Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “My first “encounter” was when I was 16. I am now a 46 year old Christian local businessman, happily married with two children (15 and 9) who both bowhunt with me as well, yet I can recall this like it was yesterday. I have 4 college degrees so forgive me if I throw that in the face of the many skeptics I’ve encountered over the years who write me off as a “simple country bumpkin.”

I believe it was around 1991 when I first got into deer hunting. I live in Northeast Indiana and it is a favored sport for all of us “rural folk”. I was performing some scouting on a neighboring property about a ½ mile away. Needless to say I was trespassing, but at 16 you feel untouchable and since my family owns a large 50 acre woods right next door I wanted to get a good read on what big bucks may be traveling to my woods and what route they were taking. I wanted to catch them when they crossed over on to my property. A good size stream runs through the middle of this woods which can be a great place to find deer trails, which I did. It was about noon and I was getting hungry, so with my scouting complete I started to make my way back home. The nice thing about the country is everyone looks out for everyone else. Should someone see me on this property rest assured the owner would have been notified. Having said that, I get along well with the owner so I don’t think he would have cared, but I was cautious nonetheless.

I was heading east back home and was about 100 yds from the creek when I stopped because I heard something odd. When I quit moving I could tell it was a low continuous moan. It sounded maybe 200 yds away into the heavy brush, but I wasn’t sure. The moan never broke and continued to get louder and louder until I could feel it resonating in my chest! There were multiple times when I thought “okay it has to stop now. It can’t keep going” but it just kept getting louder and louder. Maybe the word should be intense or powerful? It made my stomach feel queasy. Then, it stopped. No drop. No getting softer and softer. Just immediately stopped like it was cut off. I turned and ran as fast as I could, spanned the creek (and got soaked), bust out into the bean field and spun around to check behind me. It was at that point I realized my field knife was in my hand. Seeing nothing I turned and ran all the way home without stopping. When I tried to tell my parents that evening they were upset with me for trespassing and told me it was probably the owner scaring me because I was on his land. I tried to explain to them that there is NO WAY he could have yelled loud enough and long enough to vibrate my chest like that, but I could see I wasn’t making a dent and who can blame them really?

Fast forward to last year’s deer season. It’s 2 hours before sunrise and my 15 year old daughter and I are in separate treestands. We are 20 feet up and about 20 yds apart with her being south of me. The moon was bright and full and we had been sitting for approximately 45 minutes when we heard bipedal walking. Even though we both had lights we did not need them. The moon was bright enough to see rather easily, but being so far apart in the dark we could not visually communicate as we do in the daylight. The footsteps walked right into our shooting lanes and into a small clearing about 15 yds directly in front of us to the west. Animals walking in the woods at night is not uncommon. The year prior I sat out in the open at the base of a tree and had a deer walk right past me in the dark. It was so close I could have reached out and touched it. Many times deer will come in right before daylight and hang around until legal shooting hours. Works out great when that happens, but this was different. Deer have a distinct 4-footed rhythm when they walk. Step-step-step-step. I’ve been hunting for 30 years and pretty much know exactly how each animal in the woods sounds moving through the leaves. Any avid hunter can tell you when he hears that deer coming up over his shoulder before he sees it by the way it walks. I also know what people sound like and this was definitely bipedal. The footsteps moved directly into the small clearing right between the two of us and stopped with full moon light shining on the spot. It was so strange. We both were looking right at the spot thinking “it HAS to be right there!”, but you could see nothing. It would take 3 or 4 more steps and stop again. And again your brain is working overtime trying to figure out why you can clearly hear where these steps are coming from and clearly see where they should be, but nothing is there! They eventually moved on to the northwest and daylight came soon after. We immediately began texting each other with fear and excitement. Each wanting to make sure the other experienced the same thing and we weren’t crazy. Needless to say my daughter was a bit freaked out after that while I tried to remain calm and cool for her sake.

The very next Saturday I planned on going back again by myself. My daughter said she didn’t feel well, but would admit later she was just too scared. It was too cold for my 9 year old son, so I went back as usual, got set up, text my wife that I was safely harnessed into the treestand and then settled in for a nap. I’m not sure how long I dozed, but I was instantly and violently awakened by what I can only describe as the absolute WORST panic attack of my life! I’ve only had 1 other panic attack in my life and I knew that it was coming on and what caused it, which allowed me to deal with it quickly. This was nothing like that. I had an immediate sense of fight or flight mixed with sheer panic and almost debilitating confusion and this “feeling” was directional. Hard to explain, but I could tell approximately where it was coming from. I have NEVER felt like I was in so much danger as I did at that moment. All I wanted to do was get out of that treestand as fast as possible and run the entire way home. I stood up. I sat down. I got my flashlight out. I put it away. I could not formulate a single coherent thought much less and actual plan. I got my phone out to call for help and then something (I believe the Holy Spirit) penetrated my thoughts long enough to say “Don’t! Do not turn on any light and do not get out of this treestand. That’s what it wants.” Mind you, I did not hear those ACTUAL words, but the thoughts were interjected into my panicked state from an outside source and so I desperately clung to them as though they were a lifeline. How pathetic is that? I was finally able to formulate a single thought or plan and grabbed on to it like my life depended on it. I’m sure if it wanted to get me 20 feet is no issue for a Sasquatch, but being on the ground made me a much easier target. I sat back down and just began to pray. I prayed for what felt like an eternity, but slowly the feeling subsided. The sun finally came out and I began texting my wife what happened. She said I should come home if I felt it was safe to get down and she would pray until I got there. Needless to say it took me several weeks to process this.”