The incident took place in the Smokey Mountain National Park. A listener writes “My girlfriend and I were hiking a trail in the park late one afternoon.
We were completely alone and a couple of miles in when we stopped to debate whether or not to continue, as it was starting to get late.
At that exact moment, we heard a thunderous tree break directly above us on a ridge less than 50 yards away.
We looked at each other and both said, “What the hell was that?” Without hesitation, we turned around and started back toward the car at a fast pace.
As we were heading out, I looked up toward the ridge and noticed a tree standing in a small clearing. Even from a distance, it was obvious the break was fresh. The tree wasn’t very large roughly 8 to 12 inches in diameter and the break appeared to be about 6 to 8 feet off the ground. It was hard to judge the exact height from where we stood, and we were both pretty shaken, so our main focus was just getting out of there.
That was the extent of the experience. At the time, we both felt it could have been a Sasquatch, but then again what are the odds?
This happened on a very secluded trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on August 18th of last summer. It was early evening, around 80 degrees, with no wind at all.
The other night, while going through photos from that hike, I noticed something unusual. In a couple of pictures, there appears to be something looking at us through the heavily camouflaged foliage along the side of the trail less than ten yards away.
I know you’re a busy guy, but I wanted to reach out and get your opinion on this. Would it be okay if I sent you the two photos?
Thank you for your time.”
Jeff K
I want to see the photos. Did it have a racoon type face?
Mike K
Hi Jeff,
It looked more like a chimp… Greyish face, prominent brow ridge, high forehead, black fur on the top of a round-ish head.
Charles R
Thanks for replying to Jeff K, Mike. I would think that Wes would post those two photos. Question. Did that thunerous tree break sound like a high powered rifle being shot? I remember Wes stating just a little while ago about a large branch breaking very quickly sounds like a rifle shot. Much different from a dead branch finally falling to the ground which happens all the time im my yard with not a lot of noise. I witnessed such a sound of what I assume was a large branch being pulled from a tree very quickly and with tremendous force the last Monday of April, 2019, at 9 am. The exact address was 739 SE Calmosa Drive. Port St. Lucie, Florida. It was a VRBO my youngest sister and BIL and myself rented for our nieces wedding in Jensen Beach Fl. This address is the last house next to the forest of the St. Lucie River and was on a deep water canal. Satellite photos will show what a wilderness this really is inside of a highly populated area. I was looking over the fence into this wilderness, when it happened and the sound was the closest sound one would here of a high powered rifle being shot. If it was a Bigfoot doing this, and I think it was because what else could it be, it may have been looking at me and made some kind of response. I will never know though because it was way to thick to see anything. What was even more strange was that for over 5 minutes, all the wildlife that I aslo could not see just went nuts. Some running up and down trees and more that were running wild on the ground as I stood and watched, just trying to see something.
Mike K
Hi Charles,
At the time, I actually thought it was some kind of lightning strike, with it’s crisp veracity…And yes, it did sound exactly like a shot from a high powered rifle.
Heather G
Does anyone realize how hard it would be to break a green tree limb. I mean go outside and grab a thin one. It’s not easy. So when people see these structure in the woods of bent and broken live tree that is proof for me is was not a human. There’s probably a handful of people on earth that are capable of that and not without ease
Charles R
Excellent point Heather G. And it is much harger to just twist a green branch.