1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,740 It was some time after midnight. 2 00:00:09,740 --> 00:00:14,780 My son and I were zipped up in a little two-man tent on a sand bar off a little river, 3 00:00:14,780 --> 00:00:17,220 way down in the floodplain. 4 00:00:17,220 --> 00:00:21,900 The fire outside had already burned down to just coals, and the night had gone from the 5 00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:24,380 peaceful woods kind of sound. 6 00:00:24,380 --> 00:00:29,580 To that wrong kind of quiet that makes your hair feel like it's going to almost stand 7 00:00:29,580 --> 00:00:30,580 up. 8 00:00:30,580 --> 00:00:34,000 It was just me and my son, Ethan. 9 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:40,360 We were both in the tent, and Ethan was asleep, and something was standing right outside 10 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:41,560 our tent. 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,640 I mean, right outside the tent. 12 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,540 So close, I could see the shadow of its legs against the tent wall when the last bit 13 00:00:48,540 --> 00:00:50,700 of firelight flickered. 14 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:55,620 I heard the sand and the small gravel out there crunch under its weight as it shifted, 15 00:00:55,620 --> 00:01:01,220 and then I heard it draw in a deep breath through its nose, like it was smelling us through 16 00:01:01,220 --> 00:01:03,220 the tent. 17 00:01:03,220 --> 00:01:08,860 You know how close something has to be for you to hear it smell and snip? 18 00:01:08,860 --> 00:01:11,860 That's how close this thing was. 19 00:01:11,860 --> 00:01:18,140 I had one hand on Ethan to stop him from making any noise if he woke up, and my other hand 20 00:01:18,140 --> 00:01:22,180 was wrapped around the grip of my little 38. 21 00:01:22,180 --> 00:01:28,740 I knew that if whatever it was out there decided that the thin fabric of the tent wasn't any 22 00:01:28,740 --> 00:01:34,380 kind of a barrier, well, that little pistol would probably do more to piss it off than 23 00:01:34,380 --> 00:01:36,500 to really protect us. 24 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:39,460 But I was going to use it anyway if it came to that. 25 00:01:39,460 --> 00:01:45,260 Now, we'd already seen this thing twice that night with our own eyes right there in 26 00:01:45,260 --> 00:01:50,700 the full flashlight beam, close enough to count muscle folds and hair clumps. 27 00:01:50,700 --> 00:01:53,540 I knew what was standing out there. 28 00:01:53,540 --> 00:01:59,220 I knew we were dealing with a big foot, probably more than one. 29 00:01:59,220 --> 00:02:02,660 And I knew we were in some trouble. 30 00:02:02,660 --> 00:02:04,060 My name is Daniel. 31 00:02:04,060 --> 00:02:05,780 I'm 45 years old. 32 00:02:05,780 --> 00:02:09,020 I was born and raised in southern Ohio. 33 00:02:09,020 --> 00:02:12,420 I'm not far from where you are, Nance, actually. 34 00:02:12,420 --> 00:02:18,260 I grew up hunting deer and squirrels, fishing farm ponds all through Adams County Warren County 35 00:02:18,260 --> 00:02:20,060 and Butler County. 36 00:02:20,060 --> 00:02:23,220 I've been through all the creeks, been down to the rivers. 37 00:02:23,220 --> 00:02:28,460 I'm comfortable in the woods, or at least I used to be. 38 00:02:28,460 --> 00:02:31,740 My son, Ethan, is 15. 39 00:02:31,740 --> 00:02:38,220 He spends more time on a screen than outside, and that's more my fault, I think, than his. 40 00:02:38,220 --> 00:02:41,220 A divorce, longer work hours. 41 00:02:41,220 --> 00:02:44,500 All the normal excuses that people have. 42 00:02:44,500 --> 00:02:49,420 But this past spring, I decided I was going to fix at least a little bit of that. 43 00:02:49,420 --> 00:02:54,020 I was going to get him out under some stars and out in the woods. 44 00:02:54,020 --> 00:02:56,380 Show him how to build a fire. 45 00:02:56,380 --> 00:02:58,660 Make some coffee on a camp stove. 46 00:02:58,660 --> 00:03:03,900 Maybe let him hear some whipper whills and some owls instead of all the noise from tick-tock 47 00:03:03,900 --> 00:03:06,580 videos and games. 48 00:03:06,580 --> 00:03:09,100 That truth is, money's been pretty tight on me. 49 00:03:09,100 --> 00:03:14,100 So we weren't going to any fancy campground with fancy hookups and shower houses. 50 00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:18,060 I'd been watching some videos on disperse camping. 51 00:03:18,060 --> 00:03:23,900 It's that kind of free camping that you can do on certain state or national force lands, 52 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:29,740 where you just find a spot off of a forest road, and you set up as long as you follow the 53 00:03:29,740 --> 00:03:30,740 rules. 54 00:03:30,740 --> 00:03:33,500 Sounded perfect to me. 55 00:03:33,500 --> 00:03:38,060 Cheap, quiet, secluded, very nice. 56 00:03:38,060 --> 00:03:42,740 A buddy of mine at work, Doug, told me about a particular place that he turkey hunted 57 00:03:42,740 --> 00:03:46,300 along a little river about an hour from us. 58 00:03:46,300 --> 00:03:51,260 He said, "There's a forest service road down there that runs right along the bluff. 59 00:03:51,260 --> 00:03:58,020 You can walk a trail down to the floodplain, plenty of flat spots by the water for camping." 60 00:03:58,020 --> 00:04:00,940 I asked if it was legal to camp. 61 00:04:00,940 --> 00:04:07,140 He just shrugged and said, "Well, I've seen a lot of tents down there from time to time. 62 00:04:07,140 --> 00:04:10,380 Rangers have been by and they never seem to say much. 63 00:04:10,380 --> 00:04:12,100 Just don't leave trash. 64 00:04:12,100 --> 00:04:13,780 Don't have a big bonfire. 65 00:04:13,780 --> 00:04:16,020 You'll be fine." 66 00:04:16,020 --> 00:04:18,380 So that became the plan. 67 00:04:18,380 --> 00:04:23,460 One night, just father and son, quiet, camping down on the river. 68 00:04:23,460 --> 00:04:29,340 Hopefully, lots of stars overhead, and a lot of fish biting in the river. 69 00:04:29,340 --> 00:04:35,780 If I had known what that valley really held, I'd have booked a regular campground with screaming 70 00:04:35,780 --> 00:04:41,780 kids and RB generators humming all night instead of where we went, and I just would ate cheaper 71 00:04:41,780 --> 00:04:44,100 food that month. 72 00:04:44,100 --> 00:04:47,660 But we went on a Saturday this past late May. 73 00:04:47,660 --> 00:04:52,100 The river was down in its bank with some wide grapple bar showing. 74 00:04:52,100 --> 00:04:53,780 The weather was perfect. 75 00:04:53,780 --> 00:04:56,460 Blue sky, highs and seventies. 76 00:04:56,460 --> 00:04:59,780 It was supposed to get down to around fifty at night. 77 00:04:59,780 --> 00:05:03,540 That's what I call, perfect camping weather. 78 00:05:03,540 --> 00:05:09,300 We loaded light, just one tent, two sleeping bags, a little propane stove, a cooler, and a couple 79 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:13,860 rods because Ethan wanted to see if he could catch a catfish at night. 80 00:05:13,860 --> 00:05:21,740 He was actually excited, which made me feel like maybe I wasn't completely failing everything 81 00:05:21,740 --> 00:05:23,940 as a dad. 82 00:05:23,940 --> 00:05:27,660 We got to the forest road around mid-afternoon. 83 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:31,940 It turned to gravel pretty quick and followed the top up to the bluff, with the river down 84 00:05:31,940 --> 00:05:35,460 below somewhere out of sight through the trees. 85 00:05:35,460 --> 00:05:39,620 We passed two other trucks that were pulled off in little side spots. 86 00:05:39,620 --> 00:05:44,420 Turkey hunters were my guests judging from the decals I saw on the trucks. 87 00:05:44,420 --> 00:05:48,940 But nobody was there at the pull-off that Doug had told me about. 88 00:05:48,940 --> 00:05:53,820 From there we hiked a narrow trail down through mixed hardwoods. 89 00:05:53,820 --> 00:05:59,740 You could see where spring floods had chewed and rearranged everything far down below. 90 00:05:59,740 --> 00:06:05,380 The trail dropped onto the flood plain, which on that side was a wide tongue of sand and 91 00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:09,900 gravel with patches of young sycamores and willows. 92 00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:16,540 The river itself curved out in front of us, slow and brown, maybe 40 yards across. 93 00:06:16,540 --> 00:06:18,060 It was very pretty. 94 00:06:18,060 --> 00:06:20,420 I'll give it that. 95 00:06:20,420 --> 00:06:25,920 You could see old high water lines on the bigger trees, driftwood still caught some ten 96 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:27,780 feet up in the branches. 97 00:06:27,780 --> 00:06:35,060 But that day it was gentle and low, braided around little islands in sand bars. 98 00:06:35,060 --> 00:06:37,860 The dogs were already starting up in the shallows. 99 00:06:37,860 --> 00:06:42,340 The birds were moving in the tree tops right there with the squirrels. 100 00:06:42,340 --> 00:06:48,980 We found a flat spot just above the main sand bar, tucked behind a line of young sycamores, 101 00:06:48,980 --> 00:06:53,580 enough of a clearing for a small fire, close enough to the water that Ethan could throw 102 00:06:53,580 --> 00:06:56,300 out a line without any trouble. 103 00:06:56,300 --> 00:07:01,260 "Wow, this is nice," Ethan said, dropping his pack. 104 00:07:01,260 --> 00:07:05,140 I felt proud. I was so glad we'd come. 105 00:07:05,140 --> 00:07:10,380 "Told you," I said, "in the whole place as ours tonight. 106 00:07:10,380 --> 00:07:11,780 Just me and you." 107 00:07:11,780 --> 00:07:17,220 "Well, that kind of turned out to be true and kind of not. 108 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:21,460 Both ways, in a way, we didn't want." 109 00:07:21,460 --> 00:07:26,020 We spent the afternoon poking around the area, like most people do. 110 00:07:26,020 --> 00:07:31,220 We went walking, we skipped rocks, we were checking for different tracks of animals, 111 00:07:31,220 --> 00:07:32,900 and we found plenty. 112 00:07:32,900 --> 00:07:37,140 We saw deer, raccoon, even hair in along the sand bars. 113 00:07:37,140 --> 00:07:41,300 A lot of coon and possum prints all around the water's edge. 114 00:07:41,300 --> 00:07:45,460 But there was nothing I saw that made me uneasy. 115 00:07:45,460 --> 00:07:48,420 We set up the tent while it was still light. 116 00:07:48,420 --> 00:07:53,900 It was just one of those cheap, Walmart dome tents, just fine for a night or two in good 117 00:07:53,900 --> 00:07:59,500 weather, but not something you'd want to put through, even a light storm. 118 00:07:59,500 --> 00:08:06,460 I staked it down, double checked the seams, and tried to look competent as Ethan watched. 119 00:08:06,460 --> 00:08:11,380 About an hour before dark, I got a little fire going in a ring of stones. 120 00:08:11,380 --> 00:08:17,620 Nothing big, just enough to cook some hot dogs on, and maybe roast a few marshmallows after. 121 00:08:17,620 --> 00:08:22,380 Ethan rigged up his rod with some store-bought stink bait, and tossed it out to the edge 122 00:08:22,380 --> 00:08:27,540 of a deeper hole, talking all about the monster catfish he was going to get. 123 00:08:27,540 --> 00:08:33,940 Me, I was thinking he was more likely to get an old shoe out of there, but I loved his enthusiasm. 124 00:08:33,940 --> 00:08:38,340 I was happy that he was happy, so I kept quiet. 125 00:08:38,340 --> 00:08:44,700 Reader hot dogs burned a few rounds of marshmallows, then sat watching the sky go from gold 126 00:08:44,700 --> 00:08:48,460 to deep purple to almost black. 127 00:08:48,460 --> 00:08:53,540 About the time it was dark enough that you could see the first real stars in the sky, Ethan's 128 00:08:53,540 --> 00:08:55,500 rod tip bounced. 129 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:59,140 "Dad!" he yelled and pointed. 130 00:08:59,140 --> 00:09:02,260 He got up and scrambled to go grab it. 131 00:09:02,260 --> 00:09:06,740 I stood up with my flashlight, ready to be the net man. 132 00:09:06,740 --> 00:09:12,460 After it bit a clumsy reeling, he dragged in a decent channel cat, maybe three, three and 133 00:09:12,460 --> 00:09:14,260 a half pounds. 134 00:09:14,260 --> 00:09:20,660 The grin on Ethan's face made the entire trip worth it right there, as far as I was concerned. 135 00:09:20,660 --> 00:09:25,380 Of course, I didn't know what was about to happen, but it was still worth it. 136 00:09:25,380 --> 00:09:27,500 We admired the fish. 137 00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:31,740 I took a quick picture for him, and then we let it go. 138 00:09:31,740 --> 00:09:36,340 He immediately recast, all fired up to catch another. 139 00:09:36,340 --> 00:09:39,820 And that's when I heard the first splash. 140 00:09:39,820 --> 00:09:42,620 It wasn't Ethan's line hitting the water. 141 00:09:42,620 --> 00:09:48,580 No, this came from downstream, somewhere in the dark beyond the bend of the sand bar. 142 00:09:48,580 --> 00:09:53,340 It was the sound of something heavy stepping into shallow water. 143 00:09:53,340 --> 00:09:55,220 And then big woosh. 144 00:09:55,220 --> 00:09:57,820 And then they were all the ripples. 145 00:09:57,820 --> 00:09:59,220 Then another step. 146 00:09:59,220 --> 00:10:03,860 Deeper this time with more of a hollow slap underneath as if something was hitting mud 147 00:10:03,860 --> 00:10:05,940 when it stepped. 148 00:10:05,940 --> 00:10:11,300 I swung my flashlight that way, but the beam didn't go all that far. 149 00:10:11,300 --> 00:10:16,540 All I could see was water glare, some ripples, and then the trunk of the sycamores on the far 150 00:10:16,540 --> 00:10:18,020 bank. 151 00:10:18,020 --> 00:10:23,300 "Probably a deer," I said, though it didn't sound like any deer I'd ever heard before. 152 00:10:23,300 --> 00:10:27,180 Maybe it was just some beavers. 153 00:10:27,180 --> 00:10:28,620 You think it was a gator? 154 00:10:28,620 --> 00:10:30,620 Ethan asked, half teasing. 155 00:10:30,620 --> 00:10:33,260 We both knew there weren't any gators here. 156 00:10:33,260 --> 00:10:39,540 Well, no, not unless it hitched a ride up from the south I told him back teasing. 157 00:10:39,540 --> 00:10:43,820 We watched the area for a minute, but nothing else moved. 158 00:10:43,820 --> 00:10:47,460 The frogs were still making all their noise. 159 00:10:47,460 --> 00:10:49,940 Ethan went back to his fishing line. 160 00:10:49,940 --> 00:10:55,060 I went back to my camp chair, but my ears stayed pointed downstream. 161 00:10:55,060 --> 00:11:01,940 A few minutes later we heard sound again, but this time closer. 162 00:11:01,940 --> 00:11:05,500 Step, splash, slosh. 163 00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:09,140 Step, splash, slosh. 164 00:11:09,140 --> 00:11:13,140 It was walking straight up the shallows along our sand bar. 165 00:11:13,140 --> 00:11:15,820 My hackles were now raised. 166 00:11:15,820 --> 00:11:20,280 This wasn't how a person looking to stop at your campfire would come at you, and it was 167 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,420 walking on only two legs. 168 00:11:22,420 --> 00:11:24,460 I knew that for sure. 169 00:11:24,460 --> 00:11:31,140 It sounded like maybe a big man, but whatever it was, I didn't like this at all. 170 00:11:31,140 --> 00:11:34,100 I got a splash-lighten hand. 171 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:39,220 Ethan suddenly felt the change in the area and in me, and he turned. 172 00:11:39,220 --> 00:11:41,700 "Dad, what is that?" 173 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:49,180 "I don't know," I said, which is not something I like to say in front of my son. 174 00:11:49,180 --> 00:11:54,660 The sound stopped somewhere around where our sand bar pinched back into the main bank. 175 00:11:54,660 --> 00:11:58,940 If it had been a deer, it should have stepped up on the land. 176 00:11:58,940 --> 00:12:00,820 You know that sound. 177 00:12:00,820 --> 00:12:02,540 Water to mud to leaves. 178 00:12:02,540 --> 00:12:05,620 But I didn't hear that. 179 00:12:05,620 --> 00:12:10,340 It was like it had walked right to the edge of our little pool of campfire light and stopped 180 00:12:10,340 --> 00:12:13,660 right before the light would hit it. 181 00:12:13,660 --> 00:12:19,300 Maybe it's out in the deeper part now, I said, but I didn't believe it. 182 00:12:19,300 --> 00:12:21,660 We listened for a few more minutes. 183 00:12:21,660 --> 00:12:28,180 All we could hear was the river, the frogs, and the crackling of our fire. 184 00:12:28,180 --> 00:12:30,460 Then whip. 185 00:12:30,460 --> 00:12:35,500 Something small and hard hit the sand, a couple of feet from our fire and rolled to a stop. 186 00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:37,700 It was a rock. 187 00:12:37,700 --> 00:12:42,780 A smooth river stone, roughly the size of a golf ball. 188 00:12:42,780 --> 00:12:45,220 There was nowhere else it could have come from. 189 00:12:45,220 --> 00:12:47,980 It didn't come from the side or above. 190 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:51,020 The rock had come from the river area. 191 00:12:51,020 --> 00:12:56,220 "Okay," I said, "that's enough fishing for tonight." 192 00:12:56,220 --> 00:12:58,700 Ethan did not argue. 193 00:12:58,700 --> 00:13:03,340 He reeled in quick as I kicked more wood onto the fire and grabbed my bigger flashlight 194 00:13:03,340 --> 00:13:05,300 from the tent. 195 00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:10,620 I walked down to the water's edge, light sweeping back and forth. 196 00:13:10,620 --> 00:13:11,620 Nothing. 197 00:13:11,620 --> 00:13:17,220 Just dark water and sand and my own breath puffing out in little clouds. 198 00:13:17,220 --> 00:13:23,620 I tried to tell myself some kid upstream had thrown that rock trying to be funny, or maybe 199 00:13:23,620 --> 00:13:27,140 it slid off of a collapsing bank somehow. 200 00:13:27,140 --> 00:13:30,620 But I couldn't make either explanation fit. 201 00:13:30,620 --> 00:13:35,260 I had a tight feeling go across my shoulders, like I was getting ready for something 202 00:13:35,260 --> 00:13:37,260 to happen. 203 00:13:37,260 --> 00:13:40,780 I decided it was time to call it a night. 204 00:13:40,780 --> 00:13:45,900 We put out the fishing gear, zipped up the cooler, and made a point of cleaning up anything 205 00:13:45,900 --> 00:13:52,700 that might have smelled, just in case a raccoon came snooping around, I told myself. 206 00:13:52,700 --> 00:13:55,500 The fire settled into a bed of coals. 207 00:13:55,500 --> 00:14:00,860 I planned to let it burn down low, but not go out completely. 208 00:14:00,860 --> 00:14:05,180 Before we turned in, I took the flashlight and walked a slow circle around our little 209 00:14:05,180 --> 00:14:10,500 camp, then walked down the bank-aways, sweeping with the light. 210 00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:12,700 Sand and gravel everywhere. 211 00:14:12,700 --> 00:14:15,260 Some leaf litter under the saplings. 212 00:14:15,260 --> 00:14:19,340 I didn't see any fresh tracks that I couldn't explain. 213 00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:22,020 There were no boot prints beside ours. 214 00:14:22,020 --> 00:14:25,940 There were no big round deer tracks heading our way. 215 00:14:25,940 --> 00:14:32,900 And more than once I was sure I heard a plop, like a rock had landed in the water nearby. 216 00:14:32,900 --> 00:14:39,220 I'd quickly shine my light all around, but all I ever saw were some ripples on the water. 217 00:14:39,220 --> 00:14:45,860 I tried to tell myself I was just imagining it, or going back to that kid upstream somewhere. 218 00:14:45,860 --> 00:14:52,220 But the last rock, it was very close, and I saw it hit the water just as it hit. 219 00:14:52,220 --> 00:14:57,340 I shined my light there, and then to where I thought it had come from. 220 00:14:57,340 --> 00:15:02,860 I stood still for a minute or two, but no more rocks came. 221 00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:09,020 Barely I headed back, sweeping my light in wide arcs as I walked. 222 00:15:09,020 --> 00:15:13,780 When I got back to our camp, I swept the beam toward the far side of the sand bar, up 223 00:15:13,780 --> 00:15:15,900 where it met the woods. 224 00:15:15,900 --> 00:15:19,900 And I saw something that made me stop. 225 00:15:19,900 --> 00:15:26,860 About fifty yards off, just inside the first line of saplings, there were two small, golden 226 00:15:26,860 --> 00:15:30,500 and brish points reflecting my light. 227 00:15:30,500 --> 00:15:32,420 They were eyes. 228 00:15:32,420 --> 00:15:37,660 And they were far too high for a raccoon, too narrow for a deer. 229 00:15:37,660 --> 00:15:42,660 They were about the height of a grown man's eyes, where they would be. 230 00:15:42,660 --> 00:15:47,620 Maybe just a tad higher, I wasn't sure about the ground over there. 231 00:15:47,620 --> 00:15:51,420 But they stared at us for maybe a second or two. 232 00:15:51,420 --> 00:15:57,220 When I moved the beam up slightly, they winked out as whatever had owned them turned its head 233 00:15:57,220 --> 00:15:58,220 away. 234 00:15:58,220 --> 00:16:03,100 "Did you see that?" Ethan whispered at my elbow. 235 00:16:03,100 --> 00:16:05,380 He'd come to stand up next to me. 236 00:16:05,380 --> 00:16:12,220 "And probably just a deer," I said, the line tasting flattened my mouth. 237 00:16:12,220 --> 00:16:16,500 You know, they'll bed down just anywhere around here, I'm sure. 238 00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:21,620 But the eyes didn't come back when I swept the light over there again. 239 00:16:21,620 --> 00:16:24,540 We finally went to the tent. 240 00:16:24,540 --> 00:16:28,620 Ethan slid into his sleeping bag and was just out in minutes. 241 00:16:28,620 --> 00:16:34,540 You know, fifteen-year-old boys can fall asleep in a heavy rock quarry if they're tired enough. 242 00:16:34,540 --> 00:16:39,940 I lay awake though a long time listening to every little thing. 243 00:16:39,940 --> 00:16:42,940 For a while it was peaceful. 244 00:16:42,940 --> 00:16:49,940 Frogs, the sound of the river, a barred owl off somewhere, the occasional fish slapping 245 00:16:49,940 --> 00:16:51,540 at the surface. 246 00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:55,660 Then bit by bit all the sound drained away. 247 00:16:55,660 --> 00:17:00,220 "It's hard to explain if you've never experienced it." 248 00:17:00,220 --> 00:17:05,380 One morning the night has all the normal textures, layers of sound. 249 00:17:05,380 --> 00:17:07,380 Some close, some far. 250 00:17:07,380 --> 00:17:09,460 Then the next. 251 00:17:09,460 --> 00:17:13,860 It's as if someone draped a thick blanket over everything. 252 00:17:13,860 --> 00:17:16,780 The frogs stopped first. 253 00:17:16,780 --> 00:17:19,980 Then the insect buzz faded away. 254 00:17:19,980 --> 00:17:22,860 Then the distant owl shut up. 255 00:17:22,860 --> 00:17:29,020 The only steady sound left was the faint hiss of the river, and even that seemed quieter 256 00:17:29,020 --> 00:17:30,940 too. 257 00:17:30,940 --> 00:17:36,620 I slid my hand into my duffel bag and found the pistol more for comfort than out of any 258 00:17:36,620 --> 00:17:39,260 real plan. 259 00:17:39,260 --> 00:17:45,300 Through the tent wall I heard sand and gravel grinding and crunching. 260 00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:50,980 Then step, for drag, another step, drag. 261 00:17:50,980 --> 00:17:56,700 Something was walking on the dry part of the bar, not the wet near the water. 262 00:17:56,700 --> 00:17:59,140 It was coming up from downstream. 263 00:17:59,140 --> 00:18:07,220 The same path the splashes had taken earlier, only now on land, and coming closer. 264 00:18:07,220 --> 00:18:10,540 It did not seem to be in a hurry I noticed. 265 00:18:10,540 --> 00:18:16,620 The steps were too heavy and too spaced apart to be something like a raccoon or even a 266 00:18:16,620 --> 00:18:19,420 human for that matter. 267 00:18:19,420 --> 00:18:23,380 They stopped somewhere down near where we'd been fishing. 268 00:18:23,380 --> 00:18:28,420 I could picture our two camp chairs still sitting there by the dead rods and the fire glowing 269 00:18:28,420 --> 00:18:30,940 low between them. 270 00:18:30,940 --> 00:18:33,180 I held my breath. 271 00:18:33,180 --> 00:18:38,500 For a long moment all I heard was the faint crackling of wood-coals popping in the low 272 00:18:38,500 --> 00:18:39,500 fire. 273 00:18:39,500 --> 00:18:44,180 Then came a sound that I will never forget. 274 00:18:44,180 --> 00:18:50,220 Fabric rustling as something pinched the corner of my folding camp chair and lifted it a couple 275 00:18:50,220 --> 00:18:54,460 inches off the ground and set it back down. 276 00:18:54,460 --> 00:18:58,660 The chair on the sand and the stone is a distinct sound. 277 00:18:58,660 --> 00:19:03,700 I knew what it was because I had made that sound putting it out and repositioning it several 278 00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:07,700 times myself earlier in the day. 279 00:19:07,700 --> 00:19:12,220 Ethan rolled over just then and sort of muttered in his sleep. 280 00:19:12,220 --> 00:19:16,380 I put my free hand gently on his shoulder. 281 00:19:16,380 --> 00:19:19,420 Whatever was out there moved again. 282 00:19:19,420 --> 00:19:23,220 It walked a slow circle around the fire pit. 283 00:19:23,220 --> 00:19:26,020 I heard small stones crunch. 284 00:19:26,020 --> 00:19:30,180 Once there was a stick that snapped sharply. 285 00:19:30,180 --> 00:19:35,460 I heard various sounds outside, and for most of them I could match it up to something of 286 00:19:35,460 --> 00:19:38,300 ours being moved or picked up. 287 00:19:38,300 --> 00:19:41,540 It was inspecting our things. 288 00:19:41,540 --> 00:19:46,880 I swallowed hard and eased my phone out, thinking maybe I could flip the camera on and risk a 289 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,220 picture if I pulled down the zipper just enough. 290 00:19:51,220 --> 00:19:57,740 But the idea of that tiny rectangle of flashing light giving us away made me shove it back 291 00:19:57,740 --> 00:20:00,540 down in my pack. 292 00:20:00,540 --> 00:20:04,180 The footsteps moved closer to the tent then. 293 00:20:04,180 --> 00:20:10,500 You never realized just how thin tent walls are until there's something really big on the 294 00:20:10,500 --> 00:20:13,060 other side of it. 295 00:20:13,060 --> 00:20:18,660 Our tent had that little screened window on the door and a screen panel opposite, both 296 00:20:18,660 --> 00:20:21,140 could be unzipped. 297 00:20:21,140 --> 00:20:27,660 The fly was down, but the glow from the coal still made a faint, orangy light outside, 298 00:20:27,660 --> 00:20:31,660 enough that I could tell when something blocked that light. 299 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:36,140 A shadow fell across the door of the tent. 300 00:20:36,140 --> 00:20:37,140 Big. 301 00:20:37,140 --> 00:20:43,300 This was not the shape of a deer's head or some humped raccoons back. 302 00:20:43,300 --> 00:20:48,260 This was tall and stood broad and straight. 303 00:20:48,260 --> 00:20:53,660 You could see where it narrowed slightly at what had to be a waste, then widened again into 304 00:20:53,660 --> 00:20:57,260 two big, thick legs. 305 00:20:57,260 --> 00:20:59,380 I could hear it breathing. 306 00:20:59,380 --> 00:21:03,060 So steady breaths coming through the nose. 307 00:21:03,060 --> 00:21:10,340 It wasn't panting, just taking us in, sniffing us out, you might say. 308 00:21:10,340 --> 00:21:15,140 The outline moved along the front of the tent toward my side. 309 00:21:15,140 --> 00:21:20,300 When it got to about where my feet were, it stopped. 310 00:21:20,300 --> 00:21:25,300 I had the insane thought that it could see through the thin nylon and see the lumps our 311 00:21:25,300 --> 00:21:28,660 bodies made in the fabric of our bed rolls. 312 00:21:28,660 --> 00:21:35,700 And something, probably a hand, pressed lightly against the side of the tent about where 313 00:21:35,700 --> 00:21:37,700 my knees were. 314 00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:41,580 I saw the material bow inward and inch or two. 315 00:21:41,580 --> 00:21:43,380 I froze. 316 00:21:43,380 --> 00:21:48,380 If I had lifted my leg, we would have touched. 317 00:21:48,380 --> 00:21:54,660 The pressure on the tent increased just a hair, like it was testing the give of the fabric. 318 00:21:54,660 --> 00:22:02,140 Then it slid it along the fabric, brushing over Ethan's sleeping bag next to me. 319 00:22:02,140 --> 00:22:07,260 My son let out a soft snore oblivious to what was happening. 320 00:22:07,260 --> 00:22:08,860 I don't mind telling you. 321 00:22:08,860 --> 00:22:14,400 I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood just to keep from saying something 322 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,700 out loud. 323 00:22:16,700 --> 00:22:21,500 The hand or whatever it was, suddenly lifted away. 324 00:22:21,500 --> 00:22:25,220 The shadow moved on, circling the tent. 325 00:22:25,220 --> 00:22:28,980 I heard it stop on the backside near the trees. 326 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:35,060 Then I heard three soft taps on the trunk of the big sycamore that we'd picked as a landmark. 327 00:22:35,060 --> 00:22:39,060 Knock, knock, knock. 328 00:22:39,060 --> 00:22:42,220 I know you've heard a lot about these wooden nooks. 329 00:22:42,220 --> 00:22:47,820 I always thought folks were just reading too much into normal, forced noises. 330 00:22:47,820 --> 00:22:50,740 I no longer think that. 331 00:22:50,740 --> 00:22:54,340 These weren't random limb pops I was hearing. 332 00:22:54,340 --> 00:23:00,380 There was a rhythm in those nooks, and it was controlling the volume to not be too loud. 333 00:23:00,380 --> 00:23:07,620 A second or two after that third knock farther out in the dark, maybe across the side channel 334 00:23:07,620 --> 00:23:09,020 of the river. 335 00:23:09,020 --> 00:23:12,020 I heard another knock answer it. 336 00:23:12,020 --> 00:23:17,300 It was also lower, maybe more muffled by the distance. 337 00:23:17,300 --> 00:23:21,420 No, we were not dealing with one. 338 00:23:21,420 --> 00:23:23,460 What did the nooks signal? 339 00:23:23,460 --> 00:23:25,660 What did they say? 340 00:23:25,660 --> 00:23:29,660 My insides were nodding up thinking about it. 341 00:23:29,660 --> 00:23:36,540 By then I was pretty sure of what was out there, but I had to know for sure. 342 00:23:36,540 --> 00:23:39,060 What if I was wrong? 343 00:23:39,060 --> 00:23:45,420 I decided I'd rather know than not know, even if knowing scared me even worse. 344 00:23:45,420 --> 00:23:49,140 And I knew that it just might do that. 345 00:23:49,140 --> 00:23:51,180 I whispered in Ethan's ear. 346 00:23:51,180 --> 00:23:53,620 "Hey, buddy, wake up. 347 00:23:53,620 --> 00:23:57,740 Do it slow and don't make any noise." 348 00:23:57,740 --> 00:24:03,860 Ethan came awake quicker than I had expected, his eyes big in the dim darkness. 349 00:24:03,860 --> 00:24:06,420 I felt him tense up under my hand. 350 00:24:06,420 --> 00:24:09,780 "What?" he started to say. 351 00:24:09,780 --> 00:24:12,300 I put my hand over his mouth. 352 00:24:12,300 --> 00:24:15,380 "Shh, something's outside," I said. 353 00:24:15,380 --> 00:24:17,380 "Listen." 354 00:24:17,380 --> 00:24:19,820 We lay there in the darkness. 355 00:24:19,820 --> 00:24:26,540 The steps started again, moving away from the tent toward the water where our chairs were. 356 00:24:26,540 --> 00:24:30,180 It sounded like it was maybe twenty feet out from us now. 357 00:24:30,180 --> 00:24:35,220 "I'm gonna take a look," I said, into his ear quietly. 358 00:24:35,220 --> 00:24:36,220 Stay still. 359 00:24:36,220 --> 00:24:38,540 Keep quiet. 360 00:24:38,540 --> 00:24:43,420 I wriggled to sit up just enough to get my hand on the zipper of the door. 361 00:24:43,420 --> 00:24:49,220 I zipped it down about an inch at a time, winsing at every middle sound, until there was a 362 00:24:49,220 --> 00:24:53,180 gap big enough to poke the flashlight through. 363 00:24:53,180 --> 00:24:59,220 And I'd brought a good light, one of those long aluminum ones with a strong LED. 364 00:24:59,220 --> 00:25:02,860 It felt like a baseball bat in my hand. 365 00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:09,460 I slid it through the opening, thumb on the switch, and counted to three in my head. 366 00:25:09,460 --> 00:25:13,420 One, two, three. 367 00:25:13,420 --> 00:25:17,500 I hit the button and swept the beam toward the fire pit. 368 00:25:17,500 --> 00:25:20,900 The colds flared red in the sudden white light. 369 00:25:20,900 --> 00:25:23,540 Our chairs glowed dull. 370 00:25:23,540 --> 00:25:30,140 And just beyond them, mid-step on the dry sand, turning its head toward us, was what I had 371 00:25:30,140 --> 00:25:32,380 been hearing. 372 00:25:32,380 --> 00:25:38,460 I know everyone listening wants to know all the dimensions, how far away it was. 373 00:25:38,460 --> 00:25:41,700 Well, I stepped it off the next day. 374 00:25:41,700 --> 00:25:48,860 From our tent door to where it had been standing was maybe twenty-five feet. 375 00:25:48,860 --> 00:25:49,860 That's it. 376 00:25:49,860 --> 00:25:51,860 Not twenty-five yards. 377 00:25:51,860 --> 00:25:54,220 Twenty-five feet. 378 00:25:54,220 --> 00:25:56,140 Maximum. 379 00:25:56,140 --> 00:26:01,340 It was facing a little to the side, so I saw it in three-quarter view. 380 00:26:01,340 --> 00:26:07,340 The beam hit it in the chest in the throat first, lighting up hair and skin. 381 00:26:07,340 --> 00:26:09,140 And man, it was tall. 382 00:26:09,140 --> 00:26:12,820 Taller than any person I've ever stood next to. 383 00:26:12,820 --> 00:26:18,340 I'd put it at least seven and a half feet, probably upwards of eight. 384 00:26:18,340 --> 00:26:20,020 The shoulders were wide. 385 00:26:20,020 --> 00:26:22,900 They were round and heavy with muscle. 386 00:26:22,900 --> 00:26:26,500 The chest was broad and thick, massive. 387 00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:31,140 The hair there was shorter, and I could see the bulk of the muscles underneath it clear. 388 00:26:31,140 --> 00:26:37,740 Down around the stomach and the hips, the hair got a little longer and shaggyer. 389 00:26:37,740 --> 00:26:43,220 Its arms hung low and long, the hands brushing its knees. 390 00:26:43,220 --> 00:26:48,620 The hands themselves I saw were big, and they had long distinct fingers. 391 00:26:48,620 --> 00:26:53,060 I could see where the hair thinned on the palms and around the fingers, showing darker 392 00:26:53,060 --> 00:26:55,140 skin. 393 00:26:55,140 --> 00:27:01,060 When the beam of light hit its face, it flinched slightly, then turned its eyes away, 394 00:27:01,060 --> 00:27:03,580 but not before I saw them. 395 00:27:03,580 --> 00:27:06,140 They didn't glow like headlights. 396 00:27:06,140 --> 00:27:10,980 They reflected the light the same as any animal's eyes would do. 397 00:27:10,980 --> 00:27:15,900 But there was a flash of intelligence in them before they turned away. 398 00:27:15,900 --> 00:27:22,700 There was a thick, bony brow bone that stuck out, making the eyes seem deep and shadowed. 399 00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:27,540 The nose that I saw was broad and flat, looked more human than a dog. 400 00:27:27,540 --> 00:27:30,740 It didn't protrude from the face at all. 401 00:27:30,740 --> 00:27:36,380 The mouth, what I could see of it, was wide, then lips pressed together. 402 00:27:36,380 --> 00:27:39,500 I did not see teeth or tongue. 403 00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:45,420 The hair on the cheeks and the chin were thinner around the nose and the mouth. 404 00:27:45,420 --> 00:27:49,180 And if I could say it, it looked irritated. 405 00:27:49,180 --> 00:27:51,820 That's the best word I've got. 406 00:27:51,820 --> 00:27:57,660 It didn't seem afraid or even really angry, just kind of ticked that we were there or 407 00:27:57,660 --> 00:28:01,220 maybe because I'd lit it up with light. 408 00:28:01,220 --> 00:28:05,260 For maybe two heartbeat, it stood there in full view. 409 00:28:05,260 --> 00:28:11,100 It's chest rising and falling, breath steaming in the night air. 410 00:28:11,100 --> 00:28:16,900 Then it lifted one arm slightly, palm toward us, like a man blocking out a bright light 411 00:28:16,900 --> 00:28:22,340 in his face, and he took a long stride backward. 412 00:28:22,340 --> 00:28:25,100 I followed him with the beam. 413 00:28:25,100 --> 00:28:29,660 It ticked two more steps, and now it was at the edge of the trees. 414 00:28:29,660 --> 00:28:34,340 One step sideways behind a sapling, and it was half hidden. 415 00:28:34,340 --> 00:28:40,020 Another, and it was just a darker shape among other dark shapes, constantly going further 416 00:28:40,020 --> 00:28:45,380 and further away, farther than my flashlight could reach it. 417 00:28:45,380 --> 00:28:48,140 I cut the light off. 418 00:28:48,140 --> 00:28:51,300 Ethan's hand was clamped on my arm like a vice. 419 00:28:51,300 --> 00:28:56,780 "Dad," he said, "what was that?" 420 00:28:56,780 --> 00:29:02,420 I did not say the word "bigfoot," and I didn't say "monster." 421 00:29:02,420 --> 00:29:07,900 I said the only thing that I could manage to think for myself. 422 00:29:07,900 --> 00:29:12,380 It was something that lives here, son. 423 00:29:12,380 --> 00:29:14,740 Ethan started breathing fast. 424 00:29:14,740 --> 00:29:17,620 I squeezed his shoulder to reassure him. 425 00:29:17,620 --> 00:29:20,860 "Hey, it's okay, we're okay. 426 00:29:20,860 --> 00:29:21,860 We're in the tent. 427 00:29:21,860 --> 00:29:26,980 We're not out there running to attract it, and you know, if it had wanted us, it would 428 00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:28,660 have already got us. 429 00:29:28,660 --> 00:29:31,100 I think it's just curious, son. 430 00:29:31,100 --> 00:29:35,380 Let's just stay calm and wait it out, okay?" 431 00:29:35,380 --> 00:29:40,700 He nodded, but it felt like he was shaking a little. 432 00:29:40,700 --> 00:29:44,940 I wish I could tell you that after that there were no more sounds and that the bigfoot had 433 00:29:44,940 --> 00:29:46,540 left. 434 00:29:46,540 --> 00:29:50,180 But that wouldn't be true at all. 435 00:29:50,180 --> 00:29:58,020 Before the next several hours hit, and I am pretty sure it was they at times circled around 436 00:29:58,020 --> 00:30:00,020 our camp. 437 00:30:00,020 --> 00:30:05,900 There were stretches of 15, 20 minutes where all we heard was the river again. 438 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:10,900 Each time I'd start to think, "Well, maybe they'd gone." 439 00:30:10,900 --> 00:30:16,460 And then there'd be a knock from one side or the other, or a big splash in the side channel, 440 00:30:16,460 --> 00:30:20,380 or we'd hear a heavy step out there in the sand and gravel. 441 00:30:20,380 --> 00:30:24,060 And then the adrenaline would spike all over again. 442 00:30:24,060 --> 00:30:29,460 At one point, maybe around two in the morning, something came in close from the backside of 443 00:30:29,460 --> 00:30:32,460 the tent where the trees started. 444 00:30:32,460 --> 00:30:34,500 It moved quietly. 445 00:30:34,500 --> 00:30:37,140 But you can't hide that much weight. 446 00:30:37,140 --> 00:30:40,700 I heard branches brush, leaves, rustle. 447 00:30:40,700 --> 00:30:43,700 Then came a sound right over our heads. 448 00:30:43,700 --> 00:30:48,180 A rough skin and hair kind of rubbing on the fly above. 449 00:30:48,180 --> 00:30:54,260 Something big had put its hand up there and rubbed the fly tarp like it was curious. 450 00:30:54,260 --> 00:30:57,420 The tent fabric sagged for a second. 451 00:30:57,420 --> 00:31:00,300 Dust rained down from the seam line. 452 00:31:00,300 --> 00:31:03,740 Ethan let out a tiny whimper. 453 00:31:03,740 --> 00:31:05,580 The rubbing stopped. 454 00:31:05,580 --> 00:31:11,180 A moment later, right at the head of my sleeping bag, something pressed down on the roof from 455 00:31:11,180 --> 00:31:13,100 outside. 456 00:31:13,100 --> 00:31:16,740 The wall bowed in several inches over my face. 457 00:31:16,740 --> 00:31:21,060 I could see silhouetted fingers spread out through the material. 458 00:31:21,060 --> 00:31:22,060 Long digits. 459 00:31:22,060 --> 00:31:26,140 Far too long for any human hand. 460 00:31:26,140 --> 00:31:30,060 I didn't think the tent would make it. 461 00:31:30,060 --> 00:31:34,100 Suddenly the hand lifted, and I heard the creature move on. 462 00:31:34,100 --> 00:31:40,700 A few seconds later, a rock hit the side of the tent with a lot of force. 463 00:31:40,700 --> 00:31:47,980 If the tent nylon had been pulled tighter, it might have taken that part of the tent down. 464 00:31:47,980 --> 00:31:52,300 But I had borrowed this tent from Doug, and I knew it was older. 465 00:31:52,300 --> 00:31:55,300 The nylon was not pulled so tight. 466 00:31:55,300 --> 00:31:58,180 It didn't put up a lot of resistance. 467 00:31:58,180 --> 00:32:04,980 So when the rock hit, it pushed forward into the nylon, losing most of the momentum into 468 00:32:04,980 --> 00:32:09,580 the fabric, and it then rolled down and hit the dirt. 469 00:32:09,580 --> 00:32:16,100 If the rock had been bigger or thrown with more force, it might have done some damage. 470 00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:20,020 I took the rock throw, like a warning. 471 00:32:20,020 --> 00:32:25,020 I kept my thumb on the flashlight switch, and my other hand on my gun. 472 00:32:25,020 --> 00:32:29,940 But after that first look, I didn't flip that light on again. 473 00:32:29,940 --> 00:32:33,940 I'd had enough of seeing it face to face. 474 00:32:33,940 --> 00:32:39,540 And to be honest, I worried that blinding it again up close might push it from being 475 00:32:39,540 --> 00:32:43,900 curious to angry. 476 00:32:43,900 --> 00:32:48,900 Sometime later there was a flurry of activity on the far side of the channel. 477 00:32:48,900 --> 00:32:54,740 We heard big splashes in what sounded like two different sets of footsteps, one deep, 478 00:32:54,740 --> 00:33:01,340 chesty grunt, and then a flurry of odd sounds that came out strung together, but I have 479 00:33:01,340 --> 00:33:03,980 no description for them. 480 00:33:03,980 --> 00:33:07,820 That made Ethan stiffen and he grabbed my arm again. 481 00:33:07,820 --> 00:33:12,260 "Dad, they're talking," he said. 482 00:33:12,260 --> 00:33:15,420 I almost said no, no, they're not. 483 00:33:15,420 --> 00:33:20,940 But then I stopped and listened, and I realized he might be right. 484 00:33:20,940 --> 00:33:28,620 And that idea that we were the only two humans in a valley with several of them communicating 485 00:33:28,620 --> 00:33:32,180 settled in my gut, like ice. 486 00:33:32,180 --> 00:33:35,580 The last close approach came closer to dawn. 487 00:33:35,580 --> 00:33:42,380 And the sky outside the tent had just turned from black to a hint of deep and vivid blue. 488 00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:45,420 We'd been lying there in a half-day state. 489 00:33:45,420 --> 00:33:51,340 The kind of half-sleep where your brain will not shut off, but your body is absolutely 490 00:33:51,340 --> 00:33:53,460 exhausted. 491 00:33:53,460 --> 00:33:59,220 The fire outside was now mostly ash, with only a faint glow left. 492 00:33:59,220 --> 00:34:07,380 Suddenly, right by Ethan's side of the tent, there was this rapid, heavy thump thump thump. 493 00:34:07,380 --> 00:34:12,900 They were foothalls, like something had come in at a trot, and stopped hard right by the 494 00:34:12,900 --> 00:34:14,900 tent. 495 00:34:14,900 --> 00:34:17,540 Ethan's whole body jerked. 496 00:34:17,540 --> 00:34:22,540 A large shadow fell across the side wall of his tent side. 497 00:34:22,540 --> 00:34:28,460 And before I could stop him, Ethan yelled out, "Go away!" 498 00:34:28,460 --> 00:34:30,700 It was silence. 499 00:34:30,700 --> 00:34:36,340 Then just on the other side of that thin nylon, we heard a sound that did not belong to any 500 00:34:36,340 --> 00:34:38,580 animal I know. 501 00:34:38,580 --> 00:34:45,900 It was a deep, almost subsonic rumble that started in a chest somewhere and came out like 502 00:34:45,900 --> 00:34:48,500 a vibrating hum. 503 00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:51,100 This wasn't a growl with teeth. 504 00:34:51,100 --> 00:34:53,860 It was more like a low warning. 505 00:34:53,860 --> 00:34:59,540 It went on for two, three seconds, then cut off. 506 00:34:59,540 --> 00:35:07,220 I don't know what it meant in their language, but in ours, well, we translated it to mean, 507 00:35:07,220 --> 00:35:10,700 you're pushing your luck, buddy. 508 00:35:10,700 --> 00:35:15,940 I squeezed Ethan's shoulder hard and said, "No more yelling!" 509 00:35:15,940 --> 00:35:19,420 Then I whispered, "Hey, we're almost today, light. 510 00:35:19,420 --> 00:35:21,900 Just hang on." 511 00:35:21,900 --> 00:35:26,260 Ethan stayed there at his side of the tent just a moment longer. 512 00:35:26,260 --> 00:35:30,420 I watched the shadow expand and contract with its breathing. 513 00:35:30,420 --> 00:35:34,140 Then the shadow lifted away. 514 00:35:34,140 --> 00:35:37,220 Steps retreated toward the water. 515 00:35:37,220 --> 00:35:41,500 We didn't hear them again up close after that. 516 00:35:41,500 --> 00:35:47,140 When real daylight finally filtered through the tent material, we hadn't heard from them 517 00:35:47,140 --> 00:35:49,500 for over an hour. 518 00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:55,020 I could now hear birds and all the regular noises of the woods at daybreak. 519 00:35:55,020 --> 00:36:00,460 But by then I felt like I'd aged ten years overnight. 520 00:36:00,460 --> 00:36:05,540 We stayed put another half hour after that, just to be sure. 521 00:36:05,540 --> 00:36:08,340 Then I unzipped the tent door. 522 00:36:08,340 --> 00:36:10,700 Cauchously looked around. 523 00:36:10,700 --> 00:36:15,540 Got out and checked cautiously all around again. 524 00:36:15,540 --> 00:36:19,460 When I was absolutely sure it was safe, I told Ethan to come 525 00:36:19,460 --> 00:36:21,540 on out. 526 00:36:21,540 --> 00:36:26,060 The camp looked like a group of drunk teenagers had been at it. 527 00:36:26,060 --> 00:36:29,060 One of the folding chairs was tipped over. 528 00:36:29,060 --> 00:36:34,100 The other had muddy grits smeared along an armrest where something with a big dirty hand 529 00:36:34,100 --> 00:36:36,060 had gripped it. 530 00:36:36,060 --> 00:36:39,860 Our cooler had been moved about a foot from where we had left it. 531 00:36:39,860 --> 00:36:42,220 It was lying on its side. 532 00:36:42,220 --> 00:36:49,180 Technically the lid was still attached, but the zipper had been pulled apart, as if someone 533 00:36:49,180 --> 00:36:53,060 had been opening a bag of chips, pulling at the seams. 534 00:36:53,060 --> 00:36:55,220 There was nothing left inside, of course. 535 00:36:55,220 --> 00:37:00,140 Not that there had been much anyway, just a couple extra hot dogs. 536 00:37:00,140 --> 00:37:04,260 I walked a slow circle, taking it all in. 537 00:37:04,260 --> 00:37:06,740 There were tracks everywhere too. 538 00:37:06,740 --> 00:37:11,900 There was nothing you could mistake for a bear, and nothing you would ever mistake for 539 00:37:11,900 --> 00:37:12,900 human. 540 00:37:12,900 --> 00:37:16,780 There were lots of oversteps, but here and there. 541 00:37:16,780 --> 00:37:20,460 There were some clear prints left behind. 542 00:37:20,460 --> 00:37:27,100 On the damp sand between our tent and the water, I found a long line of prints, each one 543 00:37:27,100 --> 00:37:30,620 longer than my boot and a lot wider. 544 00:37:30,620 --> 00:37:33,460 The stride was really long. 545 00:37:33,460 --> 00:37:39,980 Further than I could stretch my legs, they were the cleanest prints of them all. 546 00:37:39,980 --> 00:37:45,420 I had already decided what had been out there all night, even if I hadn't set it out 547 00:37:45,420 --> 00:37:46,420 loud. 548 00:37:46,420 --> 00:37:53,260 But if I hadn't had a clue, those clear shapes would have clinched it for me. 549 00:37:53,260 --> 00:37:57,980 They were the clearest of all the prints, and there was no mistaking those big feet. 550 00:37:57,980 --> 00:38:05,060 A few of the prints had toe shapes at the front, where the sand had taken them in just right, 551 00:38:05,060 --> 00:38:11,060 five, with the big toe more in line with the others, more so than ours. 552 00:38:11,060 --> 00:38:15,820 On the backside of the tent, near the tree line, there were scuffs and disturbed leaves 553 00:38:15,820 --> 00:38:20,140 showing where something heavy had spent a lot of time. 554 00:38:20,140 --> 00:38:22,660 Maybe standing, maybe sitting. 555 00:38:22,660 --> 00:38:28,380 I'm not really a sign reader, so to speak, but the bark on that sycamore had three fresh 556 00:38:28,380 --> 00:38:32,300 pale marks, about six and a half feet up. 557 00:38:32,300 --> 00:38:34,260 Maybe from the knocking we heard. 558 00:38:34,260 --> 00:38:37,340 That was my guess anyway. 559 00:38:37,340 --> 00:38:39,500 Ethan walked beside me. 560 00:38:39,500 --> 00:38:44,820 He was a little quiet, not acting like his usual strutting teenage self. 561 00:38:44,820 --> 00:38:50,060 "Dad, we're not staying here another night, are we?" he asked. 562 00:38:50,060 --> 00:38:52,100 "Nobody," I said. 563 00:38:52,100 --> 00:38:55,620 "We're packing up, right now." 564 00:38:55,620 --> 00:39:01,100 We took down the tent in record time, barely caring how it was folded. 565 00:39:01,100 --> 00:39:04,620 We tossed everything in our packs and didn't stop to even make breakfast. 566 00:39:04,620 --> 00:39:06,140 Didn't matter. 567 00:39:06,140 --> 00:39:12,820 My stomach was in too much of a knot to eat anyway, and I think Ethan's was about the same. 568 00:39:12,820 --> 00:39:18,860 As we walked back up the trail to the truck, we both kept looking over our shoulders. 569 00:39:18,860 --> 00:39:21,980 The woods seemed normal again. 570 00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:25,420 Birds, bugs, all the usual sounds. 571 00:39:25,420 --> 00:39:29,740 But the whole way, I felt eyes on us. 572 00:39:29,740 --> 00:39:35,620 For a couple of months I didn't tell anybody except Doug what had really happened out there. 573 00:39:35,620 --> 00:39:42,820 And even with him, I left out just how scary I had felt the whole thing was, how scared I 574 00:39:42,820 --> 00:39:44,420 had been. 575 00:39:44,420 --> 00:39:49,700 I just said we'd had a really weird night, and something big had been walking around the 576 00:39:49,700 --> 00:39:50,700 camp. 577 00:39:50,700 --> 00:39:55,140 But the way I said it, it could have been a bear, it could have been anything. 578 00:39:55,140 --> 00:40:00,940 And I did say I wouldn't be camping on that floodplain ever again. 579 00:40:00,940 --> 00:40:06,860 When I told my ex-wife that we'd cut the trip short that weekend, I blamed it on bad weather 580 00:40:06,860 --> 00:40:08,460 moving in. 581 00:40:08,460 --> 00:40:10,060 She could think whatever she wanted. 582 00:40:10,060 --> 00:40:12,460 I didn't care. 583 00:40:12,460 --> 00:40:15,820 But Ethan knows he was there. 584 00:40:15,820 --> 00:40:20,380 He's listened to a bunch of your Buckeye Bigfoot uploads with me since then, and we listen to 585 00:40:20,380 --> 00:40:22,580 a lot of other channels too. 586 00:40:22,580 --> 00:40:29,420 And every time a story mentions a floodplain, a river, a sand bar, or even a tent, especially 587 00:40:29,420 --> 00:40:34,380 in Ohio, I see Ethan's reaction. 588 00:40:34,380 --> 00:40:40,380 We tried camping again, later this summer, in a regular state park campground, you know, 589 00:40:40,380 --> 00:40:44,100 with RVs and rangers and real bath houses. 590 00:40:44,100 --> 00:40:47,900 Ethan made it till about 10 or 10 30 that night. 591 00:40:47,900 --> 00:40:52,980 Then he quietly asked me if we could just go home and try again some other time. 592 00:40:52,980 --> 00:40:55,100 I said sure little buddy. 593 00:40:55,100 --> 00:40:57,140 We packed everything up. 594 00:40:57,140 --> 00:40:59,620 But we haven't tried it again. 595 00:40:59,620 --> 00:41:03,700 I've thought about it a lot since, and here's what I think. 596 00:41:03,700 --> 00:41:12,260 I think that river bottom is theirs, or at least it's part of a route that they use regularly. 597 00:41:12,260 --> 00:41:16,340 High ground for us, low ground for them. 598 00:41:16,340 --> 00:41:20,860 I think we plopped our little nylon tent right there in the middle of where they come 599 00:41:20,860 --> 00:41:25,540 through at night to feed in the shallows and to move between the hills. 600 00:41:25,540 --> 00:41:30,220 And I think the only reason that we're here to write about it, and we're not on a missing 601 00:41:30,220 --> 00:41:37,340 person's poster tacked up somewhere, is because whatever they are, they're not really looking 602 00:41:37,340 --> 00:41:42,780 for a fight, unless they have to have one. 603 00:41:42,780 --> 00:41:44,220 They pushed us. 604 00:41:44,220 --> 00:41:51,340 They let us know we were not welcome, and we didn't come out swinging or firing at them, 605 00:41:51,340 --> 00:41:55,580 but they sure scared us bad enough that we won't go back. 606 00:41:55,580 --> 00:41:59,660 And from their point of view, that's a win. 607 00:41:59,660 --> 00:42:05,420 From mine, it's changed how I feel about the woods in a way that I don't quite know how 608 00:42:05,420 --> 00:42:07,260 to deal with. 609 00:42:07,260 --> 00:42:09,940 I still do go out in daylight. 610 00:42:09,940 --> 00:42:11,580 I still deer hunt. 611 00:42:11,580 --> 00:42:14,900 I still fish, so does Ethan. 612 00:42:14,900 --> 00:42:17,260 But I never go out alone. 613 00:42:17,260 --> 00:42:22,420 When you combat, I pay more attention now to where I pitch a tent. 614 00:42:22,420 --> 00:42:27,900 If there aren't at least a few other human beings around me, well I'm not sleeping out there, 615 00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:30,540 I promise you that. 616 00:42:30,540 --> 00:42:32,580 So that's our story, Nancy. 617 00:42:32,580 --> 00:42:36,660 You can share it if you think it'll help any other dad think twice before he drags his 618 00:42:36,660 --> 00:42:44,780 teenager down into some pretty isolated river bottom to "get away from it all." 619 00:42:44,780 --> 00:42:50,580 Tell them, there are some places you go, and you're not getting away from anything at all. 620 00:42:50,580 --> 00:42:54,100 In fact, you're going right to something. 621 00:42:54,100 --> 00:43:01,860 Something you probably don't want to go right to, and it sure doesn't want you either. 622 00:43:01,860 --> 00:43:07,540 And if the frogs go quiet all at once, and something starts walking in the shallows toward 623 00:43:07,540 --> 00:43:13,180 their little circle of fire light, tell them they might want to be somewhere that has 624 00:43:13,180 --> 00:43:21,500 more than just some nylon between them and the night, and what walks in the night. 625 00:43:21,500 --> 00:43:24,420 You've been listening to The Buckeye Bigfoot podcast. 626 00:43:24,420 --> 00:43:28,820 Find more stories, hundreds more, over on our YouTube channel. 627 00:43:28,820 --> 00:43:30,660 Just look for Buckeye Bigfoot.