Ep:187 I Thought I Was Dead

<v Speaker 1>At the time, all it was was woods, and I
<v Speaker 1>spent a lot of time in the woods. But I
<v Speaker 1>never saw anything like that ever, And certainly that was
<v Speaker 1>my first and lonely experience of seeing something like that.
<v Speaker 1>But certainly let them impression. I mean, my mind made
<v Speaker 1>me see some guy in like a blonde flannel shirt
<v Speaker 1>raking leaves like for an instant, that's what my mind saw.
<v Speaker 1>But when I looked at it again, it clearly wasn't.
<v Speaker 2>It was this thing like trying to show me away,
<v Speaker 2>just throwing leaves in the air. I didn't know what
<v Speaker 2>to think. I didn't know what this thing was.
<v Speaker 1>I just yeah, I think my mind went to monster
<v Speaker 1>and I'm gonna get eaten. The thing was huge and
<v Speaker 1>covered in hair. This thing is sometime a monster. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know what the hell it is. You know, since then,
<v Speaker 1>I think I know what it is. But why do
<v Speaker 1>these things even exist?
<v Speaker 3>Just to get us started?
<v Speaker 2>Why? Now?
<v Speaker 3>What made you decide to share your story at this
<v Speaker 3>point in life?
<v Speaker 2>Really? Your podcast?
<v Speaker 1>I went down some YouTube rabbit hole about a year
<v Speaker 1>ago and I stumbled on your podcast, and as I
<v Speaker 1>was listening, nobody. I really never shared the details of
<v Speaker 1>my story other than I attempted with my wife and
<v Speaker 1>my kids at one point and got laughed at. But
<v Speaker 1>some of the guests on your show really seemed to
<v Speaker 1>be genuine and there's got to be something to it.
<v Speaker 1>And I think you said it best in one of
<v Speaker 1>our communications. You got to get it off my mind
<v Speaker 1>or my chest because I saw it and it was real,
<v Speaker 1>and why now maybe you opened the door and an
<v Speaker 1>outlet that I can actually get this stuff off my
<v Speaker 1>mind at my chest and just move on. I have
<v Speaker 1>I hadn't experienced since, but I saw what I saw
<v Speaker 1>and it made an impression on me in my entire life,
<v Speaker 1>which I had to hide. And the one time or
<v Speaker 1>one and a half times I tried to share it,
<v Speaker 1>you know, I got laughed at. So your show seems
<v Speaker 1>to be an outlet or a venue for me to
<v Speaker 1>share that. And it's probably a one and done with
<v Speaker 1>me because I don't go investigating, and you know, I
<v Speaker 1>don't read books on this stuff.
<v Speaker 2>But the way you approach your guests.
<v Speaker 1>With an open mind and honesty, and I gather that
<v Speaker 1>you've had experience as well and you're trying to figure
<v Speaker 1>it out, allows me to open myself up to this
<v Speaker 1>and it's very out of character for me too even
<v Speaker 1>speak about any of this stuff. But I guess, Matt,
<v Speaker 1>you know, to summarize your podcast, said, Hey, maybe I
<v Speaker 1>should share this and get it out there because I
<v Speaker 1>don't believe a lot of the things I hear, but
<v Speaker 1>a lot of the things on your show, people do
<v Speaker 1>seem genuine about it, and I'm ready to share after
<v Speaker 1>Jesus had to happen late seventies or early eighties my
<v Speaker 1>first experience, and I guess we can venture in today
<v Speaker 1>us Toto experience as time allows.
<v Speaker 2>But I guess that's my answer to you, Matt.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, well, I appreciate it, first off for trusting me
<v Speaker 3>with this, and you know, you're pretty accurate on everything.
<v Speaker 3>I give people an opportunity to share their story. Sometimes
<v Speaker 3>those stories venture into areas that you know, I have
<v Speaker 3>a hard time believing personally, But I don't make any judgments.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know what people experience. You know, I'm not
<v Speaker 3>there whenever they have their encounters, but a lot of
<v Speaker 3>them ring very genuine, even on things that I might
<v Speaker 3>have a difficulty accepting. The genuine conversations that I have
<v Speaker 3>with people both on and off air, I just want
<v Speaker 3>to you know, have that outlet for them because regardless
<v Speaker 3>of what I think or anybody else thinks, I can
<v Speaker 3>tell that they're being honest about their experiences, and that
<v Speaker 3>has helped me deal with a lot of the stuff
<v Speaker 3>that I've encountered and experienced over the years, which hasn't
<v Speaker 3>been a lot. But like you, I have to live
<v Speaker 3>with the fact that, regardless of what others think, I
<v Speaker 3>know what's real. I know what I saw, I know
<v Speaker 3>what I experienced, and I think a lot of us
<v Speaker 3>are just looking for those answers or some sort of
<v Speaker 3>closure in accepting what we experienced. So just take us
<v Speaker 3>through it, you know, tell us how it all happened.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, So, like I said, I live in a small town,
<v Speaker 1>and this experience happened. It was either very late seventies
<v Speaker 1>or very early eighties, and in that time town things
<v Speaker 1>were extremely different.
<v Speaker 2>A lot of your listeners aren't going to understand what.
<v Speaker 1>I mean by that, but you were literally allowed to
<v Speaker 1>come and go as you please throughout the neighborhood or
<v Speaker 1>you know, within the town, as long as you're home
<v Speaker 1>for dinner. And you had that freedom in a small
<v Speaker 1>town that I grew up in a small farm town.
<v Speaker 2>It was just a given.
<v Speaker 1>You know, we would gather in the neighborhood or certain
<v Speaker 1>neighborhood and you know, do our thing, and then as
<v Speaker 1>long as we're home for dinner, that's fine. So you know,
<v Speaker 1>I was either ten, eleven, twelve thirteen. I really can't
<v Speaker 1>tell you an exact timeframe. I just know about when
<v Speaker 1>there was a pond by my in between my house
<v Speaker 1>and my friend's house, who's about what you're saying, a
<v Speaker 1>half mile from my house walking distance and a little
<v Speaker 1>bit more than a half mile from my friend's house.
<v Speaker 1>And we would talk on the phone, you know, the
<v Speaker 1>courted phone with the rotary dial, and hey, what do
<v Speaker 1>you want to do today, Let's go fishing. Okay, I'll
<v Speaker 1>meet you up, you know, around eleven or so, and
<v Speaker 1>we would walk to the pond.
<v Speaker 2>In this pond at the time. My town since then
<v Speaker 2>has been overdeveloped.
<v Speaker 1>There's been a lot of farmland and a lot of
<v Speaker 1>woods at the time, but since it's been completely overrun
<v Speaker 1>in my opinion, and overdeveloped. But in any regard, there
<v Speaker 1>was a pond literally off the side of this side
<v Speaker 1>road that was surrounded by forest and swamp. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not going to say the name, and the pond because
<v Speaker 1>I don't want to, you know, give away too much
<v Speaker 1>here and and going out on a limb, and we
<v Speaker 1>would go fishing there.
<v Speaker 2>And so here we go.
<v Speaker 1>It's like I'm going to say, early spring, because the
<v Speaker 1>green leaves were just starting, the buds were just starting
<v Speaker 1>to sprout on the trees. Nice day, still day, I
<v Speaker 1>can remember it that much beautiful day to walk to
<v Speaker 1>this pond on the side road. And I got there first,
<v Speaker 1>and I actually started fishing first.
<v Speaker 2>And my friend showed up. He walked to the same age.
<v Speaker 1>I was a year older than him, and you know,
<v Speaker 1>we're fishing, and maybe we got there a little too
<v Speaker 1>late because it started getting a little too warm, and
<v Speaker 1>I started getting a little too bored. And one thing
<v Speaker 1>that we have never done is I said, you know what,
<v Speaker 1>this pond is about the size and shape of a
<v Speaker 1>football field, and so if you can imagine, we're standing
<v Speaker 1>at like the end zone. I wanted to go to
<v Speaker 1>the other end zone, which at that point in time
<v Speaker 1>none of us have ever done.
<v Speaker 2>So I couldn't go to the right because it was.
<v Speaker 1>So overgrown with pricker bushes and brambles and whatnot. So
<v Speaker 1>I went to the left. Did you try to get
<v Speaker 1>to the other side of this pond and my other
<v Speaker 1>friend excuse me, my friend stayed there and I said,
<v Speaker 1>I'll see you on the other side.
<v Speaker 2>You know, because all.
<v Speaker 1>We were catching at that point was what we call
<v Speaker 1>johnny roaches. I don't know what the right term is
<v Speaker 1>for these fish. And it was getting boring because you
<v Speaker 1>could throw a bare hook in air and catch one
<v Speaker 1>of these things. There's no strategy involved in it. I
<v Speaker 1>wanted to catch like a catfish or something. So I
<v Speaker 1>went to the left and the left, although it was overgrown,
<v Speaker 1>it was manageable. And you know, looking back now and
<v Speaker 1>actually look into what I'm about to tell you about,
<v Speaker 1>not just this pond, but a series of ponds in
<v Speaker 1>the mid fifties, these ponds were dugout and part of
<v Speaker 1>a sportsman's club for fishery. So as I'm walking along,
<v Speaker 1>I see another overgrown pond to the left, severely overgrown,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm walking. I'm walking, and I'm keeping focused to get
<v Speaker 1>to the other side, and I'm walking alongside a berm
<v Speaker 1>that was obviously now I know man created to create
<v Speaker 1>these ponds.
<v Speaker 2>And I get to the other side and I waved
<v Speaker 2>to my friend. I see him on the other side.
<v Speaker 1>But as I got to the other side, I see
<v Speaker 1>there's other ponds behind it, And now I'm really curious.
<v Speaker 2>Again.
<v Speaker 1>I'm young, and so I keep walking to these other
<v Speaker 1>ponds that I see in back. So at one point
<v Speaker 1>I can still see the big pond, and where I'm
<v Speaker 1>standing now I count one, two, three more ponds, not
<v Speaker 1>as big, let's just say half as big, but completely square.
<v Speaker 1>And again my research, like really recently, I discovered they
<v Speaker 1>were fisheries for some sportsman club and it's documented in
<v Speaker 1>some papers or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>So I saw this clear pond. There was like no
<v Speaker 2>lily pads on it.
<v Speaker 1>Where the pond we were fishing on I had lily
<v Speaker 1>pads and.
<v Speaker 2>Algae and other stuff.
<v Speaker 1>And I was also getting irritated because every time I
<v Speaker 1>threw something out, I would come back with either a
<v Speaker 1>Johnny roach or half a tree.
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's full of stuff.
<v Speaker 1>So I would walk and I saw this other pond
<v Speaker 1>and it was nice and clear, and this pond was
<v Speaker 1>like almost perfectly square. There's a pond now the pond
<v Speaker 1>I left behind me, and there's the overgrown pond, and
<v Speaker 1>then there's another overgrown pond.
<v Speaker 2>But then there's this clear pond.
<v Speaker 1>So I headed toward the clear pond, and now I
<v Speaker 1>can't see anything else except another pond that's overgrown behind
<v Speaker 1>me and this clear pond, and I start walking alongside
<v Speaker 1>of berm with my fishing tackle and my fishing pole,
<v Speaker 1>and I walk to the furthest if you're looking down
<v Speaker 1>at a square. I'm at the left hand side of
<v Speaker 1>this pond now, and I can't go any further because
<v Speaker 1>it's really overgrown with pricker bushes, thorn bushes, whatever you
<v Speaker 1>want to call them, and even higher berm where they
<v Speaker 1>must have dug out, and it's just impossible to go
<v Speaker 1>any further. So I picked that corner because I also
<v Speaker 1>had a clear shot to start casting fishing pole, and
<v Speaker 1>which I did, and I got a few in there,
<v Speaker 1>and I heard at that point I completely lost track
<v Speaker 1>of my friend.
<v Speaker 2>I assume he's stole over air fishing.
<v Speaker 1>I heard like what sounded like somebody raking leaves.
<v Speaker 2>Likesh, shush, shush.
<v Speaker 1>This is after a couple of casts, and it was
<v Speaker 1>completely silenced before I cast it into the water. So
<v Speaker 1>I looked on the other side of the pond and
<v Speaker 1>I said, what the hell is My mind made me
<v Speaker 1>think that it was somebody raking leaves in the middle
<v Speaker 1>of a forest, and I said, what the.
<v Speaker 2>Hell is going on here?
<v Speaker 1>And me being a kid, I put my head down, thinking, okay,
<v Speaker 1>I'm trespassing on somebody's yard here, and I'm about to
<v Speaker 1>get yelled at.
<v Speaker 2>And I looked up again and it's not a firmer.
<v Speaker 2>It's this thing.
<v Speaker 1>It's what everybody says is a sasquatch, all right, but
<v Speaker 1>at the time I didn't know what a sasquatch was.
<v Speaker 1>And this thing is like on the far right hand
<v Speaker 1>side up a hill, and he's making movements like toward me,
<v Speaker 1>throwing leaves up like and I'm looking back now, and
<v Speaker 1>I think he asked me, and I asked myself the question.
<v Speaker 1>It was like he was trying to scare me away,
<v Speaker 1>which he quite frankly scared me. But I was frozen
<v Speaker 1>at that time. I was like, what the heck am
<v Speaker 1>I looking at? So he sees me, I see him,
<v Speaker 1>I say him, And I don't know if it's a
<v Speaker 1>him or her. I just say him, because that's just
<v Speaker 1>what I gathered.
<v Speaker 2>Sure, this thing is. I later.
<v Speaker 1>Gathered that it reminded me of There was a show
<v Speaker 1>called Land of the Lost and there was these things
<v Speaker 1>that looked exactly like what I'm seeing. It wasn't black,
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't brown. It was like this dirty blonde, long
<v Speaker 1>haired sasquatch. And I'm gonna say sasquashed now, but at
<v Speaker 1>the time, I don't know what the hell it was.
<v Speaker 1>And excuse the swearing, but it is what it is.
<v Speaker 1>He starts the scaring tactic. I guess he sees that
<v Speaker 1>I'm not moving, although I wanted to move, and I
<v Speaker 1>kind of just I'm just standing there with my fishing pole,
<v Speaker 1>just staring at him.
<v Speaker 2>So he begins to walk.
<v Speaker 1>If I'm on the far left hand side, he on
<v Speaker 1>the other side, he begins to walk diagonal to the
<v Speaker 1>other left hand side, opposite of me, far of the pond,
<v Speaker 1>and he walks over there. And now I'm like freaking
<v Speaker 1>out and I'm like really scared. So I'm not sure why,
<v Speaker 1>but he begins to walk like extremely fast across the
<v Speaker 1>other side, towards the right, and there's a clear shot.
<v Speaker 1>If he runs that corner, I have no escape, and
<v Speaker 1>that's what I was thinking about. I'm like, how do
<v Speaker 1>I get myself out of this? There's a half grown
<v Speaker 1>pond behind me. I can't go to the left of me,
<v Speaker 1>and this thing starts walking across to the right hand side.
<v Speaker 2>It's going to round the corner.
<v Speaker 1>And Matt, when I tell you how fast this thing
<v Speaker 1>walked like effortlessly.
<v Speaker 2>So I did what a kid would do. Stupid me.
<v Speaker 1>There is a little tree on the far left hand
<v Speaker 1>corner where I put my tackle box and I got
<v Speaker 1>as small as I could. I put myself into like
<v Speaker 1>a almost like a fetal position, although I was still
<v Speaker 1>on my feet, and I hid my head, and I
<v Speaker 1>can hear this thing walking, and I'm thinking, if he
<v Speaker 1>can't if I can't see him, he can't see me.
<v Speaker 1>But I hear this thing walking, and I clearly saw
<v Speaker 1>that there's no way I'm going to get out of
<v Speaker 1>this because he's walking so fast. I can't run out now.
<v Speaker 1>He blocked my path and he rounds the corner and
<v Speaker 1>I can hear him, and I'm hiding my face behind
<v Speaker 1>a tree although I'm clearly still there. I'm thinking, if
<v Speaker 1>I don't move and I don't breathe, this thing isn't
<v Speaker 1>going to see me. But holy shit, I'm dead, is
<v Speaker 1>what I'm thinking. And I'm staying there, and then it
<v Speaker 1>just got I hear him walk all the way to
<v Speaker 1>the right hand side, almost to the point where I
<v Speaker 1>walked into the pond, so that would be on my
<v Speaker 1>immediate rite, about fifty yards away of the square pond.
<v Speaker 1>And it gets quiet, like nothing, and I'm thinking I'm
<v Speaker 1>dead any minute, and I'm staying as still as I can.
<v Speaker 1>I'm holding my breath. And then the thought came to me.
<v Speaker 1>I said, holy shit, my friend. He's going to get
<v Speaker 1>my friend. And this extreme guilt came over me, and
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, holy shit, he's going to get my friend.
<v Speaker 1>I want to say his name, but I'm not gonna.
<v Speaker 1>And it was just so still. This thing was so
<v Speaker 1>loud walking and it just got still. So I'm thinking
<v Speaker 1>he's even looking right at me at the far right
<v Speaker 1>hand side of me, or I don't know, or he
<v Speaker 1>went and I lost track of him because my heart
<v Speaker 1>was beating so fast. He's going to get my friend,
<v Speaker 1>or he's going to get my friend. So I mustled
<v Speaker 1>up the courage. After about I don't know, I want.
<v Speaker 2>To say, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>It felt a long time, but let's just say in reality,
<v Speaker 1>let's just say maybe a minute of the stillness, I
<v Speaker 1>mustled up the courage to pick up my tackle box,
<v Speaker 1>get my poll, which I think the line was still
<v Speaker 1>in the water, and start walking. And just as I
<v Speaker 1>was starting to walk out, my friend comes around and
<v Speaker 1>I'm looking at him in his eyes to see if
<v Speaker 1>he saw anything, and he's just like, hey, where you're going.
<v Speaker 1>He's surprised that I was walking out. I said, let's
<v Speaker 1>just there's nothing here. Let's get out of here. And
<v Speaker 1>I walked right by him, thinking that we're going to
<v Speaker 1>get you know, killed or eaten any minute. And I
<v Speaker 1>just walked right by him. I said, just come on,
<v Speaker 1>let's get out of here. You know, there's nothing over here.
<v Speaker 1>Let's just go back out to the front. I just
<v Speaker 1>wanted to get out to the front to get in
<v Speaker 1>it clear and get my friend out of danger. And
<v Speaker 1>I did not.
<v Speaker 2>Say a word.
<v Speaker 1>So anyway, we get to the original meeting spot. There's
<v Speaker 1>no noise, no nothing, but this thing that I just
<v Speaker 1>saw scared the hell out of me.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm not going to say within forty.
<v Speaker 1>Five minutes of us meeting there and this happening maybe
<v Speaker 1>an hour, I told my friend. I said, there's nothing here.
<v Speaker 1>I'm done, it's getting too hot. I'm going home. And
<v Speaker 1>he was disappointed. He goes, Mike, I thought we were
<v Speaker 1>going to you know, fish, I said, listen, heaues, I'm
<v Speaker 1>just getting bored. I'm going to go home. I'm done
<v Speaker 1>with today. And I didn't tell him what just happened.
<v Speaker 1>I just wanted to get the hell out of there,
<v Speaker 1>and I wanted to get him out of there in
<v Speaker 1>a way that it didn't embarrass me, because I didn't
<v Speaker 1>want to say what I just saw because he's going
<v Speaker 1>to make fun of me. And so I walk, I'm
<v Speaker 1>walking my way. I made sure he started walking his way,
<v Speaker 1>and all the way home, I either thought he was
<v Speaker 1>going to get attacked or I was going to get attacked,
<v Speaker 1>and that fear stuck with me the whole walk home.
<v Speaker 1>And either I told him to call or he called
<v Speaker 1>me when he got home. I can't remember what, but
<v Speaker 1>that's how worried I was. And I felt so guilty
<v Speaker 1>that I didn't tell my friend that I'm sending him
<v Speaker 1>home and this thing is like gonna come out of
<v Speaker 1>the woods and get one of them, either him or me,
<v Speaker 1>and that that guilt was real until I heard that
<v Speaker 1>he was finally home. And you know, that's the extent
<v Speaker 1>of that story. But then on a mutual of Omaha.
<v Speaker 1>Then I saw the Sasquatch and I remember the what
<v Speaker 1>you guys cause a Patty Gilman film whatever it was
<v Speaker 1>on him and I saw that and I watched it
<v Speaker 1>with my father on one Sunday, and I think it
<v Speaker 1>was a mutual of Omaha, and my jaw dropped and
<v Speaker 1>I almost wanted to tell my father, but I couldn't
<v Speaker 1>tell him either. I mean, I don't know how long
<v Speaker 1>the time was between I saw what I saw and
<v Speaker 1>when I saw this bigfoot thing, that's what I saw,
<v Speaker 1>but it was a different color, and my jaw hit
<v Speaker 1>the floor and I'm like, holy shit, I mean this
<v Speaker 1>is I really actually saw this, but I.
<v Speaker 2>Couldn't ever tell anybody.
<v Speaker 1>And then you know, I saw the Land of the
<v Speaker 1>Lost thing, and then the six million dollar man thing
<v Speaker 1>with the sausquash came out, you know, and you get
<v Speaker 1>more exposure to this stuff as you know, time goes
<v Speaker 1>on and I'm like, okay, there's something to it. Why
<v Speaker 1>is there anything like that's being invented out there? So
<v Speaker 1>I mean it had to happen before the Patty film
<v Speaker 1>came out, that people experienced this stuff, and you know,
<v Speaker 1>that's that's my story with the Sasquatch. I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 1>you can ask me questions or whatever. But I saw
<v Speaker 1>what I saw and I don't know where it went.
<v Speaker 1>It just like disappeared. But I saw what I saw
<v Speaker 1>and it stuck with me all these years. So I
<v Speaker 1>try to tell my wife. Once she laughed at me.
<v Speaker 1>And then one day we were driving by the pond
<v Speaker 1>and I said, I saw a sauce squatch over there,
<v Speaker 1>and you know, then I just made it up, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I said, you know, I'm just kidding you, guys. I
<v Speaker 1>was trying to scare you because I mean, didn't laughed
<v Speaker 1>at by your kids. It's a whole other deal. But
<v Speaker 1>so that's you know, my story with the encounter.
<v Speaker 3>Did you ever go back to the pond as a
<v Speaker 3>kid for fishing and stuff?
<v Speaker 1>I did, but I I stayed at the edge at
<v Speaker 1>the at the meeting place, which was right by the road.
<v Speaker 2>And then.
<v Speaker 1>One time I ventured by myself to the exact space.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm looking and I'm looking and there was nothing there.
<v Speaker 1>But I literally was scared and I wasn't fishing or anything.
<v Speaker 2>I just wanted to say, did I dream this? No?
<v Speaker 2>That the pond is there?
<v Speaker 1>The same bushes are there, and I got out of
<v Speaker 1>there real quick. And I don't think I really ventured
<v Speaker 1>maybe three times back after that, and I think I'm
<v Speaker 1>more I was more curious than anything. And since then
<v Speaker 1>I've done some research on the ponds, and that's what
<v Speaker 1>it was. It was a series of five or six
<v Speaker 1>man made ponds. The big one was triangle the size
<v Speaker 1>of a fishing football field, and the others were just
<v Speaker 1>squares and they're still there to this day, although it's
<v Speaker 1>been overdeveloped. The time I was there was full of
<v Speaker 1>woods and the most I could get it was made
<v Speaker 1>for the Sportsman club. They were like raising trout or something.
<v Speaker 1>There were made many ponds in the fifties, but at
<v Speaker 1>the time all it was was woods. And I spent
<v Speaker 1>a lot of time in the woods as a kid,
<v Speaker 1>but I never saw anything like that ever in my life,
<v Speaker 1>and certainly that was my first and only experience of
<v Speaker 1>seeing something like that.
<v Speaker 2>But certainly you left an impression.
<v Speaker 3>Whenever you first saw it. Obviously you didn't know what
<v Speaker 3>a bigfoot was at that point, correct, what did your
<v Speaker 3>mind process it as like a monster or I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you obviously could tell instantly that it wasn't a human.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean I don't know why, but my I mean,
<v Speaker 1>my mind made me see some guy in like a
<v Speaker 1>blonde flannel shirt raking leaves like for an instant, that's
<v Speaker 1>what my mind I saw. But when I looked at
<v Speaker 1>it again, it clearly wasn't.
<v Speaker 2>It was this thing like trying to shoo me away,
<v Speaker 2>just throwing leaves in the air, throwing leaves in the air,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm like, I didn't know what to think. I
<v Speaker 2>didn't know what this thing was.
<v Speaker 1>I just, yeah, I think my mind went to monster
<v Speaker 1>and I'm going to get eaten. I mean, as a
<v Speaker 1>matter of fact, I think I said a few times
<v Speaker 1>already that's what was in my mind.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to get eaten by this thing.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, the thing was huge and covered in hair,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm like, this thing is some kind of monster.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what the hell it is. You know,
<v Speaker 1>since then, I think I know what it is. But
<v Speaker 1>why do these things even exist? And you know, after
<v Speaker 1>listening to your show, and then where do they go?
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I can't figure that out for a life
<v Speaker 1>of me. I mean, this thing just kind of like disappeared.
<v Speaker 1>But if you can imagine walking home thinking that this
<v Speaker 1>thing is stalking you. I didn't hear a footstep or
<v Speaker 1>anything after it got silent, like everything got silent, and
<v Speaker 1>the only thing was me and my heartbeat, trying to
<v Speaker 1>get the hell out of there and walking home knowing
<v Speaker 1>literally knowing either my friend's going to get whacked or
<v Speaker 1>I am, and walking home with that and then keeping
<v Speaker 1>it to myself for these years.
<v Speaker 2>It's just crazy.
<v Speaker 1>And for you to even listen to any of this,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's bizarre even to me to this day
<v Speaker 1>that I'm even I had this encounter. But again, you
<v Speaker 1>give an outlet and you provide a venue for it.
<v Speaker 1>So I reached out to you first.
<v Speaker 3>How have you processed it over the years. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>obviously you reach the point where you have a good
<v Speaker 3>understanding of what it was.
<v Speaker 2>Yep.
<v Speaker 3>This is something that I have spoken about a few
<v Speaker 3>times with different guests, and you know, just in personal conversations.
<v Speaker 3>You share something like this with your wife, who you
<v Speaker 3>know that's the main person in your life, they should
<v Speaker 3>believe everything that comes out of your mouth. And then
<v Speaker 3>the reaction was not a good one, right exactly. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>how do you handle that? How do you process that?
<v Speaker 3>Does it bother you that she didn't believe you.
<v Speaker 2>That's an excellent question.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if I didn't stumble on your podcast, I
<v Speaker 1>was beginning not to believe myself. So I kept it
<v Speaker 1>to myself. And the one or two times one and
<v Speaker 1>a half times I tried to share. Yeah, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>you know, you get laughed at, so you begin to
<v Speaker 1>doubt yourself, and I kind of just I suppressed it.
<v Speaker 1>I literally suppressed it and just didn't think about it
<v Speaker 1>anymore because listen, nobody talks about this.
<v Speaker 2>Stuff, I mean, in any form. And I blocked it out.
<v Speaker 1>And for whatever reason, I felt the need to get
<v Speaker 1>it off my chest and and talk to my wife
<v Speaker 1>about it, and it didn't work out. So I suppressed
<v Speaker 1>it again. And for whatever reason, you know, I have kids,
<v Speaker 1>Like I say, how many? But we're driving, I mean
<v Speaker 1>go by the pond, and I said, I saw for
<v Speaker 1>whatever reason, I still had the need to share, and uh,
<v Speaker 1>it was you know, quickly meant with a bunch of laughter,
<v Speaker 1>and I went with it. I said, I'm just trying
<v Speaker 1>to scare you guys, you know, don't you know? So
<v Speaker 1>that's what they know about it. But how how did
<v Speaker 1>I deal with it? I just blocked it out because
<v Speaker 1>you begin to doubt yourself. And nobody at that time,
<v Speaker 1>nobody talks about this stuff. There was no YouTube, there's
<v Speaker 1>no there wasn't even an there's no Internet. And I
<v Speaker 1>don't want to be a guy in school. That's why
<v Speaker 1>I didn't even tell my friend, my dearest friend at
<v Speaker 1>the time, what I saw, because you know, this gets out,
<v Speaker 1>I'm done at school, kicked on. Yeah, you know, we're
<v Speaker 1>talking elementary school and going into middle school.
<v Speaker 2>In high school, I'm going to be the guy that's
<v Speaker 2>you know, saw.
<v Speaker 1>At the time whatever I wanted to call it, but
<v Speaker 1>now I know it's sasquatch.
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to be that guy.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Well, I mean, like you wouldn't even be able
<v Speaker 3>to explain to anyone what you saw. I mean, there
<v Speaker 3>wasn't no word for it, and you know, so what
<v Speaker 3>are you going to say? I saw a big hairy
<v Speaker 3>man monster in the woods, like okay, correct?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, I mean, And when I'm sitting there watching
<v Speaker 1>TV and I saw that the first time, I think
<v Speaker 1>it was mutual Oman when I saw that it could
<v Speaker 1>be another show, but I think it was on a
<v Speaker 1>Sunday or a Saturday, and I literally watched it with
<v Speaker 1>my father on TV. I think he was half a
<v Speaker 1>And when I saw it, I almost wanted to tell
<v Speaker 1>my father and I was like, you better keep your
<v Speaker 1>mouth shut, kid. My father's going to think I'm crazy too.
<v Speaker 1>But I couldn't even share it with my parents. And
<v Speaker 1>so how did I deal with it? I just blocked
<v Speaker 1>it out To answer your question directly, you.
<v Speaker 3>Know, But seeing here on Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom
<v Speaker 3>loved that show as a kid, was that validating for you?
<v Speaker 3>At least internally a little bit?
<v Speaker 1>It was like, holy shit, this is what I saw.
<v Speaker 1>I can't believe that other people are seeing it. It was
<v Speaker 1>like a mind blowing experience where I still actually doubted myself,
<v Speaker 1>like I'm trying to figure out my mind what I
<v Speaker 1>really saw.
<v Speaker 2>And literally the first.
<v Speaker 1>Time I saw this thing, and I'll say it again,
<v Speaker 1>my mind made me see something that it wasn't like,
<v Speaker 1>it made me see some guy breaking leaves. Everything was obliterated,
<v Speaker 1>but it wasn't leaves. It was this guy, not the guy.
<v Speaker 1>It was this thing throwing leaves. And when I saw
<v Speaker 1>it on TV, my mind just got blown open and
<v Speaker 1>was like, that is exactly what I saw.
<v Speaker 2>It's just a different color.
<v Speaker 1>And you know then you start reading books and you know,
<v Speaker 1>I've listened to enough of your podcasts. I think we
<v Speaker 1>all stumble across the same books in that little, you know,
<v Speaker 1>two foot section where you can find anything, and yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and you start reading about it, and you know, at
<v Speaker 1>least it made me feel at that time that Okay,
<v Speaker 1>there's something to it, but you better not say anything.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, I'm well over mid fifties right now,
<v Speaker 1>and for me to reach out at this point and
<v Speaker 1>you asked why, you could probably hear that. I just
<v Speaker 1>got to get it off my chest. And to hear
<v Speaker 1>your podcast a year ago and to continue to listen
<v Speaker 1>to it in the way you handle things is a
<v Speaker 1>mind blowing experience. And there's something to it. I don't
<v Speaker 1>know what it is, and I don't care what it is,
<v Speaker 1>but I I just know that some people out there
<v Speaker 1>are genuine in saying and seeing what they believe.
<v Speaker 2>And that's kind of where I am. And it's just
<v Speaker 2>at least you're able to listen to me and I'm
<v Speaker 2>able to voice what I saw.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, not everybody is going to laugh, you know at
<v Speaker 3>this point, like you were talking about, it's all over
<v Speaker 3>the place now, it's huge and pop culture and media
<v Speaker 3>and advertising and everything else. And you're absolutely right. I've
<v Speaker 3>never heard anybody really put it that way. But why
<v Speaker 3>would the human race make up something like this?
<v Speaker 2>Right, what's the point?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. And now it's everywhere,
<v Speaker 3>So I do think it's more accessible and less combative
<v Speaker 3>whenever people you know, bring it up or whatever. But
<v Speaker 3>on the same token, there's still people that are gonna laugh.
<v Speaker 3>There's still people that are going to think you're full
<v Speaker 3>of shit.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, absolutely, that's just the way it is. Though.
<v Speaker 3>Obviously, like if you hadn't seen it, and it had
<v Speaker 3>been your friend that had seen it, I mean, how
<v Speaker 3>how would you have approached that if he had told
<v Speaker 3>you what he saw, you know, you would have probably
<v Speaker 3>thought the same thing. Correct, And this takes a lot
<v Speaker 3>of courage for you, man, So I applaud you for that,
<v Speaker 3>because to have the reaction you got from your close
<v Speaker 3>personal family and now here you are sharing it publicly,
<v Speaker 3>that's a huge step and I appreciate you doing that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I appreciate you listening too. And it probably you know,
<v Speaker 1>it just sound, you know, the usual cliche, but it
<v Speaker 1>probably lifted a weight off of me that I'm able
<v Speaker 1>to share it with you because after listening to your
<v Speaker 1>program and some of what you've shared your own personal experience,
<v Speaker 1>I know you're genuine and for me to be able
<v Speaker 1>to share it with somebody that actually experienced something similar,
<v Speaker 1>it does feel relieving.
<v Speaker 2>And that's probably why I'm doing this.
<v Speaker 1>That's why I kind of reached out to you, because
<v Speaker 1>after more than a few episodes, I said, this guy
<v Speaker 1>is genuine and he actually cares, and even if somebody
<v Speaker 1>is full of shit, you're really helping them.
<v Speaker 2>But I'm here to tell you I'm not full of shit.
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, yeah, I mean like the leaf throwing, the
<v Speaker 3>bluff charging, whatever you want to call it, that behavior,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, that's not you know, that's not a detail
<v Speaker 3>that somebody is going to make up. That's not a
<v Speaker 3>detail that somebody's going to imagine. You're not going to
<v Speaker 3>takingly see a bear or a deer and right have
<v Speaker 3>that sort of behavior you know, imprinted on your brain.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Correct, Most people, if they're making up a big foot story,
<v Speaker 3>like it's across the road in front of me, you know,
<v Speaker 3>and I look back, just like in the film or something,
<v Speaker 3>this is an entirely different situation. You have behavioral traits
<v Speaker 3>that make sense.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for validating some of this. You know it helps,
<v Speaker 1>it helps.
<v Speaker 2>Oh for sure.
<v Speaker 3>If you don't mind. Though you mentioned the UFO, I'd
<v Speaker 3>like to hear about that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I got to get that one off my chest too.
<v Speaker 1>And after that, I mean, you know, I listened to
<v Speaker 1>some of your podcasts and Okay, this guy's seen Bigfoot
<v Speaker 1>and you've seen dog Man not Spara too, you us aliens.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, yeah, that's not me. But again it's it's
<v Speaker 1>something that happened that I feel the need to get
<v Speaker 1>off my chest.
<v Speaker 2>This is very much later. This is another section of
<v Speaker 2>the state I live in.
<v Speaker 1>A friend of mine, a relative of mine, has sixty
<v Speaker 1>acres at the time had sixty acres.
<v Speaker 2>Of pure woods.
<v Speaker 1>That bordered a state forest, so it was nothing but
<v Speaker 1>woods and in a very wooded, unpopulated area of the
<v Speaker 1>state I live in, and we built. I don't have
<v Speaker 1>any brothers, so at the time my friend, well, I
<v Speaker 1>guess I should say I had brothers is my brother
<v Speaker 1>in law became and we built a small cabin in
<v Speaker 1>the middle of this sixty acres, again bordering on a
<v Speaker 1>state forest, which was I don't know how many acres
<v Speaker 1>and I could name the forest, but I'm not.
<v Speaker 2>But one of my brother in law's brothers.
<v Speaker 1>Like to hunt, and we all like to hang out
<v Speaker 1>and you know, by a campfire and drink beers or whatever.
<v Speaker 1>It maybe back in the day. We're talking like mid
<v Speaker 1>nineties now. So we built a small cabin with a
<v Speaker 1>wood stove, and it was a cozy place, and we
<v Speaker 1>built it well, it was. We finished it. We started
<v Speaker 1>it in May, and I think we finished it over
<v Speaker 1>time and by September. And then what I would do,
<v Speaker 1>it's almost I love camp and I love the woods,
<v Speaker 1>love the freedom and nature. And what I would do actually,
<v Speaker 1>we would go there together and we would hang out.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm not into hunting in any regard. I just
<v Speaker 2>like the doors.
<v Speaker 1>And it was a cathartic experience for me, a relaxing
<v Speaker 1>experience for me to just go there on my own
<v Speaker 1>and just camp out for a couple of days. I
<v Speaker 1>also went there with friends and we'd spend almost a
<v Speaker 1>week there and.
<v Speaker 2>Stuff like that. But I would also go to this
<v Speaker 2>cabin on my own many times, you know. And one
<v Speaker 2>time my friend and I would go.
<v Speaker 1>It's not the same friend from the fishing trip, he's
<v Speaker 1>since moved on, and so has this friend.
<v Speaker 2>But I would go there with my very very dearest.
<v Speaker 1>Friend to this day, even though he passed away, and
<v Speaker 1>we'd spend we would go there the same time in
<v Speaker 1>March every year for about five years, and we would
<v Speaker 1>just spend almost an entire week in the woods. And
<v Speaker 1>March is a great time in that area because there's
<v Speaker 1>even if it's hot outside, there's still snow somewhere in
<v Speaker 1>the woods, so you can keep your food cold.
<v Speaker 2>Your beverages of choice cold, you know.
<v Speaker 1>And we had built fires and we would have other
<v Speaker 1>friends over there.
<v Speaker 2>But this one particular time.
<v Speaker 1>We were all done with outside, We're all done cooking,
<v Speaker 1>and it's time to hit the hay. And you know,
<v Speaker 1>back in the day, there was you know Coleman lanterns
<v Speaker 1>and stuff like that with the the fuel.
<v Speaker 2>And I had just purchased I thought I was King
<v Speaker 2>of the hill.
<v Speaker 1>I purchased one of the most powerful flashlights at the time.
<v Speaker 2>You could ever buy.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I remember those days. The million candle power.
<v Speaker 2>Yes it was, I think it was a million cans.
<v Speaker 1>And the thing, it's funny, the thing was so big,
<v Speaker 1>you know. I had these you know, cooling fins. It
<v Speaker 1>was aluminum and all that. Yeah, it was like a
<v Speaker 1>million or two million candlepower, and I thought I was
<v Speaker 1>the coolest guy in an entire planet. But anyway, so
<v Speaker 1>I take the flashlight and I said to my friend,
<v Speaker 1>I said, hey, listen, I'm gonna go take a leak.
<v Speaker 2>Be right back. Close the door. And I walked behind
<v Speaker 2>the cabin and it's a beautiful.
<v Speaker 1>Starry night, no clouds, no nothing, And because I'm a
<v Speaker 1>mayer of nature, I'm looking up at the stars and
<v Speaker 1>something caught my eye and it was a light that
<v Speaker 1>wasn't a star.
<v Speaker 2>It wasn't moving fast, it was moving ever so slightly,
<v Speaker 2>and it was a different color than the surrounding stars.
<v Speaker 1>So me being me with my nice big flashlight, I
<v Speaker 1>shined it right at the light and Matt.
<v Speaker 2>Almost immediately this thing kind of stopped.
<v Speaker 1>And I don't know how to say, I knew it
<v Speaker 1>turned toward the flash light. I'm not sure exactly, but
<v Speaker 1>I I know it turned toward the flashlight and I'm
<v Speaker 1>shining it right on this thing, and Matt, this thing
<v Speaker 1>came at me so damn quick like, and I got
<v Speaker 1>like scared the shit out of And I don't actually
<v Speaker 1>remember anything after that? Wow, what I do remember? And
<v Speaker 1>my friend is not like this.
<v Speaker 2>My friend uh forgave everybody and anything.
<v Speaker 1>I don't remember anything at that that I do remember
<v Speaker 1>now all this thing is, this thing has gone and
<v Speaker 1>I'm just standing there with the flash light now by
<v Speaker 1>my side.
<v Speaker 2>That's what I remember.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm like, okay, and I guess I already took
<v Speaker 1>a leak because I didn't have to take a leak.
<v Speaker 1>And I go walking back inside and my friend says
<v Speaker 1>to me, where the hell have you been?
<v Speaker 2>I go, I want to say his name, but I'm
<v Speaker 2>not going to. I say, hey, what are you talking about?
<v Speaker 2>I just want to take the leak. He goes, Mike,
<v Speaker 2>you've been going for a couple hours. I was ready
<v Speaker 2>to call the cops. I don't know where you've been.
<v Speaker 2>He's lecturing me. This is my friend. He's completely not himself.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm like, dude, come down. I wasn't gone that long.
<v Speaker 2>He goes, yeah you were, Mike, you were going for hours.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't know where the hell you've been. Why would
<v Speaker 2>you do that to me? He's genuinely scared.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, the place is all lit up, and
<v Speaker 1>I go, that was the extent of it. I don't
<v Speaker 1>have any like memories of anything like being inducted or
<v Speaker 1>anything like that. But what struck me And it didn't
<v Speaker 1>even seem to me that I was gone that long.
<v Speaker 1>I just said, Okay, I saw something, I got scared,
<v Speaker 1>and now it's not there anymore. And I walked back
<v Speaker 1>into the cabin, thinking it's five minutes later. But he's
<v Speaker 1>a lectured to me like I was gone for hours
<v Speaker 1>and I couldn't figure it out. I said, I wouldn't
<v Speaker 1>gone for that amount of time. I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>you're talking about. And we just went to bed, but
<v Speaker 1>he was genuinely pissed. And my friend never got pissed
<v Speaker 1>at me. I mean, that's a true friend. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>if I ever had a friend he thought like me,
<v Speaker 1>and we talked and we never got mad at each other.
<v Speaker 2>And he was totally upset at.
<v Speaker 1>Me because I was going for a couple hours and
<v Speaker 1>he's generally concerned about me.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, like when you can't find your kid or something,
<v Speaker 3>whenever they come back and they're safe, you're angry, you know, yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, correct, yeah, And you know, I don't have anything
<v Speaker 1>other than that.
<v Speaker 2>But that's another thing that I had to get off
<v Speaker 2>my chest.
<v Speaker 1>Those are the only two things that's ever happened to
<v Speaker 1>me in my life, and nothing's happened.
<v Speaker 2>To me since.
<v Speaker 1>And but you know, again, I listened to your podcast
<v Speaker 1>and I had to reach out to you.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the missing time thing is really freaky.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, yep, sure is.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to venture to guess or imagine anything
<v Speaker 1>or invent anything that happened. And if the story is boring,
<v Speaker 1>you know, I apologize, but no, I don't have anything.
<v Speaker 2>Good than that.
<v Speaker 3>No, that's not boring at all. I find it really interesting,
<v Speaker 3>especially nowadays, you know, whenever UFO stuff has talked about
<v Speaker 3>on the news, which is crazy to me.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, more and more frequently.
<v Speaker 3>I appreciate you coming on and sharing your stories and
<v Speaker 3>putting them out there and hopefully it's you know, helped
<v Speaker 3>you or begin a process of helping you and maybe
<v Speaker 3>helped a few others that are listening. So yeah, I
<v Speaker 3>just again commend you for coming on and sharing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, thanks for preventing providing this outlet. I appreciate you, Matt.
<v Speaker 1>The way you conduct yourself is applaudable. I listened to
<v Speaker 1>your podcast now regularly since I discovered it, and I
<v Speaker 1>really you have a talent and you're helping people in
<v Speaker 1>some regard, and I just hope I didn't come across
<v Speaker 1>as crazy because you always had that in the back
<v Speaker 1>of your mind.
<v Speaker 3>Not at all, man, not at all, And for what
<v Speaker 3>it's worth, you're not crazy, not crazy at all.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks, Matt. I appreciate that.
<v Speaker 3>If you've had your own encounter with Bigfoot, at UFO
<v Speaker 3>or something else you can't explain and you'd like to
<v Speaker 3>share your story on the podcast, email me at Bigfoot
<v Speaker 3>Crossroads at gmail dot com. Check out the website Bigfoot
<v Speaker 3>Crossroads dot com. You can find links to the social media,
<v Speaker 3>past episodes, merchandise, everything you need all in one place,
<v Speaker 3>and until next time, remember there's something in the woods.