A listener writes “It was late summer 1991 in rural west central Michigan. There was a huge tract of undisturbed wilderness close to the house I grew up in.
The locals called it the Austin gas fields, a large acreage uses for the storage and staging of natural gas to be piped downstate approximated several thousand acres. There is state ground that adjoins the gas fields of several thousand more acres. We grew up hunting, fishing, camping,berry picking, motor biking etc in that area. The area was Criss crossed with logging trails ( two tracks). There where area’s in there that just give off a creepy vibe, the hairs on your neck would stand on end just weird feeling.
One night myself and two other friends where back in the Austin having a campfire, just sitting around the fire talking about girls, life and our future, but mainly girls , we where in our late teens. We weren’t drinking alcohol or doing drugs , we had a few glass bottles of mountain dew that we where drinking as we talked around the fire. Later in the night and out of soda , we where thirsty. I knew from my past hunting trips that just over the hill and down in the valley was a spring fed stream. We decided to go down and fill a couple bottles with spring water. We had two flash lights and made our way down to the stream about 300 yards from the fire and truck. We arrived at the stream and started filling our bottles. I had one flashlight and Randy had the other him and Jeff where approximately 8 foot downstream of me. As I shine the light into the creek to fill my bottle I notice dirty, silty water flowing like something was stirring up sediment upstream of us.
I shined my light up steam and the light revealed a large hairy mass about 30-40′ away standing in the creek. The eyes did not glow red, as so many accounts say. But when the light hit the eyes , there was red eyeshine. Like how a deers eyes reflect green in the light, these where red. At this exact moment another set of eyes appeared above the left shoulder of this thing as if had been hiding behind the first one. I could see long hair on the first one ,the one in the back was shielded from view by the first one. The one closest to me was huge. I could not see any facial features or fine details, it happened so fast. I do know it was LARGE with long darker hair and roughly human shaped with wide shoulders.
At this moment it growled/groan/roared it was the most intense sound I’ve ever felt/heard , low deep penetrating bass, almost electric sound . You could feel it in every inch of your body absolutely horrifying. I turned to run and noticed Randy was already 10-15 yards up the hill making tracks out of there. I ran as hard as I could and heard the second most horrifying sound of my life, Jeff screaming in total horror begging me not to leave him , since he didn’t have a light. I paused and he made ground quickly and we ran back to the truck. Randy was already there , we jumped in and got out of there. This happened so fast ,literally 5-10 seconds from the time my light hit the thing to the time we started running. We only told a few trusted friends of this encounter back then people where not so understanding.
This was the first experience in that area. There was one other later that year in the same area with two other people.
Thanks for listening, it feels good to vent this, but remembering the encounter I could almost feel that growl again, and all the emotions come flooding back. Jeff was seriously mentally changed that night , it was a downward spiral for him after that night. He committed suicide a few years back.”
Charles R
So sorry for your friend Jeff, terrible thing to happen. Our family use to go to Coldwater Lake with our cousins to swim a few times, which I believe is in this general area. There is great water in this area, over in Stanwood the Nestle company is busy draining it as fast as they can for bottled water. It was to the west of you in Midland County, Sept. 1, 1996 when one was in my best friends wooded back yard and let out a horrific scream. I do hope you come on the show. As a side note I wonder if Marty Lagina who owns Oak Island, made his fortune in the gas and oil fields in this area?
Debbie acrylic sand artist
I’m sorry for the loss of your friend Jeff.
I haven’t witness bigfoot or herd it’s screams.
I don’t know how I would react if I did see one?
Thank you for sharing your story.
Denise F
Very tragic for Jeff. It’s sad to think these events can haunt the minds of some…. I think we all find our own way to cope (if possible). I’m so glad the listener wrote in and would love to hear him tell his encounters.
No more campfires in a natural gas pipeline, just my advice ?
Kathy K
So Sorry to hear of your friends passing..May he Rest In Peace. I can totally understand what these creature’s do to you although I’ve never seen one I’ve heard the howls and wood knocks in Northern New Hampshire’s Forests. I refuse to walk in the woods ( Night or day!) Terrified because I now know what lurks in the forest…
theresa m
Very sad to learn of your friend’s passing. This must have scared him so badly maybe it blew his belief system and he couldn’t trust what was real or true in life. I’ve never had an experience except in our local forest where everything went dead silent when my husband and I were on a leisurely walk. We both got the creeps at the same time, turned around and walked right out of the forest into our car and we’ve never been back. Thanks for the story and may your friend rest in peace.
Kenneth T
Hello Wes my name is Ken I was just out for walk and found some tracks. They were old ( snow in them) but I’m from northern Minn and we have feet of snow nobody would be walking through woods I was on snowmobile trail and these crossed two different trails going through the woods. I got pictures but there on my camera not my phone also found were it peed wonder if I chould or should get some
m99
Hey Kenneth. Email your encounter to Wes. But, he’s a one man operation, so he may not be able to get back to you, or very soon anyway. Would love to hear it!
Connie O
@Kenneth T… email Wes at, Wes@sasquatchchronicles.com He will get back to you.
Connie O
So very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend Jeff, how tragic. As you know, once you experience something like this, it never really leaves you. Thank God, for Wes and sasquatchchronicles. It’s a place to feel safe and tell your experiences. There is no judgement here. I wish Jeff, had found it. I’m glad you did.
Jay Carlsen
You know he did ! I worked with Marty Lagina and Greg Tester doing Seismic Survey in Northern Michigan ! Great Guys ! ( they would remember me by the Sliced Bread I carried tied to my Backpack ! ( Because who wouldn’t buy a Peanut Butter Sandwich for a Dollar ? )
I worked with Marty and Greg Tester in Kalin Michigan. Just south of Interlochen in 1993 when it was 70 below Zero Wind Chill – But we were still out Working in it anyway.
His Brothers Face is familiar to me , but I doubt he would remember me. But Marty’s Son & Nephew I have seen before on Jobs they came to talk to Marty. I was only a Laborer , and if I ever seen them , it was by Fleeting Chance.
Damn Good Guy’s to work with though !
Jay Carlsen
Karlin Michigan.
Stiles H
I’m an engineer for a Michigan oil company and worked for a Michigan gas utility company on their gas wells before that. Marty and Craig owned their own company that explored for oil and gas. They were not involved with gas storage. I was on a softball team with both of them when we were all younger. I believe Mich Con owns Austin Field, a gas storage field. I know some of the employees there, I’ll have to ask the field guys if they have ever seen anything strange…..
I had a sighting south of Houghton Lake last October, 2019. I was heading back to my hotel room after working on a well around Meredith, Mi when I stopped to look at a small dam back in the woods. Saw a big black hairy guy walking through the woods and got some photos on my phone. It’s hard to take photos when you are a little freaked out. Photos are kind of blocked by brush but you can see an arm and a body in 2 of them. They are not blurry at least (thank you I Phone). These things are definitely around mid Michigan.