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5 people went into five different forests and coastlines across America.

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These are not stories of brief shadows, were strange noises in the dark.

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These were clear sightings, leaving no room for doubt.

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And each of these people walked away with a new understanding.

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But we don't know and understand everything that's out there.

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And that just because we go into the wilderness to be alone, it doesn't mean we're really alone.

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[Music]

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Tongus National Forest Alaska, June of 2021.

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I run a small commercial fishing operation out of Petersburg, Alaska.

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In June of 2021 I was working a stretch of coastline on the western side of Couprian

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off Island, anchored in a small bay overnight before moving to the next set of pots in the

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morning.

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It was the second week of June.

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At that latitude in June there's no real darkness.

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The light dims at around 11.30 and comes back up around 2 in the morning.

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Right twilight, that's what we have all night long.

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I have worked those waters for 22 years, I'm used to that light.

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I came up on deck around one in the morning to check my anchor.

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The bay I was in was small, maybe 400 yards across at the mouth, surrounded on three sides

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by dense Sitka spruce and western hemlock that comes right down to the high tide line.

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The shore was about 150 yards off my port side.

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When I came up on deck I was looking at the shoreline absolutely, not really focused,

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just checking conditions.

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And then I focused.

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There was something walking along the tide line.

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It was walking on two legs, standing straight up.

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I could see it clearly in the gray twilight against the lighter color of the wet rocks.

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It was walking slowly along the shore from south to north in the intertidal zone.

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And it was bending down occasionally to pick something up.

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Turning rocks, I realized.

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The exactly the same way a person turns rocks looking for something underneath them.

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I went to my pilot house and got my marine binoculars.

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They are good optics, 7x50, made for low light marine use.

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By the time I got back on deck and got the glasses up.

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The figure was still there, still working the tide line.

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What I saw through those binoculars, I will describe as best as I can.

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It was very tall.

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I estimate it was eight feet, possibly more.

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I base that on comparison to the spruce that was behind it.

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The body was covered in shaggy, dark gray hair.

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It's a color I've never really hardly seen described in other accounts that I've read

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on since.

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This wasn't brown or black, but a strange, wet looking dark gray.

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The hair was longer over most of the body, and it hung in heavy clumps that swayed as it

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moved.

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The arms were extremely long.

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When it bent at the waist to turn over a rock, its hands reached the ground without it

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needing to crouch, and it wasn't bent in half to reach the ground.

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The shoulders were enormous, they were sloped, very round, and rolled forward.

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The head sat low between them with a visible crust along the top of the skull.

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It was foraging.

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There was no other word for it.

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It would walk a few steps, stop, turn over a rock, examine what was underneath, and either

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eat what it found or move on.

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I watched it work the tide line for approximately twelve minutes.

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It found and consumed several items I could not identify at that distance, possibly small

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crabs or shellfish.

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At a certain point it straightened up and looked out across the water.

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It was facing in my direction.

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Whether it saw the boat I cannot say was certainty.

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I had no lights on, and the boat was dark against the spruce on the opposite shore, but I had

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the distinct sense that it was aware of something.

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It stood at the tide line and looked across the bay for close to a minute, seemingly searching

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for something.

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Then it turned and walked into the spruce timber and was gone.

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I lowered the binoculars and stood on the deck for a long time afterward.

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I've worked that coastline for more than two decades.

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In that time I've seen all kinds of animals, brown bears, black bears, and every kind of marine

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animal you can think of.

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I've also seen humans on that shore too, although a few and far in between.

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If I didn't know what something was at first glance, it was easily cleared up with my binoculars.

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I guess it was cleared up for me that day too.

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I just had a hard time swallowing it at the time.

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I saw it.

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I knew what it was.

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But seeing a big foot?

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It was a hard swallow I had just seen that.

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I had just seen a sask watch, but I have no doubts, not even today.

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For the record, I have not anchored in that bay since.

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See Bola National Forest, New Mexico, October 2020.

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For a few years I was a wildland firefighter.

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In October of 2020 my crew was working a prescribed burn in the See Bola National Forest in

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Central New Mexico.

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We were spread out along a control line on the eastern edge of the burn, monitoring spot

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fires.

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I was on the line by myself, walking a section of about a quarter mile.

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Then I saw movement in the unburned timber to the east of the line.

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About 60 feet inside the timber, standing motionless behind a large ponderosa pine and watching

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the fire line, was a large figure that looked to be walking on two legs.

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The smoke from the burn was drifting through the timber and the visibility was much reduced.

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But I still had a clear view of it from the chest up, partially screened by the pine.

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The hair on it was a copper reread.

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I don't mean orange or brown or cinnamon.

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This was a distinct color of red that I have never seen on any animal there in the southwest.

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The shoulders were broad, the neck was thick, mostly absent.

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The face was flat, dark-skinned, and the eyes were watching the fire.

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Very carefully.

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It did not appear to have noticed me yet.

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Its attention was on the burn, not on the line.

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I stood completely still.

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It continued to watch the fire for perhaps 30 seconds may be a minute.

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Then it suddenly turned its head and looked directly at me.

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We held eye contact for what I estimate was 10 to 15 seconds.

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Its expression did not change.

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I detected no aggression and there was no startled response when it saw me.

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It simply noticed me and looked.

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Then it took three slow steps backward without turning.

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And then it disappeared behind the larger trees of the timber.

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It just went from being there to not being there.

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I keyed my radio and reported large mammal sighting to my crew boss without being specific.

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I held my position on the line until the burn was contained.

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I did not investigate the timber.

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I told my crew boss the full account at the engine that evening.

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He told me he had heard similar accounts from other firefighters in that district and

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a few others over the years.

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Then he advised that I should keep the story to myself if I valued my career advancement.

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Well, I kept it to myself for several years.

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I'm no longer a firefighter there.

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I can put it on record now.

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Manusdene National Forest, Michigan, August 2019.

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My wife and I have been kayaking together for 15 years.

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In August of 2019, we were on day three of a four day kayak camping trip on the Pine River

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in the Manusdene National Forest in Lower Michigan.

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The Pine is a designated wild and scenic river, narrow, fast in places, with limited road

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access and long stretches of river bank that are wild on both sides.

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We had paddled about 12 miles that day and pulled off in mid-afternoon at one of the rustic

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river side sites.

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The site sat at the inside of a long bend with a small clearing for tents and a dense

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wall of cedar and hemlock behind it.

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The far bank of the river rose steeply into mature hardwoods.

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We had camp set up by four.

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By six we were sitting on our camp chairs at the river's edge with coffee, watching the

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water.

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The river at this point was about forty feet wide.

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My wife saw it first.

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She put her hand on my arm and pointed across the river without saying anything.

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I followed where her eyes went.

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It was standing at the water's edge directly across from us.

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It had come down the slope without either of us hearing it.

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It was literally forty feet from where we sat.

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At that range in the clear afternoon light we had a very good, unobstructed look at it.

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It was tall but not extremely so.

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I put it in the six-foot range of height.

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But it also was not as massively built through the chest and shoulders as most descriptions

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you usually hear.

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This build seemed to me to be more athletic, more lean.

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The shoulders were broad but proportionate to the body.

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The waist was very visible and much more narrow than the chest.

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The legs were long and well muscled.

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The arms were longer than human arms but not in an exaggerated way.

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The overall impression of this creature was that it was powerfully built but balanced,

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almost graceful rather than hooking.

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The hair was a medium brown and it was lighter on the shoulders the chest and the abdomen

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and darker on the back and on the limbs.

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The hair looked to be relatively short, clean and lying flat against the body.

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The face was very visible, it was dark-skinned.

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The features sat flat and there was a high forehead and the eyes were spread apart on

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the face.

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There was no sagittal crest that I could see.

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The features seemed to be more human in their proportion.

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The expression was alert, focused, interested.

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There was nothing threatening or aggressive.

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If I had to pick a word, it would be curious.

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I want to say plainly that both my wife and I had the same impression independently, that

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what we were looking at was a young specimen and adolescent, not fully grown.

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Their proportions, the leanness, the cautious but yet unguarded way that it watched us.

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All of it said juvenile to us.

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It was kind of the way a very young child will watch something and it doesn't know if it's

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safer not to approach it.

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It stood there at the water line for what we estimate was close to two minutes.

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We did not move during that time and neither did it.

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When we suddenly heard a sound from somewhere uphill, it was a single, low, echoing thump.

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It was very hollow sounding, like wood on wood.

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The figure turned its head sharply uphill in response.

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It listened for a half second, then it turned, took several long strides up the bank and

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into the timber and was gone.

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That sound from uphill did not come again.

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We sat in our camp chairs with our coffee for a very long time.

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It was a couple minutes before we spoke.

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Finally, my wife, her shock wearing off, finally asked if I had seen what she had just seen,

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and I told her yes I did.

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We then compared what we had each observed.

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We agreed on every detail.

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We briefly talked about packing up and paddling out to a road access in the dark, but we decided

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against it.

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The river is dangerous in the dark.

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We hadn't felt threatened, and as we discussed it, we both came to the same conclusion.

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What we had seen was a young Sasquatch, and young animals like that have parents.

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And whatever made the sound from uphill, calling the young one back, it was certainly larger.

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Calling in a panic in the middle of the night felt foolish.

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So we banked our fire and stayed up most of the night, talking quietly and listening.

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Nothing else came.

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In the morning we broke camp and paddled the rest of the route to our takeout without incident.

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When I now think about what we saw, I now think of it with words that most people probably

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would never use about a Sasquatch.

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Words like beautiful, young, healthy, watchful, and curious.

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Now it might be stretching it a bit, but I also think of this word a lot, "innocent."

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We both believe it was young enough that it hadn't yet learned that it should stay hidden

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from humans.

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And perhaps it hadn't even learned about humans until we came along.

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I do hope now that it has learned and that it never shows itself to another human.

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Sequoia National Forest, California, July 2020.

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I was so backpacking in the Sequoia National Forest off trail in the southern Sierra Nevada.

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It was late July, hot and dry, low water.

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I was working through a steep granite drainage looking for a route to a lake I had not been

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to before.

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I came around a large granite outcrop and suddenly stopped.

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About 40 feet directly below me on a flat granite shelf next to a small remaining pool of snow

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melt, an enormous figure was crouched at the edge of that water pool, drinking.

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It had not seen me yet.

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It was crouched low, squatting on its haunches with its hands resting on the granite, and

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it was bringing its face down to the water to drink directly.

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Three times it lowered its mouth to the pool, drank, then looked at its head before lowering

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it again.

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The motion was practiced and unhurried.

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This was a known water source for this animal, I was sure.

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The size was the first thing that registered.

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When crouched, this creature was massive.

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The shoulders, when hunched forward over the pool, were nearly as wide as the granite

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shelf it was on, which I later returned to, and measured at just under four feet across.

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The back was broad and heavily muscled.

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The arms folded down onto the rock were thick through the upper arm and forearm, in a way

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I've only ever seen in large bears.

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The hair was a uniform sandy brown, much lighter than I expected.

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It was almost the color of dry pine duff.

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The hair was short on the body, no more than an inch or two, which made the underlying

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musculature very visible.

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When it had finished drinking, it stood up.

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I do have trouble giving an accurate estimate on the height of this creature, because I

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didn't have anything to use as a measured reference.

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But I will say it was big, huge.

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I will tell you that it stood from that full crouch to fully erect in one fluid motion.

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It didn't use its hands to push up off the shelf.

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And when it stood, it was significantly taller than anything I have a frame of reference

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for.

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I will throw out a number finally, eight feet, possibly more, but I really am not positive

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on that number.

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As for the weight, again, I can only guess, four, maybe 500 pounds?

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It was solid muscle.

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I have no idea what something on two legs like that would weigh.

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Again, I can't swear on my bank account of that number, but I do work with a guy that's

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about 260 pounds on any day.

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He's heavily muscled.

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He lifts weights.

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He's just over six feet tall.

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Side by side, I am certain the creature I saw would easily dwarf him.

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The creature then turned up hill away from me.

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It walked up the granite drainage in a long ground-eating stride.

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Within twenty seconds it was gone over the rise.

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I sat there a little stunned behind that outcrop for a long time, thinking about what I had just

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seen.

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I got up and I went back the way I had come.

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I did not go to the lake.

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Sumter National Forest, South Carolina, March 2023.

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I am a forester.

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I have worked in the southeastern timber industry for nineteen years.

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In March of 2023, I was conducting a private timber cruise on a tractive land bordering

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the Sumter National Forest in the upcountry of South Carolina.

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I was alone in the woods, which is normal for cruising.

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That's all measuring trees, marking plot centers, and recording data.

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That's all solitary work.

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It was mid-morning, clear day, mid-60s.

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I was working a section of mixed pine and hardwood on a gentle slope, taking measurements at

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a plot center that I had flagged that morning.

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I was kneeling at the base of a chestnut oak, recording data on my tablet, when I had

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the sudden and certain feeling of being watched.

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I looked up slowly.

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Sitting in the timber, approximately thirty feet from me, downhill into my left, was a

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large bipedal figure.

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It was watching me as I worked.

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This build was different from other descriptions I had read.

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The figure was extremely lean.

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Tall, yes, easily, seven feet plus.

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But it was narrow through the rest of the body.

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It wasn't hardy and robust in the way a young one might be.

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This one looked gaunt on the unhealthy side, sickly, hungry.

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The hair was a dark brown, sparse in places, particularly on the chest in the upper legs,

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where I could see grayish skin underneath.

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The face was visible.

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Cheekbones were high and prominent, hollowed out.

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The eyes were deep set under a heavy brow.

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A lot of wrinkled skin around it.

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My immediate impression was that I was looking at a very old one, or a very sick one, or

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both.

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The figure did not move.

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It stood in the trees and watched me.

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There was no aggression in this posture.

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It was also not out of curiosity.

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This look was different.

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I'm reaching for the right words here.

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I'll go with coldly observant.

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It was deciding if it would have to deal with me or not.

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Something along those lines, very detached.

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We held this position for somewhere between 30 seconds in a full minute.

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Honestly, I was a bit too shocked to move for a bit.

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But then I managed to get my bare spray unclipped, and I started backing away.

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When I moved, it turned very slow.

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Gave me a last look.

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Then walked downhill through the timbers.

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Its movement was slow and careful.

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I saw the way it was moving, and I thought again, it must be older and or sick.

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It went out of sight through the timber, and I did not see it again.

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I stayed at that plot center for another few minutes.

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I finished my data entry, and walked back to my truck.

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I did not finish the cruise that day.

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I came back the following week with a colleague to complete it, but I did not mention the encounter.

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Of course, I've thought about it many times since.

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I think about it almost every time I go into the forest.

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The Sasquatch I saw that day, and I am certain that is what I saw.

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I know it had been alive for a very long time.

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It must have been through a lot of things, and it had survived.

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And there was something about the look it gave me that made me think.

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Some of those things that have been through might have been run-ins with humans.

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I do not go out now with fear, but I do have more respect than I did before.

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Not just for the forest.

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But for the things that I don't even know live there.

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You've been listening to the Buckeye Bigfoot podcast.

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