1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:15,429 --> 00:00:17,983 [BIRDS AND INSECTS CHIRPING] 4 00:00:31,997 --> 00:00:36,312 [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING] 5 00:01:18,250 --> 00:01:19,700 SETH: I'm Seth Breedlove. 6 00:01:19,734 --> 00:01:22,737 I make movies about strange and unusual subjects. 7 00:01:22,772 --> 00:01:25,085 In 2015, I made a documentary 8 00:01:25,119 --> 00:01:26,810 about an unknown creature sighting 9 00:01:26,845 --> 00:01:29,054 which occurred near the village of Whitehall, New York, 10 00:01:29,089 --> 00:01:31,436 called the Beast of Whitehall. 11 00:01:31,470 --> 00:01:36,130 That story had introduced me to a region of the country I'd never been to before, 12 00:01:36,165 --> 00:01:38,339 and one that's frequently overlooked 13 00:01:38,374 --> 00:01:40,928 even by East Coasters like myself... 14 00:01:40,962 --> 00:01:42,654 the Adirondacks. 15 00:01:42,688 --> 00:01:44,311 In the years since the film was released, 16 00:01:44,345 --> 00:01:47,486 I constantly found myself longing to go back. 17 00:01:47,521 --> 00:01:50,903 In March of 2020, the United States was wracked by a virus 18 00:01:50,938 --> 00:01:53,596 that had closed down large swaths of the country. 19 00:01:53,630 --> 00:01:55,425 Political leaders and talking heads 20 00:01:55,460 --> 00:01:59,222 urged people to stay indoors and avoid the outside world. 21 00:01:59,257 --> 00:02:01,638 As COVID-19 made its way around the world, 22 00:02:01,673 --> 00:02:03,606 I spent time at home with my family 23 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,678 and put my energy into work I could do from home. 24 00:02:06,712 --> 00:02:08,438 Despite loving the newfound abundance 25 00:02:08,473 --> 00:02:10,682 of time I had to spend with my wife and son, 26 00:02:10,716 --> 00:02:14,962 I miss the adventure and excitement of being on the road, 27 00:02:14,996 --> 00:02:17,275 filming documentaries in new places, 28 00:02:17,309 --> 00:02:19,760 and the hours I got to spend in the forests. 29 00:02:22,107 --> 00:02:24,109 So, while the rest of the world pondered a future 30 00:02:24,144 --> 00:02:26,663 full of quarantines and four walls, 31 00:02:26,698 --> 00:02:28,665 I began to make plans for a journey 32 00:02:28,700 --> 00:02:32,221 that I would take with my friends Mark Matzke, Mark's son Andy, 33 00:02:32,255 --> 00:02:33,360 and Adam Duggan. 34 00:02:37,398 --> 00:02:40,298 It would be a trip that would reunite me with the natural world... 35 00:02:41,402 --> 00:02:43,749 and one that would take me back to a subject 36 00:02:43,784 --> 00:02:46,166 I've been locked away from for nearly three months. 37 00:02:48,444 --> 00:02:50,446 The search for Bigfoot. 38 00:02:55,830 --> 00:03:00,594 [DISTORTED VOICES] 39 00:03:07,566 --> 00:03:08,843 [INAUDIBLE] 40 00:03:26,309 --> 00:03:27,137 [INAUDIBLE] 41 00:03:46,156 --> 00:03:46,812 [INAUDIBLE] 42 00:04:31,063 --> 00:04:34,895 The Adirondack region of Upstate New York is sprawling. 43 00:04:42,143 --> 00:04:44,180 When I first came here in 2015, 44 00:04:44,214 --> 00:04:47,114 I was completely unprepared for what I found. 45 00:04:47,148 --> 00:04:50,876 A wilderness that stretches beyond the horizon with pine forests, 46 00:04:50,911 --> 00:04:54,121 endless rivers and streams, and distant mountains. 47 00:04:57,538 --> 00:05:00,679 Once we'd reached the park, we met up with Aleksandar Petakov, 48 00:05:00,714 --> 00:05:02,509 a friend and frequent collaborator 49 00:05:02,543 --> 00:05:04,994 who moonlights as an adventurer and explorer 50 00:05:05,028 --> 00:05:09,274 when he isn't spending time working on various documentary projects. 51 00:05:09,309 --> 00:05:12,381 When I described this expedition to Aleks and the rest of the crew, 52 00:05:12,415 --> 00:05:14,486 I explained that we were going to Upstate New York 53 00:05:14,521 --> 00:05:18,007 to explore one of the largest wild areas on the East Coast, 54 00:05:18,041 --> 00:05:21,838 and one of the largest protected forests in the United States. 55 00:05:24,254 --> 00:05:27,913 We weren't simply going to find Bigfoot, or evidence of the creature. 56 00:05:27,948 --> 00:05:30,571 In fact, I was already firmly in the camp 57 00:05:30,606 --> 00:05:33,367 that they could, and very probably, did exist here, 58 00:05:33,402 --> 00:05:35,369 if they existed anywhere. 59 00:05:35,404 --> 00:05:37,095 The mission was two-fold, 60 00:05:37,129 --> 00:05:38,855 and while Bigfoot made up one part, 61 00:05:38,890 --> 00:05:41,582 the other was something I couldn't quite explain. 62 00:05:41,617 --> 00:05:44,620 It was an idea, an idea that even to this day, 63 00:05:44,654 --> 00:05:46,622 I'm struggling to put into words. 64 00:05:46,656 --> 00:05:49,107 It involves nature and man's desire 65 00:05:49,141 --> 00:05:52,248 to be among the trees and streams and mountains. 66 00:05:52,282 --> 00:05:54,284 It's about Bigfoot as a driving force 67 00:05:54,319 --> 00:05:59,220 to reconnect with the world outside when we most need it. 68 00:05:59,255 --> 00:06:02,431 And what better place to reconnect with the natural world 69 00:06:02,465 --> 00:06:06,193 than a place who's serene beauty and rugged landscapes 70 00:06:06,227 --> 00:06:08,575 seem painted onto a blank canvas? 71 00:06:09,576 --> 00:06:12,579 [BIRDS CHIRPING] 72 00:06:15,789 --> 00:06:18,688 The Northeast has a rich history of historical accounts, 73 00:06:18,723 --> 00:06:19,931 if you want to attribute 74 00:06:19,965 --> 00:06:23,072 a lot of the early wild man sort of stories to Bigfoot. 75 00:06:23,106 --> 00:06:25,557 New York Bigfoot reports go back a long way, 76 00:06:25,592 --> 00:06:28,802 certainly to the days of the Native Americans, 77 00:06:28,836 --> 00:06:33,358 in which they were called Wendigo or stone giants... 78 00:06:33,393 --> 00:06:35,429 uh, that's what the Iroquois called them. 79 00:06:35,464 --> 00:06:38,570 In more recent times, after the settlers arrived, 80 00:06:38,605 --> 00:06:40,365 newspaper reports began to emerge 81 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,403 of wild man sightings in New York State, 82 00:06:43,437 --> 00:06:46,716 especially in the Adirondacks, where there was a lot of wilderness and still is. 83 00:06:46,751 --> 00:06:48,960 So, if you were to use a search engine 84 00:06:48,994 --> 00:06:51,238 and look for Bigfoot-type reports, 85 00:06:51,272 --> 00:06:52,757 you wouldn't put "Bigfoot," 86 00:06:52,791 --> 00:06:57,486 you would put "creature" or "weird bear" or "wild man." 87 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,730 And if you put "wild man" in, you will get tons of hits. 88 00:07:00,765 --> 00:07:03,699 As far as history goes, I try and remain skeptical 89 00:07:03,733 --> 00:07:06,218 because when it comes to newspapers, 90 00:07:06,253 --> 00:07:08,807 those are reporters, they're trying to sell a paper. 91 00:07:08,842 --> 00:07:11,603 But at the same time, there are other historical accounts, 92 00:07:11,638 --> 00:07:14,192 like, take Theodore Roosevelt's account, for example. 93 00:07:14,226 --> 00:07:18,921 He talks about a friend he had who saw a creature that looked a lot like Bigfoot. 94 00:07:18,955 --> 00:07:22,062 So, I try and remain skeptical when I hear stories like this. 95 00:07:22,096 --> 00:07:26,549 So, we have various cases and some are kind of celebrated. 96 00:07:26,584 --> 00:07:30,553 We have the Vermont governor named Jonas Galusha, 97 00:07:30,588 --> 00:07:34,315 and he was able to actually lead searching parties 98 00:07:34,350 --> 00:07:36,904 after a creature called Old Slipperyskin, 99 00:07:36,939 --> 00:07:39,217 and that was in the 1770s, 100 00:07:39,251 --> 00:07:43,186 and what he was banking on was that if he brought this creature in, 101 00:07:43,221 --> 00:07:44,843 it would win him the election. 102 00:07:44,878 --> 00:07:46,914 And he didn't, and it didn't. 103 00:07:46,949 --> 00:07:51,091 In one of the earliest encounters, really, that's recorded at least, 104 00:07:51,125 --> 00:07:55,095 uh, in a non-oral sort of Native tradition, would've been in Massachusetts. 105 00:07:55,129 --> 00:07:57,994 There were... there was a sighting, I believe in the 1760s, 106 00:07:58,029 --> 00:08:00,410 well before America was even really a country. 107 00:08:00,445 --> 00:08:03,828 It's interesting that you have that back story all throughout this area. 108 00:08:03,862 --> 00:08:06,934 PAUL: And you have these flaps of wild man sightings 109 00:08:06,969 --> 00:08:12,595 going from the, uh, 1770s right up to, you know, the 1920s or so. 110 00:08:14,286 --> 00:08:16,496 Throughout all of human history, 111 00:08:16,530 --> 00:08:20,569 there've been these incidences of monstrous creatures. 112 00:08:20,603 --> 00:08:24,538 These, sort of, liminal beings, whether it's trolls or ogres, 113 00:08:24,573 --> 00:08:29,785 and they tend to inhabit the forests and the swamps and... And the mountains, 114 00:08:29,819 --> 00:08:32,857 notably sort of outside civilization. 115 00:08:32,891 --> 00:08:35,411 And so, you've got sort of two tropes. 116 00:08:35,445 --> 00:08:38,932 Either the monster, like in... Like Grendel and Beowulf... 117 00:08:38,966 --> 00:08:44,869 comes from the, sort of outside into the civilized space and causes problems. 118 00:08:44,903 --> 00:08:47,768 The other trope is human beings that go 119 00:08:47,803 --> 00:08:51,703 too far beyond the civilized space into the wild 120 00:08:51,738 --> 00:08:53,809 where they either encounter a monster, 121 00:08:53,843 --> 00:08:57,606 or they undergo some kind of trauma that makes them into a monster. 122 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,195 Throughout all of human history, there's been this kind of dynamic 123 00:09:01,230 --> 00:09:06,960 between the civilized space and the wild and the monsters that it contains, 124 00:09:06,994 --> 00:09:10,377 and sort of a necessary separation between the two. 125 00:09:11,136 --> 00:09:12,793 [RAVEN CROAKING] 126 00:09:20,318 --> 00:09:21,733 SETH: It's important to understand the layout 127 00:09:21,768 --> 00:09:23,770 of the northeast portion of the United States 128 00:09:23,804 --> 00:09:27,532 because the geography and terrain of the area plays a key role 129 00:09:27,567 --> 00:09:29,223 in where these creatures are seen. 130 00:09:32,364 --> 00:09:36,230 While southern New York is known for being fertile, flat, pasture land, 131 00:09:36,265 --> 00:09:38,716 the northern part of the state is rugged and wild, 132 00:09:38,750 --> 00:09:42,478 with only the occasional major metropolitan areas such as Albany 133 00:09:42,512 --> 00:09:44,687 breaking up the acres and acres of forest. 134 00:09:45,930 --> 00:09:47,897 The northernmost part of the Adirondacks 135 00:09:47,932 --> 00:09:51,245 is defined by a section called the High Peaks Wilderness. 136 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,421 While I had visited the Adirondack Park three previous times, 137 00:09:54,455 --> 00:09:56,699 I'd never managed to make it to this area. 138 00:09:56,734 --> 00:09:59,288 So, I set aside the final two days of our trek 139 00:09:59,322 --> 00:10:01,773 to work our way to the High Peaks. 140 00:10:02,912 --> 00:10:05,156 To the east of the Adirondacks lies Vermont, 141 00:10:05,190 --> 00:10:07,745 where the Adirondacks spill into the Green Mountains, 142 00:10:07,779 --> 00:10:11,680 and to the Northeast, New Hampshire, where you have the White Mountains, 143 00:10:11,714 --> 00:10:14,268 another untamed, rugged wilderness, 144 00:10:14,303 --> 00:10:17,444 though one not quite a sprawling as the Adirondacks. 145 00:10:17,478 --> 00:10:20,136 To the southeast is Western Massachusetts, 146 00:10:20,171 --> 00:10:23,036 another destination we would soon visit. 147 00:10:23,070 --> 00:10:27,040 All of these areas are connected by forests and streams, 148 00:10:27,074 --> 00:10:29,042 which, if there's anything I've learned 149 00:10:29,076 --> 00:10:31,665 in my brief time involved in the search for Bigfoot, 150 00:10:31,700 --> 00:10:34,495 it's that they always follow the creeks. 151 00:10:42,020 --> 00:10:43,056 [SHOUTS] 152 00:10:46,473 --> 00:10:47,819 Did you hit your head already? 153 00:10:59,175 --> 00:11:00,798 Dude, this thing is nuts. 154 00:11:00,832 --> 00:11:03,766 This is as far as it goes, bud. 155 00:11:03,801 --> 00:11:05,872 I mean, it doesn't look like it's been carved. 156 00:11:10,152 --> 00:11:13,051 -It's smooth over here, like, it's really smooth. -Yeah. 157 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,089 These are called drip mine's rust. 158 00:11:22,923 --> 00:11:26,030 [INDISTINCT TALKING] 159 00:11:29,654 --> 00:11:31,932 The, the... first time I came in here, 160 00:11:31,967 --> 00:11:35,211 like the thing that's crazy to me about the Adirondacks 161 00:11:35,246 --> 00:11:41,079 is you don't... I don't think you hear as much about this area... 162 00:11:41,114 --> 00:11:43,323 but having been in like the Pacific Northwest 163 00:11:43,357 --> 00:11:45,601 and like the Olympic Peninsula and all that stuff, 164 00:11:45,635 --> 00:11:48,224 there's a lot of similarities between the two, 165 00:11:48,259 --> 00:11:52,677 in that you've got this, like huge, vast... essentially like an ecosystem 166 00:11:52,712 --> 00:11:55,266 where things can exist and live off the land 167 00:11:55,300 --> 00:11:58,165 and no one has to know anything's here. 168 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,271 It's like you can stick five of the biggest national parks 169 00:12:00,305 --> 00:12:02,307 -within the boundaries of... -Right. 170 00:12:02,342 --> 00:12:03,723 ...of this park. 171 00:12:03,757 --> 00:12:05,000 I've heard Yosemite, 172 00:12:05,034 --> 00:12:07,761 -this is bigger than Yosemite, this whole area. -Mmm-hmm. 173 00:12:07,796 --> 00:12:10,591 Here you have New York, but it's like still a four-hour drive from the city. 174 00:12:10,626 --> 00:12:15,320 So, uh, that's why I think you do hear some of these reports from this area. 175 00:12:15,355 --> 00:12:16,874 Just always been really interesting to me. 176 00:12:16,908 --> 00:12:18,254 I've never really had a chance to explore it 177 00:12:18,289 --> 00:12:20,670 aside from Whitehall on the, kind of, periphery, 178 00:12:20,705 --> 00:12:22,638 so, really exciting, just be here 179 00:12:22,672 --> 00:12:24,951 and see all the different wildlife... 180 00:12:24,985 --> 00:12:27,022 and, kind of, what similarities it has to other areas, 181 00:12:27,056 --> 00:12:28,644 but how different it is, too. 182 00:12:28,678 --> 00:12:31,026 The thing I was surprised by, and probably shouldn't have been, 183 00:12:31,060 --> 00:12:33,476 is the fact that there's a lot of lakes 184 00:12:33,511 --> 00:12:35,685 just interspersed between the peaks, 185 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,102 and that when you said about the Pacific Northwest, 186 00:12:38,136 --> 00:12:39,793 that's what reminded me of that, as well. 187 00:12:39,828 --> 00:12:43,590 When I started Adirondacks, I just thought... like, Great Smokys, 188 00:12:43,624 --> 00:12:45,040 -you know, like mountains rising up. -Yeah. 189 00:12:45,074 --> 00:12:47,801 I didn't realize the lake system that was here, as well. 190 00:12:47,836 --> 00:12:50,942 So many water sources, lots of fish, that sort of stuff, and... 191 00:12:50,977 --> 00:12:53,324 It's interesting because it's... It's... 192 00:12:53,358 --> 00:12:55,291 It's more dense than I thought it would be. 193 00:12:55,326 --> 00:12:58,398 The forest floor is, there's a lot of cover. 194 00:12:58,432 --> 00:12:59,779 There's a ton of cover. 195 00:12:59,813 --> 00:13:01,608 And we were talking as we were driving into, like, it is... 196 00:13:01,642 --> 00:13:02,851 it is really, really dense. 197 00:13:02,885 --> 00:13:04,093 Coming from Tennessee, 198 00:13:04,128 --> 00:13:07,027 like, we have lots of forests, but it's... It's not like this. 199 00:13:07,062 --> 00:13:09,029 I mean, there could be some animal, right, 200 00:13:09,064 --> 00:13:11,583 20 feet in that tree line right there just watching us. 201 00:13:11,618 --> 00:13:13,862 We'd have absolutely no idea 'cause you can't see that far in. 202 00:13:13,896 --> 00:13:14,621 Yeah. 203 00:13:20,316 --> 00:13:21,731 SETH: It was day one, 204 00:13:21,766 --> 00:13:24,493 and despite a hike deep into the forest near Wells, New York, 205 00:13:24,527 --> 00:13:27,668 we'd barely experienced the true scope of the park. 206 00:13:27,703 --> 00:13:30,016 Our next stop was somewhere near Lake George, 207 00:13:30,050 --> 00:13:31,880 where we would meet up with Steve Kulls 208 00:13:31,914 --> 00:13:34,675 and some of his Bigfoot research team. 209 00:13:34,710 --> 00:13:37,299 Steve is a private detective and security expert 210 00:13:37,333 --> 00:13:40,302 who runs an organization comprised mostly of current 211 00:13:40,336 --> 00:13:42,683 and former law enforcement officials, 212 00:13:42,718 --> 00:13:46,066 many of whom have encountered Bigfoot for themselves. 213 00:13:46,101 --> 00:13:48,275 Steve took us to a camp on Buck Mountain 214 00:13:48,310 --> 00:13:51,727 where his team had experienced numerous unusual things. 215 00:13:51,761 --> 00:13:54,557 We were only a handful of miles away from Whitehall, 216 00:13:54,592 --> 00:13:58,768 and in terms of travel paths, Buck Mountain seems as good a place as any 217 00:13:58,803 --> 00:14:02,462 to encounter a creature just passing through. 218 00:14:02,496 --> 00:14:05,292 Despite the nearby tourist haven of Lake George, 219 00:14:05,327 --> 00:14:07,605 Buck Mountain is densely forested, 220 00:14:07,639 --> 00:14:10,919 runs down to a mostly uninhabited section of Lake George shoreline 221 00:14:10,953 --> 00:14:14,715 and is overrun with deer and other wildlife. 222 00:14:14,750 --> 00:14:17,442 Like most rural spots in this part of the Northeast, 223 00:14:17,477 --> 00:14:21,308 it's the ideal place for a person to encounter a Sasquatch, 224 00:14:21,343 --> 00:14:24,104 and many claim to have done just that. 225 00:14:26,417 --> 00:14:29,006 Um... what brings you out here? 226 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:30,628 Well, what brought me out here, originally, 227 00:14:30,662 --> 00:14:33,424 was a sighting report of a man and his wife 228 00:14:33,458 --> 00:14:36,496 that had a fairly aggressive encounter 229 00:14:36,530 --> 00:14:38,532 where they walked off trail... 230 00:14:38,567 --> 00:14:40,534 and something started screaming at them. 231 00:14:40,569 --> 00:14:43,572 And the guy had been coming up here for years 232 00:14:43,606 --> 00:14:44,987 and never heard anything like that. 233 00:14:45,022 --> 00:14:46,402 He was a bit of an outdoorsman. 234 00:14:46,437 --> 00:14:48,853 As they retreated from where they were, 235 00:14:48,888 --> 00:14:51,856 going back to the trail and then back out to the road area, 236 00:14:51,891 --> 00:14:56,033 they... he could see something moving, you know, off to the corner of his eye. 237 00:14:56,067 --> 00:14:59,139 You know, basically, escorting them out. 238 00:14:59,174 --> 00:15:02,729 And to me, that's very indicative that they may have interfered 239 00:15:02,763 --> 00:15:05,042 with a territorial type of... Of area. 240 00:15:05,076 --> 00:15:07,803 MICHAEL: You know, I've been up in the Adirondacks, 241 00:15:07,837 --> 00:15:09,736 where I've come across trackways 242 00:15:09,770 --> 00:15:12,532 and found an adult... What would be an adult-sized trackway 243 00:15:12,566 --> 00:15:15,293 with a juvenile-sized trackway. At the end, there's hair. 244 00:15:15,328 --> 00:15:17,433 So, we know we have two different size individuals 245 00:15:17,468 --> 00:15:18,883 moving through that area. 246 00:15:18,918 --> 00:15:22,611 The generally, the Adirondack... uh... You know, that's something... 247 00:15:22,645 --> 00:15:27,581 I got a sighting that... yesterday, up in the St. Lawrence County area, 248 00:15:27,616 --> 00:15:29,859 uh, from another law enforcement officer. 249 00:15:29,894 --> 00:15:32,966 Family has been smelling odors. 250 00:15:33,001 --> 00:15:34,002 They did some knocks. 251 00:15:34,036 --> 00:15:35,279 They got some screams. 252 00:15:35,313 --> 00:15:38,178 But I got quite a few photos and got some other evidence 253 00:15:38,213 --> 00:15:41,941 that make it look like it's a viable area. 254 00:15:41,975 --> 00:15:45,910 In 2011, I was up here with my team 255 00:15:45,945 --> 00:15:48,119 and we were all sitting by, by the fire. 256 00:15:48,154 --> 00:15:50,190 I needed to get some batteries for my headlamp. 257 00:15:50,225 --> 00:15:51,985 So, I went out to my car. 258 00:15:52,020 --> 00:15:56,438 And, uh, you know... sometimes I like to just walk away and listen. 259 00:15:56,472 --> 00:15:57,749 Uh, I know their strategies. 260 00:15:57,784 --> 00:15:58,716 They like watching us. 261 00:15:58,750 --> 00:16:00,476 That's why we have those types of sightings 262 00:16:00,511 --> 00:16:01,995 where they're off on the... 263 00:16:02,030 --> 00:16:05,378 the... the edge of the forest, watching people do things. 264 00:16:05,412 --> 00:16:09,830 And I shined my flashlight down to the north side of the road. 265 00:16:09,865 --> 00:16:11,971 And then I spun around to the south side of the road, 266 00:16:12,005 --> 00:16:15,181 which is at an uphill grade, and they're standing there... 267 00:16:15,215 --> 00:16:19,909 uh, right next to the utility pole was this eight-foot dark creature. 268 00:16:19,944 --> 00:16:22,912 I could see... its eye shine was reflecting back at me, 269 00:16:22,947 --> 00:16:25,260 and the first thing it did was turn around... 270 00:16:25,294 --> 00:16:27,434 kind of... it kind of turned its body and looked... 271 00:16:27,469 --> 00:16:30,437 and I think it was looking for an escape route, just in case. 272 00:16:32,163 --> 00:16:34,338 Now, mind you, I'm shining a light in its face, 273 00:16:34,372 --> 00:16:38,411 or, you know, at a distance of... of maybe 100-150 feet. 274 00:16:39,895 --> 00:16:41,621 Uh... you know, time slows down. 275 00:16:41,655 --> 00:16:43,657 So, it could have been... I thought it was 40 seconds. 276 00:16:43,692 --> 00:16:45,659 It could have been longer, could have been shorter, I don't know, 277 00:16:45,694 --> 00:16:48,110 but I shook the light, and with that it turned, 278 00:16:48,145 --> 00:16:50,319 and it started to walk back into the woods 279 00:16:50,354 --> 00:16:52,735 around the south side of our camp. 280 00:16:52,770 --> 00:16:55,635 What are some of the... the things you've experienced, 281 00:16:55,669 --> 00:16:59,190 or been a part of experiencing during some of those investigations 282 00:16:59,225 --> 00:17:01,054 or night ops, or whatever you want to... 283 00:17:01,089 --> 00:17:03,574 [SIGHS] You know, I've been paced out of the woods 284 00:17:03,608 --> 00:17:05,921 with a couple other, uh, investigators. 285 00:17:05,955 --> 00:17:07,647 The rock throwing incident. 286 00:17:07,681 --> 00:17:10,512 Sometimes I sit on the skeptic side, and then... 287 00:17:10,546 --> 00:17:12,514 bam, I got hit in the face with something. 288 00:17:12,548 --> 00:17:14,274 Literally, the rock throwing incident, 289 00:17:14,309 --> 00:17:16,380 I was leaning over the top of our car, 290 00:17:16,414 --> 00:17:21,350 while another investigator was pulling a camera out of his car to get it set up. 291 00:17:21,385 --> 00:17:25,251 Another investigator, in the front of the car, working with night vision... 292 00:17:25,285 --> 00:17:27,805 and boom, one rock in the face, 293 00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:30,290 another one skidded across the roof of the car. 294 00:17:30,325 --> 00:17:35,226 I'm moving around the car going to get the thermal camera out to get that set up. 295 00:17:35,261 --> 00:17:36,883 We can hear thumps. 296 00:17:36,917 --> 00:17:40,645 Can't get thermal camera on fast enough to get to that particular area. 297 00:17:49,654 --> 00:17:52,864 SETH: It had been a long day, but a real purpose in coming to this area 298 00:17:52,899 --> 00:17:55,350 with Steve and his crew was to actively try to have 299 00:17:55,384 --> 00:17:58,077 an encounter with Bigfoot for ourselves. 300 00:17:58,111 --> 00:18:01,218 Our night investigation consisted of two parts. 301 00:18:01,252 --> 00:18:04,221 Part one was a simple walk down the forested gravel road 302 00:18:04,255 --> 00:18:07,603 that leads up to the parking lot near our campsite. 303 00:18:07,638 --> 00:18:10,882 Yeah. Can you give us a rundown real quick of what we're about to go do? 304 00:18:10,917 --> 00:18:15,266 Okay, yeah, so, what we're doing is sending a team out to walk the road. 305 00:18:15,301 --> 00:18:17,820 -There's been times we've been out here before... -SETH: Mmm-hmm. 306 00:18:17,855 --> 00:18:19,374 STEVE: ...where we've been paralleled, 307 00:18:19,408 --> 00:18:21,203 actually on both sides of the roads at times. 308 00:18:21,238 --> 00:18:23,447 -SETH: Mmm-hmm. -Uh, we actually repeated that 309 00:18:23,481 --> 00:18:25,690 on the same night with another team. 310 00:18:25,725 --> 00:18:28,521 So, the whole idea is, send that one team up. 311 00:18:28,555 --> 00:18:32,387 We're going to stay here in base camp with a flare and monitor. 312 00:18:32,421 --> 00:18:35,044 We have to always make sure that they think they're in control. 313 00:18:36,115 --> 00:18:37,875 So, if you see, I'm gonna lead, 314 00:18:37,909 --> 00:18:40,774 um, with Austin and Fred. 315 00:18:40,809 --> 00:18:42,845 -Mike's gonna probably stay back with you guys. -[CAR HORN HONKS] 316 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:44,468 -Um... -Yeah. 317 00:18:44,502 --> 00:18:46,746 Mike, I'm just telling 'em. what we're gonna do is we're gonna walk for a while 318 00:18:46,780 --> 00:18:48,368 -and we're gonna pause and observe. -MICHAEL: Okay. 319 00:18:48,403 --> 00:18:50,784 And when we pause, it's important for everybody to be quiet. 320 00:18:50,819 --> 00:18:52,683 -Okay. -Let's go. 321 00:19:11,219 --> 00:19:14,083 SETH: We wandered down the gravel road about a half mile, 322 00:19:14,118 --> 00:19:15,637 stopping every 50 yards or so 323 00:19:15,671 --> 00:19:18,087 to listen to the sounds in the forest surrounding us. 324 00:19:32,032 --> 00:19:33,551 -I don't know what that was. -What's that movement? 325 00:19:33,586 --> 00:19:34,966 -It just sounded like footsteps. -Yeah, it did. 326 00:19:35,001 --> 00:19:37,210 [WHISPERING] It sounded like footsteps going through the woods. 327 00:19:37,245 --> 00:19:38,694 -Right. -Yes. 328 00:19:38,729 --> 00:19:40,696 -And then it just stopped. -Yeah. 329 00:19:40,731 --> 00:19:43,078 SETH: It was deathly quiet. 330 00:19:43,112 --> 00:19:46,599 Outside of Area X, I'd never experienced the kind of stillness 331 00:19:46,633 --> 00:19:49,912 that was pervasive in our Buck Mountain camping area. 332 00:19:49,947 --> 00:19:52,950 There was the constant sense that we were not alone in this place, 333 00:19:52,984 --> 00:19:55,228 and yet, the lack of any ambient noise 334 00:19:55,263 --> 00:19:57,230 should have led us to feel the solitude. 335 00:19:58,749 --> 00:20:00,302 Did you see what it is? 336 00:20:00,337 --> 00:20:02,546 [MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY] 337 00:20:04,755 --> 00:20:06,135 True that. 338 00:20:06,170 --> 00:20:08,724 I don't want to look. 339 00:20:08,759 --> 00:20:12,072 -What you got? -I had one... No, I had a tree rat 340 00:20:12,107 --> 00:20:15,144 and probably a small chipmunk or something like that go behind it. 341 00:20:17,043 --> 00:20:19,079 SETH: Having no luck during our road walk, 342 00:20:19,114 --> 00:20:20,288 we headed back to base camp 343 00:20:20,322 --> 00:20:22,635 where we made the decision to try call blasting. 344 00:20:24,568 --> 00:20:25,879 [SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY] 345 00:20:30,367 --> 00:20:32,023 SETH: While one team stayed at the camp, 346 00:20:32,058 --> 00:20:34,509 four of us, including Adam Duggan and myself, 347 00:20:34,543 --> 00:20:37,546 moved into the woods about 200 yards to hunker down 348 00:20:37,581 --> 00:20:40,584 and see if we could spot anything moving in toward camp. 349 00:20:45,244 --> 00:20:48,971 Call blasting is a technique frequently utilized by Bigfoot researchers 350 00:20:49,006 --> 00:20:51,111 to elicit a response from their quarry. 351 00:20:54,183 --> 00:20:58,222 Typically they'll blast animal noises or other purported Bigfoot recordings, 352 00:20:58,257 --> 00:21:02,019 but tonight they're trying something else, something different. 353 00:21:03,952 --> 00:21:06,610 [SCREAMING] 354 00:21:15,688 --> 00:21:18,311 SETH: If there was anything present on the mountain that night, 355 00:21:18,346 --> 00:21:21,383 besides Steve Kulls and his crew of investigators... 356 00:21:21,418 --> 00:21:23,143 it didn't want to make itself known. 357 00:21:45,580 --> 00:21:49,204 Despite a lack of anything definitive presenting itself the previous night, 358 00:21:49,238 --> 00:21:52,897 we woke up on day two ready to get out and experience the Adirondacks. 359 00:21:59,110 --> 00:22:02,562 Our destination was a mountainous area to the southwest of our camp 360 00:22:02,597 --> 00:22:04,495 on Buck Mountain and Lake George, 361 00:22:04,530 --> 00:22:07,498 a mild incline of 1,500-plus feet 362 00:22:07,533 --> 00:22:11,813 up the 3.4-mile Hadley Mountain Trail. 363 00:22:11,847 --> 00:22:15,644 Leaving the Lake George area, we began to discover the acres of forest 364 00:22:15,679 --> 00:22:17,336 that covers the Adirondacks. 365 00:22:25,516 --> 00:22:27,484 When the lockdowns began in early March, 366 00:22:27,518 --> 00:22:30,003 like everyone, it relegated me to my home. 367 00:22:32,696 --> 00:22:36,976 I would while away days editing on my laptop or researching future projects, 368 00:22:37,010 --> 00:22:39,634 but I would often find myself dreaming of the days 369 00:22:39,668 --> 00:22:43,258 when I would again be able to get out and explore rugged mountains on foot. 370 00:23:25,369 --> 00:23:27,371 SETH: There's nothing like a global pandemic 371 00:23:27,406 --> 00:23:29,373 to leave you in the worst shape of your life. 372 00:23:29,408 --> 00:23:31,410 And as I trudged up Mount Hadley, 373 00:23:31,444 --> 00:23:35,275 I couldn't help but think that this was the best kind of misery. 374 00:23:36,484 --> 00:23:41,247 MARK: The Adirondack Park was established in 1892, 375 00:23:41,281 --> 00:23:46,563 and two years later, there was a Forever Wild clause 376 00:23:46,597 --> 00:23:50,083 that was added to the New York State Constitution 377 00:23:50,118 --> 00:23:53,052 that ensured that the state lands 378 00:23:53,086 --> 00:23:55,192 would not be sold or leased, 379 00:23:55,226 --> 00:23:57,470 and also that the timber 380 00:23:57,505 --> 00:24:01,957 would not be harvested, uh, from those locations ever again. 381 00:24:01,992 --> 00:24:05,685 And then, in 1912, it was further clarified that 382 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:10,483 where the boundaries for that all existed because there was state forest, 383 00:24:10,518 --> 00:24:13,486 there was private properties that were also a part of that. 384 00:24:13,521 --> 00:24:15,488 Well, you... You have swampy areas. 385 00:24:15,523 --> 00:24:17,697 You have heavily wooded areas. 386 00:24:17,732 --> 00:24:19,492 You have rugged mountainous areas. 387 00:24:19,527 --> 00:24:22,599 I think we have 46 main peaks in the Adirondacks. 388 00:24:22,633 --> 00:24:27,673 You've got a wide diversity of rugged terrain in the Adirondacks, 389 00:24:27,707 --> 00:24:32,332 and it would certainly be able to sustain a mystery for a long time. 390 00:24:32,367 --> 00:24:36,544 I would imagine that the habitat needed for something like Bigfoot to exist 391 00:24:36,578 --> 00:24:39,857 would have to be quite vast in the sense of natural resources 392 00:24:39,892 --> 00:24:42,929 where you'd have plenty of water sources, plenty of food resources, 393 00:24:42,964 --> 00:24:48,279 both in terms of carnivorous, omnivorous, and basically, anything in between. 394 00:24:48,314 --> 00:24:51,835 Even though the Adirondacks are vast, they're not isolated. 395 00:24:51,869 --> 00:24:56,391 They're connected to other areas, other ranges. 396 00:24:56,425 --> 00:25:01,948 There's ample wild areas on the western side of the Hudson River. 397 00:25:01,983 --> 00:25:04,123 On the eastern side you have, 398 00:25:04,157 --> 00:25:06,919 probably no more than 50 miles away, 399 00:25:06,953 --> 00:25:09,024 you get into Western Massachusetts, 400 00:25:09,059 --> 00:25:10,612 where you have Mount Greylock, 401 00:25:10,647 --> 00:25:14,064 where you have Savoy State Forest, 402 00:25:14,098 --> 00:25:18,206 and there is a, uh, green trail, if you will... 403 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,209 uh, looking at this from a forested standpoint... 404 00:25:21,243 --> 00:25:25,972 uh, that runs north and south throughout New York State, 405 00:25:26,007 --> 00:25:30,908 Vermont, New Hampshire, even going up into Canada, as well. 406 00:25:30,943 --> 00:25:34,015 So, New York would be the perfect habitat for Bigfoot 407 00:25:34,049 --> 00:25:36,500 because it is a lot like the Pacific Northwest. 408 00:25:36,535 --> 00:25:38,364 It's just really shrunken down. 409 00:25:38,398 --> 00:25:41,332 Bigfoot resides in areas with heavy rainfall, 410 00:25:41,367 --> 00:25:43,369 abundant wildlife and resources. 411 00:25:43,403 --> 00:25:47,200 Bigfoot is sighted all over this region. 412 00:25:47,235 --> 00:25:49,237 PETAKOV: I think these creatures would probably be opportunistic 413 00:25:49,271 --> 00:25:51,895 because you have times of the year where nothing is growing. 414 00:25:51,929 --> 00:25:54,242 You have really harsh winters here in the Northeast 415 00:25:54,276 --> 00:25:57,245 and New York and Western Massachusetts, 416 00:25:57,279 --> 00:25:58,591 the whole area. 417 00:25:58,626 --> 00:26:01,076 You have five months out of the year where there's nothing 418 00:26:01,111 --> 00:26:04,114 that's basically, except for flesh and blood, that's kind of running around. 419 00:26:04,148 --> 00:26:07,842 So, that would be perhaps a time where meat would be more accessible. 420 00:26:07,876 --> 00:26:11,570 PAUL: There are occasional cases of these creatures 421 00:26:11,604 --> 00:26:14,607 being attached to maybe a downed deer, 422 00:26:14,642 --> 00:26:18,749 and you wonder if it killed it or came across the dead animal already. 423 00:26:18,784 --> 00:26:22,201 There was a report in Kinderhook, New York, of the creatures, 424 00:26:22,235 --> 00:26:26,412 which seemed to be storing food in a snowbank. 425 00:26:26,446 --> 00:26:29,380 PETAKOV: During the summer months, you have berries, you have lots of fruits, 426 00:26:29,415 --> 00:26:31,590 you have apple orchards that we put out there. 427 00:26:31,624 --> 00:26:32,832 There's been a lot of sightings 428 00:26:32,867 --> 00:26:34,869 that are taking place near apple orchards. 429 00:26:34,903 --> 00:26:36,387 You have other animals that do that as well. 430 00:26:36,422 --> 00:26:40,012 Deer and moose, they'll feed off of our agriculture. 431 00:26:40,046 --> 00:26:42,359 So, why would a creature like this not do that? 432 00:26:42,393 --> 00:26:46,708 EMILY: Another reason why New York is the perfect place for Bigfoot 433 00:26:46,743 --> 00:26:51,540 is because it backs right up to Canada, and it's right next to Vermont. 434 00:26:51,575 --> 00:26:53,335 These creatures are migrating down. 435 00:26:53,370 --> 00:26:57,477 They're migrating through Vermont through New York and then West. 436 00:26:57,512 --> 00:26:59,169 SETH: Why do you say they're migrating? 437 00:26:59,203 --> 00:27:02,482 -Why? What evidence do you have? -[GIGGLES] 438 00:27:02,517 --> 00:27:05,106 Well, if you look at the map of sightings, 439 00:27:05,140 --> 00:27:07,867 you can tend to see some migration patterns. 440 00:27:07,902 --> 00:27:12,251 Canada has a lot of sightings around the Ontario area, 441 00:27:12,285 --> 00:27:15,703 and then those trickle down into Upstate New York and Vermont, 442 00:27:15,737 --> 00:27:19,534 whereas on the West Coast, British Columbia has a ton of sightings 443 00:27:19,568 --> 00:27:23,089 which trickle down into Oregon and Washington and California. 444 00:27:23,124 --> 00:27:26,023 If you look at the patterns, seasonally, of sightings, 445 00:27:26,058 --> 00:27:28,232 you will begin to see correlations, 446 00:27:28,267 --> 00:27:31,063 especially with the annual rainfall, as well. 447 00:27:31,097 --> 00:27:34,342 PAUL: One of the patterns that we noticed right away in this area 448 00:27:34,376 --> 00:27:40,589 was that August, September and October appear to be peak months for sightings. 449 00:27:40,624 --> 00:27:45,629 Why did... Native tribes move back and forth from different areas? 450 00:27:45,664 --> 00:27:49,391 Why animals migrate... your food sources, your heat. 451 00:27:49,426 --> 00:27:55,708 And I think, up here you just... You have such a dense forest. 452 00:27:55,743 --> 00:28:00,023 PAUL: It would appear that if a creature wants to be elusive, 453 00:28:00,057 --> 00:28:01,680 the higher up it goes, 454 00:28:01,714 --> 00:28:04,579 the less of a chance of an encounter with people. 455 00:28:04,613 --> 00:28:06,443 That makes perfect sense. 456 00:28:06,477 --> 00:28:10,896 SETH: Do you think there's some sort of, uh... migratory route or... 457 00:28:10,930 --> 00:28:14,416 I think what's going on in this area, particular, 458 00:28:14,451 --> 00:28:16,833 primates, like aboriginal Americans, 459 00:28:16,867 --> 00:28:19,767 they would have summer homes and winter homes. 460 00:28:19,801 --> 00:28:22,390 And they can migrate, depending on the food source, 461 00:28:22,424 --> 00:28:24,012 you know, weather and stuff like that. 462 00:28:24,047 --> 00:28:25,773 The reason why we have so much activity 463 00:28:25,807 --> 00:28:29,742 from about the end of May till like the middle of December here 464 00:28:29,777 --> 00:28:31,986 is because we're in the Adirondack State Park, 465 00:28:32,020 --> 00:28:33,746 and in this part of the park, 466 00:28:33,781 --> 00:28:37,577 it's oak, it's birch, it's maple, its leaves. 467 00:28:37,612 --> 00:28:40,511 And come October... 468 00:28:40,546 --> 00:28:45,516 those leaves start to drop, so, in winter time there's no cover for that snow. 469 00:28:45,551 --> 00:28:48,416 So, you will get, you know, feet of snow up here. 470 00:28:48,450 --> 00:28:51,350 So, I think what happens is that they move from here 471 00:28:51,384 --> 00:28:53,317 to the Green Mountain State Forest, 472 00:28:53,352 --> 00:28:58,840 and I think that's the reason why Whitehall is, like, this epicenter of everything. 473 00:28:58,875 --> 00:29:01,636 They have some cover from the snow there. 474 00:29:01,670 --> 00:29:03,914 And then you... And as well as camouflage. 475 00:29:03,949 --> 00:29:06,434 And you have the forests here in the summertime, 476 00:29:06,468 --> 00:29:10,438 which has an abundance of water and abundance of wildlife 477 00:29:10,472 --> 00:29:11,922 and abundance of food source. 478 00:29:11,957 --> 00:29:15,305 SETH: Talk about what it is about the geography or the terrain here 479 00:29:15,339 --> 00:29:18,377 that, that might set it apart from other parts of the country. 480 00:29:18,411 --> 00:29:19,792 I generally do a lot of my research 481 00:29:19,827 --> 00:29:22,174 in the western part of New York, 482 00:29:22,208 --> 00:29:25,108 uh, down into Pennsylvania 'cause that's where I'm located. 483 00:29:25,142 --> 00:29:29,629 I do tend to get up here a couple of times a year to work with, uh... 484 00:29:29,664 --> 00:29:31,148 With Steve Kulls. 485 00:29:31,183 --> 00:29:34,738 You know, I've kind of been brought up in their thought theories, 486 00:29:34,773 --> 00:29:36,326 but I also look at my own. 487 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,777 Today, you know, we looked at a mountain... 488 00:29:38,811 --> 00:29:42,815 Um, and you could look, as you're going up in elevation, the change 489 00:29:42,850 --> 00:29:45,231 going from hardwood to that pine. 490 00:29:45,266 --> 00:29:50,789 And again, like we said, we're looking at those diversities in environment. 491 00:29:50,823 --> 00:29:53,377 You could go forever without being seen up here. 492 00:29:53,412 --> 00:29:55,586 I mean, it's a giant, giant area. 493 00:30:05,873 --> 00:30:08,461 SETH: To say that the hike up Mount Hadley was rough 494 00:30:08,496 --> 00:30:10,809 would be a dramatic understatement. 495 00:30:10,843 --> 00:30:13,535 I could feel my legs under me just dying to give up. 496 00:30:13,570 --> 00:30:16,228 My lungs burn, my back was coated with sweat 497 00:30:16,262 --> 00:30:20,025 and I was breathing like a marathon sprinter nearing the finish line. 498 00:30:20,059 --> 00:30:22,406 And then, there it was, the summit. 499 00:30:38,388 --> 00:30:41,978 SETH: Suddenly, viruses, politics, elections, social unrests 500 00:30:42,012 --> 00:30:45,015 were replaced by something I hadn't experienced in a long time. 501 00:30:46,051 --> 00:30:46,879 Peace. 502 00:30:47,742 --> 00:30:49,640 Here in the Adirondacks, 503 00:30:49,675 --> 00:30:52,298 while searching for what most consider a myth, 504 00:30:52,333 --> 00:30:55,784 I'd found a break from the chaos of the world outside. 505 00:31:41,002 --> 00:31:43,591 I woke up on day three, tired and sore, 506 00:31:43,625 --> 00:31:45,455 but eager to finally revisit the scene 507 00:31:45,489 --> 00:31:48,976 of one of the most important recorded Bigfoot sightings on the East Coast. 508 00:31:56,466 --> 00:32:00,401 Each trip brings me back to a town that has become a home away from home to me 509 00:32:00,435 --> 00:32:04,439 in the waning years since we made our documentary based here. 510 00:32:04,474 --> 00:32:07,132 Since we've released the Beast of Whitehall in 2015, 511 00:32:07,166 --> 00:32:09,479 the town has embraced its strange legacy 512 00:32:09,513 --> 00:32:12,551 as a hot spot for unusual creature sightings. 513 00:32:12,585 --> 00:32:15,795 Even going so far as to host an annual Bigfoot festival 514 00:32:15,830 --> 00:32:18,212 to accompany the myriad statues, sculptures 515 00:32:18,246 --> 00:32:20,455 and wood carvings that dot the area. 516 00:32:30,086 --> 00:32:32,951 Though it's situated at the base of the Adirondack Mountains 517 00:32:32,985 --> 00:32:35,505 and just outside the boundaries of the park, 518 00:32:35,539 --> 00:32:38,197 Whitehall still encompasses everything about the region 519 00:32:38,232 --> 00:32:41,166 that makes it so unique and so perfectly suited 520 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,582 for a large animal to remain hidden. 521 00:32:43,616 --> 00:32:47,137 Outside the village, the mountains spill out into fields and forests 522 00:32:47,172 --> 00:32:50,209 that stretch all the way into nearby Vermont. 523 00:32:55,766 --> 00:32:59,011 There are certain cases that become landmark cases, 524 00:32:59,046 --> 00:33:03,705 and one of those was the Abair Road incident back in 1976. 525 00:33:03,740 --> 00:33:05,880 And if we were to put it in a nutshell, 526 00:33:05,914 --> 00:33:08,365 you had teenagers out on Abair Road, 527 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,437 a very rural road in... In Whitehall, New York. 528 00:33:11,472 --> 00:33:14,509 They parked their truck and they encountered a creature 529 00:33:14,544 --> 00:33:17,271 that was walking next to a telephone pole there. 530 00:33:17,305 --> 00:33:20,929 They sped away, leaving tracks in the road 531 00:33:20,964 --> 00:33:23,035 and went in to report it to the police. 532 00:33:23,070 --> 00:33:25,762 Washington County Deputy Sheriff, the Whitehall Police, 533 00:33:25,796 --> 00:33:29,490 New York State Trooper, all responded to the... To the scene. 534 00:33:29,524 --> 00:33:34,357 And that night, which was August 24th, 1976, 535 00:33:34,391 --> 00:33:38,326 they cited several sightings of a creature out on Abair Road 536 00:33:38,361 --> 00:33:42,330 that was described as being about seven to eight feet tall, 537 00:33:42,365 --> 00:33:44,850 dark colored, walking upright like a man, 538 00:33:44,884 --> 00:33:49,475 but looking more like a gorilla and having red glowing eyes. 539 00:33:49,510 --> 00:33:52,444 SETH: Paul Bartholomew is a born and raised Whitehall local 540 00:33:52,478 --> 00:33:54,584 with connections to the Abair Road incident, 541 00:33:54,618 --> 00:33:57,794 as well as most major cases from the area. 542 00:33:57,828 --> 00:34:00,624 In the 1980s, Paul, along with his brother Robert, 543 00:34:00,659 --> 00:34:04,283 author Bruce Hallenbeck, and Bigfoot investigator Bill Brann, 544 00:34:04,318 --> 00:34:07,631 co-authored a book titled Monsters of the Northwoods, 545 00:34:07,666 --> 00:34:11,670 a study of the phenomenon in Upstate New York. 546 00:34:11,704 --> 00:34:15,018 The book helped to cement the Abair Road incident's place in history 547 00:34:15,053 --> 00:34:17,572 and also to act as a connecting point for the research 548 00:34:17,607 --> 00:34:22,784 of four of the most important figures in Bigfoot research on the East Coast. 549 00:34:22,819 --> 00:34:25,960 Today, a rift has grown between Brann and the Bartholomews, 550 00:34:25,994 --> 00:34:29,205 but despite this fact, the historical significance of the book 551 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,105 can't be overstated, in that it fully defined Whitehall 552 00:34:33,140 --> 00:34:36,902 as a gateway to unusual happenings on the East Coast. 553 00:34:36,936 --> 00:34:40,285 So, are those sightings over... by Carvers Falls... 554 00:34:40,319 --> 00:34:43,391 am I wrong in remembering that? I thought there was something about... Okay. 555 00:34:43,426 --> 00:34:45,704 -Big one. -SETH: Oh, okay, I thought you were saying I was wrong. 556 00:34:45,738 --> 00:34:49,087 That's... You know what, I... I should have mentioned that and I didn't. 557 00:34:49,121 --> 00:34:54,644 The Abair Road incident culminated with the Carvers Falls incident, 558 00:34:54,678 --> 00:34:58,130 in which a fellow... came into the police station. 559 00:34:58,165 --> 00:35:00,236 Back then, it was a great job to be a dispatcher. 560 00:35:00,270 --> 00:35:01,685 You're on duty all night. 561 00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:04,102 You're right there taking a couple calls, watching TV or whatever. 562 00:35:04,136 --> 00:35:05,724 Guy comes rushing in the police station, 563 00:35:05,758 --> 00:35:06,897 "I just shot Bigfoot." 564 00:35:06,932 --> 00:35:09,141 So, uh, New York State Police were notified 565 00:35:09,176 --> 00:35:10,763 'cause that's their jurisdiction. 566 00:35:10,798 --> 00:35:13,766 They shooed out to, uh, Carvers Falls Road... 567 00:35:13,801 --> 00:35:16,390 and, uh, go to the site, they find shotgun shell, 568 00:35:16,424 --> 00:35:17,805 but they don't find any creature... 569 00:35:17,839 --> 00:35:23,638 The Whitehall area has produced some extremely important researchers. 570 00:35:23,673 --> 00:35:27,401 And the first of those is Dr. Warren Cook. 571 00:35:27,435 --> 00:35:33,200 He was a heavyweight researcher and well respected in circles of higher education. 572 00:35:33,234 --> 00:35:38,446 Dr. Cook also was heavily interested in mystery primates. 573 00:35:38,481 --> 00:35:42,381 And certainly included in that number of researchers 574 00:35:42,416 --> 00:35:46,903 was one William or Bill Brann. 575 00:35:46,937 --> 00:35:51,045 And Bill Brann really became an instrumental researcher 576 00:35:51,079 --> 00:35:55,498 in Whitehall cases, in particular, the Abair Road incident. 577 00:35:55,532 --> 00:35:57,155 SETH: Can you talk about your... 578 00:35:57,189 --> 00:35:58,501 Any insights you might have 579 00:35:58,535 --> 00:36:01,642 to share about people who investigate Bigfoot, 580 00:36:01,676 --> 00:36:03,713 specifically in this area, like... 581 00:36:03,747 --> 00:36:07,889 There were two people involved in investigating these reports. 582 00:36:07,924 --> 00:36:13,723 One was a college professor from Columbia-Greene College named Dr. Gary Levine. 583 00:36:13,757 --> 00:36:17,968 The more serious researcher, I felt, was another college professor 584 00:36:18,003 --> 00:36:20,833 from Castleton College in Vermont, Dr. Warren Cook, 585 00:36:20,868 --> 00:36:24,458 who took a very biological approach to the creature. 586 00:36:24,492 --> 00:36:27,633 He felt that in Whitehall and Kinderhook 587 00:36:27,668 --> 00:36:31,292 there may have been breeding colonies of these things. 588 00:36:31,327 --> 00:36:38,230 What Paul Bartholomew and... And Dr. Cook established in that region 589 00:36:38,265 --> 00:36:43,373 was a sort of loose grouping of Bigfoot researchers 590 00:36:43,408 --> 00:36:45,858 who were sharing information with one another, 591 00:36:45,893 --> 00:36:50,069 and early on, establishing a database of sightings 592 00:36:50,104 --> 00:36:53,901 and correlating both local legends and lore 593 00:36:53,935 --> 00:36:57,111 with up to date sightings of the Bigfoot creature. 594 00:36:57,145 --> 00:37:00,356 Well, this is one of my first time really diving into the Adirondacks. 595 00:37:00,390 --> 00:37:01,909 I've just been sort of on the peripheries. 596 00:37:01,943 --> 00:37:03,980 I've been to Whitehall a number of times, 597 00:37:04,014 --> 00:37:07,397 and I think that Whitehall almost functions as a gateway to this area, 598 00:37:07,432 --> 00:37:10,020 and kind of what we talked about to a lot of the researchers 599 00:37:10,055 --> 00:37:12,885 was the possibility of migrational routes 600 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,681 and the way these things are moving into other states, into Vermont, 601 00:37:15,716 --> 00:37:17,096 where there's other sightings. 602 00:37:17,131 --> 00:37:18,891 And then you have this vast wilderness. 603 00:37:18,926 --> 00:37:23,620 EMILY: Whitehall is kind of the Bigfoot capital of New York, you could say. 604 00:37:23,655 --> 00:37:26,554 What's interesting to me is that you can go from New York City, 605 00:37:26,589 --> 00:37:28,729 with a population over a million, 606 00:37:28,763 --> 00:37:32,250 to Whitehall, with a population just under a few thousand, 607 00:37:32,284 --> 00:37:35,701 and the landscape and culture changes so much. 608 00:37:35,736 --> 00:37:38,186 You know, I've heard sightings go back as far as the '50s. 609 00:37:38,221 --> 00:37:42,501 We're trying to get the actual definitive line on that. It's kind of hard. 610 00:37:42,536 --> 00:37:44,952 But I do know, beginning in the '60s 611 00:37:44,986 --> 00:37:47,920 that there were sightings on the Vermont side 612 00:37:47,955 --> 00:37:51,130 just over the, the river, you know, from Whitehall. 613 00:37:51,165 --> 00:37:54,410 And then, you know, obviously in the '70s, Whitehall. 614 00:37:54,444 --> 00:37:56,101 We're not very far from Whitehall. 615 00:37:56,135 --> 00:37:59,277 We are, you know, within 15 miles of Whitehall. 616 00:37:59,311 --> 00:38:02,141 This forest here goes straight to that area. 617 00:38:02,176 --> 00:38:05,283 Do you think there's a larger preponderance of reports 618 00:38:05,317 --> 00:38:08,320 based around Whitehall? 619 00:38:08,355 --> 00:38:11,358 What do you think that's attributable to? 620 00:38:11,392 --> 00:38:16,708 You know, I'm not really sure if it's because the attention has been placed on the area 621 00:38:16,742 --> 00:38:21,160 or if the area itself is synonymous with paranormal phenomena. 622 00:38:21,195 --> 00:38:23,611 In this region, we can go to Kinderhook, New York. 623 00:38:23,646 --> 00:38:25,164 We can go to Whitehall, New York. 624 00:38:25,199 --> 00:38:29,307 We can go to Chittenden, Vermont, parts of Rutland, Vermont. 625 00:38:29,341 --> 00:38:33,966 These all seem to be hot spots for creature activity in this region. 626 00:38:34,001 --> 00:38:39,075 But I suspect that part of Whitehall's charm may be because we've focused on it. 627 00:38:39,109 --> 00:38:42,181 There was another gentleman in 2003, I believe, 628 00:38:42,216 --> 00:38:45,840 that was parked right outside this campsite's parking area, 629 00:38:45,875 --> 00:38:48,326 which is maybe a few hundred yards from here. 630 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,569 He opens his door up, it hit something, 631 00:38:50,604 --> 00:38:51,743 looked down, there's a hairy foot, 632 00:38:51,777 --> 00:38:53,779 looked up and something's looking down at him. 633 00:38:53,814 --> 00:38:55,194 He was sleeping in his car. 634 00:38:55,229 --> 00:38:56,472 So, there it was, looking at him 635 00:38:56,506 --> 00:38:58,197 and it just kind of turned and walked away. 636 00:38:58,232 --> 00:38:59,682 And that's not uncommon over here. 637 00:38:59,716 --> 00:39:02,374 Sometimes people, instead of camping, they'll just, you know, 638 00:39:02,409 --> 00:39:03,858 they've done a hike, "I'm gonna hang out, 639 00:39:03,893 --> 00:39:05,101 "and I'm gonna go sleep in the car." 640 00:39:05,135 --> 00:39:06,309 It's a beautiful area. It's quiet. 641 00:39:06,344 --> 00:39:08,829 It's desolate. You need to get away, it's perfect. 642 00:39:08,863 --> 00:39:13,385 There was a young man with his uncle who loved to go fishing. 643 00:39:13,420 --> 00:39:17,009 That was their hobby, and they would always go to the same place every summer. 644 00:39:17,044 --> 00:39:19,702 It's in Rutland, Vermont, which is right near Whitehall. 645 00:39:19,736 --> 00:39:23,809 And so, as they were fishing, they started hearing splashes in the water. 646 00:39:23,844 --> 00:39:25,501 They started to get concerned. 647 00:39:25,535 --> 00:39:27,537 As a fisherman, you don't really hear too much noise 648 00:39:27,572 --> 00:39:29,470 unless a fish is jumping out of the water. 649 00:39:29,505 --> 00:39:32,370 But the type of fish that were in this creek wouldn't do that. 650 00:39:32,404 --> 00:39:35,062 So, they started heading down the creek, 651 00:39:35,096 --> 00:39:37,789 and all of a sudden this young man's uncle 652 00:39:37,823 --> 00:39:41,033 put his hand back and said, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Stay there." 653 00:39:41,068 --> 00:39:45,210 They started making their way around to the other side of the creek very quietly 654 00:39:45,244 --> 00:39:49,007 to see if they could find the creature and see a clearer image of it. 655 00:39:49,041 --> 00:39:54,046 So, they got around the bend, and all of a sudden the creature came into view. 656 00:39:54,081 --> 00:39:58,396 It was a huge, dark figure covered in hair. 657 00:39:58,430 --> 00:40:01,019 They were about 40 feet from this creature, 658 00:40:01,053 --> 00:40:02,952 so, they could see almost every detail. 659 00:40:02,986 --> 00:40:04,332 It looked like a linebacker. 660 00:40:04,367 --> 00:40:07,784 Its... Its body was humongous, and it was in the creek 661 00:40:07,819 --> 00:40:10,442 trying to catch a fish with its bare hands 662 00:40:10,477 --> 00:40:12,686 and getting frustrated while doing so, 663 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:14,446 hence, slapping the water. 664 00:40:14,481 --> 00:40:18,657 One of the recent sightings from 2018 was simply a... 665 00:40:18,692 --> 00:40:22,316 The most common sighting that we get, which is the road-cross sighting. 666 00:40:22,350 --> 00:40:24,939 And it's usually... You weren't expecting it, 667 00:40:24,974 --> 00:40:26,389 you aren't looking for it, 668 00:40:26,424 --> 00:40:28,287 and it just crosses the road in front of you. 669 00:40:30,704 --> 00:40:32,188 SETH: The bulk of witness sightings 670 00:40:32,222 --> 00:40:34,604 in the Whitehall area take place near roads 671 00:40:34,639 --> 00:40:37,918 and typically occur from behind the wheel of the car. 672 00:40:37,952 --> 00:40:42,612 Even the infamous 1976 sightings are an example of this fact. 673 00:40:42,647 --> 00:40:45,408 Whitehall, being just outside the Adirondack Park 674 00:40:45,443 --> 00:40:47,548 and situated at the base of the mountains, 675 00:40:47,583 --> 00:40:50,965 might simply be a stop on the way to someplace else for Bigfoot, 676 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:52,277 if it exists. 677 00:40:53,140 --> 00:40:55,487 With multiple rivers and streams 678 00:40:55,522 --> 00:40:59,077 that flow down from the high peaks region in the Adirondacks, 679 00:40:59,111 --> 00:41:02,736 it's theorized that they could simply be following the waterways 680 00:41:02,770 --> 00:41:05,601 which lead to or nearby the village, 681 00:41:05,635 --> 00:41:10,882 which could account for the high number of sightings in this specific area. 682 00:41:10,916 --> 00:41:14,230 On this day, Paul Bartholomew had set up a meeting with a witness 683 00:41:14,264 --> 00:41:16,266 who wished to remain anonymous. 684 00:41:16,301 --> 00:41:19,269 However, his sighting is within the last year, 685 00:41:19,304 --> 00:41:21,651 and like the 1976 sightings, 686 00:41:21,686 --> 00:41:23,135 it takes place near a road. 687 00:41:23,170 --> 00:41:24,827 Everything was closed, I was relaxing at home. 688 00:41:24,861 --> 00:41:27,692 I get a call from my friend that his truck overturned 689 00:41:27,726 --> 00:41:30,626 and he needed my help down by the Apple Diner. 690 00:41:30,660 --> 00:41:33,491 So, I live on... I live down in, uh, Whitehall. 691 00:41:33,525 --> 00:41:36,563 So, what I did was, I got dressed, went outside, 692 00:41:36,597 --> 00:41:39,082 get in the car, started down on 4. 693 00:41:39,117 --> 00:41:42,465 And, uh, I ended up by the, uh, the electric panels, 694 00:41:42,500 --> 00:41:44,985 they just put up that new field of electric panels. 695 00:41:45,019 --> 00:41:46,365 And as I was coming down the hill, 696 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,782 just as I pass the electric panels, I was coming down the hill, 697 00:41:48,816 --> 00:41:50,197 and I was looking up, 698 00:41:50,231 --> 00:41:53,718 and all of a sudden I see this big shadow stepping over a fence, 699 00:41:53,752 --> 00:41:55,720 the fence that was there, a little short fence... 700 00:41:55,754 --> 00:41:58,136 and it was stepping over, his back was to me. 701 00:41:58,170 --> 00:41:59,551 His arm was down here. 702 00:41:59,586 --> 00:42:01,829 His other arm was, like, half up like this... 703 00:42:01,864 --> 00:42:03,382 and he stepped over the fence. 704 00:42:03,417 --> 00:42:06,247 And I look at it, I go, "Oh, my God..." I say, "Looks like a man." 705 00:42:06,282 --> 00:42:08,560 But it wasn't a man, it was a big, hairy thing. 706 00:42:08,595 --> 00:42:10,907 Then what I did was, as I kept on going, 707 00:42:10,942 --> 00:42:13,185 by the time I got down there, I was about 400 feet away. 708 00:42:13,220 --> 00:42:16,119 By the time I got down here, it was already down and went down 709 00:42:16,154 --> 00:42:19,191 Because if you look down there, where I saw the footprints... 710 00:42:19,226 --> 00:42:20,607 So, then I go home, 711 00:42:20,641 --> 00:42:21,780 and then my wife says, 712 00:42:21,815 --> 00:42:23,886 "Tomorrow morning, go and see if there's footprints." 713 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:24,921 I go, "Honey, I don't got..." 714 00:42:24,956 --> 00:42:26,405 She says, "Go see if there's footprints." 715 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:27,441 I went there, 716 00:42:27,475 --> 00:42:30,409 saw the prints, took the pictures, called Paul. 717 00:42:30,444 --> 00:42:34,275 Paul went there, and he made a couple of casts of the right and the left foot. 718 00:42:34,310 --> 00:42:36,001 of both of them. Just where the thing went over. 719 00:42:36,036 --> 00:42:37,520 And I'm standing there looking at the footprints, 720 00:42:37,555 --> 00:42:39,557 I'm going, "Oh, my God. There's footprints there." 721 00:42:39,591 --> 00:42:41,006 And I couldn't believe it. 722 00:42:41,041 --> 00:42:42,836 I made the pictures. I got the pictures in my phone, you saw them. 723 00:42:42,870 --> 00:42:44,838 And that's the whole week. Then I went home, and that was it. 724 00:42:44,872 --> 00:42:48,151 And then... Paul took care of the rest. They put... 725 00:42:48,186 --> 00:42:50,637 How... How big do you think it was? 726 00:42:50,671 --> 00:42:52,949 I would say, at least six-and-a-half to seven feet. 727 00:42:53,950 --> 00:42:55,434 SETH: Did you see a color? 728 00:42:55,469 --> 00:42:58,023 MAN: Black. All I could see was black, pure black. 729 00:42:58,058 --> 00:42:59,715 SETH: Eye shine, any? MAN: No, he was back... 730 00:42:59,749 --> 00:43:01,371 -His back... His back was to me. -SETH: Okay. 731 00:43:01,406 --> 00:43:04,616 He was... He was, like, sideways... 732 00:43:04,651 --> 00:43:06,204 stepping over there, just like this. 733 00:43:07,343 --> 00:43:09,690 I'm coming down the road here. 734 00:43:09,725 --> 00:43:13,936 And he's like this stepping over... like this. 735 00:43:13,970 --> 00:43:15,627 And his back, his head, everything is... 736 00:43:15,662 --> 00:43:18,181 Everything was, uh, in one big... 737 00:43:18,216 --> 00:43:19,458 His head, there was no neck. 738 00:43:19,493 --> 00:43:21,081 It was like hair coming down like this. 739 00:43:21,115 --> 00:43:22,910 Shoulders like this, coming down. 740 00:43:22,945 --> 00:43:24,015 One hand was out. 741 00:43:24,049 --> 00:43:26,155 The other hand was like this on the side... 742 00:43:26,189 --> 00:43:27,225 and he was stepping over... 743 00:43:27,950 --> 00:43:30,193 and all black, all black hair. 744 00:43:30,642 --> 00:43:31,885 And that was it. 745 00:43:31,919 --> 00:43:35,198 I never thought that in a million years that I would ever... 746 00:43:35,233 --> 00:43:36,614 -See it. -...see it. 747 00:43:36,648 --> 00:43:37,925 You know, I'm born Brooklyn boy. 748 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,064 I don't know anything about that. 749 00:43:39,099 --> 00:43:40,410 I never come upstate that much. 750 00:43:40,445 --> 00:43:42,654 You know, when I moved up here, all of a sudden I saw a Bigfoot. 751 00:43:42,689 --> 00:43:44,380 It was amazing. Do you want to see it again? 752 00:43:46,037 --> 00:43:47,072 I would love to see it again, 753 00:43:47,107 --> 00:43:48,349 but I doubt that's ever gonna happen. 754 00:43:48,384 --> 00:43:51,594 Remember, I'm, uh, you know... I'm not a young guy and, uh... 755 00:43:51,629 --> 00:43:53,527 it took a long time to see this one. 756 00:43:53,561 --> 00:43:54,424 You know, it was amazing. 757 00:43:54,459 --> 00:43:55,391 I was really shocked. 758 00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:56,910 I can't believe it. 759 00:43:56,944 --> 00:43:59,119 That thing was just standing, I could just see it. 760 00:43:59,153 --> 00:44:01,535 -Yeah. -I... I genuinely appreciate you telling me your story. 761 00:44:01,569 --> 00:44:02,501 That's great. 762 00:44:02,536 --> 00:44:03,710 -Thank you very much. -It's really... 763 00:44:03,744 --> 00:44:05,988 I... I hope someday I can have that experience myself. 764 00:44:06,022 --> 00:44:08,818 I tell you, it's weird. You'd be very... I... I was shocked. 765 00:44:08,853 --> 00:44:11,096 I mean, I... I was on the phone screaming to my wife. 766 00:44:11,131 --> 00:44:12,442 I'm going, "I can't believe it. 767 00:44:12,477 --> 00:44:13,858 "I just saw Bigfoot." "Yeah, you fool, my dad just saw Bigfoot!" 768 00:44:13,892 --> 00:44:16,101 "I can't believe it! I just saw him just climb over the fence." 769 00:44:16,136 --> 00:44:18,310 -The big black thing just standing there, you know. -Yeah. 770 00:44:18,345 --> 00:44:20,036 It was weird. 771 00:44:20,071 --> 00:44:23,143 It was really... It was really a weird thing to be out at that hour going to that area. 772 00:44:23,177 --> 00:44:24,938 I usually never go down that way. 773 00:44:24,972 --> 00:44:26,180 -It's strange. -Yeah. 774 00:44:42,093 --> 00:44:43,163 SETH: As evening fell, 775 00:44:43,197 --> 00:44:45,786 we made the decision to head to Carvers Falls, 776 00:44:45,821 --> 00:44:49,169 a location tied to Whitehall's Bigfoot history. 777 00:44:49,203 --> 00:44:50,964 While there have been multiple sightings 778 00:44:50,998 --> 00:44:53,656 in the forests and fields surrounding the Poultney River, 779 00:44:53,691 --> 00:44:57,729 Carvers Falls is an especially active location. 780 00:44:57,764 --> 00:45:00,801 Geographically, the falls lie less than a quarter mile 781 00:45:00,836 --> 00:45:03,942 from the location where the Gosselin sighting took place. 782 00:45:03,977 --> 00:45:07,670 It's also the location where Bigfoot investigator Bill Brann once theorized 783 00:45:07,705 --> 00:45:11,329 the creature may have called home for a short time. 784 00:45:11,363 --> 00:45:14,539 Brann had even gone so far as to search a local cave for evidence 785 00:45:14,573 --> 00:45:16,230 of the Beast of Whitehall's presence, 786 00:45:16,265 --> 00:45:19,026 but had come away empty handed. 787 00:45:19,061 --> 00:45:22,409 Carvers Falls has a large decline that runs down a steep hill 788 00:45:22,443 --> 00:45:26,965 before spilling out into the valley that runs just behind Abair Road. 789 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:31,418 At the top of the falls lies a dam built to supply power to Plant 1491, 790 00:45:31,452 --> 00:45:33,109 which sits along the banks of the river. 791 00:45:40,910 --> 00:45:41,669 [SHOUTS] 792 00:46:01,828 --> 00:46:02,967 [SHOUTS] 793 00:46:25,644 --> 00:46:27,888 What are your thoughts on this area? 794 00:46:27,923 --> 00:46:31,409 Oh, it's a nice little... quiet area. [EXHALES] 795 00:46:32,513 --> 00:46:34,895 There's been some disturbance... 796 00:46:35,931 --> 00:46:37,725 There's a plant broken off. 797 00:46:39,969 --> 00:46:41,591 Quite sure everyone is on... 798 00:46:42,903 --> 00:46:46,562 Can you see, there seems to be... any kind of... 799 00:46:47,701 --> 00:46:49,496 motion. 800 00:46:49,530 --> 00:46:53,880 But whatever it is, it doesn't look like it's... very large... 801 00:46:53,914 --> 00:46:55,019 if there is anything. 802 00:46:57,745 --> 00:47:00,818 SETH: Our plan was to hike down the hill and end at the valley 803 00:47:00,852 --> 00:47:03,130 where we would follow the river. 804 00:47:03,165 --> 00:47:07,134 Paul Bartholomew had speculated that the Bigfoot seen in 1976 805 00:47:07,169 --> 00:47:09,067 may have been following the Poultney River 806 00:47:09,102 --> 00:47:10,828 and simply wandered away from the banks 807 00:47:10,862 --> 00:47:13,209 in search of food or shelter. 808 00:47:13,244 --> 00:47:16,454 Perhaps that's why it was seen in an empty field off Abair, 809 00:47:16,488 --> 00:47:19,319 a concept which is bolstered by a strange deer kill 810 00:47:19,353 --> 00:47:22,149 that was found at the back of the same field the creature was sighted, 811 00:47:22,184 --> 00:47:24,600 just days after the incident occurred. 812 00:47:29,674 --> 00:47:30,675 [SHOUTS] 813 00:47:33,195 --> 00:47:34,127 [SHOUTS] 814 00:47:43,377 --> 00:47:45,483 [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] 815 00:47:47,554 --> 00:47:49,970 -Yeah, you can't hear it. -You can hear from farther distances. 816 00:47:50,005 --> 00:47:52,352 You kind of have to be on top to hear it. 817 00:47:56,874 --> 00:48:00,084 SETH: Whatever the case, on this night, I couldn't help but think 818 00:48:00,118 --> 00:48:02,500 that we might be walking in the same path 819 00:48:02,534 --> 00:48:06,607 that the Beast of Whitehall had walked over 40 years ago. 820 00:48:37,949 --> 00:48:39,364 [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] 821 00:48:39,399 --> 00:48:41,194 -...paper crack. -Yeah. 822 00:48:41,228 --> 00:48:43,851 -It's hollow ground. -It is. Yeah. 823 00:48:43,886 --> 00:48:46,337 And it's kinda funny after knowing Brian, 824 00:48:46,371 --> 00:48:48,201 and hearing the story so many times, 825 00:48:48,235 --> 00:48:49,409 you can see it. 826 00:48:50,548 --> 00:48:52,999 And you can see him parked here, 827 00:48:53,033 --> 00:48:55,208 and the trooper that was parked down the road. 828 00:48:55,242 --> 00:48:57,175 And then the trooper peeling out. 829 00:48:57,210 --> 00:49:01,145 And then Brian, hearing the... As he described the... [SCRAPING] 830 00:49:01,179 --> 00:49:03,250 The... The rubbing of the legs. 831 00:49:03,285 --> 00:49:05,839 And then, he gets out, puts the light up, 832 00:49:05,873 --> 00:49:08,980 shines it on it, and it turns around. 833 00:49:09,015 --> 00:49:11,086 He kinda has his back, turns around, goes like that. 834 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,398 And it just turns around and keeps on walking. 835 00:49:17,955 --> 00:49:21,441 Like, historically, I think... 836 00:49:21,475 --> 00:49:24,616 this location's really important to the... To the East Coast. 837 00:49:24,651 --> 00:49:27,067 Especially to New York State, 838 00:49:27,102 --> 00:49:30,105 'cause of the Abair Road incident... 839 00:49:30,139 --> 00:49:33,556 But, like... I mean, you and I have talked about it so much 840 00:49:33,591 --> 00:49:35,144 -you're well aware of this -Right. 841 00:49:35,179 --> 00:49:37,008 But just... On, like, a personal level, 842 00:49:37,043 --> 00:49:41,288 this is probably the place where I finally considered 843 00:49:41,323 --> 00:49:43,670 the possibility the Bigfoot was real, 844 00:49:43,704 --> 00:49:46,431 on a natural level. On a real level. 845 00:49:46,466 --> 00:49:49,296 Like, beyond just, like, fun, myth-making kinda stuff. 846 00:49:49,331 --> 00:49:52,230 What was it about the location then? 847 00:49:52,265 --> 00:49:53,783 I've never been able to figure it out 848 00:49:53,818 --> 00:49:55,509 because of all the places we've gone, 849 00:49:55,544 --> 00:49:59,099 this is the location that I... genuinely love. 850 00:49:59,134 --> 00:50:00,583 -Right. -I just love to be here. 851 00:50:00,618 --> 00:50:02,171 Love to come out here. 852 00:50:02,206 --> 00:50:04,208 And, we... We've spent... 853 00:50:04,242 --> 00:50:06,762 I mean, I've been... This is my fourth trip here. 854 00:50:06,796 --> 00:50:09,213 You know, on every trip we spend multiple nights 855 00:50:09,247 --> 00:50:12,768 -out here, just doing this. Just hanging out. -Mmm-hmm. 856 00:50:12,802 --> 00:50:14,494 So, I don't know what it is about the location 857 00:50:14,528 --> 00:50:18,049 other than, maybe, just... You're just so aware of the history of the place. 858 00:50:18,084 --> 00:50:21,466 That it... Being here almost brings it to life. 859 00:50:21,501 --> 00:50:23,192 -Mmm-hmm. -The... The incident... 860 00:50:23,227 --> 00:50:27,231 to life. And just you... You do, sort of, 861 00:50:27,265 --> 00:50:30,441 gain a love or create a certain... 862 00:50:30,475 --> 00:50:33,237 -There's a certain love for the story. -Yeah. 863 00:50:33,271 --> 00:50:36,274 And this... This really does put it in a different perspective, 864 00:50:36,309 --> 00:50:38,656 a real, like, real life perspective. 865 00:50:38,690 --> 00:50:40,106 So I think that's a big part of it. 866 00:50:40,934 --> 00:50:42,729 What's it like for you to be here? 867 00:50:42,763 --> 00:50:44,455 Um, yeah, it's great. 868 00:50:44,489 --> 00:50:48,045 -I mean, it's the first time I've seen any of it. -Yeah. 869 00:50:48,079 --> 00:50:49,770 Yeah, it's... It's pretty crazy. 870 00:50:49,805 --> 00:50:52,566 And having just been down in, uh... 871 00:50:52,601 --> 00:50:54,223 -The river valley. -The river, yeah. 872 00:50:54,258 --> 00:50:57,019 -You can kinda put some pieces together... -Right. 873 00:50:57,054 --> 00:50:58,089 ...in an interesting way. 874 00:50:58,124 --> 00:51:00,540 -Where it might have traveled and why? -Right. 875 00:51:13,898 --> 00:51:17,281 SETH: We headed back to base camp for our final night on Buck Mountain. 876 00:51:17,315 --> 00:51:21,319 There, Steve Calls unveiled a piece of history, in the way of sighting maps 877 00:51:21,354 --> 00:51:24,426 that he's been working on for over 20 years. 878 00:51:24,460 --> 00:51:29,258 Maps that help to show the ebb and flow of activity around the region. 879 00:51:29,293 --> 00:51:32,399 -Yeah, just tell us what these are first. -STEVE: Okay, so... 880 00:51:32,434 --> 00:51:36,990 What I try to do is... These are the, uh, the geographical survey maps 881 00:51:37,024 --> 00:51:39,682 of, uh, the areas that, you know, 882 00:51:39,717 --> 00:51:43,790 are... Are, you know... From basically, Lake George to the Vermont state line. 883 00:51:43,824 --> 00:51:46,827 What I've done is I've marked with dots 884 00:51:46,862 --> 00:51:48,864 different events that had happened, 885 00:51:48,898 --> 00:51:50,866 -relating to Sasquatch sightings... -SETH: Mmm-hmm. 886 00:51:50,900 --> 00:51:52,385 STEVE: ...in and around the area. 887 00:51:52,419 --> 00:51:54,490 This is the area we're in over here. 888 00:51:54,525 --> 00:51:57,493 This is... You know, 20 years of me coming up here 889 00:51:57,528 --> 00:52:00,393 mainly is the reason why it includes the forty end casts. 890 00:52:00,427 --> 00:52:04,949 and the... And the, uh... You know, 2003 there was vocalizations heard, 891 00:52:04,983 --> 00:52:06,433 pilot knob... 892 00:52:06,468 --> 00:52:10,299 And, uh, you know, the different base camps, over the years, we've used. 893 00:52:10,334 --> 00:52:13,026 SETH: How many individual events is that? 894 00:52:13,060 --> 00:52:15,062 -A dozen, or so. -Okay. 895 00:52:15,097 --> 00:52:19,239 Um, not... You know, some by our own team, some by others. 896 00:52:19,274 --> 00:52:20,723 -The one right here... -SETH: Mmm-hmm. 897 00:52:20,758 --> 00:52:23,036 -STEVE: ...is actually the one that... That brought us here. -Mmm-hmm. 898 00:52:23,070 --> 00:52:24,382 STEVE: Brought me here 20 years ago. 899 00:52:24,417 --> 00:52:26,833 And, as you can see, as you go west, 900 00:52:26,867 --> 00:52:30,388 um, it's almost like this is a... A push... 901 00:52:30,423 --> 00:52:33,598 through here, into the area. 902 00:52:33,633 --> 00:52:37,361 Um, which is Whitehall, which is, kind of, to me, the crossroads. 903 00:52:37,395 --> 00:52:40,433 And, you know, you see heavy concentrations of events. 904 00:52:40,467 --> 00:52:42,642 And a couple of those events are... Are with our team. 905 00:52:42,676 --> 00:52:48,199 But the rest of the events, actually, were from witnesses since the 1960s. 906 00:52:48,234 --> 00:52:50,408 SETH: Where... Where's the Poultney, where we were tonight? 907 00:52:50,443 --> 00:52:53,377 STEVE: Uh, Poultney is gonna be right here. 908 00:52:53,411 --> 00:52:56,518 -As you can see, it's gonna come right along here. -Mmm. 909 00:52:56,552 --> 00:53:00,522 -And it's gonna go into Whitehall that way. -SETH: Okay. 910 00:53:00,556 --> 00:53:04,974 -You can see...right. -STEVE: ...how all those are... canal or waterway. 911 00:53:05,009 --> 00:53:08,875 So, is it possible that some kind of straggled along and went that way? 912 00:53:08,909 --> 00:53:10,083 Absolutely. 913 00:53:10,117 --> 00:53:13,051 So, it... To me what it's showing is movement. -Right. 914 00:53:13,086 --> 00:53:16,365 Um, even if they don't go into the Green Mountains, 915 00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:18,195 it shows a lot of movement in here. 916 00:53:18,229 --> 00:53:20,818 Of course, now that I've seen Carvers Falls, 917 00:53:20,852 --> 00:53:23,752 -you know, there's a lot of pine in here. -Mmm-hmm. 918 00:53:23,786 --> 00:53:26,375 Uh, so that... That's important 919 00:53:26,410 --> 00:53:27,997 -because again it may provide... -Cold... 920 00:53:28,032 --> 00:53:29,033 It might provide... 921 00:53:29,067 --> 00:53:31,104 Yeah, it might provide some more cover, so... 922 00:53:31,138 --> 00:53:35,522 So, well... maybe it's just kind of a movement into here and into Carvers Falls. 923 00:53:35,557 --> 00:53:39,871 -Hmm. -And... you know, you kind of see the distinct pattern 924 00:53:39,906 --> 00:53:41,597 -of where things are going. -Yeah. 925 00:54:25,158 --> 00:54:27,298 SETH: Ninety-eight miles south of Whitehall, 926 00:54:27,333 --> 00:54:29,576 lies another small New York town, 927 00:54:29,611 --> 00:54:33,615 that has a significant role in Bigfoot's story on the East Coast. 928 00:54:33,649 --> 00:54:36,134 I first became aware of the village of Kinderhook 929 00:54:36,169 --> 00:54:38,136 while making theBeast of Whitehall. 930 00:54:38,171 --> 00:54:41,623 Paul Bartholomew was eager for me to learn about the infamous rash 931 00:54:41,657 --> 00:54:44,971 of strange creature reports that took place in the early 1980s. 932 00:54:45,005 --> 00:54:47,214 And I was so fascinated by the stories 933 00:54:47,249 --> 00:54:49,665 that I ended up including a brief news segment 934 00:54:49,700 --> 00:54:54,946 that a TV news crew from Albany had done on the Kinderhook creature in our film. 935 00:54:54,981 --> 00:54:58,502 We journeyed out of the Adirondack area to visit Western Massachusetts, 936 00:54:58,536 --> 00:55:01,194 and to learn more about Bigfoot in the Northeast. 937 00:55:01,228 --> 00:55:04,991 When we discovered that Kinderhook was right along our travel route, 938 00:55:05,025 --> 00:55:08,719 we made a beeline for this tiny hamlet in the Hudson Valley. 939 00:55:08,753 --> 00:55:11,480 Upon arrival, we met up with Bruce Hallenbeck, 940 00:55:11,515 --> 00:55:13,655 a key player in the creature case, 941 00:55:13,689 --> 00:55:18,522 as well as one of the co-authors of Monsters of the Northwoods. 942 00:55:18,556 --> 00:55:21,697 Can you talk about the Kinderhook creature sightings... 943 00:55:21,732 --> 00:55:25,356 uh, and... and... Bruce, and all that kind of stuff? 944 00:55:25,391 --> 00:55:28,428 Sure. If... You know in some of these regions, 945 00:55:28,463 --> 00:55:30,465 it's not what you would expect. 946 00:55:30,499 --> 00:55:32,812 Albany, New York, uh, the capital of New York. 947 00:55:32,846 --> 00:55:34,952 If you go just 10 miles south, 948 00:55:34,986 --> 00:55:37,023 you will run into Kinderhook, New York. 949 00:55:37,057 --> 00:55:38,542 They have a creature down there. 950 00:55:38,576 --> 00:55:40,992 The leading expert on the Kinderhook creature 951 00:55:41,027 --> 00:55:42,925 is Bruce G. Hallenbeck. 952 00:55:42,960 --> 00:55:46,101 And Bruce Hallenbeck, uh, several members of his family, 953 00:55:46,135 --> 00:55:47,723 have had close encounters, 954 00:55:47,758 --> 00:55:52,418 with, uh, a creature, and multiple creatures down in that region. 955 00:55:52,452 --> 00:55:57,837 And a lot of the Kinderhook creature sightings took place in or around 1980. 956 00:55:57,871 --> 00:56:03,394 Which is not all that far removed from the Abair incident of 1976. 957 00:56:03,429 --> 00:56:06,915 This was a time in history where Bigfoot sightings were happening 958 00:56:06,949 --> 00:56:10,263 all over the country, and there was a general sense 959 00:56:10,297 --> 00:56:12,817 that it's all right to talk about these things. 960 00:56:12,852 --> 00:56:15,958 TV PRESENTER: ...creature or creatures in the Kinderhook area. 961 00:56:15,993 --> 00:56:18,616 It's very elusive, whatever it is. 962 00:56:18,651 --> 00:56:23,103 In fact, Hallenbeck says this thing is so elusive that he'll sometimes see tracks, 963 00:56:23,138 --> 00:56:27,349 and then they suddenly stop, as if the creature had vanished into thin air... 964 00:56:27,384 --> 00:56:30,490 SETH: Can you walk us through Kinderhook creature attacks? 965 00:56:30,525 --> 00:56:32,285 The Kinderhook creature story 966 00:56:32,319 --> 00:56:34,563 really is, in a way, the story of my grandmother. 967 00:56:34,598 --> 00:56:36,703 But it started with another family member of mine 968 00:56:36,738 --> 00:56:38,912 my cousin, Barry, who was 969 00:56:38,947 --> 00:56:41,950 trapping down in the swamp land behind my parents' house. 970 00:56:41,984 --> 00:56:45,263 One day, he came running up to the house, and I was here, 971 00:56:45,298 --> 00:56:47,265 and his face was as white as a sheet, 972 00:56:47,300 --> 00:56:52,961 and he said he had seen three creatures cross the creek down there 973 00:56:52,995 --> 00:56:56,551 that were tall, bipedal, and had reddish-brown hair. 974 00:56:56,585 --> 00:56:59,450 And they were making clacking and grunting sounds. 975 00:56:59,485 --> 00:57:02,280 Much later that year, my grandmother had noticed 976 00:57:02,315 --> 00:57:05,525 that something was taking her trash bags 977 00:57:05,560 --> 00:57:08,114 from the... The garbage can on the porch. 978 00:57:08,148 --> 00:57:10,427 Taking the bags down to the middle of the yard, 979 00:57:10,461 --> 00:57:12,532 untying them like a person would do, 980 00:57:12,567 --> 00:57:16,398 and rifling through, to apparently look for food. 981 00:57:16,433 --> 00:57:18,055 So, it must've had fingers, right? 982 00:57:18,089 --> 00:57:20,298 My grandmother also found out that 983 00:57:20,333 --> 00:57:23,129 her neighbor, uh, a woman named Mrs. Walters, 984 00:57:23,163 --> 00:57:24,889 was having the same experiences. 985 00:57:24,924 --> 00:57:28,479 And she found her trash bag up in a tree, one day. 986 00:57:28,514 --> 00:57:33,864 And then, uh, one morning, my grandmother got up early, around 5:00, 987 00:57:33,898 --> 00:57:35,831 and it was just getting light, 988 00:57:35,866 --> 00:57:38,385 and she looked out the... The kitchen window, 989 00:57:38,420 --> 00:57:41,112 and saw something lying on the ground 990 00:57:41,147 --> 00:57:43,701 all curled up, she said, like in the fetal position. 991 00:57:43,736 --> 00:57:48,085 A creature curled up in the fetal position on her lawn. 992 00:57:48,119 --> 00:57:50,846 And she watched for a minute thinking it was a bear 993 00:57:50,881 --> 00:57:53,780 that was gonna get up and walk, you know, and lumber away. 994 00:57:53,815 --> 00:57:57,612 Whatever it was, got up, stood on two legs, and walked away. 995 00:57:57,646 --> 00:58:01,167 And they wrote to theTimes Union back then, 996 00:58:01,201 --> 00:58:03,549 a columnist named Barney Fowler. 997 00:58:03,583 --> 00:58:06,034 And he dubbed it, "The Kinderhook Creature." 998 00:58:06,068 --> 00:58:07,656 MAN: ...encounter with the creature. 999 00:58:08,381 --> 00:58:10,176 [MUMBLING] 1000 00:58:10,210 --> 00:58:12,316 Big, tall. 1001 00:58:12,350 --> 00:58:15,215 And it was standing on its two feet, 1002 00:58:15,250 --> 00:58:16,872 just like a person. 1003 00:58:16,907 --> 00:58:19,219 And covered with black hair. And... 1004 00:58:19,254 --> 00:58:20,738 So, he published a letter, 1005 00:58:20,773 --> 00:58:22,809 and as a result of that, 1006 00:58:22,844 --> 00:58:25,018 scores of other people wrote in, 1007 00:58:25,053 --> 00:58:26,882 saying that they had had similar experiences... 1008 00:58:26,917 --> 00:58:30,127 They'd either seen something, or they heard something they couldn't explain. 1009 00:58:30,161 --> 00:58:33,337 And they were all in the same general area here in Columbia County. 1010 00:58:33,371 --> 00:58:36,547 It got to the point where he was getting deluged with so many letters, 1011 00:58:36,582 --> 00:58:39,619 he finally had to say, "Okay. That's enough. We have to stop now. 1012 00:58:39,654 --> 00:58:41,518 "We have to go on to other topics." 1013 00:58:42,933 --> 00:58:46,868 Finally, in September... September 24th, 1980, 1014 00:58:46,902 --> 00:58:50,216 my aunt Barbara was bringing my grandmother home from her house. 1015 00:58:50,250 --> 00:58:52,563 As soon as my grandmother got out of the car, 1016 00:58:52,598 --> 00:58:54,945 she heard this noise from around the side of the house, 1017 00:58:54,979 --> 00:58:59,190 that she described as sounding like a person in mortal agony. 1018 00:58:59,225 --> 00:59:00,778 [SCREECHING] 1019 00:59:00,813 --> 00:59:05,300 My aunt Barbara heard it, and she was so... So terrified that she panicked, 1020 00:59:05,334 --> 00:59:08,579 and she locked all the doors before my grandmother could get back in the car. 1021 00:59:08,614 --> 00:59:11,306 What eventually happened was my grandmother came in to the house, 1022 00:59:11,340 --> 00:59:15,137 and my aunt Barbara went to get my cousin Barry, who had a shotgun, 1023 00:59:15,172 --> 00:59:17,001 My grandmother stayed in the house, 1024 00:59:17,036 --> 00:59:19,832 holding a hammer in her hand.[CHUCKLES] Sitting by the window. 1025 00:59:19,866 --> 00:59:22,697 Ready for anything, I guess, 'cause she was a tough lady. 1026 00:59:22,731 --> 00:59:25,976 My aunt Barbara came back with, uh, her son Barry. 1027 00:59:26,010 --> 00:59:29,151 And Barry got up on the porch with a shotgun. 1028 00:59:29,186 --> 00:59:31,602 And he heard the rustling of leaves, 1029 00:59:31,637 --> 00:59:35,261 and he heard the thing moving near the trees. 1030 00:59:35,295 --> 00:59:38,229 And, so he fired the shotgun up into the air, 1031 00:59:38,264 --> 00:59:40,335 and everything went silent. 1032 00:59:41,578 --> 00:59:44,546 Then he fired it again, and he said this time 1033 00:59:44,581 --> 00:59:46,065 flame came out the barrel of the gun, 1034 00:59:46,099 --> 00:59:49,724 and the creature screamed and ran away. 1035 00:59:49,758 --> 00:59:51,726 And, uh, that was the end of it. 1036 00:59:51,760 --> 00:59:54,004 They didn't hear anything more that night. 1037 00:59:54,038 --> 00:59:57,559 So, there were a lot of sightings, and a lot of vocalizations 1038 00:59:57,594 --> 00:59:59,112 going on through the '80s... 1039 00:59:59,147 --> 01:00:02,184 up in... into, uh, late 1988 actually, 1040 01:00:02,219 --> 01:00:05,291 when my mother tape recorded a strange creature, 1041 01:00:05,325 --> 01:00:08,915 making all kinds of bizarre noises across the road from their house. 1042 01:00:12,678 --> 01:00:15,197 SETH: Can you, uh, start by telling me, 1043 01:00:15,232 --> 01:00:17,890 uh, your name and your connection to the story. 1044 01:00:17,924 --> 01:00:19,616 The Kinderhook Creature story. 1045 01:00:19,650 --> 01:00:21,894 I'm Susan Hallenbeck, and I live here. 1046 01:00:21,928 --> 01:00:24,379 My mother and I would tape the noises, and... 1047 01:00:24,413 --> 01:00:28,417 uh, heard noises for quite a while over that one summer. 1048 01:00:28,452 --> 01:00:30,834 When was it, like '82 and again in '88. 1049 01:00:30,868 --> 01:00:33,008 '82 was a variety of strange noises, 1050 01:00:33,043 --> 01:00:36,011 like, uh, sometimes it would sound like a pig squealing, 1051 01:00:36,046 --> 01:00:38,255 and other times it would sound like a giant bird. 1052 01:00:38,289 --> 01:00:39,877 Like a pterodactyl or something. 1053 01:00:39,912 --> 01:00:43,432 And, um, sometimes it would sound almost like a monkey. 1054 01:00:43,467 --> 01:00:46,125 Um, there was also... I think it was when we made a tape, 1055 01:00:46,159 --> 01:00:47,298 if I'm not mistaken, 1056 01:00:47,333 --> 01:00:50,198 that my father went over across the road with a shotgun, 1057 01:00:50,232 --> 01:00:52,200 trying to see if he could see anything. 1058 01:00:52,234 --> 01:00:54,651 And he said he saw something with red eyes. 1059 01:00:54,685 --> 01:00:55,962 Something that he saw with red eyes, 1060 01:00:55,997 --> 01:00:58,689 and he said there aren't really any animals native to this area 1061 01:00:58,724 --> 01:01:00,277 -that have red eyes. -SETH: Mmm-hmm. 1062 01:01:00,311 --> 01:01:02,693 So... [CLICKS TONGUE] That was part of it. 1063 01:01:02,728 --> 01:01:05,178 -WOMAN: Still plays. -It still... Oh, you have the original one? 1064 01:01:05,213 --> 01:01:07,560 Is that in there? Oh, okay, you've done it. 1065 01:01:07,594 --> 01:01:09,804 -SETH: That's exciting. -All right. 1066 01:01:09,838 --> 01:01:11,668 [STATIC ON RECORDER] 1067 01:01:21,608 --> 01:01:22,748 That it? 1068 01:01:22,782 --> 01:01:24,404 Well, I was trying to turn it up. 1069 01:01:25,371 --> 01:01:27,373 [STATIC CONTINUES] 1070 01:01:37,832 --> 01:01:40,006 [SQUAWKING ON TAPE] 1071 01:02:03,892 --> 01:02:05,825 I don't think we can hear anything else, but... 1072 01:02:05,860 --> 01:02:09,070 We were almost wondering if it was some kind of a bird thing, because... 1073 01:02:09,104 --> 01:02:12,245 Yeah, it would make weird bird noises... We still don't know about that. 1074 01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:14,247 And then we shined the light on it, 1075 01:02:14,282 --> 01:02:16,905 and then, couple seconds later, it was down 1076 01:02:16,940 --> 01:02:18,976 at the other end of the field where that driveway is. 1077 01:02:19,011 --> 01:02:21,151 Yeah, it moved fast, whatever it was, or there were two of them. 1078 01:02:21,185 --> 01:02:22,600 It moved fast whatever it was. 1079 01:02:22,635 --> 01:02:24,326 SETH: But he said he saw something with red eyes. 1080 01:02:24,361 --> 01:02:25,949 Red eyes, that's all he saw... 1081 01:02:29,573 --> 01:02:30,988 BRUCE: The sightings continued. 1082 01:02:31,023 --> 01:02:33,577 Uh, there were some very interesting experiences 1083 01:02:33,611 --> 01:02:36,822 that, uh, people had, who were neighbors of ours. 1084 01:02:36,856 --> 01:02:40,032 There was a fellow up the road named, uh, Philip Wineguard 1085 01:02:40,066 --> 01:02:41,965 who said that he saw it in a swamp. 1086 01:02:41,999 --> 01:02:44,174 You know, the... The typical description, 1087 01:02:44,208 --> 01:02:45,865 and he said it was making a horrible sound. 1088 01:02:45,900 --> 01:02:49,489 There was an excellent sighting by a fellow named Mike Mabb, 1089 01:02:49,524 --> 01:02:53,355 who was fishing at a nearby dam, one day. 1090 01:02:53,390 --> 01:02:56,117 And he saw across the creek, 1091 01:02:56,151 --> 01:02:58,188 this creature come out of the woods. 1092 01:02:58,222 --> 01:03:01,122 And this was in broad daylight, mind you, this was in the afternoon. 1093 01:03:01,156 --> 01:03:03,400 He said it had reddish-brown hair, 1094 01:03:03,434 --> 01:03:05,160 very big dark eyes. 1095 01:03:05,195 --> 01:03:08,060 He even said that he could see its fingernails were black. 1096 01:03:08,094 --> 01:03:10,372 And finally it turned and went back into the woods, 1097 01:03:10,407 --> 01:03:11,684 and that was the end of it. 1098 01:03:15,101 --> 01:03:18,553 So what you have in the Kinderhook location, 1099 01:03:18,587 --> 01:03:20,797 is that green pathway, 1100 01:03:20,831 --> 01:03:25,215 going from the Adirondacks, down around the Albany area 1101 01:03:25,249 --> 01:03:27,562 and along the Hudson River then. 1102 01:03:27,596 --> 01:03:29,667 You can also extend that eastward. 1103 01:03:29,702 --> 01:03:31,980 And if you go about 50 miles east, 1104 01:03:32,015 --> 01:03:36,088 then again you're running into Greylock, uh, Mountain. 1105 01:03:36,122 --> 01:03:40,161 You're running into the Savoy State Forest in Western Massachusetts. 1106 01:03:40,195 --> 01:03:42,819 While it wouldn't seem immediately evident 1107 01:03:42,853 --> 01:03:46,167 that this would be a place for strange creature locations, 1108 01:03:46,201 --> 01:03:49,101 uh, there seems to be a... A sensible way 1109 01:03:49,135 --> 01:03:52,829 that this is linked to other areas of New York. 1110 01:03:55,038 --> 01:03:58,455 SETH: It's somewhat surreal to visit a place like Kinderhook. 1111 01:03:58,489 --> 01:04:01,907 Almost like you've stepped foot in a fictional location. 1112 01:04:01,941 --> 01:04:05,669 This town, like Whitehall, is so tied into Bigfoot lore 1113 01:04:05,703 --> 01:04:08,775 that any book, documentary, or podcast on the topic, 1114 01:04:08,810 --> 01:04:12,262 will almost inevitably get around to bringing it up. 1115 01:04:12,296 --> 01:04:16,162 "A landmark case," as Paul Bartholomew would call it, 1116 01:04:16,197 --> 01:04:19,269 can imprint itself onto an entire community. 1117 01:04:19,303 --> 01:04:21,858 Even if it's only in the eyes of those who experienced 1118 01:04:21,892 --> 01:04:23,687 something unusual for themselves. 1119 01:04:25,102 --> 01:04:28,002 It reminds me, in a way, of the Pacific Northwest 1120 01:04:28,036 --> 01:04:29,658 and how towns like Willow Creek 1121 01:04:29,693 --> 01:04:32,213 are forever linked to their local Bigfoot. 1122 01:04:32,247 --> 01:04:35,250 And just like Sasquatch left a mark on the men and women 1123 01:04:35,285 --> 01:04:38,219 who experienced it in the towns where the legend was born, 1124 01:04:38,253 --> 01:04:41,670 here on the East Coast, the story remains the same. 1125 01:04:42,775 --> 01:04:46,710 One thing that's impressed me in the 40 years is... 1126 01:04:46,744 --> 01:04:51,335 how this topic can be a life changer for certain people. 1127 01:04:51,370 --> 01:04:54,235 A lot of people, this is not a positive experience, 1128 01:04:54,269 --> 01:04:56,823 but can be a negative experience for them. 1129 01:04:56,858 --> 01:05:01,725 Uh, some researchers I've met, treat this almost like a religion. 1130 01:05:01,759 --> 01:05:03,727 And I would warn against that. 1131 01:05:03,761 --> 01:05:06,247 Take the information down, enjoy life, 1132 01:05:06,281 --> 01:05:09,698 and just, uh, report on it as accurately as possible. 1133 01:05:09,733 --> 01:05:12,425 MAN: And just on a... A sort of practical level, you know, 1134 01:05:12,460 --> 01:05:16,084 just the... The idea of human beings exploring their world. 1135 01:05:16,119 --> 01:05:18,845 Whether it's just other people, or other... places, 1136 01:05:18,880 --> 01:05:22,642 and these exotic, remote countries and that type of thing. 1137 01:05:22,677 --> 01:05:25,197 It is just sort of a natural inclination to human beings 1138 01:05:25,231 --> 01:05:26,957 to... To go out and explore... 1139 01:05:26,992 --> 01:05:29,856 At the same time, uh, you have things like 1140 01:05:29,891 --> 01:05:33,860 ghosts or the paranormal or some kind of anomalous phenomenon 1141 01:05:33,895 --> 01:05:36,208 that seems to, sort of, toy with us. 1142 01:05:36,242 --> 01:05:41,316 And wants to be explored whether we want it to be around or not. 1143 01:05:41,351 --> 01:05:43,353 SETH: By the time we left Kinderhook, 1144 01:05:43,387 --> 01:05:45,355 it was already late afternoon. 1145 01:05:45,389 --> 01:05:48,530 That evening we were to meet up with Squatchachusetts, 1146 01:05:48,565 --> 01:05:52,258 a Bigfoot research group, operated out of Western Massachusetts, 1147 01:05:52,293 --> 01:05:54,467 and headed by Jonathan Wilk. 1148 01:05:54,502 --> 01:05:56,745 We were still roughly two hours from the location 1149 01:05:56,780 --> 01:05:59,541 where we would be conducting our night investigation, 1150 01:05:59,576 --> 01:06:02,751 so, with the sun setting behind the hills around Kinderhook, 1151 01:06:02,786 --> 01:06:04,581 we made our way further east. 1152 01:06:06,686 --> 01:06:10,276 As we began to journey from the populated regions of Upstate New York, 1153 01:06:10,311 --> 01:06:15,695 the changing terrain gave way to the densely forested areas of the Northeast Coast. 1154 01:06:15,730 --> 01:06:18,457 Here, not far from the suburban sprawl of cities, 1155 01:06:18,491 --> 01:06:20,321 like Boston and Hartford, 1156 01:06:20,355 --> 01:06:21,598 we found ourselves 1157 01:06:21,632 --> 01:06:23,945 among strangely familiar mountains and foothills. 1158 01:06:27,121 --> 01:06:30,883 Familiar, because here, nine hours from home in Ohio, 1159 01:06:30,917 --> 01:06:34,162 we'd once again found ourselves in Appalachia. 1160 01:06:34,197 --> 01:06:36,026 The frontiers of the Adirondacks, 1161 01:06:36,061 --> 01:06:39,167 had given way to the backwoods of the Appalachian Mountains. 1162 01:06:39,202 --> 01:06:41,963 And maybe here, three hours from Whitehall, 1163 01:06:41,998 --> 01:06:43,896 we would find some clue 1164 01:06:43,930 --> 01:06:46,726 as to where the creatures that wandered down from the high peaks... 1165 01:06:46,761 --> 01:06:47,727 might end up. 1166 01:06:49,281 --> 01:06:52,146 All right, um, start out by telling me your name 1167 01:06:52,180 --> 01:06:54,148 and your connection to the Bigfoot subject. 1168 01:06:54,182 --> 01:06:55,839 Uh, my name's Jonathan Wilk, 1169 01:06:55,873 --> 01:06:57,427 and, I... We're here 1170 01:06:57,461 --> 01:06:59,670 in Savoy Mountain State Forest this evening 1171 01:06:59,705 --> 01:07:02,156 and my connection to Bigfoot was... 1172 01:07:02,190 --> 01:07:04,365 I was a park ranger up here, 1173 01:07:04,399 --> 01:07:06,574 uh, back in the '80s and the '90s. 1174 01:07:06,608 --> 01:07:09,991 And I had one run right out in front of my pickup truck one night. 1175 01:07:10,026 --> 01:07:12,373 About a mile from where we are tonight. 1176 01:07:12,407 --> 01:07:15,065 SETH: What is it about this particular area 1177 01:07:15,100 --> 01:07:16,687 that you think draws them here 1178 01:07:16,722 --> 01:07:20,070 -or might... Or might contribute to their existence... -Well, all of New England 1179 01:07:20,105 --> 01:07:22,969 is... Is full of patchy sections of forest. 1180 01:07:23,004 --> 01:07:26,594 New England was clear-cut three times over the past 200 years. 1181 01:07:26,628 --> 01:07:28,837 And, so there... There's not a lot of, 1182 01:07:28,872 --> 01:07:31,357 uh... Uh, protected forest land up here. 1183 01:07:31,392 --> 01:07:34,429 And, if you wanna find a Sasquatch in New England, 1184 01:07:34,464 --> 01:07:37,053 go to the few patches of forest that are left. 1185 01:07:37,087 --> 01:07:39,124 The Pacific Northwest is so vast, 1186 01:07:39,158 --> 01:07:41,022 there's so many places to hide. 1187 01:07:41,057 --> 01:07:43,956 Here, in New England, there's not a lot of places to hide. 1188 01:07:43,990 --> 01:07:45,958 So, it makes it a lot easier to pinpoint 1189 01:07:45,992 --> 01:07:49,651 where these creatures may be, or may have been. 1190 01:07:49,686 --> 01:07:53,241 Western Massachusetts is at least 50% forested. 1191 01:07:53,276 --> 01:07:57,383 From the middle of Massachusetts, west, towards New York, 1192 01:07:57,418 --> 01:08:02,078 there's, there's well over half a million... Uh, forested acres. 1193 01:08:02,112 --> 01:08:04,218 SETH: Uh, start out by telling me your name 1194 01:08:04,252 --> 01:08:05,667 and your connection to the Bigfoot subject. 1195 01:08:05,702 --> 01:08:08,843 I'm Dave McCullough from Massachusetts. 1196 01:08:08,877 --> 01:08:11,604 I work with Squatchachusetts. 1197 01:08:11,639 --> 01:08:14,055 I started out, New York, 2005, 1198 01:08:14,090 --> 01:08:15,643 probably about four years straight, 1199 01:08:15,677 --> 01:08:17,023 just goin' up there. 1200 01:08:17,058 --> 01:08:18,680 That's when I... 1201 01:08:18,715 --> 01:08:20,786 Before I met Jon and Squatchachusetts 1202 01:08:20,820 --> 01:08:22,408 and getting reports around Mass. 1203 01:08:22,443 --> 01:08:25,894 I was always, "Uh, gotta go at least three to four hours 1204 01:08:25,929 --> 01:08:27,620 "up to New Hampshire, Maine, or..." 1205 01:08:27,655 --> 01:08:30,934 Right after going to Whitehall, I was just hooked, and... 1206 01:08:30,968 --> 01:08:34,040 I got to know Paul Bartholomew, a few guys up there, 1207 01:08:34,075 --> 01:08:37,458 uh, you know them all, Paul Gosselin and... 1208 01:08:37,492 --> 01:08:39,529 just talkin' to them, they... They're there. 1209 01:08:39,563 --> 01:08:41,393 They're there. I know they're there. 1210 01:08:41,427 --> 01:08:44,879 Got me hooked and, uh, I've been steadily into it since. 1211 01:08:44,913 --> 01:08:48,193 What is it about this sort of region of the country 1212 01:08:48,227 --> 01:08:50,850 that you think might appeal to something like a Bigfoot? 1213 01:08:50,885 --> 01:08:54,509 Until I actually read up on the East Coast reports, 1214 01:08:54,544 --> 01:08:56,615 Paul Bartholomew, Loren Coleman 1215 01:08:56,649 --> 01:08:59,273 and other researchers from the East. 1216 01:08:59,307 --> 01:09:01,689 Uh, I've just realized it's in my backyard, 1217 01:09:01,723 --> 01:09:03,587 I didn't have to travel far, like, 1218 01:09:03,622 --> 01:09:07,833 in Massachusetts, in general, there's a lot of farms, rolling hills, 1219 01:09:07,867 --> 01:09:12,078 Not as steep and hilly as say maybe New Hampshire, Maine. 1220 01:09:12,113 --> 01:09:14,495 But abundant food supply, 1221 01:09:14,529 --> 01:09:18,223 from west to east, it's really a vast state. 1222 01:09:18,257 --> 01:09:22,779 Doesn't look it on the map, but there is a lot of farms and lands and swamps. 1223 01:09:28,405 --> 01:09:29,855 SETH: So, where are we going tonight? 1224 01:09:29,889 --> 01:09:32,340 Tonight, we're going, uh, about 50 feet over here 1225 01:09:32,375 --> 01:09:34,308 into Savoy State Forest. 1226 01:09:34,342 --> 01:09:37,103 One of the squatchiest places, I feel, in New England. 1227 01:09:37,138 --> 01:09:38,691 There are more reports up here 1228 01:09:38,726 --> 01:09:41,418 then I... Then I know of anywhere else in the area. 1229 01:09:41,453 --> 01:09:43,800 I know this area like the back of my hand. 1230 01:09:43,834 --> 01:09:46,423 I've been working up in here for years. 1231 01:09:46,458 --> 01:09:47,804 I know all the trails. 1232 01:09:47,838 --> 01:09:50,600 I know all the hills. I know all the hiding spots. 1233 01:09:50,634 --> 01:09:53,672 And we have pretty good luck up here. 1234 01:09:53,706 --> 01:09:57,848 I say, you come with us, you got about a 20% chance of something happening. 1235 01:09:57,883 --> 01:10:01,231 -Mmm-hmm. -You got about a zero chance of ever seeing one... 1236 01:10:01,266 --> 01:10:02,957 -Yeah. -But, you might... 1237 01:10:02,991 --> 01:10:06,063 You're almost guaranteed to hear something. 1238 01:10:06,098 --> 01:10:08,480 Either hear something, or have something thrown at us. 1239 01:10:08,514 --> 01:10:09,895 We love when stuff's thrown at us. 1240 01:10:09,929 --> 01:10:11,241 -Yeah. [CHUCKLES] -We encourage that. 1241 01:10:11,276 --> 01:10:13,036 So, 'cause it never really lands near you, 1242 01:10:13,070 --> 01:10:14,175 it just lands around you. 1243 01:10:14,210 --> 01:10:15,901 And they just try to intimidate you, and let you know 1244 01:10:15,935 --> 01:10:18,006 that you're really not welcome here. 1245 01:10:18,041 --> 01:10:19,767 And that we're invading their area. 1246 01:10:19,801 --> 01:10:22,045 And we always respect that. We back out. 1247 01:10:22,079 --> 01:10:24,392 And we... And we just, uh, we go on. 1248 01:10:24,427 --> 01:10:27,326 -Yeah. -And... And that's the end of the show for the night 1249 01:10:27,361 --> 01:10:29,328 when... When something like that happens anyways, 1250 01:10:29,363 --> 01:10:30,743 'cause usually we're pretty... 1251 01:10:30,778 --> 01:10:32,987 -Everyone in the group's shooken up, and we're ready to... -Yeah. 1252 01:10:33,021 --> 01:10:35,576 -We're ready to move on to the next place. -Sort of respectfully. 1253 01:10:35,610 --> 01:10:38,579 -Yeah, you respectively retreat. -Yeah. [CHUCKLES] 1254 01:10:38,613 --> 01:10:40,305 Try to walk kinda quietly, 1255 01:10:40,339 --> 01:10:44,309 you know, 'cause everybody's trying to turn their ears on as much as possible, 1256 01:10:44,343 --> 01:10:45,896 and listen. 1257 01:10:45,931 --> 01:10:49,555 Uh, we have extra flares. We can pass 'em around if anybody wants to use 'em. 1258 01:10:49,590 --> 01:10:51,454 And let's go have some fun. 1259 01:10:51,488 --> 01:10:52,800 All right. Let's do it. 1260 01:11:25,936 --> 01:11:29,733 SETH: You can travel all over the country, maybe even the world, 1261 01:11:29,768 --> 01:11:32,564 and find a variation of the same story. 1262 01:11:32,598 --> 01:11:35,774 A human being, an unexpected encounter, 1263 01:11:35,808 --> 01:11:37,293 a life changed. 1264 01:11:39,778 --> 01:11:42,367 Something about being in the forest here in the Northeast 1265 01:11:42,401 --> 01:11:44,265 just drives it home for me. 1266 01:11:46,474 --> 01:11:50,444 While the Pacific Northwest is vast with endless acres of forest, 1267 01:11:50,478 --> 01:11:54,033 here, we're never that far from civilization. 1268 01:11:54,068 --> 01:11:58,003 Yet, people are still claiming encounters with the creature known as Bigfoot. 1269 01:11:58,037 --> 01:11:59,729 In their own backyard, 1270 01:11:59,763 --> 01:12:02,663 these men and women are still able to wander into the forest 1271 01:12:02,697 --> 01:12:04,941 and maybe, just maybe, 1272 01:12:04,975 --> 01:12:07,737 find themselves with something more than just a mystery 1273 01:12:07,771 --> 01:12:10,395 or an excuse to head outside during a pandemic. 1274 01:12:13,190 --> 01:12:15,469 Here, along the Appalachian Mountains, 1275 01:12:15,503 --> 01:12:17,781 we're in the heart of the Adirondacks. 1276 01:12:17,816 --> 01:12:21,854 You can find yourself face to face with a legend. 1277 01:12:21,889 --> 01:12:24,995 It was a really hot summer night and we just had a thunderstorm. 1278 01:12:25,030 --> 01:12:28,447 And I always remember that fresh smell of the ozone in the air. 1279 01:12:28,482 --> 01:12:29,759 Had the window rolled down. 1280 01:12:29,793 --> 01:12:31,450 It was probably about 80 degrees out. 1281 01:12:31,485 --> 01:12:34,039 Listening to the Red Sox on my AM radio, 1282 01:12:34,073 --> 01:12:35,696 checking some of the outlying boundaries. 1283 01:12:35,730 --> 01:12:38,423 Which one of them is not too far from here. 1284 01:12:38,457 --> 01:12:41,253 So I pulled into this place called Tannery Falls Parking Lot. 1285 01:12:41,287 --> 01:12:43,600 It's a day-use area where people can have a picnic 1286 01:12:43,635 --> 01:12:47,811 and also go visit this, uh, 300-foot cascading waterfall. 1287 01:12:47,846 --> 01:12:52,368 And I get out of the truck to pick up some garbage that was on the ground. 1288 01:12:52,402 --> 01:12:56,406 And as I came around the truck, this noise came from the woods. 1289 01:12:56,441 --> 01:12:59,996 This six and a half foot tall, hairy creature came running out, 1290 01:13:00,030 --> 01:13:01,342 grabbed the trash in front of me 1291 01:13:01,377 --> 01:13:03,413 and took off around the other side of the truck. 1292 01:13:03,448 --> 01:13:07,175 As it came around the side of the truck, it looked me right in the eye. 1293 01:13:07,210 --> 01:13:11,559 I was pretty much paralyzed with fear and shock and awe. 1294 01:13:11,594 --> 01:13:14,010 I went to jump in the truck, and when I turned, 1295 01:13:14,044 --> 01:13:17,427 there was about an eight and a half foot one standing behind the truck 1296 01:13:17,462 --> 01:13:20,292 that let out a scream that can only be compared 1297 01:13:20,326 --> 01:13:24,607 to probably a gorilla and a lion screaming at the same time. 1298 01:13:24,641 --> 01:13:26,505 The other one took off. It was out of sight. 1299 01:13:26,540 --> 01:13:28,058 Because it was pitch dark up there 1300 01:13:28,093 --> 01:13:29,784 all you could see was just what the headlights 1301 01:13:29,819 --> 01:13:31,303 and tail lights were illuminating. 1302 01:14:07,822 --> 01:14:10,307 -Did you hear that? -Yeah. 1303 01:14:10,342 --> 01:14:12,482 -Oh, oh, he's here. -Is it moving? 1304 01:14:12,517 --> 01:14:14,933 -It did. -It could be the windmills. 1305 01:14:15,589 --> 01:14:17,625 [INDISTINCT CHATTERING] 1306 01:14:17,660 --> 01:14:19,593 It could be the windmills. 1307 01:14:19,627 --> 01:14:21,836 There's windmills way up in the entrance. 1308 01:14:21,871 --> 01:14:25,150 [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] 1309 01:14:25,184 --> 01:14:27,497 Everyone was talking at once. 1310 01:14:27,532 --> 01:14:28,774 Yeah. 1311 01:14:28,809 --> 01:14:30,327 And in the middle of it, there was a real... 1312 01:14:35,229 --> 01:14:37,783 [KNOCK] 1313 01:14:37,818 --> 01:14:39,785 -Did you hear that? -Yeah. 1314 01:14:44,549 --> 01:14:45,860 [KNOCK] 1315 01:14:47,172 --> 01:14:48,967 -Did you hear that? -Yeah. 1316 01:14:55,905 --> 01:15:01,531 [KNOCK] 1317 01:15:05,570 --> 01:15:07,088 They're huge. They're far, far, far. 1318 01:15:07,123 --> 01:15:08,607 -They're like 40 miles... -Seth said he heard something. 1319 01:15:08,642 --> 01:15:12,887 Dude, I thought in the middle of all you guys talking, I think I heard him. 1320 01:15:12,922 --> 01:15:15,303 -Thought you... -Oh, I don't... 1321 01:15:15,338 --> 01:15:18,099 Did you not... Did you hear something that sounds like drumming? 1322 01:15:18,652 --> 01:15:19,998 -No. -You didn't? 1323 01:15:20,032 --> 01:15:22,794 -I didn't. -Everyone was talking at once. 1324 01:15:22,828 --> 01:15:23,829 Yeah. 1325 01:15:25,348 --> 01:15:27,937 That first one, I think was legit. 1326 01:15:27,971 --> 01:15:29,732 Where do you think it came from? 1327 01:15:29,766 --> 01:15:33,805 The first one, I have no idea, 'cause it was literally right when you guys saw that. 1328 01:15:34,633 --> 01:15:36,532 -Everyone started talking... -Yeah. 1329 01:15:36,566 --> 01:15:37,947 and all of a sudden, I just heard it. 1330 01:15:37,981 --> 01:15:39,776 Remember when I talked about discipline tonight? 1331 01:15:39,811 --> 01:15:41,675 Here I am breaking my own rules, you know. 1332 01:15:41,709 --> 01:15:43,262 It was... It was kind of like... 1333 01:15:44,332 --> 01:15:45,817 -You're sure those red lights... -It was there. 1334 01:15:45,851 --> 01:15:49,165 That one was distant but not that distant. Not as distant. 1335 01:15:49,199 --> 01:15:51,754 This one was like way off in that direction. 1336 01:15:51,788 --> 01:15:54,619 -I think that was a car turning around I saw. -Okay. 1337 01:15:54,653 --> 01:15:56,586 'Cause there's a clearing up there. 1338 01:15:56,621 --> 01:15:58,830 There's like a... Where a bunch of trails come together. 1339 01:15:58,864 --> 01:16:01,453 My guess is they took the wrong road. 1340 01:16:16,986 --> 01:16:20,368 Anything we didn't touch on yet that you wanted to talk about? 1341 01:16:20,403 --> 01:16:23,613 Uh, just the camaraderie, all the great people I've met in this, 1342 01:16:23,648 --> 01:16:25,063 it's been a great ride. 1343 01:16:25,097 --> 01:16:26,478 This has been a lot of fun. 1344 01:16:26,512 --> 01:16:28,687 We've been all around the country. 1345 01:16:28,722 --> 01:16:31,725 Met some really interesting people, hundreds of witnesses. 1346 01:16:31,759 --> 01:16:33,692 And going to some of those things 1347 01:16:33,727 --> 01:16:36,315 and seeing people that really affected their lives. 1348 01:16:36,350 --> 01:16:39,698 I've seen people crying, talking about their report. 1349 01:16:39,733 --> 01:16:41,942 Changes people's lives. 1350 01:16:41,976 --> 01:16:43,702 From most of the witnesses I've heard, 1351 01:16:43,737 --> 01:16:46,981 they look at the world differently and... need some answers. 1352 01:17:06,552 --> 01:17:09,279 SETH: When planning this adventure, we'd consciously decided 1353 01:17:09,314 --> 01:17:12,075 to save our trip up into the High Peaks for the final day. 1354 01:17:12,835 --> 01:17:14,008 During our stay in New York, 1355 01:17:14,043 --> 01:17:15,631 and even while in Massachusetts, 1356 01:17:15,665 --> 01:17:17,563 we've heard about the High Peaks. 1357 01:17:17,598 --> 01:17:19,738 How the waters flow down from those mountains, 1358 01:17:19,773 --> 01:17:22,534 how Bigfoot seems to follow the pass down from the High Peaks 1359 01:17:22,568 --> 01:17:24,605 during certain times of the year. 1360 01:17:24,640 --> 01:17:26,089 Patterns upon patterns, 1361 01:17:26,124 --> 01:17:29,748 many of them mapped by investigators like Bill Brand and Steve Kulls 1362 01:17:29,783 --> 01:17:34,684 or noted by authors like Paul Bartholomew and Bruce Hallenbeck. 1363 01:17:34,719 --> 01:17:37,100 It's hard to look at the maps that Steve has compiled 1364 01:17:37,135 --> 01:17:42,450 and not see pieces of a puzzle slowly compiled over the course of decades. 1365 01:17:42,485 --> 01:17:45,799 If Bigfoot isn't real, then why are there consistent sightings 1366 01:17:45,833 --> 01:17:48,905 at certain points of the year in certain areas 1367 01:17:48,940 --> 01:17:52,806 with creatures that behave in very specific ways? 1368 01:17:52,840 --> 01:17:55,567 Why do sightings seem to correlate to seasonal changes, 1369 01:17:55,601 --> 01:17:59,019 types of habitat, water sources, food sources? 1370 01:17:59,053 --> 01:18:01,504 But at the same time, I've just spent a week here, 1371 01:18:01,538 --> 01:18:03,230 heard a lot of fascinating stories, 1372 01:18:03,264 --> 01:18:05,577 and aside from a very suspicious wood knock, 1373 01:18:05,611 --> 01:18:08,994 haven't experienced much of anything for myself. 1374 01:18:09,029 --> 01:18:11,756 Then again, guys like Dave McCullough and Paul Bartholomew 1375 01:18:11,790 --> 01:18:14,206 has spent their entire lives in this area 1376 01:18:14,241 --> 01:18:16,243 and neither have had a sighting 1377 01:18:16,277 --> 01:18:20,419 despite spending hours and even days of their time on the hunt. 1378 01:18:22,042 --> 01:18:23,802 I think on a psychological level, 1379 01:18:23,837 --> 01:18:27,047 it's sort of been incumbent on humanity 1380 01:18:27,081 --> 01:18:31,499 to delimit between sort of chaos and order, 1381 01:18:31,534 --> 01:18:35,780 and our brains are sort of necessarily noticed patterns. 1382 01:18:35,814 --> 01:18:39,680 And anything that doesn't function outside that pattern 1383 01:18:39,715 --> 01:18:42,372 is at best a mystery 1384 01:18:42,407 --> 01:18:44,754 or at worst, like a threat of some kind. 1385 01:18:44,789 --> 01:18:49,414 And Bigfoot seems to kind of represent 1386 01:18:49,448 --> 01:18:52,520 that... That mystery, maybe threat, 1387 01:18:52,555 --> 01:18:56,662 that as conscious beings, we want to grapple with. 1388 01:18:56,697 --> 01:18:59,286 And so it's sort of a mystery... 1389 01:18:59,320 --> 01:19:02,116 It's sort of an embodiment of that mystery 1390 01:19:02,151 --> 01:19:04,222 that human beings just like to grapple with. 1391 01:19:04,256 --> 01:19:07,673 That we like to ask questions of things that are beyond us 1392 01:19:07,708 --> 01:19:11,194 and we want to figure things out 1393 01:19:11,229 --> 01:19:14,404 that don't readily present themselves to us clearly. 1394 01:19:14,439 --> 01:19:18,788 Do you have any regrets... uh, 1395 01:19:18,823 --> 01:19:20,928 about your, I guess, your time 1396 01:19:20,963 --> 01:19:22,827 researching the paranormal and... 1397 01:19:22,861 --> 01:19:25,243 I have not seen Champ. 1398 01:19:25,277 --> 01:19:28,142 I have not seen the Kinderhook Creature. 1399 01:19:28,177 --> 01:19:30,489 I have not seen the Whitehall Beast. 1400 01:19:32,250 --> 01:19:35,701 I've heard some things that I can't explain. 1401 01:19:35,736 --> 01:19:40,085 My only regrets for, you know, being a cryptozoologist, 1402 01:19:40,120 --> 01:19:42,639 if that's what I am is, uh, 1403 01:19:42,674 --> 01:19:44,676 that I have never seen my quarry. 1404 01:19:45,919 --> 01:19:48,197 Do you have any regrets? 1405 01:19:53,443 --> 01:19:55,549 [SIGHS] That I didn't get started in earlier. 1406 01:19:56,619 --> 01:19:58,794 It's a passion. 1407 01:19:58,828 --> 01:20:01,589 There's fights there, there's causes, there's... 1408 01:20:01,624 --> 01:20:04,316 I've never been the one to shy away from it. 1409 01:20:04,351 --> 01:20:07,561 If people don't like me or... 1410 01:20:07,595 --> 01:20:10,944 You know, 'cause I believe or I do this kind of stuff, 1411 01:20:10,978 --> 01:20:12,704 then they're not really my friend. 1412 01:20:14,188 --> 01:20:16,535 It hasn't cost me relationships. 1413 01:20:16,570 --> 01:20:18,123 At least not that I think of. 1414 01:20:19,021 --> 01:20:20,643 I'm not super obsessed. 1415 01:20:20,677 --> 01:20:23,335 Normally, I would ask people, like, "Do you have any regrets 1416 01:20:23,370 --> 01:20:26,718 "about all the time you have put into this?" and that sort of thing. 1417 01:20:26,752 --> 01:20:29,376 Do you sort of see this as a lifelong thing 1418 01:20:29,410 --> 01:20:33,104 or, you know, you think you'll reach a point where... Where you sort of move away from it? 1419 01:20:34,036 --> 01:20:37,177 Bigfoot is going to be in my life forever. 1420 01:20:37,211 --> 01:20:38,695 I love this creature. 1421 01:20:38,730 --> 01:20:42,182 I've fallen in love with the mystery and the science behind it. 1422 01:20:42,216 --> 01:20:47,187 I've fallen in love with the chase of trying to find evidence of it. 1423 01:20:47,221 --> 01:20:49,914 What intrigues me most about the Bigfoot phenomenon 1424 01:20:49,948 --> 01:20:54,159 is that there is a creature roaming the forests of the United States. 1425 01:20:54,194 --> 01:20:56,403 This creature is eight to 10 feet tall, 1426 01:20:56,437 --> 01:20:57,714 dark in color, 1427 01:20:57,749 --> 01:21:00,752 screams louder than anything you've ever heard, 1428 01:21:00,786 --> 01:21:03,893 yet science has not officially discovered it yet. 1429 01:21:03,928 --> 01:21:06,275 I want to find this creature. 1430 01:21:06,309 --> 01:21:08,208 I want to learn about its behaviors. 1431 01:21:08,242 --> 01:21:11,452 I wanna learn about its brain and its capabilities. 1432 01:21:11,487 --> 01:21:14,559 And that is what drives me to keep going on this search. 1433 01:21:34,165 --> 01:21:36,270 SETH: I think the reason I wanna go up isn't just 1434 01:21:36,305 --> 01:21:39,273 to see the scenery or that sort of thing, 1435 01:21:39,308 --> 01:21:43,933 but to actually get a lay of just how expansive the place is. 1436 01:21:43,968 --> 01:21:49,180 I think a lot of people don't understand the size and scope of the park either. 1437 01:21:49,214 --> 01:21:52,804 How much habitat there is for something like a Bigfoot to exist out here? 1438 01:21:52,838 --> 01:21:54,979 Well, just other wildlife too. I mean, if you think about it, 1439 01:21:55,013 --> 01:21:57,636 we've been skirting sort of the edges here. 1440 01:21:57,671 --> 01:21:59,397 I mean, we've mostly been in the southern 1441 01:21:59,431 --> 01:22:02,848 and a little bit south-central portions or the eastern portion. 1442 01:22:02,883 --> 01:22:04,540 And now we're going directly in the center 1443 01:22:04,574 --> 01:22:06,059 where the High Peaks' wilderness is. 1444 01:22:06,093 --> 01:22:07,577 -Yeah. -So there's just so much there. 1445 01:22:07,612 --> 01:22:10,270 There's parts that are four hours from us as we stand here now. 1446 01:22:10,304 --> 01:22:12,341 So we're not going to those parts right now. 1447 01:22:12,375 --> 01:22:14,619 So it will just be a good way to cover terrain 1448 01:22:14,653 --> 01:22:18,140 we probably wouldn't do with a car in a week, let alone a month. 1449 01:22:18,174 --> 01:22:20,452 Like you said, I think getting out into it a little bit 1450 01:22:20,487 --> 01:22:21,971 even though we're not gonna be on the ground, 1451 01:22:22,006 --> 01:22:23,835 is gonna be... It's gonna be really cool to see. 1452 01:22:23,869 --> 01:22:26,113 And to get an idea of the expanse like, 1453 01:22:26,148 --> 01:22:28,184 because I think we only see so much standing here, 1454 01:22:28,219 --> 01:22:31,325 but up from there, you can really tell, like, is there enough room? 1455 01:22:57,627 --> 01:22:59,802 SETH: The first thing I notice is the flatlands 1456 01:22:59,836 --> 01:23:02,391 that lie just at the foot of the mountains, 1457 01:23:02,425 --> 01:23:05,704 the same flatlands where Whitehall sits. 1458 01:23:05,739 --> 01:23:08,914 When you hear that Whitehall is at the base of the Adirondack Mountains, 1459 01:23:08,949 --> 01:23:10,502 it's literal. 1460 01:23:10,537 --> 01:23:12,021 It sits just below them 1461 01:23:12,056 --> 01:23:14,713 with the forested hills spilling into the same pastureland 1462 01:23:14,748 --> 01:23:16,888 that you find around places like Abair Road, 1463 01:23:21,168 --> 01:23:22,549 And then the lakes. 1464 01:23:22,583 --> 01:23:24,723 The lakes fed by mountain streams. 1465 01:23:24,758 --> 01:23:26,967 Lake George, and above it, Buck Mountain, 1466 01:23:27,002 --> 01:23:29,659 where we'd spent the first night of our trek. 1467 01:23:29,694 --> 01:23:31,454 Buck Mountain connects to the same forest 1468 01:23:31,489 --> 01:23:33,698 that run down from those High Peaks. 1469 01:23:33,732 --> 01:23:35,355 It's easy for me to speculate 1470 01:23:35,389 --> 01:23:38,806 that maybe there are so many Bigfoot sightings around that particular area 1471 01:23:38,841 --> 01:23:40,843 because, as with Whitehall, 1472 01:23:40,877 --> 01:23:43,121 the creatures follow the streams down in the winter 1473 01:23:43,156 --> 01:23:46,573 to seek shelter in the coniferous forests around the lake. 1474 01:23:46,607 --> 01:23:49,334 We spend what seems like an eternity flying over mountains 1475 01:23:49,369 --> 01:23:52,510 that rise ever higher into the sky with endless green 1476 01:23:52,544 --> 01:23:54,857 only broken up by the occasional river or lake. 1477 01:23:55,823 --> 01:23:58,274 And then our pilot comes over the radio 1478 01:23:58,309 --> 01:24:00,104 and points toward the distance 1479 01:24:00,138 --> 01:24:03,176 and introduces us to the High Peaks, 1480 01:24:03,210 --> 01:24:06,869 the last frontier of the East Coast... 1481 01:24:06,903 --> 01:24:10,148 just the place for an undiscovered animal to hide. 1482 01:24:53,674 --> 01:24:55,711 Suddenly, it makes a little more sense 1483 01:24:55,745 --> 01:24:59,163 as to why so many feel pulled to these mountains. 1484 01:24:59,197 --> 01:25:02,131 Here, just on the outskirts of civilization, 1485 01:25:02,166 --> 01:25:04,651 lies over six million acres of cover. 1486 01:25:05,583 --> 01:25:07,792 For Bigfoot, if it exists, 1487 01:25:07,826 --> 01:25:11,520 it's cover from the prying eyes of human beings. 1488 01:25:11,554 --> 01:25:15,765 For us, it's cover from the chaos of a world slowly decaying from within. 1489 01:25:17,284 --> 01:25:19,148 It's a place to get lost 1490 01:25:19,183 --> 01:25:21,254 and I'm happy to lose myself here. 1491 01:25:34,232 --> 01:25:37,132 Personally, I just view nature as something I could not live without. 1492 01:25:37,166 --> 01:25:39,064 Just getting out on the mountains, 1493 01:25:39,099 --> 01:25:40,928 I don't know how I would kind of function without it. 1494 01:25:40,963 --> 01:25:42,827 I think it really goes perfectly hand in hand 1495 01:25:42,861 --> 01:25:45,105 with cryptozoology, with Bigfoot, of course, 1496 01:25:45,140 --> 01:25:48,453 because these are the areas that this being is purported to exist in. 1497 01:25:48,488 --> 01:25:50,524 So how could I not want to just spend some time 1498 01:25:50,559 --> 01:25:52,733 and have a little bit of that wonder? 1499 01:25:52,768 --> 01:25:55,184 I think sometimes a trip like this 1500 01:25:55,219 --> 01:25:57,497 could be framed in terms of an escape. 1501 01:25:58,808 --> 01:26:01,225 But for me, it wasn't so much an escape 1502 01:26:01,259 --> 01:26:04,573 as it was an embrace of life, 1503 01:26:05,436 --> 01:26:10,026 the way that I like living it. 1504 01:26:10,061 --> 01:26:14,099 Embracing the fact that there are risks inherent in everything that we do. 1505 01:26:15,480 --> 01:26:20,727 But what on the trail of, enabled us all to do, 1506 01:26:20,761 --> 01:26:25,490 is to make our own assessment of the risks again 1507 01:26:26,111 --> 01:26:28,148 and say, "You know what? 1508 01:26:28,183 --> 01:26:32,980 "To go and do this right now, at this time in history, 1509 01:26:33,015 --> 01:26:35,086 "in this time in our own lives, 1510 01:26:35,845 --> 01:26:37,019 "it's worth it." 1511 01:26:37,882 --> 01:26:41,230 I want to not just exist. 1512 01:26:42,300 --> 01:26:44,371 I wanna do more than survive. 1513 01:26:44,406 --> 01:26:47,340 You know, I wanna live life. 1514 01:26:47,374 --> 01:26:50,929 And being out here in the woods and on the mountains 1515 01:26:50,964 --> 01:26:54,070 and searching after a mysterious creature 1516 01:26:54,105 --> 01:26:58,143 is living through a time of challenge 1517 01:26:58,178 --> 01:27:00,215 instead of just existing. 1518 01:27:15,299 --> 01:27:17,439 SETH: Wait, I don't think you... 1519 01:27:17,473 --> 01:27:20,373 ADAM: I've been here for, this is my fourth time here. 1520 01:27:20,407 --> 01:27:24,653 I had no clue how vast the Adirondacks were. 1521 01:27:24,687 --> 01:27:26,413 We took that flight, 1522 01:27:26,448 --> 01:27:29,623 and to come out of the area that I have been to, 1523 01:27:29,658 --> 01:27:31,487 that I have experience going to, 1524 01:27:31,522 --> 01:27:35,042 and see that I haven't even been at the tip of the iceberg of the Adirondacks 1525 01:27:35,077 --> 01:27:36,630 and how expansive it is 1526 01:27:36,665 --> 01:27:38,701 especially when you get up into these High Peaks. 1527 01:27:38,736 --> 01:27:44,086 I mean, just that fact that it is one of the largest managed parks in America. 1528 01:27:44,120 --> 01:27:46,468 A lot of people think you have to go West for that kind of stuff. 1529 01:27:46,502 --> 01:27:48,987 No, it's right here in New York of all places. 1530 01:27:49,022 --> 01:27:50,748 Obviously, it's in your city. 1531 01:27:50,782 --> 01:27:54,614 I think for me, just comparing it to what I'm familiar with in New England, 1532 01:27:54,648 --> 01:27:56,616 where there is a lot of wildlife as well, 1533 01:27:56,650 --> 01:27:58,928 and there's a lot of terrain and the same kind of thing, 1534 01:27:58,963 --> 01:28:00,240 people don't associate it with that. 1535 01:28:00,275 --> 01:28:02,553 So if you combine parts of Vermont, 1536 01:28:02,587 --> 01:28:05,487 Western Massachusetts as we saw with this area, 1537 01:28:05,521 --> 01:28:07,592 you have millions of acres, essentially, 1538 01:28:07,627 --> 01:28:10,077 where you can get from one state to the other, 1539 01:28:10,112 --> 01:28:11,803 to the Canadian border and back. 1540 01:28:11,838 --> 01:28:14,047 You've got suitable habitat for large animals 1541 01:28:14,081 --> 01:28:16,429 such as moose and black bear already, 1542 01:28:16,463 --> 01:28:18,638 so why wouldn't something else simply adapt? 1543 01:28:18,672 --> 01:28:20,571 And it seems like every little town we've been to, 1544 01:28:20,605 --> 01:28:23,159 there's been sightings here or a Bigfoot story. 1545 01:28:23,194 --> 01:28:26,335 Even down the Kinderhook, which isn't even in the Adirondacks. 1546 01:28:26,370 --> 01:28:29,200 This really, I mean, you get into this particular 1547 01:28:29,234 --> 01:28:32,928 the northern third, I suppose, of the Adirondacks, 1548 01:28:32,962 --> 01:28:35,171 and it's much more mountainous. 1549 01:28:35,206 --> 01:28:38,796 And the other thing, too, that just struck me, again, 1550 01:28:38,830 --> 01:28:41,454 is the sheer amount of waterways. 1551 01:28:42,075 --> 01:28:44,215 Mountain streams, lakes. 1552 01:28:44,249 --> 01:28:47,943 And what we were looking at a map of the Adirondacks this afternoon, 1553 01:28:47,977 --> 01:28:51,843 and just the number of inland lakes, 1554 01:28:51,878 --> 01:28:53,362 connecting streams. 1555 01:28:53,397 --> 01:28:57,642 It's just when we talk about the habitat that would be necessary, 1556 01:28:57,677 --> 01:29:00,956 not only do you have the sheer acreage 1557 01:29:00,990 --> 01:29:03,510 but the water sources that you would need 1558 01:29:03,545 --> 01:29:06,927 for a population of larger creature. 1559 01:29:06,962 --> 01:29:09,723 The biggest thing for me was probably going to... 1560 01:29:09,758 --> 01:29:12,450 As weird as it is, going down to the Poultney River 1561 01:29:12,485 --> 01:29:15,419 and being able to geographically figure out 1562 01:29:15,453 --> 01:29:19,354 how those sightings follow that river. 1563 01:29:19,388 --> 01:29:22,874 And so Whitehall to me previously 1564 01:29:22,909 --> 01:29:25,981 was a really fascinating, isolated case. 1565 01:29:26,015 --> 01:29:29,156 Since seeing Steve's maps and talking to Paul about all the sightings, 1566 01:29:29,191 --> 01:29:31,262 and hearing about the Kinderhook Creature, 1567 01:29:31,296 --> 01:29:34,092 and then spilling over in the Western Massachusetts 1568 01:29:34,127 --> 01:29:37,510 and finding that the same thing is going on there as well, 1569 01:29:37,544 --> 01:29:40,478 there's a much bigger picture that we're looking at. 1570 01:29:40,513 --> 01:29:43,412 There's that saying that there are two elements to a Bigfoot encounter. 1571 01:29:43,447 --> 01:29:46,139 You know, there's gotta be a Bigfoot. 1572 01:29:46,173 --> 01:29:47,727 Then there has to be a person. 1573 01:29:47,761 --> 01:29:51,420 You add in a space like the Adirondacks to that, 1574 01:29:51,455 --> 01:29:55,459 there is plenty of room for a Bigfoot, 1575 01:29:55,493 --> 01:29:58,323 and it is more than vast enough 1576 01:29:58,358 --> 01:30:00,878 for that person to never come into the picture. 1577 01:30:00,912 --> 01:30:04,675 What was so, uh, moving, I guess, in a certain way, 1578 01:30:04,709 --> 01:30:08,403 was to see the camaraderie that built up with these groups that go out together. 1579 01:30:08,437 --> 01:30:11,578 Just by dint of spending time with one another, 1580 01:30:11,613 --> 01:30:15,340 and being dedicated to this cause, as it were, 1581 01:30:15,375 --> 01:30:16,790 you get to know each other 1582 01:30:16,825 --> 01:30:20,829 just because you're out in the woods multiple times a month... 1583 01:30:21,657 --> 01:30:23,176 regardless of what you discover. 1584 01:30:23,210 --> 01:30:27,318 To really, like, start to see the drive those guys have 1585 01:30:27,352 --> 01:30:29,251 and the desire to keep coming out, 1586 01:30:29,285 --> 01:30:31,460 they all have their... Their disparate reasons 1587 01:30:31,495 --> 01:30:33,600 for why they're coming out and doing what they're doing. 1588 01:30:51,169 --> 01:30:53,517 SETH: Most investigators spend years of their lives 1589 01:30:53,551 --> 01:30:55,519 in the forest looking for Bigfoot. 1590 01:30:55,553 --> 01:30:58,245 We spent five days in this part of the country 1591 01:30:58,280 --> 01:31:00,869 and in that time saw nothing for ourselves 1592 01:31:00,903 --> 01:31:04,182 that could equate to Sasquatch activity. 1593 01:31:04,217 --> 01:31:09,118 But the vast landscapes and acres of forest helped explain that for us. 1594 01:31:09,153 --> 01:31:12,708 And on the sixth day, as we drove back to the real world, 1595 01:31:12,743 --> 01:31:15,055 a world overrun with a pandemic, 1596 01:31:15,090 --> 01:31:17,886 rumors of wars and civil unrest, 1597 01:31:17,920 --> 01:31:20,371 none of us felt that the journey had been a failure. 1598 01:31:21,406 --> 01:31:23,685 The target had eluded us, 1599 01:31:23,719 --> 01:31:27,102 and yet its presence was always felt. 1600 01:31:27,136 --> 01:31:30,450 In the months to follow, the world around us grew only more tumultuous 1601 01:31:30,485 --> 01:31:33,177 and my desire to head back to the forests of the Adirondacks 1602 01:31:33,211 --> 01:31:34,834 became more and more prevalent. 1603 01:31:37,043 --> 01:31:39,804 Like Bigfoot itself, those mountains called to me 1604 01:31:39,839 --> 01:31:42,427 to come and experience something different. 1605 01:31:43,290 --> 01:31:44,775 Something extraordinary. 1606 01:31:46,121 --> 01:31:50,297 A call to escape, to wander, to get lost. 1607 01:31:51,540 --> 01:31:55,475 The journey is calling... and I must go.