Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from coast to coast am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: How much time do you get to spend out in
Speaker 2: the wilds. I don't know, in a duck blind or
Speaker 2: I don't know, just in the stomping around in the woods.
Speaker 3: Much as possible, Like I got woods around my house.
Speaker 3: I love the fly fist, So I'll grab my fly
Speaker 3: rod three or four mornings or evenings a week and
Speaker 3: get out for an hour or two out out in
Speaker 3: these little little slews and things like that. And We're
Speaker 3: about to do an expedition with our kids program in Colorado,
Speaker 3: so I'll be out in the mountains then. And I
Speaker 3: don't go as much as I like because I'm in
Speaker 3: the media business and that means I'm in front of
Speaker 3: a computer screen a lot. But man, every time I
Speaker 3: get especially with my family, I try to hit the woods.
Speaker 2: And how do you when you're investigating these big Bigfoot claims,
Speaker 2: Bigfoot sightings, how do you balance let's say, the need
Speaker 2: for some kind of scientific rigor with, let's face it,
Speaker 2: the inherently speculative nature of investigating a cryptid like Bigfoot.
Speaker 3: That's a great question, you know. You know, one of
Speaker 3: the things I try to do is just I captured
Speaker 3: the story. So whatever I'm being told, if it's an
Speaker 3: eyewitness account, I get their story in there, whatever they
Speaker 3: perceived of what happened. And then a lot of times
Speaker 3: that's all it is, is just compiling those things together.
Speaker 3: And then I see a pattern form, and that's really
Speaker 3: what I look for, patterns. And the cover of the
Speaker 3: book you can see the bigfootsalut dot com. The cover
Speaker 3: of the book has a gray colored creature crossing the road,
Speaker 3: and that came from a pattern. When I first published
Speaker 3: a book that exists till now, of no less than
Speaker 3: five sightings within about a ten mile stretch of road,
Speaker 3: three of those sightings were in front of the same
Speaker 3: sign free social media. Didn't know one another, and they
Speaker 3: all said they just saw this thing, a great colored
Speaker 3: bigfoot crossing in front of the Nickels Creek sign. And
Speaker 3: so when I see a pattern like that emerge, that's
Speaker 3: really what I look for. And then I start kind
Speaker 3: of chipping away at that and asking questions. But things
Speaker 3: like that got me interested in this to begin with.
Speaker 3: You know, I tell I put what people see here experience,
Speaker 3: and then when I dig deeper into a topic, I
Speaker 3: just look for those patterns, and sometimes you find nothing,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you find some like this weird gray bigfoot
Speaker 3: phenomenon of all these sighting in one place, you know.
Speaker 2: Uh, any instances of hoaxing or deliberate misinformation within the
Speaker 2: bigfoot research community. If so, how do you how do
Speaker 2: you navigate that?
Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, there's there's been a ton of that over
Speaker 3: the years, and I think it's actually gotten worse because
Speaker 3: of social media and YouTube and stuff like that, because
Speaker 3: people have a place they can put it out there
Speaker 3: really easily, you know, and navigating it's interesting. So when
Speaker 3: I if I go out and I've done an investigation,
Speaker 3: I have never one time announced I'm going to do
Speaker 3: an investigation. I've had major media covered reports fairly near
Speaker 3: where I live and I didn't even get into them.
Speaker 3: I don't care about that. I'm more interested in that
Speaker 3: person that's not looking for media attention, and that's Hey,
Speaker 3: I saw something strange. I think I might have seen
Speaker 3: a big So here's what I saw. Because I've noticed
Speaker 3: that there's kind of an increase in people wanting notoriety
Speaker 3: or fame from this stuff, and I kind of avoid
Speaker 3: all that. That's kind of my method of it. I
Speaker 3: avoid the media circus stuff and I kind of go
Speaker 3: for those more real things that hit me at the
Speaker 3: gut level that people that aren't seeking, you know, necessarily
Speaker 3: any kind of notoriety, because unfortunately that's become a thing.
Speaker 3: And like I said, people can back engineer reports. You know,
Speaker 3: twenty years ago, no one unless you experienced it, probably
Speaker 3: ever heard of a tree knock or a wood knock
Speaker 3: or some of these things. And now everyone that watches
Speaker 3: a television program can know about those things. So if
Speaker 3: someone comes up and says, hey, I was out in
Speaker 3: the woods and I saw a bigfoot, and I heard
Speaker 3: a tree knock, and then the three rocks, and then
Speaker 3: I found a limb twist, and I found a whatever,
Speaker 3: I'm like, they're just recycling something or trying to prove something,
Speaker 3: and I'm more or less looking for those people who
Speaker 3: are sincere. And as a journalist, I tend to think
Speaker 3: I have a pretty decent idea of who that is.
Speaker 3: Did you mention?
Speaker 2: Do you just say glyphs like where they take Bigfoot
Speaker 2: reportedly will take little twigs and vines and tie them
Speaker 2: into little shapes, maybe representing their their language and leaving
Speaker 2: them for people is that a thing.
Speaker 3: Well, I know that I've seen stuff before where they
Speaker 3: were like weird looking formations and a lot And I
Speaker 3: even took a photo of myself one time in an area.
Speaker 3: It was in the middle of nowhere where there were
Speaker 3: forks of trees and it wasn't on a trail or anything,
Speaker 3: and they were about every fifty yards and a fork
Speaker 3: of another tree. There'd be a tree laid right in
Speaker 3: the middle of a small tree, all kinds of point
Speaker 3: in the same direction. Seeing stuff like that, and then
Speaker 3: I've had people so many photos of things. And another
Speaker 3: interesting thing is that someone reported that they had these
Speaker 3: creatures eating in a deer feeder, which is a corn
Speaker 3: dispenser that lures in deer, and they had seen tracks
Speaker 3: and they had a fighting themselves around it, and then
Speaker 3: they kept knocking the feeder over, so they finally just
Speaker 3: started corning the spot without the feeder there, and they
Speaker 3: said they would they would find sticks in it, and
Speaker 3: they would like the corn was raked with the stick,
Speaker 3: and they'd see it raked over to the side and
Speaker 3: the stick would be laying there, and then they would
Speaker 3: like take that stick away and come back and the
Speaker 3: next day there'd be a new sticks inside of it,
Speaker 3: you know, stuff like that. It's really interesting. I mean,
Speaker 3: who knows, but that's weird stuff. H I'll say.
Speaker 2: One of the strangest accounts I think over the years,
Speaker 2: and I've been doing this quite a while, involving bigfoot
Speaker 2: and livestock. It was a rancher who I can't remember
Speaker 2: all of the details, but claimed that at night some
Speaker 2: younger bigfoot were coming into his corral area and riding
Speaker 2: his ponies. Ever heard anything like that that.
Speaker 3: I haven't heard that one, but I have heard of
Speaker 3: people who said they saw them like with horses, like
Speaker 3: harassing them, like in you know, a pastor with horses
Speaker 3: of fence pastor and like running around with them and like,
Speaker 3: you know, almost like they were trying to spook them
Speaker 3: or whatever, like they weren't trying to attack them. But
Speaker 3: they're weird, you know, and it seems but you know,
Speaker 3: it would make sense that there would be I don't
Speaker 3: know about riding a horse, but it would be so
Speaker 3: you know, you think there has to be a lot
Speaker 3: of livestock interaction because it's always livestock around wooded areas
Speaker 3: and things like that. So but you know, Richard, you
Speaker 3: hear a lot of stuff like that, Like I haven't
Speaker 3: heard that personally what you heard, but you know, you
Speaker 3: hear things sometimes just make you go, what's really going
Speaker 3: on here? You know, like is this really an ape
Speaker 3: or what's going on? You know?
Speaker 2: What about law enforst law enforcement? Do you do you
Speaker 2: have any eyewitness accounts from highway patrol or I don't know,
Speaker 2: just rangers.
Speaker 3: I have a law enforcement officer who reaches out to
Speaker 3: me about every six months here in Texas, and multiple
Speaker 3: of the deputies in that department have seen them and
Speaker 3: he asked me a lot of questions and kind of
Speaker 3: give me reports about it, and he's you know, he
Speaker 3: talks very straight that they're real and they know they're
Speaker 3: real in that particular department. And also the late Rob
Speaker 3: Riggs who wrote on My Trail of the wild Man
Speaker 3: about the Big Siket with a friend of mine, he
Speaker 3: had a National Force Service employee that was feeding him
Speaker 3: a lot of information and was a source of his
Speaker 3: and and work with the guy for the years gave
Speaker 3: him information here in East Texas. So you mean, it's
Speaker 3: almost like if you're working for an agency like that
Speaker 3: and you're like out in the open about it, you're
Speaker 3: probably gonna get heat or just hold to shut up.
Speaker 3: It's because I think embarrasses some people. But if you
Speaker 3: get people down where they know you're not going to
Speaker 3: necessarily give their identity out There are a lot of
Speaker 3: people that work in different departments. They may not necessarily
Speaker 3: have a report to give you, but they'll tell you like, well,
Speaker 3: you know, working in the wildlife management area, one of
Speaker 3: the hunters come in and said he solved this, you know.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of that out there, and not
Speaker 3: just skepticism. There are a lot of people who are
Speaker 3: like believers out there in law enforcement, and I can
Speaker 3: say I have a law enforcement offer the context me
Speaker 3: about every six months.
Speaker 2: Obviously, still a huge stigma with reporting this sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Do you think everyone talks about UFO disclosure? Do you
Speaker 2: think we need bigfoot disclosure?
Speaker 3: I think as soon as full on you know, obviously
Speaker 3: the UFO, and I'm not a big follower of that.
Speaker 3: I'm not can't talk too intelligence you unfortunately, but I
Speaker 3: know that we take a lot of steps toward disclosure
Speaker 3: in recent years. If that's ever disclosed fully, I don't
Speaker 3: think it'll be too long before this is disclosed because
Speaker 3: I do think there's something to this more than just
Speaker 3: people's stories, because you've got to think about this. This
Speaker 3: is what really cheeks me interested in it. I mean
Speaker 3: most of the work I do now with this with
Speaker 3: the kid. That's why I steeldn't say involved. But it
Speaker 3: only takes one report for it to be real one
Speaker 3: and there are thousands. So I think if there is
Speaker 3: a UFO disclosure thinking, I don't think it'll be too
Speaker 3: long after that There'll be some kind of disclosure because
Speaker 3: I can't imagine that there isn't some a federal, state, provincial,
Speaker 3: or tribal agency that's sitting on information that would rock
Speaker 3: the world.
Speaker 2: Any advice for aspiring researchers or enthusiasts who are, let's say,
Speaker 2: interested in exploring the world of bigfoot encryptids.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love this question because you know it gets
Speaker 3: people outside. I think the number one thing to do
Speaker 3: is approach it as fun. There's a lot of hate
Speaker 3: in division in this in the crypto world, so don't
Speaker 3: go out there trying to change the world. Go out
Speaker 3: there for fun, but take it seriously. And the first
Speaker 3: thing you need to do is learn what native wildlife is,
Speaker 3: what the track of a black bear, the front pallpad,
Speaker 3: the black the back pall pad, what sound owls make
Speaker 3: and coyotes making elk make it. Learn all of the
Speaker 3: native known creatures. That way you can eliminate them from
Speaker 3: any encounter that you might have or any investigation. And
Speaker 3: then when you go start if you want to like
Speaker 3: go out and maybe to a campsite or somewhere and
Speaker 3: ask people. Do not ask them if they saw bigfoot.
Speaker 3: That is opening yourself up to a lot. What I
Speaker 3: suggest is say, hey, you know, look, tell them the truth.
Speaker 3: I'm investigating unique wildlife phenomenon. Is anyone here or have
Speaker 3: you ever seen anything unusual? And a lot of times
Speaker 3: they'll say, well, there was just one time I was
Speaker 3: squirrel hunting and they go off and tell the story.
Speaker 3: So kind of keep a low profile. Learn about the
Speaker 3: native wildlife first, get an appreciation of that, and then
Speaker 3: go into areas where there have been you know a
Speaker 3: lot of reporters as the BFRO database at gcbrea database
Speaker 3: different ones you can look at and get an idea
Speaker 3: of some maybe some public land around area is with
Speaker 3: a lot of historical reports.
Speaker 2: We're approaching the bottom of the hour. We've got about
Speaker 2: five minutes to have another harrowing big foot encounter you'd
Speaker 2: like to share?
Speaker 3: Yeah, man. So there was a lady I interviewed, and
Speaker 3: she was near a little place called Rayburn, Texas, and
Speaker 3: in the early nineteen eighties. She was in her mid
Speaker 3: twenties living alone in an old like, really old like
Speaker 3: Victorian style house. And she would come home and there
Speaker 3: would be the door open, the kitchen ransacked, and the
Speaker 3: foul smell. One night, she comes home and she walked
Speaker 3: on this long hallway and they have one of those
Speaker 3: attics that had you could pull down a cord and
Speaker 3: a ladder would come down, like a live in attic.
Speaker 3: And it was pulled down and she heard rumbling up there.
Speaker 3: She walks up to it and this seven foot tall
Speaker 3: hairy thing looks down on her trips and falls on
Speaker 3: the ground in front of her. Well, it stands up
Speaker 3: and she's five feet away. It pushes her against the
Speaker 3: wall and runs out. Yikes. Yes, I'm moving at that point.
Speaker 2: I'm guessing you have over the years developed a pretty
Speaker 2: good BS meter. What's I mean? What about that story
Speaker 2: seemed credible to you? I mean and not having not
Speaker 2: setting the BS me.
Speaker 3: Call it a big one? Off the start off, and
Speaker 3: she caught her a wild man, and that's the local
Speaker 3: name in that part of Texas. She would hear. Uh,
Speaker 3: she never we went into this little community because someone
Speaker 3: else had a sighting and they said, I think my
Speaker 3: neighbor had had something happened when she was younger. She
Speaker 3: wasn't seeking attention. She wanted her name kept quiet. She
Speaker 3: was very sincere about it. Didn't call it a big
Speaker 3: foot or sasquatch. She taught her a wild man when
Speaker 3: I talked about it, are you talking about like what
Speaker 3: people will call it? Big? But she goes, yes, Sarah,
Speaker 3: that's just what they were kind of called back in
Speaker 3: the day. And uh, she seemed very sincere, and you know,
Speaker 3: a lot more sincere than a few other reports. I've
Speaker 3: had people try to give you every big Foot detail
Speaker 3: known the man, you know, and my bsmeter did not
Speaker 3: go off with her at all. Wow.
Speaker 2: What do you hope readers and enthusiasts are going to
Speaker 2: take away from the new expanded second edition of Bigfoot South?
Speaker 3: You know? I hope that they come away with a
Speaker 3: greater appreciation for nature and realize we need to conserve
Speaker 3: wild lands and wild places, but also know that there
Speaker 3: are still there's still a really big mystery out there.
Speaker 3: And if what I said, if one of these reports
Speaker 3: is true, there's something out there incredible, interesting, and maybe
Speaker 3: even a little bit spooky. That's what I want to
Speaker 3: take away from the book.
Speaker 2: Do you, knowing what you know and having heard those
Speaker 2: disturbing vocalizations, is it advisable to go into the woods
Speaker 2: without some sort of a fire.
Speaker 3: It's a great question. I don't go into the woods
Speaker 3: anywhere without a firearms that's legal for me to carry
Speaker 3: because I do that podcast called Dark Outdoors about true
Speaker 3: crime in the outdoors, and there are nut jobs in
Speaker 3: the woods. You know, there are bears, there are feral hogs,
Speaker 3: there are things. But here's the thing. If these things
Speaker 3: are real, and I think there's definitely something out there,
Speaker 3: we truly don't know all about them. So carry a
Speaker 3: firearm to be safe anyway, and if one of these
Speaker 3: things were to get out of hand, just be prepared
Speaker 3: like you would if it were a bear or a
Speaker 3: feral hog or anything else.
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