What We Saw Wasn't Human — And It Wouldn't Stop Coming | Michigan

0:00 You're listening to Big for Society and I'm Jeremiah Byron. Tonight's account is from an individual that shared what happened to him and his sister when they were two little kids out picking blueberries in the quiet forest of Ascota, Michigan. What happened on the trail in front of them. This is Richie's story about the creature that wouldn't stop. So stay with us, all right, Pig for Society. But the privilege of talking to Richie today. Richie's an individual got connected to that had an interesting thing happened to him over on the eastern side of Michigan up there, kind of in the north, not in the up but you know, we'll talk about that in a little bit. But Richie, welcome to the show today.

0:47 How's it going man, So far, so good. Jeremiah yourself doing great. Always a good time when I'm able to chat with someone in the afternoon about what they've experienced. This is an interesting area. Listeners might remember if you're looking at a map that we have talked to an individual over there in Glenny before. That's actually one of the most listened episodes of the podcast. But this time we are focusing on a town called Oscota over there on the well edge of lake here on it looks like so Richie, I'm going to go ahead, though, and I want to pass things over to you so that you have the time to share what you experienced. Feel free to take us back to that day, anything that we need to know to help set the stage and the floors.

1:43 User Well, again, this was. Nineteenth July August nineteen seventy one, but latest, I mean, might have been a year earlier. But my oldest sister and I were blueberry picking in the woods of Uskota. She was breaking my chops a little bit because I was actually picking more blueberries than her and kind of giving me a hard time. And at one point, when I'm looking over at her, showing her that I still have more berries than her, I saw something walking up the trail towards us. And it clearly wasn't human, but it was walking upright, and I just know, I said, well, what is that?

2:24 And again it wasn't. It wasn't walking scary, It was just it was just walking. It was just out taking a walk. And but as soon as my sister her name was Christy, as soon as she looked over at it. She boom. I mean, she freaked, she screamed, she said run, and she grabbed me, and you know, and of course I always reacted to how she would react to something. Of course I would probably over the top. So there we are together, just running and screaming up the trail away from this thing and excuse me. And once it was out of sight, she's like, she stopped and she said, well, let's maybe it's not following us anymore. And so we just kind of looked up the path behind us, and then all of a sudden, there's this head, there's a shoulders, there's this way that's coming towards us.

3:07 Still, but it's just walking nice, it's just walking. Casually, but still, you know, we turned around and headed towards the main road, just running and screaming. When we got back to the main road, we sort of ran and. Walked back to our cottage where our parents were, and they didn't believe us. They you know, by that time, I'm the only thing that I had ever seen that looked remotely like that was King Kong from the nineteen thirty three version. So I'm thinking, well, it must have been a gorilla. And of course, you know, my dad's like, Rich, there's no gorillas in the United you know, there's no gorillas. But you know, I'd never heard a big foot. At that time. But they didn't believe us, no matter how freaked out we were, and my sister and I would kind of talk about it on and off during the years.

3:55 And again it was years later. I was watching the Steve or the six Million Dollar Man Bigfoot episode with Andre the Giant playing Bigfoot, and I'm like, I think that's what we saw, and well, and that just kind of from there. It sparked an interest in bigfoot. I would go to the library and whatnot and I'm like, that's what we saw. I know, that's what we saw. And she would kind of not really get into it or I didn't even want to accept it until we were both adults much years later and said, yeah, that's probably what we saw. She still thinks it was going to eat us. I think we missed out on an opportunity.

4:37 That's that's pretty much it. What was the opportunity you feel that you missed out on. I just again, the bigfoot was just walking towards us, very casually, and I just think that maybe. It saw us as just a couple of kids. You know, maybe again, you know, I've I've read certain things where you know, Bigfoot kind of knows that, you know, human beings can be kind of cruel and this and that, but not so much kids. And I think it just saw us as just a couple of kids, and maybe it was just going to walk by us and smile or whatnot and just continue on its way, because it was coming our way. And even after we stopped to look back, like I said, it was still just it was just casually walking.

5:25 But again, it was black hair all over, our dark hair all over. Even from that distance you could see there was hair all. I mean, it had that kind of. Kind of a gorilla shaped head and yeah, very long arms. And again, you know, my sister and I we you know, we still talk about it. After I found that that bigfoot Facebook site where I put our story. You know, she she loved it, and she's like, yeah, that's exactly how I remember it even now. Except again, you know, she thought that bigfoot men is meant to do us. Arm But. Wow, that that is extremely interesting. So you got, at least for a few seconds, a pretty good view of the face of whatever was of what was coming towards you?

6:14 Right, Yeah, I would say maybe maybe it was maybe fifty yards you know, away from us. And again the trail was kind of hilly, I guess you could say, because again, once we ran just a little bit, you know, I mean, we couldn't see it because it wasn't just a flat trail, and all of a sudden, you know, we could just see like it's head, shoulders, et cetera, just. Kind of coming back towards us. But again, you know, it had hair all over its head and around its chin, and you know, it had it had hair all over it. It was not a person, even at that age, you know, I mean we would have recognized her because it had it been a person, we wouldn't have been running the way we did. You know, there's someone coming, well, we're just picking bluebear. But no, this was this was not a person.

7:04 Absolutely. I found that something I struggle with and I'm trying to get better, whether it is how to visualize distances, right, And so when we say fifty yards away, if I'm to look that up real quick, it's it's the similar It's similar to the length of two swimming pool lengths. Would that be pretty accurate. Yeah, maybe, yeah, gotcha, gotcha? Probably very good. But I mean again, it was close enough to see that it had hair all over its head, and again it was it had no clothes on. You know, it was close enough for me to make that detail when I first SAWT coming. Because again when I first saw coming at us.

7:49 You know, I didn't feel any fear at first. I just thought, well, what the heck is that? So when I and then I asked her, and of course Chris got real intense and yeah, and. I I, like I said back then, I always fed off her. Emotions absolutely, And I'm trying to picture that myself. And I believe if I had seen something too swimming pool lengths away, I'd be able to see some details as well. From what you remember, and I do know this is years ago, but do you remember any other details about the face? Could you see eyes at all or eye details? Not so much eye details at all. But again, once we got back to our parents and I kind of cooled down a little bit, and it just to me.

8:37 The head, it kind of. It was shaped sort of like the way King Kong's was in the nineteen thirty I mean, that was my first thought that Oh, it must have been a gorilla, you know, because at that time I didn't know that gorillas didn't walk on two feet because King Kong did. But it definitely hit hair all the way around his face, all over its head and again it was hairy basically from head to toe. Gotcha. You say the hair was all over the face. Were you able to see the nose at all? Or was that covered with hair as well? Well? I think like I think like the very center if if what I remember, there was some detail there was less hair like around the nose and whatnot, because it looked like the middle of the head there was not.

9:30 So much hair. But the way it was, the hair was around the top of the head and around like underneath like the chin and whatnot. It Yeah, it wasn't human he or she wasn't he. Absolutely. Were you able to see any teeth that during any part of this? No? Okay, no, gotcha? Gotcha? And how would you describe the neck of the creature if that was something you were able to notice? Well, again, it to me, if I remember, it looked like it was almost real beefy in the shoulder areas where you couldn't really see the neck and it had longer arms than what we had, we as humans have, but it looked like it was kind of real beefy around the shoulder are you know, almost like a bodybuilder when they have those big muscles between the shoulder and the neck.

10:26 So I didn't really notice the neck. It just looked like there was just big shoulders than the head. And yeah, gotcha, it's thinking of long arms. Absolutely, those arms that we just mentioned. How far down then would the hands go if they were like on the side of the body. It almost I would say, close close to the knees. I mean it was because I know mine's maybe to my thigh, but it it definitely looked again like the arms were longer than a human being. Because again right away, that was the first thing that I recall thinking, well, what is that?

11:07 Yeah, absolutely, it is a kind of a weird question. But you know, thinking back in your memory and what you saw of the head shape of the creature, was the size of it similar to any household objects that you might be able to think of. M No, not really, okay, gotcha, not really, no problem. Was there anything that you notice that you know, the years since you've gotten into some bigfoot related things right, you've watched some stuff, you've ft some stuff. Probably is there anything that you remember from that day that you're like, Man, all these other people they're getting it wrong. They're not getting this one thing that we noticed during this blueberry picking session.

11:58 Well, again it was I just I think it was the calmness of the whole situation except for my sister and me. But again, this thing, it was just walking at a nice pace. There's no way that I just don't believe that this animal had meant us any harm. And so for anyone that maybe had has a horror story or that you know, again watched that Under the Giant six million dollar Man episode, you know, this wasn't like that. The thing was just it was just just walking. It was just out for a walk. That brings up a great thing to talk about. So thinking back about what you saw that day, would it fit more like you're walking down the street and you see it walk by you or is this something that you would have seen in a zoo?

12:48 Perhaps, Well, I mean it it definitely is I guess you could say, almost like in the zoo, but it was it definitely wasn't walking, It wasn't human, but it was walking. It was walking intelligent. It was just it just it definitely had to have seen us, and it was just it was just walking up right, mind, and it wasn't I'd swear to it that it didn't mean us any harm. A lot of people will say that it seemed to work.

13:31 It seemed to walk with purpose, which yeah, kind of goes with what you're saying as well. Was there anything out of the ordinary about the way that it walked or was it pretty normal looking? Well, since it was the first one I'd seen anything like that I'd ever seen, I mean they were I mean normal, didn't really fit in. But and I wish, I mean, had we not just taken off running and screaming the way we did, I could have. But it just yeah, I mean it it knew where it was going, and it was just again, my sister and I were out there early enough in the day to where, you know, we knew it was going to be just us. No you know, nobody else, no adults out there, it was going to be just us. And yeah, again, without being too redundant, it was just it just seemed like it was out on a stroll. I mean, maybe it had a purpose. It was going someplace specific, but that trail actually again, we were maybe a mile maybe three quarters of a mile to a mile in on this trail that led to the main road. So maybe at some point it was going to get off that trail and had back.

14:51 Into the woods. But you know, who's to say, Like I said, I just I feel like. We just kind of missed an opportunity by running and screaming the way we did. Sure, yeah, absolutely, was there anything else happening that day before you had the visual sighting that kind of tipped you off to like, Okay, something weird is about to happen. No, not at all. It was, like I said, my sister was. She was real, kind of real competitive. And you know again she's like, come on, I'm going to pick more blueberries than you today. And we we were up before our parents, and you know, we let him know we're heading out, we're going across because our cottage was right on Van Netting Lake. Across the street was the woods and basically we would walk I don't know a ways up the main road before we would hit that trail where we were where all.

15:46 The blueberries would be growing. And you know, again, the whole time she was just kind of giving me, I'm going to pick more than you today. I'm gonna you know, bah da da da dah. So it was, I mean, you know, we were all fired up. You know, I was gonna pick more on her, She's gonna pick more than me. And as once we got going started picking them, my bucket was a little more full than hers. So she's kind of given me attitude. And at one point I'm just kind of rubbing in her face. And that's again when I saw what I saw walking up the trail, and yeah, and when she saw it, things went differently. And again by the time we got back to the main road after running and screaming like a little couple of little banshees, she had more blueberries in her bucket than I did.

16:30 What would you say is the main thing you remember that makes you think, Yes, what we saw that day was a bigfoot and not like a bear that was there trying to get blueberries as well. The way it was walking. I mean, a bear, a bear's got those short legs when they're when they or at least all the bears I've seen in like the movie The Edge and whatnot, when they stand up and you can hear a bear growling? And this and that, this thing was just walking and it it wasn't a bear. And again, I don't know why a bear would have been walking on just two legs that far away from.

17:12 Us, makes sense. Have you ever been back to that same spot since that time? Oh? Yeah, we pretty much would go there every year until about nineteen seventy seven, that's yeah. And oh yeah, I would go back there. Yeah. I would go up that trail almost at least once every year after that until, like I said, about nineteen seventy seven, and. Nope, never never saw it again. In the time afterwards where you started to look into different media related to the subject, did you ever start to look in to see if other people had had similar encounters in the same area.

18:05 No, I didn't, Like I said, I got a little. It was funny. I always knew where our public library was from the year before because the year before the year before I saw that Steve that six Manion dollar Man episode, the movie Jaws came out, so I was just hooked on reading about great Whites. And then of course after seeing the the six Manion dollar Man episode, I had to go back and because I think this is what we saw. And but no, as far as anyone else from USC go to, I don't know. I never heard of any other anyone else talking about having seen bigfoot in those woods.

18:47 That's extremely interesting. Do you feel that this encounter you had as a young child affected you in any other ways besides starting to be really focused on BIGFOOTE years? Well, I just I would love to go back to that area. I mean, I I I know that from what I understand, that whole area has been developed and it's just homes now. But uh, you know, I always felt like, man, I should I should go back there one day. I should. I don't know if I'll ever make it back up good again. But yeah, I mean yeah, I thought. I think about that a lot. It's uh, like I said, it's a it's a very lucid, clear memory. Uh, I know what I saw. And again, my sister, I mean.

19:35 She may have. She has a little bit more of a it was a ferocious story than me, but that's just you know, she saw it differently, I mean I and again, but she knows that she agrees that it wasn't a per it was not a person. Uh. You mentioned that you had a discussion with your parents about this as a child. They didn't leave you did. Did you happen to have a discussion about that with them when you were an adult as well? Oh? Oh yeah, yeah. Well, like I said, after after that six million dollars Man episode, I remember, because I do.

20:20 Actually I wasn't watching it with my sister, but I did watch it with my dad, and I'm like, you know what, I think, that's what Chris and I saw that time up in nov Kota. And he didn't take me seriously at first. And when I you know, explained to him what happened that day again, he's like, oh that again ya da da da dah. You said that was a gorilla, now it's a big foot. Well, which is that? Make up your mind? I'm like, well, you know, I was a little kid then I didn't I didn't know what a big foot was. And but no, he dad didn't. He dad didn't believe in like UFOs or you know, he just he didn't believe in bigfoot, so and. He just wasn't going to believe in it. Uh. I think we may have talked about it once, like when I was in my twenties, and uh, but again he would just always brush it off as no, you guys did not see a bigfoot. You know, you were a little kids, you didn't know what you saw. Well, that's right, I didn't know what I saw. But as I got older, I realized what I saw.

21:16 And it's not like the memory is just as clear today as you know. Again, I just I remember, I can still kind of feel my throat hurting from all the you know, all the darn screaming I did. So yeah, I can. I know what that's like. Uh yeah, yeah, I've talked about that before on the show and talking to a parent and they just nope, don't want to deal with it. But anyways, some people, when they have experiences like this, they'll have other experiences later in life. Is that anything that's happened to you where you've had maybe not other Bigfoot related things happened, but things that are just out of the ordinary or weird.

22:06 Well, up at that same cottage, about three cottages down from where the cottage was in Oscota, some relatives of my father died. And yeah, there were times as a little kid at night, if let's say, my folks would be out on the lake fishing, and my sisters were kind of watching me or whatnot, and I'm just kind of out playing. Sometimes I would hear weird sounds from this one cottage that are or are distance relatives. I guess they died in it. And there was one time I was by that cottage and. I heard a really weird it. Almost it sounded like a person, but like a person in pain, and God, what is that? And all of a sudden I saw my dad kind of walking around from the other side. And he was not the kind of guy that would mess with a kid like that.

22:56 So I just remember asking, did you hear that? Did you hear that? And he's like here, what And and again I know I heard something. I don't know if that is in any way connected to the big Foot sighting. Again, they were both around the same time, very very early nineteen seventies. That is that is that is very interesting. It makes you almost you know, wonder if it's a thing where maybe you guys are more receptive to things, or you know, maybe he did hear it, and he's just you know, not wanting to to say.

23:37 That he did. You know, that's that's all speculation, but it's that's very interesting. Yeah, so you have multiple things happening in this cabin area that are weird. Yeah, but yes, and os go to Michigan and again the cottage was right on Van Netton Lake. The cottage where we would stay. Again, the cottage where I heard the weird sounds like, I don't know, it was like three cottages down, but it was still on the net Lake, directly across the street from the other side from the woods where we saw Bigfoot. Uh, yeah, gotcha. And are those still in the family or or not?

24:18 I know, by nineteen seventy seven, my dad's family had sold both that property off and. Well that was it. We just we never went back yet, you know after that. Yeah, makes sense. I'm sure that you've thought over the years about that visual sighting you've you've had, and so many people, you know, they're like, oh, man, I wish I had that as well. But is that anything that you would like to ever repeat, ever have a sighting like that again? Oh, one hundred percent, I would, because again, I just feel like we missed out an opportunity we could have possibly you know, I mean, who who in this workause, Hey I I high fived or wash your cands, or I touched the big Foot and I think and again, the thing was just walking towards us. It had it was, It meant us no harm, and it wasn't afraid of us, just from the way it was walking towards us. I mean, I'm sure by the time we started running and screaming for the second time, it was probably laughing its butt off at us. But other than that, no, I would love to have had would have another chance to cross paths with a bigfoot.

25:32 I'm trying to think of how to say or ask this. Do you have any advice for those individuals that might be putting themselves in the situation where they're trying to have a visual sighting and what to do if they do ever have that sighting. I would say, don't be afraid, and I would say don't run away if you know, I that's that would be for me, because again, you know, looking back, I only got afraid because again I would always you know, it didn't matter if it was an angry situation back then, you know, because my sister was kind of like my boss, you know, because if the parents, my parents were like out on the lake fishing that.

26:17 Night, she was in charge of me. You know, if we were back home, because we were raised in Lancing, Michigan. If we were back home and it was summertime and folks were working, she was the boss. She was in charge of me. It was just that's how that was. So I would always kind of react to how she reacted. But I just remember when I first saw it walking towards us, I didn't feel any fear at all. I knew it wasn't a person. And that's why I asked her, what is that walking towards us? Because you know, she's the oldest sister. She would know. And of course she reacted the way she did, and I reacted to how she How she acted.

26:57 Is a question I have about your sister is kind of tricky because you know she's not here, but just here, maybe you'll be an answer. Maybe not in either way is no problem. But you know, this definitely affected you in a way where you got interested in the subject. Did it affect her as well? Do you think? I know? You maybe when her and I were both in our early twenties, you know, I mean, she's starting out raising a family and whatnot, and I'm. Work, you know, start in the workplace and whatnot. And I think it was one time we were on the phone, and because she lived in Michigan, I lived here by then, and I think I kind of mentioned it, remember that time at the cottage, you know, when we saw Bigfoot, and you know, yeah, she just didn't want to talk about I didn't want to hear about it then.

27:49 But over the years, especially since the Internet and whatnot is you know, kind of taken over our lives. You know, I'll text her or email our photos or videos of this that like, this is what we saw and she doesn't mind talking about it now, and you know, and again, her memories pretty much match mind, other than the fact that she thinks that Bigfoot wanted to have us for breakfast. Gosha, So she had a different interpretation, which is Bigfoot wanted to have you for breakfast. But it sounds like you were kind of looking at it a little a little differently. Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, it's very interesting. You mentioned before that you've tried to share this a few times, and there's been a lot of people that haven't believed you over the years, and maybe there's been some ridicule involved, which is definitely unfortunate. Why would you.

28:53 I love this? Sorry about that, You're good you're good. Why would you decide now to to come on a a larger platform to share something that's gotten you ridiculed in the past. Well, it's because it's for one, it's true. I'm not lying about it. It's true. I mean. And again, when I found I, you know, facebook's kind of you know, I don't I just had Facebook for years just to kind of post photos on this and that, and then you find these groups, and just within just this year, I found a. Bigfoot group and I thought, well, that's interesting, and.

29:33 From there I decided to kind of put my what I remembered about that day down in my notes on my phone, and the story just kind of took root from there, and I just thought, you know, let me post this and see what everyone else thinks. And by then I had I think, I'm I follow or I'm. A member of I don't know two or three bigfoot groups. And you know, all of the responses I got from that story have been. Positive. I mean, yeah, there's been a couple of smart remarks, but yeah, when you put things out there, things are going to come back, and some of those things that come back aren't going to be what you want to hear. It's just that's just a fact.

30:15 But it is great that it sounds like you've maybe even been able to help some people through just them hearing your your story. So I would imagine that's yeah, absolutely, you know, Rischie, I just want to say thank you for coming on the show and for sharing what happened to you when you're you're a young child. I want to make sure that you were able to share everything that you had come to the show with today. Sure, absolutely, yeah, unless you have any other questions, but yeah, I think that's pretty much it. Like I said, everything I have in the story that that you read on that Facebook page and what I told you today.

30:56 There's no embellishment. It's what I remember. And I mean, I know, like I think like the next day after that, when we saw that, I know, our parents, you know, we just my sister and I just couldn't let it go. We saw that we saw something in the wood, and again by then I thought, well, it must have been a gorilla because I didn't hear anything else, So I know, I think it was the next day my sister and I went with our parents in the car and we're driving up on this trail where we were picking blueberries, and. Of course we saw nothing. We may have passed a few people along the way, but this was you know, this was late in the day, well late in the afternoon, when a lot of people were on the trail, you know, picking blueberries, just hanging out, just taking in the sights and whatnot. But no, they, no one ever, no one ever believed Chris and I just I don't know if she ever talked to her family, like her.

31:54 Kids and her husband about it. I really don't know. But you know, I have no problem talking about it because it's true. I know, I know what I saw it Cook, because I was so young, it took a while for me to know what I saw, you know, So yeah, I mean, yeah, maybe I sounded like a dummy saying, oh, we saw gorilla in the woods in no Scota. You took what you saw and you used the references you had as as being that young a child, and totally makes sense. And yeah, I just want to say, you know, Richie, thank you so much for coming on the show and for for trusting us with your account.

32:34 I really appreciate you coming on today, sir. Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Hey, Deremiah. I guess I had to start over. My name is Mark met Kim. I'm on the southeast side of Houston, Texas in the Kima, Texas area and Galveson Bay. I've had a number of encounters up until the most recent was in November. This recent November, probably over the last twelve twelve years thirteen years or so, I spent a ton of time in Colorado and I had, in my opinion, twelve different encounters. Most of them have been docile, when of them was maybe a little aggressive. With four big I call him Big Harry's But if you want to visit about it, I'd love for you to hear about it. It's Sunday evening. I don't know what today it is. I'm sorry. I had some surgery this week and I've kind of been out of it, so I love to hear from you. Thank you man, Bye bye.

33:49 If you'd like to share a voicemail to be potentially featured on the show as well, head over to Bigfoot Society podcast dot com and hit the Share your Encounter button. Just want to take a minute to say things. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Big Society Podcast. Richie's story is one of those encounters that stays with you, not just because of what the creature did, but because of what it didn't do. That calm, steady walk at the silence and the question that still lingers what might have happened if they hadn't have run? So huge thanks to Richie for sharing his memory so honestly and for reminding us that not every encounter is violent, but that doesn't make it any less powerful. And if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the channel on YouTube hit the Bell so you never miss another story and share it with a friend who loves Bigfoot, small town legends, or just childhood mysteries. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, please be sure to follow the show and leave a quick review five star positive helps more curious minds find us there. And if you or someone you know us had a Bigfoot encounter, especially in Michigan's north Woods, please send me an email at bigfot Society gmail dot com.

34:53 I'd love to hear from you, and don't forget Sasquatch Summerfest is coming up very quickly. July eleventh through the twelve Health in Oakridge, Oregon, Big for Society Listeners can get a two day pass for the price of a one day admission with code BFST. Checkout scrab your tickets now at www dot Sasquatch Summerfest dot com. Thanks again for being part of the Big for Society. Until next time, keep your eyes open, trust your gut, and never stop wondering what else might be out there. And see you in the woods.