WEBVTT - Season 06 Episode 6: Tales From the Cryptid 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.400 Nothing's better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes. Maybe 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:05.760 you're a parent raising a little rock star, or a 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.640 technomad working from anywhere. All birds wants you to be 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.520 comfortable in your actual shoes too. They're wool runners, pipers, 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.720 and loungers are so cozy you might forget you're wearing them, 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.599 and they're crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.759 our planet. So get comfortable in your shoes. Get to 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.800 know the wool runners, pipers, and loungers at Alberts dot com. 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:41.120 That's alllbi rds dot com. On the night of October twentieth, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.800 nineteen sixty seven, journalist Betty Allen was working late at 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.040 the offices of the Time Standard newspaper based out of Eureka, 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:54.280 a vibrant seaport town at the northwestern edge of California, 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:58.080 when a call came into the office. Picking it up, 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.520 she was greeted by the urgent and excited voice of 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.319 thirty four year old Roger Patterson. Patterson was calling from 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.000 the Lower Trinity Ranger station out in Willow Creek, a 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.560 small mountain town about forty miles to the east, a 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.760 popular spot from which to venture out into the vast 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:22.160 and ancient forests that surrounded it on all sides. Patterson's words, 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.759 as Betty later described it, cascaded out between gasps as 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.880 it did his best to precisely detail the events from 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.919 earlier that day. It all started around one thirty pm 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.560 that afternoon, when he and his friend thirty six year 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.919 old Bob Gimlin, were riding through the Six Rivers Nation 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.920 Forest along Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River, 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.000 deep within the forest about forty miles north of Willow Creek. 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.000 A few years previously, an almighty flood had forced a 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.840 torrent of rain water through the narrow waterway, leaving behind 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.880 fallen trees and branches that now littered the banks, strewn 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:08.080 about in huge piles of bleached driftwood. Patterson and Gimlin 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.480 were just approaching one such pile when they caught sight 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.000 of something moving at the far side of it, about 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:19.959 eighty to ninety feet away. To the pair's amazement, it 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.600 was some kind of hominid, measuring well over six feet tall, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.920 with silvery brown hair all over its body, and it 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:33.079 was just standing alone right in front of them. Patterson, 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.919 who had a film camera, with him was just about 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.560 to reach for it when his horse reared up, suddenly 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.960 throwing him to the ground. With the horse agitating to 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.320 get away, Patterson had just enough time to grab the 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:49.600 camera from his saddle bag before the horse bolted into 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.960 the trees. As the bizarre creature began to move away 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:58.560 from them, Without thinking, Patterson ran toward it, hoping to 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.799 get a better angle, wile Gimlin followed on horseback. Then 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.720 Gimlin's horse also reared up, forcing him to dismount and 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.720 let it go. With the two men now on foot, 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.120 Patterson yelled for Gimlin to cover him with his rifle 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.320 as he moved in a little closer and pressed the 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:22.000 shutter release lever. With the blood rushing through their ears 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.200 and only the sound of the film whirring round in 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.560 the camera to break the silence, the pair could only 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:32.359 stand all struck as they watched the creature slowly amble 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.080 away from them, its arms hanging almost to its knees, 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.840 swinging languidly by its side as it went. As Patterson 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:44.320 put it. The two men then watched with disbelief as 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.600 the creature turned to regard them for a moment before 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:59.240 it simply sloped off and disappeared into the trees. As Patterson, 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.560 who believed the creature was female owing to the shape 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.880 of its chest, went on to say, she never made 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.560 a sound. She wasn't hostile to us, but we don't 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.720 think she was afraid of us either. She acted like 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:14.840 she didn't want anything to do with us if she 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.880 could avoid it. But she stunk like a dog coming 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.360 out of the rain that smelled like it had been 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:27.120 rolling in something dead. The footage that Roger Patterson shot, 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.880 known today as the Patterson and Gimlin Film, was the 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.160 first time that anyone claimed to have caught the mythical 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.760 forest creature known to some as big footile sasquatch on camera. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.400 As a consequence the film, in particular, the still that 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.480 was taken from it, known as frame three to five two, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.400 showing the precise moment the apparent creature turned to look 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.760 directly at the camera, instantly transformed what was a local 0:04:55.880 --> 0:05:01.400 legend into a global phenomenon. Although the film failed to 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:05.320 gain any credible support, leading to accusations that Patterson and 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:10.000 Gimlin had faked the entire thing, supporters of its veracity 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.640 are quick to point out that it hasn't been satisfactorily 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:19.159 debunked either. As for Patterson, the film was the culmination 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.599 of an eighty emission to find irrefutable evidence of the 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.400 forest creature, which began after he first read about it 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.719 in a True Magazine article in nineteen fifty nine. The 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:35.080 author of the article was Ivan T. Sanderson, whose fascination 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:39.720 with mythical creatures led him to coin the phrase crypto zoology, 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:44.760 a portmanteau of three ancient Greek words which translates roughly 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:49.240 to English as the study of hidden animals. In a 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:54.040 later book, which also served as inspiration to Patterson, Sanderson 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.600 made note of a number of footprints and strange occurrences 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.640 that had been reported by forestry workers in the Bluff 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:05.800 Creek region. Chief among them was the story of Jerry Crew, who, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:09.039 in August nineteen fifty eight, was helping to build a 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.520 timber road through the surrounding forest of Bluff Creek when 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:17.320 he apparently discovered a series of sixteen inch humanlike footprints 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.760 in the dirt. A subsequent article detailing Crew's incredible story, 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.680 written in The Humboldt Times by journalist Andrew Genzoli, is 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.160 thought to be the first instance in which the term 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.800 bigfoot was used in relation to such things. In truth, 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:39.080 of course, tales of strange and terrifying creatures stalking the 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.880 ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest had long been shared 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.560 and traded, first by the Native American people of the 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:52.640 region and later by the newcomers. For many bigfoot enthusiasts, however, 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.160 there is one story above all others that they will 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.440 often come back to, the one that really makes the 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:01.960 hair st and up on the back of their necks. 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.760 And for that we need to move a little deeper 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:10.679 into the forest to a place known today as Ape Canyon. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:22.360 You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McClane smith. We 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.880 often talk about how the advent of streaming has revolutionized 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.960 the way we engage with audio and visual content, placing 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.280 countless numbers of films, TV shows and music tracks at 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.840 our fingertips, But did you know this has also been 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.440 happening for books too. 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That's t r y scr ibd dot 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.959 com slash unexplained to get sixty days of scribt for free. 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.720 Fred Beck always had the sense that he was a 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.720 little different, as if strange things would just happen to him. 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.640 One time, when he was playing in the pastures as 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:53.240 a child, Fred realized he'd lost his precious beanshooter, a 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.120 favorite toy that he'd worked weeks to save up the 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.560 money to afford. As he began to cry over it, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.480 a mysterious woman appeared and told him not to be sad, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.320 because his shooter would be waiting for him when he 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:11.360 got home, wiping the tears away. A somewhat unconvinced Fred 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:15.160 swiftly made its way back home, where no sooner had 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.360 he stepped inside he caught sight of the toy lying 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.800 before him on the kitchen table. He never saw the 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:25.600 woman again, and as it turned out, the bean shooter 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:30.959 wasn't even the same one he'd bought. Born in eighteen 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:35.000 eighty eight, Fred grew up in Kelso, forty miles north 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:39.400 of Portland in Washington, USA, a small but bustling hub 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.959 of the confluence of the Cowlitz and Columbia Rivers that 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.560 was quickly establishing itself as the epicenter of the local 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:51.400 logging industry. There, Fred would spend his days down by 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.720 the banks of the Columbia, watching the giant steamers drift 0:09:54.800 --> 0:10:00.880 by or out roaming the surrounding countryside. While down week 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.600 after week, trainloads of loggers piled in, who seemed to 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.800 spend as much time frequenting the many taverns and other 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.000 late night spots of the town as they did shifting wood. 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.760 With little other work to be found, it was only 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.320 natural that Fred would one day end up in the 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:21.480 logging trade too. By nineteen eighteen, however, he had his 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:26.680 sights set on something a little more financially rewarding. It 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.840 was Back in eighteen ninety one the two farmers, on 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.720 a hunting trip near Spirit Lake, fifty miles east of Kelso, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.920 discovered what they recognized to be mineral deposits of black 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.920 tormaline and hematite minerals that were often found near rich 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:48.480 veins of precious metals. Their discovery triggered a minor gold 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.440 rush in the area that by nineteen ten had seen 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.640 thousands of prospect pits and eleven thousand feet of tunnels 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.960 dug out of the area, yielding several thousand tons of gold, silver, 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:05.959 and copper or A geological review soon after, however, suggested 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.240 the region was in no danger of becoming the next Klondike, 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:14.000 and by nineteen sixteen most attempts to develop substantial minds 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:18.240 in the area had been all but abandoned. There still 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.679 remained a few hardy individuals, however, for whom the dream 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.920 of striking it rich had yet to evaporate, and soon, 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.800 having tired of the usual odds and sods jobs back 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.920 in Kelso, fred Beck decided it was high time that 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:44.840 he gave it to go to in nineteen eighteen, Fred 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.040 teamed up with his father in law Marion Smith and 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:52.640 Marion's son Roy, along with their friends Gabe Lafeva and 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:56.440 John Patterson, to stake out an area of forest known 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.520 as the Lewis River area, located just south of Spirit 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.560 Lake at the foot of Mount Saint Helens, a breathtaking 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:09.760 cone shaped volcano that loomed high over the surrounding landscape. 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:14.440 Those early days would be spent scouring the area together 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.880 for the perfect place to begin prospecting. They trekked endlessly 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.160 through the forest with rifles in hand, should they find 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.000 themselves suddenly in the path of a big black bear 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:29.600 or a hungry cougar, occasionally chancing upon the eerie sight 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.920 of a long forgotten mining cabin. Whenever the men found 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.880 a good spot, they would put up camp, then spend 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.000 the days blasting into bedrock or tunneling into cliffs looking 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.800 for the telltale signs of gold, while nights would be 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:48.120 spent gathered round the camp fire with a pot of beans, 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.959 smoking pipes, and gazing up at the endless night sky 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.160 as they were serenaded by the nocturnal movements of the forest. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.600 It is one of the many mistaken assumption about the 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:05.240 great outdoors that it is a quiet, peaceful place, when 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:09.280 in truth it is an eternal cacophony of unhuman things, 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.160 from a hooting and chirping of birds, to the chitter 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.240 of insects and the many barks and howls of unseen, 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:23.960 fur covered creatures. One night, however, Fred's group heard something 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.600 else that none of them had heard before, a strange 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.560 thumping sound coming from somewhere far off that was met 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:36.440 by another similar sound soon after, coming from some other 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.840 distant place. It sounded for all the world as if 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:45.600 they were responding to each other. The men thought little 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.680 of it until the next day, when they heard it again, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.400 this time in broad daylight, with one of the men 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.400 later describing it as sounding as though there was a 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:59.199 hollow drum in the earth somewhere and something was hitting it. 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.439 Having all heard the tales of strange, apelike creatures that 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.960 were said to roam the surrounding hills, the men were 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.800 quick to joke about just what might be out there, 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:16.120 but Fred didn't see the funny side. Back in the 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:20.000 nineteen hundreds, while working at a logging camp just outside 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.240 of Kelso with his brother, he and Fred were just 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.880 bedding down for the night when they heard something snorting 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:31.520 and kicking about outside their tent. Then it started pushing 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:36.560 against the side of the tent. As the men cowered inside, 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.400 doing their best to stay completely still, They took it 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.880 in turns to keep watch outside through a small slit 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.920 in the canvas, through which they could just about make 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:52.360 out something large, covered in dark hair, ambling about under 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:58.720 the moonlight. The following morning, Fred's brother couldn't hide his 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.320 relief but their luck he escaped from a possible bear attack. 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.880 But Fred couldn't share his elation. He'd seen enough bears 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.560 in his time, and whatever that thing was, it was 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:22.920 no bear. One morning, a few years after they began prospecting, 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.560 Fred's group were camped out in the eastern shadow of 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.560 Mount Saint Helen's, in an area known as Pumis Butte, 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.960 when Fred's father in law, Marion, set out early to 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.280 fetch water from a nearby creek. When he returned soon after, 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.320 he hurriedly woke up the others and told them to 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:46.280 follow him immediately. Twenty minutes later, the bleary eyed men 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.480 were stepping grumpily through the trickling waters of the creek, 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.880 demanding to know what all the fuss was about. As 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.360 Marion led them on to a sand bar running through 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.800 the middle of it and pointed toward the ground. The 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.720 men stared down in disbelief at what looked like two 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:08.560 huge footprints, similar to a humans, but far far bigger, 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:14.960 each pressed about four inches deep into the sand. Fred 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.280 looked up and scoured the surrounding hills, gripping his rifle 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:25.040 a little tighter. By nineteen twenty two, having thankfully seen 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.920 no further evidence of anything untoward, the men had decided 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.080 to focus their efforts on a portion of cliff on 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.000 the eastern side of Mount Saint Helens, in an area 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.440 known as the Plains of Abraham. According to Fred many 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.760 years later, they'd apparently been led there by a Native 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:47.080 American spirit guide with the tantalizing promise that their fortune 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:51.360 would be found within it. Having spotted a ledge part 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.640 way up the cliff, the men swiftly levered themselves up 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.360 to it, and, with the use of explosive powder, blasted 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.960 out a much larger ledge, from which they were able 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:05.399 to start tunneling into the cliff face. Soon sensing they 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.159 could be onto something, the men staked a claim on 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.400 the land, and soon after built a log cabin at 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:15.000 the base of the cliff where they could stay. Though 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.719 not especially big and with no windows, it was a solid, 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:23.160 cozy construction comprised of pine logs, with a stone fireplace 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:28.000 and enough room to comfortably sleep all five of them. 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.840 It wasn't long after they moved into the region, however, 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:37.679 that strange things began to happen. One afternoon, after working 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.840 the tunnel, the men returned to the cabin to find 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:45.919 their items had been interfered with. At first, they suspected 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:49.359 a bear had just passed by looking for food, until 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.719 Fred discovered that their food store had been left completely untouched. 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.719 Another time, they found an entire sack of canned food 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:03.160 emptied onto the ground, with the bag tossed at the side, 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.720 but no sign of claw marks to be found anywhere. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.280 What they did apparently find, however, were a number of 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.920 strange footprints that looked just like the others they'd seen 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:24.200 in the creek. For the next two years, the men 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.080 spent their time chipping away at the vein of ore 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.480 inside the cliff, then walking the chunks of it down 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.959 in bags to Marion's ford, which he kept parked at 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.720 the foot of the mountain. The ore would be driven 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.560 back to the nearest town and analyzed for its mineral content. 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.240 Though they never hauled anything life changing, they found enough 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.960 to suggest that something big might be just within their grasp. 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:55.479 One morning in July nineteen twenty four, Marion was chipping 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:57.800 at the rock face when a large chunk of it 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:02.639 fell to the ground. Marian picked it up and smiled 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.639 as it sparkled in the light. This is it, he 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:11.399 told the others. I think we're getting close. Fred was 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:15.240 unable to share his enthusiasm, however, having been suffering with 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.800 throbbing too fake for the last twelve hours. But when 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.280 he asked Marian to give him a lift into town 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.520 to get it seen to, Marian refused, too excited by 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:30.359 the prospect of that morning's fined. By the end of 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.600 the day, however, the team had failed to uncover anything 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:37.600 else significant, and eventually returned more or less empty handed 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:42.320 to the cabin. After another meal of hot cakes and beans, 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.600 it was spread and Marian's turn to fetch more water. 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.320 The pair grabbed their guns and water bottles accordingly, and 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.399 promptly headed off down the mountain to the nearest spring. 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:59.040 Moments later, having just stepped through the tree line. Marion 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:05.360 froze suddenly and raised his rifle. Don't move, he whispered sharply. 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:10.679 Then Fred saw it too, about a hundred yards ahead 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.040 of them, on the other side of the narrow canyon, 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.960 poking out from behind a pine tree. It was hard 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.080 to make out what it was exactly, only that it 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:24.200 was some kind of huge, apelike creature, standing at least 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:29.679 seven feet tall and covered in dark fur. Fred was 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.959 just stepping round to get a better look when Marian 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.280 suddenly opened fire, sending bark flying from the pine tree. 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.800 As the creature made a break for it, The men 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.240 watched incredulous as it ducked and weaved between the trees, 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.720 clearly moving on two legs, before it eventually disappeared out 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:53.120 of sight. Don't worry about that devil, fred I got 0:20:53.160 --> 0:21:03.440 him right in the head, said Marian proudly. When Fred 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.600 and Marion returned to the cabin, they wasted no time 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.680 in telling the others what had just happened, warning them 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:13.800 that the creature could well return, much to their dismay. However, 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:17.399 the men were a little less than impressed, accusing the 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:20.639 pair of being drunk or mistaking a black bear for 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:25.080 something else, and before long Fred and Marian were questioning 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.359 their own account, too, agreeing that it probably was just 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:33.480 a bear after all. After a quick smoke around the fireplace, 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:36.320 the men decided to call it to night, and each 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.280 made their way to their beds, with two sharing a 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.439 long bunk bed and the others sleeping on pine boughs 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.560 that they'd scattered on the floor. It had just gone 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:51.040 midnight when Fred was awoken by a tremendous thud ringing 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.960 out from the cabin wall, followed by Marion screaming as 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:58.199 he sat up, suddenly frantically waving his gun around in 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:02.199 the air. As the rest of the group jumped up 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.119 from their beds, Fred hurriedly lit a lamp, revealing a 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:09.119 large pile of chinking next to Marion, which had just 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:14.879 been knocked loose from the wall. Then another almighty thump 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:19.400 rang out around them. Marion hissed for Fred to put 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:24.840 out the light. In the pitch black silence, As the 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:29.080 men's breathing settled, they soon began to hear things shuffling 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.959 about outside the cabin, like a small herd of horses 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:38.360 loping about. Marion held his finger to his lips, then 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.440 bent down and peered out of the gap in the wall, 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:46.200 then threw his head back in horror. There's three of them, 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:50.080 he whispered, but was suddenly interrupted by another round of 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:53.600 thumps against the wall, this time from what sounded like 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:58.440 rocks being thrown against the cabin. Just then, a flurry 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:01.399 of rocks tumbled down the chimney, causing the men to 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:05.080 jump back into the room, and then something heavy was 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:10.040 heard moving about above them. They're on the roof, said 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:20.840 Fred aghast with the sound above moving closer to the 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:24.000 middle of the cabin. The men backed up against each other, 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:28.760 their rifles pointed at the ceiling, when Marion suddenly let rip, 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:32.879 sending a flurry of bullets through the roof. Then something 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:37.679 pounded at the front door. Quick grab, something, yelled Marion, 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:40.840 as Fred pulled a pole from the bed and hurriedly 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:43.520 pushed it up against the door as the other three 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:48.040 backed further away into the cabin. When another thump came 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:51.080 against the door, Fred fired off a few more rounds 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:54.720 at it, sending splinters of wood everywhere and filling the 0:23:54.760 --> 0:24:00.440 cabin with gunsmoke. Just then, something dark and hairy through 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:02.800 the hole in the cabin and grabbed hold of an 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.639 axe that was lying against the cabin wall. Fred was 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:09.200 just quick enough to twist the head of it so 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:12.600 it couldn't be pulled out. Then another shot rang out 0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:17.720 from Marion, missing Fred's hand by inches. As quick as 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:20.800 it had appeared, the hairy limb dropped the axe and 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:24.879 retracted through the hole, giving Fred just enough time to 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:29.760 kick the axe away from the wall. Things then calmed 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:33.600 for a moment before another flurry of bangs from outside 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:37.200 was met with another volley of bullets from Marion and Fred, 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:45.760 until finally it was all over and everything stilled, And 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:49.439 so things remained until the first light of dawn crept 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:52.320 in through the gap in the chinking and the numerous 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:57.119 bullet holes that covered the wall. Satisfied that the cabin 0:24:57.359 --> 0:25:00.840 was no longer surrounded, Fred removed the poll from the 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:05.080 door and cautiously stepped out into the fresh morning air. 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:08.080 Then he saw what he took to be one of 0:25:08.080 --> 0:25:11.520 the creatures, standing about eighty yards away on the edge 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:17.120 of the gorge. Grabbing his winchester, Fred darted out toward it, 0:25:17.480 --> 0:25:22.240 then took aim and fired three times, watching with satisfaction 0:25:22.560 --> 0:25:25.840 as the thing stiffened for a moment and then tumbled 0:25:25.880 --> 0:25:34.959 down into the canyon below. Is there something interfering with 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:38.480 your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals? Better 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:40.800 help will assess your needs and match you with your 0:25:40.800 --> 0:25:44.800 own licensed professional therapist. Sign up today and start communicating 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:47.679 in less than forty eight hours. You'll get timely and 0:25:47.720 --> 0:25:51.000 thoughtful responses. Plus, you can schedule weekly video or phone 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:53.159 sessions so you won't ever have to sit in an 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:56.240 uncomfortable waiting room. You can also log into your account 0:25:56.359 --> 0:25:59.560 any time to send a message to your counselor. Better 0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:02.600 help is not a crisis line nor self help. It 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:06.560 is professional counseling done securely online, with a broad range 0:26:06.560 --> 0:26:10.600 of expertise available, and with better Help's commitment to facilitating 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:14.280 great therapeutic matches, they make it especially easy and free 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:16.960 to change counselors to help you find the right fit. 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:20.920 This podcast is sponsored by better Help and Unexplained. Listeners 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:23.560 get ten percent off their first month at better help 0:26:23.640 --> 0:26:28.960 dot com. Forward slash Unexplained, that's better help dot com. 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:32.840 Forward slash Unexplained. Join the over one million people taking 0:26:32.920 --> 0:26:35.160 charge of their mental health with the help of an 0:26:35.160 --> 0:26:39.080 experienced professional better help wants you to start living a 0:26:39.080 --> 0:26:47.439 happier life today. At the first opportunity that morning, the 0:26:47.480 --> 0:26:50.600 men grabbed everything they could and high tailed it to 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:53.960 Marion's truck at the bottom of the mountain, running off 0:26:53.960 --> 0:26:56.600 in such haste that they were forced to leave almost 0:26:56.760 --> 0:27:00.880 two hundred dollars worth of supplies behind to half thousand 0:27:00.920 --> 0:27:05.320 in today's money. Once in the truck, Marion did its 0:27:05.320 --> 0:27:08.240 best to keep it steady as they bumped and skidded 0:27:08.240 --> 0:27:11.720 over the rutted earth, while the others kept their rifles 0:27:11.760 --> 0:27:15.000 trained on the forest either side of them at all times. 0:27:16.200 --> 0:27:18.879 It was about half an hour later when they pulled 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:23.120 into the Spirit Lake Ranger station to inform Ranger William 0:27:23.160 --> 0:27:27.680 Welch about all that had happened, with Marion insisting they'd 0:27:27.680 --> 0:27:32.199 been attacked by some kind of mountain devil back in 0:27:32.240 --> 0:27:36.000 their hometown of Kelso. Although Fred told the others not 0:27:36.040 --> 0:27:39.560