Guest/Caller/Interviewee (9:56)

And that is where the call ends. Now, before I go any further here tonight, I just want to say that all of this was uncovered by a YouTube journalist named Rusty along with his team at Carolina Case Files. Now, I've linked to their channel and the specific video referenced here tonight over in the show notes, and I highly recommend you go watch these videos, especially if any of this piques your interest, because there's really a lot more that I will not be able to cover here tonight. And the crew at Carolina Case Files have boots on the ground in the area, providing an angle you can't get anywhere else. But, of course, finish this episode before you jump over there. Now, I've heard many 911 calls that I instantly recognized as fake or put on. They're all over YouTube if you know where to look. But I didn't get that vibe when I first heard this call. Everything passed the sniff test the first time around. But, you know, it was the footage that played after the 911 call that made me realize all of this might really have happened. It was an interview with the sheriff of Pender County, A.W. cutler. And here's a portion of what the sheriff had to say about the encounter that had his department be weltered about 11:00pm that evening, a call came into.

Derek Hayes (11:27)

Our 911 dispatch of an individual standing on the side of the road and it appeared to be bleeding. Now he stated he was traveling 55 or 60 miles an hour. So I can see how traveling at that speed in the dark, it would be difficult to exactly identify what he saw.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (11:45)

But he stated that it looked like.

Derek Hayes (11:47)

A human being standing there with streaks of blood coming down.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (11:51)

It is very hard to listen to that call to that 911 tape without becoming somewhat unnerved.

Derek Hayes (11:58)

It it actually bothered me the first.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (12:00)

Time that I heard it. Now of course I immediately looked up Sheriff Cutler and lo and behold, he's exactly who he says he is. There's proof over in the show notes if you don't believe me. So you know that fact coupled with the sense of fear detected over in the witness's voice. That and the sounds that you can hear throughout the call. A loud thud as the creature lands in the bed of the truck, scratching and pounding sounds as it attacks his vehicle while the driver barrels down the highway. And of course the engine sounds as he breaks drastically trying to shake the beast, then quickly speeding away. It all lends a bit of credibility in my opinion. Now, it's no word of a lie when I tell you I've been working on this story for a full week now and I've yet to find a single hole in the story. So tonight I'm going to explore the area a bit, share some calls we've received over the years that could possibly offer up explanations or at the very least, more data. Data that just might explain where this creature came from and why it's here. But for now, I need to take a quick break. But when I return, another firsthand encounter with something pale in the Tar Heel state. I'll be right back. This report is sponsored by st. We're.

Derek Hayes (13:34)

Gonna look at Elijah's this is the.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (13:37)

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Derek Hayes (14:20)

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

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Derek Hayes (14:32)

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Derek Hayes (14:35)

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Guest/Caller/Interviewee (14:45)

Now here with the first of several similar stories is Guinevere. She first shared this entry back in season 17, episode 11. And I don't think it's gonna take long for you to see some similarities here. So, Guinevere, welcome back to the program.

Derek Hayes (15:06)

Hey there. My name is Guinevere and I'm from Asheville, North Carolina. I've gone to a retreat center once or twice a year for many, many years. And this retreat center is about 500 acres. Most of it's forest. There's cute little cabins you can stay in. They're all kind of clustered around one area so that most of the property is nice walkable land, but safe. There's a big fence around the whole place. It's a retreat center that's well cared for and well tended. And the people that run it know exactly who's on the property at all times. And as I've said, I've gone a lot through the years and stayed in many of the cabins. And I never knew which cabin I was going to get when I made the reservation. And I could always request a cabin, but I usually left it up to chance so that, you know, whatever cabin I get, it'll be like that's what was meant for me. So a couple of years ago, right before the pandemic, I decided to go on a little retreat by myself for four nights. I got there one afternoon and found that I'd been given a cabin I'd never stayed in before. And I was super excited. It was a little bit farther away from the other cabins, more like on the outskirts of that little area of the property. And when you're out on the perimeter, you get to see more of the deer. And this particular cabin had a nice screened in porch on the side and it's overlooked a lovely little freshwater lake. It was very idyllic. So I made myself at home. I put my stuff down, I took some pictures of it because the cabins are really pretty. And then I went and took a walk. Later that evening after eating, I was relaxing, doing the things I do when there's no WI Fi. I was able to stream some music. But if it wasn't already downloaded. Sometimes the streaming service would freeze, but that's more important later. Basically, I just had a really lovely evening, and then I went to sleep. So that second night, I'm in the cabin doing some yoga, listening to music, painting stuff, and something hits the outside of the building so hard that it makes the blinds pop away from the window and kind of smack back on the window again. I didn't know what to do, but I did what one does in a horror movie. For some reason, I thought, maybe this is a safe place. Maybe it was a bird. I don't know. I'll go outside. There isn't anything there that I can see when I go outside. It's nighttime. But you'd think if it was a bird, maybe it would be flapping around somewhere on the ground. And how could a big nocturnal bird not sense a large cabin? I don't know. But it's totally silent out there. There's no one around. There's no other cars, like 10 something at night. So I'm perplexed, standing there staring at the house. But I notice that I feel better outside than I do inside the house, which doesn't make any sense to me from, you know, all the horror movies I've seen. Seems like you want inside. I think, a little bit. Maybe I'll sleep in the car tonight. You know, here's my car. Maybe I should just bed down in that. But I'm like, no, go inside the house. Go back in there and get yourself together and, you know, enjoy your time here. You took a lot out of your life to come here. I go back inside and I sleep with the light on in the middle of the night. At some point, I turn off the light. The next day, I decide to go get some salt in the kitchen. So I sprinkle salt in the corners of the house as a way to kind of protect against negativity. And I sprinkle it on the bathroom windowsill and the bathroom doorway, and I sweep it out. That's supposed to kind of sweep out negativity. It just seems to be, you know, the first thing that came to my mind to do. It feels pretty good in there. I didn't care if it was me thinking that it helped or if it really helped, as long as, you know, weird things stopped happening. I was beginning to feel anxious during the day in anticipation of the night. The whole point of me being there was taking time off work so I could relax. And so that night feels pretty good. Nothing happens. I go to bed. I'm in bed and out of the corner of my eye as I'm sitting in bed, I see kind of a pale hand with long white fingers beginning to reach out of the bathroom. And I was about ready to go. The days in, or, you know, like, anywhere but there. Like, there's a person on staff that's available for emergencies. But I thought, this is a retreat center. I don't know if it goes against anybody's ideas of anything. I. I guess I just didn't want to bring attention to myself. I didn't want someone to look at me and say, you know, like, what are you talking about? I've heard people on this podcast say that they saw something crazy and then turned over and went to sleep. And it's like, how can that happen? But that's exactly what I did. I stopped looking at it. I can only think it's a kind of way to dissociate, maybe from the situation. Anyway, so I sucked it up. I left the light on. I slept terribly in one position with my back to the bathroom the entire night. I got up the next day and I thought, you know, it's not bad to leave early. It's okay, you know, the days have been pretty nice. It's okay, but you don't have to stay here. But at this point, I had some strange idea that I was going to be competitive with myself and be like, no, you're going to get through this. So I made myself stay for whatever reason. And that night I slept awfully with the light on my back to the bathroom. I left music on all that night, too. Soothing instrumental, ready made playlist on the streaming service. I left it on all night. And I woke up just before sunrise, and I remember being like, phew, you know, I'm so glad that the sun is rising. And then I realized that the music had stopped. And sometimes, like I said, the streaming app freezes. That's okay, I know that. But when I looked at the song, I should have taken a screenshot, but I didn't. But the name of the song that it had frozen on was Ghost. That's the end of my story. I will never stay in that cabin again. Thank you so much.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (21:35)

Thank you, Guinevere. Pale white fingers in a tiny cabin in North Carolina. You'll start to see a bit of a trend here. This strange creature, whatever it is, pounding on random objects, scratching at things and trying to gain entry. Take, for example, our original witness's truck or Guinevere's cabin window. I'll do my best to point this out as we progress further into tonight's episode. And you know, I've been doing this for a long time, almost 10 years in fact. So I've heard just about everything there is to hear at this point. And all of that experience has helped me quickly identify monsters, or at least legends associated with them. And when I put all the pieces together of these encounters, one particular creature comes to mind. It's a cryptid that's only somewhat recently made its way to the forefront. They call it the Pale Crawler, A six, seven or sometimes eight foot tall humanoid with long, sinewy arms and legs. Hairless, its skinny doll panker, bluish white color. The creature's face is said to be void of a nose, only two nostrils, similar to he who Shall Not Be Named. And they seem to only come out at night in locations in close proximity to the Appalachian Mountains, save for a number of sightings in the Pacific Northwest. But coincidentally, North Carolina seems to be one of the frontrunners when it comes to these experiences, because I have no shortage of encounters from that area. And there are plenty of similar reports scattered across the web, as you're about to learn here tonight. Now, there aren't many authorities on this subject, but we did manage to find one artist, filmmaker and founder of the association of Cryptozoological Fieldwork, Work and Analysis, Nathan Brisland. And you know, Nathan even wrote a book on the subject, Crawlers, a Conclusive Casebook. Now, my copy is in the mail, but we were able to preview some of the work, and in it, this is how Breslin described the creature. Pale Crawlers are gaunt humanoid cryptids that have been sporadically sighted across the United States and Canada, generally within forested environments. Eyewitnesses typically report seeing a creature three to six feet in height, either standing upright or moving on all fours with ease, with round heads and pale or flesh colored skin. Pale Crawler or simply crawler is a relatively new nomenclature that has been assigned to this phenomena by investigators, cryptozoologists, and even witnesses themselves at least as early as 2018. The first usage of the name in this context is relatively difficult to pin down, though the term has gained significant popularity since 2020. And like I said, North Carolina seems to be a hotspot. Here are just a few Pale Crawler encounters we uncovered down in the Carolinas. Two young friends in North Carolina's Piedmont region were swinging in a hammock one summer night when their carefree conversation came to a dead stop. The girls noticed a chalk white face with hollow sunken eyes silently peering at them from between the trees. The pair bolted in panic, tripping and scrambling through the dirt before locking themselves inside their cabin. Then there was this encounter when three friends stood frozen as a tall, faceless white figure glided silently along the tree line, its body eerily humanoid yet lacking feet or legs. For nearly 90 full seconds, they watched in stunned silence as it glided along and this terrifying run in from a woman working late on a horse farm down in North Carolina. She and her boyfriend spotted what first appeared to be an unusually tall person moving along the far side of the property, but the animal's terrified reaction told them otherwise. The figure, standing nearly 8ft tall, later charged at her as she closed the gate, forcing the couple to flee in their car, only to see it standing motionless in the middle of the road behind them. And folks, when I return, I have more examples of these insipid intruders. Don't go anywhere. The IRS finally caught up with It's.

Derek Hayes (26:41)

A once in a generation adventure.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (26:46)

Here we have the Limu Imu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating.

Derek Hayes (26:57)

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (27:04)

Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.

Derek Hayes (27:15)

And Doug Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (27:18)

Save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it.

Derek Hayes (27:22)

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Guest/Caller/Interviewee (27:28)

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Derek Hayes (27:30)

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Guest/Caller/Interviewee (27:32)

We save. That may have been too much feeling. Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwent by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company affiliates excludes Massachusetts. Now, unlike most stories like this, more information is actually coming to light rather than less as it typically goes. If I didn't say it earlier, I should have the folks at Carolina case files, the ones that broke this story, have done an excellent job in following up. And in part of that follow up they actually tracked down and according to them, verified the actual 911 caller. And even better yet, they sat him down for a discussion. Here is a portion of that interview that rehashed the events of that night in the witnesses own words. Again, these recordings are property of Carolina case files over on YouTube.

Derek Hayes (28:42)

I guess I'll start from the beginning of the trip. I was coming up from Florida to visit my family when I was driving up here to where the incident occurred by the battlefield it was already easily like well into the morning. I wasn't looking at my phone. I just know it was pitch black outside and it was pitch pitch black. I couldn't see the moon, stars, nothing, just barely the road through my headlights. And I have my window down because the AC wasn't working the best. And as I was coming around, there's a massive right curve right there before you cross the Black river and then after that you have the battlefield. So on that massive black curve as I'm coming around, I had just started the curve and I was about a third of the way through it and I look over into the ditch on my right because I caught a quick glimpse of something. And as I take a further look, it looks like there's a. I'd say probably a 30 something year old man standing in that ditch wearing what looks like an old Civil War uniform just covered head to toe in blood. And the uniform was torn as well. That, that threw me off because, because I didn't expect to see it at like 1, 2, 3 o' clock in the morning. Well, I'm calling 911 after I see him to report that because for all I know it could have just been a normal guy that was injured and needed a med and needed emergency help. It looked like what had happened is he hit his head on something, okay. And the blood was just pooling down over his face and torso. Well, as I was calling, you know, everything seemed perfectly normal. Just quick phone call to 911 let them know, hey, there's a guy out here and try to find somewhere safe to park so that way I can take them to them. Well, as you know from the 911 call, right, as soon as I reported that I already have my window up at that point, all of a sudden I heard a massive bang on my truck and my truck bounced down from the rear like I was pulling a heavy trailer and I hit a pothole. And so I'm sitting there going, what the hell was that? Which I'm pretty sure you heard me. Help. Yo, what the hell? I turned on my bed light and I looked in my rear view mirror and all I saw was this white, like snow white face right up against my rear windshield. Like it was looking into my truck trying to see what it could see. It had shallow sunken eyes, it had no nose. Just think if you took skin and put it on a human skull and stretched it thin. Couldn't see any ears, just bad. And immediately just, I just started screaming. I didn't realize until afterwards that I Had said, that's not human on the call, because it was just the first thing I started screaming because I was terrified. I didn't have my firearm with me. Nothing. All I had was a wood splitting axe. That's all I had. Well, I'm doing in between like 55, 60 miles an hour when this happens. And I just stomped on the gas for a second. When I looked at the speedometer before I slammed on my brakes, I was doing maybe 80. And I slammed on those brakes with all my might. And I went from like 80 miles an hour down to like 35 in just like a couple of seconds. And all I see is this super scrawny long body just fly over my truck and a ball rolling. I then swerve to the left and get back in the travel lane, and I floor it. And as I'm swerving to the left, I see it stand up. And it is easily taller than that truck. No way. I'm 5 foot 10. The truck is about 2 inches taller than I am. And this thing was easily like, maybe seven feet. And as I pass it, I look in my mirror and I see it bolt to the left into the woods. And it looked like some. I don't even know what the hell, because it looked like somebody took a normal human and stretched them out, starting with the limbs. Wow. Like, abnormally long legs and arms. And it just took off into the woods. And I just said, nope, I'm out of here. I'm not staying to figure out what this is. And there's a gas station all the way at the corner where the highway intersects. And I pulled into that gas station. I was doing like, 90 all the way to that gas station because that was the only place with any light that I saw, right? And I just stopped in that parking lot and waited like, 10, 15 minutes for state troopers to show up.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (33:56)

Now, this witness has chosen to remain anonymous throughout the videos. They only refer to him as T. Now, T had mentioned that the encounter began with a man in a Civil War soldier's uniform covered in blood. Now, my first thought here was that it was a ghost of some sort. That is how my brain is wired these days, after all. So I had Delaney do some digging. And it turns out that not only are there no known Civil War battles in the area, there doesn't seem to be much troop movement through that area either, making it unlikely that a ghost in that uniform would somehow be tied to that part of the state, paranormally at least. But, you know, Delany was quick to point out that the area was highly active in another major war, the Revolutionary War, an eight year struggle from 1775 to 1783, during which the thirteen North American colonies fought against Great Britain to gain their independence and establish the United States of America. Now, this area was home to the Battle of Moore's Creek, where Scottish Highlanders armed only with broadswords clashed with a group of patriots who just happened to be armed with muskets. The estimate says that 51 highlanders were killed that day, their bodies sent downstream as they tumbled into the water. So I guess it is possible the T simply got the uniforms confused and assumed the soldier belonged to the Civil War instead of the Revolutionary War. Now, I have linked to images comparing the two uniforms and I'll be honest, they're not all that similar. They're different colors, they're different designs, different shapes, and even different hats. Take a look for yourself at monsters among us podcast.com and by hitting that Show Notes tab. But still, what does that have to do with an 8 foot tall pale creature? Well, what if this Civil War soldier was actually just a Civil War reenactor? Maybe he was part of a performance nearby and he was injured, lost, or both, separated from the other actors. And could this separated actor be a victim of this creature? Now, we did do an extensive search and didn't find anything about a reenactor coming up missing or even getting hurt around that time and place. So I bet we can roll that possibility out. And that leaves me guessing as to what connection the bloody man has to all of this. Now, I have more possible explanations to toss out there right after this next brief break. What you want to be is experienced.

Derek Hayes (37:08)

You don't want to be old. And Doug Limu and I always tell you to customize your car insurance and.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (37:17)

Save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. But now we want you to feel it.

Derek Hayes (37:20)

Cue the emu music. Limu. Save yourself money today.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (37:26)

Increase your wealth.

Derek Hayes (37:28)

Customize and save.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (37:30)

We say that may have been too much feeling. Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com Liberty.

Derek Hayes (37:36)

Liberty. Liberty.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (37:38)

Liberty Savings Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts had some words exchanged. Now, when creatures like this pale crawler are encountered, there are many that are quick to include the military as a possible origin story. An escaped experiment, an escaped alien that they'd captured, or some biological weapon that they've created that escaped. Basically anything you can think of escaping from the military. And I suppose that story could sort of be believed. There are long lasting rumors of this sort of thing going down in places like Plum Island, New York, the Dulce base in New Mexico, and of Course Area 51. But there is little evidence out there that this sort of thing has happened before. That is, unless of course you count the original Puerto Rican Chupacabra, the Mothman, the Montauk Monster, the green clawed beast of the Ohio river, those giant praying mantis like creatures, the Lizardman, or a whole slew of other cryptids said to be exactly that escaped military property. Now, for that theory to hold any water, there would have to be some sort of military installment near that area, at least one would believe. Otherwise, how would it have gotten to that part of rural North Carolina? According to the North Carolina Military Business center or the NCMBC, the Department of Defense has an annual impact of $79.9 billion and is the second largest sector of North Carolina's economy at 12.8% GDP. With six major military bases, over 100 National Guard Reserve facilities, and the fourth highest number of uniformed military personnel in the country, you can say that the military has the state covered. And even though Pender county doesn't have any military installments of its own, it is sandwiched between Brunswick County's military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, and Onslow County's Marine Corps Camp Lejeune, not to mention Fort Bragg is approximately 90 miles from Gurrie as well, and it's the largest military post by population in the US Military and one of the largest military complexes in the entire world. But is that the sort of place that would create a monstrosity like this? Or is that clandestine activity more suited for a tiny hidden base somewhere in the deserts of Nevada? Now, as doubtful as this possibility might seem, I do have a call from a listener that just might offer some insight and could help support those claims. Reporting to us from a military base somewhere in North Carolina. Please welcome Deidra back to the platform.

Derek Hayes (40:54)

Hey Derek, this is Deidre. I'm from North Carolina. I am a medic and I have a ton of stories. One in particular that I want to call about tonight is about a base that is in our area. There's a lot of negativity around that base, a lot of negative energy. There is a white face in the woods. Every once in a while there'll be a huge black figure. There's woods surrounding this base and recently the woods across from the base have been cleared, so activity has stirred up a lot more. Well, a few months ago I was working this base. I worked night shift and I was about to go outside. It was probably 3 o' clock in the morning. Was gonna go outside to my car to get something and when I got to the door of the base, I see this like a sickly gray figure standing in the parking lot. Actually it was more like crouching in the parking lot in front of our base. And it was like kind of glitchy, moving. But it, it's so hard to describe how he was moving or how it was moving. I have no never seen this creature before. It was the first time seeing it. I have seen it several times since that first sighting. I don't know what it is. I have never seen anything like doesn't have a face, it's so ugly. And I just got this very overwhelming sense of dread when I saw it. So it's got a mouth, but it doesn't have like eyes or a nose. Think of like the Slender Man, I guess, like the Slender man face. But I don't know. It's really, really strange. And what's even more strange is it's become a common occurrence at this base. But that's part of my story. There's a lot of paranormal stuff that goes on at that base. Like I said, it's got a very negative energy to it. So yeah, love the show, think it's awesome and keep up the good work.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (43:16)

Thank you, Deidra. Well, if she saw it near the base, then it's safe to assume that maybe it came from that base. Well, with this creature or any cryptid, really, it's never safe to assume anything. But I did enjoy the story, Deidra, and it does certainly help me sell my point that there just might be some sort of tall, pale skinned mystery creature roaming the hills and flatlands of her 12th state. And it just might have been created with our tax dollars. Thank you again, Deidre for taking the time to call in. Now folks, what do you say we dust off another story from our library, A story that just might detail the exact same creature in the 911 call. Pay close attention to this entry from Alex from season nine, episode nine.

Derek Hayes (44:15)

This is Alex from North Carolina. This is a story encounter I had last year. Sorry, I don't like saying the story. Like people think I'm crazy when I say the story, but in all reality, this did happen. It happened in the summer of 2018 up in Knightdale, North Carolina, which is right outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. So where this took place is at an RC field called Rcho. I fly RC helicopters with another buddy of mine. And we're sitting there, he just took me out to the field. First time I've ever Been there middle of the day. And to get in there, gotta go through this truck lot. So you pull in, it's his old truck lot. You pull through there and as you pull in, you pass through these bushes on each side of the entrance. So let me tell you about the bushes. There's about a five foot drop off and then the bush, from what I've seen. And I'm sitting there talking to my buddy. His back is facing towards this bushes so he doesn't see what I see. But what I see is this bus thing. Best way I can describe it. It looks like that big comical lollipop that you give kids. You know, the big rainbow thing with the really tiny stick. But it was all white and had these two just large black eyes. Just sitting there, you know, in the center of the head. No mouth, no nose, nothing else from what I can see. It's just standing there watching me for about 5, 10 seconds and all of a sudden it just starts down. I hear the Brussels of a bush and I'm just sitting there, just freaked out. My buddy's just sitting there like, Alex, what's going on? And I told him, they admitted they heard the bush, Russell, but nothing happened. Didn't see his name, we didn't see it went off or anything like that. I don't know what I could have seen. You know, I've done some research. Best thing I can describe it as just something like humanoid or an alien or something like that, you know, more or less a gray alien. I have no clue what is. This is the first time I'm publicly admitting this story. So make of it what you want. I just want some answers of what the heck it could have been.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (46:36)

Thank you, Alex. What do you think here, folks? Could the creature that Alex saw and the creature that jumped on T's truck be one in the same? Is the Tar Heel State infested with pale crawlers? Well, maybe, but they might have been there for far longer than we ever could have imagined. Any longtime listener of the show might remember me talking about the moon eyed people. A legend from parts of North Carolina assigned to the Cherokee people. Here's a taste of the legend via a local source. WRCB Local News 3 covering the Tennessee Valley.

Derek Hayes (47:18)

The legend says that the moon eyed people were fair skinned, had blonde hair, blue eyes. Some of the accounts say that they couldn't see well during the day, so maybe they're more nocturnal. There are 18th century books written describing.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (47:38)

These moon eyed people.

Derek Hayes (47:40)

It was said eventually that the Native Americans forced them either west or Underground in various other parts of the Appalachian region.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (47:49)

So what if these moon eyed people and these pale crawlers are the exact same entity? The description is similar enough, though a few of the details seem to be off. Like the mention of hair and the fact that these moon eyed people seem to be quite human originally. But who's to say? A few centuries underground didn't change their overall appearance and I would imagine it would certainly change their behavior. But anytime I hear a claim like those that I've heard here tonight, I look back in history to see if any similar reports were made at any other point in time when legends line up like they seemingly do here. That certainly adds a bit of credibility to everyone else's claims.

Derek Hayes (48:48)

To that whole keeping it simple thing. By mostly sunny skies.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (48:54)

All right folks, I only have one more story to share with you here tonight, but trust me when I say it's a real good one. From season 17, episode 9, please welcome Wyatt back to the program.

Derek Hayes (49:09)

Hey Derek. This is Wyatt from Florida and I have stories to submit. The story took place in North Carolina about I'd say maybe an hour away from Charlotte, North Carolina. Out in the country. I was driving home from one of my buddy's house. We decided to make a cup of steak, have a good time. But anyways, it was time for me to head home and I decided to take the back roads back home. And I was coming around a curve and there's like a transformer, an electrical transformer, you know, I'm talking about on the side of the road and beneath that transformer there was this. It still gives me chills talk about it. But there was this like being that was just skinny like look crippled basically. It kind of resembled a human. You could see its ribs, you could see its spine, you could see its ribs and it was crunched over. It gave me such a fright. I have no clue what it was. It had pointed ears. I don't know exactly what it was, but all I knew was as fast as I could have got out of there, I was terrified that this thing, whatever it was, was gonna chase me. And I was just wondering what it could have been. And I just wanted to hear what you would think it would be. Anyways, love the show. I love hearing everybody that calls in helping me learn a little bit more about a paranormal activity activities I guess you'd say. But anyways, thank you, have a wonderful day.

Guest/Caller/Interviewee (51:08)

Thank you Wyatt. Very similar to her 911 caller's experience driving down a darkened North Carolina highway when the headlights illuminate something Tall, skinny and pale. Nightmarish stuff, Wyatt. Nightmarish indeed. Now, after hearing everything I've presented to you here tonight, you might be wondering to yourself, how do I avoid these things, whatever they are? And would you believe it if I told you I had a bit of an answer for you? A little tool you can use to help keep you pale crawler free. You see, some kind soul has taken many of these encounters and plotted them on a map. It's called the Crawler Map and it features sightings from all over the world, but mostly here in the US. Now, I noticed nearly none of the encounters discussed here tonight were featured on the map, so hopefully those data points can be included in the future to help us narrow down this activity. At the very least, avoid it. There's of course a link in tonight's show notes if you'd like to check out your area. But make sure you really want to know the answer to that question before you do, because there's no turning back once you realize one of these things was spotted just down the road from you. Now, as far as the original 911 call is concerned, there hasn't been a ton of information released since that original video, other than an update from Carolina case files addressing a few discrepancies in the story and filling in a few gaps in the details. And in that new video, they also retraced the route that he took that evening. You can catch a link to all of that in the show notes, per usual. Now, before I duck out of here, I have one more update to offer you. The following was posted on Lon Strickler's brand new Phantoms and Monsters website and it caught my eye immediately. Not only because it possibly discusses the exact same phenomena, but because it took place in almost the exact same spot from where our caller made his 911 call. Again, the following was submitted to phantomsandmonsters.com it was back in 2021. I was working in Red Springs and my route was like clockwork up before the sun out the door by 3:45am sharp I lived in Rocky Point and my drive took me along Highway 210. It was always quiet, pitch black that early in the morning. I had just passed the Black river and was driving through a thickly wooded area probably about 20 minutes past it. That's when I saw something on the road up ahead. At first I thought it was a raccoon, no big deal. But as I got closer I realized this wasn't a raccoon. It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before. The creature started crossing the road, and as I approached, it didn't scurry off like most animals. Instead, it stopped right in the middle of the lane and stared straight at me. It had an arched back, almost like a cat, ready to pounce, but sharper and more unnatural. It walked on all fours, but the way it moved sent a chill down my spine. It was bigger than any dog I had ever seen, but it didn't look like a dog at all. I didn't have time to react or room to swerve. I hit it dead on. The impact was like nothing I'd ever felt. It felt as if my car was thrown. My Honda Civic started losing power immediately. The dashboard lights flickered, and for a moment I thought the engine was going to cut out right there in the middle of nowhere. But somehow the car continued to move. I made it to work, but all day I couldn't stop thinking about what I had hit. After my shift, I drove back to the exact spot I remembered, but there was nothing. No body, no blood, not even a skid mark. It was as if nothing had ever happened. So could this have been the same creature? Could this be offspring of the original creature? Or could this have been one of the infamous pale crawlers? Even after compiling all this information, I still do not have an answer to any of these questions. But I do have a newfound appreciation for this creature and the stories surrounding it. Now, I'll continue to monitor the saga down in North Carolina, and I'll be sure to let you know should any new details emerge. But for now, that's gonna do it. For this special report. We were scheduled to be off this week, so there will be no new beyond episode tonight. I'll work on a little extra content on a future episode to make all that up for you. Now in the meantime, Monsters Among Us Podcast is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes, Delaney Bowers and Connor Ryan. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Now give us a Like and follow on our social media accounts. Give us a Like and follow on YouTube. Join our Discord and leave us a rate and review wherever you can. Don't forget you can catch the show every Saturday Saturday evening at 10pm Eastern on the Annex Digital Network. Just visit onxnetwork.com to check it out. Now, finally, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu, Apocalypse Co AG Music and Carl Casey at White Bat Audio. Now folks, watch our film Shadows in the desert. Go to borregotriangle.com to tune in. And if you're listening internationally, don't forget you can finally rent or purchase the film right there from the website. Alright folks, that's all I have for tonight. Thank you for tuning in and thanks for riding along. I'll catch you all back here next week with your latest hometown Legends season finale. Until then, however, you keep it spooky. And of course, have yourselves a good night. It.