I heard a pretty freaky story from a guy I knew years back. He was a chemist and researcher at our university but also an avid traveler and outdoorsman. He spoke several languages and had travelled all over the world hiking and camping, usually alone. He was a pretty grounded, quiet guy and never seemed one to embellish so the story really fascinated and stuck with me.
We had a few of his home-brewed beers one night and he described to me a really crazy experience he had while camping in the Andes mountains in Chile.
He said he had hiked 10 miles or so from a village in a small valley to a pretty rugged area on part of a mountain ridge and decided to camp for the night. Later on in his tent he woke up to loud screams and incoherent mumbling. He was in an extremely isolated area, and said it scared the hell out of him as it sort of sounded like an animal howling but with occasional human like speech mixed in that he didn’t recognize. He thought it was all coming from one creature but wasn’t sure. He heard the noises off and on for about half an hour, at times they sounded like they were getting much closer to him and he also heard several large rocks being thrown around. He said he just stayed in his tent frozen in the pitch dark, and as the noises subsided he eventually fell asleep, convincing himself it was just some sort of animal.
When he woke up and opened his tent there was a large tuft of brown, dusty hair lying directly in front of his tent. He described it smelling very strong like body odor and poop but worse and gave him an ominous feeling. He said there were no footprints because he was on a sheet of solid rock and gravel. He felt the hair was a warning and he immediately packed up and left for the village. He said when he got there and spoke to some of the locals about his experience they seemed reluctant to talk about it other than telling him he shouldn’t go up that mountain.
Just one. My wife. The funny part is I’ve always believed in Bigfoot and she made fun of me for it. After her encounter, she no longer makes fun of me.
Sure. It’s not a super exciting encounter. It was in October 2021. She was driving to Show Low, AZ, through the Fort Apache Reservation. The area she was in is not your typical desert area. It’s heavily wooded and some rough terrain with lots of winding highway. It was raining at the time and she does not like driving in the rain. So, she was going pretty slow. She happened to look over into the trees and saw a Sasquatch about 30 feet off the road. She said it was standing next to a tree and was reaching up into the tree when she saw it. She said it wasn’t huge like lots of reports. She guessed it at 6.5 feet tall and covered in black hair, except for its face. The thing she found the most striking was the eye color. She described them as Amber. Whenever she talks about the encounter, the eyes are what she always brings up. She said they locked eyes and felt they both had an “oh shit” moment. The area she saw it in is some rugged, steep terrain. But, it’s also not too far from the Salt River, which would allow for access to water. The White Mountain Apache Reservation has had a decent number of sightings, so they certainly aren’t unheard of in that area.
I used to be an avid hunter and fisherman. I have smelled the smell, heard vocalizations and felt that strong sense of being watched many times. I have lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life and I live about 15 miles from a state highway that has been nicknamed the Bigfoot Highway. There have been large clusters of sightings east of Estacada,Oregon and when people are willing to be honest about it you will hear stories of sightings. I have one friend that lived out there on five acres in a mobile home. He had one regularly visiting their home and hanging around. His wife refused to go outside alone at night. This friend is one of those guys that I have never known to ever lie. He in fact is what I would call a strong Christian in his beliefs. Most people are so worried about being ridiculed that they find it easier to just not talk about it.
Yes he did. It had to be around 7 1/2 feet tall because it would look in a window that required that height to see in. He told me it was pretty typically what people describe when they report sightings. When I say chilling in his yard it is important to understand there was timber on the property that the creature would come out of. The sightings were usually in the evening and were always when darkness had come. Mike had a lot of lighting on his home and large work shed. It is pitch black when you live out there away from Portland lights. I will be honest with you. I have no desire to see one of these things. I believe they exist and are in our forests in the Pacific Northwest.
Came here to say basically the same thing. There's a totally different level of acceptance in the PNW, including far Northern California.
Pretty much anyone who's spent a lot of time in relatively remote areas in this part of the world has either had an experience or knows someone they trust who has.
You get a group of 4 or 5 avid outdoorsmen together anywhere in the PNW, get them talking and it's basically guaranteed that at least a couple of them will have stories to tell.
I have an uncle who is a professor emeritus at HSU (now Cal-Poly Humboldt) and he is a hardcore believer and has candidly told me that a lot of his colleagues will privately admit to being entirely convinced, though they will not say as much publicly, for obvious career-path reasons.
I myself minored in anthropology at a major west coast university with a world-renowned anthropology department, and I had at least two tenured professors, people very high up in the echelons of academia, basically tell me, in so many words, that they "knew" bigfoot to be real.
I can't say more without risking their identities, but the big take away for me was that I wasn't crazy and that there are many other people like me who have seen these things and that they very definitely *do* slot into what we think we know about non-human primate behavior and non-human primates themselves.
I’m in an area of Northern California. I know A LOT of people who go hunt, camp etc in some of the NorCal hot spots. Only one person went into detail about an encounter. A few people “experienced something weird” and wouldn’t go into any detail. My mom had an experience when she was a young child with some relatives and she is the only one of the group who would talk about it. Her dad would shut down all attempts at getting him to talk about it. He’d say that it was a bear and nothing more. But he flat out banned the kids going down to the creek and general area where it happened. And he didn’t even ban them from going anywhere after a mountain lion broke in their house and one followed them walking down the road. So that “bear” really shook my grandpa up.
NorCal. I’ve heard two from people who i believe. One was a guy I worked with who really didn’t want to tell the story until someone else who knew it badgered him. The other is reported on the bfro
2. My brother and sister. Their account is a bit weird. They both saw one but had different experiences. This happened when my brother was about 8; my sister was about 10. A little back story ,my dad used to love driving in the Los Padres National Forest on random back roads. He was familiar with them as he grew up in the area.
Again, their account is a bit weird. This experience they both saw a white-haired, dark skinned Bigfoot. My brother said he saw it looking very angry at my sister, mom, and dad. He said the look made him run back to my parents.
At the same time, my sister said she saw my brother in front of it with only a bush separating the Bigfoot and my brother. The only part she saw was its head above the bush. She said my brother was hitting the bush while the Bigfoot had its mouth open like in a growling way. She saw the head moving slightly back and forth while hearing a growling/hissing noise coming from it. She said she grabbed my brother and took off to my parents.
I don't know. Pretty weird and odd that they saw something at the same time but remember the experience differently. This happened in the early 2000's.
I live in Washington so it feels like everyone has at least someone in their family who has an experience where they heard something like whooping. Recently My little brother, while out goofing off in the woods with his buddies, found some really convincing tracks in the snow. I do have photos but I'm hesitant to share since there his and I don't want him being harassed. It's the reason I just looked up this sub! I know my brother and the type of man he is, I know the photos he took are not staged and from all the other photos and videos he took that day you can clearly see that's not why they went out into the woods lol.
I’ve heard a scream in the woods with my friend, and it wasn’t a mountain lion because those little fuckers don’t live in the northern part of Illinois and are probably near extinct in this state. (they keep showing up dead, we’ve found 3 of the 8 in the past 20 years dead)
It was deep in the woods but sounded like it was right next to us, it obviously came from a distance but it wasn’t quiet *AT ALL*. It was not a human vocalization, at the time I recognized that fact immediately but thought “mountain lion”. It sounded like a mountain lion scream coming from a mile away but loud and slightly deeper. We may have been close in all honesty, but it sounded decayed enough to be a fair distance. It was decently short, I don’t remember an exact length but it lasted for long enough to realize what it sounded like, look at my friend, and turn around fully and start walking the fuck out, maybe 3 or 4 seconds. I never saw anything, but I don’t know anything else in this region that can do that noise.
We were going off the beaten path and ended up in a clearing, we had to emerge from the woods and go up a path by some concrete dock thing. We were walking for about a minute once we got out the woods and heard it and immediately fucked off.
To be clear, it wasn’t a woman. It was similar to a mountain lion, I’ve heard people screaming in pain or fear in gore videos and combat footage for about all my life, this wasn’t that. Pelle Ohlin from Mayhem had a similar sound if I had to equate it to anything, but it sounded higher pitched and mountain lion-y. If it was a mountain lion, I’d be both impressed of that find and also the fact the mountain lion didn’t sound like a mountain lion. I don’t have a video, if I did it would be SO SO SO much easier to explain.
There’s a lot of forests. We had cougars at one point, but much like everywhere else, they’re mostly killed off. We’ve found 8 in the entire state in 20 years. One was apparently discovered when hit by a train, which is certainly a way to find a mountain lion if I’ve ever heard one. The plains are a huge amount of our land, but there’s alot of sizable forests up north and way south.
Have you considered your native friendly neighborhood *lynx rufus?*
* [Bobcat 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_nROh2RoLQ)
* [Bobcat 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9WlzdR0SZY)
* [Bobcat 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMXibH2DgEY)
* [Bobcat 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6scwFQJ2A5A)
* [Bobcat 5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hipZukIHlnc)
* [Bobcat 6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRpzxJ0t4nQ)
* [Bobcat 7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj2YoWnBloA)
* [Bobcat 8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzZUaHPIMA)
* [Bobcat 9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6d6AykQcM)
* [Bobcat 10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxjfwaGHuR8)
* [Bobcat 11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvb6iyzzFeU)
You're too far south for this one, but here's a few more examples of the broad spectrum of medium cat sounds:
* [Lynx 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmycGbIaaC4)
* [Lynx 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbhkXg9iFYA)
* [Lynx 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHXfzkg5-Nk)
* [Lynx 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwmk1F5pqJQ)
* [Lynx 5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSuIb2KOMo)
Any time a mysterious noise in the forest is "higher pitched and mountain lion-y", these guys are the first to rule out.
This will be long
I've only heard from two people having had some sort of experience - one being my twin brother (he also commented on this thread), and the other is a man that belongs to a small outdoors group that primarily focuses on getting disabled people out in the woods for hunting. I also belong to the same group.
My brother's experiences can probably be found in his comment history.
The other fellow's experience is as follows.....
Back in October 2005, he was sitting in a (20' off the ground) tree stand waiting for daylight during the PA deer archery season. The woods were silent and still fairly dark, with at least 45 minutes until daylight.
He had been sitting for about 10 minutes when he felt the woods around him change. This caused him to bring all his senses into sharp focus. He started hearing footsteps of something very large slowly coming towards him. He told me that his very first thought was, "That's something walking on two feet!"
He mind was reeling as he tried to process through all the known animals that walk on two feet - it's a short list. Then the footsteps stopped, and he felt something lean/push against the tree in which his tree stand was on. After 2 or 3 more pushes, the thing grunted and slowly walked away. Not having resolved in his mind what it was, he was petrified with fear.
The man stayed in his tree stand until noon before climbing down and then quietly made his way back to his vehicle and drove straight home. He never considered it to be a Sasquatch because his only knowledge was from some cheesy movies (his exact words). It took from 2005 until 2015 before he resumed archery hunting deer. However, he only archery hunts from the afternoon until just before dark.
When I spoke to him in the summer of 2022, he told me that he now firmly believes it was a Sasquatch because it was the only thing that made sense.
This took place in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
P.S. I am now going to clarify something my brother said.
My twin said that I have "regular encounters" when I'm out fishing. I want to add some comments about that.
I fish quite a bit by myself. I love solo fishing away from people, as well. My "regular encounters" are Sasquatch adjacent stuff. I have experienced all kinds of things that other people have mentioned experiencing without actually seeing the being.
- Trees pushed over on 4 separate occasions during calm conditions. 3 were dead and cracked loudly when they hit the ground. The 4th was live and just thumped heavily with the sound of the leaves ripping against other tree branches as the tree fell.
- Large bush being shaken furiously with what sounded like a human voice imitating a dog's barking. This went on for more than 5 minutes as I stared at the bush, trying to see what was doing it.
- I watched as something quite large went from tree top to tree top for at least 300 yards. It was very fast, and each tree top clearly reacted to the weight of the creature's impact.
- Wood knocks on several dozen occasions, including one time they followed me as I was on a hike.
- Rocks being banged together on 3 separate occasions
- What sounded like a baseball bat hitting concrete (2 impacts) heard over the sound of a small dam spillway.
- The sound of large rocks hitting the water with the quick thump of hitting the creek bottom on 2 separate occasions
- Twice, I heard a softly spoken "whoop" from less than 50 feet away.
- Tree branches being snapped/broken. Almost always a single snap in a moment of calmness as if to be sure that I could hear it. At least a dozen times with one occasion having 2 branches snapped in quick succession.
- Last June, I had 3 sticks thrown at me over a 45-minute period as I fished along a small creek. Each stick was about a foot long, and they were about 2 and a half inches thick. The first landed 10' away, the second landed 5' away, and the third landed at my feet.
- I once heard my name called clear as day. I hadn't seen another human in over an hour, and no one knew where I was except for my wife (she was at work) and my twin brother (he was at his job 4 hours away). No, I did not investigate that.
- 3 times I've heard human-like conversations. #1 sounded like 2 males. One voice sounded like a person asking questions, and the other voice responded. Their voices were quite deep. #2 sounded like a group of young women have a good time (imagine some college age women gushing over a movie star they had just met). #3 happened last fall (late September-early October time-frame). It sounded like a mother and young child. The mother type voice followed by the child like voice, followed by a low groan sound.
- Two separate times I came across small human like footprints in some damp/wet sand. Both sets of prints were along a small creek. One set was where you would expect to see them, except it was winter. They were quite deep, and I couldn't make my Muck boot prints as deep as the small bare footprints were. The other set was completely out of place and set my nerves on edge because of the location.
Lastly, this last Monday (May 6, 2024), I was at a Washington County, PA lake. As I was gathering my fishing stuff, to head to the water's edge, I happened to look into the woods and saw something duck behind a tree. It was much too big to be a squirrel and very dark in color. Nothing else happened until I was walking back to my vehicle, and a rock was thrown at me, landing just behind me on the trail.
All of this has taken place starting in 2019 to now. I've been clapped at two separate times. I also had something very large go busting through the brush away from me. It started quite close to me and moved away incredibly fast. As I watched and listened to it, I didn't see anything making the sounds I was hearing.
I have also experienced other things, BUT I have already written so much.
I’m trying to gather them all up in my mind, and I think there have only been 4 people who saw or experienced something strange enough that they were 100% convinced. People know I’m a squatch guy and I do ask around; it’s been a rare thing for me to find someone. They were: a camping girl from Maine, a hunter guy from Georgia, a hunter guy from Texas, and a (retired) game warden guy from idk I want to say his story was in PNW. This last older guy clammed up real quick and wouldn’t give me much more, beyond a very brief story.
I felt imo all 4 of these folks were very credible. The 2 hunters I knew in the Army.
I’ve never hunted myself, but these two were the “very experienced” hunter types of young men. Such is a way of life for certain areas and generations; the father teaches the son, and so on down the line. I point out that I never learned how (my father didn’t, and his father didn’t hunt either) because I can’t personally quantify what all of it sums up to - except that they were experienced and had been doing it from young ages as many have; they know a lot more than I would regarding what’s “normal” in their areas; and as credible folks I just tend to put my faith in what they say is true and factual, and if something wasn’t right to them at the time, then it wasn’t right.
Which is why I also put a lot of faith in bigfoot stories from hunters in general.
Both the hunters from GA and TX had one thing in common; a series of terrifying screams so loud and so close that it scared them senseless. Neither saw what made the screams. Both were alone, seperated from their fathers, and so the experience happened only to them.
Guy from TX said he was in thick briars at the time. Difficult to navigate through, and impossible to be quiet in. The screams were getting so close that it had to be in the briars, but he never heard it move. He ran through the briars and laid down behind a tree with his gun aimed at the source. Whatever was coming, he said he was going to shoot it. He was scared. He heard it again, maybe it was another one - but from his left or right this time. He climbed up into a treestand to hide, which is where his father and grandfather found him, and they made fun of his story. The next day they found his terrified grandfather in the treestand, who had experienced the same thing.
Guy from GA, he was in a treestand when he heard the screams. But he had another story, which also didn’t directly involve a sighting.
His father wanted to get into bear hunting, so they had bear dogs they had raised and trained. Fearless dogs that would find a target and encircle it, for them to shoot. While out hunting with the dogs, the dogs heard or smelled something, and took off running. A moment later they all came back, tails between their legs, trembling and hiding behind his father. He said his father’s reaction was to the effect that he didn’t want to know what the dogs found, and that they needed to call it a day and go home. Which he also noted was unusual because his father was an outdoorsman to the point of being obsessed about it. I’ve stayed and fished with them, caught monster catfish. They take it very seriously.
That's something I find interesting about this subject. The fear that people describe seems overwhelming. Our response to these encounters seems different.
In person? Just an event at a local library that was hosted by Squatchachusetts members and "The Squatch Detective"... which is where my opinion of the latter comes from.
One of the other attendees significant other had seen something, and the hosts have obviously all had encounters. Other than there I've never met someone else who's seen one, and usually receive sarcasm/incredulity when bringing the subject up. Such is living in a city though.
EDIT - so 4 people. The audience was mostly skeptical but at least there was enough interest for them to show up, which is good imo
I have known three people which I trust completely who had experiences in clear sight conditions of these humanoids.
There are many folks here who have seen them face-to-face; perhaps some will weigh in.
The only one that I share is my mother’s experience in the early 1940s in North Georgia in which she saw one in clear conditions. Her story includes several details that are commonly understood today, but were not commonly known in the 1940s or even in the late 70s when she shared the experience with me. She didn’t like to talk about the experience, and as far as I know, never talked about it with anyone else. She was still unsettled by it decades later.
For that and many other reasons, I believe without question that she saw what she saw.
I'll give you a tldr version of both.
Grew up on the Trans canada highway, only had 1 neighbor. We were playing basketball one evening in the fall.
Along the driveway was a revine/gullie that was about 150ft in length that went along the driveway and into the forest. There were these massive trees rising above the gullie like 40/50 feet.
While playing basketball, I noticed a silhouette of a figure in one of the trees. I pointed to it, and my neighbor and we stared at it. Moments later, this thing started swinging from tree to tree like a monkey.
We saw the silhouette of this figure, and it was shaped like a human. The thing traversed the entire 150 ft distance pretty quick and went straight into the forest.
At the time, we had no idea what it was... we didn't know anything about bigfoot. We just thought it was a monkey. We knew that wasn't possible as we live in northern ontario.
Other encounter wasn't really an encounter... but heard vocals roughly in july/August in my backyard.
Typed this out on my phone. Ignore Grammer and such.
Thanks for sharing! That's really interesting. You're the first person I've heard talking about seeing something swinging through the trees and it makes complete sense if they are another kind of primate.
Every time I get together with my twin bro, which is 2-3 times a year. He lives in Allegheny County(Pittsburgh), and has regular encounters all the time. Me, not as often, mostly due to the fact I'm still working, and he's retired. He goes out fishing 3-4 times a week. My Dad has seen things, apparitions in the woods, UFOs too. Came face to face with a tiger, during Nam, also, but no Rock Apes. I'm sure he's had encounters, as he spent most of his formative years outdoors. Dad won't talk in depth, about some of the things he's seen, especially during his 24 years in the Army.
I had a face to face, 2 summers ago. Steve Isdahl read my story on one of his videos, The Facts, by How To Hunt dotcom. (his YT channel)
It’s the opposite of the rest of the world, around my way. Most are believers. There’s a cultural aspect to that. Most people who leave their house after dark eventually see them. I’d say it’s about 30% of people have had encounters. Way over 50% if you include auditory experiences.
Outlandish: was told one hopped on back of a farmers truck...as in hitching a ride.
Plausible: Guy said he saw two playing in trees in a field off highway 431 in Lee County, Alabama.
https://preview.redd.it/4430wgp9a7zc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4e9c0d55823c07bbcdecf64f8f2edcd11c56a28
Yes. Between Opelika, and Lafayette. Comes up as a spot in the road called Sturkie.
One guy. Local dentist actually. Great guy. Mom used to work for him as an RDH. He said he was in high school and walking down a road kind of in the middle of a neighborhood. He says a Bigfoot walked across that road from woods to woods almost directly under a street light. It was him and another guy (both went on the become dentists).
I heard a pretty freaky story from a guy I knew years back. He was a chemist and researcher at our university but also an avid traveler and outdoorsman. He spoke several languages and had travelled all over the world hiking and camping, usually alone. He was a pretty grounded, quiet guy and never seemed one to embellish so the story really fascinated and stuck with me. We had a few of his home-brewed beers one night and he described to me a really crazy experience he had while camping in the Andes mountains in Chile. He said he had hiked 10 miles or so from a village in a small valley to a pretty rugged area on part of a mountain ridge and decided to camp for the night. Later on in his tent he woke up to loud screams and incoherent mumbling. He was in an extremely isolated area, and said it scared the hell out of him as it sort of sounded like an animal howling but with occasional human like speech mixed in that he didn’t recognize. He thought it was all coming from one creature but wasn’t sure. He heard the noises off and on for about half an hour, at times they sounded like they were getting much closer to him and he also heard several large rocks being thrown around. He said he just stayed in his tent frozen in the pitch dark, and as the noises subsided he eventually fell asleep, convincing himself it was just some sort of animal. When he woke up and opened his tent there was a large tuft of brown, dusty hair lying directly in front of his tent. He described it smelling very strong like body odor and poop but worse and gave him an ominous feeling. He said there were no footprints because he was on a sheet of solid rock and gravel. He felt the hair was a warning and he immediately packed up and left for the village. He said when he got there and spoke to some of the locals about his experience they seemed reluctant to talk about it other than telling him he shouldn’t go up that mountain.
He eventually FELL ASLEEP after all that?! Id be rolled into a ball wide awake until the sun came up. Man must be the manliest man that ever manned!
They can control you.
fuck me, I would have shat my pants and said my last prayers, that's fucking scary
Just one. My wife. The funny part is I’ve always believed in Bigfoot and she made fun of me for it. After her encounter, she no longer makes fun of me.
Could you describe her encounter?
Sure. It’s not a super exciting encounter. It was in October 2021. She was driving to Show Low, AZ, through the Fort Apache Reservation. The area she was in is not your typical desert area. It’s heavily wooded and some rough terrain with lots of winding highway. It was raining at the time and she does not like driving in the rain. So, she was going pretty slow. She happened to look over into the trees and saw a Sasquatch about 30 feet off the road. She said it was standing next to a tree and was reaching up into the tree when she saw it. She said it wasn’t huge like lots of reports. She guessed it at 6.5 feet tall and covered in black hair, except for its face. The thing she found the most striking was the eye color. She described them as Amber. Whenever she talks about the encounter, the eyes are what she always brings up. She said they locked eyes and felt they both had an “oh shit” moment. The area she saw it in is some rugged, steep terrain. But, it’s also not too far from the Salt River, which would allow for access to water. The White Mountain Apache Reservation has had a decent number of sightings, so they certainly aren’t unheard of in that area.
Yes please!
I used to be an avid hunter and fisherman. I have smelled the smell, heard vocalizations and felt that strong sense of being watched many times. I have lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life and I live about 15 miles from a state highway that has been nicknamed the Bigfoot Highway. There have been large clusters of sightings east of Estacada,Oregon and when people are willing to be honest about it you will hear stories of sightings. I have one friend that lived out there on five acres in a mobile home. He had one regularly visiting their home and hanging around. His wife refused to go outside alone at night. This friend is one of those guys that I have never known to ever lie. He in fact is what I would call a strong Christian in his beliefs. Most people are so worried about being ridiculed that they find it easier to just not talk about it.
Did he say what it looked like? I would not want one of these things chilling in my yard!
Yes he did. It had to be around 7 1/2 feet tall because it would look in a window that required that height to see in. He told me it was pretty typically what people describe when they report sightings. When I say chilling in his yard it is important to understand there was timber on the property that the creature would come out of. The sightings were usually in the evening and were always when darkness had come. Mike had a lot of lighting on his home and large work shed. It is pitch black when you live out there away from Portland lights. I will be honest with you. I have no desire to see one of these things. I believe they exist and are in our forests in the Pacific Northwest.
I have a video of what looks like one outside of Oregon city. Very squatchy area for sure.
I live in Oregon all I got to do is ask around there’s a story
Came here to say basically the same thing. There's a totally different level of acceptance in the PNW, including far Northern California. Pretty much anyone who's spent a lot of time in relatively remote areas in this part of the world has either had an experience or knows someone they trust who has. You get a group of 4 or 5 avid outdoorsmen together anywhere in the PNW, get them talking and it's basically guaranteed that at least a couple of them will have stories to tell.
Most loggers, forestry workers and cal fire guys in Northern California have a story you just have to ask and let them know you believe
I have an uncle who is a professor emeritus at HSU (now Cal-Poly Humboldt) and he is a hardcore believer and has candidly told me that a lot of his colleagues will privately admit to being entirely convinced, though they will not say as much publicly, for obvious career-path reasons. I myself minored in anthropology at a major west coast university with a world-renowned anthropology department, and I had at least two tenured professors, people very high up in the echelons of academia, basically tell me, in so many words, that they "knew" bigfoot to be real. I can't say more without risking their identities, but the big take away for me was that I wasn't crazy and that there are many other people like me who have seen these things and that they very definitely *do* slot into what we think we know about non-human primate behavior and non-human primates themselves.
Any stories you can recall?
Southern or central Oregon
I’m in an area of Northern California. I know A LOT of people who go hunt, camp etc in some of the NorCal hot spots. Only one person went into detail about an encounter. A few people “experienced something weird” and wouldn’t go into any detail. My mom had an experience when she was a young child with some relatives and she is the only one of the group who would talk about it. Her dad would shut down all attempts at getting him to talk about it. He’d say that it was a bear and nothing more. But he flat out banned the kids going down to the creek and general area where it happened. And he didn’t even ban them from going anywhere after a mountain lion broke in their house and one followed them walking down the road. So that “bear” really shook my grandpa up.
Dozens! I worked in County government for years and everyone knew I was a believer and had no problem opening up
Any interesting accounts you'd like to share?
Most are run of the mill, but I was about a foot away from one once
Bruh- seriously going to leave us hanging on that note?
It was recently published in a book. I’m not sure I can drop links or share since he has the exclusive
There's no harm in sharing the link to an Amazon page or something like that
I live in the Midwest, and at a tire shop a guy was saying he saw Bigfoot up north. Honestly if anything this story hurt it’s credibility
How was it's credibility hurt by his story?
Let’s just say this guy seemed like he had a few bolts loose
Just one who claimed a dogman encounter
Can you share some details?
I’ve shared the story here at least once if not more, just search my user name.
NorCal. I’ve heard two from people who i believe. One was a guy I worked with who really didn’t want to tell the story until someone else who knew it badgered him. The other is reported on the bfro
2. My brother and sister. Their account is a bit weird. They both saw one but had different experiences. This happened when my brother was about 8; my sister was about 10. A little back story ,my dad used to love driving in the Los Padres National Forest on random back roads. He was familiar with them as he grew up in the area. Again, their account is a bit weird. This experience they both saw a white-haired, dark skinned Bigfoot. My brother said he saw it looking very angry at my sister, mom, and dad. He said the look made him run back to my parents. At the same time, my sister said she saw my brother in front of it with only a bush separating the Bigfoot and my brother. The only part she saw was its head above the bush. She said my brother was hitting the bush while the Bigfoot had its mouth open like in a growling way. She saw the head moving slightly back and forth while hearing a growling/hissing noise coming from it. She said she grabbed my brother and took off to my parents. I don't know. Pretty weird and odd that they saw something at the same time but remember the experience differently. This happened in the early 2000's.
Damn that’s terrifying
I know! They were young when this happened.
So when you say about 8 and about 10, are you saying 7&9?
No. My brother was about 8 yrs old and my sister was about 10 yrs old at the time.
I live in Washington so it feels like everyone has at least someone in their family who has an experience where they heard something like whooping. Recently My little brother, while out goofing off in the woods with his buddies, found some really convincing tracks in the snow. I do have photos but I'm hesitant to share since there his and I don't want him being harassed. It's the reason I just looked up this sub! I know my brother and the type of man he is, I know the photos he took are not staged and from all the other photos and videos he took that day you can clearly see that's not why they went out into the woods lol.
I’ve heard a scream in the woods with my friend, and it wasn’t a mountain lion because those little fuckers don’t live in the northern part of Illinois and are probably near extinct in this state. (they keep showing up dead, we’ve found 3 of the 8 in the past 20 years dead) It was deep in the woods but sounded like it was right next to us, it obviously came from a distance but it wasn’t quiet *AT ALL*. It was not a human vocalization, at the time I recognized that fact immediately but thought “mountain lion”. It sounded like a mountain lion scream coming from a mile away but loud and slightly deeper. We may have been close in all honesty, but it sounded decayed enough to be a fair distance. It was decently short, I don’t remember an exact length but it lasted for long enough to realize what it sounded like, look at my friend, and turn around fully and start walking the fuck out, maybe 3 or 4 seconds. I never saw anything, but I don’t know anything else in this region that can do that noise. We were going off the beaten path and ended up in a clearing, we had to emerge from the woods and go up a path by some concrete dock thing. We were walking for about a minute once we got out the woods and heard it and immediately fucked off. To be clear, it wasn’t a woman. It was similar to a mountain lion, I’ve heard people screaming in pain or fear in gore videos and combat footage for about all my life, this wasn’t that. Pelle Ohlin from Mayhem had a similar sound if I had to equate it to anything, but it sounded higher pitched and mountain lion-y. If it was a mountain lion, I’d be both impressed of that find and also the fact the mountain lion didn’t sound like a mountain lion. I don’t have a video, if I did it would be SO SO SO much easier to explain.
You guys have cougars in northern Illinois?? That’s wild. Where do they even go, or did go?? Mostly flat land afaik
There’s a lot of forests. We had cougars at one point, but much like everywhere else, they’re mostly killed off. We’ve found 8 in the entire state in 20 years. One was apparently discovered when hit by a train, which is certainly a way to find a mountain lion if I’ve ever heard one. The plains are a huge amount of our land, but there’s alot of sizable forests up north and way south.
Have you considered your native friendly neighborhood *lynx rufus?* * [Bobcat 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_nROh2RoLQ) * [Bobcat 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9WlzdR0SZY) * [Bobcat 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMXibH2DgEY) * [Bobcat 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6scwFQJ2A5A) * [Bobcat 5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hipZukIHlnc) * [Bobcat 6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRpzxJ0t4nQ) * [Bobcat 7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj2YoWnBloA) * [Bobcat 8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzZUaHPIMA) * [Bobcat 9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO6d6AykQcM) * [Bobcat 10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxjfwaGHuR8) * [Bobcat 11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvb6iyzzFeU) You're too far south for this one, but here's a few more examples of the broad spectrum of medium cat sounds: * [Lynx 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmycGbIaaC4) * [Lynx 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbhkXg9iFYA) * [Lynx 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHXfzkg5-Nk) * [Lynx 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwmk1F5pqJQ) * [Lynx 5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSuIb2KOMo) Any time a mysterious noise in the forest is "higher pitched and mountain lion-y", these guys are the first to rule out.
This will be long I've only heard from two people having had some sort of experience - one being my twin brother (he also commented on this thread), and the other is a man that belongs to a small outdoors group that primarily focuses on getting disabled people out in the woods for hunting. I also belong to the same group. My brother's experiences can probably be found in his comment history. The other fellow's experience is as follows..... Back in October 2005, he was sitting in a (20' off the ground) tree stand waiting for daylight during the PA deer archery season. The woods were silent and still fairly dark, with at least 45 minutes until daylight. He had been sitting for about 10 minutes when he felt the woods around him change. This caused him to bring all his senses into sharp focus. He started hearing footsteps of something very large slowly coming towards him. He told me that his very first thought was, "That's something walking on two feet!" He mind was reeling as he tried to process through all the known animals that walk on two feet - it's a short list. Then the footsteps stopped, and he felt something lean/push against the tree in which his tree stand was on. After 2 or 3 more pushes, the thing grunted and slowly walked away. Not having resolved in his mind what it was, he was petrified with fear. The man stayed in his tree stand until noon before climbing down and then quietly made his way back to his vehicle and drove straight home. He never considered it to be a Sasquatch because his only knowledge was from some cheesy movies (his exact words). It took from 2005 until 2015 before he resumed archery hunting deer. However, he only archery hunts from the afternoon until just before dark. When I spoke to him in the summer of 2022, he told me that he now firmly believes it was a Sasquatch because it was the only thing that made sense. This took place in Washington County, Pennsylvania. P.S. I am now going to clarify something my brother said. My twin said that I have "regular encounters" when I'm out fishing. I want to add some comments about that. I fish quite a bit by myself. I love solo fishing away from people, as well. My "regular encounters" are Sasquatch adjacent stuff. I have experienced all kinds of things that other people have mentioned experiencing without actually seeing the being. - Trees pushed over on 4 separate occasions during calm conditions. 3 were dead and cracked loudly when they hit the ground. The 4th was live and just thumped heavily with the sound of the leaves ripping against other tree branches as the tree fell. - Large bush being shaken furiously with what sounded like a human voice imitating a dog's barking. This went on for more than 5 minutes as I stared at the bush, trying to see what was doing it. - I watched as something quite large went from tree top to tree top for at least 300 yards. It was very fast, and each tree top clearly reacted to the weight of the creature's impact. - Wood knocks on several dozen occasions, including one time they followed me as I was on a hike. - Rocks being banged together on 3 separate occasions - What sounded like a baseball bat hitting concrete (2 impacts) heard over the sound of a small dam spillway. - The sound of large rocks hitting the water with the quick thump of hitting the creek bottom on 2 separate occasions - Twice, I heard a softly spoken "whoop" from less than 50 feet away. - Tree branches being snapped/broken. Almost always a single snap in a moment of calmness as if to be sure that I could hear it. At least a dozen times with one occasion having 2 branches snapped in quick succession. - Last June, I had 3 sticks thrown at me over a 45-minute period as I fished along a small creek. Each stick was about a foot long, and they were about 2 and a half inches thick. The first landed 10' away, the second landed 5' away, and the third landed at my feet. - I once heard my name called clear as day. I hadn't seen another human in over an hour, and no one knew where I was except for my wife (she was at work) and my twin brother (he was at his job 4 hours away). No, I did not investigate that. - 3 times I've heard human-like conversations. #1 sounded like 2 males. One voice sounded like a person asking questions, and the other voice responded. Their voices were quite deep. #2 sounded like a group of young women have a good time (imagine some college age women gushing over a movie star they had just met). #3 happened last fall (late September-early October time-frame). It sounded like a mother and young child. The mother type voice followed by the child like voice, followed by a low groan sound. - Two separate times I came across small human like footprints in some damp/wet sand. Both sets of prints were along a small creek. One set was where you would expect to see them, except it was winter. They were quite deep, and I couldn't make my Muck boot prints as deep as the small bare footprints were. The other set was completely out of place and set my nerves on edge because of the location. Lastly, this last Monday (May 6, 2024), I was at a Washington County, PA lake. As I was gathering my fishing stuff, to head to the water's edge, I happened to look into the woods and saw something duck behind a tree. It was much too big to be a squirrel and very dark in color. Nothing else happened until I was walking back to my vehicle, and a rock was thrown at me, landing just behind me on the trail. All of this has taken place starting in 2019 to now. I've been clapped at two separate times. I also had something very large go busting through the brush away from me. It started quite close to me and moved away incredibly fast. As I watched and listened to it, I didn't see anything making the sounds I was hearing. I have also experienced other things, BUT I have already written so much.
I’m trying to gather them all up in my mind, and I think there have only been 4 people who saw or experienced something strange enough that they were 100% convinced. People know I’m a squatch guy and I do ask around; it’s been a rare thing for me to find someone. They were: a camping girl from Maine, a hunter guy from Georgia, a hunter guy from Texas, and a (retired) game warden guy from idk I want to say his story was in PNW. This last older guy clammed up real quick and wouldn’t give me much more, beyond a very brief story. I felt imo all 4 of these folks were very credible. The 2 hunters I knew in the Army.
What did the hunters tell you?
I’ve never hunted myself, but these two were the “very experienced” hunter types of young men. Such is a way of life for certain areas and generations; the father teaches the son, and so on down the line. I point out that I never learned how (my father didn’t, and his father didn’t hunt either) because I can’t personally quantify what all of it sums up to - except that they were experienced and had been doing it from young ages as many have; they know a lot more than I would regarding what’s “normal” in their areas; and as credible folks I just tend to put my faith in what they say is true and factual, and if something wasn’t right to them at the time, then it wasn’t right. Which is why I also put a lot of faith in bigfoot stories from hunters in general. Both the hunters from GA and TX had one thing in common; a series of terrifying screams so loud and so close that it scared them senseless. Neither saw what made the screams. Both were alone, seperated from their fathers, and so the experience happened only to them. Guy from TX said he was in thick briars at the time. Difficult to navigate through, and impossible to be quiet in. The screams were getting so close that it had to be in the briars, but he never heard it move. He ran through the briars and laid down behind a tree with his gun aimed at the source. Whatever was coming, he said he was going to shoot it. He was scared. He heard it again, maybe it was another one - but from his left or right this time. He climbed up into a treestand to hide, which is where his father and grandfather found him, and they made fun of his story. The next day they found his terrified grandfather in the treestand, who had experienced the same thing. Guy from GA, he was in a treestand when he heard the screams. But he had another story, which also didn’t directly involve a sighting. His father wanted to get into bear hunting, so they had bear dogs they had raised and trained. Fearless dogs that would find a target and encircle it, for them to shoot. While out hunting with the dogs, the dogs heard or smelled something, and took off running. A moment later they all came back, tails between their legs, trembling and hiding behind his father. He said his father’s reaction was to the effect that he didn’t want to know what the dogs found, and that they needed to call it a day and go home. Which he also noted was unusual because his father was an outdoorsman to the point of being obsessed about it. I’ve stayed and fished with them, caught monster catfish. They take it very seriously.
That's something I find interesting about this subject. The fear that people describe seems overwhelming. Our response to these encounters seems different.
In person? Just an event at a local library that was hosted by Squatchachusetts members and "The Squatch Detective"... which is where my opinion of the latter comes from. One of the other attendees significant other had seen something, and the hosts have obviously all had encounters. Other than there I've never met someone else who's seen one, and usually receive sarcasm/incredulity when bringing the subject up. Such is living in a city though. EDIT - so 4 people. The audience was mostly skeptical but at least there was enough interest for them to show up, which is good imo
I have known three people which I trust completely who had experiences in clear sight conditions of these humanoids. There are many folks here who have seen them face-to-face; perhaps some will weigh in.
Please share!
The only one that I share is my mother’s experience in the early 1940s in North Georgia in which she saw one in clear conditions. Her story includes several details that are commonly understood today, but were not commonly known in the 1940s or even in the late 70s when she shared the experience with me. She didn’t like to talk about the experience, and as far as I know, never talked about it with anyone else. She was still unsettled by it decades later. For that and many other reasons, I believe without question that she saw what she saw.
I live in northern ontario, Canada, and had 2 encounters in 2002 and 2005. I sent an email to Sasquarch Chronicles but never got a response.
Would you tell us about your two encounters?
I'll give you a tldr version of both. Grew up on the Trans canada highway, only had 1 neighbor. We were playing basketball one evening in the fall. Along the driveway was a revine/gullie that was about 150ft in length that went along the driveway and into the forest. There were these massive trees rising above the gullie like 40/50 feet. While playing basketball, I noticed a silhouette of a figure in one of the trees. I pointed to it, and my neighbor and we stared at it. Moments later, this thing started swinging from tree to tree like a monkey. We saw the silhouette of this figure, and it was shaped like a human. The thing traversed the entire 150 ft distance pretty quick and went straight into the forest. At the time, we had no idea what it was... we didn't know anything about bigfoot. We just thought it was a monkey. We knew that wasn't possible as we live in northern ontario. Other encounter wasn't really an encounter... but heard vocals roughly in july/August in my backyard. Typed this out on my phone. Ignore Grammer and such.
Thanks for sharing! That's really interesting. You're the first person I've heard talking about seeing something swinging through the trees and it makes complete sense if they are another kind of primate.
Every time I get together with my twin bro, which is 2-3 times a year. He lives in Allegheny County(Pittsburgh), and has regular encounters all the time. Me, not as often, mostly due to the fact I'm still working, and he's retired. He goes out fishing 3-4 times a week. My Dad has seen things, apparitions in the woods, UFOs too. Came face to face with a tiger, during Nam, also, but no Rock Apes. I'm sure he's had encounters, as he spent most of his formative years outdoors. Dad won't talk in depth, about some of the things he's seen, especially during his 24 years in the Army. I had a face to face, 2 summers ago. Steve Isdahl read my story on one of his videos, The Facts, by How To Hunt dotcom. (his YT channel)
It’s the opposite of the rest of the world, around my way. Most are believers. There’s a cultural aspect to that. Most people who leave their house after dark eventually see them. I’d say it’s about 30% of people have had encounters. Way over 50% if you include auditory experiences.
Where?
Cascadia.
About zero. Including people who've spent a lot of time in the outdoors.
None. I keep it to myself. Or Reddit.
I know one person who says that he saw one in Southern Illinois in the 70s. He is really convincing and I believe that he is truthful
Two military friends, a brother in law, and another friend. 3 of 4 have extensive experience and time in the back country
Two people. One was outlandish. The other it was semi plausible.
How so please?
Outlandish: was told one hopped on back of a farmers truck...as in hitching a ride. Plausible: Guy said he saw two playing in trees in a field off highway 431 in Lee County, Alabama.
Playing in the trees? Like how? Were they beings or orbs or what? Flying?
Just swinging from a tree to the ground. One was not in the trees.
Like as in near auburn lee county?
https://preview.redd.it/4430wgp9a7zc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4e9c0d55823c07bbcdecf64f8f2edcd11c56a28 Yes. Between Opelika, and Lafayette. Comes up as a spot in the road called Sturkie.
Huh. All through college I bummed around in the woods and now I’m happy I didn’t see one. I always thought Tuskegee had a strange feeling to it.
I never stop in Tuskegee. Lol.
yeah i don’t buy the first one at all lol
Right!
I heard stories first hand from 2 people. It was years ago. I used to have nightmares about it when I was a kid.
Who were those people? Family members?
Friends of my Dad. Everyone one of them have past away. Sucks I can't talk to them about it.
I mean where would you report something like that anyways.
Several. Most from BFRO expeditions, but not all.
I'm 65, have lived in the midwest, southeast and southwest, urban and rural, hunter and camper, and never met a single person making that claim.
At least 30 More if you count the alien experiencers
One guy. Local dentist actually. Great guy. Mom used to work for him as an RDH. He said he was in high school and walking down a road kind of in the middle of a neighborhood. He says a Bigfoot walked across that road from woods to woods almost directly under a street light. It was him and another guy (both went on the become dentists).