Bigfoot Tales & Big Figure And The Smokehouse

Legends, Stories and Tales across the country about Sasquatch

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
It's a big world out there.Welcome to Bigfoot's Wilderness Podcast. We were

(00:54):
hunting in a very rugged and toughterrain and we're talking and joking about how
quiet in the erie it seemed inthis particular area, because it wasn't an
area that we usually hunted. Itwas quite different because we didn't hear all
the chipmunks, camp robbers, squirrels, etc. Like we did in other
parts of the McClure Pass area.There were a few hunters in this area

(01:17):
too, because it was difficult toaccess. After sitting and watching a meadow
in the area for a while,we decided to split up and go out
and see if we could run intosomething. My friend went one way,
my other friend went another, andmy third friend went yet another direction.
Now, before I go any further, I must tell you what we found.

(01:41):
When we first arrived in the area. There was a cold campsite where
someone had been camped and they hadhad horses with them. The evidence was
everywhere, including a bale of haythat we saw a good thirty feet in
a spruce tree where it looked likeit had been thrown by the way,
the bail was broken and the balingtwine was hanging in the branches amid to

(02:04):
hay. We thought this strange,but didn't get too excited about it at
the time. Then along the trailleading into the meadow where we had sat,
we found a large mule deer apretty big buck, dead beside the
trail. Not at all strange initself. However, this deer hadn't been
shot, nor had it been killedby a bear, because there was neither

(02:29):
any bullet wounds or claw or teethmarks anywhere on the carcass. This deer
had had its head torn off andits limbs were also torn off, and
it was scattered around an area ofabout forty to fifty feet in diameter.
Strange though it was, we stillweren't concerned or worried about anything. We

(02:50):
were there to get an elk,and that was foremost in all of our
minds. After splitting up, I'dsay maybe an hour, my friends and
I heard a couple of shots ringout on the mountain from our position,
and we immediately recognized the sound ofthe shots as being from my other friend's
rifle, a thirty odd six.He was shooting what we call speeders,

(03:14):
which are a twenty two caliber sizedbullet with a plastic casing that makes it
seat into the rifles of the barreluntil the bullets clear the muzzle, and
then the plastic breaks away, leavingthe little bullet to go on its way
extremely fast, but makes the riflehave a kind of a muffled report,
like a twenty two magnum. Sowe headed in the direction of the shots,

(03:37):
agreeing that it was my friend andbecause if he had one down,
we need to get it taken careof quickly, as it was almost dusk.
Along the way, we saw sometracks going across a sloped meadow and
up a steep hill on the otherside of the meadow, and I said
to my friend, that must beDanny's tracks over there. Let's hut up

(03:59):
that way, and followed them toDanny. When we got to the tracks,
we were both dumbfounded. Neither ofus spoke for a few seconds,
I guess because neither of us couldbelieve what we were looking at. These
tracks were approximately eighteen inches long andeight inches to ten inches wide at the

(04:20):
ball of the foot, I triedto step alongside of the tracks at the
same stride and couldn't even come close. We thought it might be a hoax.
But then when we got to wherethey went up the steep hill that
I mentioned, there would have beenno way a man with a pair of
big feet strapped to his feet couldhave traversed this slope and these tracks because

(04:44):
they went straight up the mountain.Well, we finally found Danny and he
did have a spite down, andwhile helping him dress out the elk,
I brought up the tracks that myother friend and I had seen earlier,
and Danny looked at us as ifhe had seen a ghost and said,
oh, my god, I sawthe same tracks in a muddy creek down

(05:06):
the hill a little way. Wewere all a bit shaken by this discovery,
especially after you factor in the deerand the hay and the rugged terrain,
etc. We said that one daywe were going to go back up
there and try to find more evidence, or better yet, maybe to get
some physical evidence or maybe even apicture at least some plaster casts maybe for

(05:31):
some of the footprints. I amtruly convinced that there are a big foot
in this area, and my friendsand Danny and I are planning a trip
back soon. A family was campedby a river so that they could put

(06:14):
up salmon for the winter. Thesalmon they had caught were hanging in a
split cedar smokehouse. One day beforehe went to bed with his family in
the shelter they had made, theeldest boy went into the smoke house and
noticed some gaps between the fish thatwere hanging there. Some of our smoked
salmon seems to be missing, hetold his father. We're the only ones

(06:35):
here. His father replied, ourfamily is camped all alone. Just forget
about it. We'll get some more. The next morning, when the boy
built the fire in the smokehouse,he noticed even more of the smoke salmon
were missing. Tonight, I'm goingto hide in the smokehouse and find out
who it is taking the salmon,he announced. I will have my bow

(06:58):
and arrow with me, but ifit is a man that comes, I
will not use it. That night, they did not bank the fire very
high, and it soon burned out. The boy hid in a corner of
the dark smoke house and waited.Except for the rush of the wind in
the cedar trees and the voice ofthe river, the camp was quiet.
It was not long before the boyheard a new sound, footsteps, heavy

(07:24):
footsteps were approaching the camp. Theycame closer and closer, and stopped just
outside the smoke house. The boywas frightened, but he had his bow
and arrow ready. Slowly the roofof the smoke house lifted up. The
boy pulled his bowstring taut. Hedimly saw a huge, hairy arm reach

(07:45):
in toward the salmon, and hesent his arrow where the arm was coming
from. There was a terrible crythat woke up the others. I think
I got it. I think it'sthe woods giant, shouted the boy to
his parents. Let's go after him. We will wait till morning, said
his father. He will be alot easier to trail in the daylight,

(08:05):
and if you wounded him, hemight be dead by then. The family
rose early the next morning, theboy, his father, and younger brother
headed out on to the trail ofthe giant. The trail they found had
a few drops of blood on it. It led deep into the forest and
ended at a cedar bark house.A pool of fresh water was near by,

(08:26):
with a tree leaning over it.You wait here, the father said
to his elder son, and yourbrother and I will skirt around the back
of the house while he was waiting. The elder boy climbed up the tree
as it was a good place tosee from. Soon, a large,
hairy girl came out of the cedarbark house with a bucket in her hand

(08:48):
and walked to the pool of waterthat the tree leaned over. When she
stopped to scoop up some drinking water, she saw the boy's reflection in the
pool. My I didn't know howpretty I was, she exclaimed. I'm
different from the rest of my family. Their eyes all sink in their heads,
and mine don't. They are hairyand I have smooth skin. The

(09:11):
boy above her moved in the treeand a branch broke and fell to the
water. The girl jerked her headup and saw him. Oh it is
you that I see in the water, she cried. Then she paused and
added, my father has been terriblysick since he came home last night.
Can you come and help him.I'll get my father. The boy answered,

(09:33):
This must be where the person liveswho was stealing fish from us,
he said when he reached his fatherand brother. Okay, said the father,
let's go in. They went inthe cedar bark house and a big
hairy man more than six feet tall, lay almost dead with an arrow deep
in his chest. His wife andchildren were standing around him. The boy

(09:56):
who shot the arrow walked up tothe big man and tried, I had
to pull the arrow out. Itwould not come out straight, and he
had to twist it this way inthat way. But finally it did pull
free. I feel better already,said the giant weakly. You have helped
me, so I will give youmy daughter to one of you to marry.

(10:16):
No, cried the elder boy.I do not wish to marry your
daughter. I do not wish tomarry your daughter either, exclaimed the younger
son. Have you another offer,then, asked the father of the two
boys. Yes, my offer isthis. You may use us on your
totem pole and face mask. Noone else can make our likeness, only

(10:39):
you. You can make the maskjust like our face. The father and
his sons accepted the giant's offer andwent home. They took their arrow with
them. No one else had amask like theirs. It was a frightening
mask with the eyes sunk deep inthe head. A woman named Catherine who

(11:11):
was of Tolowa India heritage. Hermother was Tolowa father an Irish immigrant logger.
At the time, she was seventytwo and recalls many legends about Bigfoot,
though in no particular order. Thefollowing are her recollections about the stories
she heard growing up in northern California. I remember my grandfather telling stories of

(11:35):
a large hair covered man creature.As a young boy, he was hunting
and felt like he was not alone. He sat still near a bush and
waited to see who might be followinghim. Not thirty feet away was a
tall, muscular, hair covered creaturestanding behind a tree. He watched it

(11:56):
for a few minutes until it turnedand walked away up the hill. He
told his father about this, andhis father said that they were a quiet
people who shared the bounty of theforest and rivers with the Indians. Many
had been seen, but it wasconsidered evil to kill one, as they
had never harmed the Indians. Inthe evenings, they could be heard screaming

(12:18):
in the woods, which they werecommunicating with each other. My brother Joe,
ten years my junior, saw whatappeared to be a mother with a
youngster in tow. The infant wasplaying with a stick near the creek,
while the mother stood stock still andwatched. When she noticed my brother across
the creek, she grabbed the youngone by the shoulder, pulled him in

(12:41):
front of her, and she herdedhim into the trees. She looked back
a few times to see if Joewas following. He was amazed at how
quiet and stealthy they were. Themother was dark and uniform in color,
while the young one was more modeled, with lighter fur on the torso and
shoulders. Her grandfather told this story, and she would put the year in

(13:05):
the eighteen eighties. In the morning, our parents gathered all the family to
clean and filet salmon from the ketch. We would prepare the fish for smoking.
We left the entrails for the animalsand birds to eat. After a
day of work, we would prepareand pack up the filets and start on
the walk back to the fire area. I left my knife on the bank

(13:30):
and returned to fetch it. AsI approached the cleaning area, I saw
the big hairy man squatting down andeating the fish entrails. When he saw
me, he stood and roared,perhaps to scare me. He did not
want to share his meal. Iran back and told my mother, and
she said I should never venture outalone. We returned in an hour and

(13:54):
the huge pile of entrails was gone. There was more entrails left there,
and a bunch of raccoons or otherscavengers could have taken that fast again from
the grandfather, we would see himonce in a while, mostly in the
evenings, just after the sun wouldgo down. Sometimes in the very early

(14:16):
morning too. They knew we werethere, but would not harm us.
They would go out in the darkness. They would not have to be seen
by people. They would sometimes comenear the fire at night, but stay
just out of sight. Your nosewould tell you that they were near,
as they smelt like rotted meat.My father once saw two big creatures standing

(14:43):
on opposite sides of a small clearing, yelling and throwing sticks. He thinks
they were fighting for the space,or perhaps for food. He saw them
many times but was never afraid.They would sometimes take his food at night,
but they would never hurt people.When my brother was a baby,

(15:03):
our mother left him in a hammockwhen she went for water. When she
came back, there was a creaturevery near him, smelling him, but
it did not touch him. Itknew it was a harmless baby, but
was just curious. It frightened ourmother, but the creature went up the
hill when she approached