Sasquatch Chronicles

Jeremy writes ""My first encounter happened along a creek in south-central Kentucky. I wasn't a typical teenager. I didn't spend much time running around with friends. My passion was hunting, tracking, and being outdoors. After reading The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr., I was completely hooked on wilderness skills and wildlife. When I was around 13 years old, I often went down to the creek at night with a lantern and fished for catfish. I loved the solitude. It was peaceful, and every now and then I'd hook into a freshwater drum or a snapping turtle that would really test my gear. One night, I had been fishing for three or four hours. About 100 yards to my southwest was a road cut into the side of a mountain. To stabilize the hillside, large riprap rocks had been placed beneath the road. I've always had excellent hearing, and even at 13 I could identify just about every animal in those woods by sound alone. That night, something strange happened. As I sat there in the darkness with my lantern turned low, I heard something running barefoot along the road. Then I heard it grab the guardrail and vault over it. A moment later, rocks shifted and slid as it landed in the riprap below. Then the woods went silent. I could hear faint footsteps moving through the forest. Because I was down by the creek and the bank rose about ten feet above me, my lantern light probably wasn't visible from where the sounds were coming from. I kept fishing, convincing myself it was probably a deer crossing the road and that my imagination was filling in the blanks. Then things escalated. At first, small rocks started landing in the creek. Then larger ones some sounded as big as basketballs when they hit the water. I tried to ignore it and kept fishing, thinking maybe fish were jumping or something natural was causing the disturbance. About twenty minutes later, I caught a catfish. I turned up my lantern while I unhooked it, and that's when I noticed a pair of glowing eyes on the opposite bank. They were fixed directly on me. After I released the fish, the eyes remained motionless. Then, in one smooth movement, whatever it was turned its head and disappeared. For the next fifteen minutes, I heard vocalizations. They didn't sound aggressive. If anything, they seemed communicative almost as if the animal was trying to locate others or perhaps encourage me to leave the area. The closest comparison I can make is the sound of a barn owl. Oddly enough, I never felt threatened. Before leaving, I caught a decent-sized bluegill and placed it on the bank as an offering, just in case we ever crossed paths again. My second encounter occurred when I was 16. I've been bowhunting my entire life. I'm 47 now, and I still love it just as much as I did back then. This encounter took place in southeastern Kentucky in the vast wilderness of the Big South Fork region. The area is home to black bears, elk nowadays, and plenty of whitetail deer the reason I was there. I had hiked in along a muddy access trail maintained by Fish and Wildlife. The trail led to a place known as "The Helipad." I've always assumed the open field at the end of the road was used for helicopter rescues from the nearby ravines. Around the five-mile mark, the road split. My dad headed toward the fields near the helipad while I took the left fork to hunt deeper in the woods. It was early October. Some leaves had already fallen, giving excellent visibility from a tree stand. Once I climbed, I could see nearly 200 yards through the timber toward the fields below. I settled into a tree around 2:30 that afternoon. It was a popular climbing tree straight, sturdy, and easy to ascend quietly. At approximately 3:30, I noticed movement far down the ridge. At first, I couldn't make out what I was seeing. As it moved closer, I realized it was traveling in a way I'd only ever seen bobcats move. It would leap from the base of one tree to the next, minimizing noise with every step. I'd watched bobcats do this before while stalking. The difference was that this animal was upright. It stood roughly five to six feet tall and moved effortlessly. Its arms were unusually long, and whenever possible it traveled along fallen logs instead of the forest floor. Through my binoculars, I could see that it was black with reddish tips on the ends of its hair. It appeared young. Its coat looked clean, healthy, and almost glossy in the sunlight. There was a gracefulness to it a combination of strength and agility that's hard to describe. It would leap what looked like eight to ten feet at a time, landing at the base of a tree and grabbing the trunk with one hand. Despite its size, it made almost no sound. I watched it approach until it was about 75 yards away. Then it noticed me. To this day, I don't know how. Maybe it saw me. Maybe it sensed me. It immediately jumped behind a tree and began peeking around the far side, studying me as much as I was studying it. For what felt like an hour but was probably only fifteen minutes we observed one another. Finally, it turned and quietly retreated the way it had come, moving through the woods with the same incredible stealth. The moment it disappeared from sight, I climbed down and left the area as quickly as possible. My reasoning was simple: if there were juveniles in the area, there were probably adults as well. I hold a degree in biology with a specialization in fish and wildlife habitat, and I have spent a lifetime in the outdoors. Whatever I witnessed that day remains one of the most unusual experiences of my life. If anyone has studied similar reports or encountered anything comparable, I would be very interested in discussing what I saw."

Ryan writes "I'm sending this email because I spoke with my daughter many times about her experience in WV on our 30acre property next to my sisters 30acre property, so between us 60acres. Emmy decided she wanted to tell you what she experienced outside of telling me her dad. Emmy is 13 yrs old now and when she had her experience she was 7 maybe 8 years old with my memory. When she was little, maybe 5, I taught her how to build a fire in the fire pit(stones stacked in a circle) next to our house close to the wood line next to the hay fields. The night she had her experience she started a fire with me and we were hanging out. She had built a fort with blankets and with some camp chairs and we were watching the fire. I told her I had to run inside and use the bathroom and get a snack/drink keep an eye on the fire, I'll be right back. After going inside and using the bathroom, grabbing a bag of potato chips and drink, I was at the back porch door and Emmy was there trying to open the door and crying upset. I opened the door and she was crying very scared and I asked what happened. She told me there was something very large and tall and dark in the wood line watching her next to big pine tree while she was watching the fire. She told me she looked multiple times thinking it was her imagination but she thought it would go away but it didn't and then she realized it was real and she got really scared, when she got the back steps maybe 100ft from the fire the tears and uncontrollable crying hit her. That's when I met her at the back door almost immediately as I was headed back outside. I asked her to show me where she saw the figure and the leaves on the ground next to the big pine where flat. Not like the other leaves like something had laid down on them or stood on them if it was really big. Not the same as the other leaves in the woods around that particular point. No footprints, just flat leaves. I looked up and there was a broken pine branch about 8ft. I'm 6'3" and my arm outstretched above my head couldn't touch the broken limb. Anyway, we went to bed that night and Emmy calmed down and told me what she saw and I told her it's ok I believe you. She told me it was big and dark and red eyes, watching her but the eyes were red or orange like the fire burning, but she said she saw what she said was hair off the arm holding the big pine tree. She told me it was just standing there watching her. The next day, daytime I asked her to show me where she saw the figure and it was the same spot as the night before when we went to look. The same the leaves were flat in the woods like something heavy was there and the same branch I saw the night before was bent or broken. Afterwards we did some gifting in the woods with marbles and had them replaced with rocks on the mosssy log. We had some feathers replaced with different feathers. Recently we had a 6 point deer skull blanched white with time and no meat or hair on it about 8ft up in an oak tree next to my woodpile for firewood. We recently had a deer leg same blanched white no meat or hair on it on the edge of the hay field up from the creek in a tree about 7ft off the ground. My daughter Emmy told me she wanted me to email you and tell you what she experienced." Tayler writes "My husband and I are originally from Arkansas. He was recently stationed back here for my his final duty assignment before retirement. We are big outdoors people hunting, fishing, hiking, backpacking, kayaking you name it. Over the years, we've had a few strange encounters, and even my grandmother, who lives in a rural part of Arkansas, has had her own experiences. Last weekend, we went to float the Buffalo River and do some primitive camping. Not long after getting on the river, I was taking in the scenery and admiring the massive bluffs when I noticed a cave. As I focused on it, I caught movement off to the right along the bluff. At first, I assumed it was hikers, which isn't unusual in that area. I pointed it out to my husband and said it looked like an adult and a younger teen. Then I realized something was off they appeared entirely brown in color. As I tried to get my husband to look, they suddenly disappeared into the cave. That's when it hit me there aren't any trails in that specific area that I'm aware of, and we know those trails pretty well. They were gone before he could see them. I was disappointed he missed it, both to confirm what I saw and to share the experience. As the day went on, I tried to rationalize it and mostly brushed it off. We continued floating for several hours, had a great time, and eventually made it to our campsite. We built a fire, cooked dinner, had a couple of drinks—just enjoying a rare kid-free adventure. That night, I woke up suddenly with my body shaking uncontrollably. My husband noticed and thought I was just cold and held me closer it was in the 40s, after all. But I told him I felt sick. He eventually went back to sleep, and that's when I noticed a bluish-white ball of light hovering outside our tent. At first, I thought it might be the moon, but it didn't make sense the light was coming from the wrong direction, and it was moving slightly. As I focused on it, I became violently ill. I was getting sick about every 30 minutes for hours. It was intense to the point where I genuinely felt like I was dying. At some point, I realized the light was gone. Not long after that, the sickness stopped. I remember just begging for it to be over so I could get some sleep. I hadn't planned on reaching out, but today, while cleaning my house, I put on your newest episode the one where Rick talked about a woman who became sick after seeing a similar ball of light, possibly related to radiation exposure. The timing and similarities felt hard to ignore. What's also strange is that my husband and I had the same food and drinks that day, and neither of us drank much. He never got sick, and I was the only one who saw the light."

Rick writes "I was on your show about two years ago regarding my investigations into the potential paranormal aspects of the Bigfoot phenomenon. I would like to update you on my efforts (Quantum Bridge Project) and the progress we've made to date. As you know, I used to be the State Director for the Virginia Chapter of the Mutual UFO Network and investigated numerous UFO sighting reports to include purported "abduction" cases. I transitioned to the paranormal realm because of the apparent similarities in certain cases. I've been with the Center for Paranormal Research and Investigations (CPRI) for the past twenty-four years and, within the past eight years, started conducting "cryptid" research for the same aforementioned reasons. I chose CPRI because of their philosophy and the way they approached the paranormal using the scientific method. The organization has MDs, PhDs in sociology, educators, nurses, chemists, current and former law enforcement officers, etc. CPRI is a Virginia 501(c) nonprofit, educational organization with a Board of Directors. I approached their Board with a written research proposal requesting that we investigate the "cryptid" phenomena in the same fashion they approach the paranormal; using certain specialized instrumentation and equipment like thermal imaging/ recording devises, remote data loggers designed to measure various EM/ radiological fields, and certain environmental conditions. My proposal involved locating a potentially credible cryptid investigator and working with them in their respected field research areas in order to capture supporting data during a sighting. This would not only validate that something is actually occurring, but to potentially explain certain aspects of the phenomenon. I've attached this particular proposal for your reference. One of my investigators located Harley Owens; a fairly new cryptid investigator in the East Tennessee area. Some of his sightings have been validated by other independent investigators, so I decided to work with him. His research area is near Cosby, TN, which is one of the areas the late Scott Carpenter used to investigate. Over the past two years, Ive independently investigated this area with Harley to further gauge his credibility before devoting CPRI resources to this geographical area. During that time, I've seen strange tree structures, heard screams, roars, and strange "barn owl" sounds, I have also seen those infamous" lights" that are seemingly associated with the Bigfoot phenomenon. On one occasion, I saw one of these "lights" at night on my thermal imager. It was moving intelligently through the forest. Interestingly enough, when I tried to see the light without the thermal, it wasn't visible. When I looked through the thermal, it would reappear, indicating it had some type of invisible heat source. Harley was next to me and wanted to see the light through the thermal. When he looked through it, he saw the light and, as it approached a dirt road, he said the light "transformed" into an upright being exhibiting a heat signature. It walked across the road and up an incline towards an adjacent knoll. I didn't see this; however, about one minute later, I heard a loud scream and an "owl' like vocal come from this same knoll. This scream was extremely loud and lasted about two to three seconds. It also sounded like some type of primate. It was immediately followed by an "owl" vocal, which didn't seem right. On another investigation in July of 2024, Harley and I were in his research area one night when we heard a loud, very intimidating roar (not scream) coming from another Ridgeline adjacent to a cemetery, which is the apparent focal point of the activity. This roar was so intimidating and loud, we were concerned for our safety. You could actually feel "rage" coming from whatever made it. I've never heard anything quite like it before, so we decided to pack everything up in order to make a quick exit if the situation called for it. We didn't stay too much longer before we left the area. As you probably know, these so called "orb" sightings are very common in both Bigfoot and paranormal cases, which leads me to some information you and your listeners may find very interesting. Back in 2003, CPRI investigated a case near Bedford, VA. This case involved a lady who lived on a farm in a double wide home. The lady reported seeing shadows, hearing voices and reported poltergeist type activity throughout the house. During the course of our investigation, she related an incident that occurred in the early 80s. She was getting ready for bed, had just turned off the bedroom lights when she saw three "orbs" hovering in a level, straight line at the foot of her bed. They appeared to be the size of a softball and each exhibited a different color; one was orange, one was light blue and the last was reddish They emitted light and then moved in unison (line formation) down her hallway and made a 90 degree left turn into her dinning room. She immediately went to the dinning room to see where they went and couldn't locate them. It was as if they just disappeared. The following morning, she went back into the dinning room and noticed three circular discolored/ burnt marks on her window screen. She believed these orbs went through the screen because they weren't there before, the window was left open and each mark was about the same size of these orbs. We asked her about the screen and, fortunately, she had rolled it up and kept it in her barn and forgot about it. We went to the barn and she pulled it out. The screen still had these three strange marks on it, so we asked if we could have it analyzed. She agreed, so we gave it to one of our members who happened to be a Radiochemist and worked for a federal lab in eastern Virginia. He's no longer with CPRI, so I'm not at liberty to divulge his name or where he worked without permission. He took the screen to his lab for analysis. A few weeks later, he sent us a report with his findings, which were intriguing. I've attached a document containing excerpts of his report to keep him and his employer's information confidential. According to the report, the discolored sections of the screen were highly irradiated. The areas were so irradiated we decided to ask the lady some health questions. Around the same time as the orb incident, she did experience bad flu symptoms, nausea, fever and general weakness, which lasted about a week or two. She thought it was just the flu, but did reveal additional information that brings doubt to that conclusion. A few years later, the had to have hip replacement surgery. After the surgery, the doctor asked if she had ever had radiation therapy. When she said no, the doctor said the bone structure of her hip was porous. It appeared to have been subjected to a type of radiation. Apparently she may have been exposed to a great deal of radiation that night. This is not to say that all orb phenomena contains radioactive properties, but it appears these lights did. In March of 2025, I assembled a team from CPRI and we (along with Harley) conducted a preliminary investigation of the Cosby site. The team consisted of Harley, myself, an archeologist, University Professor and another retired law enforcement officer. We did take some instrumentation with us. During the course of three days, we found several unusual tree structures, interviewed a resident in the area and conducted night surveillance. The primary location was the site of an old cemetery, which seems to be the focal point of the activity. We were able to witness unusual light activity in the cemetery. This took the form of small red points of moving light. Another larger red light was also seen depending in a straight line towards the same Ridgeline that the "roar" was heard a year earlier. Our archeologist witnessed a large, indistinct dark mass cross in front of him through the cemetery. He was wearing an Apple Smart Watch with embedded bio sensor at the time. He was able to pull the heart rate data from the watch and, at the exact time he witnessed this event. His heart rate jumped from 66 BPM to 124 BPM. On one occasion, our professor also witnessed a small green light hovering about thirty feet above the cemetery. These lights couldn't readily be explained. They didn't match the will-o-the-wisp (swamp methane gas ignition) phenomena because the weather was cool, it hadn't rained, low humidity and most of the colors seen were red instead of the signature faint blue-violet glow."

Laura Krantz is a journalist, editor and producer, in both radio and print, and co-founder of Foxtopus Ink. Her podcast, Wild Thing has received critical acclaim from Scientific American, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic, which named it one of the best 50 podcasts in 2018 and 2020. Wild Thing is also the inspiration for a series of non-fiction, middle-grade books from ABRAMS Kids, including The Search for Sasquatch, Is There Anybody Out There?, and Do You Believe In Magic? In addition to Wild Thing, her recent work includes reporting, editing and production work on Master Plan (The Lever), The Syndicate (Imperative Entertainment/Foxtopus), Side Door (Smithsonian), Air/Space (Smithsonian), and others. Laura's prior experience includes a decade of editing and producing at NPR in Washington, DC, and at KPCC in Los Angeles.

Tonight we'll be talking with Jake from Minnesota. Back in the early 1980s, he witnessed something he described as a chimpanzee playing on his tree stand. Then, 30 years later, in the same area, he encountered another creature this time displaying behavior unlike anything he had ever heard or seen before.

Please welcome my special guest tonight. Twelve-year-old Bentley St John says he's 'pretty mad' about getting hit while crossing at a crosswalk. His family wants the driver to turn themselves in to police.

Tonight we will be speaking to Seth and Seth writes "I grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia, and went to college there too. That's where this story took place. It's not a Bigfoot encounter at least I don't think it is. Honestly, I'm not sure what kind of encounter it was. All I know is that it happened to me. I've often wished someone could explain it, tell me what it was or what it meant. It happened on October 31, 2001, under a full blue moon, along one of the quietest stretches of the Blue Ridge Parkway. At the time, I was driving a 1970 Chevy Bel Air an old steel boat of a car and I had pulled into the James River overlook near Goff Mountain Road. It was close to midnight. The moon was so bright it almost felt like daytime. I shut the engine off and decided to stretch my legs. There's a small trail there that leads down toward a bench maybe a hundred yards from the parking area. I'd spent a lot of time in the woods so being out in the forest at night didn't bother me. I knew what normal nighttime woods felt like. And I also knew when something felt off. As I walked down the trail, the stillness felt unnatural. No breeze. No insects. No rustling. Nothing. I sat on the bench and looked through the bare branches while the moonlight spilled across the slope below. It was beautiful, but something about it felt wrong. Like I was being watched. Then I heard a Snap. A single limb breaking somewhere downslope, maybe fifty to a hundred yards away toward the Bellamy Creek drainage. At first I didn't think much of it deer snap branches all the time. Then it happened again. And again. What caught my attention wasn't just the sound it was the pattern. The breaks started coming from different directions. Not like one animal moving through the woods. I counted five, maybe ten distinct snaps, each spaced about four or five seconds apart. Then the timing changed. The snaps started coming faster… one every second or two… and they seemed to be moving in a circle around me. That was enough. Instinct kicked in, and I stood up and headed back to the car. When I got inside the car, I didn't start the engine right away. I just sat there with the keys in the ignition, ready to leave if I needed to. At first, nothing happened. Then something hit the hood. It sounded exactly like a Douglas fir cone hitting steel hard, solid, unmistakable. The problem was that there were no pine or fir trees there. Only deciduous trees, and by that time of year all their leaves had already fallen. There was nothing up there that could drop. Then another hit. Then they started falling faster like something was throwing them. They weren't rocks or dirt. Every impact sounded the same weight, the same size, the same hollow thunk of a heavy cone hitting metal. The hood, the roof, the trunk maybe even the sides of the car. But I couldn't see anything falling. Nothing bouncing off. Nothing rolling away. Just the sound. I looked up toward the treeline in front of me, expecting to see bare trunks and branches in the moonlight. Instead, I saw figures. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. The shapes looked like people standing among the trees. They weren't trees. They were tall figures six to seven feet high wearing what looked like long hoods or cloaks. Completely black. No faces. No hands. Just darkness beneath the hoods. Some stood still. Others seemed angled toward me. It was like they absorbed the moonlight instead of reflecting it. I turned to my left, toward the grassy median beside the car, and saw more shapes there. Maybe three to eight of them, lying flat on the ground like bodies. Each time I looked away and then looked back, they were closer. But they never moved while I was watching. No sound. No crawling. Just different positions every time my eyes shifted. Then I noticed something near the driver's side of the car. Three smaller figures, only five to ten feet away. These weren't tall like the ones near the trees. They were crouched or hunched close to the ground, almost like children playing. Under each hood there was a faint flicker like someone trying to light a cigarette lighter that never quite caught. Meanwhile the impacts on the car were coming faster and faster. At that point, instinct completely took over. I turned the key, threw the car into Drive, and sped out of the overlook as fast as I could. As I pulled away, those smaller figures were right beside my door. If the window had been open, I'm certain I could have reached out and touched them. They just watched. I drove for about five miles before finally pulling over. Nothing had followed me. When I got out and inspected the car, there wasn't a single dent. No scratches. No debris. Nothing at all that explained what I had heard hitting the car. I've looked at that location on maps many times since then. But I've never gone back in person. Not once. I haven't even driven that stretch of the Parkway again. There's one detail that still bothers me, though. When I later looked at the spot on Google Maps, the overlook where I had parked appeared to be on the wrong side of the road. I clearly remember pulling into it on the right side from the direction I was traveling. But according to the map, it should have been on the left. I've tried to make sense of that for years, and I still can't. For a long time, I never told anyone about this." Now, I'm telling you."

Tonight I will be speaking with Tex. He had an encounter when he was a teenager with something he could not explain. Tex said "I didn't know what to call it except a werewolf. Many years later he started looking into Sasquatch along with the paranormal. Check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TEXAFTERDARK Join me for Part one.

Brayden who is from Washington State writes "I recently moved to a new property with my girlfriend to help care for my grandfather as he gets older, and I've started noticing some strange activity around the property. I'm mainly looking for insight into what this could be. It began with an odd sixth sense feeling like I was being watched. I work a swing shift, so I get home late, and I'd often feel uneasy when pulling into the driveway. At first, I brushed it off as nerves from being in a new place. Then the noises started. The first incident happened while I was at work. My girlfriend called me, shaken, saying that something was walking outside the house and breathing heavily. I told her it was probably a buck looking for a doe since it was mating season, which seemed reasonable at the time. Not long after, one weekend night, we were both woken up by chattering sounds coming from two different directions. We just lay there frozen in bed, listening. Another incident involved tapping on the side of the house, which I was able to record." Curtis writes "My twin brother and I had an intense encounter with a group of three Sasquatches back in the summer of 1983." After speaking with the eyewitness, he explained that in 1983, he and five other kids were playing in the woods, pretending to be in a war game. He recalled that three large creatures emerged from behind the school, stepping out from the tree line. The creatures walked right past him, his twin brother, and their friends. At first, he mistook the creatures for his brother and friends, but upon a closer look, It wasn't his brother. He said they weren't as big as he had initially imagined they were nothing like the giant figures typically described or even like Patty."

I will be speaking to Terry Weaver, filmmaker and the Executive Producer of The Beast of Trinity Texas. Terry told me he did not believe in Bigfoot before the film. While making the film he interviewed eyewitnesses who had seen the creature. It was during those interviews Terry said "These people are not lying, they saw something." The Beast of Trinity Texas – As a small town in East Texas unravels, murders point to evidence of a mythical beast. A war veteran turned sheriff and his team must navigate a web of deception spun by money, power, and greed in hopes of saving the people of Trinity. It is available now on Prime. I will also be speaking to Nadelle, who had an encounter in Washington State. She was staying at an Air B&B when a large create hit the side of the home waking her up. She said I just got a quick glance at it but it moved so quickly. Nadelle describes this low growl that shook her.

No description provided.

Preston writes "This experience happened during an autumn fishing trip for brook trout in one of the most isolated regions of the Adirondack Mountains. To reach this area is no small task. First, you have to cross a reservoir by boat an eight mile ride across water that itself lies nearly forty miles from the nearest town. Once across, you reach the trailhead. From there, the route winds past a series of ponds deeper into the wilderness. The first leg is a 1.2 mile hike to the first lake. From there, you can either hike around it or paddle straight across. My fishing partner and I use Kevlar/carbon-fiber canoes light enough to carry, so if weather allows, we paddle the lake instead. That lake is roughly two miles long. After taking out on the far side, the trail continues another 1.5 miles into the Five Ponds Wilderness. At the second lake, the trail turns north and becomes more of a bushwhack through old-growth timber, with mountains rising on both sides. That stretch is another two miles, heading deeper into the wilderness until you finally reach the destination lake. This area is considered one of the three most isolated locations in the entire Adirondack Park relative to civilization. It's an absolutely stunning place completely secluded, ringed by mountains, with water that looks glacial and holds trophy class brook trout. It's truly one of my favorite places on Earth. We arrived around mid-morning on the first day and immediately started fishing. We caught plenty of fish, and everything felt normal. As evening approached, we gathered firewood, set up our tents, cooked dinner, and sat around talking. At one point, I stood up and did a Bigfoot call followed by a loud tree knock. It was something we used to do as a joke in less remote areas to mess with other campers. My buddy laughed, and we turned in for the night. Sometime in the middle of the night, we were jolted awake by the sound of a large tree falling not far from camp. It scared the hell out of us. The night was completely calm no wind at all. What struck us immediately was the silence. No peeper frogs. No wood frogs. No loons on the lake. No breeze. Just absolute stillness. It felt wrong. We stayed in our tents until around 4:30 a.m., when we were awakened again this time by a rhythmic pounding, like something repeatedly striking a tree. The hits were forceful, evenly spaced, about every three seconds. It continued steadily until after sunrise, coming from the direction of the trailhead. We tried to rationalize it. I suggested a woodpecker, though I didn't believe it. Then I floated the idea that maybe two moose were sparring since it was close to the rut but neither of us bought that either. The consistency and power of the blows didn't feel natural. It also made us rethink the fallen tree from earlier. I wondered if it could've been a beaver, since they're nocturnal and nearby ponds were close but none of it fully added up. We eventually got moving, launched the canoes, and spent the day fishing. We practice catch and release unless a fish is mortally wounded, which unfortunately happened that day. We kept that fish, cooked it for dinner, then went back out on the water until dark. As we paddled back to camp at twilight, I noticed what looked like a dark shape partially concealed behind a massive old-growth pine that leaned out over the lake. It was nearly night, and the woods were pitch black but whatever this was appeared darker than the surrounding darkness. I chalked it up to my imagination and kept paddling. Later, as we were getting ready to crawl into our tents, I noticed lights hovering over the lake. I'd seen these before on a few occasions. There was one main light above the water, and smaller lights would split off from it, drifting away on either side. Eventually, the main light dimmed, and the smaller lights faded out entirely. I'll be honest I'm terrified of aliens, and having seen unexplained things before, I was already on edge. Lying in my tent, I suddenly felt heavy thuds on the ground. I yelled to Casey and grabbed my headlamp, assuming a black bear had wandered into camp. When I stepped out, I found a snowshoe hare at my feet. This was the largest hare I've ever seen and it showed absolutely no fear. It hopped right up to me and just sat there, right next to my boots. We couldn't understand why a wild animal would act that way. It was as if it was seeking shelter. The hare stayed by the fire with us like it was an old friend. Eventually, I went back to my tent and left it there by the fire. Later that night, another tree fell nearby. We lay in our tents talking quietly about it before eventually drifting off. Once again, near dawn, the tree pounding started same cadence, same duration continuing until the sun came up. That day, we headed to the north end of the lake, where a massive dome-shaped mountain rises with cliffs and sweeping views. That end of the lake acts like a natural amphitheater. Casey decided to hike the mountain to try to get cell service and check the weather for our departure. The climb is brutal you have to crawl on your hands and feet for much of it. The mountain rises about 3,000 feet, with sections that feel nearly vertical. On the back side is an exposed cliff overlooking other ponds, and that's where you can sometimes get fleeting reception. While Casey was climbing and calling his wife, I stayed behind fishing along the opposite shoreline, parallel to the mountain. At one point, I saw trees moving on the slope and assumed it was him. I yelled out his nickname. "Is that you, Poop?!" What answered me was one of the most nerve wracking sounds I've ever heard a blood-curdling scream that sounded like a woman being murdered, assaulted, and losing a child all at once. I know that sounds extreme, but it's the only way I can describe it. Worse still, whatever made that sound was moving fast crashing through trees and running across terrain so steep we'd had to crawl up it earlier. The scream shook me to my core. I was convinced Casey was dying. I gathered myself and paddled hard toward the sound, yelling his name. No response. Eventually, he came down the mountain. I confronted him, telling him not to mess around like that I thought he was in serious trouble. He looked at me completely confused and said, "What the hell are you talking about?" He told me he'd been on the far side of the mountain facing another pond. He heard something faint but assumed I'd hooked a big brook trout or was yelling in excitement. That night was deeply unsettling. The woods felt wrong unnaturally silent. It sounded like people talking at the far end of the pond, always just out of earshot, followed by faint, distant screams throughout the night. Morning couldn't come fast enough. We woke again to the same rhythmic tree pounding. This time, I decided to investigate. I headed toward the sound, crossing a creek and climbing a nearby hill. As soon as I reached the area where I believed it was coming from, it stopped instantly. That was it. I packed up my gear and canoe, and we got out of there. About a half mile down the trail on our way out, we passed through a muddy stretch between two hills. In the middle of the mud pit about twenty feet long and twelve feet wide was a single, distinct footprint. It looked as if something had stepped straight down into the mud from the hillside and climbed back out the other side. I took a video, which I later lost when I misplaced the SD card, but I did save a screenshot that I still have. Inside the print was a mature beech leaf typically three to five inches long placing the track somewhere between twelve and fifteen inches in length. I don't know what was going on out there. I've spent my entire life in the woods, often solo, and had been to that lake many times before without issue. I've only returned once since, in 2018. Other hardcore backcountry anglers I know have mentioned strange feelings in that area, though nothing as intense. This wasn't the only odd experience I've had in that wilderness either. Another incident occurred even deeper in the Five Ponds Wilderness among untouched old growth forest stranger still. You couldn't pay me to hike the one way, eleven plus miles back in there again. Something is going on in that section of the Adirondacks. I've heard stories from others that only reinforce that feeling. As a final oddity, on our way out that day, Casey and I ran into two armed military personnel carrying AR-style rifles. They were friendly, walked us back toward their camp, showed us around, and then escorted us partway before we continued to our vehicle. The whole experience was strange, start to finish and it's stayed with me ever since."