SC EP:1247 Naked & Afraid

Summary

Sasquatch Chronicles – Episode 1247: "Naked & Afraid"

Date: April 12, 2026
Host: Wes
Guest: Chris (Purple Heart Veteran, Bigfoot Eyewitness)
Location of Encounter: Cougar Reservoir, Oregon

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Episode Overview

In this emotionally charged episode, Wes welcomes Chris, a veteran who’s kept his Bigfoot encounter secret for 16 years. Chris recounts a chilling, close-quarters encounter at Cougar Reservoir in Oregon that transformed a skeptic into a believer—and left him grappling with unexplainable phenomena, including a direct, telepathic “message” from the creature. The episode also touches on broader links between cryptid encounters and veteran experiences, the nature of Sasquatch, and the psychological impact of these revelations.

Wes also thanks Chris for his service and allows him to share a message to fellow veterans about VA claims and health advocacy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chris's Background & Preconceptions

• Skepticism About Bigfoot:
  Chris confesses that prior to 2010, he thought Bigfoot was a “hokey, scary story." He believed more in UFOs and ghosts, and remembers a joking mention of "Bigfoot missions" in Ranger School.
  Quote (05:21, Chris):
  “I believed in ghosts and UFOs, but Bigfoot's, I didn’t. It sounded like a hokey, scary story... So I just always assumed it was just a scary story we told the kids.”
• Connection with Other Veterans:
  At a recent Purple Heart meeting, Chris was shocked to hear nearly everyone had experienced some form of cryptid sighting—prompting him to finally tell his own story.

2. The Encounter at Cougar Reservoir (2010)

Setting & Sequence of Events

• Chris, his ex-wife, and children camped near a waterfall by Cougar Reservoir.
• He noted an odd "upside-down tree" with root-ball resembling a skull (a detail later linked to Bigfoot signs).
• As Chris and his wife stepped away from their tent for some privacy, their seasoned dog grew suddenly anxious—an early sign something was off.

The Approach

• Footsteps:
  Heard distinct, heavy bipedal steps, deliberate and loud, “like a heavy bag getting hit with a baseball bat,” but observed no underbrush disturbance (07:02–10:00).

  “Within five or six steps, it covered about 40 meters... I didn’t hear any underbrush moving... It made me uneasy.” (07:02, Chris)

• Response:
  Following the dog’s cues and his own alarm, Chris moved his family to the car and shone headlights toward the woods.

The Confrontation

• Warning Shots & Silence:
  Chris fired warning shots but received no response—not even usual noise from the woods or ringing in his own ears, which felt unnatural.

  "Every time I’ve ever shot a weapon, it's always made my ears ring… this time there was no ringing… the pistol was suppressed." (09:00, Chris)

• Mindspeak Experience:
  As fear mounted, Chris received a clear, intrusive thought:

  “I heard something say, you know what I am.” (11:22, Chris)

• Creature Description:
  As the being closed in (to ~12 feet), Chris could only see an immense, black silhouette—no eye shine, no details, just width and height that “didn’t seem natural."

  “I was looking up... it was right about 10 foot tall… the shoulders are really wide… I couldn’t see facial features, just black.” (17:15, Chris)

• Aftermath & Exit:
  He got his family to the car and drove away, stopping at a bridge to collect himself before deciding not to return to the campsite that night.

3. The Official, the Nest, and the "Men in the Van"

• Federal Ranger Response:
  Chris flagged down a ranger, who reacted seriously, never questioned the encounter, and focused immediately on the nest near their tent.

  "He didn’t ask what charged me… his eyes got really wide. His face got really serious… never said Bigfoot though.” (24:34, Chris)

• Nest Evidence:
  Found a fresh, large nest (“not a single blade of grass standing”) just 10 feet from their tent.
• Return to Camp:
  Surprisingly, Chris and his wife felt inexplicably safe afterward and opted to stay the night. No trace of disturbance; even the food was untouched.
• Strange Visitors:
  The next day, four men in a minivan—clean-cut, no camping gear—asked odd, probing questions, putting Chris on edge.

  “They started asking if I got a cell phone, a radio or flare… after that, things got a little tense, they got in their car and they left.” (26:02, Chris)

4. Analysis & Reflection

• Why Stay the Night?:
  Chris and his wife both felt “safe” on returning, as though the mood or presence had changed.

  “It was a mutual decision… it was really peaceful sleep.” (38:12, Chris)

• After-Effects:
  Chris returned to the site several times (“call of the void… I want to be… not friends, but maybe wave at one from across the field”). Described additional strange phenomena, like distant rock throws.
• Sasquatch Nature:
  Chris speculates the creature is not an ape or hominid, but something not from this world—citing telepathy, intelligence, and “too many weird things.”

  “There’s no reason something needs to be that big, that smart, that stealthy… I don’t think it’s from here, but I think we’re related to it in a weird way.” (42:26, Chris)

• On Mindspeak:
  Chris describes the message as a “thought, not a voice”—so overwhelming it made his arms drop and made him question his sanity.

  “It was more like a message… it was so intrusive, my arms fell to my side, I looked down at the ground.” (34:31, Chris)

• Where Science Fails:
  Chris believes it's the creature's ability to know intent—possibly even thoughts—that explains how it remains elusive:

  “If something knows what you’re thinking, it’s going to be a piece of cake to avoid you.” (51:26, Chris)

5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Encountering the Creature:

  “I thought this thing was going to kill me… my plan was just to give my wife enough time to get her—let her get out of there.” (15:59, Chris)

• On the Telepathic Experience:

  "I heard in my head, 'you know what I am'... I didn’t say that out loud. I was just thinking, after my shot, what the hell is that?" (34:31, Chris)

• Reflecting on Sasquatch Ethics:

  “If they were bad, there’d be a whole lot more dead people around here… I think they’re like people; they just want to be left alone.” (45:30, Chris)

• Why People Go Missing:

  "...if I would have shot it, it wouldn’t have been so kind.” (37:34, Chris)

• Wes on the Consistency of Mindspeak:

  "The way I've had it described… is like an oppressive thought. Kind of like a thought that wasn’t their own." (35:43, Wes)

• On the Overlap With the Paranormal:

  “If you do a Venn diagram of all the paranormal stuff…it all kind of overlaps. UFOs, demonic possessions… it all kind of overlaps.” (45:30, Chris)

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Important Timestamps (MM:SS)

• 03:35 — Chris relates cryptid sightings to his veteran group.
• 05:21 — Chris discusses his Bigfoot skepticism.
• 07:02–10:00 — Detailed play-by-play: footsteps, escalating fear, tactical response.
• 11:22 — Mindspeak experience: “You know what I am.”
• 17:15 — Description of the creature’s size and form.
• 24:34 — Ranger’s reaction to the encounter and investigation of the nest.
• 26:02–28:38 — The four mysterious “government types” probing at camp.
• 34:31 — Chris’s account of the oppressive, telepathic communication.
• 42:26 — Chris’s speculation on Sasquatch’s otherworldly origins.
• 45:30 — Bigfoot's possible ethics and overlap with paranormal experiences.
• 51:26 — Why Sasquatch remains undetected: mind-reading ability.

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Tone and Takeaways

The episode is earnest and candid, blending chilling recollections with thoughtful post-encounter reflection. Chris’s military discipline and integrity give his testimony weight—especially as he relates his experience to themes of trauma, skepticism, and the search for meaning. Wes’s empathy and persistent questioning help draw out the story’s strange, unresolved edges. The episode is laced with both awe and unease, with both men agreeing that the deeper “mindspeak” phenomenon connects Sasquatch to broader mysteries occupying the fringes of human experience.

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Final Thoughts & Key Messages

• Chris’s Advice to Veterans:
  If you are a veteran, file your VA health claims and look out for your fellow service members.

  “If you’re a veteran, get on va.gov and file a claim. It takes 10 minutes… All these things can be better addressed if every single Veteran gets on va.gov and files a claim.” (03:35, Chris)

• Honesty & Stigma:
  Chris underscores the difficulty—and necessity—of giving a full, unedited account, especially the “mindspeak” aspect. He credits Sasquatch Chronicles for providing a space that made him feel less alone in his experience.

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Further Listening

• Episode 500 (with Les Stroud): Telepathy and Bigfoot
• Recent member show with Austin: Infrasound and altered emotions during encounters

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For more encounters and Bigfoot news, visit sasquatchchronicles.com.

Transcript

[Chris]

It looked like somebody was bent over and had their head in the window 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]

That shocked me.

[Chris]

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.

[Chris]

Nine, one, one, what are you reporting? Jesus Christ. You better, sir. See ya.

[Wes]

Hello. Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a is about 6 foot 9. I don't know. Do you see him now, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at him.

[Chris]

O.

[Wes]

This is Shani and Lola from Utah. You're listening to Sasquatch Chronicles.

[Poet/Narrator]

Foreign.

[Wes]

Welcome to the show. Tonight we'll be speaking with Chris. He had an encounter over 16 years ago. In 2010, Chris and his family were camping at the Cougar reservoir in Oregon, and in the middle of the night, one of these creatures actually charged Chris's campsite. There are some strange details about Chris's account. And, you know, over the years I've heard of details like this, and most of the time the eyewitness will say something to the effect of like, can I leave this part out? It was already strange enough seeing what I saw, but I asked Chris to kind of tell the full encounter, including all the weird details. 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, check out sasquatch chronicles.com you can become a member and get additional shows. And I'll be back tomorrow night for the members. Let's jump into it. I want to welcome Chris to the show. Chris, thanks for coming on.

[Chris]

Thank you, Wes. Pleasure being here. Thank you.

[Wes]

The pleasure's mine. The pleasure is definitely mine. And I know that you served our country and I want to thank you for your service. Chris. And you asked me if you could kind of give a brief message right before we get into the encounter.

[Chris]

Well, thank you, Wes. Yes, I do. I've been sitting on my encounter for 16 years, and I didn't really feel the need to share until a couple days ago. I went to a purple heart Meeting. So it was a meeting of just nothing but guys with purple Hearts. And every single person in that room, except one, had seen some kind of cryptid. Specifically an ape. Oh, upright walking ape. I mean, every single person. It was like a bad luck club. And it seems like it's related somehow. I always asked other veterans if they've seen anything weird, and the answer is usually no. In this room, every single person except one, seen one. So one of the things we discussed a couple days ago was things that we could do to help other veterans and Agent Orange, burn pit exposure, depleted uranium. All these things cause cancer. And as you get older, cancer starts. You know, cancer rates start kicking up. Also, veteran mental health. All these things can be better addressed if every single Veteran gets on va.gov and files a claim. If you're a veteran, get on va.gov and file a claim. It takes 10 minutes. You only need your ID if you know a veteran. Ask them if they file a claim, convince them to file a claim. And that's it. That's. That's. That's all I want to say. Yeah. With the Purple Heart recipients, every one of them having an encounter, I felt I should probably tell my story now. And that's. That's why I emailed you this week, Wes.

[Wes]

It's a good message. Chris, I appreciate, you know, I have a lot of respect for veterans, and I appreciate you doing that. You know, prior to you having this encounter in 2010, what was kind of your thoughts about Bigfoot?

[Chris]

I didn't think it was real. I believed in ghosts and UFOs, but Bigfoot's I didn't. It sounded like a hokey, scary story. You know, if you're going to imagine a monster, you know, big, scary, hairy monster, you know, like Bigfoot's exactly what you imagine. So it seemed like just too good of a monster to exist. So I just always assumed that it was just a scary story that we told the kids. So ghosts and UFOs are a little more nuanced. You know, there's a little. Little weirder. And the prevalence of their sightings, you know, you just kind of. I was a little skeptical, but Bigfoot was the one thing I was sure didn't exist in Ranger School. You know, there was one time we were all trading stories and a couple of the Rangerback guys from Second Bat, you know, we're trading, like, secrets, you know, secret op mission kind of stuff. And, like, what kind of cool stuff we've done. Two of the Second Ranger Bat guys casually brought up that they that they had bigfoot missions. And then one of them said, shut up. And they did. And I thought that was hilarious. I thought it was a joke. And that's my entire exposure to bigfoot before my encounter.

[Wes]

Yeah, I get it. And you know, I'm not too hard on skeptics. A lot of their questions Are very fair questions, and there's not a lot of great answers for them. Take me back to 2010. You're out there in the cougar reservoir in oregon. What were you doing? And walk me into what happened.

[Chris]

Well, I was an iron worker. I was building a fish ladder there. So I was there for quite a while. Year and a half, long project. I'd go there sporadically. One summer day in august, on the weekend, I decided to take my family up there camping. And we camped along the eastern side. There's a bridge there. And we like about a quarter mile after the bridge, Down a gravel road, There's a nice little camp spot right on the river's, Right on the waterfall, Water's edge. Beautiful camp spot. Driving in, I noticed that on a gravel pile on the left hand side of the road, There was a tree that had been stuck in to the top of it, and the roots were sticking up into the air. And the roots kind of looked like a skull. And I thought, oh, that's cool. I wonder who did that. I didn't know that this was a bigfoot thing until years later I saw a documentary. And then I thought, oh, I saw that going in in my encounter. So I drive, I see this, this tree upside down, tree. And I, we go, we park, we set up camp, we put the kids to bed. They're about three and one. We put them to bed, we get some steaks out. We're gonna cook up some ribeyes. So they're sitting out. And the ex wife and I went over to the car and we kind of started having some intimate time together over the car. And as that's happening, My dog starts kind of whining and comes in between us and which was unusual because this dog, you know, Was very familiar with the woods. We had a couple black bear encounters. And she was always handling them like a pro. Never had any issues with her with bear or elk or anything, but this time she was whining. So I grabbed my 9 mil out of the center console and I listened. And I could hear faint footsteps. Sounded like they were coming from the top of the hill. And they sounded very loud, Like a heavy bag getting hit with a baseball bat. It was about Five or six steps. They were very slow. It was like a boom, boom, boom. They were very slow and very deliberate. It sounded like two steps, like two separate feet. It didn't. You know, right away I thought, wow, it's really big, and it's trying to scare me. So, like, there was some kind of comfort that I had there that whatever this thing was, I could, I knew that it didn't have hooves. I could hear that it wasn't hooves. So I, I, I thought, man, this thing is some kind of predator or a person. I thought bear, but it just didn't sound right for bear. And the bear there are tiny, and this thing sounded huge. Within five or six steps, it covered about 40 meters from the top of the hill to about halfway, almost halfway to my campsite with all the underbrush. I didn't hear any underbrush moving. I didn't hear any sticks or branches breaking. I only heard the footsteps, which also was weird. You know, it just kind of, I don't know, it made me feel uneasy. So I'm trying to think of what this thing could possibly be. And I tell my wife, get the kids in the car. We start making our way back towards the tent. Along the way, we turn on the. The car headlights, turn on the brights, and the car just happened to be pointed towards the tent and into the wood line where this thing was approaching from. So me and the wife get to the tent. I kind of step off to the side, and I'm trying to listen. And in that time, this thing kind of advanced a little more. And the wife took the first child back to the car, put them in the back seat, and. And as she was coming back, it took a couple more steps and made it to about 40 meters out. And I decided that because this thing was coming straight at me, I'm gonna let off some warning shots. It was all mountainous terrain. There's no that, you know, it was safe to shoot in that direction. There was no people. There was zero chance of me hitting anything. So I shot high, but high enough to kind of get that cracking sound. If you've ever been shot at, you kind of know what I'm talking about. And my goal was to. To get a bullet cracking overhead of whatever this thing was to elicit a reaction. And so I shot once, and there was no reaction. And I'm listening, and everything's really quiet. Just before I shot, I. I let out a warning. I said, whoever's out there, I'm armed, and I'm. And I've got my family Let yourself known. And. And there was no response. I don't know why I thought it could be a person. It was just simply too big. But it was. It was on two feet. So I talked and I. You know. But I was fairly certain that I was dealing with an animal. So I shot my first warning shot. And I'm listening, and there's no reaction. And I noticed that everything's quiet. I can't hear the wind, no crickets, the water hitting the shore of the reservoir. I can't hear that either. And not only that, but my ears aren't ringing. Anytime I've ever shot a weapon, it's always made my ears ring. Doesn't matter how much adrenaline pumping through me, my ears always ring. And this time there was no ringing. And it sounded like the. The pistol was suppressed. It sounded very, very quiet. And I'm thinking, what is out there? What is that? And something very intrusively like a very intrusive thought, like how I imagined schizophrenia. I heard something say, you know what I am? It was so intrusive that I. My arms went to my side and I looked down at the ground, wondering if I was going crazy. And I thought, oh, my God. Something could hear me thinking. I thought, I don't know what you are. And then I remember, like, the sudden realization that it could hear me think. I wanted to. Like, I thought, I don't know what you are, and I don't want you to kill me, and I don't want to kill you. So that happened after the second warning shot. As that happened, I turned around to my wife and told her to get the second kid and put him in the car. And she started. As soon as I turned around, this thing started advancing even closer. And it stopped at about 20 meters out. And I kind of had to advance to get myself in between it and my wife and my kid that's inside the tent. And so I kind of put myself on the dark side of the tent. And as soon as I did that, I could see much better into the woods. And so this thing was about 20 meters out then and still taking steps towards me. And the wood line was only 10ft away from me. The tent was very close to the wood line, so this thing was able to get right up on me. And I could hear my wife getting. Getting our son. And. And as this thing got closer and closer, I'm thinking I should be able to see it, but I can't. And then, I mean, with. After 20 meters, Wes, every footstep, I could feel the reverberation in my knees. I was wondering if I was. If I. If my knees were shaking because I was afraid. And I actually looked at the. Some point, I looked at the ground to kind of confirm that the ground was shaking because it was just that intense. When it was about 12ft in front of me, I was looking deep into the wood trying to see anything, and I just couldn't see anything. Then I realized that there were bushes that were in front of me that I was able to see that were now black. And I started looking up and I mean, it's 12ft in front of me. And I was an iron worker at the time, so I got my disc. I worked with a lot of rebar, 10, 12, 14 foot rebar. And it was right about 10 foot tall. I had a pretty good eye about judging distances at the time. So I was looking up and it took for me to see the trees and see where the black ended to where I finally was able to make out its head and shoulders. As I saw the head and shoulders. I was looking for eyeshine to. To blind it. To kind of. I was looking for eyeshine to blind it. Since when? It was 20 meters away and expecting to see it. And as it was standing in front of me, it's. I could see its two arms hanging off to its side and its head and its shoulder. I couldn't see its hands. I couldn't see any facial features. Just black. And even though the headlights were pointed right at it, I saw no eye shine. Either it had its eyes closed or. Or its back was facing directly towards me. I thought this thing was going to kill me. And my plan was just to give my wife enough time to get her, let her get out of there. It stopped right at the wood line, though. It didn't get out of the wood line. And the wife. I could hear the wife get our kid. And I slowly backed up when I heard her get in the car and I started making my way back to the car. We backed out of that campsite, took a. Took about a couple minutes to back out of it because it was just such a little two lane road, little two lane trail. And leaving the reservoir along the eastern shore, there's a bridge. The only place I felt safe enough to stop was that bridge. And we stopped in the middle of the bridge and I kind of looked back, kind of expecting to see something pop out of the woods out in the. You know, we were leaving a fire in national forest during the summer. So I felt uneasy about that. But I wasn't about to take my kids back. So as the ex wife and I were spitballing what to do, I'm watching the woods, we get dressed, and we decide we have to leave. It's just not safe. We're not taking the kids back there. So we leave, we get dressed, we start driving. And maybe a mile and a half down the road, mile, not too far. We saw a federal ranger pulled someone over. He had someone in his. In the back. And you could see that, you know, he had pulled someone over. And the car was empty. So I pulled in front of both those cars, and I get out of my car. It's middle of the night in the woods, in the mountains, middle of nowhere. So I know I'm. I'm about to freak this cop out, kind of. So I get out, and right away he's like, can I help you? And, you know, kind of. Kind of uneasy and confrontational. And I tell him I just had to leave my campsite. There's a fire there. It's along the water. It should be safe, but I got charged by something big, and all my stuff is there, and I'm. I don't know what to do, but I'm just letting you know. And his eyes kind of went wide, and he said, hold on right here. And he goes back to his truck. He opens the back, the guy gets the guy out. The guy cussed the cop out a little bit, got back in his car and then peeled out of there. I say, cop, he was a federal ranger. He comes back over to me, he's like, show me where your campsite is. I'll follow you there. So I take him back to the campsite. I explain what happened. He gets out of his car, and we found a nesting site. A nesting. Like a big nest right next to our campsite. All the. All the grass had been smashed down. There wasn't a single blade of grass that was standing up. So this thing looked like it was used that. That entire day. Like it had just been abandoned 30 minutes ago is what. What it looked like. And it was 10ft away from my. From my campsite in the woods. And in those deep woods where it was able to move silently through. It was so dense, I just didn't see it. We went looking for tracks, looking for any kind of evidence. We hiked kind of deep in there, and we looked and looked, and we settled back on the nest, and he said, well, here's some raccoon hairs. And he kind of picked up the hairs and he bagged them, and he's like, well, it seems safe now. And he must have been there for like, two hours. So by then it was like 2. 2 in the morning, pretty late. And I don't know why Wes, but I felt safe. He asked me what I was going to do, and I. I could have gone home. I only lived an hour away. But the same feeling that made me feel scared when it was charging. I felt that same way, but in a safe way. Like, I don't know. I don't know how to. To describe it, but after that federal ranger there left me and the ex wife made the decision to stay the night, and I was able to fall asleep really pe. It was really peaceful sleep. I. I felt really at ease there afterwards. I don't know why we stayed the night. Everything went fine. It was a very peaceful night. Oh, the ribeyes hadn't been touched. We came back, and they were still sitting exactly where they were when we left. So nothing was disturbed. I kind of expected to come back to just a destroyed campsite. And it was further from the truth. Everything was left exactly as is. The next day, four gentlemen showed up in a minivan, and they kind of blocked us there because it was a thin little road, and. Oh, you took our campsite. They kind of struck me as government individuals, and they were asking all sorts of weird questions. They asked me. You stayed the night. Wow. You stayed out here with no cell phone, no radio, like, just. I was uneasy with them asking me these questions with my family out in the middle of the woods. And I think they kind of picked up on that, and they left after that. We decided to leave. It wasn't because of the bigfoot incident. It was because of those. Those gentlemen that we decided to leave. I've been camping a lot since then. You know, I'm always uneasy in the woods ever since then. But that night and whenever I go back to that spot, for some reason, I feel kind of comfortable in those woods. I don't feel uneasy there when I know I damn well should. I go camping in other places where there's fewer bigfoot encounters, people that don't go missing. And I'll feel way more uneasy there than I do in that part of the Cascades. That's it. That. That. That's what happened.

[Wes]

Why go back and stay the night? You know, I try and put myself in people's positions kind of like, from their perspective. And I think I would have been like, we are out of here. I'm not even so sure I would have, like, taken my stuff. I think I would have just left. Why go back? Why stay the night?

[Chris]

I, I. In a weird way, I felt kind of like this thing wasn't going to mess with me anymore. And I felt like, if anything, this thing was kind of like. I think it was because I saw the nest, and it had been there all day, and it charged when me and the wife were being intimate. And so, like, it kind of was hanging out with us all day, and it didn't do anything. And it gave us plenty of time to leave. And when we came back, nothing was disturbed, and everything was just quiet again. And the dog wasn't alert. The dog was completely fine again. I don't know. I felt safe there. There's been a couple more times where I've gone there and kind of heard weird things at night. I don't know.

[Wes]

You know, Chris, I was thinking about my last member show with Austin, and to kind of give you just a brief rundown. He, him and his family would go into this area and they would experience what sounds like infrasound sickness. I mean, it was very odd. It was very strange. You know, sometimes in encounters, even in my own encounter, I was terrified before I ever saw anything. I knew something was very wrong here. Something is very off. And I had this terrifying feeling like I was in danger. And to this day, I still can't explain why I felt that way. But, you know, that last show really got me thinking about infrasound, because with infrasound, you can alter someone's feelings. You can make them terrified, you can make them. It's all a weird frequency. And depending on what you hit a person with very strange going from terrified to, hey, I'm going to stay here the night. And that federal officer coming back with you to the campsite, it's kind of weird for him to pick up raccoon hair and put it in a bag. Like, what's he care about raccoon hair?

[Chris]

Yeah, this guy was. I mean, he was a federal law enforcement, but he was also a trapper. Like, his job was to relocate bears. Probably doxing the poor guy. But this guy was very adept in the woods. He knew what he was doing. And when I told him that something big had charged us, there was no. There was no questioning. What? He didn't ask what charged me. He didn't. He. It's like he immediately knew. And his eyes got really wide. His face got really serious. I kind of expected him to be mad about the fire because, you know, a forest fire. But no, he's like, take Me back to the campsite. Let's see if. Let's see what we can find. And as soon as we got there, he didn't pay any attention to the fire. It was still going. We marched right into the woods trying to look for tracks, trying to look for some kind of evidence. Never said Bigfoot, though. Never during the entire. Entire time he was there for three or four. It had been two or three hours.

[Wes]

The other part that's kind of weird is the guys that showed up the next day. You know, I've driven up on people's campsites, places that I like to stay, and the conversation is always like, oh, sorry about that. I didn't realize someone was in here. Have a good day, guys. And then I leave. Tell me more about these guys. What were they dressed like? What was the conversation with them?

[Chris]

So they pulled up in. In a minivan, and the minivan had no tent, and I was standing up on high ground. So I kind of see into the minivan, and these four guys pull up. They see that it's a guy in his family. And they get out of their van and they start kind of spreading out a little bit, kind of looking around, and I'm like, can I help you guys? They're like, oh, you took our camp spot. And I look in their van, I see they've got no camping equipment and they weren't dressed like feds. They had shorts on and they had sneakers and shirts and. But they all had the haircut. They, you know, they. They were all kind of, you know, they. They did kind of look like. I wouldn't say military, but they could have been law enforcement perhaps. But they were very quiet about. I don't know, there was something off about them. When they told me, oh, you took our camp spot. I look in the back of their car and they're clean cut guys. It's not like they're going out there to smoke pot or anything like that. And nothing in their car for camping. I could, you know. So they, they just put me on edge. And then they started asking, wow, you stayed the night out here with no cell phone, no radio, no signals? And I'm like, he specifically mentioned signals or flares. Sorry. And I had my pistol on my hip at this point. They. I don't think they knew that because. I don't know, I just. If they knew how close, because four guys cornering a guy and his family in a place where people had gone missing. I was a little paranoid, especially after that night. And then these guys started asking if I got a cell phone, a radio or flare. After that, things got a little tense, and they got in their car and they left. And then I got in my car and I left. But, yeah, that was. That was the whole encounter. It was. It wasn't until I was talking to the cop, when I was trying to describe what it was, that I finally started thinking Bigfoot, though, up until then, for a second, I thought it was an elephant, some Indian elephant that got loose from a wildlife sanctuary or something. They moved through underbrush very quietly. That's how this thing moved. Except I only heard two legs. And then once I was able to see it, my immediate thought was, someone built this thing, and it got loose. This is like someone's monster that someone built, and it's running around.

[Wes]

And in a weird way, I completely get your comment there, Chris, but I'll ask for the audience. So the lights are on it. I realize it's still in the wood line kind of on the other side of the tent. What makes you make the comment like someone built this thing?

[Chris]

So I thought it was built because it was just so big. It was just such a big thing. And, like, it looked like a humanoid. I mean, the shoulders are really wide, and it was just so tall that it kind of, like. I don't know. I thought it, like, kind of looked like a giant. Like a giant thing. Like, I don't know, almost like a. Like a giant robot exoskeleton kind of dimensions. I don't know why I thought it was built. I. I just. I didn't think it was natural, not after the thing where, like, I mean, I was. I just shot at it, and I heard something in my head, and that just. I've been in plenty of situations where I'm scared, and that's never happened to me. So, yeah, I figured it was someone's science experiment. And then it wasn't until I was talking to the trooper. I'm like, we just got charged out of camp, and I'm trying to think of the word for it, and all I can think of is, like, a Bigfoot. And all I said, I landed on big. I just got charged by something big. And I did tell him that it sounded like it was on two feet, and that's when his eyes widened.

[Wes]

And so the lights are on it, but you're on the backside of the tent, kind of looking into the wood line.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah. The lights were pointed directly at the tent, and I was on the dark side of the tent looking into the woods to kind of get A better view of it. And all I saw, Wes, was just black. It was just black all the way through. I didn't notice that it was. I Knew it was 12ft in front of me, but I couldn't see it. And I'm trying to, like, focus just to see something in the woods. And I noticed that the bushes that I had seen are now just black. And I started looking up and up and up, and it was just black. And then I made out the head. And I didn't know it was a head. I just saw a bump, like a giant bump. But then I saw how wide it was. And, I mean, it was right in front of me. I didn't smell a thing. I was 12ft in front of it and I didn't smell anything. It didn't make any noise other than the footsteps. It kept its eyes closed or its back was turned towards me because I didn't see eyeshine. And I couldn't make out any facial features. I couldn't even see its hands, but I could make out its arms hanging down into the brush. What really struck me was just how wide it was. I remember thinking, man, I could lay down just about and it'd be shoulder to shoulder from me, head to toe, just from how wide I was.

[Wes]

Let me ask your opinion. Kind of looking back now. Why do you think it didn't kill you?

[Chris]

I don't know. I go back and forth on it. Whether it's all that I was with my family and that I didn't try to shoot to hurt it. I think that had something to do with it. I talked to a local first nations guy and he said that it sounded like it wanted to learn from me or wanted me to learn from it. Another first nations guy said, probably was trying to keep you safe from something scarier in there. That resonated with me just because it was. It seemed like it was peacefully there for a while because of the nest, how big the nest was and how well used it was. It had been there that day and I had been there most of that day with my family and my kids and my dog without incident. I think it just wanted to scare me and get me out of there. Whether because I offended it with, you know, being intimate with my wife in front of it or something crazy was coming through. I don't know, UFO or Dogman or Nessie or something. But I don't feel like it ever really wanted to hurt me. But I do feel that it wanted me gone, at least for a little

[Wes]

bit, you know, Chris, I'M a lot like you in the sense that when I fire off my pistol or a shotgun, or mainly a pistol, I don't know why, but my ears will ring for a long time if I'm not wearing ear protection. You know, here you're in this moment, you're not hearing anything. You're not hearing environmental sounds, nothing. And even when you fire off your gun, you made the comment of like. It's almost like it had a suppressor on it. What do you make of that? Do you think that was just fear, or do you think that was something else?

[Chris]

Now, that was something else. I'll tell you exactly what I think it was. After, you know, years of reflection, I think when the woods are going quiet, I think something could listen to what you're thinking because it knew I was thinking, what is that? Because it answered. And I didn't say that out loud. I was just thinking, after my shot, what the hell is that? And then I heard in my head, you know, what I am. You know, you could deduce from there that this thing knew what I was thinking. And I think it knew I was targeting its eyes. I think when the woods go quiet, something is kind of listening in on you. That's the only thing that makes sense to me.

[Wes]

Yeah, that's an interesting theory. Was it like a voice or was it more like a thought?

[Chris]

It was just. It was more like a message, like, you know what I am. And the funny thing is, like, as I thought that. I mean, it was a thought, I didn't hear anything. I just heard it in my head as I thought that it was so intrusive, though, that. I mean, like, my arms fell to my side, I looked down at the ground. It was very unsettling. It was. I've never experienced anything like that.

[Wes]

You know, the very first time I heard that was probably about 13 years ago. And I remember thinking, you know, there's probably medication for what this guy has. Very hubris in my thinking. But over the years, it comes up. Doesn't happen in every encounter, but it comes up consistent enough to make you stop and wonder. And as I was saying there in the intro, Chris, I mean, even a lot of times I'll have eyewitnesses that have experienced it, and they're like, can I leave that part out? Which I kind of wish they wouldn't, But. But, you know, what am I going to say? But the way I've had it kind of described to me over the years is like an oppressive thought. Kind of like a thought that Wasn't their own. And I'm not sure what to make of that.

[Chris]

That's a really good description of it. That's exactly what it was. It was an oppressive thought that wasn't my own. But I wouldn't describe it as oppressive so much as just talking to me. I just heard it say, you know what I am. And then I turned around and then it started charging me again. But it charged very slowly. Let me get out. And when I finally decided to stay the night, I felt that this thing was still nearby and that it was kind of like cool with me being there and kind of felt safe with it being there, you know. That's the best way I could describe it.

[Wes]

Yeah, it's very strange. It's very strange. I've been to the Cougar reservoir there in Oregon one time in my life. I mean, I know where it's at. You brought up people missing. Do people go missing in that area?

[Chris]

A few. A few. That's why I was armed. I figured there was probably some kind of meth operation or something in those woods. So I'll take my 9 mil with me and, and my dog. And I felt pretty confident that if there was something like that, I wouldn't have too big a problem with it. There was a U of O professor that went missing out there and not too far. Another area that I like to gold mine, There was another guy that went missing, stepped outside of his tent to pee and just disappeared. Some college student, I think. And in that area, the Cascades. If you go north or south 50 miles, you'll find a few missing people. Reports that are kind of weird. You know, it's. It's mountainous area and you know, it's very acidic soil, so people decompose and twist their ankles and die all the time. But after that, you know, I. I don't think I could see how someone would go out there and maybe let a shot off at this thing and piss it off and it would kill you. I could see that happening. I wonder if that's half the missing people, you know, especially when they have rifles and are they taking shots at this thing? I shot warning shots and I'm very glad I did. If I feel if I would have shot it, it wouldn't have been so kind.

[Wes]

Yeah, probably not. You know, when you go back and you decide to stay. What did your ex wife say?

[Chris]

She didn't handle it very well. She never wanted to talk about. Wasn't until years later after our divorce, I mean, one of the few things that Like, I went camping there again, like, later on, and I told her, like, oh, I just got back from camping there. And she's like, went camping there with that thing that's there. That thing was huge. And that was the first time and the only time I ever heard her acknowledge it. She stayed pretty quiet the whole time. I asked her if she wanted to go home, and she's like, honestly, I feel okay. Stay in the night. And so, like, we both. It was a mutual decision. It wasn't like, you know, we were. She was scared or I was scared. Another interesting thing was the kids didn't wake up at all during this whole thing. They stayed asleep the entire time. They didn't wake up for the. For the warning shots or for the drive or for the ranger, for the search. Nothing. They stay. They slept peacefully the whole time.

[Wes]

Yeah, that's really weird that they didn't wake up, you know. Over the years of going back there, has there been anything else that's happened?

[Chris]

Yeah. Rock Throne just heard a thump on the ground. Then I left, and it sounded kind of far. Another time, I went camping there, and I set up a tent. Everything seemed good. Then I heard something step on a. On a branch, and it sounded big. And I thought, oh, man, that sounds huge. That doesn't sound like just a normal 300. That sounds like. Like a cow stepping on something big. But we're up in the Cascades, and. And immediately I'm thinking bigfoot.

[Wes]

What made you want to go back to that place, Chris?

[Chris]

Curiosity, kind of. I don't know. I've gone back, and kind of every time I go back, I never go armed, you know, I kind of. I just take bear spray, you know, and hope for the best. And I don't take bear spray for the black bears. I just, you know, just in case. But I don't know, it's intriguing. It's something, you know, call the void, call the wild, call the unknown, whatever it is. It's. I feel like I want to be. Get to know one a little better, not be friends with them, but maybe, you know, wave at one from across the field, maybe.

[Wes]

It's so fascinating how people handle their encounters, you know, after my encounter, I. I have no love for them. I wouldn't say I hate them because I can't say I really hate anything, but there's no love there, you know? And I know people get upset when I say I would have no problems if someone shot one, but you have a completely different mindset. What makes you feel that way?

[Chris]

Well, it's been so long charging us. It gave us plenty of time to leave. It seemed like it just was being very gentle about moving us along out of there. And then when we got back, I still felt like there was something there, but it didn't feel like uneasy at all. It felt like it was off a little bit and like it wasn't gonna bug us. And I felt easy. I felt kind of welcome there. I'm always careful. I don't go out there just all willy nilly. I go out, I let people know where I am and I'm always very close to my car.

[Wes]

Yeah, I guess I just have a different mindset. If the measure of me wanting to see you again and wave at you because you didn't kill me, it's probably gonna take more than that for me. But again, that's just me. And I'm sure it's a bad attitude, but that's just kind of. I guess that's who I am, you know? I like to ask people, what do you think Sasquatch is? Sometimes people think it's an ape. Some people think it's some pre human. What are your thoughts, Chris? What do you think that they are?

[Chris]

Well, I don't think they're hominids. I don't think. I mean, whenever they get DNA, whenever you hear these little crazy reports on the Internet, they say that it's got human DNA in it and that's pretty consistent. So you want to lean towards relic hominid. But then you get on all the weird stuff and all the lights and, and the, you know, it spoke to me in a weird way. And I just don't feel like something like that happens on Earth. There's no reason why something needs to be that big, that smart, that stealthy. I don't see how something like that would. Would evolve on Earth. I don't think it's from here, but I think we're related to it in a weird way. And that opens up all sorts of weird questions. Honestly, I don't know what it is. I don't think it's a ape or a hominid, though.

[Wes]

Yeah, I sometimes feel like that too, Chris. Like they're not from here. Where they're from, what they are, I don't know. But there's too many weird things going on in people's encounters to just look the other way. And over the years, you know, there has been people who've been intimate out there in the woods and these things show up and it's never a happy encounter. It's always a very aggressive encounter. But the mindspeak thing really bugs me. Did you ever hear the show I did with Les Stroud?

[Chris]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've heard your show since episode. I remember when the 70s came out, episode 70 something came out. I haven't listened to your show for a while.

[Wes]

Oh, I appreciate that, man. Yeah, I think it was episode 500 with Les. And I remember he talked about that experience of hearing that telepathy. And I got to know Les pretty well. Les is very black and white, very scientific. It really shocked me when he said that. But I'll tell you why it bothers me so much. This mindspeak or telepathy, however people want to word it, you'll often find it in other genres, and it kind of seems like something you would experience more like in a spiritual encounter. What I mean by that is, you know, in a lot of alien abduction accounts, if you listen to the eyewitnesses, the aliens don't talk to them with their mouth. It's always through their mind. And I don't think aliens are from far, far away. I think they're from here. And I think they're probably demonic, if you want my opinion. But you also hear that in poltergeist accounts. In demonic encounters, you'll hear where people will say, it spoke to me in my mind. And in a lot of these near death experiences, which I'm fascinated by, whether someone goes to heaven or hell, they kind of describe the same thing. You don't speak with your mouth. Everything is through your mind. Do you think Sasquatch is something good?

[Chris]

I think it's like us, you know, I'm sure you piss one off, it's gonna react either violently or territorially or some kind of aggressive manner. I think they're. They seem to be. I. I don't think they're bad. And I'll. I'll tell you why. If they were bad, there'd be a whole lot more dead people around here. And I feel like we're a little more dangerous. Like you're more likely to find a person that's going to try to shoot a sasquatch and the Sasquatch is going to try to hurt a person is what I'm trying to say. And I think they're well aware of that fact. I don't think they're bad. I don't think they're good. You know, I think they're like people, they just want to be left alone, I think. But I'm not sure, you know, if you Do a Venn diagram of all the paranormal stuff, and you kind of look at it and you kind of step back from it. It all kind of overlaps. You're right. The UFOs, the demonic possessions, the poltergeist. I mean, I've been listening to your show for a long time. You might have one of the most important anthropological records there are. They're all firsthand accounts of an unknown animal, and there seems to be something odd about it. You're right. The. The Venn diagram for Bigfoot and the paranormal is overlapping. You're right. It's weird, all of it. I'm uneasy about all of it, to be honest.

[Wes]

Yeah. You know, I think when people shoot at these things, it's because of fear. I don't think just random hillbillies are taking shots at them. It's been my experience, anyway, of talking to people when they pull their weapon and they start shooting at them, it's just fear and desperation. They're terrified. I mean, you pulled out your weapon and fired off a couple warning shots, which is probably exactly what I would have done, not knowing, really what's coming.

[Chris]

It had already advanced 40 meters on me, 60 meters, when I let off the warning shots. And it was a straight line from the top of the hill right toward my campsite. There was no deviate. So I knew this thing was coming right at me. So I had no problems letting off warning shots, whether it was people or an animal. I just didn't know if I was gonna piss off an elephant or receive, you know, return fire. So I don't know. I didn't know. I mean, it was until, you know, I heard that weird thing in my head that I finally realized, like, this isn't a person. This is something out there. Another interesting thing is I thought. Man, when I first heard it, I thought, it sounds so big. That thing's gotta be £2,000, whatever it is. And then I thought, you know what? Maybe if it's, like really, really muscular and like 700 pounds of just muscle and, like, pounding on the ground, I could imagine that that's the. That's the. That's kind of the scope of the noise it was making. That's how big I thought it was based on. On the. On the footsteps that I was hearing.

[Wes]

Yeah, Like I said, I mean, I. I can't say that I would have done anything different. Especially when you don't know what's coming. It sounds like it's very big. You would think popping off a couple warning shots in the air, not really trying to hit anything or anyone would stop any normal animal out there. But with these things, it doesn't seem to work. In all your years of going back there, did you ever see the lights?

[Chris]

No, no, never saw any lights. I've seen some UFOs stuff once. Really? Here in Missouri. I live pretty close to Whiteman Air Force Base and kind of off in that direction. I saw a weird light in the sky. Nothing too dramatic, just kind of funny. Other than that, no, no, I never saw lights with that were Bigfoot related. No.

[Wes]

You know, a lot goes on in Missouri. Have you ever gone out there to look for these things in Missouri? Or I should say Missouri for my people.

[Chris]

Yeah. I met up with a guy who met a BFRO report. Just kind of off chance, just kind of met him and, and I heard his encounter and I went out to where he had his encounter and just kind of started looking around as an overlook area, wildlife conservation area. And it's a perfect place to go if you want to stay hidden. And I thought, okay, if I want to stay hidden out here and I want to look out into these fields, look for some deer, where'd I go? It just happened to be an overlook. And so I went up to the overlook and yeah, sure enough, I found some tracks there. About 150 meters of tracks. You kind of see where something big had come through and they were in line. They were pretty, pretty indented into the ground about four, four feet apart. And they were pretty impressive. In Missouri, that's all I found. I've never seen or heard anything other than those old tracks.

[Wes]

Well, definitely keep your eyes peeled. Man. There's a ton of reports that come out of Missouri and let me know if anything happens in the future. I wanted to ask you, you know, prior to this encounter, you were pretty skeptical. You know, you were kind of thinking, why hasn't science acknowledged this? Why isn't there more evidence? Why isn't there? Which, by the way, are very fair questions. Let me ask you, after running into one, why do you think that we haven't caught up with it? Science hasn't acknowledged it. No one's brought in a body. Why do you think that is? What would be kind of your answer to that question?

[Chris]

Well, because it knows what we're thinking. I mean, it when I, that's, that's my encounter. The one thing it taught me is that this thing kind of knew what I was trying to do and what I was thinking. And it seems like it kind of knew the whole time. So if something Knows what you're thinking, it's going to be a piece of cake to avoid you. It knows what your intentions are. It's just. It'd be too easy to stay hidden if you had that ability.

[Wes]

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from. Kind of a last question, you know, in your service to our country, what was kind of your favorite memory of serving?

[Chris]

Oh, well, graduating Ranger school was a good one. Coming back from deployments was a good one. Not all the time, though. My favorite memory is definitely the ones I have with the guys that have passed that didn't make it home. I have quite a few very close good friends that didn't make it. And yeah, that's it. That's definitely the memories I cherish most are the ones with those guys that didn't make it home.

[Wes]

Yeah, that's from the heart, man. I appreciate you sharing that. You know, on a side note, I watched people go through that Ranger school. That thing is no joke.

[Chris]

You know, you get used to the not eating and sleeping. That's what they don't tell you get your body gets used to it really quickly. If you adapt to it very easily, it's kind of fun. I thought it was fun.

[Wes]

Yeah, maybe for. Maybe for Rangers. I don't know if I'd ever get used to that, but I'll take your word for it. And I really appreciate coming on Chris and sharing your encounter. Like I said, over the years, I've heard it. And it's not just one person. It doesn't happen in every encounter. I would say more often than not, it doesn't happen, but it comes up enough. And the way people describe it are very consistent. And it just. It concerns me and I believe that it's going on. I remember I had this hunter come on one time and he talked about that, and this is before he ever saw anything. He heard, leave or I'm going to kill you. And he thought, what in the world? And he even thought, man, am I going crazy? And I really appreciate you sharing it and kind of sharing the whole thing, man. It was awesome having you on. I really enjoyed our conversation and thank you so much for taking the time, ma'.

[Chris]

Am. Yeah, and, you know, there's. It takes some bravery to be honest about your encounter and what you see, you know, it's not. Everyone's going to be receptive to it and people are going to think you're pretty silly. People are going to think that you're full of shit. And so you kind of have to. Kind of have to Draw a line in the sand and say, you know what? I'm going to tell people about this. I'm going to be honest about. And. And when you make that decision, you have to either be honest about some of it or all of it. And Wes, it was your show. Listen, listening your show. That kind of helped me come to terms with a lot of it, especially the mindspeak thing, hearing it from other people. Like, yeah, that's exactly what I. I didn't go crazy. Like, it took a couple years before, like, I was able to, like, really kind of accept that, that, like, to understand that I heard the mind speak. And it wasn't just a weird Bigfoot encounter because my wife didn't hear it, only I did. I asked her, like, did you hear anything? And she. She never heard anything. But, yeah, it was. There's a decision where you have to, you know, if you're going to tell people about these experiences, you know, you have to include. Include all the information and it's helpful. Over time, these kind of encounters build up and you kind of see a trend like the mind speak.

[Wes]

Yeah, I agree. And I appreciate you telling the whole story because it does go on. It goes on. I mean, I've probably heard it more off the air than on the air, and it does take courage. And I always tell people, you know, I don't need some fantastic story. Just tell me what happened, happened. But I appreciate it. Again, thank you so much, Chris.

[Chris]

Thank you, Wes. Thank you. And, yeah, I'm so appreciative of you. Let me pitch the VA thing. I hope that helps a lot of veterans.

[Wes]

Yeah, of course. 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. I'll see the members tomorrow night. For everyone else, until next time.

[Poet/Narrator]

He keeps his distance well tonight not from fear but sharp insight he knows some closeness cost too much and some hands bruise with too soft to touch. He learned the line between warmth and

[Wes]

fire

[Poet/Narrator]

Between a need and a bad desire he keeps his distance well

[Chris]

still

[Poet/Narrator]

never turns to stone. A quiet man can guard himself without becoming cold. He's loved enough to know the shape of what to hold and what to

[Chris]

leave

[Poet/Narrator]

so now he keeps his secret

[Wes]

and

[Poet/Narrator]

lets the room is release. No bitter face no heart goodbye he just protects what lives inside

[Chris]

he keeps

[Poet/Narrator]

his distance will still never turns to stone. A quiet man can guard himself without becoming cold. How to stay warm and not get burned. How to sit still under and keep their distance. Well, The candle bends, the last drink swells. The hour fades low. Bandwell. He leaves the same way. Shadows fell. He keeps his distance.