1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,560 Let's keep this simple. 2 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,960 You can call me Joe and my wife, Jenny. 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,240 We had some things happen that we wanted to share with you. 4 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:21,360 Actually our neighbor was here and experienced something rather terrifying. 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:27,340 These things happen near Christmas, so keep this for your Christmas program if you'd like. 6 00:00:27,340 --> 00:00:32,040 I don't want to say exactly where we live because it's a very small place and I run a business 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:33,720 in town. 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,640 You don't know what close-minded people can be like until your livelihood depends on 9 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,160 them as mine does. 10 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:44,840 But I will say we're in Colorado. 11 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,380 When I say it's small, I mean it's also very rural. 12 00:00:49,380 --> 00:00:54,320 It's the kind of place where if someone gives you directions, they may tell you to turn left 13 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,160 at the old black barn with the rusted tractor out front. 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:03,680 Then go down a mile, past old Mr. Watkins place, then turn left where the big dead oak tree 15 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:04,680 is. 16 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:09,040 It's that kind of small place. 17 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,280 Our place sits on the shoulder of a long hill outside of town, past your slipping down 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:19,240 to a shallow creek, then back up to a thick woods of a good size. 19 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:24,040 Back then we ran a small beef enterprise as well on our land. 20 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:25,040 It wasn't big. 21 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,480 We kept 20 to 25 head of beef cattle at any time. 22 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:34,640 We took orders for them the year before and fed them out and finished them to order. 23 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:40,160 Now we've got a run of heavy-braid wire fencing with two strands of barbed wire on top. 24 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:45,560 It keeps stray people out and mostly kept our cows in, mostly. 25 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:51,680 I also had a farm dog back then and he was the kind that took his job pretty seriously. 26 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:56,400 He was just a mutt, but you'd think he'd been trained by the military. 27 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:01,560 Now he would patrol the fields daily and I caught him more than once tangling with coyotes 28 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:07,800 trying to protect the calves, though I never asked that of him and never would. 29 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,520 When he was a puppy he was such a little fighter. 30 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,000 We called him Muhammad Ali. 31 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,960 He was fearless and we started to call him Moe for short. 32 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,040 Our porch faces north, northeast. 33 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,040 If the moon is up, it throws out a beautiful pale light across the pastures. 34 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:31,120 I've always liked that porch to sit in the summer and watch the lightning shows. 35 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,680 But I never once thought about what it might showcase for me in the winter. 36 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,520 But I was about to find out. 37 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,800 This was the week before Christmas, 2020. 38 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,320 We'd had a good first snow of the year, a couple nights before, maybe three heavy inches 39 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,360 a powder that made the world look fresh and quieted all the road traffic. 40 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,800 The forecast said that round two would be rolling in quick. 41 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,480 Heavy flakes, temperatures right around 20 and a low wind. 42 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:04,440 It was the kind of night you step out to smell snow and you will hear all the little things 43 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:10,160 that get lost in the summer noises, branches cracking when the wind moves them, the pop 44 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:16,160 of pine cones falling somewhere, and an owl making his rounds. 45 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,520 We had finished supper and we were going to do some light gift wrapping. 46 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:24,160 I looked out and I saw that the snow was now falling. 47 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,880 I said to Jenny, "Hey, old girl, you want to go see if those flakes are as big as they 48 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:29,880 said?" 49 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:34,440 Jenny made us some fresh hot cocoa and put them in some thermal mugs for us. 50 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,360 Then we stepped out onto the porch. 51 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:42,800 Moe came to the door, gave the air a sniff, then decided, "Nope, he was going to stay where 52 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,440 it was warm." 53 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,440 And that was more often his choice in bad weather as he got older, so I didn't pay it much 54 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:50,840 mind. 55 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:57,200 I stepped out, and the first thing I noticed was how still and quiet it was. 56 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:03,400 Snow muffled sound and where we lived there's little sound anyway, but with a blanket of heavy 57 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,200 snow on the ground. 58 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,160 It's beyond quiet. 59 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,120 It's almost like a vacuum. 60 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:16,960 Seeing fat flakes were falling in a slanted line and everything smelled clean and sharp. 61 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,600 I walked to where the steps were, leaned against the post. 62 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:25,120 I was staying just under the porch covering to keep the snow off of me. 63 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,840 A second later, Jenny came to stand beside me. 64 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:33,920 I put my arm around her and we watched the snow for maybe a minute or more in silence 65 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:38,440 before we wrapped up in a quilt that Jenny brought out with her and we each sat down 66 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,920 in our chairs on the porch, sipping our cocoa. 67 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,680 Now, this sounds silly, doesn't it? 68 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:50,160 Rapping up in a quilt, going to sit on a porch to watch the snow when we could do that from 69 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:51,960 inside and warmth. 70 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:58,720 Now, maybe it is kind of crazy, but for us, it brings back just a touch of our youth. 71 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,720 You see, we met at a church youth event for ice skating. 72 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,760 I was hanging around and I saw the most beautiful girl out there on the ice. 73 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:09,360 I'd never seen her before. 74 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,000 I didn't know her. 75 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:16,960 She was from another church, but I got my courage up and I made a bold move to ask her if 76 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,280 I could buy her a hot chocolate. 77 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:21,280 "Yes, please," she said. 78 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,480 "No marshmallows, please." 79 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:29,760 And there we were, standing there, sipping our hot cocoa's just starting to get to know 80 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:31,560 each other. 81 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,400 When big, heavy snowflakes started falling. 82 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:40,160 It was just like being in a movie, looking at her through falling snowflakes on a winter's 83 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:42,040 evening. 84 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:47,400 So there, now you know why we sometimes go out to have hot chocolate in the snow. 85 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,520 We're old, but we're still in love. 86 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:57,760 We weren't sitting there, but maybe two minutes when Ginny suddenly says, "Do you hear that?" 87 00:05:57,760 --> 00:05:59,240 I said, "What? 88 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,040 The knocking?" 89 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:02,160 I said from where? 90 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:04,200 The barn? 91 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,920 She shook her head no, and then she pointed ahead and to the right, out toward the fence 92 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,120 in the pastures. 93 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,520 I listened. 94 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:14,880 It was faint, but then I heard it. 95 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:16,400 It got louder. 96 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,520 It was a hollow bang. 97 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,600 It was definitely wood on wood. 98 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:27,760 It wasn't the sharp, cracking tap of a woodpecker, and it wasn't the clean sound of an ax hitting 99 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:29,080 wood. 100 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:34,680 This was different. It was hollow and dull, yet resonating. 101 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:39,400 A clear sound of wood hitting a larger piece of wood is what I thought. 102 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,000 It was faint, and then it would get loud. 103 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,480 Then it would get faint again. 104 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,360 You could almost miss it if you weren't listening. 105 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,120 But I was listening now. 106 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:52,800 Then it suddenly stopped. 107 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,640 A few minutes later, Moe was doing a mix of snarling and growling at the door, digging 108 00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:59,800 at it from inside. 109 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,280 I opened the door to see if he wanted to come out with us. 110 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:04,600 But he didn't. 111 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:10,520 He backed up instead, and the growling mix with snarls got even louder and worse. 112 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,480 I had never seen this from him before. 113 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,920 He was almost scaring me. 114 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:21,440 At one moment I thought he was going to come for me, and then I realized he wasn't looking 115 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:22,440 at me. 116 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:26,440 He was looking past me, out into the snow. 117 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:31,120 I remember thinking, "What in the world is wrong with this dog?" 118 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:35,320 I shut the door and took a look around outside. 119 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:41,160 Everything now was in purple shadows on the snow as the daylight was beginning to fade. 120 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:45,880 I walked, stand at the top of the porch steps again, and looked out. 121 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:51,040 I really didn't see anything out there that could cause Moe to act like that. 122 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,040 I took one last look, and I shrugged it off. 123 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,000 I knew we wouldn't be out there much longer anyway. 124 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,400 It was bum-chillingly cold, and getting colder. 125 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:07,480 I moved one foot to turn to go sit back down when I saw something dark streak across from 126 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:13,440 the far right side of the fence, go across part of the pasture, behind the barn off to the 127 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:20,040 left, which concerned me, and then I saw it come out the other side, and it went on 128 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:24,520 until it cleared the fence all the way across the pasture. 129 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:26,360 "What was that?" 130 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:27,680 Ginny said. 131 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,920 She was up and out of her chair and standing by me now. 132 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:33,920 I don't know. 133 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:38,160 That's all I said, because I really didn't know. 134 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:43,240 It went across at a speed of a running deer, maybe even faster. 135 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:45,520 No human could have ran at that speed. 136 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:47,360 I know that. 137 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:52,960 Now I have walked that pasture in those fences thousands and thousands of times, and I will 138 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:59,160 tell you, for me to walk from one side, clear to the point where it jumped that fence is 139 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:03,240 easily four to five minutes solid walk. 140 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,760 Now that wasn't the wide part of the pasture. 141 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:07,080 That's further back. 142 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,280 But walking that fence through there, I know. 143 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:12,080 That's not a short area. 144 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:17,320 Now it had come from the far right side, and I wonder how long had it come? 145 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,960 It had been out there, and I hadn't seen it. 146 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:25,160 The dark shape that we saw moved fast, and it was a good size. 147 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:31,480 But the one I saw next showed me that the first one must have been a much smaller one. 148 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,680 Because before I could tell Ginny, I think we need to go inside. 149 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:41,000 Here came another shape, walking across the pasture in the exact same direction as the 150 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,200 other had gone. 151 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:46,720 Only this one was much larger. 152 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,840 And it was not in a hurry. 153 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:56,360 Ginny, I said softly as I could, and I pointed with two fingers. 154 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:01,160 She pressed her hand over her mouth quickly, stopping the surprise little squeak that she 155 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,600 almost made. 156 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,720 We both froze. 157 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:11,520 This bigger shape was moving fast, even for just a walk, but it wasn't running like the other 158 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:12,520 one was. 159 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:18,600 It was also half turned, looking directly at us for a few seconds as it walked. 160 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,320 It knew we were there, I have no doubt. 161 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:24,680 We were at least fifty yards from it. 162 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:29,240 It was walking near the front fence line than the other had gone. 163 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:30,800 I had the idea. 164 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:36,120 It was like bringing up the rear, and it was watching to make sure we weren't going to 165 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,440 be a problem. 166 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,320 It was much taller than the fence by a good deal. 167 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:47,680 It was moving slow enough that I could see a few things, but the fading light in the distance 168 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:51,160 meant I couldn't see other things. 169 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,080 I could tell it was covered in hair or fur. 170 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:55,920 I knew that. 171 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:01,280 Snow sat lightly on the shoulders and on top of the head, but it wasn't getting thick. 172 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,680 Not the way the snow was falling. 173 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:09,760 If it had been a fake fur costume, it probably would have started accumulating faster. 174 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:12,120 It had the form of a person. 175 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,760 But we both knew, that was not a person. 176 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,840 The first one didn't seem to be all that big. 177 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,560 This one was much bigger. 178 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:26,280 I'm not guessing the height when I tell you it was seven and a half feet tall. 179 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,320 The next day we set a pole out there and I marked off the height with ribbons. 180 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,880 We kept moving the ribbons until we found one that looked about right as we stood there 181 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:37,680 on the porch. 182 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:42,840 And the one that looked right was seven and a half feet off the ground. 183 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:47,960 The darkness of the creature was a very sharp contrast to all the snow around it, even though 184 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,160 the light was fading. 185 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:53,160 I clearly saw the swinging of the arms. 186 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,280 I saw the snow between the legs as it walked. 187 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:01,560 I saw the head sat down on a thick chest, kind of the way a high school kid looks with all 188 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,080 of its football padding on. 189 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:08,360 The shoulder muscles didn't look like muscles, not like ours. 190 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:13,360 They ran a little higher and made the neck look short or missing altogether. 191 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:19,080 The head had a slope to it, not a sharp cone, but it was noticeable against the snow behind 192 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:20,440 it. 193 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:26,120 From the side profile, I could see the face was much flatter than a man's. 194 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,080 And a bigger shock was coming. 195 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,520 Behind it, a few steps back and a little to the right. 196 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:36,560 There was another shape, less than half its height. 197 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:41,000 And if you've ever watched kids trying to keep up with their dad, that's what it looked 198 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,160 like. 199 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,840 It matched the pace but with a hop step. 200 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:49,480 And it did a little bit of a run to catch up to its dad, and it had to keep hop stepping 201 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,520 to stay near it. 202 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:57,280 The little one never looked at us, but the big one he was really giving us the eye. 203 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:01,480 And I have every reason to believe it was a male. 204 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,960 We stood there in what I can only call a stunned silence. 205 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,680 Ginny had a hand curled on my sleeve tight. 206 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:15,200 In the space of that one second, I had dozens of thoughts, but none of them are clear enough 207 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,280 that I can tell you today exactly what they were. 208 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:24,160 We watched them for the space of maybe two minutes or so until they got over to the other 209 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:27,040 side and went over the fence. 210 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:32,200 The big one grabbed the little one by its arm and just swung it over like a rag doll, but 211 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,280 it didn't seem to hurt the little one at all. 212 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:41,640 "Jo," Ginny said, finally finding her voice, "I think we should go in now." 213 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:47,240 "In a second," I said, "look," and I pointed. 214 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,680 The big one came back to the fence at the far end of the field. 215 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:52,960 It stood there at the fence. 216 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:58,160 It was more than a hundred yards away, but I believed in the shape and outline of it. 217 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,880 It was looking our way. 218 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:06,480 It stood in that silent way for a while, a dark, looming shape. 219 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,200 Finally my scalp was crawling. 220 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,920 I agreed it was time to go inside. 221 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:18,440 When we went in, Mo was under the dining room table and refused to come out for over an 222 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:19,680 hour. 223 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:23,520 It hit me then why Mo had acted the way he had. 224 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:28,720 I told myself that I would pay attention to him if he ever does that again. 225 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:34,680 That night the snow came down hard and heavy, giving us more than it said it was supposed 226 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,200 to according to the forecast. 227 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:41,880 The snow was so deep it filled in all the prints from the previous evening. 228 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:45,640 You couldn't even see an indentation. 229 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:50,680 Your house has Christmas lights on it, and I always outlined the front of the barn so people 230 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,040 can see it from the road. 231 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:58,880 A couple times I got in from town really late after work and went out to care for the cows, 232 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,480 and I felt like I was being watched. 233 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:05,280 You know, that scalp crawling sensation? 234 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:10,800 After that I never went out there without a gun on me after seeing them in the pasture. 235 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:15,560 I knew what they were, but nowhere could I find information that I trusted. 236 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:21,240 But on whether or not they were dangerous, and I wasn't taking any chances. 237 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:25,200 I always made sure the barn was locked up tight. 238 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:30,800 Now the barn does have electricity inside it, and there are some lights inside, but there 239 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,720 aren't any electrical outlets to plug things in. 240 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:40,760 I guess when the barn was built in the 1950s electricity itself was a luxury to have in 241 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,840 the barn just for lighting, and they didn't do anything more like outlets. 242 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:51,600 So for the Christmas lights I ran a heavy duty outdoor grade extension cord setup from the 243 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,040 barn to the nearest outlet on the back of our house. 244 00:15:55,040 --> 00:16:01,120 Now that meant that I was stringing together over 500 feet of cord, and that means multiple 245 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,560 cords hooked together. 246 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:09,280 I never had a problem with them in all the years that I ran them until that year. 247 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,840 That year I kept finding the cords unplugged out in the field. 248 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,000 They were pulled apart. 249 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,320 I had no explanation for that. 250 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:22,320 I even tied them together and then plugged them in as they show you to do. 251 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,160 Something had untied them and unplugged them. 252 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:31,480 We were sitting one night having dinner, and the Christmas lights outside were all on. 253 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:36,080 I was facing the window that looked to the barn, and all of a sudden everything went 254 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:37,800 black out there. 255 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,880 The lights were just out on the barn. 256 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:46,200 It was about 7 p.m., but that's midnight dark in the winter hours. 257 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,320 I stepped outside against Ginny's protests. 258 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:54,920 I shined a spotlight all around, not that it went that far out, and I did not go into 259 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:55,920 the pasture. 260 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,840 But that spotlight lit up a couple hundred feet from me. 261 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:06,640 I was shining it back and forth, when out of nowhere came a brick hurled right at me. 262 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,160 I barely moved in time. 263 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:16,160 It hit the back of our house hard, dinging the wood-plank-siding, leaving a scar there forever. 264 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,400 Ginny came to the door and yelled, asking what was that? 265 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:25,480 She was trying to come out the door, but I was already up the steps pushing her back inside. 266 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:31,160 Right after that brick throw, before Ginny started yelling, I heard the clear sounds of pounding 267 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,720 feet running, and they were very close. 268 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:40,640 Every hair on me was standing straight up and feeling like little needle-prix all over 269 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:42,800 my skin. 270 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:49,560 If that was some prank from a kid, well, they did a cracked job of scaring two grown adults. 271 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:55,320 But the stupid thing is, when I walked out there, I had my shotgun with me. 272 00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:00,200 It was broke open and hanging on my left arm, but the shells were in there. 273 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,440 All I had to do was snap it shut. 274 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:09,520 Every kid in that area would have seen that shotgun, and kids around there are raised on guns. 275 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:14,400 I do not believe they would have thrown a brick at an armed man. 276 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,600 I knew exactly where that brick came from. 277 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:23,080 When we moved in years before, there had been a very old brick outdoor barbecue grill, 278 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,880 the kind you used to see in the '50s, right? 279 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:30,680 Well it was probably wonderful at once, but when we moved in it was crumbling and old, 280 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,040 so we dismantled it. 281 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:37,800 We used a lot of the brick on other projects around the farm, but we still had a stack of 282 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,600 quite a few leftovers behind the barn. 283 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,360 It was definitely one of those bricks. 284 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:49,280 Now all this time, I was checking the cows to make sure nothing was bothering them. 285 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,640 As far as I'm aware, those cows were never bothered in any way. 286 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,920 We had planned to drive to Colorado Springs to spend Christmas with our daughter, our 287 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:02,520 son-in-law, and grandchildren, and the other children and grandchildren who would come 288 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,920 there for the holidays. 289 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:09,960 As such, I had made plans for the good neighbor I trusted to come and care for the cows for 290 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:11,920 the days that we would be gone. 291 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,800 Now they've helped me out four years before that. 292 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,520 I paid them for their time and they made sure everything was done right. 293 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:26,480 We always took my with us to our daughters, and by the way, so don't worry about him. 294 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:31,260 I was so worried about things going on there that we almost canceled going to our daughters 295 00:19:31,260 --> 00:19:33,460 for Christmas that year. 296 00:19:33,460 --> 00:19:37,500 I was worried about my neighbor, because I knew that he would be out there in the dark 297 00:19:37,500 --> 00:19:44,780 hours of the morning and the evening, before and after going to his job in town. 298 00:19:44,780 --> 00:19:47,140 So I completely leveled with him. 299 00:19:47,140 --> 00:19:51,260 I told him everything that was going on out there and what we had seen. 300 00:19:51,260 --> 00:19:54,580 Now he's a no-nonsense kind of fella. 301 00:19:54,580 --> 00:19:55,860 He listened. 302 00:19:55,860 --> 00:19:57,020 He nodded. 303 00:19:57,020 --> 00:20:03,180 He rubbed his jaw and he said, "Well, he'd be on the lookout, but he'd be all right." 304 00:20:03,180 --> 00:20:07,940 Now normally when we're gone, I have all the Christmas lights set on timers. 305 00:20:07,940 --> 00:20:10,340 Let's call it another form of security. 306 00:20:10,340 --> 00:20:15,700 First thing thieves look for are houses that stay dark, especially at Christmas. 307 00:20:15,700 --> 00:20:20,140 I didn't know how that would work with the cords being pulled apart all the time, though, 308 00:20:20,140 --> 00:20:23,180 but I did warn my neighbor. 309 00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:29,340 So we went to our daughters as usual, but I called my neighbor every day that we were gone. 310 00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:34,100 First night right off the bat, he said that he drove up and everything was dark. 311 00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:36,780 There were no lights on at the barn. 312 00:20:36,780 --> 00:20:37,860 He goes out. 313 00:20:37,860 --> 00:20:43,340 He traces to the unplugged part, ties it back up and plugs it back in. 314 00:20:43,340 --> 00:20:44,940 He goes inside the barn. 315 00:20:44,940 --> 00:20:50,140 He's with the cows when he realizes the outside lights were now off again. 316 00:20:50,140 --> 00:20:54,700 You could see them through some of the upper cracks between the boards inside. 317 00:20:54,700 --> 00:21:01,020 He said he was looking at that, and then he heard feet pounding and running around the barn. 318 00:21:01,020 --> 00:21:06,100 Being a no-nonsense kind of fella, he wanted to know who or what it was. 319 00:21:06,100 --> 00:21:10,780 He was carrying a gun, and he said he listened and followed as the feet went around the outside 320 00:21:10,780 --> 00:21:13,180 of the barn again. 321 00:21:13,180 --> 00:21:17,860 He gauged when they would be by the front of the barn corner, and he stepped out of the 322 00:21:17,860 --> 00:21:24,180 barn just when the foot sounds were coming around the corner to the front. 323 00:21:24,180 --> 00:21:25,860 He was pretty shook up. 324 00:21:25,860 --> 00:21:30,580 He said it looked like a big black freight train was barreling down on him. 325 00:21:30,580 --> 00:21:35,340 He quickly backed up inside the barn, but he didn't have time to close the barn door behind 326 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:36,340 him. 327 00:21:36,340 --> 00:21:40,340 Those big old doors take a lot of work. 328 00:21:40,340 --> 00:21:45,700 He said he stood there, and that big black creature came to a stop just outside the open 329 00:21:45,700 --> 00:21:47,180 door. 330 00:21:47,180 --> 00:21:50,620 He saw its breath coming out white in the cold air, he said. 331 00:21:50,620 --> 00:21:52,980 It was breathing hard. 332 00:21:52,980 --> 00:21:56,900 All he had on him was a nine millimeter, which he thought would be enough for anything 333 00:21:56,900 --> 00:22:02,940 he would encounter out there, thinking it was most likely somebody pulling a prank. 334 00:22:02,940 --> 00:22:06,980 But he wasn't feeling too good about that nine millimeter being enough to deal with 335 00:22:06,980 --> 00:22:09,500 what he was looking at. 336 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:13,980 He was being very careful on the phone as he told me all of this, and I knew him well 337 00:22:13,980 --> 00:22:15,380 enough to know. 338 00:22:15,380 --> 00:22:20,900 He was more than a little shook up about it, but he said it stood there for probably half 339 00:22:20,900 --> 00:22:23,900 a minute looking in at him. 340 00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:28,900 He said it was also taking time to look around the inside of the barn. 341 00:22:28,900 --> 00:22:34,300 He said he saw its eyes look at him, then shipped away quickly to glance around the barn, then 342 00:22:34,300 --> 00:22:39,620 quickly they would go right back to him, and it did that several times. 343 00:22:39,620 --> 00:22:45,340 It looked like it was trying to decide if it was safe enough to come in after him or not. 344 00:22:45,340 --> 00:22:50,100 Then he said it suddenly took off running, and it was gone. 345 00:22:50,100 --> 00:22:54,620 He said from inside the barn he called his son and told him to drive out there, to come 346 00:22:54,620 --> 00:23:00,260 through the backpastor gates, drive right up to the barn, light it up with his high beams 347 00:23:00,260 --> 00:23:02,780 so he could come out safely. 348 00:23:02,780 --> 00:23:08,300 I don't know quite what he told his son on the phone, but his son did as he requested, 349 00:23:08,300 --> 00:23:11,460 then drove him down to his truck by the house. 350 00:23:11,460 --> 00:23:16,260 The next two nights he came out with his son, everything lit up, and they drove out all 351 00:23:16,260 --> 00:23:22,580 the way to the barn, whereas previously he used to like to walk out to the barn. 352 00:23:22,580 --> 00:23:26,900 I almost called it quits early at my daughters when I heard all that. 353 00:23:26,900 --> 00:23:31,400 I almost told Jenny it was time to go home, and I wouldn't have blamed my neighbor one 354 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:36,500 bit if he told me to shove it he's not going back out there, but he insisted he was fine 355 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:44,420 with it, long as his son went with him, and he told me to enjoy my time in Colorado Springs. 356 00:23:44,420 --> 00:23:48,900 So now my neighbor had seen it too, we weren't crazy. 357 00:23:48,900 --> 00:23:54,540 The real question for us was, why was this happening here and now? 358 00:23:54,540 --> 00:23:58,260 None of us had ever had any trouble like this before? 359 00:23:58,260 --> 00:24:03,260 And if it wasn't bothering my cows, why was it going through that exact area? 360 00:24:03,260 --> 00:24:05,460 Why didn't it just stay in the trees? 361 00:24:05,460 --> 00:24:09,620 Why was it crossing open pasture again and again? 362 00:24:09,620 --> 00:24:12,900 And why didn't it like my Christmas lights on the barn? 363 00:24:12,900 --> 00:24:18,140 Now if I was making this up and writing this as some wonderful story, I would be sure 364 00:24:18,140 --> 00:24:22,500 to tie all of those things up nice and neat with little bows and give you a bunch of little 365 00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:24,300 answers. 366 00:24:24,300 --> 00:24:26,460 But I don't have any answers. 367 00:24:26,460 --> 00:24:32,020 The only thing that me and my neighbor think is it wasn't there to stay in the area. 368 00:24:32,020 --> 00:24:33,300 Was it passing through? 369 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:34,580 We don't know. 370 00:24:34,580 --> 00:24:38,460 We do know that by spring there were no more issues. 371 00:24:38,460 --> 00:24:44,020 Now when we did get home after Christmas, I pulled down all of our Christmas lights early. 372 00:24:44,020 --> 00:24:49,020 I figured there's just something about them that seemed to aggravate the big foot. 373 00:24:49,020 --> 00:24:52,420 And I knew darn well, that's exactly what was out there. 374 00:24:52,420 --> 00:24:56,020 So did my wife, and so did my neighbor. 375 00:24:56,020 --> 00:25:00,940 We do kind of think that we figured out something about the wood knocking we heard. 376 00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:04,060 We think they were knocking on our fence posts. 377 00:25:04,060 --> 00:25:08,260 And it seemed to be a way of saying, we're coming through. 378 00:25:08,260 --> 00:25:11,580 And now that message wasn't for us, we don't think. 379 00:25:11,580 --> 00:25:15,520 Because there was another snowy evening that we heard those knocks. 380 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:20,860 We went to the big window, and we watched from inside a dark room as a smaller big foot 381 00:25:20,860 --> 00:25:26,140 once again went right across the pasture from right to left, just like the first time. 382 00:25:26,140 --> 00:25:28,660 Only it wasn't going at breakneck speed. 383 00:25:28,660 --> 00:25:33,940 The biggest difference was from the left side, there came what I believe might have been 384 00:25:33,940 --> 00:25:34,940 a female big foot. 385 00:25:34,940 --> 00:25:38,620 It was the one and only time we think we saw her. 386 00:25:38,620 --> 00:25:43,340 It was bigger than any of the small ones, but not as big as the male. 387 00:25:43,340 --> 00:25:49,260 Now the female came out, met the little one, and waited for the next small one to come across, 388 00:25:49,260 --> 00:25:51,220 just like any mother would. 389 00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:56,700 And the whole time the male was standing at the far right fence line, and only started 390 00:25:56,700 --> 00:26:03,740 to cross when the second little one was over the fence, and about halfway to the female. 391 00:26:03,740 --> 00:26:09,220 They all met up together and walked behind the barn, then back over the fence to the trees 392 00:26:09,220 --> 00:26:11,420 on the other side. 393 00:26:11,420 --> 00:26:16,700 I think that knocking was a way of saying, "Look out, here we come." 394 00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:20,780 But I think it was also to signal the female to look for them. 395 00:26:20,780 --> 00:26:23,260 But it's just a guess. 396 00:26:23,260 --> 00:26:27,900 Now once I knew there were big foot out there, I never once let Jenny go back out to the 397 00:26:27,900 --> 00:26:30,820 barn unless I was with her. 398 00:26:30,820 --> 00:26:31,820 It is. 399 00:26:31,820 --> 00:26:34,620 We sent all those cattle that year to be processed. 400 00:26:34,620 --> 00:26:40,060 We fulfilled the next year's orders, and we shut down our beef business. 401 00:26:40,060 --> 00:26:43,740 Part of it is we were just getting too old for it, and we've got more than enough in 402 00:26:43,740 --> 00:26:48,460 retirement set aside, and my business in town still does all right. 403 00:26:48,460 --> 00:26:52,660 I didn't want to keep going out to that barn in the darkness of winter. 404 00:26:52,660 --> 00:26:54,540 That was the real story. 405 00:26:54,540 --> 00:27:00,580 I paid close attention to Moe too, and whenever he acted like he did that first night, I 406 00:27:00,580 --> 00:27:05,780 made sure we stayed in the house, but it only happened three more times. 407 00:27:05,780 --> 00:27:12,700 Moe is gone now, and I really don't know if Rusty, our new dog, will alert us or not. 408 00:27:12,700 --> 00:27:17,820 There were many other small things going on around that time all over that farm, and at 409 00:27:17,820 --> 00:27:23,660 various neighbors' properties, and we did see them a couple more times, but a farther 410 00:27:23,660 --> 00:27:24,980 distance. 411 00:27:24,980 --> 00:27:32,180 I never had the type of encounter that my neighbor had with them, and I am thankful, by all accounts, 412 00:27:32,180 --> 00:27:34,620 it sounded terrifying. 413 00:27:34,620 --> 00:27:39,540 But none of that changed the unsettling creep of fear that pervaded our property that year. 414 00:27:39,540 --> 00:27:44,060 I didn't relax for at least a year after it last siding them. 415 00:27:44,060 --> 00:27:50,380 Even then, on dark winter nights, I check, check, and recheck my areas again before I walk 416 00:27:50,380 --> 00:27:51,900 out there. 417 00:27:51,900 --> 00:27:55,780 I always carry a gun with me outdoors. 418 00:27:55,780 --> 00:28:00,620 Sometimes a shotgun, but always my desert eagle is with me. 419 00:28:00,620 --> 00:28:06,420 I bought that for myself, down in Colorado Springs, that Christmas after the phone call with 420 00:28:06,420 --> 00:28:08,460 my neighbor. 421 00:28:08,460 --> 00:28:13,900 I am thankful I did not experience that terror that my neighbor did, but I take no chances 422 00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:15,340 around here. 423 00:28:15,340 --> 00:28:18,540 My neighbor is also vigilant. 424 00:28:18,540 --> 00:28:23,060 Me and Jenny still are here, though, and we have the lights out on the house and the barn 425 00:28:23,060 --> 00:28:24,900 again this year. 426 00:28:24,900 --> 00:28:29,540 I don't know what Bigfoot had against those Christmas lights on the barn, but it must have 427 00:28:29,540 --> 00:28:31,340 been something. 428 00:28:31,340 --> 00:28:34,100 I hope you don't mind the jumplediness of this. 429 00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:38,900 I tried to remember it all in order and put it down that way, but I might have gotten it 430 00:28:38,900 --> 00:28:39,900 all wrong. 431 00:28:39,900 --> 00:28:42,260 We'll be careful, everyone. 432 00:28:42,260 --> 00:28:47,100 Merry Christmas to you all from Snowy, Colorado. 433 00:28:47,100 --> 00:28:50,020 I've been listening to the Buckeye Bigfoot podcast. 434 00:28:50,020 --> 00:28:54,420 Find more stories, hundreds more, over on our YouTube channel. 435 00:28:54,420 --> 00:28:56,260 Just look for Buckeye Bigfoot.