Ep:187 I Thought I Was Dead

At the time, all it was was woods, and I spent a lot of time in the woods. But I never saw anything like that ever, And certainly that was my first and lonely experience of seeing something like that. But certainly let them impression. I mean, my mind made me see some guy in like a blonde flannel shirt raking leaves like for an instant, that's what my mind saw. But when I looked at it again, it clearly wasn't.

It was this thing like trying to show me away, just throwing leaves in the air. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what this thing was.

I just yeah, I think my mind went to monster and I'm gonna get eaten. The thing was huge and covered in hair. This thing is sometime a monster. I don't know what the hell it is. You know, since then, I think I know what it is. But why do these things even exist?

Just to get us started?

Why? Now?

What made you decide to share your story at this point in life?

Really? Your podcast?

I went down some YouTube rabbit hole about a year ago and I stumbled on your podcast, and as I was listening, nobody. I really never shared the details of my story other than I attempted with my wife and my kids at one point and got laughed at. But some of the guests on your show really seemed to be genuine and there's got to be something to it. And I think you said it best in one of

But the way you approach your guests.

With an open mind and honesty, and I gather that you've had experience as well and you're trying to figure it out, allows me to open myself up to this and it's very out of character for me too even

But I guess that's my answer to you, Matt.

Yeah, well, I appreciate it, first off for trusting me with this, and you know, you're pretty accurate on everything. I give people an opportunity to share their story. Sometimes those stories venture into areas that you know, I have a hard time believing personally, But I don't make any judgments. I don't know what people experience. You know, I'm not there whenever they have their encounters, but a lot of them ring very genuine, even on things that I might

Yeah.

Sure, So, like I said, I live in a small town, and this experience happened. It was either very late seventies or very early eighties, and in that time town things were extremely different.

A lot of your listeners aren't going to understand what.

I mean by that, but you were literally allowed to come and go as you please throughout the neighborhood or you know, within the town, as long as you're home for dinner. And you had that freedom in a small town that I grew up in a small farm town.

It was just a given.

You know, we would gather in the neighborhood or certain neighborhood and you know, do our thing, and then as long as we're home for dinner, that's fine. So you know, I was either ten, eleven, twelve thirteen. I really can't tell you an exact timeframe. I just know about when there was a pond by my in between my house and my friend's house, who's about what you're saying, a half mile from my house walking distance and a little bit more than a half mile from my friend's house.

In this pond at the time. My town since then has been overdeveloped.

There's been a lot of farmland and a lot of woods at the time, but since it's been completely overrun in my opinion, and overdeveloped. But in any regard, there was a pond literally off the side of this side road that was surrounded by forest and swamp. And I'm not going to say the name, and the pond because I don't want to, you know, give away too much here and and going out on a limb, and we would go fishing there.

And so here we go.

It's like I'm going to say, early spring, because the green leaves were just starting, the buds were just starting to sprout on the trees. Nice day, still day, I can remember it that much beautiful day to walk to this pond on the side road. And I got there first, and I actually started fishing first.

And my friend showed up. He walked to the same age.

I was a year older than him, and you know, we're fishing, and maybe we got there a little too late because it started getting a little too warm, and I started getting a little too bored. And one thing that we have never done is I said, you know what, this pond is about the size and shape of a football field, and so if you can imagine, we're standing at like the end zone. I wanted to go to the other end zone, which at that point in time none of us have ever done.

So I couldn't go to the right because it was.

So overgrown with pricker bushes and brambles and whatnot. So I went to the left. Did you try to get to the other side of this pond and my other friend excuse me, my friend stayed there and I said, I'll see you on the other side.

You know, because all.

We were catching at that point was what we call johnny roaches. I don't know what the right term is for these fish. And it was getting boring because you could throw a bare hook in air and catch one of these things. There's no strategy involved in it. I wanted to catch like a catfish or something. So I went to the left and the left, although it was overgrown,

And I get to the other side and I waved to my friend. I see him on the other side.

But as I got to the other side, I see there's other ponds behind it, And now I'm really curious.

Again.

I'm young, and so I keep walking to these other ponds that I see in back. So at one point I can still see the big pond, and where I'm standing now I count one, two, three more ponds, not as big, let's just say half as big, but completely square. And again my research, like really recently, I discovered they were fisheries for some sportsman club and it's documented in some papers or whatever.

So I saw this clear pond. There was like no lily pads on it.

Where the pond we were fishing on I had lily pads and.

Algae and other stuff.

And I was also getting irritated because every time I threw something out, I would come back with either a Johnny roach or half a tree.

You know, it's full of stuff.

So I would walk and I saw this other pond and it was nice and clear, and this pond was like almost perfectly square. There's a pond now the pond I left behind me, and there's the overgrown pond, and then there's another overgrown pond.

But then there's this clear pond.

So I headed toward the clear pond, and now I can't see anything else except another pond that's overgrown behind me and this clear pond, and I start walking alongside of berm with my fishing tackle and my fishing pole, and I walk to the furthest if you're looking down

I assume he's stole over air fishing.

I heard like what sounded like somebody raking leaves.

Likesh, shush, shush.

This is after a couple of casts, and it was completely silenced before I cast it into the water. So I looked on the other side of the pond and I said, what the hell is My mind made me think that it was somebody raking leaves in the middle of a forest, and I said, what the.

Hell is going on here?

And me being a kid, I put my head down, thinking, okay, I'm trespassing on somebody's yard here, and I'm about to get yelled at.

And I looked up again and it's not a firmer. It's this thing.

It's what everybody says is a sasquatch, all right, but at the time I didn't know what a sasquatch was. And this thing is like on the far right hand side up a hill, and he's making movements like toward me, throwing leaves up like and I'm looking back now, and I think he asked me, and I asked myself the question. It was like he was trying to scare me away, which he quite frankly scared me. But I was frozen at that time. I was like, what the heck am

Sure, this thing is. I later.

Gathered that it reminded me of There was a show called Land of the Lost and there was these things that looked exactly like what I'm seeing. It wasn't black, it wasn't brown. It was like this dirty blonde, long haired sasquatch. And I'm gonna say sasquashed now, but at the time, I don't know what the hell it was. And excuse the swearing, but it is what it is.

So he begins to walk.

If I'm on the far left hand side, he on the other side, he begins to walk diagonal to the other left hand side, opposite of me, far of the pond, and he walks over there. And now I'm like freaking out and I'm like really scared. So I'm not sure why, but he begins to walk like extremely fast across the other side, towards the right, and there's a clear shot. If he runs that corner, I have no escape, and that's what I was thinking about. I'm like, how do

It's going to round the corner.

And Matt, when I tell you how fast this thing walked like effortlessly.

So I did what a kid would do. Stupid me.

There is a little tree on the far left hand corner where I put my tackle box and I got as small as I could. I put myself into like a almost like a fetal position, although I was still on my feet, and I hid my head, and I can hear this thing walking, and I'm thinking, if he can't if I can't see him, he can't see me. But I hear this thing walking, and I clearly saw that there's no way I'm going to get out of this because he's walking so fast. I can't run out now.

To say, I don't know.

It felt a long time, but let's just say in reality, let's just say maybe a minute of the stillness, I mustled up the courage to pick up my tackle box, get my poll, which I think the line was still in the water, and start walking. And just as I was starting to walk out, my friend comes around and I'm looking at him in his eyes to see if he saw anything, and he's just like, hey, where you're going. He's surprised that I was walking out. I said, let's

Say a word.

So anyway, we get to the original meeting spot. There's no noise, no nothing, but this thing that I just saw scared the hell out of me.

And I'm not going to say within forty.

Five minutes of us meeting there and this happening maybe an hour, I told my friend. I said, there's nothing here. I'm done, it's getting too hot. I'm going home. And he was disappointed. He goes, Mike, I thought we were going to you know, fish, I said, listen, heaues, I'm just getting bored. I'm going to go home. I'm done with today. And I didn't tell him what just happened.

Couldn't ever tell anybody.

And then you know, I saw the Land of the Lost thing, and then the six million dollar man thing with the sausquash came out, you know, and you get more exposure to this stuff as you know, time goes on and I'm like, okay, there's something to it. Why is there anything like that's being invented out there? So I mean it had to happen before the Patty film came out, that people experienced this stuff, and you know, that's that's my story with the Sasquatch. I mean, you know,

Did you ever go back to the pond as a kid for fishing and stuff?

I did, but I I stayed at the edge at the at the meeting place, which was right by the road.

And then.

One time I ventured by myself to the exact space.

And I'm looking and I'm looking and there was nothing there.

But I literally was scared and I wasn't fishing or anything.

I just wanted to say, did I dream this? No? That the pond is there?

The same bushes are there, and I got out of there real quick. And I don't think I really ventured maybe three times back after that, and I think I'm more I was more curious than anything. And since then I've done some research on the ponds, and that's what it was. It was a series of five or six man made ponds. The big one was triangle the size of a fishing football field, and the others were just squares and they're still there to this day, although it's

But certainly you left an impression.

Whenever you first saw it. Obviously you didn't know what a bigfoot was at that point, correct, what did your mind process it as like a monster or I mean, you obviously could tell instantly that it wasn't a human.

Yeah, I mean I don't know why, but my I mean, my mind made me see some guy in like a blonde flannel shirt raking leaves like for an instant, that's what my mind I saw. But when I looked at it again, it clearly wasn't.

It was this thing like trying to shoo me away, just throwing leaves in the air, throwing leaves in the air, and I'm like, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what this thing was.

I just, yeah, I think my mind went to monster and I'm going to get eaten. I mean, as a matter of fact, I think I said a few times already that's what was in my mind.

I'm going to get eaten by this thing.

I mean, the thing was huge and covered in hair, and I'm like, this thing is some kind of monster. I don't know what the hell it is. You know, since then, I think I know what it is. But why do these things even exist? And you know, after listening to your show, and then where do they go? I mean, I can't figure that out for a life of me. I mean, this thing just kind of like disappeared. But if you can imagine walking home thinking that this

It's just crazy.

And for you to even listen to any of this, I mean, it's bizarre even to me to this day that I'm even I had this encounter. But again, you give an outlet and you provide a venue for it. So I reached out to you first.

How have you processed it over the years. I mean, obviously you reach the point where you have a good understanding of what it was.

Yep.

This is something that I have spoken about a few times with different guests, and you know, just in personal conversations. You share something like this with your wife, who you know that's the main person in your life, they should believe everything that comes out of your mouth. And then the reaction was not a good one, right exactly. I mean, how do you handle that? How do you process that? Does it bother you that she didn't believe you.

That's an excellent question.

I mean, if I didn't stumble on your podcast, I was beginning not to believe myself. So I kept it to myself. And the one or two times one and a half times I tried to share. Yeah, I mean, you know, you get laughed at, so you begin to doubt yourself, and I kind of just I suppressed it. I literally suppressed it and just didn't think about it anymore because listen, nobody talks about this.

Stuff, I mean, in any form. And I blocked it out.

And for whatever reason, I felt the need to get it off my chest and and talk to my wife about it, and it didn't work out. So I suppressed it again. And for whatever reason, you know, I have kids, Like I say, how many? But we're driving, I mean go by the pond, and I said, I saw for whatever reason, I still had the need to share, and uh, it was you know, quickly meant with a bunch of laughter, and I went with it. I said, I'm just trying to scare you guys, you know, don't you know? So

In high school, I'm going to be the guy that's you know, saw.

At the time whatever I wanted to call it, but now I know it's sasquatch.

I don't want to be that guy.

Yeah. Well, I mean, like you wouldn't even be able to explain to anyone what you saw. I mean, there wasn't no word for it, and you know, so what are you going to say? I saw a big hairy man monster in the woods, like okay, correct?

Yeah, yeah, I mean, And when I'm sitting there watching TV and I saw that the first time, I think it was mutual Oman when I saw that it could be another show, but I think it was on a Sunday or a Saturday, and I literally watched it with my father on TV. I think he was half a And when I saw it, I almost wanted to tell my father and I was like, you better keep your mouth shut, kid. My father's going to think I'm crazy too. But I couldn't even share it with my parents. And

Know, But seeing here on Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom loved that show as a kid, was that validating for you? At least internally a little bit?

It was like, holy shit, this is what I saw. I can't believe that other people are seeing it. It was like a mind blowing experience where I still actually doubted myself, like I'm trying to figure out my mind what I really saw.

And literally the first.

Time I saw this thing, and I'll say it again, my mind made me see something that it wasn't like, it made me see some guy breaking leaves. Everything was obliterated, but it wasn't leaves. It was this guy, not the guy. It was this thing throwing leaves. And when I saw it on TV, my mind just got blown open and was like, that is exactly what I saw.

It's just a different color.

And you know then you start reading books and you know, I've listened to enough of your podcasts. I think we all stumble across the same books in that little, you know, two foot section where you can find anything, and yeah, and you start reading about it, and you know, at least it made me feel at that time that Okay, there's something to it, but you better not say anything. And you know, I'm well over mid fifties right now, and for me to reach out at this point and

And that's kind of where I am. And it's just at least you're able to listen to me and I'm able to voice what I saw.

Yeah, not everybody is going to laugh, you know at this point, like you were talking about, it's all over the place now, it's huge and pop culture and media and advertising and everything else. And you're absolutely right. I've never heard anybody really put it that way. But why would the human race make up something like this?

Right, what's the point?

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. And now it's everywhere, So I do think it's more accessible and less combative whenever people you know, bring it up or whatever. But on the same token, there's still people that are gonna laugh. There's still people that are going to think you're full of shit.

Absolutely, absolutely, that's just the way it is. Though.

Obviously, like if you hadn't seen it, and it had been your friend that had seen it, I mean, how how would you have approached that if he had told you what he saw, you know, you would have probably thought the same thing. Correct, And this takes a lot of courage for you, man, So I applaud you for that, because to have the reaction you got from your close personal family and now here you are sharing it publicly, that's a huge step and I appreciate you doing that.

Yeah, I appreciate you listening too. And it probably you know, it just sound, you know, the usual cliche, but it probably lifted a weight off of me that I'm able to share it with you because after listening to your program and some of what you've shared your own personal experience, I know you're genuine and for me to be able to share it with somebody that actually experienced something similar, it does feel relieving.

And that's probably why I'm doing this.

That's why I kind of reached out to you, because after more than a few episodes, I said, this guy is genuine and he actually cares, and even if somebody is full of shit, you're really helping them.

But I'm here to tell you I'm not full of shit.

But yeah, yeah, I mean like the leaf throwing, the bluff charging, whatever you want to call it, that behavior, I mean, that's not you know, that's not a detail that somebody is going to make up. That's not a detail that somebody's going to imagine. You're not going to takingly see a bear or a deer and right have that sort of behavior you know, imprinted on your brain.

Yeah.

Correct, Most people, if they're making up a big foot story, like it's across the road in front of me, you know, and I look back, just like in the film or something, this is an entirely different situation. You have behavioral traits that make sense.

Thanks for validating some of this. You know it helps, it helps.

Oh for sure.

If you don't mind. Though you mentioned the UFO, I'd like to hear about that.

Yeah, I got to get that one off my chest too.

And after that, I mean, you know, I listened to some of your podcasts and Okay, this guy's seen Bigfoot and you've seen dog Man not Spara too, you us aliens. I mean, yeah, that's not me. But again it's it's something that happened that I feel the need to get off my chest.

This is very much later. This is another section of the state I live in.

A friend of mine, a relative of mine, has sixty acres at the time had sixty acres.

Of pure woods.

That bordered a state forest, so it was nothing but woods and in a very wooded, unpopulated area of the state I live in, and we built. I don't have any brothers, so at the time my friend, well, I guess I should say I had brothers is my brother in law became and we built a small cabin in the middle of this sixty acres, again bordering on a state forest, which was I don't know how many acres and I could name the forest, but I'm not.

But one of my brother in law's brothers.

Like to hunt, and we all like to hang out and you know, by a campfire and drink beers or whatever. It maybe back in the day. We're talking like mid nineties now. So we built a small cabin with a wood stove, and it was a cozy place, and we built it well, it was. We finished it. We started it in May, and I think we finished it over time and by September. And then what I would do, it's almost I love camp and I love the woods,

And I'm not into hunting in any regard. I just like the doors.

And it was a cathartic experience for me, a relaxing experience for me to just go there on my own and just camp out for a couple of days. I also went there with friends and we'd spend almost a week there and.

Stuff like that. But I would also go to this cabin on my own many times, you know. And one time my friend and I would go.

It's not the same friend from the fishing trip, he's since moved on, and so has this friend.

But I would go there with my very very dearest.

Friend to this day, even though he passed away, and we'd spend we would go there the same time in March every year for about five years, and we would just spend almost an entire week in the woods. And March is a great time in that area because there's even if it's hot outside, there's still snow somewhere in the woods, so you can keep your food cold.

Your beverages of choice cold, you know.

And we had built fires and we would have other friends over there.

But this one particular time.

We were all done with outside, We're all done cooking, and it's time to hit the hay. And you know, back in the day, there was you know Coleman lanterns and stuff like that with the the fuel.

And I had just purchased I thought I was King of the hill.

I purchased one of the most powerful flashlights at the time.

You could ever buy.

I mean, I remember those days. The million candle power.

Yes it was, I think it was a million cans.

And the thing, it's funny, the thing was so big, you know. I had these you know, cooling fins. It was aluminum and all that. Yeah, it was like a million or two million candlepower, and I thought I was the coolest guy in an entire planet. But anyway, so I take the flashlight and I said to my friend, I said, hey, listen, I'm gonna go take a leak.

Be right back. Close the door. And I walked behind the cabin and it's a beautiful.

Starry night, no clouds, no nothing, And because I'm a mayer of nature, I'm looking up at the stars and something caught my eye and it was a light that wasn't a star.

It wasn't moving fast, it was moving ever so slightly, and it was a different color than the surrounding stars.

So me being me with my nice big flashlight, I shined it right at the light and Matt.

Almost immediately this thing kind of stopped.

And I don't know how to say, I knew it turned toward the flash light. I'm not sure exactly, but I I know it turned toward the flashlight and I'm shining it right on this thing, and Matt, this thing came at me so damn quick like, and I got like scared the shit out of And I don't actually remember anything after that? Wow, what I do remember? And my friend is not like this.

My friend uh forgave everybody and anything.

I don't remember anything at that that I do remember now all this thing is, this thing has gone and I'm just standing there with the flash light now by my side.

That's what I remember.

And I'm like, okay, and I guess I already took a leak because I didn't have to take a leak. And I go walking back inside and my friend says to me, where the hell have you been?

I go, I want to say his name, but I'm not going to. I say, hey, what are you talking about? I just want to take the leak. He goes, Mike, you've been going for a couple hours. I was ready to call the cops. I don't know where you've been. He's lecturing me. This is my friend. He's completely not himself. And I'm like, dude, come down. I wasn't gone that long. He goes, yeah you were, Mike, you were going for hours. I didn't know where the hell you've been. Why would

Yeah, you know, the place is all lit up, and I go, that was the extent of it. I don't have any like memories of anything like being inducted or anything like that. But what struck me And it didn't even seem to me that I was gone that long. I just said, Okay, I saw something, I got scared, and now it's not there anymore. And I walked back into the cabin, thinking it's five minutes later. But he's a lectured to me like I was gone for hours and I couldn't figure it out. I said, I wouldn't

And he was totally upset at.

Me because I was going for a couple hours and he's generally concerned about me.

Yeah, like when you can't find your kid or something, whenever they come back and they're safe, you're angry, you know, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, correct, yeah, And you know, I don't have anything other than that.

But that's another thing that I had to get off my chest.

Those are the only two things that's ever happened to me in my life, and nothing's happened.

To me since.

And but you know, again, I listened to your podcast and I had to reach out to you.

Yeah, the missing time thing is really freaky.

Yep, yep, sure is.

I'm not going to venture to guess or imagine anything or invent anything that happened. And if the story is boring, you know, I apologize, but no, I don't have anything.

Good than that.

No, that's not boring at all. I find it really interesting, especially nowadays, you know, whenever UFO stuff has talked about on the news, which is crazy to me.

Yeah, more and more frequently.

I appreciate you coming on and sharing your stories and putting them out there and hopefully it's you know, helped you or begin a process of helping you and maybe helped a few others that are listening. So yeah, I just again commend you for coming on and sharing.

Yeah, thanks for preventing providing this outlet. I appreciate you, Matt. The way you conduct yourself is applaudable. I listened to your podcast now regularly since I discovered it, and I really you have a talent and you're helping people in some regard, and I just hope I didn't come across as crazy because you always had that in the back of your mind.

Not at all, man, not at all, And for what it's worth, you're not crazy, not crazy at all.

Thanks, Matt. I appreciate that.

If you've had your own encounter with Bigfoot, at UFO or something else you can't explain and you'd like to share your story on the podcast, email me at Bigfoot Crossroads at gmail dot com. Check out the website Bigfoot Crossroads dot com. You can find links to the social media, past episodes, merchandise, everything you need all in one place, and until next time, remember there's something in the woods.