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[Rodger sounds]

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My name is Roger.

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The place where this happened was my grandparents' place in Washington, not far from the Caled's

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River.

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I don't want to say any more than that.

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It's been 46 years since this happened, but there are still folks who know the area,

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and they could probably guess it from some details, and I just assume as they didn't.

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But back then, I was 12 years old, all long skinny legs, and not much since.

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This would be Christmas of 1979.

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Christmas Eve that year was the night that I rounded the far side of my grandparents'

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garage with a bag of trash, and found myself just mere feet from something standing over

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the metal garbage cans.

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Something.

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I didn't quite know what its name was.

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My grandparents' house sat just off a county road.

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There's cedars and Douglas Furs all around.

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Back then, there was a little hay field across the road, though I'm of the way of knowing

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that it has been built on since then.

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But back then, the Caled's River was so close you could hear it on a quiet day.

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In 1979, there was not another neighbor within eyesight.

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My grandpa built the detached garage with cedar plank siding and a little car port stall

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that was off on the other side.

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He kept the garbage cans, the old galvanized kind, with metal lids and handles.

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He kept those around back on gravel, so nobody would have to look at the uglies as he called

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them, and Grandma didn't have to smell them when she opened the windows at the house.

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Christmas Eve at that house was the only time I ever saw all of my cousins together in

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one place.

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The aunts brought and made casseroles of every kind known to man, and they would be put

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in little white-cording-weared dishes with a little blue-flower design on them.

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There were jello salads and glassed dishes.

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A lot of cookies and candies and thudge, and my grandmother made rolls that were so incredible,

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they steamed when you opened them.

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And there was always a big salmon, at least one anyway, alongside the ham, because that

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was just the rule around there.

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You lived that close to water, fish is going to be part of your holiday meal, whether you

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want it to be or not.

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Albums from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley stacked up and playing

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on Grandma's big console stereo, while that was the entire background soundtrack for the

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week when we were there.

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Grandma sure liked those rich male voices for her holiday music, but with all the laughter

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and everyone talking over everyone else, you would be hard-pressed at times to even hear

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the music in the house.

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So that's our old family Christmas boil down to one paragraph.

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The only other things I could add to this that I remember, and now that I think about

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them, I realize they're so iconic and classic for the time, would be the nut dish that was

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set with a pair of nutcracker pliers and picks on the coffee table.

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And there was always at least one big bowl of oranges, tangy reens, grapefruit and lemons

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somewhere in the dining room or kitchen.

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Does anyone even do those two kinds of things anymore?

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Well I still do, even though it's mostly just me and my grandkids, and they snicker and

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joke at my old old-fashioned stuff.

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Sorry, I've gotten off track.

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I'm an old man and I do love thinking about my old Christmas's.

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Please forgive me.

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Well let me get back to Christmas Eve that year.

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We had eaten the impossibly large dinner that we always had, and all of us had had our

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seconds probably by 8 pm that night, as well as our dessert of which we kids always weedle

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about and got a smaller second portion of dessert, which was usually just one more cookie.

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But by 9.30, nobody cared about food or dessert anymore at all.

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We were stuffed.

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And then we were scraping and stacking plates and packing up leftovers to be put in the

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fridge and getting things ready for the big dinner tomorrow.

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We'd be busy stepping around each other and bumping into each other and grandma's kitchen.

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It was a warm, happy, glowing and wondrous kind of chaos.

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That was when my grandpa tapped the trash can with a knuckle and said, "This needs to be

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taken out."

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He jerked his head towards the back door while he said it.

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Of course, nobody volunteered.

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He looked down the line and his eyes landed on me.

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Now for years, grandpa, my dad or one of my uncles was always the one to take the trash out.

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But the year before, grandpa laid down a new law.

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He said that us teen and near teen boys were old enough to start carrying that torch.

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"Twelve's old enough," he said.

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"Take it around the garage," he said, "be sure to put the cement block back on the lid."

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I was twelve.

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And the only thing a twelve-year-old boy hates more than being left out of grown-up stuff

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is being told to do grown-up stuff.

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I might take out the trash.

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But I knew I had to do it.

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So I walked over, got the trash bag, and grandpa's old dog, Rocky, an old farmnut with the confidence

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of at least three other dogs.

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It is Paul's up on the wood door and started whining like he was going to go with me.

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But when I held that door open for him, he would not budge.

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He suddenly backed away and looked at me hard, and he barked a couple short barks.

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Then he turned tail, went straight back into the living room.

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If I'd had more years on me, I would have paid that some mind.

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But at twelve, I just rolled my eyes and stepped out into the darkness.

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My cousin, Rhaeg, was there that Christmas.

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He was eighteen, and home from a seasonal road job up near Randall, and he was one that always

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had a grin on his face.

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Always looked up to him.

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"Anyway, when I took the trash bag," he said, "Don't feed this ass-quatch!"

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My grandpa shot Rhaeg a look that toned his grin down to a mere smirk.

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I walked out the door, hearing it, but thinking nothing of it.

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Rhaeg was always a teaser, and he always had a grin on his face.

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The cold outside was sharp and biting.

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There was no snow, but it was frosty and brittle feeling outside.

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The light on the back corner of the garage made a perfect bowl of light over the gravel

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out there.

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But beyond that was inky blackness.

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The cedar windbreak, making a wall of dark separating the drive along the garage from

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the fields beyond, was dark and dark.

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I followed the cement pavers off the stoop across the front of the garage and over to the

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far side of the garage.

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I was thinking of nothing and everything as I walked, Christmas morning, and whether or

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not I'd get that CB radio I wanted, and I hoped it was the right one.

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Those were my thoughts when I went around the garage corner and only took two steps more.

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All thoughts of Christmas morning and my fancy CB radio went right out of my head in

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a second.

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I saw a long arm first, disappearing down into the garbage can.

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The other hand was on the far rim of the can, studying itself as a bent over.

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What I saw was unlike anything that I had ever seen, yet it was just like a human in a way,

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at least the vague shape of it was.

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The corner light did not illuminate the area entirely, but I had enough overcast from

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it that I saw the side presented to me, lit up softly in the yellow glow of light, while

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the other half faded away into the darkness.

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Your mind and brain can pick up a lot of details without even trying, but together they all

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work to give you context and clues, even if you don't realize it.

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There's no exact reason that I can explain to you that I knew instantly that this was

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a real solid thing I was looking at, and not someone in a costume.

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When you see something like that, you know it's like looking at a human wearing a very

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good mask of a human face.

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You still know it isn't real.

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It kept the far hand on the rim of the metal can, but turned it the way slightly to look

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at me, pulling its arm out of the can most of the way when it did so.

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The movement was slow and unhurried.

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I hadn't startled it I didn't think.

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Now the face was lit across the width of it, and I saw a dark area under the heavy brows,

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which I took to be eyes, though I couldn't see them.

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The dome of the head sloped down and ended at those heavy brows that stuck out far from

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the face, putting much of it in shadow.

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It stared at me with an intensity that made me shiver, even though I couldn't see

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the eyes.

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I felt the stare nonetheless.

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It held that position for a few seconds.

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It was like it was saying to me, "Is there something you want, human?"

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And it was saying it in a challenging kind of nice way, if you know what I mean.

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We were as best as I can say, six to eight feet apart, close enough for me to see the hair

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at the top of the shoulder and how it curved around and laid down in a nice pattern.

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Close enough for me to understand exactly what size the garbage cans were compared to

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it.

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They were tiny.

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Time stopped and spun a bit for me right then.

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Everything slowed, and I swear that I could hear the big-foot breathing in and out.

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It's chest size, making it very loud in the quiet night.

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I felt like a small rabbit under a hungry wolf's stare.

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I knew I should run back to the house, but I was so afraid that if I moved, I would trigger

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something bad to happen.

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It straightened up a bit more, with both arms now free at the garbage can.

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If I was scared of how big it was before, I was now terrified.

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Its head was just below the gutter that ran along the garage roof above the cans there,

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which I later measured was just under eight feet.

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It had turned more toward me, and I now got an eye full of its breath and width.

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Its body mass was tremendous.

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To this day I've seen almost no one on the earth that comes close to it in heft and mass

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of muscle, even proportionately for a human.

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Even at twelve years old.

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I knew I was in a bad pickle.

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I knew the bag I was carrying was full of a lot of food scraps, and I thought maybe if

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I dropped the bag, it would be more interested in the bag and less so in me.

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I was still clutching the garbage bag, but I just couldn't make my fist open to drop

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the bag, no matter how many times my brain supposedly sent the signal to do it.

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My hand was not cooperating.

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Once it's straightened up, it kept staring at me hard, and now more light hit its face,

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and I can't say that I saw the eyes enough to really describe them, but I did see dark

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eyes that glinted under the light.

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Every impression I had of the stare was giving me the eyes, the posture, and all of the intent

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that was rolling off of that big foot.

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It was just a notch under being malevolent, or at the very least, angry.

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Maybe it just didn't like humans, or maybe it had a bad experience with one.

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Either way, I'm afraid I'd pay the price.

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There came a point, and I don't know when or how long after the staring thing started,

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but at one point the intensity of the stare went down just a notch.

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It released some tension from its stance, let out a great huff of air, turned and took

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one long step away from the can, another step, and it cleared the corner of the garage.

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Then it walked along the blackberry hedge that was at the back of the garage, and then

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it was gone in the darkness.

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I stood there with my heart hammering, and the bag of trash still hanging from my fist

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as I watched it go.

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Now, just before it was covered in darkness, it had turned to look back at me.

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I'm sure it was making sure that I wasn't going to give it any trouble, as if I could.

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Then it was gone into the night.

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At the time my legs were rubbery, but I didn't realize it until I took a step.

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I remember thinking, "I can't go back in there with this bag of trash."

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So I quickly stepped forward, just enough to lean out and drop it into the can that the

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big-foot had been rooting around in.

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I picked up the lid from the ground, put that back on quickly, then picked up the cement block

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on, put it on top.

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Now that block might keep raccoons out, but I knew it wouldn't help with the big-foot.

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I don't have a clear memory of running back into the house, but I remember stepping inside

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the warm, glowing kitchen, and growing on two of my ants were sitting there at the breakfast

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nook, talking and smoking with their cigarettes.

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It was Elvis's turn on the turntable right then, and he was singing about the wonderful world

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of Christmas.

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And from beyond in the dining room, there was a board game in progress with a lot of smack

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talk going down between my cousins and uncles.

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And somewhere in the family room it sounded like Godzilla was tearing around.

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That turned out just to be some of my other uncles, rough-housing with the smaller kids.

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I stood there in a days.

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I had just had this incredible, and to me, terrifying moment just outside.

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And yet here inside, it was warm and going along as if nothing in the world existed outside

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the house.

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Except I had just seen that something did indeed exist out there.

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I wanted to yell out to get someone's attention to tell them, but I didn't have to.

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I don't know where my grandpa had been when I walked in to the kitchen, but he suddenly

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came up to me.

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He looked at me and before he could say anything, I blurted it out.

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There's a man out there in the garbage.

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No, not a man.

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I mean, I don't know.

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Grandpa looked at me for less than half a second.

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He said, "Slow down."

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You want to say that again?

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My aunts and my grandmother had gone silent over at the breakfast-nook table.

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They were listening to us.

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They had caught a whiff that something was going down.

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Grandpa looked at me for maybe two seconds longer than he really needed to, and I started

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getting scared.

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I thought he was going to blow it all off.

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I still hadn't repeated it as he asked.

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Instead he said to me, "All right then.

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Let's go have a look, shall we?"

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He then turned and pulled the flashlight out of a kitchen drawer, took his jacket off the

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peg by the door, and he motioned for me to follow him.

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About that time Uncle Bill walked in and said, "Hey, where are you guys going?"

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Grandpa said.

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Me and Raj are going out to look for someone that was hanging around the garbage cans.

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Uncle Bill said he didn't like the sound of that at all, and he was going with us.

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I saw the look that Grandpa gave him.

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It was the look I'd been seeing a lot more.

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Now that Grandpa was getting ticked off that his sons and sons and laws were coddling

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him and trying to keep him from doing things.

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You see, Grandpa had a mild heart attack the year before, but he was a mean old, bull-headed

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00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:21,120
man sometimes, and he didn't like anyone trying to do things for him or keep him from doing

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things.

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00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,160
Instead all Grandpa said was, "Shoot yourself."

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But did he wait for Uncle Bill to get his jacket?

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Nope.

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00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:33,200
We just walked on out.

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Uncle Bill came with us with no jacket on.

241
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He had to have been cold.

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00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:43,840
Rocky, who'd barked at raccoons since he was a pup, stood there at the edge of the back

243
00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:49,960
stoop and refused to put so much as a single toenail down on those pavers.

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We got to the garage and Grandpa swung the light around and then said, "Well, whatever it

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00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,960
was, it's gone now."

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00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,880
Uncle Bill made a big show of checking the hedges like he expected to flesh out some

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neighbor kid.

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I kept my mouth shut and my eyes open.

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00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:12,960
I was very nervous out there, and I can't say otherwise.

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00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:18,160
Inside my announcement turned into a family conversation with all the usual parts, worrying

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00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:23,800
about bears coming into close jokes about Santa checking our leftovers, and the little cousins

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00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:29,440
fussing around about it, thinking there might be a bear out there, acting baby scared.

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Somebody put on the chipmunks record to try to distract us all and to drown us out.

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After a while it faded from the focus in the house, and the focus turned to what Santa was

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00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,640
going to be bringing everyone in just a few short hours.

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At eleven o'clock on the news, the local weatherman showed Santa's sleigh was very close

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00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:55,840
to our location, which had all the little ones scrambling and screaming to go to bed.

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Very wrong when the little ones were sprinkled all across the beds and floors and all of the

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00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:01,320
bedrooms.

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I was at the other end of the house, standing in an open area at the end of the hallway.

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00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,320
The window there looked out at the garage.

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00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:16,520
I didn't hear Ray walk behind me, and I jumped half a mile when he said, "Hey, very quietly."

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I said, "Hey, back."

264
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,600
And I went back to looking out at the garage.

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00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:27,360
A few seconds he said, "You did good, not running."

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I turned and stared at him.

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00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,360
My mouth opened.

268
00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:33,880
"Most folks would run," he said.

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I still hadn't said anything.

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What could I say?

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00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:44,080
Ray looked at me dead in the eyes, and then he said, "I believe you."

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00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,680
I waited for the grand to come, but it didn't.

273
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,960
He said it, and he meant it.

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One Ray proceeds to quietly tell me his own story.

275
00:18:55,280 --> 00:19:01,280
Two summers ago he'd come to stay for a few weeks while his mom was in the hospital for surgery.

276
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:05,960
One night he snuck out back around the garage to have a cigarette.

277
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:11,480
While he was standing there by the can, something tall and scary walked out from the head drove,

278
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:16,840
and it acted like it was going to walk to where he was standing, but it stopped when it saw

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00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:18,640
him.

280
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:20,800
He knew the second that he saw it.

281
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:22,800
It was not a person.

282
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:28,440
He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like the look of it, and he said he looked like

283
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:31,200
the feeling was mutual.

284
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,840
Then he said to me, "I told Grandpa.

285
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:41,000
All he said was, 'Keep a semit block on the lids, and stay out of the back after dark.'

286
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,000
That was the end of it."

287
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,600
After that Ray and I talked for a long time that night about what it was might be, what

288
00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,440
it meant to do out there and all kinds of things.

289
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:59,600
Sometime after midnight we heard some cursing downstairs and went to investigate.

290
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:04,600
We caught the uncles bringing in gifts, you know, the one Santa left in the driveway they

291
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,160
said, because he was in such a hurry.

292
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:13,600
They looked guilty at first, but we all knew the score, and we let them know it.

293
00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,400
After that we helped them bring things in.

294
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:22,360
And for the very first time in my life I stayed up till almost dawn on Christmas morning helping

295
00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:24,360
putting things together.

296
00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:29,400
Lila, my seven-year-old cousin, was about to have her little mind blown with a brand-new

297
00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:30,640
Barbie Dreamhouse.

298
00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:35,760
I remember it was a big triangle thing with yellow floors and a red roof.

299
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,160
She got the Barbie Corvette too.

300
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,000
We had fun putting stickers on all the things and setting the furniture up.

301
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,720
That's a really good memory for me.

302
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,200
And you don't have to include that if you don't want to.

303
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,320
It was just something I remembered.

304
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,480
I fell asleep on the couch somewhere around 5 a.m. and I was back up with the wild joys of

305
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,960
Christmas all around me at about 6 a.m.

306
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:04,280
And for the next hour or so we all unwrapped what Santa had brought us.

307
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,280
And yes, I got my CB radio.

308
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I didn't have a card to put it in, but I could still use it from home.

309
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:16,560
That's one of my favorite gifts ever, mostly because I asked for something and for once.

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I got exactly what I had been dreaming of.

311
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Christmas morning was coffee, sweet rolls and two types of breakfasts, casseroles, and all

312
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:29,800
the little kids being loud and wild with all kinds of Christmas morning joy playing with

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00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:30,800
new toys.

314
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:35,000
I slipped outside after the presents, but before I ate.

315
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,200
I wanted to see whatever I could see by daylight.

316
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,200
The cans were still upright.

317
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,600
The cement block was tossed over to the ground just a few feet from the cans.

318
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:50,160
The lid was often tossed to the side as well, but a different area.

319
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:55,240
The garbage bag that I had tossed in the night before had been pulled out and set on the

320
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:57,000
ground.

321
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,440
Inside I saw the bag below.

322
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:05,480
It was torn open with a few tiny pieces of silvery salmon skin glinting in the sun, but

323
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,480
the rest of the salmon was gone.

324
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,360
I put the trash back in the can, replaced the lid, and was in the process of putting the

325
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,920
cement block back on top when Ray came out.

326
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:23,040
"Hey, I didn't mean for you to be the one sent out here last night," he said.

327
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,400
"What do you mean?" I asked.

328
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:31,240
He looked all guilty and then he said, "I came out here and I put some salmon skins in

329
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,160
the can after dinner."

330
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:38,440
Grandpa usually has me carry it down to the compost, but everybody was busy in the kitchen.

331
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:43,560
And I knew they wouldn't know, and it's a lot easier just to tuck them in the can.

332
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:49,200
Unfortunately, that stuff draws those things in like flies to honey.

333
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:55,200
He looked right at me, more guilty than ever on his face, and then he said, "I'm sorry.

334
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,680
I really wasn't trying to bait anything for you, and I really didn't think Grandpa would

335
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,600
send you out here."

336
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:04,560
I didn't know what to say.

337
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:10,000
I looked at him, I nodded, and with as much gravity and truth as he said it to me the night

338
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,960
before I said, "I believe you."

339
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:15,440
And that was the end of it.

340
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,880
At least as far as that day was concerned.

341
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,080
We walked back inside to the sights and sounds of one of the grand old Christmas's of our

342
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,080
youth.

343
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:25,560
Only we didn't know.

344
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,640
That's what it was at the time.

345
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:29,840
Do we ever?

346
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:34,520
And as always happens, the calendar pages turn, and the years roll by and before we

347
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,960
know it, there's a yawning gap between now and back then.

348
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,880
We don't even know how it happened.

349
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,080
Then came the inevitable loss of people.

350
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:50,960
First Grandpa, then some of our uncles and aunt, and then Grandma.

351
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:55,960
After Grandma, the house sat empty for close to a year as we all worked out the details and

352
00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:01,000
began the long task of separating and selling things.

353
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,800
Justice things were winding down for the estate.

354
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:09,040
My sister called and asked for some help to do a final push, clean out, and put the final

355
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,400
touches on the house to put it on the market.

356
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:13,400
I agreed.

357
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:14,560
I dreaded it.

358
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:15,560
That's true.

359
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:20,200
But I knew it was just another step in life that I would have to take, and I wasn't going

360
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,320
to leave my sister to do it alone.

361
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,800
I drove up that weekend, and those of us that remained between aunts, uncles, and cousins

362
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:33,480
spent a rainy weekend going through and keeping what we could, and letting go of what

363
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:34,480
we couldn't.

364
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,360
I was standing on the top of the wooden step stool in the garage, trying to snag a jar of

365
00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:40,360
screws.

366
00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:45,040
When I found an old cigar box, shoved behind a rafter where Grandpa stored the Christmas

367
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:51,680
lights inside it, under a church bulletin from a year that I barely remember, was a raised

368
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,520
pocket notebook.

369
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:58,640
His name was in pencil on the inside cover, and it was dated for 1977.

370
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,760
That was the summer he mentioned, where he came and stayed.

371
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,720
Part of the summer would grim on Grandpa.

372
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,840
In it were several pages that had multiple entries that wouldn't have meant anything to

373
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:15,880
anyone other than me, entries like June 12th, tall shaped by the hedge, I watched it, then

374
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,400
it left.

375
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,200
July 7th walked out between the cans in the field.

376
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,400
It seemed to be in no hurry.

377
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:24,800
July 15th.

378
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,680
It was back again, back at the garbage cans.

379
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,720
It went for the fish.

380
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,800
It was entries like that, multiples and pages up them.

381
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:38,920
On one page, there was a quick pencil sketch of the garage corner, and a blocky shape where

382
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:40,320
the cans were.

383
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,800
And there was a simple, tall outline by the hedge with a simple note.

384
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,120
It turned shoulders to look at me.

385
00:25:48,120 --> 00:25:50,840
I still have that little notebook.

386
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,280
I'm afraid though that Ray's life didn't go so well for him, and he got mixed up with

387
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,240
some things that helped him become homeless.

388
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,440
I'm sure some of you can read between the lines.

389
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:07,480
I have tried to find Ray, but when people like that want to stay hidden on the streets, they

390
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,360
can really stay hidden.

391
00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:14,680
There was also a newspaper clipping folded in there, the kind of little community piece

392
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,360
that they run when there's nothing else that happened that week.

393
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:24,360
The title was "Prowler Reports Near Creek, Sheriff Urges Vigilance."

394
00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:28,040
Then there was a small snippet about garbage cans being raided all up and down the

395
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:34,520
river area, and it recommended that people secure the can-lids with heavy objects like cement

396
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,160
blocks.

397
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:41,000
The date from that little snippet was also from the same time as the "Prowler Reports."

398
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:46,200
No mention of anything other than bears or raccoons as possible culprits, and the sheriff

399
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,840
just telling people, "Use bricks and cement blocks on their lids."

400
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,720
I had to smile at that part.

401
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,560
I could hear my grandpa saying it in my ear.

402
00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,320
Then the garage was good and empty, and the floor swept.

403
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,920
I walked outside, and I stood at the same corner where the cans used to be.

404
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:10,160
I stood right where I had stood on that Christmas Eve so long ago.

405
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:15,160
I looked out at the hedge line like I could peer backwards into time.

406
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,600
Of course, there was nothing there.

407
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:22,000
Just for a few heartbeats, though, I could still see that large Sasquatch with my mind's

408
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:27,320
eye, just as I saw it on Christmas Eve, 1979.

409
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,060
Well, that's my story, Nancy.

410
00:27:30,060 --> 00:27:33,320
You call me Roger from the Cowlids, if you would, please.

411
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:38,760
And if Ray is out there listening somewhere by some strange chance, he'll know who he is.

412
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,480
There will be no question.

413
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,520
Mary Christmas to him.

414
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,960
You know, Ray was the only one who believed me, and if he's listening, he knows how to find

415
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,160
me, and I sure wish he would.

416
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:54,520
That's my Christmas wish this year.

417
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,360
Anyway, thank you.

418
00:27:56,360 --> 00:28:00,200
Mary Squatchness to all, Roger.

419
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,040
You've been listening to The Buckeye Bigfoot podcast.

420
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:07,520
Find more stories, hundreds more, over on our YouTube channel.

421
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,360
Just look for Buckeye Bigfoot.

422
00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:29,820
[ Silence ]