Bigfoot Collectors Club
Episode: "The Vegetable Man" w/ Dayna Kathan
Date: April 1, 2026
Host: Wood Elf Media
Guests: Dayna Kathan (Disrespectfully podcast co-host), Michael McMillian, Riley Bray

Episode Overview

This energetic April Fool’s episode brings comedian and podcaster Dayna Kathan into the BCC Clubhouse for a wide-ranging and riotously weird deep dive into personal paranormal experiences, skeptical musings, haunted childhoods, empathy and mediumship, and the high strangeness of West Virginia’s almost-forgotten cryptid, the Vegetable Man. As always, hosts Michael McMillian and Riley Bray keep things playful, authentic, and candid, blending pop-culture commentary, personal stories, and original high-strangeness reporting in BCC’s signature style.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Clubhouse Banter, April Fool’s, & Bigfoot Smut (00:36–08:45)

• Warm Welcome & Guest Introduction

  • Michael and Riley banter about assembling the show on the fly, with Michael jokingly dubbing Riley "the pool cob goblin."
  • [02:18] Dayna arrives; the hosts poke fun at delayed invitations, with Dayna joking that being ghosted by BCC was “a little paranormal.”

• Bigfoot as a Couch-Surfer Boyfriend

  • Dayna shares a viral list ranking whimsical creatures by datability; Bigfoot scores low for seeming emotionally unavailable and likely to overstay his welcome.
  • Michael riffs: “Bigfoot’s a bit of a nomad, but I could see him getting in a relationship and immediately being like, this is a great place. I’m just gonna use this relationship so I have a couch to sleep on.” [03:25]

• Monster Erotica, Minotaurs, and "Morning Glory Milking Farm"

  • Playful discussion of Michael’s fiancée's interest in "fairy smut." Michael buys her a tongue-in-cheek (or more) monster romance novel about minotaur “milking.”
  • Dayna confesses: “Is that the horse man?” Michael: “That’s a centaur. Minotaur has the head of a bull, body of a man.” [05:19–05:49]
  • Dayna: "I feel like that could be a hit in LA in terms of...the lighter caloric value of that Minotaur." [07:33]
  • They daydream about a trendy LA juice bar with “mystical creature” themed smoothies, including Minotaur jizz milkshakes.

• April Fool’s Day Chat

  • Michael outlines the holiday’s supposed origins, linking them to the switch from Julian to Gregorian calendars and ancient Roman Feast of Hilaria.
  • Dayna: “That’s one of my favorite things about you, Michael. You’re a wealth of random factoids.” [10:51]

Personal Paranormal History – Haunted Childhoods, Family Ghosts, & Energy Work (16:06–53:03)

Dayna’s Paranormal Backstory (16:06–25:14)

• Dayna candidly discusses being a lifelong "haunted child" – a self-described empath and “lightworker medium.”
  • “Ghosts, entities, whatever you want to call them, tend to find their way to me. I am...a very paranormal person. I believe in all of it.” [16:06]
• Experiences span generations: Dayna’s mother had similar traits, as does her niece; the family history of witchiness is explored.
• First major haunting aged 15 after moving into a new home where the previous owner died in hospice.

The Poltergeist and the Ghost Boy "Alex" (19:25–32:28)

• Dogs behaving frightened/nervous; objects moving, blinds opening, pots clanging.
• The infamous Ouija board incident: “It was like, ‘kill you, kill you, kill you,’ and...the planchette flew completely down our driveway.” [21:33]
• Two principal entities:
  • The mean old lady (previous owner) – poltergeist-level activity, physical touch, ominous presence (“I swear to God, she raked my back with her nails.” [30:34])
  • "Alex" – a Victorian-era boy ghost, regularly spotted by Dayna: “Translucent skin, very, very pale black eyes...weird bowl cut, old timey outfit.” [27:19]
• Mother and sister both experience phenomena, including a night where storage bins in the closet fly across the room, and a “loudest humming you’ve ever heard” fills the house. [31:31]
• Sister’s reluctant ghostly encounter: “He won’t stop turning the fan on...” The notorious fan speeds up beyond maximum. [33:01]

Life as a Magnet for Weirdness / Adult Paranormal Encounters (35:35–53:03)

• Dayna’s sensitivity persists into adulthood: “Sometimes I hear it, but it sounds like...vibration has a sound...Mostly I feel it.” [35:35]

  • Friends witness her reactions; Dayna sometimes sees ghost children in mirrored walls or haunted houses.

• Poltergeist in apartment (2020): Cameras capture unexplained activity during a depressive episode; objects moving, TV turning on, “demonic growl,” incubus attack resulting in sleep paralysis and even levitation: “I fucking levitated...The feeling of coming off my bed and screaming...but there was no noise.” [42:52]

• A Reiki Master helps Dayna assert energetic boundaries; after bravely confronting the entity mid-attack, it never returns.

• Philosophies of energy: “The way they make you think they have power is through fear...Next time it happens, you have to...literally fly out of bed and yell at it.” [44:47]

• Dayna’s worldview: All living beings have “divine capabilities” on a spectrum, with old and new “souls” intermingling; depression or vulnerability can attract low-vibrational entities.

Metaphysics, Life after Death, & Interdimensional Consciousness (49:15–55:26)

• Dayna and hosts delve into possible explanations:
  • Human experience viewed as “meat suit astronauts” riding through dimensions.
  • Echoes theories from Brian Weiss’s Many Lives, Many Masters.
  • Discussion of “simulation theory” and time as a nonlinear experience—“Everything we’ve ever experienced is happening right now in this moment.” [54:35]
  • Matrix/DMT/NDE references—reality is lower-res than the “other side.”
  • Michael: “Once we pass on...our consciousness up in the fifth dimension is like, ‘oh right, I was just Michael...And now I'm looking around and I remember.’” [51:32]

Story of High Strangeness: The Vegetable Man (56:14–70:14)

• Cryptid Focus: The Vegetable Man of West Virginia—a rarely-discussed, plantlike cryptid, originally documented by UFO researcher Gray Barker.
  • Physical description: “7ft tall...bamboo thin, with pointed ears, long nose, three fingers with needle-tipped suction cups.” [56:28]
• Case details:
  • 1968, Jennings H. Fredericks (ex-Air Force, UFO buff) is attacked in the woods; Vegetable Man “sucks blood” through its fingertips, eyes changing from yellow to red; leaps away in 20ft bounds, leaving Fredericks humiliated, injured, and confused.
  • Years earlier, Fredericks’ mother, Iva, saw a small green being near a classic flying saucer, with a cable connecting it to the craft.
  • Michael narrates, Dayna reads the cryptid’s telepathic message to a human witness:

    “You need not fear me. I wish to communicate...I come in peace. I wish medical assistance. I need your help.” [60:01]

  • Barker’s mix of fabrication and folklore leaves the Vegetable Man’s reality ambiguous, celebrated today as a “one-hit weirdo” cryptid.
  • Dayna jokes: “Has anyone ever seen me running around Silver Lake drunk?...I don't know that [the Vegetable Man] was as otherworldly...I've done something similar!” [66:41]

Lightning Round & Closing (70:20–73:20)

• BCC’s rapid-fire Believe It/Don’t Believe It game; Dayna’s answers:

  • Ghosts, UFOs, Loch Ness Monster, Bermuda Triangle, Tarot Cards, Manifestation, Chupacabra, Ouija Boards, Seeing the Future, Out-of-Body Experiences, Dog Man, Goat Man, Sheep Squatch, Bat Squatch, Life on Other Planets, Life After Death: “Believe it.”
  • Only Bigfoot gets a playful “no”—"It’s my game and I can answer what I want. You guys are silly geese about that." [72:03]

• Dayna’s Podcast Plug:

  • "Disrespectfully" with co-host Katie Maloney: “The ethos of the show was just living your most authentic life in an unapologetic way.” [73:01]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bigfoot as a Boyfriend:

  • Dayna: “She said no to Bigfoot because he's emotionally unavailable and would move in and never leave, like a couch surfer.” [03:02]

• Michael on Monster Erotica:

  • “I bought her a very, very trashy, smutty book about Minotaur cum specifically.” [04:32]

• Dayna Owns Her Paranormal Story:

  • “Now I just don’t care about being believed because I know what I’ve experienced.” [16:06]

• Paranormal Activity Escalates:

  • Dayna (on the levitation attack): “I fucking levitated… I remember the feeling of coming off my bed and screaming in the most…how loud I was screaming, but there was no noise.” [42:52]

• On the Vegetable Man’s Message:

  • [Dayna, in character voice] “You need not fear me. I wish to communicate…I wish medical assistance. I need your help.” [60:01]
  • Michael: “Wait, what? Medical assistance? What are you talking about?” [60:23]

• On Haunted Family Ties:

  • Michael: “There are things in this story where…you'll find out that people who have had a UFO encounter will have some kind of history of poltergeist activity in their family… This stuff seems to be generational at times.” [69:19]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:36 – Banter, Bigfoot smut, and Disrespectfully introduction
• 03:02 – Viral "Would You Date Bigfoot" discussion
• 04:32–07:33 – Monster erotica and LA wellness riff
• 08:45 – Origins and facts about April Fool’s Day
• 16:06 – Dayna’s personal paranormal history begins
• 21:33 – Dramatic Ouija board episode, poltergeist escalation
• 24:16–25:14 – Mother’s corroborating poltergeist experience
• 27:19 – Introduction of ghost boy "Alex"
• 31:31 – Loud humming ghost encounter
• 33:01 – Sister’s reluctant encounter with the ghost boy
• 35:35 – Adult life as an empath; seeing spirits in multiple locations
• 42:52 – Nighttime incubus attack, levitation experience
• 44:47 – Dayna’s advice for conquering low-vibration entities
• 49:15–55:26 – Philosophical discussion about consciousness, mortality, and the afterlife
• 56:14–70:14 – High Strangeness: The Vegetable Man cryptid story
• 66:41 – Dayna likens herself to the Vegetable Man
• 70:20 – “Believe It” lightning round
• 72:40 – Disrespectfully podcast plug

Tone and Style

The tone is playful but candid, combining Dayna's self-effacing humor and sincerity with the hosts’ mix of skeptical inquiry and wide-eyed wonder. The conversation flows naturally between oddball comic bits, genuinely unsettling ghost stories, and earnest speculation about consciousness and the afterlife. The episode maintains the original, colloquial energy of the participants.

For listeners seeking candid paranormal experiences, clubby banter, esoteric folklore, and lots of laughs, this episode delivers stellar BCC oddness—and maybe an idea for a Minotaur-themed milkshake pop-up.