SC EP:1163 Not A Bear

Summary

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Sasquatch Chronicles – SC EP:1163 “Not A Bear”

Date: June 15, 2025
Host: Wes
Theme: Witnesses from across generations share cryptic, unnerving, and sometimes unexplained experiences with large, hairy, upright beings in remote American forests—encounters that defy easy explanation and continually raise the question: If it’s not a bear, then what is it?

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Overview

This episode brings together three generations of one family—parents Tim and Linda, their son Austin, and separately, teenager Wyatt—to share firsthand sightings and weird wilderness encounters from Oregon and Michigan. Each retells events that straddle the boundary of the believable, probing the mystery of Sasquatch. The conversation focuses not just on the details of each episode but also the emotional aftermath and ever-present uncertainty.

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Key Segments & Discussions

1. Quickfire Sightings and Audio Samples

Notable intro witness highlights

• [00:03–01:24] Austin and others recall moments that instantly dismiss the idea of mistaking a Sasquatch for a bear. One says: “They don’t make people that big.” Another stresses upright, gliding movement and vocalizations that sounded like a language:

  “They were screaming at each other in gibberish...no way on this planet that what I saw were bears.” (Unknown Witness, 00:31)

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2. Wyatt’s Michigan Encounter

[03:54–11:04]
Wyatt (15, from Michigan) recounts a harrowing, formative encounter at age 14 while riding four-wheelers on his grandmother’s rural property.

Witness Account:

• Out with his cousin; found a secluded spot, heard heavy movement in the woods.
• Heard “tree knocks” and increasingly loud stomping.
• Spotted a huge, hairy figure holding a branch; extremely muscular and over 6 ft tall.
• No vocalizations, observing them from about 50–70 yards.
• Immediate fear, fled the area.

Decoding the Experience:

• Wyatt initially thought it was a person; shifted after noting the hair coverage, size, and isolation.
• “I didn’t really believe in them until I’d seen it.” (Wyatt, 06:49)
• Felt it was more curious than aggressive, “just minding its own.”
• Never returned to the site; moved away shortly after.

Host’s Reflection:

• Wes frames Wyatt’s experience as the archetype of many adolescent encounters; disbelief followed by transformative realization.
• “There’s nothing about it that sounds like a man to me.” – (Wes, 07:24)

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3. Tim’s Oregon Trask Mountain Sighting (ca. 1974)

[11:16–19:04]

Setting:
Tim (Austin’s dad) describes a winter trip into the remote Trask Mountains of the Tillamook Forest, Oregon. Ice storm strands him and friends, forcing a night ride out on dirt bikes.

The Encounter:

• While waiting for friends in darkness, Tim sees a large upright figure cross the road in 2–3 steps, then vanish up a steep bank.
• No details visible due to poor light, but size and motion clearly not human.
• “No way. No…too big of steps and too bulky to be just some guy.” (Tim, 17:01)
• Dismissed as either bear or man due to size, gait, location, and extreme weather.

Reflections:

• As a scientist/engineer, Tim seeks evidence but admits: “I don’t know what I saw either, but I know I saw it. There’s no doubt.”
• The episode cements in his memory for 50 years.

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4. Linda’s Experiences at Flying M Ranch, Oregon

[19:14–35:43]

Teenage Years:
Linda (Austin’s mom) spent summers at the Flying M Ranch in the Oregon coastal range as a teenager:

• Driving alone in a Volkswagen at night to recover hidden beer, she spots a large, dark upright figure on the side of the road, which “in one or two steps” crosses the road and disappears.
• “It wasn’t a bear…it moved like it was fluid…so tall and purposeful.” (Linda, 26:35)
• Fear paralyzes her; she hides in her car, later refusing to go out at night.

Other Incidents:

• Recalls another night thinking she saw “someone looking in” the cabin window; paralyzed by fear, can’t confirm.
• Instances when her horse senses something unseen, becoming spooked in the woods.

Emotional Aftermath:

• Linda tells very few people, except her brother (who dismisses it as a deer).
• Kept experience quiet to “protect the kids,” only discussing it much later in life.
• “My kids call me Mimi Squatch.” (34:32)

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5. Austin’s Recent Encounters (2020s, Cascades/Oregon)

[36:03–53:55]

A. Hills Creek Reservoir: The Sasquatch Shadows

• Camping with a friend in Oak Ridge, Oregon, Austin witnesses two jet-black figures cross a logging road, upright, extremely fast:

  “The whole situation happened so fast…it was literally a blur…they were vertical, 6 to 7 feet tall.”
  (Austin, 41:52)

• At first assumes bears, but later realizes the posture and speed don’t match any natural animal he knows.
• Friend driving fails to notice; by the time Austin investigates, the area is silent except for “plants still moving.”

B. Paranormal Interlude: The Strange Lake Creature

• Near Olallie Lake (Mount Jefferson, OR), Austin and family encounter a bizarre phenomenon in a small remote lake:
  • Vertical log in water, when pressed down springs back.
  • Log suddenly plunges underwater—followed by a massive, dark, orb-shaped creature (~3–4 ft wide) that seems to swim below the surface directly at Austin’s cousin, then vanishes.
  • “There’s nothing natural…no sturgeon, nothing that wide, nothing that fits…It was so strange.” (Austin, 48:59)
  • Cousin escapes, family dismisses the experience.

Belief and Reflection

• Austin: “There’s too much consistency…and too many people can’t be making this up.” (Austin, 50:44)
• Feels the Sasquatch phenomenon is physical and global, likely a lost hominid or primate, perhaps with variants.

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Theory and Speculation

[49:46–53:55]

What Is Sasquatch?

• Linda: Hopes Sasquatch is a hidden, intelligent species—“maybe a species of us before.”
• Austin: Leans toward relic hominid/primate hybrid, but stumped by worldwide distribution and size variations.
• Tim (previously): Remains open but cautious, seeking evidence (scientist’s perspective).

“There’s too much going on globally… even if 1 in 100 [encounters] are real, it’s still one too many.” (Austin, 52:44)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “They don’t make people that big.” (Austin, 00:24)
• “There is no way on this planet what I saw were bears.” (Unknown Witness, 00:31)
• “I didn’t really believe in them until I’d seen it.” (Wyatt, 06:49)
• “Too big…too bulky to be just some guy out there walking around.” (Tim, 17:01)
• “It moved like it was fluid…and in just two steps, gone.” (Linda, 26:35)
• “It was literally a blur…not a bear, I think I saw Sasquatch or something supernatural.” (Austin, 41:52)
• “Even if 1 in 100 are real, that’s still too many.” (Austin, 52:44)

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Conclusion

Sasquatch Chronicles: “Not A Bear” brings together generations of unconnected but hauntingly similar encounters, all with a sense of fearful awe and lingering uncertainty. Each guest affirms: What they saw was not a bear, nor a human, but something in between—something that remains, for now, a mystery wandering the edges of human understanding.

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Referenced Encounters (By Timestamp)

• [00:03–01:24] Opening witness montage
• [03:54–11:04] Wyatt’s Michigan encounter
• [11:16–19:04] Tim’s 1974 Trask Mountain, Oregon sighting
• [19:14–35:43] Linda’s Flying M Ranch encounters (Oregon)
• [36:03–53:55] Austin’s Cascades encounters (Oregon)
• [49:46–53:55] Family reflection on “What is Sasquatch?”

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For more episodes and exclusive content, visit SasquatchChronicles.com.

Transcript

[Austin]

It looked like somebody was bent over.

[Wyatt]

And had their head in the window.

[Austin]

Of the deer blind. And it either heard me or smelt me. And he pulled his head out of the tent and stood straight up. And that.

[Wes (Host)]

That shocked me.

[Austin]

They don't make people that. That big.

[Unknown Witness]

The way moved almost as if it was gliding across the beach. I've never seen anything move like that in my life. They were screaming at each other in gibberish. It sounded like a language. And they were chuntering away, back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forwards. I know what a bear looks like. And there is no way on this planet that what I saw were bears.

[Linda]

911.

[Austin]

What are you reporting? Jesus Christ. You better see.

[Unknown Caller or Narrator]

Hello.

[Austin]

Get somebody out here.

[Linda]

What's going on now, sir?

[Austin]

Son of a is about 6 foot 9.

[Wes (Host)]

I don't know.

[Linda]

Do you see him now, sir?

[Austin]

Yes, I'm looking right at him.

[Unknown Caller or Narrator]

Oh.

[Tim]

This is Mr. Rogers from Phoenix, Arizona.

[Austin]

And the only podcast we listen to in my neighborhood is Sasquatch Chronicles.

[Wes (Host)]

Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show planned for you. We're going to be chatting with Wyatt, and about a year ago, Wyatt was 14 years old. He was on his ATVs in Northern Michig. Him and his cousin, they were on the ATVs and they had seen this creature. It was a real brief sighting, but I asked Wyatt, if you come on and share it and then we'll wrap up with Austin and his parents, Tim and Linda, who are from Oregon. And both Tim and Linda had experiences when they were younger, and Austin had something strange happen to him when he was in the woods. I'll kind of let them go into it. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is wesasquatchchronicles.com and if you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com you can become a member and get additional shows. And I hope the members enjoyed last night. I had Tom on and we went into the Bragg Road lights and a lot of other things. I really gotta have Tom back. We went on for over two hours and I could have probably done another two hours with him. But for the members out there, if you've missed that show, it's up on the website and in the Sasquatch Chronicles app. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Wyatt to the show. Wyatt, thanks for coming on.

[Wyatt]

It's nice to meet you, Wes.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, it's a real pleasure meeting You, Wyatt, and you're up there in Michigan, and about a year ago, when you were 14, you had this encounter. If you would tell me about it.

[Wyatt]

So one day I was out with my cousin at my grandma's property. She's got about six acres. And we were riding my four wheeler through the trails. And there's a spot where the guy that used to live there in, like, the 50s or 60s, he would burn all of his trash there. So there's a bunch of old glass bottles and stuff there. And we like to go through, see if we can find anything. Cool. So we were on the trail set, like, the back of the property, and we're looking around, and we were just kind of sitting around there. And we started hearing stuff moving around. It was probably about 50 yards away, and look out. And I saw something. I wasn't really sure what it was, so I just kind of paid no attention, Thought it was a deer. So I kind of just told him, I think there's deer over there. And we just kept on with our time for about 15, 20 more minutes. And then there. I heard something. I think it was tree knocks at the time. Well, it was tree knocks. I heard those pretty good. It was really scary. I was quite scared. But so we stuck around. Because I didn't really know much about what Sasquatch was or anything like that. So I thought it was a tree falling over or something. But so we kept hanging around for a little while. And then I started hearing more stomping around. It was more stomping instead of walking this time, and more tree knocks. And then I looked over and saw something moving. It was. It was about six and a half, maybe seven feet tall, tall, brown, hairy face, hairy everywhere. I guess it had a fallen tree limb in its hand when I'd seen it. I know we were talking at the time, so I know it had to have heard us because we were being quite loud. And I didn't really hear any vocalizations or anything, which I also thought was kind of weird. But it was. I don't know, it was just really scary. I wasn't expecting to ever see anything like that. But it was like 50 to 60, maybe 70 yards out. My cousin saw it, too, but he didn't really know what it was. So I was like, I don't know what that is. It kind of looks like a person, so we better get out of here. I was on my quad, too, so it was kind of scary starting it up and getting out of there. But, yeah, it was just really tall and Hairy. And it looks super muscular from what I could see. We just got out of dodge out of there. It was quite scary. I just kind of ended up searching it up and then figured out it was a Sasquatch. At the time, I really didn't believe in them until I'd seen it.

[Unknown Caller or Narrator]

Yeah.

[Wes (Host)]

And I know from talking to you off the air, you know, you didn't really buy into the whole Bigfoot thing. And for a moment you were thinking it was a person kind of. Looking back now what, what makes you think it wasn't a person?

[Wyatt]

The fact it was covered all in a dark, dark brown hair. And there's miles and miles of woods all around the property. So they're wouldn't really be any reason for a man to come into the woods that deep.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. And from your description, why, it doesn't sound like a human being at all. You know, sometimes I'll ask questions for maybe the audience is thinking, but from your description, there's nothing about it that sounds like a man to me. This property that you guys were on was your grandmother's property. Had your grandparents ever talked about anything weird ever happening?

[Wyatt]

No, my grandparents never really went up into the woods. It was mostly just me and my cousins and my dad once in a while. So they had never really seen anything. But since this was way far back there, it was kind of just. I don't know.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, I get what you're saying. It's grandma's. Probably not out there running around on the property. Did you ever tell anyone? I know you and your cousin saw it, but did you ever tell anyone about what you had seen?

[Wyatt]

Oh yeah, I tell a lot of people about it, But I don't think anybody really believes it, except for aside from my cousin because he was obviously there with me and saw the same thing that I saw.

[Wes (Host)]

Did you guys ever go back to the area where you guys had seen the creature?

[Wyatt]

No, actually recently after that we moved from that property because that was my house was actually not too far from my grandma's house. I would just ride my quad over there and go back in the woods. So once I moved away from there, I moved about 15, 20 miles away. And so I'm just never really there anymore.

[Wes (Host)]

I gotcha. This is probably a bad idea going on someone else's property now. Was that the only thing that ever happened on your grandparents property?

[Wyatt]

Oh, there was another time I was up feeding my cows because they're kind of. They're a little bit away from the woods but sort of close there. And I Thought I heard something tromping around. I'm not sure if it was a deer or something else, but it sounded like really heavy footsteps.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. And I know it was kind of a brief sighting, but let me ask you, what. What do you think Sasquatch is?

[Wyatt]

Oh, I think Sasquatch is more of a. More of an animal than he would be an alien or anything. I think it's just primitive, and we've lost contact with him and just tries to stay away from people and mind his own. But sometimes people stumble upon him, you.

[Wes (Host)]

Know, Austin, in your sighting, I wanted to ask you, what do you. What do you think the creature was doing? Do you think it was just kind of curious on what you and your cousin were doing?

[Wyatt]

Yeah, I think it was curious. It didn't really seem very territorial, so I think it was more just curious to see what we were doing. And since I had my quad out there, probably had never seen something like that either before. So, yeah, I think it was just curious as to what we were doing.

[Wes (Host)]

Makes me wonder what it was doing with that log. The wood knocks that you heard was in the same direction where you saw the creature?

[Wyatt]

Yeah, it was the same direction that I had seen. And I kind of forgot to mention, after I had, like, looked over at it, it was moving somewhat. It was moving toward. It was moving northbound. After I had looked over and actually seen it, it started moving. So I guess I caught it on the move.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. Well, I know it was a real brief sighting, but I really appreciate you coming on and sharing it, Wyatt. I really enjoyed chatting with you, ma'.

[Unknown Caller or Narrator]

Am.

[Wyatt]

Yeah, thanks for having me.

[Wes (Host)]

And next up on the show, I want to welcome Tim. Tim, thanks for coming on. Thank you. Yeah. And I know that you're Austin's dad, and we're going to be chatting with Austin and Linda here in a moment. And he. Austin was telling me off the air that you had an experience when you were younger out there in Oregon, kind of near the beach in the Tillamook Forest. If you would kind of start from the very beginning. What. What were you doing and what happened?

[Tim]

Oh, sure, I will. This is a long time ago. It's probably like 50 years ago, 1974, give or take a year. And back in those days, I was in the dirt bikes, and that's kind of what my passion was. I did a lot of racing and. And rode all the time, my dirt bikes. And so there was.

[Wes (Host)]

There was.

[Tim]

It was in the winter time, and there were three of us who all rode dirt bikes, and we went up into the Trask Mountain area. I don't know if you're familiar with the Tarasque Mountain area is the Coast Range between the Willamette Valley, basically Portland and the Willamette Valley and the beach, the coast, the Pacific Ocean. And so there's maybe 50 miles of a really rugged terrain. Lots of, you know, a big rainforest with fir trees and not a lot of homes up there. This one road that I was on called the Nastucker River Road and it goes from a little town called Carlton all the way over to the Pacific Ocean. But it's literally, it's not a highway at all. It's just like a back roads road that follows the Nusaka river all the way to the ocean. And part of it's paved and part of it isn't. So we were, we decided to go up and go pitch tents and we were camping and riding our dirt bikes. And this one evening that we were there, it started to do a freezing rain. And if you're not from Oregon, freezing rain is when a big bank of moisture comes in and hits some cold air instead of snow. It freezes and then it falls on the ground as just like a sheet of ice. And there was probably, literally there's probably two inches of ice on everything. So we couldn't, there's no way we could drive out of there because we would have like slipped off the road and. And it was cold enough that we're like, hey, we're out. And so we got on our dirt bikes and these were motocross bikes, so they didn't have lights or anything. It was a cloudy night and we were on our, the three of us were on our dirt bikes and we're trying to make it down this road on the shore sheet of ice, which is pretty interesting to do. And so it's dark, cloudy because you know, there just wasn't a lot of light to be had right then. And we're riding along and I was in the front, no lights on our, on our dirt bikes. I'm on the front and I stop at the top of this, this hill and the road went down and the road was cut out of a bank. So it was like a cut bank road. I'm wait, I stop, turn off my bike and I'm waiting for my buddies to catch up with me. And I'm just sitting there and I look down the road and maybe 50 yards in front of me something comes. So it's a pretty sharp bank that this road is cut out of. But I'm standing there And I see something come up to the road and maybe take one, two, three steps. And it was on the cut bank and gone. And I'm just sitting there going, what the hell was that? I don't know what it was. You know, my son Austin, he's like, oh, that's a. It's. It's got to be Squatch. I know it is, but. Sasquatch. But I can't say that I didn't see enough detail to see that. But. But you know, it. It took two or three steps. So it was upright walking. And those were big steps because you went clear across the road and up onto the. Onto the bank and it was gone. So that's what I saw. I know I saw something. I have no idea what it was. But yeah, it made for a real interesting trip.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. And you're pretty near to the Tillamook Forest, aren't you?

[Tim]

Yeah, that's basically Trask Mountains, part of the Tillamook Forest. It's a vast area. When there's like. In the area where we were, there are no homes up there at all. Nobody lives up in that area at all. It's just, you know, rugged forest land, rainforest.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, it's a pretty lonely forest. Even up until this day. You don't run into a ton of people out there. You know, the thing really wasn't that far ahead of you. How much bigger do you think it was than you?

[Tim]

It was at the top of the hill. My buddies hadn't gotten there yet, so it's just me like witnessing this. And it was probably a half a football field, maybe 50 yards. So it was pretty close, but not enough light to really pick out a lot of detail. It was. And it was much bigger than me, for sure. No doubt about it.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. I can't imagine being out in the Tillamook Forest and being caught up in an ice storm. And it's hard enough in town. I mean, we still get them to this day. And it. I mean, you really can't go anywhere. At the time when you were seeing this thing, what did you think it was?

[Tim]

I have no idea what it was. It was not a man. There's no way. No two biggest steps and too, you know, too, too bulky to be just some guy out there walking around. And nobody's going to be out there walking around anyway because of the, you know, because of the location, number one and because of the. Of the freezing rainstorm and the ice that was all over. Yeah. I don't see how it could have been a person. And I don't know if. I don't think bears can get up on their hind legs like that and walk like that. So I don't know what it was.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, it definitely doesn't sound like a bear, and it definitely doesn't sound like a man. I almost kind of have to agree with Austin, your son, at this point, that it might have been one of these creatures, because, you know, you're in the middle of nowhere and in an ice storm. I don't see it just what, you know, I don't see a man walking down the mountain and just keep going. And I have Austin and Linda coming up here in a moment. But I ask everyone on the show, tim, what do you think Sasquatch is? What's your take?

[Tim]

Yeah, I don't know. I. I retired from an engineering firm as a scientist, so I have, like, a scientific kind of background where I need some solid evidence before I could make, like, a real determination of what I think it is. I don't know. I don't know what I saw either, but I know I saw it. There's no doubt. I still remember it from this day. I was, like, 50 years ago.

[Wes (Host)]

And, you know, it doesn't shock me that you would have a sighting in this area. The Tillamook forest really is kind of notorious for sightings, and even on the Washington side, you have to go through a lot of hills and a lot of forests before you hit the ocean. And there's not a lot of people out there. But I know I have Austin and Linda coming up next. I really appreciate you coming on, Tim.

[Tim]

Yeah, no problem.

[Wes (Host)]

And next up on the show, I want to welcome Linda. Linda, thank you for being here.

[Linda]

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. And I know that we have Austin. Austin, thank you for being here.

[Austin]

Yeah, thanks, Wes. Happy to be here.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. And I just spoke to your father, Tim, and he shared his encounter from Oregon many years ago, and I was fascinated by his account. And I know when I was talking to you, Austin, off the air, you're saying, hey, both of my parents have had these experiences, but they won't really say it's Bigfoot. And I kind of got that from Tim. But I wanted to ask you, Linda, if you would tell me what happened to you. I know your incident took place in Oregon. What were you doing and what happened?

[Linda]

Well, I used to spend a lot of time at. By flying M Ranch, and we had some friends that lived up there and on the weekends. So I was probably, I'm thinking around 14, 15, but up. Up here we, you know, we would drive around and stuff, but I used to every once in a while go help my friends that owned the ranch on the, you know, do trail rides and, and I would go help them because it was like, like a lion dude ranch. So there's like horses and there used to be an airport and log cabin and it's, it's. It's way up. It's in the coastal range kind of outside of McFenville. I was staying there and my. My brother and I. So there. This is, this is. This is going to go sideways here a little bit. So we were there and they had an. Their older son that lived on the property as well. We had bought beer and. We're going to go hide it. Austin. No, don't let. We were going to go hide it in the creek and just let it get cold and then, you know, pick it up later. But it was probably about. They had about 80 acres on the, on the ranch. And so it was probably about, you know, kind of in the middle of the property where this creek ran through. And so it had been there all day and it was kind of a rainy night and we went back to go get this beer out of the creek and we were in this old Volkswagen and I remember that we. Because we came around this corner and I was parked because it was like a bridge, like a little man made bridge that went over the creek. And I stayed in the Volkswagen and the guys were out looking for it. And what had happened, the creek had kind of moved it around or down a little bit. And so it was down a ways. And I don't know why, but they had hit it down a ways. And so I was sitting in the Volkswagen and I looked up and it was kind of. It's just like a two way. The roads, you know, they weren't like real roads. It was like, you know, you could see where the wheel marks were and there was grass coming in between them and there were shrubs on both sides. But I was on the opposite side of the creek and I happened to. I was looking out and I saw something on this side of the road. Road. And I was. And I was. I immediately felt very uncomfortable. And all I can say I could not make it out. But I first I thought it was a bear and it was like on the side of the road. It was like a dark figure and it. And then I thought, is it the guys? And I was like, no. And then. And then all of a sudden it just went across the road, but it wasn't on Four. Like, it wasn't a horse, it wasn't a cow, wasn't a wolf. I mean, it was very dark. Seemed. I didn't get to see it that long, and I don't even know, but it was on two feet, and it stepped. Like, it almost seemed like it was almost even like one or two steps, and it was out of sight. So it went from the side of the bush where it was standing, and the headlights were on in the Volkswagen, and the Volkswagen was running. And so. And it just happened that quick. I remember after that because I used to ride my horse from this ranch up to Flying M, and, you know, I just. I don't know. I mean, that's. That's what happened. And like I said, I didn't get a good look at it. I didn't see a face. And it happened very, very quickly. But I know it was really odd, and I could not figure it out. And it wasn't. It wasn't my brother or the other person that was with us. And so I just remember feeling really uncomfortable. And I remember staying there, too, in the cabin, and they had a white picket fence kind of around it, and then they had casters that would go out. And I remember one night, too, I thought that there was something in the window looking in. And I just, you know, because like I said, I was 14. I was so afraid that I just rolled over because it was a. It was a room with two twin beds. And so there was a twin bed between me and the window. I don't know. I just. I don't know what that was either. But I went out and looked. There was no cow. I mean, the gates weren't open. There was no cows or anything. But I just remember that whole night being awake and not looking. I would not look at that window. I was just, like, petrified. And, you know, and I remember being out riding and, you know, it would be like I'd be riding from this ranch up to Flying M, and all of a sudden things would get really, really quiet. And then my horse would kind of, like, start snorting, like there was something there. But then I couldn't see anything. And just those kind of moments. I mean, that's just kind of. You know, horses do those things, but usually they're pretty attuned when they smell something or, you know, they're of the environment. Probably more aware than I am. But, yeah, that's my story, and I don't forget it. And I didn't go out at night anymore because I used to drive the Volkswagen all over the place. That was part of the fun about being out there in the countries and those backcountry roads and the private properties and stuff. So that's my story.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. The night that you thought you saw something in the window, was that the same night as you guys were out with the beer and you saw this thing?

[Linda]

No, it was another night. And then I almost. I just quit going up. I just quit kind of going up there not long after that because it just was so creepy.

[Wes (Host)]

And, Linda, kind of going back to when you saw the creature. I mean, it doesn't sound like a man to me, and it doesn't sound like a bear. But for the audience, what made you think it was anything but those?

[Linda]

I think the reason why I don't think it was a bear was because, you know, you. I've. You know, I've seen different films, you know, where bears are up and they kind of. They wobble. You know what I mean? This. This. Whatever the. You know, like I said, I don't. I don't know. I don't. I don't know what it was, but it. It was. It like had hit, like, it moved like it was fluid. It wasn't like. I don't think a bear could have walked on its hind feet like that across the road. Do you notice he do it? Because they're. They're just. You know how bears look. They're kind of round, you know, so when they come up, they're not. I don't think that. I mean, they go straight up if they're on a tree or something, I guess. But to me, it looked. It just seemed taller, a lot bigger, and it was just more. It was just two, like I said, just like one, two across the street. I mean, across this road. And it was gone. And it was upright and purposeful. I haven't seen a lot of bears, but, like, you know, like at Yellowstone or whatever, in just shows, you know, they just. They seem like their stride isn't like that. They wouldn't be like, boom, boom. I mean, we're talking. It was probably, I don't know, 12ft, one step, you know what I mean? From 12 to 14ft from Bush to bush, you know, across the road, when.

[Wes (Host)]

It stepped across the road, was it more like a man. Like what you would see with a man's movement?

[Linda]

Mm. It was just more. It just. That's why I thought it was the guys. And I mean, for a second, because the one guy, I forgot what his. Randy, I think his name was. He was A big guy, but he wasn't tall. I mean, he was a bigger guy, but I thought I said that.

[Wes (Host)]

And then.

[Linda]

But then it wasn't. It just had hair, you know, it seemed covered. Like I said there was it. It, like, whatever it was. I never saw, like, a face. It was just like. It just happened to. It happened so fast. But I would say more man like than bear like. And it had. It was hairy. It was dark, dark, kind of dark. Like, really dark. And when it was on the side of the road, it took, like. Like I said, I didn't even. I. By the time I had recognized it on the side of the road, there wasn't any eye shine either, which I think, you know, I mean, that's why I. I don't remember seeing eyes, you know, like animal face, a face or eye. So I don't think I really. It happened so quick that. That's why, like, all these years, I just never. But I'll never forget it. Like, I can visualize it right now, the headlights shining on the bushes, because it wasn't like. I mean, it was. It was down the road a ways, but not so far that I couldn't see it. And there was just like, across. Boom, boom.

[Wes (Host)]

How far down the road do you think it was?

[Linda]

Okay. I think it was probably 25 to. 25 to 30ft. I was scared. Like, I said. I was like 14 or. I mean, I. I squished down. I didn't. I didn't, like, you know, go. I'm gonna go see what that was. You know what I mean? I. I squished down in the back of the Volkswagen, down into the. You know how little Volkswagens are. I was squishing. I was just petrified. I was petrified. So I was so scared. Yeah.

[Wes (Host)]

It makes me wonder if it was there the whole time or if it had seen what you guys had done and it had come back. I know that you don't know, and I don't know, but. Or maybe it was just there when you guys pulled up and obviously didn't want to stick around. But it does seem like they're running around that ranch because of what you'd seen later. Tell me a little bit about the ranch. I mean, how far away from it was where you had seen this thing?

[Linda]

I used to go up on the weekends quite a lot, and I'll spend a lot of time up there in the summer. Like, I rode all over that place. And there was an old barn. So there was a. The whole old ranch house was actually a Single level. And it had a porch on the front. And like I said, it was enclosed because they didn't want the. The cows and stuff getting in there. I think it was probably, like. I don't know how to convert, like, acres and miles, but like I. Like I said, I knew that. I know they owned about 80 acres, and this was right in the middle of the property, so it would be about, you know, halfway out. And then, like I said, there was a big old barn. There was a corral. And then the barn is. It was a distance from the house. And there was another, like, dip. Like, little gully dip thing before you got to the house. But the house was right on this gravel road. That's how you got there. It was on this gravel road. It was kind of like by an intersection, so. But it wasn't a busy. You know, it's not a busy street. Just people that live up there, so. So, yeah. And like I said, I don't even know. I don't know what that was, but I thought I saw, like, a face. Like, I thought I saw a face looking. But I. Like I said, I was. So I just turned. I was so scared. I remember I went in and slept on the. The people that owned the place, I slept on their floor. Like, the next night. I just wanted to go home. I didn't want to be there anymore.

[Wes (Host)]

I don't.

[Linda]

I don't. I did not get a good look at it. It was just like, there's something there. You know what I mean? What is that? And it. It had to have been tall enough. The windows weren't, like. Like, extremely high. But I'd say, I don't know, maybe five, six feet, if I'm remembering correctly. I want to go back. I should go back. I want to go back and see it. But whatever it was. And like I said it. I don't know, it just scared me. I just remember it looked like someone was looking in, and I thought it was, like, a person.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. It makes me wonder if it followed you back to the ranch house. I know this is many years ago, but it makes me wonder if they knew anything. Did you ever tell the guys or the people that own the ranch about what you had seen?

[Linda]

I told the people about it. I told. Yeah, I told my brother. My brother said it was probably a deer on its back legs. That's what he says to this day, doesn't he, Austin?

[Austin]

Yeah. I don't know why he. I mean, he's interesting, but, yeah, he.

[Linda]

He didn't see it. So Anyway, yeah, so I think that's it, like I said. And I decided. And that happened after that incident. So the house had a connecting, like. Like it was another house. And that's where the older sons let, you know, lived. And there was like a pool table and stuff in there. These weren't. Not big places, but they're, you know. So we used to go back and forth, but I didn't want to go up there anymore. Even now when I go camping, I'm a little creeped out.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, Encounters will definitely stay with you your whole life. At what point did it kind of click as far as, oh, I wonder if it might have been one of these things?

[Linda]

Well, I remember watching, you know, the original movie. Remember the first film? I forgot the guy's name. Ray's watching it, you know, and I just started. I don't know, it just became really interesting to me. Like, my kids call me Mimi Squatch. I just. I just think it's fascinating, I think the possibility of, you know, we're finding new species all the time and. I don't know, I just. I like to watch. I like to. I like listening to the Chronicles. I like watching all that because all the films that come up now, you know, it'll be like Bigfoot, Boise and whatever. But I just think it's interesting, you know, it's. I don't know, I just kind of kept it quiet because, you know, because anyone. I didn't really talk about it, did I? Really? I mean, Austin, do you remember when I started talking about it?

[Austin]

I don't remember you talking about it till at least, I think I was late teenager, maybe even in college. Dad had told me his story when I was younger, probably like middle school. But I don't. Yeah, I don't remember you saying anything about it really, till a little bit later in life. I don't remember any family members mentioning it either.

[Linda]

I think, you know, because, you know, as a mom, you're like, you're protecting your kids, you know, Like, I didn't really know, you know, I mean, I didn't want to scare them. Right. And I don't know, I just think it's interesting. I love the possibility of it. I just think it's kind of fun and it's interesting that other people, like so many people are coming out and sharing stories.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, well, I know it was many years ago, and I really appreciate you sharing it. Linda. There's two experiences we're going to chat about. Austin. The very first one kind of, what were you doing? And what happened?

[Austin]

Yeah, so I should preface. I don't necessarily know what I saw, which is why I haven't really talked too much about it. Like, mom, I don't think I've told you really about this, But I have two instances. One I think was. I mean, the only thing I could think of was, would be a sasquatch. I don't know what else it could be, or something supernatural. And the second one is a kind of a one off story. I'll tell you. I don't know if you want to include it or not, but since I've moved to Eugene, I've been going to the Cascades a lot. It's only about an hour away, and it's in a town called Oak Ridge. I don't know if you're familiar with that, Wes. Probably not. But it's basically a halfway point in between Eugene and Bend, Oregon, if you know where those are. But. So I spent a lot of time camping in and around the Oak Ridge area. And I still do. Kind of tapered off a little bit recently, but it's a beautiful area. And we usually camp around a lake called Hills Creek Reservoir. And it's the middle fork of the Willamette River. So it's actually where the middle fork starts, way up in the Cascades. But so we, we like to explore out there. Me and my friend Miles went out and this was probably 20. Probably 20, 20, 20, 21. So kind of pandemic era. But we were spending a lot of time camping out there because there was not a lot of rules. And it was just. It was safer to go out there, you know, didn't have to be around a lot of people. And it was just nice to get away, you know, get away from. From town. So we would go out there a lot. And what we like to do is we would just do dispersed camping. So find a forest service road, find a little turn off, and camp out there. And what we like to do is just drive around on these. These forest service roads. Because almost no one was out there. And this was, gosh, let me think, probably June. It was pretty warm. And we were just going around forest service roads like we normally do, you know, going basically driving until the. We can't go any further and then turning around. And it was fun. We got to see a lot of cool stuff. We found some old logging operations that seemed to be from, like, the 1930s or 20s, and had some cool glass bottles and stuff that were from the time period laying around and old equipment that had been abandoned. So it's kind of cool finding that stuff, but I'll get to it. That we were on basically a forest service road and we took a corner, we weren't going fast, probably only going five to ten miles an hour. And we were in his older Subaru Outback. I was sitting in the passenger seat and we took a corner going slow. And I remember as we took that corner seeing these two basically jet black masses running full speed across the road. And I only caught them as they were going down a hill. And I should say the road, the road layout is kind of similar, a little more flat than the one that. Kind of similar to my dad's encounter. Whereas a hill on one side less tapered, though less steep than the one on my dad's encounter, but hill on one side, gravel road that we were on. And then on the left side of the road, it goes basically straight down into a goal, churra goalie. And what I had caught was them, these things sprinting seemingly across the road. And it was so fast that I couldn't really make out almost even like a shape, it was literally a blur. And I caught them going down that going. And the first thing I said was, oh, bears, there's bears. And Miles didn't see them. So I don't know where he was looking when he was driving, but he apparently didn't see them. So I had him pull over immediately because I was like, oh, I want to go see where they went. He pulled over, I got out. I kind of, I didn't want to go over too close in case they for some reason had stopped and we're just sitting there. But I got out of the car and walked over the edge of the gravel road and looked down on the gully. And when I walked over there, I could see the first thing my eyes caught was where these, these masses had run. All the plants were still moving. And I looked over and down and the. In the going it was pretty, pretty expansive. You could see I was kind of on a corner, so I could see out quite a ways. But it's a lot of undergrowth and trees. And the last thing I saw was them, these two figures exiting basically directly away from where I was looking. And again moving at a speed that I can't even describe. Just looked like blurs basically running away from me. And in the moment I still thought they were bears. And it wasn't until we were driving back that certain details kind of started to click in my brain. They weren't down on the ground on all fours, they were they're basically vertical. And I wanted to say if I had to estimate the height, like 6 to 7ft tall, they weren't huge, but no bear running and they have to run on all fours. No bear running is even close to that height. I mean even grizzly bears I think are maybe five feet when they're, when they're on all fours of the shoulder. So it was just weird. And like I said, the whole situation happened so fast that it's, it's just hard for me to describe what it was. And I, I, I again, maybe, maybe it wasn't Sasquatch, I don't know. But it was something and I saw it and I know I saw I wasn't, wasn't hallucinating, wasn't on drugs. It was just, it was weird. It was in the middle of the day too. This is like 1pm heat of the day. So I could see pretty clearly as far as, you know, lighting was available.

[Wes (Host)]

So how far ahead of you were these figures that you saw?

[Austin]

I would say 30 yards if I had to guess. So we, we round the corner and they were, like I said, coming off that hill, already running. So I'm assuming maybe they heard the car, I don't know. But yeah, probably I would say 30 yards. And then by the time I got out of the car and check down the goal, they were running away at that point they were probably close to a football field away and then they left my site.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, bears are fast when they're on four legs. I've seen a bear run on all fours and I was shocked how fast they can actually move, but on two legs they're not that fast. So you guys kind of pull up where you saw them cross?

[Austin]

Yeah, we, well we, he didn't see them and I don't know how Miles didn't see them. He also stayed in the car when I went to go check. So like I said, we were just out driving around and in the moment I think I mentioned it, you know, I didn't know, I just thought they were bears and I thought they were running away and I was like, oh that's, that was cool. But didn't really think to stick around and you know, do any further investigating. Also if they are bears, I mean we weren't, we weren't armed or anything. So I'm not trying to, trying to mess with any bears, you know, and poke fun. Especially if there's two of them. Usually that's like a juvenile and adult. But yeah, like I said, it wasn't until after I was. We were driving back and back to camp, and that's when it kind of clicked that things were adding up. And, I mean, I admittedly had doubts. I. I do believe, obviously, Sasquatch exists, but, you know, it's hard when there's. There's not. Like, I don't want to say there's no evidence, because obviously there's tons of evidence. And that's. That's why the podcast exists. For example, there's so many. So many books, so much literature, so many articles. But, yeah, in my mind, it didn't click right away. And I think from what I've heard from listening to the podcast, that happens quite a bit. It seems like people have an encounter, and then there's a latency period between the encounter and, I guess, realization of what they've seen. Even with you, mom, like you said, you thought it was a bear right away, but it wasn't until a little bit later until things kind of clicked.

[Wes (Host)]

So, yeah, it kind of takes a brain a second to go, wait a minute. That. That wasn't a bear. Tell me you. You had mentioned a paranormal encounter.

[Austin]

Well, so this one's just. It's so strange. So I. I mean, I grew up in the city. I grew up in Corvallis, but I spent a lot of time outdoors, mountain biking, fishing. I was in Boy Scouts. I'm really familiar with. With wildlife in the area, which is also. I was kind of stumped by what I saw in my initial encounter. But this. This other incident, it's just. It's strange. My. My dad's side of the family, we go camping at this area. I'm also in the Cascade. It's called a Lally Lake. It's right near Mount Jefferson, if you know where that is. Basically right at the foot of it. But the forest service road that takes you up there is really rough. It's poorly maintained, but it will take you straight to the lake eventually. And it's off of a paved road near Detroit, Oregon. You probably have to go two miles or two hours. Sorry. Half of it on paved road and half of it on this really poorly maintained forest service road to get to where the camp is. But the camp is nice. So we were doing our summer vacation there, and we had rented out the campsite and on the way up, and that poorly or poorly managed forest service road, there's all these, you know, micro Cascade lakes. They're a lot smaller than the main lake is, but they're basically dotted all over the place on the way up. And you can See them and you're driving, they're basically right off that dirt road. And we had already been camping for a couple days and we decided that we wanted to go fish one of those smaller lakes. So me, my stepbrother Jordan and two of my cousins decided that we wanted to go fishing. So we went down one of those Cascade lakes. We walked there. It was probably a good 45 minute walk. And we ended up going to this lake. And it was really cool because it was probably the size of a half a football field, maybe three quarters of a football field. So like 75 yards. The unique thing about it though is there's this log that was sitting in the middle of the lake and it was perfectly vertical and you could swim out to it and touch it. And if you put your hand on it, it was probably sitting about two feet out of the water, just, you could see basically just the tip of the log. You could actually push it down and it would almost effortlessly go down and then come back up and you could do that over and over again. And it wouldn't move, wouldn't go side to side. It was basically stuck vertical, but you could still mess with it, if that makes sense. It was really strange. So we went there day one, that was cool. Caught some fish, came back. We decided to go there on day two. And this is again middle of the day, we're fishing. One of my cousins brought a little float to go fish on. So he was out in the lake and me and my other cousin are sitting on the shore fishing and just kind of waiting. It was the nice day, taking the sun. And we noticed the log independently goes completely underwater and then shoots back up and we're like, oh, that's weird. That's really strange. And it kind of bobbed a little bit. And then after that, this mass came from right where the log was. And you know when you're. When something is swimming and it's near the surface of the water, but it doesn't break the surface tension and it kind of rolls over the top of it, almost looks like a little wave. It looked like that, but the width was probably 3 to 4ft wide. And it almost looked like an orb, like a big dark orb, three feet wide and almost circular. But it came up for that log was. And kind of made an S shape and was swimming towards my cousin. We started freaking out because we don't know what it is. Screaming at him, screaming at him, screaming at him. He doesn't understand what's happening. He's flailing. So he just tries to get to the shore as fast as possible. And then right when it gets to about 10 to 15ft from him, it just sinks, disappears. Nothing. So he got out. We ran back to camp. We were screaming at the family. We just saw something in the water. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Obviously everyone dismissed it. We were probably, I don't know, 14 to 16 years old. They just thought we were no yanking their chains. But that's, that's what I mean when I see is I. I don't know what else to call that other than paranormal because there's nothing natural. I mean, I know there's sturgeon in Oregon. That's the biggest fish we've got. To my knowledge. There's some catfish. But for that to be in a Cascade LAKE that's only 75 yards in a. In diameter with no, with no spring feeding it or no creek, it just doesn't. Doesn't add up. So that's. That was my weird one off thing. Like I said, it's not really. Not really Sasquatch related, But it was just. It was so strange because it just doesn't add up.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, I'm really glad that you shared it. I don't know what that thing could have been. Like you said, Austin, I mean, we have sturgeon, but they're in the Columbia river. I don't know that you're going to catch them in a lake. And probably the biggest fish we have in a lake is trout.

[Austin]

Yeah, it's really straight. I mean, I've caught. I was on a guided trip and I've. I've caught sturgeon that are like seven feet long. I mean, it took four of us to, to pull it in. And they're not even shaped that way. They're not wide. You know, they're. They're shaped like a. Like a tube, basically. You know, I mean, like a shark, I guess. But. Yeah, so that's kind of just an unexplainable thing that that had happened that I thought I'd mention because it's just. It's just out of place. It was weird.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, you're right. Sturgeon is more of a. I guess tube shape would be the best way to describe it. It's not that big round shape like you were describing. That is weird, man. I have no clue what that could have been. I want to ask you, Linda, I ask everyone on the show, what do you think Sasquatch is? What's your take?

[Linda]

I don't know. I. I guess I want to believe that it's a, you know, Just a species that's been out there and smart and survives and I don't know, I've watched the shows, you know, about the tunnels and stuff through mountains. I can't remember where that was at. You know, there are different little passageways that people are stumbling on and finding and I don't know, I guess that's what I want to. I think it's like a species of us before. I don't know, I guess that's what. That's how. That's what I'd say.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah. And I think a lot of people say that, you know, it's some form of human or some form of, you know, us running around. What about yourself, Austin? What do you think that they are?

[Austin]

I mean, the short answer is I don't know. There's a lot of theories I think are interesting. From listening to the show, I hear people think they're the nephilim. Some people will under the impression they might be some sort of extra dimensional extraterrestrial being. I guess I'm of the impression that it's a physical creature. Obviously people are having these experiences and they're leaving behind evidence. Yeah, hard for me to say. I think it's maybe a combination of relic hominid and a primate, like a lost ancestor, I guess. But the strange thing for me is anthropologically they seem to be everywhere. And that's the weird part. I mean, there's evidence in Australia, there's evidence in China, there's evidence in Tibet. You hear stories about stuff even in Eastern Europe and Germany. And then Russia's got these al musta and there's stuff in South America. So there's too much going on globally. That kind of throws another wrench in it because species are usually especially larger ones like this are endemic to one specific area. But these seem to be a phenomenon that's Everywhere, even the U.S. there's so much diversity because growing up here, of course you hear about it in the Pacific Northwest. It's part of the native culture. You hear about it here. Obviously we have a big cluster of or high density of sightings. But it wasn't until listening to Sasquatch Chronicles, I was more opened up to areas like East Texas. I hear that area quite a bit on there, like Sabine river and western Louisiana, but pretty much everywhere in the us Even states that I'm surprised about, like Indiana and Oklahoma, being a pretty big hospital kind of shocks me. But they're there and you can't. I think I've heard on the show, it's like even if 1 in 100 of these encounters are real, it's still 1 out of 100. Too many people can't be making this up. And there's too much consistency in the encounters. That's what's interesting to me. But yeah, maybe some sort of genus Homo that's gotten freakishly large. And I mean, like you said, like you've heard in the podcast, there's a lot of, there's a lot of size difference, it seems like in the species and the way that they're built, like, I know I've heard you describe them and witnesses describe them, sometimes more chimp, like where they're faster but you know, not as stocky and then seems like some of them are built, you know, like a brick house basically where they're, you know, 10 to 12ft tall and, you know, close to a thousand, 2,000 pounds. So there's clearly a lot of variance in what people are seeing. And that's what kind of stumps me is, you know, it's hard to say with that much variance what truly they could be. But yeah, I think I would say some sort of, some sort of hominid or primate or a splicing of both that happened hundreds of thousands if not a million plus years ago. But yeah, I don't know.

[Wes (Host)]

Yeah, it's good insight that you have, Austin. The variants are strange and that is why I'm much like you. That is why it's hard to kind of pinpoint it. But I really appreciate you coming on and your mother coming on and had your dad on. I really enjoyed chatting with the family. Thanks so much for being here.

[Austin]

Yeah, thanks, Wes. Yeah, it's been a pleasure.

[Wes (Host)]

And that's it for tonight, everyone. Remember, if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is wesasquatchchronicles.com and if you get a chance, check out sasquatch chronicles.com you can become a member and get additional shows. Until next time, everyone.

[Unknown Caller or Narrator]

The lights on baby should know that you gone with the lights on this is my home place where I memories of you dear unt your eyes close it the sky I'll miss my alright memories of you de I. Make power grow whiter the light be a little wiser. Quieter with the lights on this is my home Closer now memories of you dear unturned your eyes closer the sky I miss my memories of you dear sat memories of you until your life close up the skies I'll miss my memories of you. Ram. Sam.