"The Pennsylvania Bigfoot/UFO Invasion - Part I" w/ Steve Berg

Summary

Bigfoot Collectors Club

Episode: "The Pennsylvania Bigfoot/UFO Invasion - Part I" w/ Steve Berg

Release Date: February 12, 2025
Hosts: Michael McMillian & Riley Bray | Guest: Steve Berg

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Episode Overview

The BCC team begins a two-part Deep Dive into the legendary wave of high strangeness that swept through Pennsylvania in 1973—an unprecedented flap of Bigfoot and UFO sightings, often occurring simultaneously, that challenged the boundaries of conventional cryptid and ET lore. Actor-comedian Steve Berg joins to share boots-on-the-ground insights and help unravel one of the weirdest and most compelling paranormal waves in US history.

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Main Theme

Exploring the tangled wave of Bigfoot and UFO encounters that rocked Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1973, with an emphasis on:

• The cross-contamination of cryptid and UFO phenomena
• The foundational research of investigator Stan Gordon and his team
• Firsthand witness accounts of bizarre creatures and unexplained lights
• The reconsideration of Bigfoot as a purely "flesh and blood" creature
• Theories on overlapping high strangeness, folklore, and military psyops

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Welcome & Clubhouse Catch-Up

[01:21–04:09]

• Michael and Riley riff, introduce Steve Berg, and joke about "City Biggie" (urban Bigfoot).
• Steve describes investigating a recent Omaha, Nebraska "urban Bigfoot" case.

"City Biggie. I've never heard that and I love it."
—Steve Berg [04:09]

Setting the Scene: Pennsylvania Bigfoot/UFO Invasion

[07:24–09:00]

• Michael announces the start of a multi-part "deep dive," with Steve as the first returning guest for a full arc.
• Riley admits knowing little about the Pennsylvania flap, setting up the audience POV.

High Strangeness Begins: The 1973 "Joe" Encounter

[09:01–12:36]

• Michael narrates "Joe’s" late-night encounter:
  • Overwhelmed by a sulfur-like, cucumber-ish stench
  • Sees glowing red eyes through an 8-foot-high bathroom window
  • Spills tea, more scared for his tea than for himself
• Sulfur smell recurs in classic paranormal/occult tales, but is rare in Bigfoot lore.
• Joe gets sick the next day—unusual for Bigfoot encounters.

"...it smelled like something foul or some kind of cucumber or something."
—Joe, via Michael [10:19]

"Sulfur is a smell that has been associated with esoteric weirdness for thousands of years..."
—Steve Berg [12:36]

The 1973 Flap: Bizarre Creatures and UFOs Flood Westmoreland County

[13:34–16:24]

• Dozens of witnesses report 8- to 10-foot, red-eyed, dark-haired creatures, sometimes in groups.
• UFO sightings of various shapes (orbs, cigars, star-shaped, domes) spike.
• Theories emerge connecting the two phenomena.

"These hairy hominids were commonly described as having glowing red eyes..."
—Michael McMillian [14:21]

The Geography and “Vibe” of Chestnut Ridge & Westmoreland County

[18:09–19:51]

• Steve describes the heavily wooded, hilly landscape.
• Emphasizes old architecture, mining towns, and a rich history of strangeness.

"It is drop dead gorgeous. Wildly tree covered... old mining towns... there's a real esoteric vibe..."
—Steve Berg [18:31]

Enter Stan Gordon: The Keystone Researcher

[20:57–26:22]

• The story shifts to Stan Gordon, primary chronicler of the flap.
• Recap of the Kecksburg UFO incident (1965) that launched Stan's research career.
• Stan’s Pennsylvania Study Group becomes the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group ("WKUSG"—the acronym's comedy is a recurring bit).
• Stan’s work is the spine of the episode’s case histories.

"Stan Gordon is one of these unsung heroes in these 40 and fields... he's kind of like an OG Bigfoot hipster if you ask me."
—Steve Berg [20:57]

Early Reports: Encounters Ramp Up (1972–Early 1973)

[30:24–34:31]

• Chestnut Ridge: ongoing Bigfoot, UFO, Thunderbird, and other odd sightings.
• Bizarre cases: pointy-eared, red-eyed creatures attack cars, peer into windows, carry a strange aura.
• Noted: Bigfoot in PA often described differently (pointy/Spock-like ears, “heroin chic” build).

"Imagine a Bigfoot with Peter Pan or Spock ears. Like they're rounded, but pointed at the tips at the tops of the ear..."
—Michael McMillian [34:18]

The UFO Deluge: March–April 1973

[36:36–38:39]

• Multiple craft types and near-continuous sightings (specific dates/times listed).
• Some witness craft landing, entities collecting soil samples, or “stick figure” forms.
• Reports of creatures associated with UFOs (and even craft occupants sending Bigfoot-like beings on errands).

"There was something about a beam of light… attached to some kind of form… a hulk or a torso about 8 to 10 ft tall…”
—Michael McMillian [41:48]

The Supposed Bigfoot/UFO Connection

[46:53–48:39]

• Steve shares the case of a Bigfoot holding a “black box with a red light”, zapped as if "naughty," then entering a UFO.
• Reflects on the uncanny overlap between cryptid, UFO, and occult/folkloric motifs.
• Riley notes the “alien species” vibes, not a classic Bigfoot.

"These Bigfoot seem more occulty than animal... the pointy ears, the sulfuric smells, the glowing red eyes..."
—Steve Berg [47:44]

Investigator Stan Gordon's Discoveries & Ultra-Weird Footprints

[51:10–54:14]

• Casts of three-toed tracks found—unlike classic five-toed Bigfoot prints.
• Suggests alternative origins: "platypus of Bigfoots," chimeric folklore monsters.

"This is like Gonzo. This is like a Muppet, you know. Big Bird."
—Michael McMillian [52:24]

Cluster of August 1973 Sightings: Red and White-Furred Creatures

[58:05–61:09]

• Multiple reports in August:
  • Creatures peering in windows (always at least 8 ft up)
  • Kids encounter Bigfoot crossing the road—stiff-legged, no arm swing (robotic movement?)
  • Sightings of white-haired, red-eyed giants; hints of “Yeti”
  • Dogs go silent or are killed/disappear in presence of creatures

Extra-Odd Encounters: Vanishing Bigfoots

[62:20–65:28]

• Creatures that vanish after being struck by cars or after witnesses approach.
• Debate over “cloaking” vs. “vanishing”—leads to speculation about paranormal, technological, or “synthetic” origins.

"Well, they might just have these powers... I'm like, if it has powers..."
—Steve Berg [64:27]

Are These Really Bigfoot at All?

[67:52–71:02]

• Some of the footprints also appear blockier and with defined jointed toes—possibly different species/entities.
• By mid-August, headlines across Pennsylvania report these incidents.
• Groups of creatures, sometimes with juveniles, seen lounging during the day.
• Questions raised: Are these multiple creatures, robots, or even military experiments?

Historical Context: Old Pennsylvania Bigfoot Stories

[70:08–71:02]

• Mentions Timothy Renner's research highlighting "Wild Man" legends from the 19th century (sometimes with muskets and clothes).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joe's cucumber comment:
  "...it smelled like something a foul odor or some kind of cucumber or something." [10:19]

• Sulfur and the Devil:
  "Sulfur is a smell that has been associated with esoteric weirdness for thousands of years..." —Steve Berg [12:36]

• On the broader weirdness of 1973 PA:
  "If a sudden, mysterious Bigfoot flap weren't startling enough, 1973 was also marked by a significant uptick in UFO reports..." —Michael McMillian [14:21]

• On the convergence of phenomena:
  "They were simultaneous... the greatest invasion of high strangeness in a two-year period." —Steve Berg [08:19]

• On roads and strangeness:
  "Why do people see UFOs by roads? Why do people see Bigfoot crossing the road? ...Driving puts you in a hypnotic state..." —Steve Berg [75:05]

• On three-toed Bigfoot prints:
  "Oh, Mommy, we are talking like, almost duck foot... This thing could be the platypus of Bigfoots." —Michael McMillian [52:14]

• On the rivalries in paranormal research:
  "Historically the Bigfoot people hate the UFO people, the UFO people hate the Bigfoot people, paranormal people hate everyone. Why can't we all just get along?" —Steve Berg [48:28]

• Riley on the feeling of the stories:
  "They don’t sound like Bigfoot to me. The glowing red eyes... it sounds like this is some sort of, you know, alien species or something..." —Riley Bray [48:52]

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Important Timestamps

• 09:01 — The "Joe" encounter: red eyes and powerful stench
• 13:34 — Wave of reports: 8–10 ft, red-eyed Bigfoots & UFOs
• 20:57 — Stan Gordon’s backstory & legacy
• 30:24 — Chestnut Ridge: epicenter of 'high strangeness'
• 34:18 — Descriptions of pointy-eared, thin, non-classic Bigfoots
• 37:19 — March 1973: Timeline of stacked UFO encounters
• 41:48 — "Spinning top" UFO & 8–10 ft. humanoid case
• 46:53 — Bigfoot under a UFO, holding a black box, gets "zapped"
• 51:10 — Stan finds “duck foot”/three-toed prints
• 53:06 — Folkloric monsters as ancient precedent
• 58:05 — August 1973: multiple, strange new encounters
• 62:20 — Vanishing Bigfoots and debate over cloaking
• 67:52 — Block-shaped, 20-inch prints and further weirdness
• 70:08 — 19th-century "Wild Man" Bigfoot legends
• 73:29 — Patron shout-outs & wrap-up

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Tone & Style

• Joking, playful, and self-aware, with a mix of pop-culture references (e.g., "City Biggie," "platypus of Bigfoots," Marvel Comics, and collector’s corner bits).
• Deep respect for witness testimony and archival research.
• Willing to debate and entertain multiple hypotheses: flesh and blood, folklore, military, and high-strangeness interpretations.
• Encourages open-mindedness and cross-disciplinary thinking in the paranormal.

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Next Episode Tease

• The strangeness intensifies with even wilder cases and the infamous “case Bigfoot researchers want to ignore.”
• More on men in black, missing time, and possibly occult connections in part two.

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For Further Exploration

• Book: Silent Invasion by Stan Gordon (primary source)
• Researcher: Timothy Renner, 19th-century “Wild Man”/Bigfoot in PA
• Related Episode: Early episode on the Kecksburg UFO incident

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Summary written in the spirit of the Bigfoot Collectors Club: full of curiosity, skepticism, and joyful weirdness.

Transcript

[Michael McMillan]

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[Kristen Bell]

Hi, I'm Kristen Bell, and if you know my husband Dax, then you also know he loves shopping for a car. Selling a car, not so much.

[Riley Bray]

We're really doing this, huh?

[Kristen Bell]

Thankfully, car Carvana makes it easy. Answer a few questions, put in your VIN or license, and done. We sold ours in minutes this morning and they'll come pick it up and pay us this afternoon.

[Michael McMillan]

Goodbye, Truckee.

[Kristen Bell]

Of course, we kept the favorite.

[Michael McMillan]

Hello, other Truckee.

[Kristen Bell]

Sell your car with Carvana today. Terms and conditions apply.

[Riley Bray]

It's Bigfoot Collectors Club with Michael and Ring. I know a story of high strangeness or two. Let's do this.

[Michael McMillan]

Hey, everyone. If you want to watch this episode, check out our YouTube channel, YouTube.com@bigfoot collectors Club. And be sure to like and subscribe. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Bigfoot Collectors Club, the show where we talk to amazing guests about their personal paranormal history and share stories of high strangeness. High strangeness.

[Riley Bray]

Hi, strangeness.

[Michael McMillan]

Hello. I'm your host, Michael McMillan. With me always is your wizard of waveforms.

[Riley Bray]

Ooh, I like that. Riley Bray.

[Michael McMillan]

That was submitted on BCC the Other side by Derek Cole.

[Riley Bray]

Oh, hey, Derek.

[Michael McMillan]

Artist extraordinary. Great one, Derek. If you have a title for Riley, please shoot it to us. Comment on Bigfoot Collectors Club, the Other side, and we'll put it up there. Or email [e-mail]. whatever you want to do. Also, speaking of Derek Cole, little tease news coming up soon.

[Riley Bray]

Oh, yeah, big, big news. Exciting news.

[Michael McMillan]

That's all I'm going to say. Joining us in the virtual clubhouse this week is actor, comedian, and host of High Strangeness Podcast club, Scouts of all timelines. Mr. Steve Berg is back.

[Steve Berg]

It's good to see you guys.

[Michael McMillan]

So good to see you, Steve, how are you? How are things in Nebraska?

[Steve Berg]

Going well? Going well, man. Can't complain. You know, I mean, the, you know, I mean, I, I, there's, well, you know, I mean, personally, I'm doing okay. The world's completely falling apart.

[Riley Bray]

There's plenty to complain about.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not doing that right now, though.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, no, we're only going to complain about incomplete episodes because this is the first of a deep dive series that we're going to get into. So we're ending this one on a cliffhanger, everybody. But I'm excited because Steve Berg is going to be joining us for the first time. I think any guest has joined us for a multi part deep dive series. How about out that, Mr. Berg?

[Steve Berg]

Not too bad.

[Michael McMillan]

Now, Steve, I must ask you because like one of the figures we're going to. The, the. The main figure we're going to discuss other than Bigfoot in this series, you are a boots on the ground investigator in Nebraska in your hometown of Omaha.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, I mean like I do some, you know, like it's not like a.

[Michael McMillan]

I think if you do some, you're doing it all.

[Steve Berg]

Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you. I just didn't want to say it, you know, I want to mislead people, but I am. Yeah. You know, I'm currently looking Bigfoot case that happened in the Lawrence and Botanical Gardens in Omaha.

[Michael McMillan]

Okay.

[Steve Berg]

Which is. So it's an urban Bigfoot case. Love. Which I think is extra spicy.

[Michael McMillan]

City Biggie. City Biggie.

[Steve Berg]

I've never heard that and I love it. Yeah. But it's an exciting one. There was four witnesses. They were. They're both in different locations. I mean the same block but like from two different vantage points. And I've talked to the witness and there's a little bit of a history of Bigfoot around this area. So Matt Moneymaker from, you know, the. Whatever Bigfoot show that was, he's a big one. The big dogs. I don't know his work very well, but he was, he was so excited about this, this case that I was like Facebook page, he posted sure thing. And he was saying he was telling people to put cameras under the interstate passage. He's like, sure thing. He's like, it will, it will go back and forth and follow the deer tracks or follow them. And I'm like, I don't know. Sure things.

[Michael McMillan]

Sure things.

[Steve Berg]

Strong, strong words there himself.

[Michael McMillan]

And you know what that reminds me of some sightings that were taking place like not too far from Kansas City a few years ago. And I think Matt Moneymaker even came out. Oh my gosh. There's a, a Bigfoot sighting in Riley's. If you're watching this on YouTube, that.

[Steve Berg]

Was a Paris and Gimlin.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. Mysterious figure, female figure just walked past the.

[Riley Bray]

She really did the sort of like Victorian ghost walk.

[Michael McMillan]

Yes, she did.

[Riley Bray]

Right through background.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. I'm sure she'd appre comparing her to a Victorian ghost rather than Bigfoot.

[Riley Bray]

Well, you know, tomato But I think.

[Michael McMillan]

Matt Moneymaker came out to Missouri and was looking at Bigfoot sightings that were reported in some caves about 45 minutes outside or 20 minutes outside of Kansas City. Are there like caves in Omaha? Is like, where do we think Bigfoot's hanging out over there?

[Steve Berg]

Well, according to the flesh and blood Bigfoot people, they follow like the. Because we have not to brag, but Nebraska's got the third most miles of Race river in the lower 48, so we have a lot of rivers. So they feel like they follow the rivers because that's where game hangs out. I'm not necessarily a flesh and blood Bigfoot person. I'm not saying I'm not, but that's not where my money is being bet on. So yeah, they. They think that's could mean Nebraska. Mike. Michael, as you probably know, it's like Kansas. It's flat. There's not a lot of tree cover. It's not a place you'd think about with Bigfoot. However, there has been a lot of sightings going back to the late 19th century.

[Michael McMillan]

Wow.

[Riley Bray]

I'd like to think that Bigfoot was just enjoying the botanical garden.

[Michael McMillan]

Me too.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, it is really nice. The Lawrence and urns are beautiful.

[Riley Bray]

That sounds like a lovely day.

[Michael McMillan]

Why would Bigfoot want to be in the garden?

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, my wife and I go walk around there all the time. It's wonderful.

[Michael McMillan]

It's this jam. Nature's Bigfoot's jam. We all know this.

[Riley Bray]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

Okay, so before we dive into our deep dive this week, why don't we nominate our five star club scout of the week? This is a friend who's given us a five star review over on Apple Podcasts, which helps get the show to more people.

[Riley Bray]

Well, this is from Luke Floyd. And Luke says consciousness is primary and fundamental. They get it. Five stars. Luke couldn't have said it better. A perfect review. Thank you.

[Michael McMillan]

Thank you, teacher Luke. We appreciate you. Thank you. You are our five star club scout of the week. Okay, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?

[Riley Bray]

Let's get it.

[Michael McMillan]

Riley, every time we kick off a Deep Dive series, I ask you the same question about whatever subject we're talking about, which is what do you know about the Pennsylvania bigfoot invasion of 1973?

[Riley Bray]

Nothing. Not a. Not one thing. Literally nothing.

[Michael McMillan]

I know that's not true because we have talked about cases that have been involved in and around this area before.

[Riley Bray]

Okay.

[Michael McMillan]

You just don't know it yet.

[Riley Bray]

Okay, I know you just don't know that. That's what we're the larger context yet. Well, I'm excited. Let's get into it.

[Michael McMillan]

Steve.

[Steve Berg]

Oh yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

What do you know about the Pennsylvania bigfoot invasion of 1973?

[Steve Berg]

I mean, quite a bit, right?

[Riley Bray]

Perfect.

[Steve Berg]

I mean, it coincided with a UFO invasion. They were simultaneous happening. That's why this invasion is in my opinion the greatest invasion of high strangeness in a two year period.

[Michael McMillan]

I would agree if you are a fan of high strangeness. This story has it all. And Steve hit the nail on the head. I'm toying with adding UFO into the title of this Deep Dive series. I was hoping like invasion kind of helped sell it.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, it does.

[Michael McMillan]

Pennsylvania Bigfoot UFO invasion of 1973. That's kind of a mouthful, but it is what it is. Why don't we just get into it? Let's do it, shall we?

[Riley Bray]

Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

Okay.

[Michael McMillan]

Now, Steve, you're going to play one role in this drama.

[Steve Berg]

I love that. I booked. This is an offer only I didn't have an audition.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. And the pay is not great.

[Riley Bray]

Not good.

[Steve Berg]

It's not.

[Riley Bray]

But crafty's excellent though.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, that's true, that's true. That's all that matters to me.

[Michael McMillan]

You have to make it yourself.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah.

[Riley Bray]

You bring your own. Yeah. You're at home, so you have all your snacks.

[Michael McMillan]

Now I invite you, Steve, to stop along the way and point out some scenery. Riley, of course, if you have any questions, interjections, let us know. But here we go, everybody. It's time for some deep dive high strangeness. On the night of July 31, 1973, a man who wished to remain anonymous. We'll call him. Joe was getting ready for bed in his rural home off Route 30, not too far from the Green Gate Mall outside of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Joe was trying to. Excuse me, Greenberg, Pennsylvania. I've already made one mistake. Joe was tidying up the bathroom when he caught a whiff of something foul. And no, it wasn't something he'd done while in the privy. It was wafting in through his open window. Joe recounted his story to a local investigator.

[Steve Berg]

I washed and shaved and combed my hair and put some gunk on. After shaving, I had some iced tea in a little jar. I like little jars. I'm putting on my slippers and I started sniffing to beat hell. I said, what the hell could that be? It smelled like something. A foul odor or some kind of cucumber or something.

[Michael McMillan]

Some kind of cucumber.

[Riley Bray]

Joe, what are you doing with your cucumbers in these jars?

[Michael McMillan]

Your jars?

[Steve Berg]

You a pickle, Joe.

[Michael McMillan]

I mean, I feel like I have to say it. Is he smelling Bigfoot's dick? Is that what we're talking about here?

[Riley Bray]

Yeah, that's what we're talking about.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, that's what we're always talking about.

[Riley Bray]

Come on.

[Michael McMillan]

Joe glanced over to the window. Peering at him through the screen was a face unlike he'd ever seen before.

[Steve Berg]

When I put my towel up against my face, I saw two shiny eyes right in front of the screen. I sort of got scared, but put the window down, and here I had my tea on the windowsill. It fell down, hit the commode and fell on the floor.

[Michael McMillan]

More concerned about his little jar of tea than anything else, he's like, I dropped my tea.

[Riley Bray]

Joe's a tea daddy.

[Michael McMillan]

Joe described the eyes as big, round, and glowing red. To make matters more disturbing, the bathroom window in question stood level at about 8, 8ft off the ground on the exterior of the house, meaning whatever was watching Joe slap shave gunk on his face and sip iced tea out of a little jar must have been very tall. The horrible smell lingered around the area of the house, gaining the attention of Joe's family. His son described it as smelling like sulfur. The next day, Joe had trouble breathing and had to take a trip to the hospital. He blamed a strange encounter for the emergency visit. That's the first time I think I've heard of a story involving big. You know, we hear about the Bigfoot rancid smells all the time, but the first time I've heard of somebody getting sick and needing to go to the doctors the next day about it. That gives me kind of like Flatwood's monster flashbacks here.

[Steve Berg]

I would also like to add that sulfur is a smell that has been associated with esoteric weirdness for thousands of years.

[Michael McMillan]

El diablo.

[Steve Berg]

El diablo. But like the fae. I mean, Josh Cushions written a whole book and sulfur plays a big part. So sulfur smell, that ain't too common with Bigfoot, really.

[Michael McMillan]

Why do you think the. What is it about sulfur smell? What do we know? Why. Why that with associated with this stuff?

[Steve Berg]

That's a good question. The why? I'm not really. I mean, obviously, you know, you can go and take a biblical slant at it. That would be the smell of demonic, you know, hell type. You know, don't they describe like, hell as some kind of sulfuric, like hot, hot fire rocks?

[Riley Bray]

Yeah, it's just sulfur associated with, like, volcanic activity. Is that.

[Steve Berg]

Huh. I think so.

[Riley Bray]

You know, associated with like, hell and.

[Michael McMillan]

That sort of idea, which is weird because I don't feel Like Bigfoot comes from hell.

[Riley Bray]

Or volcanoes.

[Michael McMillan]

Or volcanoes. Bat Squatch. Maybe both.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

But Bigfoot, I'm not so sure. Well, during the summer of 1973 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, stories like Joe's were at the risk of becoming commonplace. The county became a hotbed for both Bigfoot and UFO activity, terrifying local residents and leaving local paranormal investigators scratching their heads. During the months of July through November, numerous reports emerged almost daily detailing encounters with large ape like creatures in the region's wooded areas. Often described as dark in color and sometimes reaching the heights of. Of a staggering 10ft tall.

[Riley Bray]

Wow.

[Michael McMillan]

Witnesses encountered these creatures near their homes, in their backyards, on hiking trails and fields, often reporting not just one, but sometimes groups of two or three of these beings. Although details of the Bigfoot's appearances sometimes differed from sighting to sighting, one defining characteristic seemed to pop up over and over again. These hairy hominids were commonly described as having glowing red eyes. If a sudden, mysterious Bigfoot flap Weren't startling enough, 1973 was also marked by a significant uptick in UFO reports across the state, Particularly in Westmoreland County. Residents reported observing strange lights in the sky, as well as unidentified flying objects performing erratic maneuvers. All sorts of UAPs, from red fiery orbs to silver cigar shaped sky vessels were seen. The convergence of Bigfoot and UFO phenomena in this region sparked speculation about a possible connection between the two, leading researchers to explore whether these events might be part of a larger pattern of unexplained activity. The intrigue surrounding Westmoreland county during 1973 continues to resonate in the annals of paranormal studies as both local lore and investigative efforts seek to uncover the truth behind these enigmatic occurrences. Which brings us to today. In this Deep Dive series, we will explore the high strangeness taking place surrounding these events, highlighting some of the best encounter stories all the way. Leading our way back to revisit one of the weirdest paranormal events we've ever discussed on the show. This is The Pennsylvania Bigfoot UFO Invasion, Part 1. Labor Day savings are happening right now at the Home Depot. So what are you working on?

[Steve Berg]

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[Michael McMillan]

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[Steve Berg]

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[Michael McMillan]

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[Steve Berg]

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[Michael McMillan]

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[Steve Berg]

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[Michael McMillan]

Now, Steve, I.

[Steve Berg]

Mean, I'm so excited. I have to tell you first, I have goosebumps right now. Great, great intro. Great intro.

[Michael McMillan]

I want to tell everybody listening at home what I'd like you to do if you got a, if you got a nice bakery nearby. Go on down to that bakery, order yourself a big old slice of black forest cake. You get yourself a nice tall glass of milk, and I just want you to sit down and eat some chocolate cake and listen to this story, okay?

[Steve Berg]

Because that's what it is. It's chocolate cake. This, this is dessert. This high strange dessert right here.

[Michael McMillan]

This could also go well with a nice crisp craft beer if you're, if you like to drink beer.

[Steve Berg]

I do.

[Michael McMillan]

Okay. Or a jar of iced tea, everybody.

[Riley Bray]

That's also an old cucumber.

[Michael McMillan]

Cucumber. Just keep it out of the bathroom. Don't bring your iced tea into the bathroom, everybody. Now, Steve, you have been quite recently to Westmoreland County. In fact, you have gone to some sites that we'll be discussing in the series. What can you tell us about this area? Tell us about the geography, tell us about the vibes.

[Steve Berg]

What's it like first off? Like, geographically speaking, it is drop dead gorgeous. It is wildly tree covered these, I mean, not big, you know, Colorado west type mountains, but I guess almost in Colorado, you probably call them photos, but they call them mountains. There's mountains everywhere, rolling hills, so much forest and like it's an, you know, Pennsylvania is an old state. I'm used to the Midwest and the west coast, which were just new little babies. So there's all this old architecture, kind of these old mining towns. I love driving through them. I mean, there's some like, you know, there's a lot of poverty, but like, it's gorgeous. I love it. I mean, like, it is really beautiful. There's a Frank Lloyd Wright house there. Falling Water.

[Riley Bray]

Famous one.

[Steve Berg]

Like, it's a great place to vacation. There's Nemecullon right there, close to Pittsburgh, which is a great city.

[Michael McMillan]

I went to school in Pittsburgh and I remember when I got there, having come from Kansas and, and, and, and going finishing high school in Michigan. Pittsburgh sits on the, you know, on the triangle of three rivers, and it's surrounded by hills and mountains. It is beautiful. I love Pittsburgh. It's just that that area of the country is so gorgeous.

[Steve Berg]

So I'm with you.

[Michael McMillan]

So this area is, I mean, where we're talking about Westmoreland county, it's pretty rural, and I would imagine still rural today.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, it's. It's like my wife is from that area. She's actually from Fayette county, which is just, you know, right next to. I mean, they're very close. Her parents live like, you know, five minutes from Westmoreland. But wait, what was the question?

[Michael McMillan]

It must still be pretty rural, right?

[Steve Berg]

Oh, no, it's rural. Yeah. So there, I mean, there's little towns, but like, the towns are like, you know, 5,000 people, 8,000 people.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. And so when we're telling these stories, you know, imagine everybody. We're talking about 1973, and I'm sure the population hasn't changed that drastically, but these are small country towns that we're talking about. Okay, let's take a break and when we come back, we're getting into it. All right, Stevie, this is what you've been waiting for. Riley, get ready to be educated now. The primary source for this episode and the following episodes in the series is Silent Vision Invasion, a book by Stan Gordon. We're going to get all into Stan Gordon. That's a name that has definitely come up on the show. We're going to get to know a little bit more about him. Steve, have you met Stan Gordon? Is this a possibility?

[Steve Berg]

I've talked to him via email a handful of times. He's so nice. I'm dying to get him on my show. I just want to say that Stan Gordon is one of these unsung heroes in these 40 and fields. When he first published this book, people thought, like, what a dummy UFOs and Bigfoots, like, he. And you know, he was. He was actually also one of the first guys to say, like, I don't know if Bigfoot's a flesh and blood creature, because it kind of doesn't seem like it according to the cases he was fighting. So he was really controversial. And now, like, he's kind of like an OG Bigfoot hipster if you ask me. Yeah, like, he was ahead of the game by like 25 years.

[Michael McMillan]

Bigfoot. Like, you know, indie rock Bigfoot.

[Steve Berg]

He's a Steve Malkmus of Bigfoot.

[Michael McMillan]

I love this. Okay, great.

[Riley Bray]

Is the title right there. Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

Well, in some ways, this story really begins on December 9, 1965, with a UFO crash. You may recall this story, listeners, when we covered it back in episode 119, but for our newcomers, I will give you a brief recap. The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred in the small town of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, when residents reported seeing a bright fireball streaking across the night sky. The phenomenon began around 4:47pm when the fireball was observed flying over several states, including Michigan, Ohio, and good old Pennsylvania. The object was thought to be a meteor at first, but reports of the object's descent prompted local residents to investigate further, leading to the discovery of a crash site in a nearby wooded area. Eyewitness accounts describe the object as a metallic acorn shaped craft approximately 12ft long with strange hieroglyphic markings on its surface. However, as authorities arrived, it became apparent that the situation was more complex. Within hours, the area was cordoned offed by the military, and witnesses reported seeing army personnel at the site who apparently recovered the object and removed it from the area. The military's involvement fueled further speculation and conspiracy theories about the true nature of the object. Residents describe seeing the military transporting something large and unusual through town on the back of a flatbed truck, much like Roswell, if you remember that. Yet official explanations remain vague. One young man, a local teenager who lived in nearby Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was fascinated with this case. Young Stan Gordon had been fascinated with UFOs, ghosts, cryptids, and all things for Diana from a young age. And a UFO crash landing in his backyard was a sign that it was time for him to get involved in the realm of high strangeness. Stan's plucky investigative style into the Kecksburg incident led him to founding the Pennsylvania UFO Study Group in the late 1960s, which served as a platform for collecting and analyzing UFO sightings and reports from across the state. By the time of the Bigfoot UFO invasion of 1973, Gordon's study group had become the Westmoreland County UFO Research Organization, also cumbersomely known as the Wcuforg.

[Riley Bray]

It could have workshopped the name.

[Michael McMillan]

Could have workshopped it, buddy.

[Steve Berg]

Not very snappy. Not very snappy.

[Michael McMillan]

Wkuforg.

[Riley Bray]

Great work. Yeah, great work otherwise. But wkuforg.

[Michael McMillan]

Maybe if you lived in the Westmoreland county area in the early 1970s and reported a UFO sighting to the police, the local authorities would tell you to call Stan Gordon. Now, I want to stop here and say, kids, this is what we've lost today, all right? I want to talk to you about good old fashioned American gumption. Stan Gordon's. Just like us. When he was a kid, he would listen to these stories late night on the radio. He'd go check out books in the library about UFOs and ghosts and all of these things. And so when this stuff started happening, he's like, I'm going to get out there and I'm going to see it for myself. So he's kind of like the Rick Jones and the Teen Brigade of the early Marvel Comics of. Of the UFOs. Like, he would just show up, knock on doors, walk up to the police if they were. Walk up to reporters and say, what's going on? And there must have been something about his. I call it plucky, but like, there must have been something about him that really endeared everyone to him because literally the cops would tell him the stories of what they found at the, you know, when people were reporting UFOs or Bigfoot, and he would go talk to the eyewitnesses and he wrote all of this shit down. And he kept records of all of these stories. And that's why we have this book today and we're gonna get into some of these stories. Don't you think, though, Steve, like, get out there and go ask people about what they've seen.

[Steve Berg]

You want to know what's interesting is a lot of these organizations for all the 41 Bigfoot UFOs were started by teenagers back in the 60s and 70s. So Brett Rains, Dennis Pillow Kiss, I mean, Ray Boche, they were all like 15, 16 years old when they started these things. Like it. When you said gumption, I kind of think you nailed it.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. I just love the idea of. I mean, this is like a. He's like a character in a movie, you know what I mean? Like, hey, mister, what's going on? What did you see? What did you hear? You know?

[Steve Berg]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

And he drove around in a Dodge Charger and he said he loved hanging out at the Green Gate Mall, which. The Green Gate Mall. A lot of activity happening around the Green Gate Mall. I mean, this is kind of like Hawkins in Stranger Things. Wow.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

And by the way, I'm going to go back correct my correction. It is Greensburg, Pennsylvania. I get confused because Green Gate Mall and Greensburg, Pennsylvania. So I apologize. Here we go. Oh, other things that I want to mention about Stan Gordon that we didn't talk about. He was a longtime member of Mutual UFO Network. I think he was president of his local chapter and he was a member of the center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, cseti And so I just thought those were cool credits as well. He's like the real deal.

[Riley Bray]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

This show is sponsored by Better Help. What are some of your relationship green flags? Someone who lets me do whatever I want, whenever I want it without questioning or being a total jerk about it. Just kidding. Sense of humor, caring, good with animals. Nice, friendly to people, polite, avid reader. The list goes on and on. And I'm very lucky because everywhere I'm looking at my relationship, it's green flag after green flag. But what if you're not like me? What if you're not sure what green flags look like? Therapy can help you identify green flags, actively practice them in your relationships, and embody the green flag energy yourself. That old saying, it's not easy being green. Well, that's not true. It can be very easy being green with a little help from a therapist. I have absolutely learned how to recognize green flags and run away from the red flags by seeing a therapist for years. And therapy is also helping me not yell at my dogs in the middle of this ad read. I'm a big fan of therapy. I highly recommend it. Not just for people who are really going through something, which is great, but for people who just want some daily maintenance. I think everybody benefits from it. It's like going to the gym for your brain. So with that in mind, BetterHelp is fully online, making therapy affordable and convenient, serving over 5 million people worldwide. Access a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties, and you can easily switch therapists anytime at no extra cost, which is important. A lot of people give up after one meeting with a therapist because they think that person's not for them and therapy is not for them. Sometimes, you know, you gotta. You gotta shop around a little bit. Discover your relationship green flags with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com BCC to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com BCC so Stan and the Woku Forg or the WCUFO RG were instrumental in collecting data and stories during the invasion of 1973. Most of, if not all, of the cases can be found in silent invasion. While the crux of the flap occurred in 1973, UFO activity over Pennsylvania saw an uptick in 1972. During the months of April through May of that year, Wu Forg field researchers investigated numerous reports of glowing spherical lights appearing over Chestnut Ridge near Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Steve, talk about Chestnut Ridge. What comes to Mind when I say Chestnut Ridge.

[Steve Berg]

A massive confluence of all sorts of high strangeness. We're talking bigfoot, of course, UFOs, Thunderbirds. Speaking of, there is a. Just a Thunderbird sighting this month, like days ago.

[Michael McMillan]

No way.

[Steve Berg]

In this exact area, which you gotta love. Thunderbird. Yeah. And the thing is, like, they don't just see one kind of like ufo, but they see orange balls of light, like the size of helicopters are extremely common still to this day. Structured craft, all other kinds of weird, like folklore. In Pennsylvania they have like Pennsylvania folk magic. So there is a real esoteric vibe. Not to mention Fayetteville or Fayette county, which is kind of at the heart of all this. That in Westmoreland there is. There was a book written by Lauren Coleman called the Fayette Factor about how places where Lafayette, you know, this French general, every place he visited they would name. Name Fayette after him. And all those places are extremely weird and have a long history of weirdness.

[Michael McMillan]

Whoa. I never knew this.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, it's weird. Lauren Coleman wrote a book in the 70s about it, I think called the. It was. I think it was called the Fayette Factor and he calls it the Name Game. But there's a couple names and Fayette is like the most common one.

[Michael McMillan]

Man, back when books were good.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, right. That's spicy stuff right there.

[Michael McMillan]

That is spicy stuff. What's the mineral makeup of Chestnut Ridge? Are we talking some quartz here? What are we.

[Steve Berg]

There is quartz, a lot of limestone, which would go ahead the caves and the coal. You know, obviously at one point I think the. Probably where most of America's coal was mined that in West Virginia, which I think a lot of that has stopped now. But I know limestone comes to mind and there is some chords. I don't think it's like, you know, Somerset, Kentucky, where it's like one giant piece, of course, or Sedona, but there is course for sure.

[Michael McMillan]

Okay, so here we go.

[Steve Berg]

Where were we?

[Michael McMillan]

Yes. In October of That same year, 1972, reports started coming in about a tall, black haired creature stalking the homesteads outside of Latrobe. Families reported encounters with a huge hairy being with pointy ears and red eyes that peered into their windows, attacked their dogs, and on one terrifying occasion even lifted and shook a car while the passengers were still inside of it. And I just want to pull this story directly out of the book. It's just a little snippet. It was about 3 o' clock one morning when one of the family members and her friend pulled into their driveway. It was very dark and there was a heavy rain at the time. They turned out the car lights and the driver reached down to get her house keys. While still in their vehicle, the two people suddenly found themselves being thrown to and fro. Something was lifting and shaking the small car, causing the passengers to be thrown about. This frightening situation lasted for several minutes, then ended as suddenly as it began. The car had been moved a distance from where they had parked.

[Riley Bray]

Whoa.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Riley Bray]

I mean, that's a lot of strength to not just lift a car, but lift it so violently that you're shaking people around inside.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, that's some hardcore bro energy.

[Michael McMillan]

How many Yinglings did this guy drink?

[Steve Berg]

Well, you know what? If I don't meant. I'm sorry, I'm interrupt, but I say that one of the interesting things that you will hear over and over again in this book is that they describe these version of Bigfoot with pointy ears. Now, to my recollection, I do not remember coming across any description of ears, period, when it comes to Bigfoot.

[Michael McMillan]

No, I mean tiny ears. Sometimes like little tiny ears on the side of their head and these. So if you're listening at home, these aren't. These aren't like dogman ears. They're not tall, pointy dog ears.

[Riley Bray]

That's where my head went when you said that.

[Steve Berg]

No, they're tiny.

[Michael McMillan]

No, they're like Spock ears. Imagine a Bigfoot with Peter Pan or Spock ears. Like they're. They're rounded ears, but then they're pointed at the tips at the tops of the ear.

[Steve Berg]

Yep.

[Riley Bray]

So this is like Elvin Bigfoot.

[Michael McMillan]

Elvin Bigfoot.

[Steve Berg]

Bingo. Five points to you. I mean, this goes with my fairy theory of Bigfoot. But I do also want to say one other thing, and that is a lot of times these Bigfoot weren't like the big, muscular, like kind of like, you know, Pacific Northwest. They were more wiry, more like heroin chic of the 90s, you know, like a Kate Moss.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, but tall too. All of these reports put them at 8 to 10ft. There's another story about a woman who saw it looking in her window, much like Joe. And her window was like nine feet off the ground and this thing was bending down to look into the window. Spooky. So it's weird. This is weird, weird stuff that we're talking about. So the saga of the pointy eared Bigfoot in 1972 ended with one local man who was found unconscious. Unconscious in the woods after going missing. His face was swollen and he was taken to the hospital where he claimed he was hit in the face by the pointy eared creature. A group of men, small town monster posse went back into the area and reportedly shot at a tall dark hulking figure before it retreated deeper into the woods. And that was one of the last sightings in that flap. The high strangeness did not let up in the early weeks of 1973. By mid January, the Westmoreland County UFO Research Organization was getting a flood of calls from people claiming to have seen a ufo. And it appears that all varieties of unexplained craft were seen flying over Pennsylvania during this time period. Amber, orange, pink and red objects, capsule shaped crafts, cigar shaped objects, star shaped objects were all reported. For context sake, here's a list of reports that the WC UFO RG recorded just for just one week in March. March 11, 1973 Delmont 2:45am Cylindrical shaped objects reported March 11, 1973 Jeanette 11:50pm Light scene over radio tower March 13, 1973 Murraysville 7:45am Transportation Parent object observed in the sky March 15, 1973 Stalls Town 7:20pm Elongated object seen 500ft off the ground March 15, 1973 Milton, North Cumberland County APM Odor then strain objects Strange objects reported March 16, 1973 Mifflinburg, Union County 5:30am Domed shaped objects hovering motionless. That's just one week in March. And this timeline goes on and on just like this throughout the rest of the year. Wow.

[Steve Berg]

Scrumptious.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, Scrump diddlyumptious.

[Riley Bray]

Also, especially in a fairly small town to have that many different sightings, not.

[Michael McMillan]

A huge population happening multiple times a day in some cases, not just multiple times a week. And the reports didn't involve just involve objects seen in the sky. A number of cases came in with eyewitness reports of craft landing and occupants seen in the immediate vicinity. On March 28, the Reading Pa Eagle newspaper reported that a family from Robinsia were awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of a multicolored object landing in the field outside of their property. Backlit against the ever shifting light display of the craft, the husband, wife and son could make out the skinny silhouette of a figure walking around the craft, at times bending over as if collecting samples from the ground. The family described the entity as a stick figure like form from their vantage point.

[Riley Bray]

I mean that's just so cinematic. I love that so much.

[Steve Berg]

It's beautiful.

[Michael McMillan]

Wow. It's like tall E.T.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, yeah. And the samples from the ground, classic. In that era, I mean they could not get enough dirt Back then, yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

Yum yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Fill up our little dirt.

[Steve Berg]

Must have been like they could have.

[Michael McMillan]

Then there's another weird encounter on April 15, less than a month later. During the hours between 8 and 11pm multiple eyewitnesses, witnesses traveling between Manor and Penn, two tiny little towns reported multiple low flying crafts. Okay, this is all in one night. One was a round shaped object with windows emitting multicolored lights from within, topped with a dome light. A dome like structure emitting a white light. Another, seen by two cars following one. Another home to Manor, was a longer craft like a cigar that was about 60ft long and tapered at the tail end, with two bright portholes or headlights at the head of the object and similar round lights running alongside the hole. A weird mist or haze was surrounding the object, making it hard to get a clear view. This evening's excitement culminated with another driver witnessing a brightly lipped object that spun like a top, possibly descending an occupant from a thin beam of light or rope. Here is that encounter as told to Stan Gordon. This is Stan talking here. The witness described the shape of the object to me is similar to a glowing spinning top. Its size was estimated to be approximately 36ft in diameter. The object was spinning while in this hovering position and lit up the area with a burning white glow. The object itself appeared to be a solid structure and gave the witness the impression that it was white hot like molten steel. The bright glow of the object was described as similar to a morning snow. At the top of the spinning object was a dome shaped structure which was the same color as the object. Around the center of the object were two or three rows of square windows which emitted various colors of light. Now, I just want to pause here and talk about the level of detail that Stan Gordon is getting from these eyewitnesses. And like case after case, he's getting these details. Yeah, back to. Back to his. Back to Stan, seeing the UFO was strange enough, but there was even more to this sighting. The man explained that there was something that was coming out from it. The witness related how he saw what appeared to be a beam of light or possibly some type of rope which extended out about 20 yards from the left center of side of the object. The beam or rope was attached to some kind of form. The witness was reluctant to say that the form was human like, only that it appeared to be a hulk or a torso about 8 to 10ft tall and had a color to it. As he continued to watch the attachment line and the unknown form suddenly vanished. He described this as like a string of lights on one circuit, all going out when the switch is turned off. Moments after that happened, the spinning object suddenly took off at high speed towards toward the Harrison city area. He was able to hear not only a high pitched sound as the object took off, but also the wind blowing through the trees as the object moved above him. The driver had kept his engine running and headlights on when exiting the car. While watching the ufo, the car suddenly shut off and the headlights became as dim and as weak as a flashlight. As the object appear departed the area, the man noticed that his headlights became very bright. Shaken by his experience, he drove down the road to find a telephone where he called the state police. The state police referred the witness to. Call my UFO hotline.

[Riley Bray]

Amazing.

[Michael McMillan]

Love that cops are like don't call us man.

[Riley Bray]

All this call this kid he's got.

[Steve Berg]

By the way, I wanted. I always want to add that he. That phone number is the same one he's had for decades. He still has that landline. Go look at his website. His website is like ancient and old and it's so. I now like him like nostalgic for like early 2000s. Like websites.

[Riley Bray]

Oh, the best.

[Steve Berg]

His is delightful. Delightful. Yeah. Link it in this episode.

[Michael McMillan]

Okay, I will, I will. So the UFO encounters continued weekly well into the summer of 1973. Then in August, strange footprints unlike any other Bigfoot scene before began turning up in the area. Streaming September 4th on Peacock. We sell toilet tissue and local newspapers. That is in order of quality. From the crew that brought you the office. My name is Ned Sampson. I am your new editor in chief. Comes a new comedy series.

[Steve Berg]

Have you read this paper?

[Michael McMillan]

Huh? It sucks. But we are going to make it better. Meet the underdog journalist. I hope it's not too disruptive to have me shake everything up. Don't be so self defecating with major issues, Oscar. Oh God, not again. The paper only on Peacock September 4th.

[Kristen Bell]

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[Michael McMillan]

It's on Prime. Now we talked about the encounter involving Joe and his bathroom window which took place at the end of July of 1973. The Bigfoot, if we can even call the entity. That activity, really started going crazy in August. But there were more reports in Maine through June of a tall, black, hairy creature with red eyes and pointy ears roaming around Westmoreland county. Which to me makes it seem like whatever was hopping around, walking around in late 1972 back in October is now re emerging in May and June. For example, one story goes that a group of teenage boys were walking down Green Gate Road in the early summer one evening while taking a shortcut through the woods to go to the mall. From deep within the brush came a loud snort which caught the attention of the boys. And thinking that the creature might be a deer, they quickly picked up a few rocks and started chucking them into the tree line.

[Riley Bray]

I know, you know, probably just want.

[Michael McMillan]

To see a deer run across the road. And they did see something, but it wasn't a deer. A bipedal, hairy creature emerged from the woods behind them, crossed the road, and started walking up a hill back towards the house of one of the boys. The teenagers described the creature standing about 8 to 10ft tall and walking upright like a man, with a pointy ears, with arms that did not swing while it walked. I love this comical description of this thing walking very stiffly. And there's another report that comes in this period, too, of the legs being very stiff, that the legs are walking kind of. They're not bowed at the knee like great apes walk, that they're. It's very stiff limbed and stiff legged, which I don't. This stuff is weird to me because that almost makes me feel like 60s 70s robot, you know, I was just.

[Steve Berg]

Gonna say the same thing. I think there's a couple things that feel very, like, synthetic to me, like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, the mannerisms. Well, I mean, I don't want to get too deep into busting the stories, but, like, you know, do it. There's so many, like, balls of light. And, like, there's one case, and I don't want to. In case you get to. I don't want to say it, but bring it up.

[Michael McMillan]

Bring it out. Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

And I don't know if it's in this book, but it is from this time period where there was a. I think a couple. They pulled their car over because they saw a bright light in, like, the fields. They went over there, they saw a UFO hovering. Then underneath the ufo, they see what they call the bigfoot holding a black box with a little red light on it. And then all Of a sudden the like the, the box like gives him like an electrocution and like the Bigfoot was being naughty and then it went back on the UFO and took off. That's so weird.

[Riley Bray]

That is so strange.

[Steve Berg]

So there's like, you know, it's like that's a case of where it was interacting directly under. It went into the UFO craft. But there's other weird things where it's like. There's definitely like these Bigfoot seem like more occulty than like animal to me. You know how.

[Michael McMillan]

So unpack that a little bit.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, well, I feel like, you know, they're. The pointy ears, the way they look. Look, I mean obviously Bigfoot is how one would describe it, but there's a lot of things about that that doesn't seem like a Bigfoot. Yes, it's tall, upright and fur covered. But the pointy ears, the, the salt.

[Michael McMillan]

Sulfuric smells, the glowing red eyes.

[Steve Berg]

The glowing red eyes. It being seen in proximity to UFOs and at the same time like when these, both these flaps ended, both the stuff ended like it's like when the UFOs ended up. So the Bigfoot. When the Bigfoot ended so the ufo. So it's like to. I know a lot of people don't like the idea of high strangeness blending into each other or potentially.

[Michael McMillan]

That is what I love more than anything, brother.

[Steve Berg]

That's, that's where the, that's where the meatball is for me. You know what I'm saying? So like I think people like to have these separate, you know, because historically the Bigfoot people hate the UFO people, the UFO hate the Bigfoot people, paranormal people hate everyone. And so why can't we all just get along?

[Riley Bray]

We got to come together.

[Michael McMillan]

But that's what the collectors club is all about, everybody. Riley, where's your head at at this point in the story?

[Riley Bray]

I mean this is like a really substantial flap. And yeah, these, they don't sound like Bigfoot to me. Like specifically the glowing red eyes. Like it's not. No one's describing like an eyeshine thing. It's like no, they have like they're emitting.

[Michael McMillan]

They're literally glowing.

[Riley Bray]

And the weird little elven ears. Like it sounds like this is like some sort of, you know, alien species or something. Like especially with so many crafts. And I also did the. All of these craft stories are so nicely detailed and vivid. Like I can really, I can really see them and you can really like hear the immediacy of the fact that this is a witness recounting. It like very shortly after. So it's just that it's a treasure trove.

[Michael McMillan]

This is awesome.

[Steve Berg]

It is.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. Yeah. And we're barely scratching the surface in this episode as well.

[Steve Berg]

That's true. And, and the nice thing is I'm so glad you're highlighting this book and these, this flat because for many years this whole like, you know, the Chestnut Ridge saga was swept under the table by UFO people, Bigfoot people, because they did not like that. It didn't confirm their belief system.

[Michael McMillan]

Yep.

[Steve Berg]

And nowadays people are a little more open minded. And I think this stuff is becoming a lot more hip hop. And I'm so happy for it.

[Michael McMillan]

Especially with the case that we're going to get into next week. I mean it involves so much weird stuff, so much high strangeness that you'll see why Bigfoot people want to ignore it because it would sort of completely discount the flesh and blood or the relic hominid theory. And you want to, you'll see why UFO people want to discount it because it's really hard to divorce the, the creatures from the so called UFO as well.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

And we're not even getting into the men in black that gets involved with it. Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

And it's got a cold stuff too. I mean like, you know, it's, it's, it's thick, baby.

[Riley Bray]

We're really dancing around some clickbaity titles here.

[Steve Berg]

Oh yeah.

[Riley Bray]

The bigfoot story. The UFO people don't want you to know. Yeah. Cardiologists hate this one. Bigfoot.

[Michael McMillan]

Podiatrists want you to ignore this next fact about Bigfoot's footprints.

[Riley Bray]

Exactly.

[Michael McMillan]

Which is this. This is gonna go. This is gonna go into the bucket of. Is this actually a Bigfoot?

[Riley Bray]

Okay.

[Michael McMillan]

The investigation into the boys sighting led Stan Gordon going out to the area to look for evidence on the hillside where the boys had claimed that they'd seen the beast walk back up towards their. Their home home. Gordon was shocked to discover the presence of large three toed footprints in the soil. Which are obviously not your typical Bigfoot print. Now some of you may recall that we have heard about three toed footprints in the past. The folk monster. And Bigfoot sightings around Arkansas often come with the presence of three toed footprints which are very, very weird and definitely go against the sort of relic hominid thing for me. But here's a photograph and I'll, I'll put this, I'll put a slide in here if you're watching on YouTube and hi everybody. Watching on YouTube, thanks for watching. This will go up in Instagram as well. But here is the casting of this print.

[Riley Bray]

Big old toes.

[Michael McMillan]

Oh, Mommy, we are talking like, almost duck foot.

[Riley Bray]

This is almost like what I would expect, like, big.

[Steve Berg]

I think I have a foot finish now.

[Michael McMillan]

I mean, this is like gonzo. This is like a Muppet, you know.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah.

[Riley Bray]

It looks like Big bird.

[Michael McMillan]

It makes me kind of wonder, like, what if this is sort of like some type of platypus type man, you know, the platypus is one of these mammals that confounds everybody. It's got a beak, it's got a beaver tail. It's got weird feet. It lays eggs. So who this? I. This thing could be the platypus puss of Bigfoots. Yeah, it's very, very, very weird.

[Steve Berg]

Well, I believe the Roman gods used to take animals and combine them for fun in games. I think. I even think Norse mythology has the same thing where they, you know, you see these, like, old pictographs of like a cat and a, you know, a dog and a butterfly all combined as one creature.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

So it's obviously probably like, you know, Poseidon creating these things.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, probably is. I mean, even the Bible that gets into like angels that are like a bull and a lion and a la human. Or like a face with like, surrounded by a thousand wings and like arms in weird places like chimera and strange makeup of mishmash. Monsters have existed for as long as human beings have. I just wanted to double check the length and the measurements of this. This duck foot or this Bigfoot 3 toed. Gordon says I measured the imprint, which was 13 inches in length and 8 inches in width, but oddly, it only had three large toes. I radioed from the scene to the UFO Control Communication center in my home and another member of the WC UFO SG soon sg. Have I been saying reason or have I been saying org. God damn it, Stan. It's so confusing. I've messed up the name the whole time. So it's the Wku. Wakazga.

[Steve Berg]

What is it that rolls off his tongue?

[Michael McMillan]

It's just as cumbersome. Hold on.

[Riley Bray]

Wait. What? What is it? What is the official here?

[Michael McMillan]

What? Okay, hold on. I got it. It's the official God. This is what happens when you're typing feverishly about UFOs and Bigfoot. Sorry. It was originally the Pennsylvania Study Group.

[Riley Bray]

Great.

[Michael McMillan]

And then it became the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group. And I thought it was research organization, so I fucked this up this entire time. This is why you've got to get a good Acronym, everybody.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, yeah.

[Riley Bray]

So it's the.

[Michael McMillan]

It's the. Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah. That's nice.

[Riley Bray]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

Really? I think better. Well, I apologize to Stan Gordon.

[Riley Bray]

A play on the. The O in ufo.

[Steve Berg]

I would just call Stan's Boys.

[Michael McMillan]

Stan's Boys. We're just gonna call it Stanley's Gang from now on.

[Riley Bray]

Just pause to note that they had radios set up and he was radioing control in his house. How cool is that? I'm telling you, Walkie talkies.

[Michael McMillan]

He is Rick Jones and the Teen Brigade from the early Marvel's Avengers comics. They're running around with walkie talkies and he's only like 24 or 25 while all of this is going on, so.

[Riley Bray]

Great.

[Steve Berg]

Well, he owned and operated. He's retired now. An electronic store at all. Check. Fab.

[Michael McMillan]

Well, his degree was in radio and electronics, so he's a gadget guy.

[Riley Bray]

This dude rules.

[Michael McMillan]

So he's a Ghostbuster too. You know what I mean? That's the thing. I mean, he's like making little gat. He's like an Egon Spangler. He's just using little like anything that he can use around him. Yeah, man, I'm so pissed I got that wrong. I'm sorry, everybody.

[Steve Berg]

Forgive yourself.

[Michael McMillan]

You know, the thing is, sometimes you got a deadline and you're typing away. Hey, club scouts, did you know that traditional bed sheets can harbor more bacteria than a Bigfoot's butt? But this is true. Or a toilet seat. Think about that. Think about sleeping. When you go to bed tonight, I want you to think about the fact that you're curling up in Bigfoot's crack. Okay? Those dirty, dirty sheets. It can lead to acne, allergies and stuffy noses and it's just disgusting. Miracle made offers a whole line of self cleaning antibacterial bedding such as sheets, pillowcases and comforters that Prevent up to 99.7% of bacterial growth and require up to three times less laundry. Well, how do they do this? These sheets are infused with silver that Prevent up to 99.7% of bacterial growth, leaving them to stay cleaner and fresh three times longer than other sheets so there's no more gross odors. Are they comfortable, you ask? As comfortable as curling up in Bigfoot's butt. Well, Miracle sheets are luxuriously comfortable. I'm glad you asked. Without the high price tag of other luxury brands. And feel as nice, if not nicer, than sheets used by some five star hotels. And guess what? They're designed for your skin. We've said it before. We'll say it again. Stop sleeping on bacteria. It's gross. It's gonna clog your pores. It's nasty. Sleep clean with Miracle. Upgrade your sleep this year. Go to trymiracle.com BCC to try Miracle made sheets today. And whether you're buying them for yourself or as a gift for a loved one, if you order today you can save over 40%. And if you use our promo BCC at checkout, you'll get a free three piece towel set and save an extra 20%. Miracle is so confident in their product, it's backed with a 30 day money back guarantee. So if you are not 100% satisfied, you'll get a full refund. Upgrade your sleep with Miracle made. Go to trymiracle.com BCC and use the code BCC to claim your free three piece towel set and save over 40% off again, that's trymiracle.com BCC to treat yourself. Thank you Miracle made for sponsoring this episode. And thank you Bigfoot for being so damn snuggly. Okay, so on August 7th, the same day that Stan Gordon had found the three toed print, the study group got a call reporting an encounter with a red eyed being at a mobile home in New Sewickley Township. The eyewitness, a man, said that the creature's head peered into his window around 1:40 in the morning. It had a nose that was flat like a gorilla's, but it had, say it with me, glowing red eyes. He judged the creature to be around 8, 8ft tall. Again, odd tracks were found in the area, this time by law enforcement who responded to the original emergency call. Sightings of the creature continued throughout August, including one involving two children from Monongila, Pennsylvania who spotted a dark red eyed creature digging around in some coal. Oddly, there were reports of white haired creatures as well. So just as you think you've got this thing pinned down, here come the yeti out of nowhere. We're going to talk about one of them next week, but this one came from a woman in Plum Plum in Allegheny county who said that she was sitting outside in her yard enjoying the fresh summer air when she heard the sound of someone walking up behind her. She turned and she saw about, about 15ft away, a tall hairy creature with red eyes stepped into view. The witness ran into the house to tell other family members about what they had seen. Excuse me. Okay, hold on. Pause, pause this. That was the. That was a different case the same day. So this is the. Now I'm all thrown off.

[Riley Bray]

I mean even that one though 15ft away.

[Michael McMillan]

15Ft away? Yes. This one was the one in Jeannette county where UFOs had been seen in March. That one was a young man who went outside to do some chores and he heard some noise in a nearby brush. And then 15ft away, this creature steps out.

[Riley Bray]

Got it.

[Michael McMillan]

So shortly after that on August 3rd, near Plum county or Plum in Allegheny county, the woman sitting on her yard enjoying the fresh air. She turns around to see a 9 to 10 foot creature covered in white hair. The creature was only about 10ft away from the witness and was staring at in her direction. The woman's dog did not bark while the creature was nearby and it remained quiet during the entire episode. The witness went on to say that the creature appeared to be slightly stooped, was very broad shouldered, shouldered and had a pear shaped head. Pear shaped. Now we're talking Dover Demon here. I don't know what's going on.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, wow.

[Michael McMillan]

So this is another thing that happened, happens in Joe's story. Our, our first friend with the, with the tea and the pickle. He said that his dogs that usually go nuts when there's an animal, you know, because there's also bear in this area, when there's animals in the area the dogs usually go crazy. And his dogs all went really quiet when that creature was around. So there's stories of dogs suddenly getting very scared and quiet and not, not barking at this thing which maybe they're so intimidated by it that they are scared or that there's some sort of infrared sound happening here that is scaring the dogs or some telepathy telling the dogs to calm down. But then in other stories which are sad, there are stories of dogs going missing or being killed by these creatures. There was a family where one of the dog's haunches had been like ripped open and they took it to the vet and it didn't survive. And that was after they had seen a tall, black, hairy, red eyed creature on their property and the dog had chased after it.

[Riley Bray]

Wow.

[Steve Berg]

Wow.

[Michael McMillan]

It's crazy. It's heavy, heavy stuff. Also around this time comes a story involving two men who encountered a tall, dark, hairy creature along a country road who disappeared and then reappeared on the opposite side of them. And this wouldn't be the only eyewitness story involving a vanishing monster. On August 20, the Derry Police were alarmed by a report involving a local motorist who claimed while driving in the car with his wife to have hit a tall ape like creature who vanished into thin air at the moment of impact.

[Riley Bray]

What? Yeah, that Is wild.

[Michael McMillan]

But there's another story with the family driving back in, I think this was in 1972, hitting one of these things and it rolled over their car and then stood up in the. The kids looked out the back window and saw what they described as a tall, hairy man with no clothes on running off into the woods after being hit and rolling over the hood of their car. So in some cases it vanishes. In some cases it's just running back off into the woods. Now maybe it was just a very hairy man with no clothes on. That's pot. That's also a possibility.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, sure.

[Riley Bray]

But the agile at that too.

[Michael McMillan]

But the nature of this thing just disappearing like the, like the torso hanging off the UFO in the man's story who saw it hovering over the train tracks. What the hell's going on here?

[Steve Berg]

I had, I was on a. I won't say what show and we didn't. It was not an argument but like, you know, I was kind of defending my, you know, and more open minded.

[Michael McMillan]

Really piqued our curiosity.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, no, no, I, I love the person who hosted We're Friends. But anyways, you know, he's a defender of the flesh and blood thing. And, and he was. And I was like, well what about the cloaking cases? Because you hear about those not just here. And he's like, well, you know, we, we don't know what kind of, you know, it might be an advanced animal that has some kind of like, like ability to blend into the environment. And I'm like, I'm like, but isn't that kind of paranormal? Like if it, you know, I mean like, you know, it's like, well, they might just have like these powers. I'm like, well if it has powers.

[Riley Bray]

So paranormal, it just has special powers.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, okay, I guess. But you know, but it's. The cloaking thing is interesting. And you'll hear flesh and blood people say like, well yeah, you know, they can cook themselves but they're not supernatural.

[Riley Bray]

Right. What's the octopus is the reference. Right?

[Steve Berg]

Right. That's exactly right. But the cloaking.

[Riley Bray]

But I mean octopus are aliens. Let's be honest.

[Steve Berg]

I mean we all know that now. We can come out and say.

[Riley Bray]

Go ahead and say it.

[Michael McMillan]

So take a listen to. Oh, hold on a second. Let's go back for a moment. I lost my place here. I was just thinking about the camouflaging bigfoot stuff because if. Did it vanish? Does it vanish into thin air or does it just cloak?

[Steve Berg]

Right.

[Michael McMillan]

That's the other thing that I don't know. I don't get it guys.

[Steve Berg]

Well, guess what else just finishes UFOs.

[Michael McMillan]

That's true.

[Steve Berg]

And ghosts.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, ghosts do vanish.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, you rarely see them walk down the street and like walk off into another block. It's like they're there, they're not there.

[Michael McMillan]

You know what else vanishes? Boxes of Girl Scout cookies around my apartment. Support your local Girl Scout chapter, everyone. So the UFO activity continued during August as well with an an hourglass shaped craft seeing flying over a power line in Harrison City. A spherical object emitting sparks over a garage in New Alexandria. And the eyewitness saw a small aircraft follow that as it took off. And a flying saucer with illuminated windows seen by a mother and her two children hovering over a golf course near the Green Gate Mall. Again, this mall, lots of activity around the mall. Yes, that's the same area where the boys had encountered the pointy eared creature on the road. And not far from where the red eyed monster appeared into the bathroom. Bathroom Joe's window. Speaking of those red eyes, take a listen to this report that Stan Gordon received from two police officers on Aug. 14 near New Stanton, just a week after he discovered those three toed tracks. It was about 4:30am on Aug. 14 when a police officer on patrol in a wooded area in New Stanton and noticed what he thought were at first reflector lights on a trailer. When the officer stopped for a better look, he soon realized that these were not reflectors at all, but appeared to be two glowing eyes each about the size of a 50 cent piece. The eyes were connected to a tall dark shape which the officer estimated to be about 8ft tall. I spoke with the officer who was quite reluctant to discuss his experience. But he was sure, sure that he had seen something quite out of the ordinary. So again these things are in glowing in the dark. There was another case where the eyewitness described the same thing. Except the eyes were not level that there were like one was higher than the other on. On the head which I don't want to know what's going on there. Really, really weird stuff. Now I ask you Steve Riley, could all of these be the same creature? And were they connected somehow to the UFO activity? And what about the mysterious three toed footprints? More of them showed up in the rural areas of Hutchinson on August 15, a day after Stan Gordon gets that report investigating a sighting with a local reporter and members of the study group. Stan wrote this about the new tracks that they found. And this is getting into some weird stuff again. The glow of safety Flares placed on the ground by the onlookers prior to our arrival produced an eerie reflection on a series of huge three toed prints, the likes of which I had never seen before. They were not in fact the the same configuration as the three toed footprints found somewhere else. Rather than the foot being narrow at the heel and wider at the toes, on these footprints the width of the entire foot was nearly as wide as the span of the toes. Additionally, the joints in the toes were clearly defined. The footprints were 20 inches long and 7 inches wide. So much, much bigger. The tracks were well formed and impressed, pressed deeply into the ground. So that sounds kind of like a, a brick shaped, you know, print where the toes are straight instead of splayed out.

[Steve Berg]

Yes.

[Michael McMillan]

By mid August, news about this strange Bigfoot activity was making headlines across Pennsylvania. Strange things were indeed afoot in Westmoreland County. But things are about to get even weirder. As we will find out out next week in part two of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot UFO invasion.

[Riley Bray]

We're hanging off that cliff.

[Steve Berg]

Oh man.

[Michael McMillan]

So what do you think guys? Same creature, same type of creature? Multiple creatures, robot creatures? Are they occupants in these UFOs? What are we thinking?

[Riley Bray]

Steve, you jump on this first.

[Steve Berg]

I will, I feel, conclude I can say with a lot of confidence that it's not the same creature. In terms of the rest of the questions you asked, I think it could be all of the above. Like I, I think these are weird big big feet. I mean, I don't even know if we can call them your typical Bigfoot. I, I would like to just add one real quick thing. Yeah, Pennsylvania is unique where it actually has a, a very old history of Bigfoot sightings. There's this great researcher named Timothy Renner from Pennsylvania.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

And he has all these old cases, you know, front of the show, right. Where you know, it used to be called the Wild man because they didn't have the term Bigfoot. But he's got cases where he, there people are seeing the Wild Man, AKA Bigfoot, with a musket, holding a gun and it has clothes on, like ripped up clothes. Like, I mean the old cases from the 1800s are, are unbelievably weird.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, I've read some of those. We did. We covered maybe a few of those in our early Bigfoot reports back in big hairy summer a couple years back. And you're right, I mean there are Bigfoot wild Man stories that is in this area specifically that go back hundreds of years before all this stuff happened. So there is a precedent for Bigfoot in this area. But this seems to be a really weird uptick. And not your typical Bigfoot, right?

[Riley Bray]

Not at all typical.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah, right.

[Riley Bray]

The only other place where my mind goes is, is if this was somehow related to like covert military or like, you know, like this is. It's not. I, I don't know if MK Ultra is still active.

[Michael McMillan]

It's around this time.

[Riley Bray]

Yeah, yeah, it's like some sort of weird social experiment.

[Steve Berg]

I don't think MK Ultra ever stopped. I think it just did, didn't. You know, we can either confirm or deny that. I. You know what? You know what, Riley? I like where your head's at. I would say that is more likely than it being a flesh and blood creature running around like to me, like I'm, I'm. I'm paranoid these days. So like, yeah, I'm a little.

[Riley Bray]

Especially those glowing red eyes. Like it feels like maybe some sort of like, you know, early night vision goggles, like infrared camera.

[Steve Berg]

I totally.

[Riley Bray]

And like the, the, I don't know, the weird pointy, like maybe those are little helmet antenna. I mean who, who knows? I'm just like riffing on this idea.

[Michael McMillan]

But I had the same thought while reading this. It's so strange that I can see a world where they're running some sort of psyop in a small town to be like, how will people react? Or what are we doing here? You know, I, I don't know this stuff, but again, this stuff happens, you know what I mean? And we don't know. We don't know what the hell it is. And we're not going to know any more about what it is. We might have more developed theories, but we won't know by the end of this story. We're never going to know. One thing that I didn't really touch upon that I hinted at the beginning of this is there were groups of these things seen on a number of occasions. People would talk about. They'd be driving down the road and out in the field they would see two or three of these tall beings hanging out like lounging in the grass. Sometimes they saw creatures that were only 4 or 5ft tall, which would imply some juveniles, they'd say. We saw two lounging in the grass and one was standing, looking around, obviously kind of keeping guard for the ones that were sleeping or resting. A lot of daytime sightings too were happening. It's not all just at night. It's not all just around UFO activity at night. So we'll get into it more next week and we're going to come back to this. This big case that Steve has hinted about. So there you go. All right. Before we head over to our collector's corner and say goodbye to Steve for the time being, we want to give a big thanks to you, the listeners, especially our friends who recently joined us on bcc, the Other side. Here we go. It's time for some Patreon shout outs. Molly.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Molly.

[Michael McMillan]

Mo. Cosmeteer.

[Riley Bray]

Thank you, Mo. Welcome.

[Michael McMillan]

Carrie's longest.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Carrie.

[Michael McMillan]

Ellenie Robinson.

[Riley Bray]

Thank you, Eleni.

[Michael McMillan]

Jared Kiger. Cosmeteer.

[Riley Bray]

Thank you, Jared. Welcome to the ranks.

[Michael McMillan]

Elise Cosmetier.

[Riley Bray]

Thank you, Elise. Welcome.

[Michael McMillan]

Rafael Fernandez.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Rafael.

[Michael McMillan]

Yegi.

[Riley Bray]

Yegi. Thank you.

[Michael McMillan]

Debbie Courig.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Debbie.

[Michael McMillan]

Matt McLaughlin.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Matt.

[Michael McMillan]

Ricario Jaro.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Ricario.

[Michael McMillan]

Castanek. Sorry, casket neck.

[Riley Bray]

Casket neck.

[Michael McMillan]

I think you've been in a casket too long.

[Riley Bray]

Delightful. Tramp.

[Michael McMillan]

I want to say. Castanek. Yeah. Devin Lemaster.

[Riley Bray]

Thanks, Devin.

[Michael McMillan]

And our favorite name of the week. Hex Vomit.

[Riley Bray]

Hex vomit. Thank you.

[Michael McMillan]

You too can be an official club scout when you join patreon.com bigfootcollectorsclub and unlock total access to BCC with 3 bonus episodes every month. The BCC Discord and more upgrade to the Cosmoteer membership for ad free main feed episodes like this one and exclusive music tracks from the wizard of Waveforms himself, Riley. And we are folding into those tracks. We're also folding in exclusive video episodes of the Patreon episodes on that tier as well.

[Riley Bray]

So Cosmic Video.

[Michael McMillan]

What?

[Riley Bray]

Get in there.

[Michael McMillan]

Cosmic Video. Get in there. Have fun with us. Okay, Steve, we're going over to the Collector's Corner. Now's the time to tell us about something you're into and something that you're doing that people can. Can collect for themselves.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah. Okay. Well, what I'm into specifically, and I've been into this, but for a little bit now, is roads. Why do people see UFOs by roads? Why do people see Bigfoot crossing the road? Why do people see Ladies and White by roads? Yeah, and this goes even, you know, before cars were a thing. There's something about roads. I think maybe my weird theory is that driving and going on roads puts you in a hypnotic state. Even the sound is almost like binaural beats. And so I wonder if it unlocks something in us that we can actually experience these things that I have no evidence of it. That's my crazy, wackadoo thought, but I like that idea.

[Riley Bray]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. I like where you're going. I will say as someone who has driven cross country to Kansas City multiple times and driven links probably longer than I should, I don't get sleepy behind the wheel, but I would say the last time I went home, I got pretty lucid behind the wheel and I started. I always know it's time to stop when I start seeing like, what look like shadows darting across the road or like a strobe. I'm like, I'm not tired, but like, there's definitely like a strobe effect happening. Yeah. Things are getting weird. I gotta pull over. I gotta go to sleep for the night.

[Steve Berg]

It's like you ate a cap and a stem. Not a lot, but, you know.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

That little body buzz where you're cool. This is a little odd, man.

[Riley Bray]

Yeah, it's. As someone who spent much of my 20s and 30s on the American highways, I, I, I completely agree with this idea. And yeah, it's like, it really does. It is a unique headspace that you only get in on long drives, especially in sort of like remote long drives.

[Steve Berg]

Yeah.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah. Kansas, Nebraska, sometimes that road, that highway is just a straight line for hours.

[Riley Bray]

Oh, yeah. 40. Going through there is a.

[Michael McMillan]

And you get that mind trick where you're like, what if I'm sitting still and the. And like the land is going through me or past.

[Steve Berg]

Right, right. And even just being a meditation guy myself, it's like the mantra. When you do a mantra, it is like a beat in your head. It's like a binaural beat. You can actually almost feel like a wave going back and forth. And I feel like this. The consistent sound of, of dun, dun dun dun dun dun. It is potentially a catalyst for opening up something where we can.

[Michael McMillan]

I like it.

[Steve Berg]

I mean, but people see things all the time. But I guess I'm specifically talking about roads. I have this road obsession.

[Michael McMillan]

I dig it.

[Steve Berg]

Weird. It won't go away.

[Michael McMillan]

I dig it.

[Riley Bray]

Esoteric highway.

[Michael McMillan]

Where can people find you find your podcast and are you performing live by any chance, anytime in the near future?

[Steve Berg]

I am. You can find my podcast. It's high H I comma strangeness, and we talk about 40 and things over there like this. And also I am doing stand up comedy in Omaha, Nebraska for. Well, the. All the money will go to the food bank and I got some great comedians lined up and I'm gonna be trying out all new material. So I'm very nervous. But it's good fun. It's at a jazz club. It'll be, it'll be fun.

[Riley Bray]

Cool. When it, when, when is that occurring?

[Steve Berg]

That is next Thursday, which is the 13th at 7 o'. Clock.

[Michael McMillan]

That's tomorrow night, if you're listening, baby.

[Riley Bray]

Yes.

[Michael McMillan]

This episode comes out. So get. Guys, get in that hip hypnagogic state. Drive cross country, get to Nebraska.

[Riley Bray]

Yes.

[Michael McMillan]

Tell me. Watch the show. Yeah. And then tell Steve what you saw on the side of the road. Perfect. Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

It'll be a second dog show anyway, so you'll fit right in with your hip dog state.

[Michael McMillan]

I love it. Riley, what do you have in your collector's corner?

[Riley Bray]

Well, I just saw the Brutalist last night. Oh, man, that's a. That's a really good movie.

[Michael McMillan]

Is it? Did you get the. Did you go to the theater with the full intermission and all that?

[Riley Bray]

Yeah, yeah, I saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse downtown.

[Michael McMillan]

Oh, fun.

[Riley Bray]

Which is a great theater, but wow. I mean, I won't get into it too much, but There Will Be Blood is probably one of my favorite films of the modern times. And I would put it on par with that.

[Michael McMillan]

Okay.

[Riley Bray]

It was that good.

[Steve Berg]

Okay.

[Riley Bray]

I really, really liked it.

[Steve Berg]

It.

[Riley Bray]

It was excellent. Truly excellent. Wow. And speaking of movies, I've just recently. It arrived before we started recording. Got a Blu Ray player. And I am so excited.

[Steve Berg]

Hell yeah.

[Riley Bray]

To build my physical media collection.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah.

[Steve Berg]

It's time. It. Now is the time. Yeah. So, you know, Riley just made me think when we used to. I don't know why I thought about this, only because very few people appreciate it. But last weekend or last week, my wife and I went and saw at the Alamo Drafthouse the new version of Dig.

[Riley Bray]

Oh, hell yeah. There's a new edit of that. I didn't know there's a new version.

[Steve Berg]

Oh, my God. 40. So Joel does all the narration now. There's 45 extra minutes that are vital to the movie. It is such. I mean, like, I love the original, but this version is like off the charts good.

[Michael McMillan]

What? Dig?

[Steve Berg]

It was a documentary made.

[Michael McMillan]

Is that the Brian Jonestown Massacre movie? Dude, that was a good movie.

[Steve Berg]

I cannot recommend going to see this in the theater. Enough with the sound blasting. Because the music is.

[Michael McMillan]

I haven't thought of that movie in like 20 years.

[Steve Berg]

It's playing an Alamo right now. Probably not for much longer, but like, oh, I mean, run, don't walk. Like you have to go, you have to go.

[Riley Bray]

He broke my sitar. Is a line that was quoted so often.

[Steve Berg]

I mean, my wife, when I say to each other all the time, I'll be like, you know, my stir fried to doesn't turn out Good. And I use that. It's like a catch all.

[Michael McMillan]

That's awesome.

[Riley Bray]

Good recommendation.

[Michael McMillan]

Speaking of, speaking of movies, Steve, since we have you, you know, we paid tribute to David lynch in the past two weeks. I know you're a big fan.

[Steve Berg]

I'm still hurting.

[Michael McMillan]

I am too. We are too. What's your favorite off the top? You don't have to defend it to her. What's your favorite David lynch piece of art?

[Steve Berg]

I just want to say it changes day to day. Obviously I don't have a favorite, but I rewatched the Straight Story, which I hadn't seen for a long time. First off that movie, I cried through the whole thing. Beautiful music and like three minutes in I'm already crying.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, that's great.

[Steve Berg]

Like, yeah, it's just so gorgeous. I can't even like get over it. It's too much.

[Michael McMillan]

In terms of the weird stuff, the high strangeness stuff, which is your favorite.

[Steve Berg]

Mahal Drive.

[Michael McMillan]

Yeah, I think I'm with you there. As for me, collector's Corner, I'm playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on the Xbox. A gift from my. From Chris from Suneaters. Thank you, Chris. This game is awesome. The opening tutorial is you are playing the first 10 minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's what teaches you the game. And then Troy Baker, who does the voice and I think mocap work to stand in for Harrison Ford is crushing it. And the style of the game is made to look like a movie that fits right in with all the other movies. It takes takes place in between Raiders and the Last Crusade. So it's like classic indie. I'm like an hour or two into it, so I'm barely into it. I'm so excited. It's so cool that technology is what it is now. I'm like, oh, this is how we can get more Indiana Jones in this era. We can just make these games and get these talented people to recreate it and capture the feeling for us. So I'm very happy with that. Also wanted to tell folks that my ebay shop is back up and running. I recently found going through my comics sets of. I compiled sets of my four issue limited series Lucid, which is out of print now. And I don't even have hard copies left for sale of that. So if you want, want some. If you want a four issue miniseries about occult heights, high strangeness stuff, I'll put those up on ebay. I'll sign them for you, order them and I'll get them out to you. I've been having so much fun with people that have been ordering adventure van. I like to make little doodles for you guys and throw in some extra goodies. So hit me up over there. I'll put a link in the show notes to that. All right. Thank you Steve for joining us on this adventure. Riley and I will be crossing over to the other side. If we don't see you there on our Friday, we will see you back here next week for part two. I don't know how many parts this is going to be, but I think it's two parts of the Pennsylvania UFO Bigfoot UFO invasion. Until then, good night and go get.

[Riley Bray]

Regressed and go see dig.

[Steve Berg]

Oh oh. I mean like it's like.

[Michael McMillan]

Bigfoot Collectors Club is produced and engineered by Riley Bray and executive produced by Riley bray and Michael McMillan. Our theme song Come Alone is by Sun Eaters, courtesy of Lotus Pool Records. Follow Suneaters on Spotify for three bonus episodes every month and ad free episodes. Check out BCC the Other side at.

[Dr. India Woods]

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