Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “Huge fan of the show. Thank you for all the work you put into it. I’ve never had an encounter with one of these creatures, but when I was growing up I was always interested in cryptids and would hear on occasion from my uncles that my great-grandfather had told them he had seen a Bigfoot when he was a young man. I never heard the actual encounter though. Fast forward about twenty years my Grandmother is physically declining and is living with one of those same uncles.

One Saturday he asked me to sit with her during the afternoon while he was working. Between you and I my Grandmother is a difficult individual and many of my family members have limited to no contact with her. I agreed to help my Uncle and sat with her for several hours. We talked about what had been going on in my life, the Bible, and how the world had changed so much in her lifetime (She as born in 1932). The story my uncles had told me when I was young came back to me and I decided to ask her about it. I asked her if she knew if that was her father or my late Grandfather’s father. She got very coy and sheepishly admitted that it was her Father. It was obvious she thought I was going to make fun of his story. I assured her that I was actually very interested in it. I explained what a podcast was to her, and told her about your show and how much the topic interests me. She started to open up a bit and told me the whole story.

When her Father was a young man (Early 1920’s) he was living in the small town of Gantt Alabama. He was about 15 at the time and his family was living in a house outside of town. Coming home one day he had crossed the bridge out of town and was walking by a heavily wooded area. At the time he thought he saw the “biggest black man” he had ever seen standing partially concealed behind a tree. He was looking at him and with one hand started beckoning him to come into the woods. Scared out of his mind he ran home along the road and told his father what had happened. Others must have also experienced this because a posse was formed to go through this area of woods and find this man.

The men of the town did not find a man, or beast, but came across what they described as a bed it was using. About ten feet in diameter it was a circular area of matted down vegetation and straw. This was apparently the end of the sightings in the area.

I was taken back by the story and told her how many callers in to the show also described these creatures as a giant black man and how I had heard people describe it standing behind a tree and beckoning it into the woods. She was not sure if he thought of it as a Bigfoot at the time, or if he started calling the creature that later after it more fully entered the public consciousness. We spoke about her father at some length that day. Unfortunately he took his own life after a long battle with alcoholism before I was born. I think she enjoyed talking about him and was glad to hear other people had similar stories. I hope it helped her have some happy thoughts of her father. She is 91 and at the end stages of her life now. As I said earlier she can be a difficult person to get along with. but I’ll always have that afternoon as a happy memory of my Grandmother. Thank you Wes. Keep up the good work.”