rocking and he's just like trying to just keep his I guess, keep his composure. But he's crocking and he's like getting real huffy, and I'm just like walking again. I'm like looking at him, making eye contact. He's looking at me, and then he looks over again. And I see what he's gonna do. And like there's a choke point where there's a cluster trees on the left and the one he was at was on the right, and there was like this thin point where they come together, as about fifteen feet separation between the two, and I had to go through that, and so I start walking as fast, briskly, as fast as I can, and he darts into the wood and they can hear him just like crashing through and about midway he pops his head up and it's and then he pops it back down, and I get through past the choke point, and I can hear him crashing behind me, and I'm looking over my shoulder at him to see what what's about to happen, and like he gets within like ten feet of me, and he just stops. It goes dead silent, just dead silent, and I'm like thinking I'm about to die or get ripped apart or whatever, and like he was on me and he just stopped, and I just kept

52:15 walking and walking, and there was another big cluster and all of a sudden, I hear him. They come out and he's running to the next cluster of trees. But this one's much bigger. And I get in there and it's like a longer stretch and there's like a little like clearing inside that cluster of trees, and he's right there, right in the middle of it, and there's like trees like snapped over and bent and like something he's been thrashing. Well obviously it's been thrashing around in there, and that's that was his little spot. And I'm walking through essentially his living room, and he's like hanging on there and like he's like just chomping his teeth and like I can't see that's his top teeth, but his bottom teeth we're sticking out a little bit. And he's just like looking at me, and I'm trying to maintain eye contact with him and just to be as assertive as possible. And it broke eye contact with me, and it looked down and it's still like puffing itself up, but it's not making like it's like retreating its eye contact with me. And like looking back, I'm like, I shouldn't have been doing that. I shouldn't have been like making like direct eye contact like that.

53:25 But it happened to work in that situation. But most primates. It's like a challenge, and usually that means you're you're behind, you know, But as I as I passed through, he's just sort of like rocking back and forth. And I passed through and there's a clearing just the field and I can see the trail and I get to the trail and I'm like about hyperventilate, and I'm like, but I have to like run, It's time to run, and like I'm breathing. I got my hands on my knees and I can im looking down and I'm seeing like scattered bone piles of like like moose that had been like killed like previous summers. Like there was a lot of bones, and I'm just standing on top of this kill, these multiple kill piles, and I'm like, I really have to get out of there.

54:17 So I ran the hardest I ever ran in my life down that trail and got through, and like never mentioned it to anybody, and like, I don't know, it's just I think I compartmentalized the whole situation because I remember going there, but I didn't but it was always like broken up memories and I'd never really made the connection of what had happened. I like I think I blacked it out and I only remembered it until it well, like like last month when my wife had was talking to me and we're driving the car and there was like the background of the light and like something something about the situation just like like created a snowball effect where I started to remembering stuff and then like all of a sudden, I'm like really like piecing things together and it just like all just like like hit me. Like I experienced this part and like I had didn't have any recollection up until just then of this part that that that happened, because like I had remembered walking through the woods and like all this stuff. But like the most intense part was like the the close up when when I was in that clearing where he was like making

55:49 eye contact with me. He couldn't have been more than like twenty feet away, and like the light was like dappled, and but you know you could see like his his whole like the fair pattern was crazy. He had like like a blonde patch on the front side of his around like the brim of his face, his the skin on his face was was was blotchy and like freckly kind of the hair was like a like a rich red there the head came up to a point, you know, the classic sasquatch look. But like a lot of what I've seen in like a lot of the drawings, this guy didn't have. It was more like lanky, uh, just so muscular, but like elongated muscles, you know, like a like a like a like a long tube like there you could see the muscles were there, but it was not like big bulge muscles. They were just strong, long muscles. And like his reach was crazy. That guy I believe he was probably like about nine or ten feet tall. Uh. But the that that was, that was that was probably the most intense moment, I mean of

57:19 my life. But it uh, it had left me with like I'd always often have like these these nightmares of like big Foot coming to get me. I didn't understand why until it was like I had like started piecing things together and it and it really is shocking, like how much my brain had like compartmentalized everything about it. And yeah, I don't know, it's just uh with the with a lot of this stuff, it it always kept a leveling of anxiety. You know, every time you go camping, anytime you go out there's always like they might they might be out there and they might be just right next to you, you know, and it's it's it's unsettling because it's if they if they wanted to, they like you couldn't. There's nothing you could do to like really stop them. And uh, but like the the personality, it's like there was a difference in personality I would say between the two, Like yeah, the black the black skinned one, the black third one was very like very aloof, very shy. But this the red

58:57 one with the blonde. Uh patches, he also had patches on his chest, but like the patchwork on on that one was crazy. But like the personality is more more aggressive. We'll be back with more bigfoot society after these words from our sponsors. Way more aggressive. It maybe I just surprised him and that's why he was aggressive. But like it just he was very much showing himself to me, and like it it seemed like to to like polar opposites in terms of like personality. Josh, thank you for I mean that that is probably the most intense encounter I've I've heard, I would say across the board. I mean, first off, thank you for being vulnerable enough to share that that that is extremely extreme intense and no one would ever blame you for not going into the woods or camping by yourself ever. Like that's hands down the best reason not to. I mean, I totally understand how you're camping in groups now, and and it sounds like you're you're working through it, which is which is great. Yeah. Yeah, it's like I do have to like remember that, like as much as like there's like an

1:00:29 anxiety about like like not wanting to do things, I have to do things for my daughter in order for her to like really grow up and like be like like like a happy, healthy person, you know, and like and sometimes you just got to invite the big one and just like sort of deal with it and not sort of quit that that that terror or that fear in her. But just like a health, a healthy respect is what that was what I'm trying to get for her. But like it's it's real hard to like just like keep it together when you're like you know, it's like you're just you're exposed, you know, absolutely when you're going through that that whole situation with the creature chasing you. Thinking back to that time period, if you had to say, would you say you were getting more human like characteristics or a plate characteristics or was it something completely different than the two. I would say I've I've I've seen like people exhibit those those those behaviors, but like in terms of like like a connection, like we were both Like I

1:02:00 would say, it's more on the human side, Like it's just like the intelligence level was there, like the spark was there, and like, but the way I look at it, it's like we have all these modern conveniences. We can do a lot of things because we have machines to help us do it, and with them, it's like none of that. So you're you. You can run faster, you can leap farther, you can move quicker, you can grab things quicker. You can get low, and you can crawl and you can climb, and you can do all the things you need to survive and get up on like whatever you're trying to get. But to do that in like a subarctic environment where the winters are so harsh, like no clothes on, but like it's crazy, but like if you look at the fur and all that stuff, it's just it's just they've adapted to just being outside but they're the the feet and like the hands, everything is very human, but the proportions are like like much tolerant. If I would I was like looking through like all the hominid species and like the like I would say, like if I were to guess, I would say, it's summer between like Homo habilists and Homo erectus, but with like the height of

1:03:30 like chromagnun so like you like ten twelve feet tall, but like still very like the face was like the bone structure and all that stuff, and like like it did have like like eight features, but it was more human than eight. It's like just a little human. It's like just our side of on the evolutionary tree. It's just but massive, like tall, massive and incredibly powerful. But the but the spark of intelligence, the fact that he intercepted me, he knew what I was doing. And we're and caught up in this cat and mouse game of like just observing each other and trying to maintain distance and all that stuff, and we're engaging each other. You can't get that with like a bear or anything like that or care but they're they'll run or they'll they'll charge you. But this was totally different, Like he could charge me, but he didn't because he wanted to observe me and we're both that this weird like standoff and it was that. But just just knowing that like they're he was consciously letting me slide, you know, like he could have he could have reached out and just snatched me up in a second

1:05:05 like it, but he didn't. And so I think that that's that makes me feel better, like in some ways that there's like a certain level of consciousness to where like they're not just killing machines, like they're intelligent thinking creatures. Like it feels more like more like a person than an animals, just like a superhuman. Yes, wow, I mean that that encounter alone, I think he'd be set for you know, the rest of your life.

1:05:45 I mean hopefully, I mean, I hope that's the worst thing that you've ever gone through. That was that had been extremely rough. Well, I mean I went out to out here in Oregon the like after I did a little you know, you do do your research. You start looking at things and start piecing things together, and you start to realize like how much signs you were overlooking. And then once you once once you start like once the veil is like like removed and you're really looking and see what things for what they are. I was out in sun River just previous weekend and I left my phone in the truck and it was pitch black out there. There's not a lot of light out there. It's like way out in the country.

1:06:43 It's just south of Bend, kind of high desert, real dry, and I figured I was like pretty safe because it seems like they like to like hang out in like wet places and the creeks and whatnot. But it just something about it, like that pitch black. What I did was I just gave a little like whistle just to see if anything would react, and I could hear it like something, and something started moving right towards me at an angle from like one hundred yards out like in the woods, stopping right before the road, and then like like three or four steps, was like about thirty feet like just something huge. It was like got to me. And then it was like starting to circle around me. And I said, I'm not about to be like go fumbling from my phone, and with the pitch black behind me, with a monster in the darkness, I was like, all right, I'll get my phone tomorrow and I shut the blinds because closed every single curtain in that cabin, and like just like I said, nobody's going outside and be like why something out there? And like you know, you don't, you can't. You can't really just like break down and explain all this stuff to somebody that's has never experienced it, right, And so but like after that, like during that whole week, you know, like

1:08:17 at one point we're coming home from dinner and my daughter and my wife fort like adding and talking about whatever, and like in the distance, I can I can hear something over by the river just going m m mmm, like just giving like a like a gentle like like who sound. And it wasn't like a bird. It was like a primate, right, and but it was like a couple of miles down the road, but like you could hear it, and like I'm it's like you don't. I don't want to like just sort of spoil the fun to say, hey daddy, here's some noises in the in the distance, like everybody's having a good time. I'm not going about to spoil the party. But like I went and checked out the I like to frequent the Bigfoot sightings like blotter map. I have them on my it's an ArcGIS dot com. Oh yeah, it's big bigfoot sightings in density of the US with bioms. Let's let's see tell you about I'll send you the link. But I checked the down here in Oregon. I checked the cabin and like not maybe like about a mile a mile and a half

1:09:51 two miles away, there was two like reported sightings just just south of the cabin. So it wasn't just like something in my head. I was just hearing things like stepping around and maybe it's just me being paranoid because I saw so much, but it was like close enough and in like there was like two sidings and they both are in line and like with the cabin, so like I was clearly in the path of whatever it would be coming through, and like so it confirmed to me like it had to be that, like if I'm hearing the hoots and I can hear it step and it's got massive, you know how you can, like with cadence, you can like you don't have to see it, but you can hear it and you can tell that it's like it's big and sort of like I'm able to look not seeing it. I'm tracking it through the darkness, right, But it like it confirmed to me, like yeah that I was right. They're out there.

1:11:02 It's okay, and like you know, nothing happened, but you know, it's it's just you realize, like with all the I've been watching, I've been listening to your show for for a bit, and it's like there's just so many sightings and they're all over the place. And and I see these shows where they they they're they're going deep, deep into the mountains and like getting reaction shots and like trying to like hunt down this thing. And and I don't think they need to go that far. Like a lot of people that find them are just like in their local park, like just off the trail, you know, or like some do some are way up in the mountains. But it's like it's wherever there's water and wherever there's food, they're probably there. It's, uh, you know, it's like it's out of your control, right, so you can't you can't do anything about it, but like you know, live your life. And so I've just been sort of like trying to use that to the like cumfort myself. Really, I've been trying to to think in my mind to how to categorize you, Josh, because it's it's very interesting because it's almost like so I would say, it's like you're a hunter, but you've had your eyes opened and you're very

1:12:34 aware of what really is out in the woods. I don't know is that would you agree with that? Or do you have to be you kind of have to be a hunter. So I was like sort of like so like like you can't just like go out and looking for bigfoot because you're overlooking the science. Like you you gotta know how to track it, like judge of the wind. You gotta know where you're standing, like what's around you, and just that alone, like you should be able to, like if you hear something outside the tent, you should be able to identify what it sounds, like what it is and where it's at and if you should be asleep or if you should be like pulling the safety off and like wait for the big show. You know. But it's yeah, I would say that that that's definitely like a good way to categorize it. The the whole the whole thing is just like I when I when I look because I grew up caribou hunting, we'd be glassing up on kills out in the tundra, and like if I'm out hunting with other people from say from the Lord forty eight, I'm I'm looking at deer that are like five miles away up on a hill hilltop, and I'm able to see him move around, and it's like there's a deer and they're like, what are you talking about? And they have to pull up the glasses and see it, and then it's like, yeah,

1:14:08 he's right, caw. And like when you're hunting for moose, they like to hide and like in the thick cuts of like spruce, like black spruce, and like they blend in really well. And so you have to like when you're driving down the road, you have to look for tracks along the road, but you also have to look into into the woods and you're sort of like studying as you as you cruise by. You got to look for anything that looks out of place, and like you're studying as you go, and then like after a while, like you you do it instinctively, you don't. Like when I was a kid, it was real hard. It's really taxing on the brain to do all that stuff. But after a while it becomes second nature and then you're just just seeing things. And and now I'm at this point, yeah, where like because I've been raised hunts, I'm able to notice more and a lot of things are overlooked that are like just right under your nose. Like you probably had ten encounters and you didn't even know it, you know, But yeah, it's fascinating to think about. I don't think you're too far off. I mean, yeah, it's how many things are happening when we're out in there woods. We're just not looking at the signs the right way. Totally agree. Oh, one trick I've I've learned that really helps is if you you go camping, just

1:15:41 like if don't don't start a fire, just put your back against a tree and just sit there and just at night and just let let everything sort of happen. And you're just quietly sitting there and letting nature walk by, all the little creatures coming through, like is it a field mouse or is it a damn trap? You know? Uh, your brain switches on and you notice a whole lot more after you do that. And I'm going to say the next time you do go go camping, just do that, Just like sit in the darkness and like let your night vision sort of take over and just sort of listen to the sounds and don't talk. Just listen, listen and see smell, and your brain switches on you and like after that, you can smell more, you can see more. You just more aware.

1:16:35 I think it would if you're if you're in a city a lot, there's so much stimulation going on, your brain just goes numb to everything, and so you gotta stop and unlike shut down and just like sort of be present in what's happening right now. That's that's fascinating to think about. I think I will be definitely taking taking that advice. Josh. This has been a very interesting chat, and thank you for being, you know, again vulnerable enough to share what's happened to you over the years. It's incredible, incredible encounters. Man. Yeah, it's like it's still you know, I'm still like piecing more together, but like you know, at some point you just have to like move on and just like let it happen. You know, like these things happened and it's okay. And if a lot of people they're they're skeptics, they're always going to be skeptics. They're just those people you just like, they don't even spend your wheels, Like, don't worry to waste your time on them. If they're if they're here, they're listening, they've seen it. There's enough people Eventually the skeptics will will change their tune once some some satisfying evidence is is presented. But like there's just too much going on for people not to like say, Okay, there's something going on, you know, hmm. Absolutely, If anything does, I mean,

1:18:14 if you're fortunate to have additional things happen to you in the future, please, by all means reach out. I would love to chat with you again. But it's been a really fun and enlightening time talking to tonight. Josh. Oh yeah, I'm just glad you, you know, gave me the opportunity because like it's that's not men just like spout off, you know. Yeah, thank you for hearing here. A big Foot Society article is to provide a platform for those that have encountered Bigfoot to share their encounter in a safe and respected environment. But we need to hear your story. If you've experienced something that you just can't explain. Please send me an email at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com. Then we can start the conversation. And I know a lot of you have not shared your encounter at all. It's been twenty years and it's time that you get this off your chest and then you can get some well deserved for rest, because I know you haven't been sleeping.

1:19:19 I understand what you're going through, and I appreciate every one of you listening