Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “I’ve been a listener for quite a while, and finally decided to write down my experiences. The first happened in the mid 1970s, and the second in the late 1990s. I’ve also had a few odd paranormal-ish experiences, but not sure if they’re relevant.

I don’t know the exact year of my first experience, but it was in the mid-1970s, so I would guess I was between 5 and 8 years old. I grew up in east-central Wisconsin near the shores of Lake Michigan, roughly halfway between Green Bay and Milwaukee, in a rural area that was largely farms and farmland, but with single family homes scattered here and there, often separated by fields and/or small tracts of woodland.My parents and I were going on a road trip, and they’d risen well before dawn, before the first hint of dusk was in the sky. In the pitch black they had gotten me out of bed, and put me in my sleeping bag in the back of our station wagon which was parked on the driveway outside our garage. I’ll point out that this was unusual, and was actually the only occasion they’d ever done that. Our trips usually involved camping, which meant packing a bunch of gear into the back of the car, but this time there was room for me to stretch out and sleep. My assumption is the trip was probably to visit our relatives in Wyoming, which meant two full days of driving, and would also explain why they decided to leave so early in the “morning”.Being moved from bed to car had woken me up, of course, but I was quickly getting comfortable in my sleeping bag.

The garage was still open and lit by a single ceiling bulb, and my dad had left the car dome light on for me, but neither provided significant illumination. I heard my dad go back inside, shutting the door loudly, in his usual manner. I was just getting comfortable and beginning to nod off when I was startled fully awake again by what sounded like the “tap-tap-tap” of a fingernail on the car window. Several thoughts shot through my mind in quick succession. The first was “I thought dad went inside”. I decided he must have come out again, but what did he want, and why would he tap on the window? Lastly, I realized I hadn’t heard the house door slamming shut, and that puzzled me the most.I’d been lying on my left side, head toward the front of the car, and the tapping had come from behind me on the driver’s side. I slowly rolled over halfway and turned my head to look where the sound had come from.

There was some interior reflection on the windows from the dim dome light, but I could see there was something outside the car. I stared at the window trying to figure out what I was seeing, and then realized that there was a face looking back at me. Not my own reflection, but something outside. This was not a human face. It seemed to be something like an evil looking wolf/dog with tall pointed ears and a long muzzle. It was motionless, but its eyes were fixed on me, staring intently from beyond the glass with its mouth just slightly ajar. A wave of fear swept over me. It was motionless, which made me question what I was seeing, and I wondered if the dim light was tricking my eyes with some strange reflection. Despite my rising fear, in my confusion I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out if this was just some odd illusion.

As if reacting to my squint, the creature jerked its jaw open a bit wider, menacingly showing a bit more teeth. I was convinced – not an illusion! In my terror I spun round throwing the sleeping bag flap over my head to hide from the sight of the horrible thing. What happened next I can’t explain. Maybe this type of experience just makes a child’s brain shut down, because despite my terror, I must have somehow fallen asleep while hiding in my sleeping bag. The next thing I knew, I was woken up by the sound of the car’s back hatch opening, and I suddenly remembered the monster. I threw the sleeping bag flap from my face in a fight-or-flight moment, preparing to scramble for my life over the front seats. But to my relief it was my dad loading luggage into the car, and in a minute or two we were on the road.As frightening as the experience was, I never said anything about it, either to my parents or anyone else, until only very recently.

I’m not certain why not, but I guess because I had no explanation for what I’d seen, and it had been so incredibly strange and terrifying, I probably doubted anyone would even begin to believe me.If I had to put a name to what I saw, I’d simply call it a Werewolf, whether or not it was an actual shape-shifter. I only saw its face, but the head gave me the impression of an upright body, and it was clearly intelligent and purposeful, because it actually tapped on the window to get my attention. My second experience happened in August of 1997 while visiting a college friend at his parent’s house south of Grand Rapids, Michigan. We both enjoyed the outdoors, camping, hiking, foraging, and the like, and since we had several days worth of time we decided to go camping. We were able to find a camp ground at a location called Ely Lake to the southeast of his parents place, and headed there for one overnight. It had been very dry that August, so when I set up my tent I didn’t bother putting the rain fly on it. We lit a campfire and stayed up relatively late, which was normal for us, and finally hit the sack around probably 11:30 or midnight.

I’m not sure how long I was asleep, but at some point I woke up, I’m guessing probably 1:30 to 2 AM-ish, and since there was no rain fly obstructing my view, I decided to check if I could see any stars. As I lay there looking up at the sky, off to the south of us I heard a long, deep, wailing cry, quite far away but incredibly powerful for the distance the sound had apparently traveled. The first words that went through my mind were “what the hell is that!?”. I lay still and listened, and the call was repeated another 4 or 5 times, at intervals of maybe 15 to 20 seconds or so. While listening, I racked my brain trying to identify the beast. I guess I’d say I have a moderate knowledge of the outdoors and wildlife. I’m no novice in the woods, but not an expert either.

Growing up I’d been taken camping every year, had canoed the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, and had gone grouse hunting each Autumn with my dad. What I was hearing didn’t fit any of the categories I had. I’d also grown up across the road from a dairy farm, and I’d heard cows bellow many times, and I was sure whatever this was was at least that large, and maybe bigger. So I knew it wasn’t a cow, and I didn’t think elk or moose made that kind of noise, and anyway this was southwest Michigan, not the U.P.

After the several cries I didn’t hear it any more, which was fine with me. I realized that, whatever it was, it had to be huge, and I was glad it got no closer than it had been. I fell back asleep, and by morning wasn’t thinking about it anymore, so I never even mentioned it to my friend. It wasn’t until a couple years later that I became interested in the Sasquatch phenomenon, and perusing audio files online (probably on the BFRO website) I came across the recording of the Ohio howl. When I played it I was stopped cold because it was almost exactly what I’d heard that night in Michigan. I was speechless realizing that I’d actually heard a Sasquatch myself.”