May 16

It looked at me with blackish eyes

A listener writes “Hello Wes, I heard one of your podcasts the other day and found it quite intriguing. You are an excellent interviewer, allowing your guests to tell their story and only asking questions when appropriate or necessary for clarification.

I would like to share an encounter with you that happened to me when I was in grade 6, so around 12 years old. To this day, I have never shared this encounter with anyone, not even my best friends for fear of ridicule. Every once in a while I will think back to that fateful morning and play it back in my mind, wondering why there is not more serious research done to prove these creatures do exist. Sometimes I think it is a conspiracy of some sort because if Bigfoot was proved real it would contradict everything we have been taught, especially with regard to religion. Plus, can you imagine the panic if the government told people to be wary in the woods because there are giant creatures walking around in there that could snap us like a twig.

Anyhow, I digress. Here is my encounter;

In grade 6 at my elementary school, it was an annual tradition to head of to a place called the Arundel Tree Farm for 2 night sleep over. This place still exists today, and if you check it out on Google maps, it still does not have a lot of development around it. It is located about a 90 minute drive north of Montreal in the Laurentian mountain range.

At the tree farm we learned about nature conservation, compass orientating and some basic survival skills. These days there is a little bit of development around the area, but back in 1976 it was literally in the middle of nowhere.

The school trip included a 2 night stay at the facility in a communal building with boys upstairs and girls downstairs.

My encounter starts the morning after our first nights stay. I woke up pretty early and could not get back to sleep. It was very early, I don’t know what time it was, but being the month of June and the sun was just starting to rise. I assume it must have been between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning. I decided that because I could not sleep I would sneak out and take a little walk around the woods.

I managed to sneak out of the dorm without waking anybody and started up a path on the hill just past the compound. We had been warned of bears in the area but what I was not prepared for what I was about to see.

I was probably about 10 minutes into the forest when the trees, which were pretty dense, when it became less dense and the trees were spaced further apart. The hill then leveled out to a small clearing and that is when I saw what I thought was something was not supposed to exist.

There was a outcropping of rocks in the clearing and squatting down beside it was a creature with long dark brown hair. It was probably 35-40 feet in front of me. The creature had it’s back to me and was not aware of my presence. I was still half hidden by the slope of the path I was on and I froze in my tracks. My first thought was “bear”, but then it did not look like any bear I had seen before. It had arms, not front legs. There were no ears on the top of it’s head. My mind raced searching for an answer.

I do not know what it was doing squatting down beside the outcropping of rocks but it seemed busy at something.

I must have stood there for a good minute or so with a million thoughts going through my mind. Do I run? Do I quietly sneak way, hoping it does not hear me? My heart was racing and I know I was shaking like a leaf.

The sun had risen past the horizon by now and I was able to get a good look at it. I had read about sasquatch and seen the Bluff Creek film on some TV show. I began to come to the realization that this was a sasquatch.

I decided that I would slowly back away and get the heck out of there.

That is when it either heard me or got a whiff of my scent. It stood up rather quickly and turned it’s whole body to look in my direction. I was absolutely terrified. I can only estimate how tall it was, but to the best of my recollection it must have been at least 8 feet tall. It was massive. The hair on it was longish, with little pieces of pine branches stuck in his fur in a few places. The hair kind of hung and was not smooth.

It looked at me with blackish eyes for a few seconds, made a huffing sound through it’s nostrils and headed into the woods. I was so relieved that it left but I will never forget the look it gave me, like how dare I disturb him.

It’s face was what I would describe as a cross between a chimp and a human, it definitely was not human but had very human features in it’s face. The nose was not like a monkey’s, but more like a human’s; pressed very wide and flat against it’s face. The mouth had no lips in the traditional sense and it was more like a slit across it’s face with a little definition to it. When it went off into the woods, it walked on two legs but not like a human. It looked like it almost glided into the woods, if that makes sense.

I ran as fast as I could back to the compound and sat at one of the tables inside the cafeteria. What do I do with this I was thinking to myself. Do I tell somebody? I was afraid I would be made fun of and laughed at so I kept my mouth shut and told no one, not even my parents when I got home.

I want to add that for the rest of the trip I always made sure I was by one of the instructors, I did not want to be alone again in that area.

We did a group hike the next day up that very same path. I was scared but because we were in a large group and had an instructor with us I felt much safer. We actually walked by the outcropping the creature was squatted beside and it was a tall as I was. I was a little over 5 feet tall in grade 6 (I was the tallest kid in the class). The creature was as tall as the outcropping while it was squatting, so it was at least 5 feet tall squatting.

That’s my story. I am not interested in recounting it on your podcast but feel free to post it on your website. I would prefer to remain anonymous please.”

3 Responses to “It looked at me with blackish eyes”

  1. Karen C

    What a mature decision to make for a 6th grader, if it were me I would be telling everyone that would listen. Either they believe you or not but think of all the fun you would have telling it…

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