SO EP:694 The First Guest

Have you ever wondered about the true story behind the first Thanksgiving?

Happy Thanksgiving from Sasquatch Odyssey. For this special holiday episode, the show steps away from its usual encounter reports and witness interviews to share something different: an original work of fiction that reimagines one of America’s most iconic moments.

What if the first Thanksgiving wasn’t just a meeting between two peoples, but three? What if the Wampanoag arrived at the 1621 harvest celebration with a guest the colonists agreed to protect and keep hidden—an agreement passed quietly through generations for more than four hundred years? 

This episode tells the story of Yahyel, a Sasquatch elder who reveals himself to William Bradford and the Plymouth colonists, offering ancient wisdom, urgent warnings, and a promise that stretches across centuries.The narrative follows the descendants of that first feast as they safeguard the secret through revolution, expansion, war, and cultural change—carrying it from the earliest days of the colonies into the modern age of DNA databases, thermal drones, and digital discovery.

Along the way, the story blends real historical touchstones with cryptid folklore, exploring themes of cooperation, respect for the land, and the responsibility to protect wild places that cannot protect themselves.

To be clear: this is fiction. A holiday campfire story created to spark imagination, not to rewrite history. The episode makes no claim that these events occurred, and it is not presented as a factual account.But it invites a simple question: what if something like this could have been true?

What if ancient promises still mattered, mysteries still lived in the deep forests, and beings older than human memory were quietly watching—waiting for the moment humanity was ready to meet them with respect instead of fear? 

Whether you’re a true believer or a friendly skeptic, this Thanksgiving episode is meant to bring a little wonder to your holiday. May your plates be full, your company be warm, and your sense of mystery never fade.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now one you're putting. I got a string going on here.
Something just killing my dog. Something killed your dog, my dog.
We're flying through the or over the tree. I don't
know how it did it, okay, damn, and I'm really confused.
All I saw was my dog coming over the fence,
and he was dead once you hit the ground.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Like.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I didn't see any cars. All I saw was my
dog coming over the fence. Say, what are you putting?

(00:39):
We got some wonder or something crawling around out here.
Did you see what it was?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
It was?

Speaker 1 (00:51):
It was seeing enough. I'm out here looking through the
window now and I don't see anything. I don't want
to go outside. Jesus quiet, you better, Hello, get the
Boddy out here. Quin, I'm out there. I thought of
a mention about Tech nine. I don't know easy out there. Yeah,
I'm right.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Happy, Thanksgiving everyone. I hope wherever you are right now,
you're surrounded by good food, good people, and maybe a
little bit of that trip to fan drowsiness that makes
the afternoon nap feel so well deserved. But before you
settle into that food coma, I want you to think
about something. We all know the story, right The Pilgrims

(01:34):
the Wampanoague Plymouth Rock Squanto, teaching the colonists how to
plant corn. It's the version we learned in elementary school,
the one that shows up on greeting cards and in
school pageants every November. But what if I told you
that's not the whole story. What if there was someone
else at that table, someone the history books don't mention,

(01:56):
someone that the colonists themselves decided to keep secret, asking
the truth down through families for four hundred years. What
if the first Thanksgiving wasn't just a meeting between two
peoples but three. Now I know what some of you
are thinking. Here we go another wild theory. But stick
with me here, because this isn't just speculation. This is

(02:19):
a story that's been whispered in certain families since sixteen
twenty one, a story about ancient agreements, about guardians of
the forest, and about a promise that's been kept for
four centuries. Today, on this special holiday edition of the show,
we're going deep into a tale that will make you
look at Thanksgiving in a whole new way. This is

(02:39):
the story of the first guest. The morning mist rolled
across Plymouth Harbor like a living thing, thick and heavy
with the promise of an early winter. It was late
November sixteen twenty one, and the small settlement of English
colonists had barely survived their first year in this strange
new world. Half their number had perished during that brutal winter,

(03:02):
and those who remained looked more like scarecrows than the
brave adventurers who'd crossed the Atlantic just fourteen months before.
William Bradford stood at the edge of the settlement, his
weathered hands gripping his musket as he surveyed the tree line.
The forest was different here than anything he'd known in England.
It was older, deeper, and it held secrets that made

(03:24):
even the bravest men whisper prayers under their breath. The
trees themselves seemed to watch, their ancient trunks twisted into
shapes that looked almost like faces in the dim morning light.
Edward Winslow approached, his boots crunching on the frost covered ground.
Governor Bradford Squanto has returned from his journey to Massasoit's village.

(03:45):
He brings word that the Wampanoag will attend our harvest celebration.
Bradford nodded his eyes still fixed on the forest. How
many will come? Ninety souls, perhaps more Massasoid himself will
lead them. The Governor's eyebrows rose. That was far more
than they'd expected. Their own number was barely fifty three,

(04:08):
including women and children. We'll need more food, send men
to hunt. We cannot appear weak or unprepared before our guests.
Winslow hesitated. There was something in his expression, a mixture
of uncertainty and fear that seemed out of place. Winslow
had faced starvation, disease, and the unknown terrors of this

(04:29):
new world without flinching. What could unsettle him?

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Now? What is it?

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Edward speak plainly? Squanto mentioned something else. He said the
Wampanoag would bring someone special, someone they call the first guest.
He wouldn't explain further, only said that we must show
proper respect and prepare extra food, much extra food. Bradford frowned.
The first guest? Is this some chief from another tribe?

(04:58):
A spiritual leader? I asked the same. Squanto only smiled
and said we would understand when the time came. But Governor,
I've never seen Squanto nervous before, not one facing hostile tribes,
not one translating difficult negotiations. But when he spoke of
this first guest, his hands trembled. The two men stood

(05:19):
in silence for a moment, the weight of the unknown
pressing down on them like the morning missed. Bradford squared
his shoulders. We faced the impossible before edward. We crossed
a nocean, survived a winter that should have killed us all,
and made peace with people we cannot fully understand. Whatever
this first guest may be, we will face it with

(05:40):
faith and courage.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
But even as he spoke.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
These brave words, Bradford couldn't shake the feeling that they
were about to encounter something beyond their understanding, something that
would challenge everything they thought they knew about this new world.
Three days passed in a blur of preparation. The colonists
worked from dawn to dusk, wild turkey and deer, gathering
shellfish from the shore, and preparing what vegetables they'd managed

(06:05):
to grow in their first successful harvest. The women, led
by Susannah White and Eleanor Billington, worked miracles with their
limited resources, turning corn meal and dried berries into dishes
that almost reminded the colonists of home. Young John Howland,
who nearly drowned falling overboard during the Mayflower's crossing, had

(06:25):
become one of the settlement's best hunters. He spent his
days in the forest with Miles Standish and John Alden,
tracking deer through the underbrush and learning the ways of
this wild land. But on the morning before the feast,
something strange happened that would haunt him for the rest
of his days. He was tracking a particularly large buck
through a grove of ancient oaks when the forest went silent,

(06:48):
not the normal quiet of animals hiding from a hunter,
but a complete absence of sound that made the hair
on his neck stand on end. Even the wind seemed
to hold its breath. The buck he'd been tracking stood
frozen in a small clearing ahead, its entire body rigid
with fear. Holand raised his musket, But before he could fire,

(07:09):
something moved in the shadows beyond the deer, something massive.
At first he thought it was a bear standing on
its hind legs, but bears don't stand that tall, bears
don't have arms that long, and bears certainly don't have
eyes that gleam with an intelligence that seemed almost human.
The creature stepped partially into the light, and Howland's musket

(07:31):
fell from nerveless fingers. It was covered in dark reddish
brown hair, standing at least eight feet tall. Its face
was neither man nor beast, but something in between, with
deep set eyes that regarded him with what looked like curiosity.
For a moment that stretched into eternity, hunter and creature
stared at each other across the clearing. Then the thing

(07:53):
did something that nearly stopped Howland's heart. It raised one
massive hand, palm outward and what was un unmistakably a
gesture of peace, the same gesture he'd seen the wampanoagues.
The deer bolted, crashing through the underbrush, and the spell
was broken. The creature melted back into the shadows with

(08:13):
a grace that seemed impossible for something so large. By
the time Howland fumbled his musket back into his hands,
it was gone, leaving only massive footprints and the memory
of those intelligent eyes. He ran back to the settlement,
his heart pounding, his mind racing, But when he tried
to tell the others what he'd seen, the words died

(08:34):
in his throat. How could he explain, how could he
make them believe. Captain Standish would think him mad. Governor
Bradford would worry he'd been sampling too much of the
beer stores. Only Squanto, when Howland finally worked up the
courage to approach him, seemed unsurprised. The Ptuxi guide listened
to his halting description with a knowing smile. You have

(08:57):
seen the first people, the ones who were here before
all others. My people call them by many names. When
to go to some though that name carries fear. Others
say Genosqua or when Digo. But the oldest name, the
truest name, is Saskets, the wild men of the woods.

(09:18):
But what are they, Howland asked. Squanto was quiet for
a long moment, looking toward the forest. They are our
elder brothers. They walk this land when the ice covered
the world. They taught the first humans how to survive,
how to hunt, how to respect the forest. Most of
your people would call them demons or monsters, but they

(09:39):
are neither. They are the keepers of the old ways,
the guardians of the wild places. Will they come to
the feast, Squanto's smile widened. The first guest always comes
to important gatherings. It is tradition older than memory Massasoit
would not dare hold such a feast without inviting them.

(10:00):
And you English, whether you know it or not, have
settled in a place they protect. They have been watching
you since your ship arrived. Howland felt a chill run
down his spine watching us. How else do you think
you survived that first winter? How many times did your
hunters find deer exactly where they needed them? How many

(10:20):
times did storms that should have destroyed your houses suddenly
change direction? The Saskets helped you, just as they once
helped my people. You are guests in their land, and
they have chosen to let you stay. That night, Howland
barely slept. He lay on his rough straw mattress, listening
to the sounds of the forest, wondering if those sounds

(10:42):
included footsteps too large to be human. The morning of
the feast dawned clear and cold. The colonists rose early,
stoking fires and making final preparations. The long tables had
been set up outside despite the chill, because there simply
wasn't room in any building for the number of guests
they expected. Around midday, a cry went up from the watchman.

(11:04):
The Wampanoagu were approaching they came through the forest like
a river of humanity. Ninety warriors and their families, dressed
in their finest deer skins and adorned with feathers and beads.
At their head walked Massasoit, himself tall and dignified, his
face painted in ceremonial colors. Beside him walked his brother Quadequina,

(11:26):
and several other important men of the tribe. But it
was the figure walking behind them that drew every eye
and stopped every conversation. He was a giant of a man,
standing nearly seven feet tall, wrapped in a massive bear
skin cloak that covered him from head to toe. His
face was hidden in the shadow of a deep hood,
and he walked with a strange rolling gait that seemed

(11:48):
almost awkward for someone of his size. The Wampanoagu gave
him a wide berth, treating him with a deference that
exceeded even what they showed to Massasoit. Governor Bradford stepped
forward to greet the sachem, but his eyes kept drifting
to the cloaked figure. Massasoit noticed and spoke rapidly to Squanto,
who translated, the great Sachem says you honor his people

(12:11):
with this feast. He brings his finest warriors to celebrate
the harvest and the peace between our peoples. And he
brings a special guest, one who must be shown the
highest respect. This is the speaker for the first people.
He comes to observe and to judge whether the peace
will hold. Bradford, Ever, the diplomat, despite his inner turmoil,

(12:32):
bowed deeply. All who come in peace are welcome at
our table. The cloaked figure began to speak. From within
the hood came a voice unlike anything the colonists had
ever heard. It was deep, resonating, like distant thunder, and
though the words were in the Wampa Noag tongue, they
seemed to carry meaning beyond language. Squanto translated. He says,

(12:55):
he smells honesty in your words, but also fear. Fear
is wise and the forest, but honesty is wiser. He
will sit at your feast. The next few hours passed
in a blur of activity. The colonists and Wampanoag worked
side by side preparing the feast. The native warriors had
brought five deer, which they expertly butchered and prepared for roasting.

(13:19):
The colonial women found themselves learning new ways to prepare
corn and squash from the Wampanoague women, while the men
competed in games of skill and strength. Through it all,
the cloaked figure sat apart watching the children. Both English
and natives, seemed drawn to him, despite their parents obvious nervousness.
Little Peregrine White, barely a year old and the first

(13:41):
English child born in New England, toddled toward the giant
figure with the fearlessness of the very young. His mother, Susannah,
gasped and started forward, but the cloaked figure raised a
massive hand and she froze slowly. Gently, the figure reached
out to the child. Emerged from the cloaked sleeve was

(14:01):
a hand covered in thick, reddish brown hair, with fingers
longer than any human should be, but the touch was
gentle as a summer breeze. Peregrine laughed a pure sound
of joy and grabbed one of the massive fingers with
his tiny hands. For a moment, the clearing was absolutely silent.
Then from within the hood came a sound that might

(14:23):
have been laughter, deep and rumbling, like distant thunder. The
tension broke. If a baby could accept this strange being,
perhaps they all could. As the sun began to set,
the feast was ready. The tables groaned under the weight
of roasted deer and turkey, bowls of corn and squash,
platters of fish and shellfish, and bread made from the

(14:45):
colonist's precious wheat stores. Massasoit stood and spoke at length
in his own language, with squanto translating, we gather here
as two people's becoming one people. The earth has provided
for us. All the deer gave their live so we
might live, and stay tuned for more Sasquatch ott to see.
We'll be right back after these messages. The corn grew

(15:11):
tall so we might eat. The English have shown courage
in coming to this land and wisdom in seeking peace.
But there is older wisdom here, older even than the Wampanoag.
Tonight we honor that wisdom. He nodded to the cloaked
figure who stood. The colonists held their breath as massive
hands reached up and pulled back the hood. What was

(15:34):
revealed was a face from the dawn of time. It
was covered in hair, yes, but the features were noble,
almost human, but not quite. The eyes were deep brown,
filled with an intelligence and sadness that seemed to hold
the weight of millennia. The nose was broad and flat,
the mouth wide, with lips that seemed ready to smile

(15:55):
or snarl with equal ease. Several of the colonial women gasped.
A few of the men reached for weapons they weren't carrying.
But Governor Bradford, showing the courage that had carried him
across an ocean, stepped forward and extended his hand. You
are welcome at our table, friend. The Sasquatch looked at
the extended hand for a long moment, then, with careful deliberation,

(16:18):
it reached out and took Bradford's hand in its own.
The Governor's hand disappeared entirely in that massive grip, but
the shake was gentle, almost delicate. And then the creature spoke,
not in the Wampanoagu tongue, but in broken halting English. Friend,
long time we watch you different from others who came before.

(16:40):
You stay, you learn, you respect the land. The colonists
were stunned. Winslow was the first to find his voice.
You speak our language. The Sasquatch's mouth curved in what
might have been a smile. We learn, always learn. Listen
to your words in the forest, Watch you struggle, watch

(17:01):
you survive, Watch you choose peace over war. It turned
to address both groups, switching between languages, with squanto translating
when needed. Long ago, when ice covered the land, we
helped the first humans who came here, taught them to hunt,
to build, to survive. When the ice went away, we

(17:22):
retreated to the deep forests, the high mountains. We became legend, story, myth.
But we never left, never stopped watching, never stopped protecting
the land and those who respect it. The creature moved
to the table, its movement surprisingly graceful for something so large.

(17:42):
Tonight we feast together, three peoples as one. This is good,
This is how it should be. As the feast progressed,
the initial fear and awkwardness began to fade. The Sasquatch,
who told them to call him by the name his
people used among themselves, yah Yell, which meant standing tall,

(18:03):
proved to have an appetite that matched his size. He
consumed enormous quantities of food with obvious relish, particularly enjoying
the colonist's bread and the Wampanoag's special preparation of venison.
But it was when the storytelling began that the evening
truly became magical. It started with Massasoit sharing the story

(18:23):
of how his people came to this land. Then Elder
William Brewster, his voice strong despite his advanced years, told
of the colonist's journey across the sea and their reasons
for leaving England. But when Yahiel began to speak, everyone
fell silent. I tell you now of the first Thanksgiving,
not this one, the first one, when my people and

(18:46):
the humans first shared food in peace. He spoke of
a time when the world was different, when I stretched
from horizon to horizon, and massive beasts walked the land.
His people, the Sasquatch, had lived here for countless generations,
adapted to the cold, living in harmony with the great
mammoths and dire wolves. Then came the humans, small, weak, freezing,

(19:11):
They followed the animals across the ice bridge from the
old world. Many died. We watched from the forests, curious.
These new beings were like us, But they had no
fur to keep them warm, no great strength to hunt
the large beasts. But they had something else. They had innovation.
They made tools, they made fire, They worked together in

(19:35):
ways we had never seen the Wampanoa ignited, knowingly this
was a story their eldest Shamans told, though most believed
it to be myth. My ancestor, the one we call
first Speaker, made a choice. He approached the humans like tonight.
There was fear at first, but hunger and cold make

(19:55):
strange allies. He taught them which plants were safe to eat,
how to track and snow, how to find shelter. In return,
they taught us about fire that could be carried, about
tools that cut better than claws. Yahiel stood and walked
to the fire, his massive form casting strange shadows. That

(20:16):
first shared meal, that first Thanksgiving was seal meat and roots,
eaten in an ice cave while a blizzard raged outside.
But it began something, a partnership, a promise. My people
would guard the wild places, keep the ancient knowledge. The
humans would grow, spread, build, but always we would be connected.

(20:40):
Young John Howland, emboldened by ale and amazement, asked, but
why do you hide? Why don't more people know about you?
Yahelle turned to him, and Howland was surprised to see
sadness in those ancient eyes. Because humans changed. As you
grew numerous, you grew fearful. You forgot the old agreements.

(21:00):
You started to see us not as elder brothers, but
as monsters. We became the thing in the dark that
steals children, when in truth we often saved lost children
and returned them to their tribes. He gestured to the Wampanoag.
These people remember, they keep the old ways. They leave
offerings in the deep forest. They teach their children respect,

(21:22):
not fear. But others come with fire and steel, cutting
down the ancient trees, killing without need. We learned to
hide deeper, to become shadow and story. William Bradford spoke up,
and what of us, the English? You said we were
different from others who came before? Yahel studied him for

(21:43):
a long moment. Spanish came to the south, they sought gold, slaves,
They brought disease and death. French came to the north,
they wanted furs, trade. Some were good, some bad. But
you came to stay to build homes, not just trading posts,
to plant seeds, not just take This is interesting to us,

(22:07):
but we've cut down trees, Winslow protested. We've built houses,
planted fields where forests stood. Yes, yeah, yell agreed, but
you cut what you need not more. You plant food,
not just take it. You sought peace with the Wampanoague
when you could have tried war. These are good signs,
but there will be tests ahead. More of your people

(22:29):
will come. They will want more land, more trees, more
of everything. The question is will you remember tonight? Will
you remember that this land is shared? Will you teach
your children about the first people? Or will we become
monsters in your stories too? The question hung in the
air like smoke from the fire. It was Governor Bradford

(22:52):
who answered, I cannot speak for all who will come after,
but I can promise that we will remember. We will
write this down, make it part of our history. Our
children will know that we were not the first here,
that we were welcomed, that we have obligations to both
the native peoples and to you. Yahiel nodded, writing, yes,

(23:15):
this is powerful magic. You have stories that don't change
with telling. Perhaps this will help. The night grew deeper
and more stories were shared. The Wampanoague warriors told of
hunting expeditions where they'd glimpsed the Sasquatch, always at a distance,
always watching. One warrior, a young man named Hobamock, told

(23:37):
of being saved from a bear by a sasquatch when
he was a child, though his parents hadn't believed him.
The colonists shared their own stories of mysterious happenings. Mary
Chilton told of seeing massive footprints near the stream where
she gathered water. John Alden spoke of tools that went
missing and then reappeared, repaired and sharpened. Stephen Hopkins mentioned

(23:59):
finding when built around their shelters during the worst storms
of winter, construction too massive for any colonists to have
built in secret.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
That was us.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Yahyel confirmed you were dying. The land had not accepted you.
Yet we helped, as we helped the first humans long ago.
As the moon rose full and bright, Yahiel stood and
made a gesture to mass Asoit, the sachem nodded and
spoke to his people. Several warriors brought forward large bundles
wrapped in deer skin gifts. Yahiel announced, from my people

(24:33):
to yours, to seal the friendship. The bundles were opened
to reveal treasures beyond imagination. There were pelts from animals
the colonists had never seen, So soft and warm, they
seemed to hold the heat of summer. There were stones
that gleamed with inner fire, crystals that caught and held
the moonlight. Most remarkably, there were tools made from a

(24:55):
black stone that was sharper than any steel the colonists possessed.
These are from the old time, Yahel explained, made by
my people when the world was young. Use them well.
They will never break, never dull, if used with respect.
The colonists were overwhelmed. They had little to give in
return that seemed worthy of such gifts. But young Peregrine

(25:18):
White's mother, Susannah, had an idea. She went to her
house and returned with something wrapped in cloth. This was
my mother, she said, unwrapping a small mirror in a
decorated silver frame. It came from London, from my family
for generations. She offered it to Yahyel, who took it
with surprising delicacy. When he looked into it, his eyes

(25:41):
widened with wonder. I see myself truly, not in water's reflection,
but clear perfect. He looked at the colonists with new respect.
This is powerful magic, to see oneself as others see you.
This is a gift of great wisdom. The feast was
supposed to last one day, but it stretched into three.

(26:03):
During that time, extraordinary things happened that would change both
communities forever. On the second day, Yahiel began to teach.
He showed the colonists and Wampanoague together secrets of the
forest that even the natives had forgotten. He demonstrated how
to find medicine plants that grew deep in the woods,
roots that could cure fever, and leaves that could heal wounds.

(26:26):
He taught them to read the signs of coming weather
in ways more subtle than any farmer's almanac. See how
the squirrels build their nests, he said, pointing to the trees.
When they build low and thick hard winter comps, when
they build high and loose mild winter. The animals know,
they always know. He showed the hunters both English and

(26:48):
Native tracking techniques that seemed almost supernatural. With his massive hands,
he could point out disturbances in the forest floor that
were invisible to human eyes, could smell deer paths from
impossible distances. But, perhaps most remarkably, he began to teach
them about cooperation. You, he said, pointing to the colonists,

(27:09):
You know, building, making things that last, you know, writing,
keeping knowledge, forever you, He turned to the Wampanoagg. You
know the land, the seasons, the ways of plants and animals. Apart,
you both struggle together, you thrive. He orchestrated work groups
that combined both peoples. Colonial blacksmith John Turner worked with

(27:33):
Wampanoag tool makers to create implements that combined European metalwork
with Native design. The result was tools stronger and more
efficient than either culture had produced alone. The women, led
by Susannah White and a Wampanoag matriarch named Singing Crow,
combined their knowledge of food preservation. The natives techniques for

(27:54):
smoking and drying meat merged with the colonist's knowledge of
salt curing and root sellers, methods that would help both
communities survive the harsh winners ahead. But it was with
the children that Yaquiel seemed happiest. They showed no fear
of him after the first day, climbing on him like
a great tree, listening with rapt attention as he told

(28:14):
stories of the ancient world. He taught them games that
both colonial and native children could play together, games that
required cooperation rather than competition. One game involved the children
forming a circle, holding hands with one child in the
middle trying to break out. The lesson was simple but profound.
The circle was only as strong as its weakest link,

(28:37):
and everyone had to work together to succeed. This is
how it must be, Yaiell explained to the watching adults.
The young ones, they don't see difference like you do.
Teach them now, while their hearts are open, they will
be the bridge between worlds. On the evening of the
second day, something unexpected happened. More Sasquatch arrived. They came

(28:59):
out of the forest as the sun set, three of them,
each as large as yah Yell, but clearly younger, Two
males and a female, their hair ranging from deep black
to russet brown. The columnist's first instinct was fear, but
Yahielle raised his hand for calm my children. They wanted
to see for themselves to understand. The younger Sasquatch were

(29:23):
more shy than their father, hanging back at the edge
of the firelight, but the children, both English and Native,
immediately ran to them with the fearlessness of youth. Within minutes,
they were playing together, The young Sasquatch gentle as lambs
despite their enormous strength. The female who Yahiel said was
called Miska, meaning little Brook, seemed particularly interested in the

(29:46):
colonial women's activities. She watched with intense fascination as they
spun thread and wove cloth, her large fingers surprisingly delicate
as she attempted to copy their movements. Elder Brewster's wife,
Mary took it upon herself to teach Misca and stay
tuned for more sasquatch otta see, We'll be right back.
After these messages, Despite the language barrier and the vast

(30:13):
difference in their sizes, the two females bonded over the
simple act of creation. By the end of the evening,
Miska had managed to spin a crude thread from plant fibers,
her face lighting up with joy at the accomplishment. The
two young males, called Taka meaning buck and Chayden meaning falcon,
gravitated toward the warriors and hunters. They demonstrated feats of

(30:36):
strength that left everyone amazed, lifting logs that would take
four men to move, jumping distances that seemed impossible, but
they also showed themselves eager to learn, watching with intense
concentration as Miles Standish demonstrated European sword techniques and the
Wampanoag warriors showed their bow skills. On the morning of

(30:58):
the third day, the atmosphere changed. Yahiel seemed troubled, spending
long periods staring toward the eastern horizon, where the sea
met the sky. He called for a council of leaders,
both colonial and native. I must speak truth now, my people.
We see patterns, We sense the flow of what you
call time. What I see coming troubles me. He stood

(31:23):
and began to draw in the dirt with a stick,
creating a map that showed the coast and inland territories.
More ships will come, many more your people. The colonists
will spread like water across the land. Within seven generations,
you will outnumber the native peoples ten to one, within

(31:43):
twelve generations, one hundred to one. The Wampanoag stirred uneasily
at this Massasoid's face was grim. There will be war,
not this year, not next, but soon. The piece you
have made here is good, but it is like a
small flame and a great wind. It will be tested.

(32:03):
Some will try to keep it alive, others will try
to extinguish it. He looked directly at Governor Bradford, Your
son and his son and his son's son. They will
face choices. Each generation will decide whether to honor the
promise of tonight or to forget it. Some will remember,
many will forget. And what of your people, Bradford asked,

(32:27):
We will retreat deeper, The forest will shrink, the mountains
will be climbed, the wild places will become small islands
in a sea of civilization. We will become legend, then myth,
then forgotten entirely except by a few who keep the
old stories alive. The sadness in his voice was profound,

(32:47):
like the morning of the earth itself. But this does
not have to be only tragedy. You here now you
plant seeds, not just corn and wheat, but seeds of understanding,
seeds of cooperation, seeds of respect. He turned to the
Wampanoagu massasoit your people must also choose. You can resist

(33:10):
all change and be swept away, or you can adapt, learn,
take what is useful from the newcomers, while keeping your
own ways alive. To the colonists, he said, you must
remember that you are not conquerors but guests. This land
does not belong to you any more than it belongs
to us, or to the Wampanoag. We all belonged to it.

(33:31):
Teach this to your children. Yahyale then did something unprecedented.
He called for materials to write. John Alden brought out
paper and ink, items precious and rare in the colony,
with surprising delicacy for such massive hands. Yah Yale took
the quill and began to draw. What he created was
not words but symbols, pictures that seemed to move with life,

(33:54):
even as still images. He drew the forest with its
secret paths, the mountains with their hidden caves, the rivers
with their sacred spots. He drew his people, the Sasquatch,
not as monsters, but as guardians, teachers, elder siblings to humanity.
Keep this, he said, handing the papers to Bradford. When

(34:15):
your people forget, when they say we are only legend,
show them this, Tell them of this thanksgiving. Tell them
that once, for three days, three people sat together in peace.
He created another set of drawings for Massasoit, These on
deer skin with pigments the natives provided. They showed the
same scenes, but from a different perspective, emphasizing the continuity

(34:38):
between past and future, the eternal cycle of the seasons
As the sun reached its zenith on that third day,
Yahiel stood and called his children to him. The time
for parting had come. We go now back to the
deep forest the high places, but we do not disappear.
We watch, we remember, and sometimes, when the need is great,

(35:03):
we help. He moved through the crowd, touching heads and
blessing colonial and native alike. When he came to young
Peregrine White, still toddling on unsteady legs, he knelt down,
his massive frame, folding until he was at eye level
with the child. You you are the future, born between worlds.

(35:23):
You will understand both. Remember us when you are old
and others say we were never real. Remember. He placed
something in the child's hand, a small stone that seemed
to hold light within itself. For your children's children's children,
they will need to remember. Standing. He addressed the entire

(35:44):
gathering one last time. In the Old language, the first language.
There is a word kitchi manitoud. It means the great
spirit that connects all things. You call it God, Providence, Creator.
The names do not matter. What matters as you remember
that we are all connected. The English, the Wampanoag, the Sasquatch,

(36:06):
the animals, the trees, the stones, the water, all one.
When you forget this, suffering comes when you remember, peace
is possible. As the Sasquatch prepared to leave, the entire
settlement gathered to bid them farewell. It was a moment
heavy with significance, everyone sensing they were witnessing something that

(36:28):
might never happen again. The colonial women, led by Mary
Brewster and Susannah White, had worked through the night to
prepare gifts. They presented Miska with cloth. They had woven,
needles made of bone, and most precious of all, a
small pair of scissors, one of only three in the
entire colony. Miska's eyes so human despite their setting in

(36:50):
that massive hair covered face, filled with what could only
be tears. She embraced each of the women, her strength
carefully controlled to avoid harm, and spoken broken English she
had learned over the three days. Teach daughters make beautiful things.
I teach my daughter same. The warriors, both English and Wampanoague,

(37:10):
presented Taca and Chatin with weapons, not for war, but
as symbols of respect between warriors. Miles Standish offered his
own knife, its blade bearing his family crest. The Wampanoag
gave arrows blessed by their shamans, each one decorated with
feathers and beads that told stories of courage. The young
Sasquatch accepted these gifts with grave dignity, understanding their significance.

(37:35):
Taka spoke in the Wampanoag tongue, which Squanto translated, we
will remember the brave ones who do not let fear
rule them when your descendants walk in our forests. If
they carry courage and respect, they will be safe. But
perhaps the most moving farewell came from the children. They
had spent three days playing together, learning each other's games,

(37:57):
creating a bond that transcended species and culture. Now they
clung to their new friends, crying at the separation. Yah
Yell knelt among them, his massive frame somehow not intimidating
at all. Listen, little ones, you think we leave forever,
but we are always near. When you walk in the
forest and feel watched but safe, that is us. When

(38:21):
you are lost and suddenly find the path home, we helped.
When winter is hard and you find wood stacked by
your door that no one claims to have cut, think
of us. He looked at the adults. This is my
promise sealed by this feast. As long as your people
remember us with respect, not fear, we will help when

(38:42):
we can. Not always, not obviously, but in small ways
that matter. A storm that turns away from your ships,
a child found before the cold claims them, A path
through the forest when you need it most. Governor Bradford
stepped forward on behalf of place, colony. I accept this
promise and make one in return. We will keep your

(39:05):
secret when you wish it, share your truth when the
time is right, and always always remember that we were
not the first, and will not be the last to
call this land home. Massasoit added his own promise. The
Wampanoague will keep the old ways alive, the stories, the respect,
the understanding that some things must remain wild. When your

(39:27):
people are ready to remember, we will help them remember true.
As the sun began its descent toward evening, the Sasquatch
moved toward the forest, but just before they entered the trees,
Yahiel turned back one more time. There is something else,
something for the far future, generations from now, when machines
fly through the air and voices travel without bodies, when

(39:51):
the forests are small and we are only stories. Some
will begin to search for us again. They will use
new tools, leave offerings of their own, seek to prove
we existed, he paused, seeming to look through time itself.
When that time comes, we will begin to show ourselves again,
not to all, but to some, to those who approach

(40:13):
with respect, who understand that the wild must be preserved,
who know that not everything should be explained or captured
or owned. Tell your descendants, when they are ready to
see us, not as monsters, but as teachers, we will
return with that. They melted into the forest, their massive
forms disappearing among the trees with impossible grace. The gathered

(40:36):
people stood in silence for long moments, straining to catch
one more glimpse, But the Sasquatch were gone, leaving only
footprints and memories that would burn bright for years to come.
In the days following the departure of the Sasquatch, the
colony was subdued, as if waking from a vivid dream.
But the evidence of their visit was everywhere. The tools

(40:58):
of blackstone that never dull, the pelts that kept their
wearers warm even in the bitterest cold, the drawings that
seemed to move when viewed by candlelight, Governor Bradford called
a meeting of all the colonists. The question before them
was momentous. How much should they share with the wider world.
Should they write to England about what they had witnessed,

(41:21):
should they include it in their official records. The debate
was intense. Some, like Edward Winslow, argued for full disclosure.
We have witnessed something miraculous. To hide it would be
dishonest our sponsors, our families back home. They deserve to
know the full truth of this land. Others, led by

(41:42):
miles standish counseled caution. They'll think us mad, or worse,
they'll send ships full of hunters seeking to capture these beings.
We gave our word to protect their secret. It was
Elder Brewster who proposed the solution they ultimately adopted. We
write too account, one for the public, one for ourselves.

(42:03):
The public account tells of our feast with the natives,
and of the peace we've made, of the bounty of
this land, all true, but not all of the truth.
The second account, the full truth, we keep among ourselves.
We share it with our children when they're old enough
to understand. We make it a sacred trust pass down

(42:24):
through families, and so it was decided. William Bradford wrote
his official account of the First Thanksgiving, speaking of the
Wampa Noag, the feast, the games, and the alliance formed.
It became the version history would remember. But he also
wrote a second account, Sealed and Hidden, telling of the
first guest and the promises made. Each family head was

(42:47):
given a copy of Yahiel's drawings to keep and protect.
They were told to share the story with their children
when the time was right, to keep the memory alive,
even if the world was not ready to believe. The
Wampa Noag, for their part, incorporated the three day feast
into their oral traditions. They already had stories of the Sasquatch,

(43:08):
but now they had witnessed proof that the English too
could be trusted. With such knowledge, it created a bond
deeper than any treaty. In the weeks that followed, subtle
changes occurred in the colony. Hunters reported better luck, as
if the game presented itself at just the right moments.
Guards on night Watch spoke of feeling protected of shadows

(43:30):
that moved with purpose but brought no threat. When little
Peregrine White wandered off one December morning. He was found
hours later, warm and safe in a shelter made of
branches that no colonist had built, clutching the glowing stone
Yahael had given him. The winter of sixteen twenty one
to sixteen twenty two was milder than the previous year,

(43:51):
but when storms did come, they seemed to bend around Plymouth,
spending their fury elsewhere. The colonists had enough food, enough word, warmth,
enough hope to not just survive, but thrive. The Wampa
noag too, noticed changes. Their hunters found new trails through
the forest that shortened travel time between villages. Children who

(44:12):
went mushroom picking in dangerous areas always seemed to return safely,
sometimes with stories of large gentle hands guiding them away
from poisoned plants or unstable ground. Spring of sixteen twenty
two brought ships from England, including the Fortune and the Anne.
With them came new colonists, eager for land and opportunity.

(44:33):
Among them were some who viewed the natives with suspicion
and contempt, who spoke of conquest rather than cooperation. A
man named Thomas Weston led a group of these newcomers.
He scoffed at the treaties with the Wampa. Noag called
the colonists weak for sharing their feast with savages. He
brought guns and men who knew how to use them,

(44:55):
speaking openly of taking what they wanted by force if necessary.
The original Plymouth colonists tried to counsel patience and respect,
but Weston's men laughed at them. They set up their
own settlement at Vesgust, ignoring native territories and customs, and
stay tuned for more Sasquatch ott to see.

Speaker 4 (45:14):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
After these messages, within weeks, tensions were rising. It was
John Howland who decided to take action. He remembered Yahiel's
words about tests to come about choices each generation would face.
One night, he slipped away from Plymouth and went to
the place in the forest where he had first seen

(45:37):
the Sasquatch. He stood in the darkness, feeling somewhat foolish,
and spoke.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
To the trees.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
I don't know if you can hear me, but if
you can, we need help, not for us, but for
the promise. There are those who would break it before
it has a chance to grow strong. They will bring war, death,
the very things you warned against. If you can have help,
now is the time. For long moments, nothing happened. Then

(46:04):
from the darkness came that familiar rumbling voice. We know
of these new ones. We have watched them. They have
darkness in their hearts, greed instead of need. But this
is your test, not ours.

Speaker 4 (46:18):
What will you do?

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Howland was taken aback. He had expected, hoped that the
Sasquatch would simply solve the problem. We are few, they
have more guns, more men. If we oppose them directly,
there will be bloodshed. Yes, direct opposition brings direct conflict.
But there are other ways. Think what did we teach you?

(46:43):
Howland considered? Then understanding dawned cooperation the Wampanoague and Plymouth together.
Now you begin to see. But even more you must
make these new ones understand that this land itself opposes them,
that their way brings only failure. Over the next weeks,
a subtle campaign began. The original colonists and the Wampanoague

(47:07):
worked together, guided by occasional glimpses of massive figures in
the forest. They did not attack Weston's men directly. Instead,
they made their lives impossibly difficult game fled from Weston's hunters,
Warned away by signals passed between Native scouts and colonial woodsmen,
fish seemed to avoid their nets. Their crops, planted without

(47:29):
regard for local conditions or native advice, withered and died.
When they tried to take food by force from native villages,
they found the villages empty. Warned in advanced by a
network of cooperation. But it was what happened at night
that truly broke their spirits. Strange sounds surrounded their settlement,
breathing like giant bellows, footsteps that shook the ground, tree

(47:53):
branches breaking at impossible heights. They would wake to find
massive footprints circling their buildings out right up to windows
and doors, but never entering. Tools would go missing and
reappear bent or broken. Their gunpowder was repeatedly found scattered
and useless. Though no one could explain how it happened,

(48:13):
The men grew paranoid, fighting among themselves. They spoke of
demons in the forest of cursed land. Some claim to
have seen giants watching them from the trees, creatures that
couldn't possibly exist. Weston himself lasted until July. One night
he woke to find a massive, hair covered face looking

(48:33):
through his window. The scream he let out was heard
throughout the settlement. The next morning, he announced they were leaving,
returning to England on the next ship. The land was cursed,
he said, it would never accept them. As they left,
Governor Bradford met with Weston one last time. The land
is not cursed, but it does have guardians, and they

(48:56):
judge whether newcomers are worthy. You came with conquest your heart.
We came with cooperation. That made all the difference. Weston
stared at him, understanding dawning in his eyes. The stories
the natives tell they're real. Bradford neither confirmed nor denied.
I will tell you this, respect the land and its

(49:17):
first peoples, all of them, and you will find welcome.
Seek to conquer and dominate, and you will find only failure.
After Weston's departure, Yahiel appeared once more to Howland, this
time in full daylight, though deep in the forest where
none but them would see. You did well. You found
a way without bloodshed. This is wisdom. But know this

(49:41):
test was small compared to what comes. More ships arrive
even now, thousands will come than tens of thousands each
group will bring their own ideas, their own prejudices. You
cannot stop this flood, only guide it when possible. Will
you continue to help, Alan asked, when we can, when

(50:01):
those who remember ask with proper respect. But our time
in the open is ending. We must become more careful,
more hidden. The world is changing and we must change
with it or perish. He handed, Howland, something wrapped in
deer skin for your children when they face their tests.
This will help them remember. Inside was a piece of

(50:24):
crystal that seemed to hold starlight, similar to the stone
given to Peregrine White, but uniquely different. How will we
find you if we need you, Holland asked, You won't,
We'll find you. Keep the old promises. Teach your children
respect for all beings, protect the wild places when you can.

(50:45):
That is how you call to us, not with words,
but with actions. As Yahiel had predicted, more ships came,
the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established. Town spread along the
coast and slowly inland. The original Plymouth colonists, aged had children,
watched their small settlement become just one of many. But

(51:07):
those who had been at the first Thanksgiving kept the
secret and the promise they taught their children privately showing
them the drawings, the tools, the stones that held light.
They maintained especially close relationships with the Wampanoagu families who
had been present, creating bonds that lasted generations. There were sightings,
of course. New colonists would return from the forest with

(51:30):
tales of giants covered in hair, of impossible footprints, of
feelings of being watched. Most were dismissed as imagination or
too much drink, but occasionally someone would tell such a
story in the presence of one of the original families,
and they would see a knowing look, a subtle nod,
though nothing would be said publicly. The children who had

(51:52):
played with the young Sasquatch grew up different from others.
They were more likely to befriend natives, to argue for
peaceful solution, to respect the forest and its mysteries. Peregrine
White became a noted interpreter and peacekeeper, always wearing the
glowing stone on a leather cord around his neck, though
he told no one where it came from. John Howland's

(52:14):
children became known as exceptional trackers and woodsmen, seeming to
have an uncanny ability to find their way in the
deepest forest. His daughter Hope, claimed she once became lost
as a child and was led home by a kind giant,
though adults assured her it was just a dream. Mary Chilton,
who had been a teenager at the feast, grew up

(52:35):
to marry John Winslow and raised children who were known
for their unusual tolerance and wisdom. She kept Yayelle's drawings
hidden in a wooden box, taking them out only on
special occasions to show her family and remind them of
their obligation. As King Philip's War erupted in sixteen seventy five,
the descendants of the original feast tried desperately to prevent it.

(52:58):
Some claimed to have sought help from the forest, performing
rituals their grandparents had taught them. While the war was devastating,
Plymouth itself was notably spared the worst of the violence,
and several stories emerged of colonial families being mysteriously warned
before attacks, or of Native families finding safe paths through
hostile territory. One account, never officially recorded, but passed down

(53:21):
through families, tales of a group of children, both colonial
and native, who became trapped between opposing forces during a battle.
They fled into the deep forest, certain they would die. Instead,
they found themselves herded by unseen hands into a hidden cave,
where they waited out the fighting. When they emerged, they

(53:42):
found food and water left for them, and clear trails
leading to safety. All they ever saw of their rescuers
were footprints three times the size of a man's foot.
As the eighteenth century dawned, the Sasquatch retreated deeper into myth.
The original witnesses of the First Thanksgiving had all passed away.
Their children kept the stories alive, but their grandchildren began

(54:05):
to doubt. The Age of Enlightenment was beginning, and tales
of forest giants seemed increasingly like superstition. Still, certain families
maintained the tradition. The stones that held light were passed
down as heirlooms, though few remembered their true origin. The
blackstone tools, which never dulled or broke, became family treasures.

(54:27):
They're making a mystery. The drawings were carefully preserved, though
some began to claim they were merely artistic interpretations of
native legends, not depictions of real events. But in the
deep forests of New England and later in the mountains,
as settlers pushed westward, people continued to have encounters they
couldn't explain. A pioneer family in Vermont, descendants of John

(54:50):
and Mary Chilton Winslow, told of surviving a brutal winter
when mysterious gifts of firewood and fresh meat appeared at
their cabin door during blizzards. The footprints in the the
snow were quickly covered by new snowfall, but not before
the family saw them and remembered the old stories. During
the French and Indian War, a group of colonial soldiers,
including a great grandson of John Howland, became separated from

(55:13):
their unit in the wilderness of what would become New Hampshire.
They were lost, out of food, certain to die. On
the third night, one of them remembered a song his
grandmother had taught him, a song she said came from
the first Thanksgiving. He sang it into the darkness, feeling
foolish but desperate. In the morning, they found a clear

(55:34):
trail marked with stacked stones, leading them to safety. One
of the men swore he saw a figure watching them
from a ridge, impossibly tall and covered in dark fur,
but when he looked again, it was gone. As the
Revolutionary War approached, some families who knew the old secrets
gathered to discuss whether the knowledge should be shared more widely.

(55:55):
The world was changing rapidly. Science was explaining me mysties
that had been attributed to magic. Perhaps it was time
to reveal the truth about the Sasquatch. But an incident
in seventeen seventy changed their minds. A naturalist from England,
having heard rumors of wild men in the American forests,
organized an expedition to capture one. He brought nets, cages,

(56:19):
and men with guns. The expedition disappeared entirely. Their equipment
was found scattered through the forest, but of the men,
no trace was ever discovered, except for a journal with
a final entry that read, they are real, they are watching.
We should not have come with chains. The families took
this as a sign the world was not ready. The

(56:41):
secret must be kept longer. As America became a nation
and began its westward expansion, the descendants of the original
Thanksgiving spread across the continent. They carried with them the
family stories, the mysterious artifacts, and the obligation to remember.
But with each generation, with each move further from place,
the stories became more distant, more like fairy tales than history.

(57:05):
Yet the Sasquatch had not forgotten. In eighteen hundred and four,
when Lewis and Clark were exploring the Louisiana Purchase, they
recorded in their journals encounters with native tribes who spoke
of giant hairy men in the mountains. What wasn't recorded
in the official journals, but was written in private letters,
was that one member of their expedition was a descendant

(57:25):
of Peregrine White. He carried with him the stone that
held light, a family heirloom he didn't fully understand. One night,
camped along what would later be called the Columbia River,
this man, Jonathan White, wandered away from camp, drawn by
something he couldn't explain. In a clearing lit by moonlight,

(57:46):
he met a Sasquatch, not Yahiel, who had presumably passed on,
but one who knew the story, who recognized the stone.
Through a combination of gestures and broken words in multiple languages.
The creature communication that his people had spread across the
continent long before humans, that they watched over the land
from the Arctic to the desert. They had hoped that

(58:09):
the new American nation would be different, would honor the
wild places. But they saw the signs, the hunger for land,
the disregard for native peoples, the belief that everything could
and should be owned and used. The Sasquatch gave Jonathan
a warning to carry back the western lands had their
own guardians, their own agreements with the native tribes there.

(58:32):
The mistakes of the East should not be repeated. But
he also gave a promise those who carried the light stones,
who remembered the First Thanksgiving would find help if they
sought it with pure hearts. During the California gold Rush,
numerous miners reported seeing giant, hairy figures in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains. Most of these stories were dismissed as tall tales,

(58:54):
but a few miners, those who happened to be descendants
of the Plymouth colonists, told differentes Privately. They spoke of
being warned away from unstable mine shafts, of finding fresh
water when dying of thirst, of being guided to gold deposits,
but only enough for need, not greed. One family, the
Aldens of Massachusetts, had moved to Oregon Territory in the

(59:18):
eighteen fifties. They settled in the deep forests of what
would become the Pacific Northwest, the region that would later
become most associated with Sasquatch sidings. They built their homestead
with unusual features, offering platforms at the forest edge, certain
trees that were never to be cut, paths that seemed
to lead nowhere, but were carefully maintained. Their neighbors thought

(59:40):
them eccentric, but the Aldens prospered where others failed. Their
crops grew when others withered. Their livestock never disappeared to predators.
Their children could play in the forest without fear. They
knew they were being watched over, honoring an agreement made
two hundred years and three thousand miles away. Stay tuned

(01:00:02):
for more Sasquatch ott to see. We'll be right back
after these messages. As the nineteenth century gave way to
the twentieth, America transformed from a rural nation to an
industrial power. Forests were cleared, mountains were mined, rivers were dammed.
The wild places shrank, and with them the spaces where

(01:00:25):
the Sasquatch could exist openly. But they adapted as they
always had. In nineteen twenty four, a group of miners
in Ape Canyon Washington, claimed to have been attacked by
epe men after shooting at one. What the newspapers didn't
report was that one of those miners, Fred Beck, later
privately admitted to descendants of the Thanksgiving families that the

(01:00:46):
attack only came after they had violated clearly marked sacred grounds,
ignoring warnings both from local natives and from signs that
someone who knew the old stories would have recognized. The
Sasquatch had become more defense more protective of their shrinking territory,
but they still honored the old agreements when they could.

(01:01:07):
During the Great Depression, families across America struggled to survive,
but certain families, those who had carefully maintained the old
stories and artifacts, reported mysterious help. Gardens that should have
failed produced food. Children found berries and nuts in places
that had been barren. Firewood appeared stacked by homes of

(01:01:28):
the elderly and infirm. In rural Vermont, an elderly woman
named Faith Howland, great great great granddaughter of John Howland,
lived alone in a cabin at the forest's edge. She
had maintained the old ways, leaving out offerings, singing the
old songs her family had preserved. When the bank came
to foreclose on her property, the men sent to a

(01:01:49):
victor reported that they couldn't approach the cabin. Every time
they tried, they became disoriented, lost, ending up back at
their vehicles. Trees seemed to move, paths disappeared, and terrible
sounds came from the forest. Faith lived in that cabin
until she died peacefully in her sleep in nineteen forty one.

(01:02:10):
The local native tribes, who had always respected her, said
she had been protected by the old Guardians. When the
cabin was finally entered, investigators found dozens of journals filled
with accounts of regular visits from beings she called the
first people, detailed drawings of Sasquatch families, and linguistic notes
on what appeared to be a complex language of wood

(01:02:31):
knocks and calls. World War II brought its own stories.
Several American soldiers, descendants of Plymouth families, reported inexplicable survivals
in Pacific Island jungles and European forests. One private from
Massachusetts claimed that, while lost behind enemy lines in the
Ardennes Forest, he was guided to safety by following massive

(01:02:52):
footprints in the snow that appeared just for him, leading
him around German patrols. In nineteen fifty eights, something significant happened.
A man named Jerry Crwe found massive footprints at a
construction site in northern California. He made plaster casts of them,
and the story went national. The term Bigfoot was born,

(01:03:13):
and suddenly the Sasquatch were no longer just a local legend,
but a national phenomenon. For the families who had guarded
the secret for over three hundred years, this was both
a crisis and an opportunity. The secret was out in
a way, but distorted, commercialized, turned into a joke or
a monster movie plot. They held a gathering, the first

(01:03:36):
in decades, bringing together descendants from across the country. The
meeting was held appropriately in Plymouth, in a church built
on land that had been part of the original settlement.
About forty people attended, each bringing their family artifacts, the
stones that held light, the tools of black stone, copies
of Yahael's drawings, journals and letters that had been preserved.

(01:03:59):
The debate was intense. Some argued it was time to
reveal everything, to show the world the evidence they had guarded.
Others feared that doing so would lead to exactly what
Yahyelle had warned against exploitation, hunting, the final destruction of
the wild places where the Sasquatch still survived. The decision

(01:04:20):
they reached was a compromise. They would not publicly reveal
their evidence, but they would quietly support serious researchers, those
who approached the subject with respect and scientific rigor rather
than sensationalism. They would also work to preserve wilderness areas,
understanding that protecting the land meant protecting the Sasquatch. One attendee,

(01:04:42):
a professor of anthropology named Margaret White Standish, descendant of
both Peregrine White and Miles Standish, proposed creating an informal network.
Families would stay in contact, share information about sightings and encounters,
and pass on the responsibility to the next generation more
form normally than before. They also decided to reach out

(01:05:03):
to native tribes who had their own Sasquatch traditions. Many
of these tribes had maintained continuous relationships with the Sasquatch,
never having forgotten or doubted their existence. The Plymouth descendants
had much to learn from them. When Roger Patterson and
Bob Gimlin filmed what appeared to be a female sasquatch
in nineteen sixty seven. The Plymouth descendant families watched with

(01:05:26):
particular interest. Several of them privately confirmed that the creature
in the film moved exactly as their family stories had
always described, with that distinctive rolling gait that Yachiel had
demonstrated at the first Thanksgiving. Margaret white Standish, now elderly
but still sharp, managed to interview Patterson before his death.

Speaker 4 (01:05:47):
Off the record.

Speaker 3 (01:05:48):
He told her something remarkable. Just before the filming, he
had felt compelled to leave an offering at a particular tree,
some food and a small mirror. He couldn't explain why,
said it just felt right. Margaret recognized this as one
of the old protocols her family had maintained, though Patterson
claimed no knowledge of it. The nineteen seventies brought an

(01:06:10):
explosion of sasquatch interest. Researchers, both serious and otherwise, flooded
the Pacific Northwest. Most found nothing, but a few those
who approached with genuine respect and often guided by cryptic
hints from Plymouth descendant families or native tribes, had encounters
that changed their lives. Doctor Grover Krantz, the anthropologist who

(01:06:32):
risked his career studying Sasquatch, received anonymous packages containing detailed
anatomical drawings that helped inform his theories about the creature's physiology.
He never knew these came from families who had been
secretly documenting Sasquatch anatomy for three centuries. John Green, another
prominent researcher, was mysteriously guided to the best locations for

(01:06:53):
finding footprints, receiving unsigned letters with specific coordinates and optimal
times to serve. Many of these tips came from a
network of Plymouth descendants who had learned to recognize Sasquatch
territorial markings and travel patterns. But the most significant development
was happening quietly in the background. Children and grandchildren of

(01:07:15):
the Plymouth families were becoming wildlife biologists, park rangers, conservationists.
They used their careers to protect Sasquatch habitat without ever
mentioning the true reason. They knew that preserving wilderness was
the best way to honor the old agreement. As the
twenty first century began, the world had changed in ways
that neither the Plymouth colonists nor Yahael could have imagined.

(01:07:39):
The Internet connected people instantly across the globe cameras were everywhere.
DNA analysis could reveal secrets hidden in a single hair.
The wilderness that had once seemed infinite was now mapped
by satellites. For the Sasquatch, hiding became nearly impossible. The
sightings increased not because there were more so Asquatch, but

(01:08:01):
because there were fewer places for them to remain unseen.
In two thousand and three, a remarkable meeting occurred. It
was arranged through intermediaries, taking years to coordinate. Three representatives
of the Plymouth descendant families met with three Sasquatch in
the Olympic National Forest. It was the first direct contact

(01:08:21):
in over a century. The Sasquatch who spoke for his
people was ancient, claiming to be a great grandson of
Yachiel himself. His English was perfect, learned, he said, by
listening to generations of humans speaking in the forests. His
message was sobering. We are dying, not quickly, but surely

(01:08:41):
each generation. We are fewer. The forests are islands now,
not the ocean they once were. We cannot travel between
our groups without crossing human lands. Our genetic diversity fails
within one hundred years, perhaps less.

Speaker 4 (01:08:57):
We will be gone.

Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
The humans asked what could be done. You must decide
whether our secret is worth our extinction. You have honored
the agreement made at your first Thanksgiving, but that agreement
was for a different world, one where we could live
apart that world no longer exists. He proposed something radical,
gradual disclosure. Selected scientists would be allowed to study them

(01:09:22):
under strict conditions. Conservation efforts would be increased with the
secret knowledge of protecting sasquatch habitat Most importantly, the public
perception would need to be shifted from seeing sasquatch as
monsters or myths to understanding them as an endangered fellow
primate species deserving protection. The families were divided. The weight

(01:09:44):
of three hundred and eighty years of secrecy was not
easily set aside, But they also understood that maintaining the
secret while the sasquatch went extinct would be the ultimate
betrayal of the first Thanksgiving promise. Now, in the third
decade of the twenty first century, the situation has reached
a critical point. Environmental DNA studies have found unknown primate

(01:10:06):
genetic material in areas of known sasquatch activity. Thermal drone
footage has captured images that are increasingly difficult to dismiss.
The secret is unraveling on its own. The Plymouth descendant families,
now numbering in the hundreds and spread across the world,
have made a decision. They are beginning carefully and gradually

(01:10:28):
to release information a journal here, a photograph there, each
piece adding to the mounting evidence that Sasquatch are real
and have been known about by certain groups for centuries.
Museums in Massachusetts have begun displaying certain artifacts with new context.
Items previously labeled as ceremonial objects of unknown purpose are

(01:10:49):
now being identified as gifts exchanged between colonists and unidentified
indigenous groups at the first Thanksgiving. The Blackstone tools, which
modern analysis shows are made from a type of obsidian
that shouldn't exist in New England, are generating intense scientific interest.
Wildlife corridors are being established in the Pacific Northwest, officially

(01:11:11):
for known endangered species, but actually designed using centuries of
accumulated knowledge about sasquatch migration routes. Conservation groups quietly directed
by Plymouth descendants and native tribes are purchasing land in
key areas, creating connected habitats that might allow Sasquatch populations
to interact and maintain genetic diversity. Some indigenous tribes, with

(01:11:35):
the permission of their elders, have begun sharing their own
Sasquatch knowledge more openly. They speak at conferences, consult with scientists,
and help reshape the narrative from one of monster hunting
to one of species preservation and cultural respect. The stones
that hold light those gifts from Yahiel at the first
Thanksgiving have been submitted for scientific analysis. They appear to

(01:11:59):
be a type of crystal that exhibits unusual properties, storing
and releasing electromagnetic energy, and patterns that suggest they might
have been used for communication. Some theorists believe the Sasquatch
have always been able to sense these stones, using them
to identify friends across the centuries. This year, on Thanksgiving,
something unprecedented is planned. Representatives from the Plymouth descendant families,

(01:12:25):
members of various native tribes, and selected scientists and conservationists
will gather at a location in the Olympic National Forest.
They have spent years preparing, following the old protocols, making
the proper offerings, sending the ancient signals. If their hopes
are realized. For the first time in four hundred years.

(01:12:45):
The first guest will return to a Thanksgiving feast not
in secret, not in shadow, but witnessed, documented and protected.
The meal will be simple, traditional foods, prepared in traditional ways.
There will be there no cameras at first, no instruments
beyond human eyes and hearts. The first meeting will be

(01:13:06):
as it was in sixteen twenty one, beings of different
species sharing food, building, trust, making promises. But this time
the promise will be different. Not to hide but to help,
not to separate, but to coexist. The Sasquatch will gradually
reveal themselves to a world that desperately needs to remember

(01:13:28):
that there are still mysteries, still wonders, still connections to
the wild that technology cannot replace. The families who have
kept the secret for four centuries will become bridges, translators,
ambassadors between two intelligent species trying to find a way
forward in a world that belongs to neither and both.

(01:13:48):
Scientists will learn that the Sasquatch possess knowledge about forest ecosystems,
about medicinal plants, about survival and adaptation that could benefit humanity.
The Sasquatch will receive protection habitat, preservation, and perhaps most importantly,
recognition as fellow travelers on this planet, deserving of respect

(01:14:08):
and rights. The story that began at Plymouth in sixteen
twenty one is not ending, but transforming. The first Thanksgiving
was about survival, about different peoples coming together to share
resources and knowledge. This new Thanksgiving will be about something greater,
the recognition that humans are not alone, have never been alone,

(01:14:29):
and that the indigenous peoples of this land include beings.
We are only now ready to acknowledge. As the sun
sets on this new gathering, as it's set on that
first feast four hundred years ago, the same truth remains.
We are all connected, the colonists, the native peoples, the Sasquatch,
the land itself. The promise made by Jahael standing tall

(01:14:54):
echoes across the centuries. When humanity is ready to see
the Sasquatch not as monsters but a teachers, they will return.
That time is now. The first guest is coming home,
and somewhere in whatever realm, the spirits of the departed dwell.
Yahayel watches and approves. The seeds planted at that first
Thanksgiving have taken four centuries to flower, but they have survived,

(01:15:18):
the promise has been kept. The sacred trust continues as
families across America gather for their own Thanksgiving feasts. Most
will not know the true story of the first Thanksgiving,
but for those who do, for those who have guarded
the secret and kept the promise, this year's gratitude runs
deeper than ever before. They give thanks not just for

(01:15:40):
the harvest, not just for surviving another year, but for
the privilege of living in a world where wonder still exists,
where ancient promises still matter, and where beings as different
as Pilgrims, Native Americans and Sasquatch can still gather in peace,
sharing food, stories and hope for the future. Feast continues,

(01:16:01):
the story goes on, and the first guest, patient and
enduring as the forests themselves, reminds us that some things
are worth waiting centuries to reveal, and that the greatest
thanksgiving of all is for the connections that bind us
to each other and to the wild heart of the
world itself. Now, look, I can't sit here and tell
you that everything you just heard actually happened. There's no

(01:16:25):
secret society of Plymouth descendants guarding four hundred year old
drawings there's no glowing stones passed down through generations, and
as far as we know, there was no eight foot
tall forest guardian named Yahyel sitting at that first Thanksgiving table.
This was a story fiction, a what if scenario, spun

(01:16:46):
out of holiday spirit and a love for the unexplained.
But here's the thing. Wouldn't it be something if it
were true? Wouldn't it be remarkable to live in a
world where there are still genuine mysteries out in those forests,
where not everything has been cataloged and captured and explained away,
Where somewhere in the deep woods of the Pacific Northwest

(01:17:07):
or the remote hollows of the Appalachians, there might be
something ancient and intelligent watching us, waiting to see if
we finally learn to approach the wild places with respect
instead of conquest. I've spent nearly forty years researching sasquatch
encounters and interviewing close to one thousand people who claim
to have seen something they couldn't explain. And what strikes

(01:17:29):
me most about those conversations isn't the footprints or the
vocalizations or the blurry photographs. It's the way these experiences
change people. Almost everyone I've talked to comes away with
a deeper respect for the wilderness, a sense of humility
about humanity's place in the natural order, and a genuine
hope that there's still room in this world for mystery.

(01:17:51):
Maybe that's the real gift the Sasquatch gives us. Whether
they're flesh and blood or folklore, they remind us that
we haven't figured everything out. They give us permission to wonder.
They suggest that the forests might still hold secrets worth protecting,
even if we never fully understand what those secrets are.
So this Thanksgiving, as you sit with your family and friends,

(01:18:14):
maybe take a moment to think about what kind of
world you want to live in. One where every shadow
has been illuminated and every question has been answered, or
one where there's still something out there in the darkness,
something old and wise and patient, waiting for us to
be ready. I know which world I choose. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone,

(01:18:36):
stay curious, stay humble, And if you're ever deep in
the woods and the forest goes silent, maybe leave a
small offering at the base of an old tree. You
never know who might be watching until next time. Take
care of yourselves, take care of each other, and take
care of the wild places. They might be taking care
of us too.

Speaker 4 (01:18:58):
They say, you want to go.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
Home, but you can't stay, and I don't want to
be a world out it.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
S try this chart, that chart everything. Call me right back,

(01:19:40):
right back, joy for me, enjoy, stay right there, come
in right away, Still start stats, s st st state stills, games, still, states,

(01:20:52):
states things, US News, h