# A Lifetime of Bigfoot Encounters Across New England An episode of [Bigfoot Society](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1453429066), 12 Feb 2026, 56 min. Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/3e8f48/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69746439/bfs1043garymafinal.mp3 In this episode, we explore the lifelong experiences of Gary, a witness whose encounters span decades and stretch across some of the most forested and overlooked regions of the Northeast. From early childhood experiences in the wooded neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to later encounters in western Massachusetts, Vermont’s remote Harriman Reservoir, and the backwoods of Rhode Island, Gary shares a journey shaped by place as much as experience. Growing up near dense forests, rivers, reservoirs, and mountain terrain, Gary describes moments that occurred near familiar landmarks like Mount Tom, Savoy State Forest, and deep rural woodlands seldom visited after dark. These locations form the backdrop for encounters that unfolded quietly over time, often far from roads, towns, or witnesses. Gary reflects on how geography, generational knowledge, and time spent in the woods intersected throughout his life, offering insight into why these areas continue to surface in Bigfoot reports across New England. This episode focuses on environment, history, and firsthand memory, allowing the locations themselves to play a central role in the story. Join us as we trace Gary’s experiences through Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island, and explore how the landscapes of the Northeast continue to hold stories that remain largely untold. πŸ—£οΈ Share Your Story Had a Bigfoot encounter or strange experience? Send it to bigfootsociety@gmail.com – your story might be featured on the show! πŸŽ₯ Watch & Subscribe on YouTube πŸ”΄ Subscribe here β†’ Bigfoot Society YouTube πŸ’¬ Leave a comment & let us know your thoughts! πŸ“ž Leave a voicemail with your story β†’ Speakpipe (Use multiple voicemails if needed) πŸ‘₯ Share this episode β†’ Watch & Share 🎧 More episodes β†’ Podcast Playlist 🌲 Recommended: New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters πŸ’₯ Support the Show & Get Perks βœ… Join the community on Supercast – Become a Member βœ… Listen ad-free & early on YouTube – Join Here πŸ“± Let’s Connect β€’ Instagram: @bigfootsociety β€’ Twitter: @bigfoot_society β€’ TikTok: @bigfoot.society 🧰 Tools & Partners I Use (Affiliate Links) These help support the show at no extra cost to you: β€’ Beam (Better Sleep): Try Beam β€’ Wildgrain (Better Bread): Join Here β€’ Seed (Probiotics): Get Seed β€’ Medi-Share (Healthcare): Learn More β€’ LMNT (Electrolytes) Free Sample Pack with your first purchase! : Get LMNT β€’ Organic and non-GMO groceries delivered for less http://thrv.me/uarEhS πŸŽ™οΈ Podcasting Tools: β€’ Repurpose.io: Try It β€’ Descript: Sign Up β€’ Streamyard: Start Recording β€’ Riverside.fm: Try Riverside 🎧 My Audio Interface: View on Amazon β˜• Buy Me a Coffee – Support Here πŸ›οΈ Grab Some Merch – Shop on Etsy πŸ“¬ Mailing Address: Bigfoot Society 125 E 1st St. #233 Earlham, IA 50072 ## Transcript [0:00] Speaker 1: You're listening to Bigfa Society, and I'm Jeremiah Byron. In [0:03] Speaker 1: this show, we go beyond the campfire stories to bring [0:05] Speaker 1: you first hand encounters from people who say they've seen [0:08] Speaker 1: something impossible. From backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers to [0:12] Speaker 1: quiet farms and crowded highways. The stories come from everywhere, [0:16] Speaker 1: and each one leaves us with more questions than answers. [0:20] Speaker 1: These are the voices of the people who've lived it. [0:24] Speaker 1: To settle in, because today you'll hear another account that [0:27] Speaker 1: just might change the way you see the woods forever. [0:30] Speaker 1: So stay with us, all right, Bigfoot Society. I've got [0:34] Speaker 1: the privilege of talking to Gary. Gary is a listener [0:38] Speaker 1: of the show from the great state of Massachusetts, and [0:41] Speaker 1: he has some really interesting things he's going to be [0:44] Speaker 1: sharing today. I know a little bit about him because [0:48] Speaker 1: of the email that was sent. But one of these [0:52] Speaker 1: places I'm really excited about, and I haven't told Gary why. [0:56] Speaker 1: We'll get there, but it is really cool. Gary, Welcome [1:01] Speaker 1: to the show. How are you doing today, sir. [1:02] Speaker 2: Well, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. [1:06] Speaker 1: Absolutely, we were talking a little bit beforehand, and I'm [1:11] Speaker 1: sure Gary you remember that I grew up in Western [1:14] Speaker 1: mass I grew up in specifically it's a small town [1:17] Speaker 1: called Northfield, so you know, really familiar with the places [1:22] Speaker 1: that we're going to be hopping around to today. And [1:26] Speaker 1: it's just it is a really big privilege to be [1:28] Speaker 1: able to talk to someone who has stories and accounts [1:32] Speaker 1: from places like Massachusetts, Vermont as Sometimes you don't really [1:39] Speaker 1: get to hear those until you know the person really well. [1:42] Speaker 1: So I'm glad that we were able to get connected. [1:44] Speaker 1: But Gary, is there anything else that the listeners would [1:47] Speaker 1: need to know about yourself before we get going? [1:52] Speaker 2: Well, like, I live in Western mass Now, I've been [1:55] Speaker 2: in Massachusetts on and off since nineteen seventy eight, you know, [2:00] Speaker 2: born in Pittsburgh and grew up for the first eighteen [2:03] Speaker 2: years of my life there. I have co workers that [2:08] Speaker 2: live in Northfield, Massachusetts. Oh really, Yeah, I didn't even [2:14] Speaker 2: know the town existed until I heard you talking about it, [2:18] Speaker 2: because I mean, there's a lot of little towns up [2:19] Speaker 2: that way. I can't keep a hold Oh yeah, but yeah, [2:23] Speaker 2: I live in Western I'm sixty years old, and I've [2:28] Speaker 2: had multiple experiences and really, when I listen to podcasts [2:32] Speaker 2: and I hear people talking about multiple sightings, multiple experiences. [2:35] Speaker 2: You know, my BS meter goes off sometimes, so I [2:39] Speaker 2: even have a hard time believing my sightings at times. [2:44] Speaker 2: But I mean, I know what I saw. You couldn't [2:49] Speaker 2: tell me otherwise, even the the like not so clear sightings. [2:58] Speaker 2: I know what that wasn't know, wasn't a bear, wasn't [3:01] Speaker 2: a person. But yeah, and that's uh pretty much mate. [3:11] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not very good at public speaking. I'll [3:20] Speaker 2: tell my story the best I can. So. I was [3:23] Speaker 2: born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in nineteen sixty five. My first [3:27] Speaker 2: few years I lived in an area called Beck's Run. [3:29] Speaker 2: The locals called it that. It wasn't it was actually [3:33] Speaker 2: North Baldwin on the border of North Baldwin in Pittsburgh, PA. [3:38] Speaker 2: But there's a creek that ran through their best run, [3:41] Speaker 2: Beck's Run Creek, and that's what people called the area. [3:46] Speaker 2: When I was in nineteen sixty nine, and I remember [3:50] Speaker 2: this vividly, my mother went into labor with my sister. [3:53] Speaker 2: It was April second or third. And my grandmother, when [3:58] Speaker 2: I was growing up, used to tell us all the time, [3:59] Speaker 2: if we don't behave the Boogerman is gonna get you ins. [4:03] Speaker 2: That was her she never described it. And you know, [4:05] Speaker 2: back then, we didn't question parents or grandparents, so we [4:08] Speaker 2: never asked her what it looked like. And I used [4:11] Speaker 2: to end up having nightmares about a guy with a [4:13] Speaker 2: giant nose Boogerman. So the night of my first sighting, [4:20] Speaker 2: I was three going on four, And there's two things [4:24] Speaker 2: I remember about that week was my sighting and my [4:28] Speaker 2: sister being brought home. So my father was down to [4:33] Speaker 2: the hospital and I was at my grandmother's house and [4:35] Speaker 2: I asked her, can I get some cookies? And she goes, yeah, [4:38] Speaker 2: go ahead, go into the kitchen to the bread drawer [4:42] Speaker 2: and get them. Now their house was it was on [4:47] Speaker 2: a side street. Both neighbors' houses were elevated above our house. [4:53] Speaker 2: You could see their front their first floor from our [4:57] Speaker 2: second floor, nothing but wood behind us. The locals used [5:01] Speaker 2: to call it forty acre woods. So I go out [5:04] Speaker 2: into the kitchen and the window shades were still open. It [5:08] Speaker 2: was dark out, and I seen this giant figure looking [5:12] Speaker 2: at me through the window and it took a few [5:15] Speaker 2: seconds to process and like, and I looked and I [5:20] Speaker 2: went turning around, running in the living room, telling my [5:23] Speaker 2: grandmother there's a giant monkey looking at me through the window. [5:26] Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, three that's what I described as My [5:28] Speaker 2: grandmother said, you fool? Was he smiling at you? And [5:32] Speaker 2: I'm like, yes, she goes, you must have been doing [5:34] Speaker 2: something bad. I'm like, no, I wasn't. But yeah, that [5:38] Speaker 2: was my first sighting. And it was a few seconds [5:43] Speaker 2: through the back window. And the thing is is my [5:46] Speaker 2: grandparents would a lot of times they'd leave the window [5:49] Speaker 2: shades open because there's nothing but woods behind them. You know, [5:51] Speaker 2: nobody look in the window, nothing like that. So when [5:56] Speaker 2: I walked out into the kitchen, I saw this. The [6:00] Speaker 2: window sills about four five feet up off the ground, [6:03] Speaker 2: and this thing's head was at the top of the window. [6:07] Speaker 2: And it was giant. Well I mean, I'm three years old, [6:11] Speaker 2: so you know, six foot tall person would be giant [6:14] Speaker 2: to you. But it was big, and it was just [6:17] Speaker 2: looking at me, and you know, I say, smiling. But [6:21] Speaker 2: it wasn't one of those oh look, it's very inviting look. [6:24] Speaker 2: It was more to me menacing. It was hairy, dark hair, [6:32] Speaker 2: see of facial features. It looked kind of like one [6:36] Speaker 2: of the primitive human that they illustrate on Its eyes [6:42] Speaker 2: were a yellowish color, not glowing yellow, just like the [6:46] Speaker 2: whites of the eyes were yellowish, and it was just [6:48] Speaker 2: looking at me with this It was almost looked like [6:50] Speaker 2: an orangutang smiling at me. But I mean, I've never [6:53] Speaker 2: seen any seven foot orangutang. So and I know wild [6:58] Speaker 2: light because from the time I could read, I've read [7:00] Speaker 2: all kinds of wildlife books. I was interested in the outdoors. [7:04] Speaker 2: I used to watch Mutual of Omaha's United Kingdom every [7:07] Speaker 2: week religiously, and so I know I wasn't looking at [7:12] Speaker 2: a bear. There were no bears in that area at [7:15] Speaker 2: the time, and the person would have had to be [7:20] Speaker 2: standing on a step ladder to be where the head was. [7:25] Speaker 2: It was a quick sighting though. It was you know, [7:28] Speaker 2: boom saw it ran into the other room, so you know, [7:35] Speaker 2: And I kicked myself for never asking my grandmother because [7:38] Speaker 2: she obviously knew more about than what she was telling. [7:41] Speaker 2: But you didn't question adults back then. You just whatever [7:46] Speaker 2: they told you. You took it as a gospel. You know, [7:48] Speaker 2: don't swallow gum, it'll stand in your stomach to the [7:50] Speaker 2: rest of your life. Stuff like that. So fast forward, [7:55] Speaker 2: it was like a couple months later, my aunt took [7:57] Speaker 2: me to see a Disney movie, and at the end [8:01] Speaker 2: of Disney move was a nature short and I was like, yo, [8:03] Speaker 2: there's mister deer for all looking through the woods and stuff. [8:06] Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, the music got realonymous and [8:07] Speaker 2: they showed the Patty film The Patterson Gimlin again. Some [8:13] Speaker 2: people believe that there's a I can't remember the words exactly, [8:16] Speaker 2: and I went ballistic. I'm like yelling, my honest, that's [8:20] Speaker 2: when I saw in the back window, and she's like, [8:23] Speaker 2: everybody's looking at me and kind of like yeah. So, [8:27] Speaker 2: and my grandmother used to tell us all the time [8:29] Speaker 2: that the boogerman obo's which is an old term for [8:34] Speaker 2: like homeless people and a pack of wild dogs lived [8:38] Speaker 2: up in the woods. And I've seen the bile dogs, [8:42] Speaker 2: I've seen the obo's walking in out of the woods, [8:45] Speaker 2: and I've seen the Boogerman. So okay, you know, when [8:53] Speaker 2: I was really. [8:55] Speaker 1: You mentioned that the whites of its eyes were kind [8:58] Speaker 1: of yellowed. Do you remember what the center of the eyes, [9:03] Speaker 1: what the color of those were? [9:05] Speaker 2: No, you see, really, I was in the lit kitchen [9:09] Speaker 2: and it was looking through the windows, so it was [9:11] Speaker 2: kind of backdrop the darkness, and you could see features, [9:15] Speaker 2: but you couldn't see him too vividly. All I know [9:19] Speaker 2: is there's this giant, hairy person ape whatever you want [9:24] Speaker 2: to call it, standing there looking at me through the window. [9:27] Speaker 2: And then my grandmother confirmed that that was what she [9:30] Speaker 2: called the Boogerman and it's funny. Okay. Years later, I [9:36] Speaker 2: remember arguing with my grandfather. She wanted a floodlight put [9:39] Speaker 2: in the backyard, and my grandfather's like, what do we [9:43] Speaker 2: need a floodlight for. There's nobody back there, and she's like, Dad, [9:46] Speaker 2: sobke's banging on the walls and looking in the windows. [9:49] Speaker 2: I want to determin from coming. So they knew, and [9:54] Speaker 2: I wish I kicked myself. I wish i'd like ask [9:58] Speaker 2: them about, you know, what they do. And here's the thing. [10:04] Speaker 2: I read a book about Bigfoot in Pennsylvania, and right [10:08] Speaker 2: up the road from where we're at, there's like historical [10:11] Speaker 2: sightings on Sawmill Run Boulevard, which is around the corner [10:18] Speaker 2: up the road aways from that area, in those same woods. [10:23] Speaker 2: I mean, if you walk through those woods, you'd get [10:24] Speaker 2: right to that spot. But yeah, okay, so yeah, then [10:31] Speaker 2: I saw the PG film and my aunt, who like [10:36] Speaker 2: my aunt and uncle, used to take me out the [10:37] Speaker 2: movies and stuff. Took me out to see Boggy Creek [10:40] Speaker 2: and seventy four to seventy five, when I was about [10:42] Speaker 2: nine years old, this dime in Pittsburgh, there was always [10:46] Speaker 2: newspaper articles about sightings Bigfoot UFOs. You'd see snippets on [10:50] Speaker 2: the news, and back then it wasn't like it is [10:53] Speaker 2: now where they laugh where you know, Pittsburgh man saw Bigfoot. [10:56] Speaker 2: They're just told the news, no emotion, no, So me [11:00] Speaker 2: and the local kids in that neighborhood, because i'd go [11:03] Speaker 2: visit my grandparents on the weekend. We're talking about it, [11:06] Speaker 2: and I told them what I saw. They decided, well, [11:09] Speaker 2: we're going to go look for it. So we would [11:13] Speaker 2: go walk up into the woods. There'd be like a [11:14] Speaker 2: group of four or five of us, and slowly people [11:17] Speaker 2: would drop off and go back down to the bottom [11:21] Speaker 2: of the hill. Because my grandparents lived on Somerset in [11:24] Speaker 2: Susquehanna and Susquehanna ended and there was a path going [11:29] Speaker 2: up into those woods. So one time we're walking up there, [11:33] Speaker 2: kids are dropping off, dropping off. Finally I got one [11:36] Speaker 2: kid left with me and he finally's like I'm leaving, [11:39] Speaker 2: and I'm like, no, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna keep [11:41] Speaker 2: going to see if I see anything. Now I didn't [11:45] Speaker 2: think I was going to see anything. And I come [11:47] Speaker 2: up over a clearing and it's a flat area, and [11:51] Speaker 2: it's a big, wide, open area, and I'm looking and [11:53] Speaker 2: I see something about four foot tall standing across the [11:57] Speaker 2: clearing from me, with its back to me, looking into [11:59] Speaker 2: the crick I'm thinking, what is that Because it's only [12:03] Speaker 2: like four foot tall. It's not like some lumbering giant. [12:07] Speaker 2: And I guess it noticed that I was there. It [12:10] Speaker 2: turned around and it was a small big foot type [12:14] Speaker 2: creature and I looked at it and I'm like, this [12:18] Speaker 2: can't be hamnet. And then I thought about it. I'm like, Okay, [12:23] Speaker 2: if this thing's only four feet tall, it's got to [12:26] Speaker 2: be a child or something of that nature. So there's [12:30] Speaker 2: got to be a mother nearby. And I remember from [12:32] Speaker 2: like reading books and stuff, that you don't want to [12:35] Speaker 2: get between a bear cub and it's mother. So I [12:38] Speaker 2: turned around. I bolted down the hill. I mean I [12:41] Speaker 2: ran so fast I ended up like knocking a couple [12:44] Speaker 2: of kids out of the ways, screaming about Bigfoot and [12:47] Speaker 2: everybody in the neighborhood, went in the door and went [12:49] Speaker 2: in doors and stayed in the rest of the day. [12:51] Speaker 2: But I know what I saw that. You know, it [12:54] Speaker 2: sounds might sound far fetched to some people, but this [12:59] Speaker 2: was a four foot tall, hairy, upright human type creature. [13:07] Speaker 2: It was like a dark brown black color. I really [13:12] Speaker 2: didn't get a good look at the facial features because [13:15] Speaker 2: turned around and looked at me. I was like freaked out. [13:18] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm standing out in the woods with a [13:21] Speaker 2: something that shouldn't exist, not known if it's a child, [13:26] Speaker 2: and there's a mother nearby, and I know what a [13:27] Speaker 2: barrel duty if you get between her and her cubs. [13:32] Speaker 2: But yeah, that's my second sighting. And that's pretty much [13:36] Speaker 2: the end of Pennsylvania. So we moved. My mother and [13:41] Speaker 2: father got separated and divorced, and we moved back home [13:44] Speaker 2: to her home in Massachusetts, and we were living in [13:46] Speaker 2: Aguam And when I moved up here, we ended up [13:51] Speaker 2: moving to West Springfield. I went to West Springfield High [13:54] Speaker 2: School and I'm thinking, Okay, I'm here in Massachusetts now, [13:58] Speaker 2: I'm never going to see nothing like a big again. [14:01] Speaker 2: You know, because at that time, you didn't hear about sightings. [14:04] Speaker 2: You didn't know. You know, there are a whole bunch [14:06] Speaker 2: of people seeing stuff, but nobody is telling anybody. So [14:11] Speaker 2: one day, it was like nineteen eighty one, I believe, [14:15] Speaker 2: we were celebrating my friend's seventeenth birthday, so it had [14:19] Speaker 2: to be around June, and it was a bunch of [14:22] Speaker 2: us together at his house in West Springfield and we're like, hey, [14:27] Speaker 2: let's go up to Mount Tom and chase the girls around. [14:30] Speaker 2: That wasn't an I don't know if you know remember [14:32] Speaker 2: Mount Tom Amusement Park. I do, yeah, yeah, So we [14:35] Speaker 2: called it into a pickup truck because there was a [14:37] Speaker 2: different time back then, and there were three guys in [14:40] Speaker 2: the cabin. There were four or five of us in [14:41] Speaker 2: the bed of the truck. So he heads up Route five, [14:46] Speaker 2: but then he turns towards South Hadley, Like where's he going? [14:51] Speaker 2: So he goes up to Oh, it's it's Mount Holy [15:00] Speaker 2: Ok and the Skinner State Forest. I don't know if [15:03] Speaker 2: you know, we called it Skinny Mountain. I remember it. [15:07] Speaker 2: For a longest time, I thought it was called Skinner Mountain. [15:11] Speaker 2: So he pulls up New Mountain Road and then he [15:14] Speaker 2: turns down the wrong way down Old Mountain Road, down [15:17] Speaker 2: to the bottom of the hill before you walk up [15:19] Speaker 2: to the and he parks the truck and we're like, [15:21] Speaker 2: what are you doing. We're going to go for a hike. [15:23] Speaker 2: And the guys in the back of the truck were like, nah, [15:26] Speaker 2: we'll stay here. You know, we didn't we don't want [15:29] Speaker 2: to go hiking. We just want to go to Mount tom. [15:31] Speaker 2: So they go up into the woods and we're all [15:35] Speaker 2: sitting in the back of the pickup truck talking, talking [15:37] Speaker 2: about what we're going to do, and all of a sudden, [15:39] Speaker 2: we start hearing like this rustle in the woods and [15:43] Speaker 2: we're hearing like grunting, and we're like, oh, it's these guys. [15:46] Speaker 2: They're trying to scare us. They're like, hey, we know [15:48] Speaker 2: it's you. Come on out, let's go do what we're [15:51] Speaker 2: going to do. And then it, whatever it was, was [15:54] Speaker 2: getting more agitated, making noise, started shaking this tree there's [15:59] Speaker 2: like two foot around. Okay, these guys were all big guys, [16:04] Speaker 2: so it would not be beyond their physical capability of [16:09] Speaker 2: rocking a tree back and forth. We're like yeah. We [16:12] Speaker 2: kept yelling at him, thinking it was them, and next thing, [16:16] Speaker 2: rocks start flying out of the woods like you idiot, [16:19] Speaker 2: you just hit your truck. He had an old Dodge [16:22] Speaker 2: power wagon that was like his pride and joy. I'm like, [16:24] Speaker 2: you just take your truck. You're gonna chip the paint. [16:27] Speaker 2: And we're yelling and rocks are flying out, and all [16:29] Speaker 2: of a sudden, the kid grabs my shoulder and points [16:31] Speaker 2: up the hill coming down from the top of the mountain. [16:35] Speaker 2: There's those three guys walking down the hill. The ruckus [16:39] Speaker 2: is still going on in the woods. So we're like, guys, guys, [16:43] Speaker 2: come on, we got to go there. There's something in it. [16:45] Speaker 2: And I'm still not registering bigfoot because I'm thinking Massachusetts, [16:49] Speaker 2: there's no such thing. You know, Like a lot of [16:52] Speaker 2: people on the East Coast, they're like, well, that doesn't [16:54] Speaker 2: happen outside of the West coast. I'm up in Massachusets [16:58] Speaker 2: going yeah, no. So they're coming walking down and my [17:02] Speaker 2: friend's smiling because he's like, yeah, whatever, you know, you're [17:05] Speaker 2: just trying to get us to leave. So he gets [17:08] Speaker 2: in the truck and he backs it to turn it [17:11] Speaker 2: around to go the right way up old Mountain Road, says, [17:15] Speaker 2: backing it towards the woods, and there's a silhouette and [17:19] Speaker 2: this is all I saw was a silhouette, a large [17:21] Speaker 2: up upright whatever it was. Eyes were red, but I'm [17:25] Speaker 2: thinking is because it was a reflection from the break [17:27] Speaker 2: lights and we're screaming, we're banging. One of the kids [17:31] Speaker 2: rips the sliding windows open in his truck and climbs [17:34] Speaker 2: through the into the cab and he looks back and [17:37] Speaker 2: he's got the biggest crap eatn grim on his face. [17:40] Speaker 2: And as soon as his face turned around to where [17:42] Speaker 2: he could see what was going on, his face just dropped. [17:45] Speaker 2: He turned pale white. He threw it in the gear [17:48] Speaker 2: and he laid rubber all the way out of there. [17:51] Speaker 2: So I asked him later on, and I mean, you know, [17:57] Speaker 2: I don't know if it happened, didn't see it, but [17:59] Speaker 2: he's says that when he looked around, he saw a [18:01] Speaker 2: big hand coming out of the woods, like reaching towards [18:04] Speaker 2: the people in the back of the truck. If that happened, [18:08] Speaker 2: I don't know. I can't verify it. But something spooked [18:12] Speaker 2: him when he looked around, because he went from smiling [18:16] Speaker 2: and joking and thinking it's the funniest thing in the [18:18] Speaker 2: world to just turn and pale. And this is a [18:21] Speaker 2: big guy. It's a guy that just never gets scared [18:25] Speaker 2: of anything, and he just lost all the color in [18:29] Speaker 2: his face. But I mean, you know, as far as [18:32] Speaker 2: what it looked like, it was a silhouette, I don't know. [18:35] Speaker 2: I could have could have been. You know, it's only [18:37] Speaker 2: one thing that could have been from the silhouette. It [18:40] Speaker 2: was standing upright, and it was that rather tall. But [18:43] Speaker 2: could I verify that? No, I can't say what I saw, [18:49] Speaker 2: but I have a good idea of what I saw. [18:51] Speaker 2: But yeah, that's wow. So I met my stepfather when [19:00] Speaker 2: I was sixteen, and he started taking me hunting, and [19:03] Speaker 2: so one day I finally asked him. I said, have [19:06] Speaker 2: you ever seen anything weird in the woods? You know? [19:08] Speaker 2: You know you do you don't go right into bigfoot, [19:11] Speaker 2: you try to pussyfoot around it. And he looked at [19:15] Speaker 2: me and he goes, what do you mean like bigfoot? [19:18] Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, well, I've never seen nothing like that. [19:22] Speaker 2: But you know, I'm not going to dismiss its existence. [19:28] Speaker 2: But you know, because I asked him, because he spent [19:30] Speaker 2: most of his life in the woods fishing, hunting. Uh, [19:33] Speaker 2: He's been all over New England, northern North State, northern [19:38] Speaker 2: New York State, Ohio, other places out hunting. So so [19:46] Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six, he goes on an ice fishing derby [19:50] Speaker 2: in the Haremont Reservoir in Vermont. I don't know if [19:53] Speaker 2: you know where that's at. [19:55] Speaker 1: And oh yeah, we'll talk about it in a minute. [19:57] Speaker 2: He's He comes home and he's like, dude, I gotta [20:02] Speaker 2: tell you the truth. I thought you were crazy. I [20:04] Speaker 2: really thought you were crazy. But I saw one and [20:08] Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, well what happened. So he says he [20:10] Speaker 2: gets up to the reservoir on Friday afternoon, they're in [20:14] Speaker 2: an ice fishing derby. They go to go out in [20:17] Speaker 2: the lake and it's it's full. There's no real good [20:19] Speaker 2: fishing spots. So he tells my cousin. He's like, yeah, [20:23] Speaker 2: we'll go over to the hotel. We'll stay for the night. [20:26] Speaker 2: We'll get up real early in the morning and get [20:28] Speaker 2: on the reservoir and sink holes before anybody else gets there. [20:31] Speaker 2: So about two o'clock they wake up, they pack I [20:34] Speaker 2: don't know if you know anything about ice fishing, but [20:36] Speaker 2: they pack up their ice fishing sled. They got to [20:39] Speaker 2: the o'ld three wheel the Killer ATVs. Back in the day, [20:42] Speaker 2: they had one of those and they pull it out [20:44] Speaker 2: and you get setting up and it's just starting to [20:46] Speaker 2: get light, and there they got the stove going making [20:49] Speaker 2: bacon and eggs, and you know, my cousin looks over [20:53] Speaker 2: and goes, hey, unk, look at that guy over there. [20:55] Speaker 2: He's on the other side of the New York like [20:57] Speaker 2: New York area side of the reservoir. It's not really [21:00] Speaker 2: New York, but that's And he's like, he's a guy [21:04] Speaker 2: walking up that side of the reservoir and he's looks [21:07] Speaker 2: like he's wearing all black. And my stepfather looks at him. [21:11] Speaker 2: He goes and his hands are down by his knees. [21:15] Speaker 2: His arms were so long that that he's walking and [21:22] Speaker 2: you can see the hens swaying past the knees, according [21:25] Speaker 2: to him. So they're like, curious, what is this? So [21:29] Speaker 2: they hop on the ATV and they head towards them. [21:32] Speaker 2: And as he get closer to my cousin, who was [21:34] Speaker 2: driving the a TV, just hit the brake, spun around [21:36] Speaker 2: and came back and he's like, unk, that was no man. [21:40] Speaker 2: So my father was telling me that the thing was [21:44] Speaker 2: like eight feet tall. He said when they got up close, [21:47] Speaker 2: it looked like a giant ape. And he said and [21:50] Speaker 2: it was just as startled as they were when they [21:52] Speaker 2: came over. It took turn and went into the woods [21:56] Speaker 2: as they come, flying back that way. But I mean, [21:58] Speaker 2: ever since then, he was he was hooked. He knew [22:03] Speaker 2: that I wasn't well for this, I wasn't crazy, and [22:07] Speaker 2: he knew something out there existed that he never knew existed. [22:11] Speaker 2: But you know, I went up with him the following [22:14] Speaker 2: year for the derby just because I wanted to see [22:16] Speaker 2: the area and get it. It's like, that's really in [22:20] Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere, especially that side of the reservoir. [22:23] Speaker 2: But yeah, that's that was my stepfather and my cousin. [22:27] Speaker 2: They they both since passed, but that was what they saw. [22:31] Speaker 2: He was telling me. It's like it's big. It had [22:34] Speaker 2: semi long hair, he said. His face looked like an ape. [22:39] Speaker 2: He said, like the arms were down swinging past the knees, [22:44] Speaker 2: and it just you know, every once in a while [22:46] Speaker 2: we would be sit around me like, yeah, I remember the [22:49] Speaker 2: time when a hairline restaurant, like yeah, yeah, I remember. [22:53] Speaker 2: But for a long time he thought I was crazy, [22:56] Speaker 2: But he really didn't. Like he never poo pooed anything [23:00] Speaker 2: I said, never told me like you're nuts you just [23:04] Speaker 2: keep that to himself. Then he saw it. [23:09] Speaker 1: Wow, So I'll share with you for a few minutes. [23:13] Speaker 1: So this place is really special with my family history [23:19] Speaker 1: growing up. We would visit the Harriman Dam multiple times [23:24] Speaker 1: through childhood, but I knew it as or sorry, Harriman Reservoir. [23:29] Speaker 1: I knew it as Graham's Dam because my let's say, [23:37] Speaker 1: my grandmother's brother, I believe was the caretaker of the [23:44] Speaker 1: dam there. So there are all sorts of stories about [23:48] Speaker 1: how he would go take these old wooden sleds and [23:51] Speaker 1: go sliding down the grass side of the dam. If [23:56] Speaker 1: you've been to the part where you can watch the [23:58] Speaker 1: water go go in, and now it's a thing where [24:02] Speaker 1: now you can't really go on the damn. You can [24:04] Speaker 1: get in a lot of trouble and it's posted. So [24:06] Speaker 1: I would not recommend people go mess around. But I [24:11] Speaker 1: remember going to that area and we just went last [24:14] Speaker 1: year and think I've always thought, I'm like, it is [24:17] Speaker 1: so remote out here in the woods are so dark, [24:21] Speaker 1: there's nothing out There's got to be something out here. [24:24] Speaker 1: So when I got your email and I was like, [24:26] Speaker 1: oh my goodness, Hereman Reservoir. That's that's Graham's Dam, there's [24:30] Speaker 1: something out there. I was just like blown away. I [24:32] Speaker 1: was like, I knew this email was coming eventually, and [24:36] Speaker 1: I was like, that's one of the coolest things I've [24:38] Speaker 1: ever seen. So I was I was just pumped to [24:41] Speaker 1: see that there is at least one reported encounter of [24:48] Speaker 1: Bigfoot around the Harreman Reservoir, which is actually right up [24:52] Speaker 1: against the Green Mountain. I want the Green Mountain, that [24:57] Speaker 1: big forest in southwest vermon in the Bennington Triangle area [25:03] Speaker 1: as well, if people know about that. But such a [25:06] Speaker 1: cool story, Gary, I am so glad to hear that one. [25:11] Speaker 1: That area is extremely remote for New England for sure. [25:17] Speaker 2: When my dad told me that story, he's never you know, [25:21] Speaker 2: you know, you got guys to be like they caught [25:23] Speaker 2: a twelve inch fish and it become twenty four inches [25:26] Speaker 2: or they saw a twenty point book and he never. [25:30] Speaker 2: He just told stuff like it was. He was a [25:33] Speaker 2: very serious, non joking type person. So if he said [25:38] Speaker 2: he saw Jesus walking down the street, Jesus walking down [25:41] Speaker 2: the street, he's that type of person. So I knew [25:44] Speaker 2: he wasn't pulling my leg like my buddy's got a [25:47] Speaker 2: My buddy's father used to tell us all kinds of [25:49] Speaker 2: crazy stories that you knew were bs. But my dad, [25:54] Speaker 2: he said it was the gospel. And when I went [25:57] Speaker 2: up there the following year, like you said, I'm there [26:00] Speaker 2: in broad daylight, it's sunny out. You couldn't see a [26:02] Speaker 2: foot into them woods. It is so dark than Yeah, [26:07] Speaker 2: I mean that was some thick growth, so that'd be [26:10] Speaker 2: a perfect place for something to hide. But yeah, that's [26:14] Speaker 2: you know, I always like to add my dad's sighting [26:17] Speaker 2: because his sighting it makes me realize that maybe I'm [26:21] Speaker 2: not crazy and delusional and I wasn't seeing things if [26:24] Speaker 2: somebody that level headed, did you know, somebody has no [26:29] Speaker 2: you know, there's no he's not gaining any clout or [26:32] Speaker 2: anything by telling that story. In fact, you know some [26:34] Speaker 2: sportsman's clubs, so they would look at him like he [26:36] Speaker 2: was nuts. But yeah, that was my dad's sighting. That's awesome. [26:43] Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing that. [26:46] Speaker 2: Yeah, he since passed away, but I remember every time [26:51] Speaker 2: Bigfoot would come up or be a advertisty like, start [26:54] Speaker 2: talking about that sighting. Again. We were painting. We were [26:58] Speaker 2: doing a house. We're house painters and back Snowbrian came [27:03] Speaker 2: on in Rock one O two, and they were making [27:05] Speaker 2: a making fun of some bigfoot sighting and he turned [27:09] Speaker 2: on goes you remember that time I saw that bigfoot? Like, yeah, Dad, [27:12] Speaker 2: I do. I remember had excited him. He always went [27:16] Speaker 2: of the We always went deer hunting and stuff like that, [27:19] Speaker 2: but he always wanted to get out in the woods [27:21] Speaker 2: and look around for what he saw. Yeah, And it's [27:26] Speaker 2: funny because he spent years in the woods. He hunted, [27:29] Speaker 2: he camped, he went off the before he went off [27:32] Speaker 2: to Vietnam, he spent time in the Seneca Indian Reservation [27:35] Speaker 2: hunting with the folks up that way. So I mean [27:38] Speaker 2: he was not a Yeah, he was not a stranger [27:41] Speaker 2: to the woods, and I mean he was. It was [27:43] Speaker 2: always I always joked he taught me how to hunt [27:46] Speaker 2: and track, and I'm like, it's really funny that a [27:48] Speaker 2: white man taught an Indian how to hunt in track [27:51] Speaker 2: because I'm a part of Native American and we'd laugh [27:54] Speaker 2: about it. But yeah, that was his sighting, you know. [27:59] Speaker 2: After the really didn't see anything for a while there. [28:06] Speaker 2: And I remember moving back to my grandparents' house in [28:09] Speaker 2: Pittsburgh and one night I'm like, yeah, I'm going camping [28:13] Speaker 2: up in them woods that I saw and set up [28:17] Speaker 2: my tent, get ready, get everything set up. About three [28:20] Speaker 2: in the morning, I just could not sleep. Those woods [28:23] Speaker 2: make made me so nervous and see anything. But it [28:28] Speaker 2: just felt like the whole time that I was not [28:30] Speaker 2: supposed to be out there. Three o'clock in the morning, [28:34] Speaker 2: I pulled my tent down, packed everything up, and hiked [28:37] Speaker 2: out of the dark gass woods, just to get away [28:39] Speaker 2: from that area. Then about a year later, my cousin [28:42] Speaker 2: who's younger than me, wanted to go camping up there, [28:45] Speaker 2: and he's like, well, you've been up there when you [28:46] Speaker 2: go to show us a good place to camp. So [28:49] Speaker 2: I took his friends up there and we're sitting up [28:51] Speaker 2: there and got the campfire going, and about two in [28:56] Speaker 2: the morning we're seeing spotlights and hare and hounds. Some [28:59] Speaker 2: coon hunter come up on us and they're like, what [29:02] Speaker 2: are you egans doing up here? He said, you know, [29:05] Speaker 2: there are things up in the woods that could and [29:07] Speaker 2: they didn't allude to what they're talking about. And it [29:10] Speaker 2: wasn't like bear country or grizzlies at the time. I [29:13] Speaker 2: don't think we had coyotes down there, you know, since [29:17] Speaker 2: we you know, but they're like there's stuff up here [29:20] Speaker 2: you don't want to mess with, do you, guys armed? [29:22] Speaker 2: And we're like no, They're like, yeah, I'd get out [29:24] Speaker 2: of here if I were you. And like I said, [29:26] Speaker 2: they never alluded to why or what, but we knew [29:28] Speaker 2: what they were talking about. Well I did, but yeah, [29:32] Speaker 2: that's pretty much all my experience in Pennsylvania. So my [29:41] Speaker 2: buddy and I, the guy who was driving the pickup truck, [29:44] Speaker 2: we've been friends forever. He's got a house in Musquamica Beach, [29:50] Speaker 2: that area westerly, Rhode Island, and he's the guy that [29:55] Speaker 2: goes out and makes friends all over the place. So [29:58] Speaker 2: he had made friends with some of them there. Against [30:00] Speaker 2: it's down there, it said Native American tribe. And he [30:05] Speaker 2: got access to a pond in the middle of nowhere [30:08] Speaker 2: in Rhode Island, and you know, you know, they're like, [30:12] Speaker 2: go ahead, don't don't leave any mess. If anybody asks [30:16] Speaker 2: you tell them something and such told you could come [30:19] Speaker 2: out here. So we're sitting there one night in his [30:22] Speaker 2: house in Rhode Island and it's hot. It's like two [30:26] Speaker 2: in the morning and it's just hotter than haighties. He's like, hey, [30:29] Speaker 2: let's go up to the pond and go swimming, and [30:30] Speaker 2: I'm like, this time of night because it's a it [30:35] Speaker 2: was like a twenty minute drive on a dirt road. [30:38] Speaker 2: Now another fifteen minute walk through the woods into this [30:42] Speaker 2: so you know, yeah, okay, whatever, let's do it. It's hot. [30:44] Speaker 2: I'm not going to argue. So we go up there. [30:48] Speaker 2: I say it was it like twenty eleven. I believe [30:50] Speaker 2: it was. And we're swimming nothing, you know, everything's you know, normal, [30:55] Speaker 2: same as we ever did. But as we came out [30:58] Speaker 2: of the woods, got into the car, so we're driving, [31:02] Speaker 2: I have to look over to my side of the [31:04] Speaker 2: car and there's two large silhouettes pacing the car. So [31:10] Speaker 2: I tell my buddy, I'm like, look at that, and [31:13] Speaker 2: he goes what an He speeds up and he's doing [31:17] Speaker 2: about thirty on his dirt road and it's not like [31:20] Speaker 2: the safest and they're keeping up. I can't tell you [31:22] Speaker 2: what they were. I'm not going to sit there and say, yeah, definitely, [31:25] Speaker 2: they were bigfoot, they were tall, dark, and they were [31:28] Speaker 2: right inside the tree line, like escorting us out of [31:30] Speaker 2: the woods. And as soon as we got the pavement, [31:34] Speaker 2: we went our way and they went their way. That's [31:38] Speaker 2: you know what was it. I don't know. I have [31:43] Speaker 2: an idea, but I'm not going to sit there and [31:45] Speaker 2: say one because I didn't have a clear visual sighting [31:50] Speaker 2: or whatever it was. But I don't think it was [31:53] Speaker 2: a couple of NBA players running down the path. But yeah, [31:59] Speaker 2: you know, it's like I can't give a description because [32:02] Speaker 2: I really didn't see nothing but shadows, you know, silhouettes [32:06] Speaker 2: in the woods. Yeah, it's like, Okay, Rhode Island too. [32:11] Speaker 2: But I mean, my buddy one time hopped on his [32:14] Speaker 2: dirt bike in Westerly and rode all the way through [32:18] Speaker 2: Connecticut and this is all trails in the Massachusetts into [32:24] Speaker 2: my parents' house in Springfield on a dirt bike in [32:28] Speaker 2: the woods, without really ever traveling paved roads except for [32:34] Speaker 2: the crossing. So there's a lot of woods up here, [32:37] Speaker 2: a lot more than you think. Yeah, because like you know, [32:41] Speaker 2: you live in Springfield or Holyoak or even Agwam, you're like, [32:47] Speaker 2: it's really not that woodsy up here. But then you [32:50] Speaker 2: get up into like Granby, and you know that you [32:55] Speaker 2: look at the map and there's like woods all the [32:59] Speaker 2: way up into camp that are maybe you know, maybe [33:06] Speaker 2: a few small towns here and there, but nothing that big, [33:08] Speaker 2: you know. So it's like there's enough, there's enough of [33:14] Speaker 2: wooded area up here that anything could stay undetected if [33:22] Speaker 2: they didn't make the mistake of doing the occasional road [33:24] Speaker 2: crossing or throwing rocks at people, you know. [33:28] Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I don't think people also realize [33:32] Speaker 1: that you can take a snowmobile from the Massachusetts New [33:38] Speaker 1: Hampshire border all the way up to Canada. Oh yeah, [33:41] Speaker 1: on snowmobile trails. It's crazy. [33:44] Speaker 2: Yeah. So I've studied, read books, watched every documentary I could, [33:53] Speaker 2: but I never really did any field research. So finally, [33:57] Speaker 2: after my dad passed, I'm like, you know what, I'm [34:00] Speaker 2: just start going out in the woods and looking around. [34:02] Speaker 2: So I slowly accumulated like night vision, binoculars, infrared, you know, [34:08] Speaker 2: all that stuff. So WHOA one weekend last year, I [34:11] Speaker 2: was like, yeah, I'm gonna reserve a camp site up [34:15] Speaker 2: the Savoy State Forest campground. And I doubt I'm going [34:20] Speaker 2: to see anything, but you know, just spending time in [34:24] Speaker 2: the woods would be nice. So I get up there [34:27] Speaker 2: and I get a campsite near the entrance to the [34:30] Speaker 2: camp and I got one neighbor next to me, and [34:33] Speaker 2: it was going to pour the next night, so a [34:35] Speaker 2: lot of people didn't reserve anything. So I'm sitting there [34:38] Speaker 2: and I'm looking through my binoculars and all of a sudden, [34:41] Speaker 2: I see a face and I get all excited, but [34:43] Speaker 2: I'm like, no, let me focus in on this. And [34:47] Speaker 2: as I brought the power up, I'm like, okay, that's [34:50] Speaker 2: a bunch of leaves, you know, as a pair of [34:53] Speaker 2: was it called paradolia? So I'm like, oh, okay. So [34:59] Speaker 2: the next it poured, I mean buckets. It felt like [35:04] Speaker 2: it sounded like people were pouring buckets of water on [35:06] Speaker 2: my tent, and my tent got soaked and I ended [35:09] Speaker 2: up sleeping in the car. I was going home the [35:12] Speaker 2: next day anyways. So I'm sleeping there and I'm looking [35:15] Speaker 2: through the binoculars and I see another face and I [35:18] Speaker 2: focus in and it's a bunch of leaves again, But [35:21] Speaker 2: it's like wild, how at a certain angle, at a [35:25] Speaker 2: certain distance, stuff actually looks like something's not so Finally [35:32] Speaker 2: I'm like, eh, whatever, I'm just gonna catch a nap [35:35] Speaker 2: before I leave. I packed all my gear up and [35:37] Speaker 2: I'm sitting in the front of the car and I [35:39] Speaker 2: got the windows open because it's not raining anymore. It's [35:42] Speaker 2: getting fresh air. And I hear a owl, you know, like, okay, owls, [35:49] Speaker 2: owls are in the woods. Can I hear a Responsively, [35:52] Speaker 2: I'm like, what is that owl? Laryngitis? So then I [35:57] Speaker 2: hear the owl again, you know, and I hear a [35:59] Speaker 2: spot hooo, and I'm like, what the heck is that? [36:05] Speaker 2: So finally I hear the crows. I guess they were [36:07] Speaker 2: upset because they got woke up, and they're just squawking [36:10] Speaker 2: away at the owl sound. And he out takes off [36:13] Speaker 2: and you can hear him as he's getting further further away. [36:16] Speaker 2: So I'm sitting there like that was weird. What was it? [36:20] Speaker 2: I don't know. I started hearing movement in the woods, like, okay, [36:25] Speaker 2: that could be a bear, that could be that could [36:27] Speaker 2: be a person. You know, it's a campsite, there are [36:30] Speaker 2: people out here, but I'm hearing it, and it's like [36:35] Speaker 2: trying to be quiet as possible whatever it was, you know. [36:40] Speaker 2: So I'm looking and I see in a little clearing, [36:44] Speaker 2: I just see just a glimpse of something. I have [36:47] Speaker 2: no idea it was hairy or what. It was, just [36:49] Speaker 2: a just a glimpse, and I'm like Okay, that's weird. [36:56] Speaker 2: But you know, I I don't know if you know [36:59] Speaker 2: the Savoye State Forest campground at all, but you have [37:03] Speaker 2: the road, the road that goes down I can't remember [37:06] Speaker 2: the name of the road. And you go into the [37:09] Speaker 2: entrance in the first left, there's like three camp sites. No, like, [37:15] Speaker 2: there's the road to those campsites, a small patch of woods, [37:20] Speaker 2: the road going in, and then nothing but woods. So [37:26] Speaker 2: I saw something. I don't have no idea what it was. [37:30] Speaker 2: I can't say definitively could have been a person. I [37:35] Speaker 2: don't know what they're doing at three o'clock in the [37:37] Speaker 2: morning walking through the woods. But you know, that was [37:41] Speaker 2: pretty much the gist of that. [37:48] Speaker 1: And that was just last year. [37:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, I've had people tell me that bears will make [37:52] Speaker 2: a noise that sounds like an owl, only deeper. Yeah, [37:55] Speaker 2: but did they talk to the owls when that they [38:00] Speaker 2: respond to owls? You know? And like, I'm not claiming [38:06] Speaker 2: what it was, I don't know, but it was just odd. Yeah, [38:12] Speaker 2: and it's like, yeah, I'd like to be able to [38:17] Speaker 2: see one one more time before I pass away. I [38:21] Speaker 2: don't care if I prove anything. I don't care if [38:23] Speaker 2: I like have like Patterson Gimlin style, whatever. I don't care. [38:30] Speaker 2: I just want to see one once more. I had [38:34] Speaker 2: this theory for the longest time that you know, because [38:37] Speaker 2: I saw most of this in the sixties, seventies and eighties, [38:42] Speaker 2: that it was a dwindling species that probably went extinct [38:46] Speaker 2: since then until the twenty eleven sighting and I realized, yeah, no, [38:52] Speaker 2: I personally think it's a I'm flesh and blood. I'm [38:58] Speaker 2: not dismissing any of the woo, any of the you know, [39:03] Speaker 2: because I've seen I've had paranormal experiences. I know there's [39:07] Speaker 2: more out there than what but I truly do believe [39:10] Speaker 2: that the bigfoot creature is a flesh and blood animal. [39:16] Speaker 2: And you know, I remember getting into a discussion with [39:18] Speaker 2: somebody because I said it's an ape and somebody was like, [39:23] Speaker 2: it's human, and I'm like, you do realize apes humans [39:27] Speaker 2: are partly great ape family. And I'd gotten this whole [39:31] Speaker 2: big argument about calling people apes, and like, no, the [39:35] Speaker 2: great apes are humans. Gorillas, the different chimpanzees are rantings. [39:40] Speaker 2: Those are great apes. We're part of that group. Humans [39:43] Speaker 2: are highly advanced animals. So when somebody claims that it's human, [39:48] Speaker 2: that doesn't mean that it's like me and you putting [39:52] Speaker 2: a suit on and going to the city type. But [39:56] Speaker 2: it doesn't mean that it's not an animal either. It's [40:00] Speaker 2: obviously something more than a and an ape, like a [40:04] Speaker 2: champanzee or something like that. But you know what it is, [40:08] Speaker 2: None of us know. We don't have any refrutable proof [40:12] Speaker 2: of what it is. And I'm willing to listen to [40:17] Speaker 2: anybody's ideas even if I think they're batcrap crazy, because [40:22] Speaker 2: I could be wrong. You know, all that woosd off [40:29] Speaker 2: could be real. I doubt it. But and it's like [40:33] Speaker 2: when people like wood disappeared, and like, have you ever [40:35] Speaker 2: spent a lot of time in the woods, Like I [40:38] Speaker 2: used to go deer hunting. I'd see deer disappear all [40:41] Speaker 2: the time. It didn't mean that it disappeared. They knew [40:45] Speaker 2: the woods better than me. They would take a sharp [40:47] Speaker 2: left or right and next time you wouldn't see them, [40:50] Speaker 2: and it looked like they just dropped off the face [40:53] Speaker 2: of the earth. But that's an animal that knows the [40:57] Speaker 2: wood way better than I do, and it knows how [41:00] Speaker 2: to evade people. And you know, there's certain colors like [41:03] Speaker 2: browns and blacks, that blend into the forest, especially when [41:08] Speaker 2: you're in like a thick forest, and people can disappear [41:12] Speaker 2: after so many feet into the woods. You don't you [41:15] Speaker 2: can hear them, you don't see them. But like I said, [41:18] Speaker 2: I don't dismiss anybody's ideas because none of us really [41:21] Speaker 2: know what we're dealing with. But I'm in the flesh. [41:26] Speaker 2: I agree. [41:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, and wild accounts of I mean, yeah, the Savoy area, [41:35] Speaker 1: the Savoy State Forest, there's some really interesting accounts. I [41:40] Speaker 1: took one once where they had a sighting of something [41:44] Speaker 1: by Balanced Rock and Savoy State Forest. That was pretty cool. Also, [41:49] Speaker 1: have you ever heard of anything happening over by the Kabbin. [41:53] Speaker 2: I've heard, in fact, I think it was on York [41:55] Speaker 2: Show that I've heard it, but I would doubt it. [41:59] Speaker 2: I used to go fishing at the Quabbin all the time, [42:01] Speaker 2: and you've got to walk miles if you're not getting [42:04] Speaker 2: a boat, if you're fishing off the shore, it would [42:08] Speaker 2: be a half hour forty minute walk from the road [42:10] Speaker 2: to the to the bank in thick woods. And I [42:14] Speaker 2: always found it fascinating. You know, here in New England [42:16] Speaker 2: you have middle of the woods, you have old stone walls, [42:21] Speaker 2: you know, from when they were farms, because you know, [42:25] Speaker 2: after the Revolution, this whole state was pretty much stripped [42:30] Speaker 2: in farm fields. It was after the Manifest Destiny when [42:35] Speaker 2: a lot of people went west to claim land. They [42:38] Speaker 2: abandoned their farms and the forest started growing back up [42:41] Speaker 2: around those farms. So you'd be out in the middle [42:44] Speaker 2: of the woods and you see a foundation for a house, [42:47] Speaker 2: stone walls, you know, And I always thought it was [42:49] Speaker 2: kind of odd that I'd be walking out into the [42:50] Speaker 2: woods and quabing and here's a stone wall in the [42:53] Speaker 2: middle of nowhere. You know, later on I found out why. [42:56] Speaker 2: But I was looking around and thinking this would definitely [43:00] Speaker 2: be an area where something could stay undetected. Yeah, because [43:03] Speaker 2: they don't have open hunting season. There's restrictions not being [43:07] Speaker 2: there after dark. They do do a special hunt when [43:11] Speaker 2: the deer population gets too thick, but pretty much that [43:15] Speaker 2: area is untouched, you know, other than people going fishing [43:19] Speaker 2: on the quaba and people going nature hiking. But it's [43:23] Speaker 2: not like it's not like downtown Springfield. There's not a [43:28] Speaker 2: lot of people around. [43:28] Speaker 1: There, right, Yeah, yeah, exactly, Yeah, a little a little different. [43:35] Speaker 1: It is a it's a really cool area. I've had [43:37] Speaker 1: reports from all man really all sides of it, public [43:43] Speaker 1: and private reports. Man, Gary, thank you so much for [43:49] Speaker 1: coming on the show. I really hope that you are [43:52] Speaker 1: able to have your another sightings as you're desiring to have, [43:58] Speaker 1: so hopefully that happens to you. I mean, you've had [44:02] Speaker 1: so many experiences already. And and also another thing you [44:06] Speaker 1: mentioned that you have your background too, like your Native [44:10] Speaker 1: American heritage. I think that does play deep into things sometimes. [44:15] Speaker 2: My mother was Native. She's passed away since. But my [44:19] Speaker 2: dad was a hillbilly or is a hillbilly still alive? [44:23] Speaker 2: God really shouldn't say, was my actual father my birth father. [44:28] Speaker 2: It's a weird combination, but yeah, And I mean I [44:34] Speaker 2: didn't grew up in a reservation. I don't have that [44:37] Speaker 2: much other than what my grandfather taught me that much [44:40] Speaker 2: knowledge of my heritage. For all intensive persons. I grew [44:48] Speaker 2: up a white kid in the cities, you know, even [44:51] Speaker 2: though I was you know, and I learned at a [44:55] Speaker 2: young age to just hide that part of my my [45:00] Speaker 2: what's the word I'm trying to think of that aspect [45:03] Speaker 2: of who I was, because you get a lot of crap, [45:09] Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, when I was a kid and I [45:12] Speaker 2: live in Pittsburgh. Well do you live in a tpee? [45:15] Speaker 2: And I'm like, I live right down the street from you. [45:17] Speaker 2: We haven't used tps in a long time. Why isn't [45:20] Speaker 2: your hair lung? And is your dad hot? Buffalo? And [45:23] Speaker 2: like my dad's white like you, you know, like at [45:26] Speaker 2: place i've seen buffalo is in a buffalo farm. But [45:28] Speaker 2: you know, you get a lot of crap and a [45:32] Speaker 2: lot of derogatory terms slung you away, and you learn [45:35] Speaker 2: to just keep your mouth shut and only tell your [45:38] Speaker 2: closest friends you know, about your heritage. But yeah, I [45:42] Speaker 2: do believe that, like you were saying, there's something about [45:51] Speaker 2: native blood that just brings these things to you. Yeah, [45:58] Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I've had ultiple sightings. If I [46:01] Speaker 2: was sitting on the outside listening to my story, I'd [46:03] Speaker 2: be like, that guy's nuts. He's seeing things now, And [46:07] Speaker 2: there's going to be fool that say that. You know, Yeah, [46:10] Speaker 2: you know, you know, it's not a story of habituation [46:14] Speaker 2: or anything like that. I've just seen things. Most of [46:16] Speaker 2: the time. I just happened to be in the right [46:18] Speaker 2: place at the right time. It wasn't like I was [46:21] Speaker 2: out there looking for these things all the time, but [46:23] Speaker 2: they show up. And it's funny because like my grandma [46:27] Speaker 2: used to tell us about the booger man all the time. [46:30] Speaker 2: And she was originally from punk Satani, Pa where the [46:33] Speaker 2: groundhog and she moved to that area and met my [46:39] Speaker 2: grandfather in that area. My family had lived there for [46:42] Speaker 2: like generations. They built three houses in that neighborhood. But [46:46] Speaker 2: you know, it was like a matter of fact to her. [46:50] Speaker 2: You know, it was as real to her as the [46:53] Speaker 2: wild dogs and the deer and all that other stuff. [47:00] Speaker 2: But I kicked myself absolutely. I wish I'd asked her [47:04] Speaker 2: more questions about that. And it's like you always think [47:08] Speaker 2: that you got forever and then somebody's gone. It's like [47:12] Speaker 2: I should have said something while they're still there. I know. [47:16] Speaker 1: That is if anyone is going to take anything away [47:20] Speaker 1: from this, it's what you just said that literally, we [47:26] Speaker 1: all in life think we have more time with people [47:29] Speaker 1: and they can be gone extremely quick. [47:32] Speaker 2: At my age, that is a reality. I'm losing more [47:35] Speaker 2: people in my family than i'm gaining. You know, I'm sixty. Yeah, yeah, [47:41] Speaker 2: that's that's my experience. It wasn't until I started like [47:47] Speaker 2: talking to the guys at Squatstachusetts and hearing about all [47:51] Speaker 2: the different that I'm like, oh, okay, so it's not [47:55] Speaker 2: as far affected as I thought it was, you know. [47:58] Speaker 2: And it's funny because I got it T shirt from [48:00] Speaker 2: squad Sst. Chusetts and it's a bigfoot at the base [48:04] Speaker 2: amount Holyoke with that summit view at the top, and [48:07] Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, that's where I saw what I saw. [48:10] Speaker 2: I was like, okay, okay, not that I was. I [48:12] Speaker 2: don't know if it's based on a real sighting, but [48:15] Speaker 2: it was just interesting that I saw that shirt and [48:17] Speaker 2: I'm like okay. And then you hear there you go, [48:22] Speaker 2: you know, and you're like at a sportsman club. I [48:24] Speaker 2: used to belong to a sportsman you'll hear stuff that [48:28] Speaker 2: you know people aren't gonna you know, you're sitting there [48:30] Speaker 2: having a few beers and they're like yeah. I saw [48:33] Speaker 2: like multiple trail campics of Cougar's hearing masks where they [48:39] Speaker 2: say there aren'ts yes, and it's like, oh, what is this? [48:49] Speaker 2: And I mean, yeah, people can fake that stuff and everything, [48:51] Speaker 2: but these guys they weren't publicizing this stuff. They weren't [48:55] Speaker 2: looking to get anybody's approval. They just be sitting there [48:59] Speaker 2: and they pop their phone not and be like, yeah, [49:00] Speaker 2: I got this on my trail cam. And it's funny [49:03] Speaker 2: because when I first moved up here and I first [49:05] Speaker 2: started hunting mask wildlife, was like adamant that there are [49:10] Speaker 2: no coyotes in this area. You're not seeing coyotes. Those [49:14] Speaker 2: are koy dogs and you can't swing a tree without [49:20] Speaker 2: So it's like, yeah, just because you say something doesn't exist, [49:24] Speaker 2: doesn't mean it don't exist. If I seen a panther, no, [49:27] Speaker 2: but I know enough people that they've spent time in [49:31] Speaker 2: the woods, they know what they're looking at. They didn't [49:33] Speaker 2: see a house cat. It was like the pictures you [49:36] Speaker 2: see of people taking pictures of cougars in their backyard [49:38] Speaker 2: and you zoom in and it's a house cat, just [49:41] Speaker 2: a rather large house right exactly. Yah. [49:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, there are definitely things out in the woods [49:50] Speaker 1: of New England, for sure, and I appreciate you being [49:54] Speaker 1: one of the individuals that can come forward and share [49:59] Speaker 1: about places we really haven't heard a lot on the show. [50:02] Speaker 1: But Gary, thank you so much for coming on and [50:05] Speaker 1: for spending some time today to share what you've experienced [50:09] Speaker 1: over the years. [50:11] Speaker 2: Well, thank you. No, I really and I'm not into [50:15] Speaker 2: public speaking, and after doing like a couple of podcasts, [50:18] Speaker 2: I really wasn't looking to do another one. But listen [50:23] Speaker 2: to your show. You're from the area, and I figured [50:27] Speaker 2: i'd share my sightings with you. Since you're always looking [50:31] Speaker 2: for Massachusetts in New England. [50:33] Speaker 1: Have you ever heard all the accounts of bigfoot activity [50:36] Speaker 1: around Oakridge, Oregon? And you think to yourself, Man, I [50:40] Speaker 1: would love to get out in those woods and experience [50:42] Speaker 1: it for myself. Well, guess what, this year you can [50:48] Speaker 1: If this is interesting to you, stay tuned because it's [50:51] Speaker 1: pretty cool. Sasquatch Summer Fest is coming up July tenth [50:56] Speaker 1: through the eleventh, twenty twenty six. It's going to be [50:59] Speaker 1: even better than the previous year's reason number one, I'll [51:03] Speaker 1: be one of the speakers. It's gonna be wild. I'll [51:06] Speaker 1: probably I'll say this, there may be stuff you haven't [51:12] Speaker 1: heard anywhere else, because let's just say sometimes it's well, [51:18] Speaker 1: you just got to be there. We'll leave it that [51:20] Speaker 1: more about looking for Bigfoot in the Oakridge Woods. Now [51:23] Speaker 1: check this out. You may know Jason Kenzie from his [51:28] Speaker 1: documentary series Searching for Sasquatch. Well, this year you can [51:33] Speaker 1: not only go to the festival, but you can also [51:37] Speaker 1: sign up for a track deep in the Wild forest [51:44] Speaker 1: outside of Oakridge with Jason Kenzie to the Bigfoot Spots [51:49] Speaker 1: to look for Bigfoot. There's only eight spots to sign [51:53] Speaker 1: up for this, and yes, this will also be filmed [51:57] Speaker 1: for the next chapter in his documentary series, which is [52:00] Speaker 1: Searching for Sasquatch. This is a once in a lifetime deal. [52:03] Speaker 1: It's just trust it's going to be a wild, wild experience. [52:07] Speaker 1: To get a ticket, head on over to Sasquatch Summerfest [52:11] Speaker 1: dot com and listeners can use the code b sp [52:17] Speaker 1: like Bigfoot Society podcast in order to get a two [52:20] Speaker 1: day pass for the price of a one day pass. [52:24] Speaker 1: So thanks to Priscilla for giving me that code so [52:28] Speaker 1: that you guys can can get a little a little [52:35] Speaker 1: help with the cost there. Appreciate that, Priscilla. I hope [52:38] Speaker 1: to see you at the booth in Oakridge this year. [52:42] Speaker 1: We can talk about your encounter. Was able to talk [52:45] Speaker 1: to so many people last year and the year before. [52:48] Speaker 1: It is an incredible time. You're not going to want [52:51] Speaker 1: to miss it, and I'll see you there. Before we [52:55] Speaker 1: wrap this episode, I want to say something directly to [52:58] Speaker 1: a very specific group of liststeners. If you're in the military, [53:02] Speaker 1: any branch or forces, and if you've seen something that [53:05] Speaker 1: no one can explain, or if you're a National park [53:08] Speaker 1: ranger or forestry worker who's been told to stay quiet, [53:12] Speaker 1: or if you're a pilot who's seen something strange down [53:15] Speaker 1: on the ground, or if you're with the FBI a [53:18] Speaker 1: federal agency, or working intelligence and you stumbled upon something [53:22] Speaker 1: you're not allowed to talk about. And if you're a firefighter, paramedic, [53:26] Speaker 1: or search and rescue responder who's heard screams or found [53:29] Speaker 1: tracks that didn't make sense. If you're in the logging [53:32] Speaker 1: industry on a remote oil field, or a trucker with [53:36] Speaker 1: government contracts and you've had something happen that you've never [53:40] Speaker 1: told a soul. And if you're a biologist, a wildlife specialist, [53:44] Speaker 1: or a field researcher under contract who has found evidence [53:47] Speaker 1: you're not allowed to report. If you're a pastor, a missionary, [53:51] Speaker 1: or someone on a spiritual retreat and you saw something [53:54] Speaker 1: that shook your faith, or if you work in the [53:57] Speaker 1: shadows CIA, NSA or anything clearance and you've seen what [54:02] Speaker 1: the public hasn't, then I want to talk to you [54:06] Speaker 1: even if it's anonymous, you can reach me at Bigfoot [54:11] Speaker 1: Society at gmail dot com. The world needs to hear [54:14] Speaker 1: what you've been forced to carry alone, and you're not alone. [54:19] Speaker 1: You've got the story, We've got the mic. [54:24] Speaker 2: See you in the woods. [54:25] Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Bigfoot [54:28] Speaker 1: Society podcast. Every encounter we share reminds us that the [54:31] Speaker 1: world is bigger and stranger than we think, and that [54:34] Speaker 1: the truth is often hiding just beyond the tree line. [54:37] Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe [54:40] Speaker 1: to the channel on YouTube hit the bell so you [54:42] Speaker 1: don't miss the next episode, and share this with a [54:44] Speaker 1: friend who's into mysteries, monsters, or the unexplained. And if [54:48] Speaker 1: you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple podcast, please [54:51] Speaker 1: follow the show there and leave us a five star [54:53] Speaker 1: positive review because all that helps more people discover the show. [54:58] Speaker 1: And remember, if you are someone you know has had [55:00] Speaker 1: a Bigfoot sighting, please I'd love to hear from you, [55:03] Speaker 1: so email me at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com [55:07] Speaker 1: and let's start the conversation. If you haven't gotten a [55:10] Speaker 1: chance yet, check out our membership community over at www [55:13] Speaker 1: dot Bigfoot Society podcast dot com and that's where you [55:16] Speaker 1: can hear tomorrow's episode today early in ad free and [55:20] Speaker 1: members only episodes every week. Also, it's a place to [55:24] Speaker 1: connect with other people that are into the Bigfoot subject [55:27] Speaker 1: as much as you are. Thanks again for following along [55:30] Speaker 1: with the Bigfoot Society until next time, Keep your eyes open, [55:33] Speaker 1: trust your gut, and never stop asking what else might [55:35] Speaker 1: be out there? And see you in the woods. 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