SC EP:1274 Sasquatch-Nations

John writes "We owned a home in New Jersey, about three miles northeast of Chestnut, roughly a half hour from Hacklebarney State Park. The house sat on the west side of the Black River Wildlife Management Area and had only been built about three and a half years earlier. I had just returned after enlisting in the United States Navy. Someone dropped me off at the house around 4:30 that afternoon. We had two dogs a Golden Retriever and a little black dog. I let them outside, and the little black dog wandered off into the woods. It was a beautiful day around 75 degrees with a light breeze. I decided I'd take a walk through the woods myself. I headed southeast from the house and walked about 700 or 800 yards before stopping and turning back toward the house. That's when I heard the most god awful sound off to my right. It was incredibly loud, and at the time I had no idea what I was hearing. Later, after hearing other people describe it, I realized it sounded like what many call the 'samurai chatter.' I looked up and saw a berry bush about four feet tall, roughly 40 to 45 yards away. Standing on the other side of it was a massive figure. He looked to be about 6'8″ or 6'10", covered in reddish hair from head to toe. His build reminded me of a fit basketball player wearing shoulder pads, broad and muscular, and imposing. He was facing me, and we just stood there staring at each other. After a few seconds, I couldn't take it anymore, I turned and ran all the way back to the house. This wasn't my only time seeing one." We will wrap up with the guys from Sasquatch-Nations. BECOME THE LEGEND A third-person open-world survival RPG where you play as Sasquatch. Explore vast wilderness regions inspired by real-world locations. Hunt. Survive. Raise a family. Master paranormal abilities. Navigate a fragile coexistence with humanity while confronting Dogmen, Skinwalkers, secret military programs, and the hidden forces shaping our world. Earn the respect of your tribe, uncover forgotten truths, and decide what kind of guardian or monster you will become. https://sasquatch-nations.com/

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Wes Germer?

  A tall, silent figure cloaked in a black robe. The robe itself seems to absorb the surrounding light. The hood is pulled low, hiding most of the face in the shadow. The robes are long, they drape loosely over a thin skeleton frame. In one hand, the figure carries a long handled scythe. The wooden shaft is smooth from age. The curved steel blade catches the light with a cold silvery gleam. What does that description sound like to you?

• 0:48Wes Germer?

  It's 1559. A group of farmers in Brandenburg, Germany, spot something in their oatfields. Figures dressed in black. Some appear to have small, misshapen heads. Others have the faces the witnesses describe only as fearful. Large, black eyes. No nose. A slit for a mouth. Cold. No expression. And they appear to be dressed in a black cloak. Each one carries a long, scythe-like instrument. The figures move through the oats in a wide, sweeping motion.

• 1:31Wes Germer?

  The swish of their tools can be heard from a great distance. But the oats don't fall. Whatever these men are doing, they are not cutting grain. The townspeople rush out to confront them. The figures ignore them. They keep swinging. Then they are simply gone. Almost immediately after, a plague tears through the city.

• 1:57Wes Germer?

  This account comes from a 1682 German text. It was first compiled by German historian Johannes Knoll in his book "The Black Death: The Chronicle of the Plague." It's one of several reports from the Black Death era. They all describe the same thing: Dark figures in black, strange instruments, always on the outskirts of town, and always, right after they leave, disease arrives. Other earlier accounts describe similar visitors across the Roman Empire: Dark figures, carrying long brooms or swords.

• 2:41Wes Germer?

  They're seen sweeping the doors and walls of people's homes. People inside fall sick within days. These reports come from Germany, Hungary, Austria, and beyond. The Black Death kills an estimated 30 to 50% of Europe's population. What if these scythes weren't scythes at all? The instruments made a loud sound. They moved through the air in broad arcs, but they didn't cut anything. The movements the eyewitnesses describe look less like mowing and more like spraying.

• 3:22Wes Germer?

  Some kind of poison or pathogen dispersed over crops, homes, and people. Between 1298 and 1314, several large comments appear over Europe. One is described as being "of awe-inspiring blackness." The Black Death arrives in 1347. European culture built its most enduring image of death: A dark figure, carrying a scythe, mowing down the living like stalks of grain. It wasn't a symbol invented by artists. It was a description recorded by eyewitnesses.

• 4:08Wes Germer?

  Who were these entities? Where did they come from? And when you read eyewitness testimony from that time, it sounds more like a gray alien dressed in black than a skeleton dressed in black.

• 4:24Wes Germer?

  The image today, we call the Grim Reaper.

• 4:38Speaker 01

  It looked like somebody was bent over and had their head in the window of the deer blind and it either heard me or smelt me and he pulled his head out of the tent and stood straight up and that, that shocked me.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  They don't make people that, that big.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  The way it moved, almost as if it was gliding across the beach.

• 5:13Speaker 02

  I've never seen anything move like that in my life.

• 5:19Speaker 02

  They were screaming at each other in gibberish. It sounded like a language and they were chuntering away, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

• 5:31Speaker 02

  I know what a bear looks like and there is no way on this planet that what I saw bears.

• 5:49Speaker 03

  911, what are you reporting?

• 5:51Speaker 04

  Jesus Christ, you better... Care? Deal.

• 5:54Speaker 03

  Hello?

• 5:55Speaker 04

  Get somebody out here.

• 5:56Speaker 03

  What's going on now, sir?

• 5:57Speaker 04

  That son of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know.

• 6:00Speaker 03

  Do you see him now, sir?

• 6:02Speaker 04

  Yes, I'm looking right at him. Uh-oh.

• 6:07Speaker 05

  This is Blair, coming to you from Delana, Georgia, the home of the first gold rush. And you're listening to the best podcast in the world, Sasquatch Chronicles.

• 6:41Wes Germer?

  Little history lesson for everyone. I'm telling you, if you get a chance, go read some eyewitness testimony during the Black Plague. And I'm sure you'll agree with me. I mean, the way they described these figures in black cloaks, and they were real big figures. It really reminded me of gray aliens dressed in black. And then later, we came up with the Grim Reaper. And you know, the Grim Reaper wasn't a made up figure. It came from eyewitness testimony. I find weird stuff like that interesting. I don't know if anyone else does. But I appreciate you being here tonight. We're going to chat with John. And John is originally from New Jersey.

• 7:24Wes Germer?

  And he describes this encounter on his property when he was younger, right before he went into the military. Much later in life, John became a truck driver and a group of truckers he was in a lane with. They almost hit one. And then we'll wrap up with CJ and Adrian. And both have extensive experience creating video games. And Adrian actually reached out to me a couple of months ago. And he's a listener of the show. I know he's a member. And their company wanted to design a Sasquatch game. I really fell in love with the idea of creating this game. Normally, I wouldn't have a show on something like this.

• 8:07Wes Germer?

  But what the guys are looking for is real experiences with Sasquatch. They want to get the movement of Sasquatch down. They want to create a game environment that is true to Sasquatch encounters in real places. Like in Washington, Texas, around the United States. And they're looking for your help, your feedback. But I'll let the guys go into it. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is [email protected]. And if you get a chance, check out sasquatchchronicles.com. You can become a member and get additional shows.

• 8:51Wes Germer?

  And I want to thank John from last night's show who grew up on this property out there in Sandy, Oregon, and there's a lot of things that happened. But thank you again, John, for coming on. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome another John to the show. John, thanks for coming on.

• 9:12Speaker 06

  Oh, appreciate it. It's been been a long time waiting to talk to you.

• 9:16Wes Germer?

  Yeah, and you had this experience. The main one I want to talk about happened out there in New Jersey. If you would, would you start from the very beginning? What were you doing and what happened?

• 9:28Speaker 06

  Yeah, I'm going to have to back up a little bit. On that day, I had just gotten back from investing in the United States Navy. And I had been dropped off back at the house about, you know, about 4:30 in the afternoon. Uh, June 17th, about three miles northeast of Chestnut, New Jersey, which is about 30 minutes northeast of Huckleberry State Park. Uh, we had a house on the west side of the Black River Wildlife Management Area. And the house had been built about three and a half years ago.

• 10:12Speaker 06

  So I got back to the house. We had two dogs. We had a golden retriever and a little black dog. Let them out there and go do their thing. And the little black dog, oh, three or four times a week would just go running and screaming, yelling off into the woods. And then she would come back 10, 15 minutes later and she'd be having all kinds of stuff on her. So I had to wait for her to give her a bath. So she went off in the woods. And I let the big dog back inside. And then it's like, okay, pretty day outside, about seventy-five degrees, light wind. I'm gonna go, go walk in the woods.

• 10:56Speaker 06

  We were in the woods quite often, clearing trees out and, you know, doing stuff and I'd like to walk in there cause it's still nice and quiet. So I headed southeast from the house. And got about seven hundred, eight hundred yards from the house and stopped. Pointing myself back kinda towards that house. And all of a sudden, here comes this god awful noise off my right side. Very loud. And my first thought was. It was a very large dog, cause there were some large dogs up the road from us. Couple of seconds later, there was a shorter vocal.

• 11:38Speaker 06

  And that's when my brain said that wasn't a dog.

• 11:44Speaker 06

  And then there was a final short vocal. After that. It was like fifteen sentences in like five seconds. So I went to the right. About fifteen feet and there was three pine trees. About twelve feet tall. And there was a berry bush about forty-five, forty, forty-five yards away, about four foot tall.

• 12:10Speaker 06

  And he was standing on the other side of it. At the time, I thought he was about six-eight, six-ten. Covered in red fur, hair. Looked like a basket, a fit basketball player with shoulder pads on. Facing me head on. And. We just stared at each other. Just. The overall seeing this thing standing in front of you from that distance. I mean, it was. Wide, you know, four and a half foot wide, shoulders covered with hair. Large, black or brown eyes, and that's about all I, I could get out of it.

• 12:53Speaker 06

  It was definitely a male because I didn't see any. Female parts. And its. Hands were below the berry bush, so I didn't see any of that, which was okay with me.

• 13:08Speaker 06

  He did not move a muscle. His hair wasn't, you know, matted and have stuff in him, but it wasn't really clean. It was just kind of untidy. And

• 13:22Speaker 06

  we just stared at each other for a few seconds or longer than that. And then I just couldn't take it anymore after that. So I ran back to the house.

• 13:36Speaker 06

  You know, went back over there, climbed up the deck steps and there was the little black dog. She's eight pounds. She was shaking so hard and deck was rattling. She had foam coming out of her mouth. And you, you've had dogs and you talk to your dogs. I asked, did you see that?

• 13:59Speaker 06

  And her nose pointed right in the general direction where that thing had been standing at. So I let her back in the house after a couple of minutes.

• 14:12Speaker 06

  And after a few minutes standing there. I headed back into the woods. I got back to the pine trees, just to the north of the pine trees. And it wasn't standing there anymore. So

• 14:30Speaker 06

  I decided I wanted to go all across to the other side of the very bush to see if I could see tracks or anything. And I got about halfway there. I got a very loud branch snap. I don't remember what they're from, what direction. So, uh, I left again, ran back to the house.

• 14:56Wes Germer?

  I don't know if I would have went back, but I completely understand why you would. I know from your email, nothing really like this ever happened on the property. And I would imagine there's a little shock, a little curiosity. I wanted to ask you, the vocals that you heard, can you kind of describe what they sounded like?

• 15:17Speaker 06

  Well, you have it in your intro with Claire and the Samurai chatter. That was the first one. I left uh forty-three days after that to go to boot camp. But for three and a half years living there, there were no instances. I mean, we had hunters during deer shooting all the time. You know, come through there, take deer out. We had, we had always had deer in the yard. Uh, the next round, everybody took the hillhead, apple trees. We had a commercial uh apple orchard south of the river. And nothing, nothing had ever happened prior to this.

• 15:59Speaker 06

  The, the other weird thing is, uh, you had a guy named Robert on your show. I don't remember what the the show number was, but he had an encounter in Takamani State Park, which is not too far away. Fourteen years later with a red male.

• 16:20Wes Germer?

  Yeah, and I know from your general location, Whitehall, New York, isn't far from you. Makes me think maybe it was just kind of passing through. This other incident that you had, it was in Yakima, Washington. How many more years later is this?

• 16:38Speaker 06

  That was in uh around ninety-five or ninety-six. I had stopped at a truck stop south on ninety-seven somewhere and went in to have a bite to eat. It was crowded and I sat with this other lady trucker and we were just talking back and forth and then we decided that we're both going in the same direction. So we headed up, I think it's ninety-seven. We weren't going in the same place, but we were going in the same general direction. And we headed north and I think about

• 17:15Speaker 06

  two or three miles south of Yakima. There's four or five a single line in the truck. We were just chatting back and forth on the radio.

• 17:24Speaker 06

  And all of a sudden I hear her yell out on the radio.

• 17:29Speaker 06

  Holy crap, I almost ran over it.

• 17:33Speaker 06

  And I got on the radio, I said, what it? She said, it's on the right side of the road going up a hill. So I looked out the passenger window and I saw the back end of one walking up this hill. About seventy five yards away.

• 17:50Wes Germer?

  You know, John, when I read your email. And I know there wasn't much of a description beyond. Kind of this hairy giant walking up this hill. It made me think of, um. There was a truck driver I interviewed probably. Four years ago. And he ended up not coming on the show. But I was like, man, you know, where have I heard this before? And he describes this row of truck drivers, and I want to say it was in the mid nineties. They were all in a path. And this thing had run across the road. In fact, I think the first truck driver was female. She actually did almost hit it. And by the time he looked at it was kind of your situation.

• 18:33Wes Germer?

  He describes kind of this giant going up the hill. Makes me wonder now if he was part of that group. I know both encounters were pretty brief, but. It really is life changing to really see one of these things. Well, what do you think Sasquatch is, John? What's your take?

• 18:52Speaker 06

  Well, I think, I think in the beginning, everybody goes from. Really common to gigantopithecus to this to that, but I don't.

• 19:03Speaker 06

  I think there's way too much. About the things that happen with them when we encounter them. That is just. Some human kind of ape going around the woods. They have a language, they have groups. They have nice ones, they have mean ones, they have. All variances, just like we do. And most likely somebody knows what it is. I'm sure the government knows about it because all the stuff that happens. On all the military bases. They probably know not, but not that they're going to tell us. It's definitely a very big mystery.

• 19:45Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it really is a mystery and it's hard to disagree with anything you just said. You know, going back to that very first encounter, the reason why I think it was just passing through, you had made the comment, you would let your dogs out and the little black one would go run off in the woods. You had to stand there, kind of wait for it and you had to give it a bath when it came back because they had junk all over it, you know, from running in the woods and the bushes and seeing how terrified your dog was. You know, dogs will tell you when these things are around. And I know you left for a boot camp, but it makes me wonder if it left after that or if it kind of hung around for a while.

• 20:28Speaker 06

  In the three and a half years that I lived there before boot camp, when that dog had gone off into the woods, I had never walked out there at all because I knew I had to come back and she would need a bath. So I would just wait for her. That is the only day I went out there and I found out about six months later, later in a letter from my parents, after that rough timeframe, that dog didn't go out in the woods either. She stayed by the house.

• 21:05Wes Germer?

  Yeah, so it's possible it did kind of hang around for a little bit or that poor little dog had PTSD. I know there were brief encounters, John, but I can't thank you enough for taking the time to come on.

• 21:17Speaker 06

  Oh, no problem. I, I, it's been, I think I emailed you first, like about 10 years ago, but we never, we never got together.

• 21:26Wes Germer?

  Well, I'm glad we were able to make it happen. Thank you again, John.

• 21:37Wes Germer?

  Next up, I want to welcome CJ. CJ, thanks for being here. Yeah, good to be here. Thanks for having us Wes. Yeah, man. And I know that we have Adrian. Adrian, thank you for being here.

• 21:50Speaker 07

  It's an honor Wes. Thanks for having us, brother.

• 21:53Wes Germer?

  And it was a couple of months ago that Adrian reached out to me, kind of shared this idea of this game that you guys are creating. And he sent me screenshots of the gameplay and just the overall idea of the game. I loved it. You know, I would consider myself a gamer. I know the, the 12 year olds I play online against on Steam, they would consider me prey. But you know, this was like, unlike any other Sasquatch game I'd ever played or even heard of. And then you throw the graphics and the artwork and, and the audience can go check it out. If they go to Sasquatch hyphen nations.com.

• 22:35Wes Germer?

  They can see the gameplay. They get an idea of what the game is going to be. Definitely go check it out. Sasquatch dash nations.com to kind of see what we're talking about. But for the audience, would you kind of describe the idea behind making this game and kind of what they can expect?

• 22:56Speaker 07

  Absolutely. So we're looking to build an open world supernatural survival RPG game. And for those who don't know RPG stands for role playing game. And we want to go all out with it and create essentially the definitive Bigfoot IP in gaming. It's all rooted in authentic cryptid lore and firsthand testimonials that I've listened to from your podcast Sasquatch Chronicles over the years. I've been a paid subscriber for as long as I can remember and I am obsessed with the subject. I go to sleep with it, listening to these stories every single night.

• 23:38Speaker 07

  And it's, it's profoundly impacted me in all kinds of ways. And, and one of them is, is it really got me thinking about what this world would be like, uh, the, the world of the Sasquatch. And, um, once I was Sort of collecting my understanding of that over the years, based on all these stories and all these accounts and the documentaries I've seen, the research I've studied. It it all started to come into to focus for me that this is the perfect formula for for a role playing game that would be rooted in basically how I think things actually are. And in real world locations as well. So you get to play a Sasquatch, you get to live

• 24:21Speaker 07

  day to day and hunt and, you know, participate in group hunting and uh you encounter humans and uh in the game, there is a sort of tentative treaty, tentative relationship with the US government. In the game, you you're allowed to live and do your own thing. As long as you don't kill any humans. And if you do, uh you have to deal with the swift military response. So um that's one of the main sort of systems and dynamics in the game is that you're you're walking the line between your primal instincts and a desire to

• 25:06Speaker 07

  I guess, do the right thing or, you know, live live a peaceful life for the most part. Um, you know, the life of a Sasquatch isn't necessarily a peaceful one. Uh, you have other Sasquatch that you're contending with as a male. You know, there's like power struggles, social dynamics that you have to navigate. You know, you have a love interest as well that uh in in the Sasquatch world, basically, you uh pair up with a mate and that's your mate for life and you you build your family. But you also have elders in the tribe, you have family. The way this world works is is probably, uh, you know, a sort of tribal structure.

• 25:50Speaker 07

  Depending on your area, you know, you can have upwards of thousands of Sasquatch in in uh a hundred mile radius. I think they're able to live in the outskirts of society or the outskirts of the human society in their their national parks and and highly forested areas without having to deal with humans pretty well, you know, they can steer clear of us. So they can build a life for themselves and the game is basically what that looks like.

• 26:27Speaker 06

  I would just say kind of along those same lines. I've been a gamer my whole life back in the the Dost days, Atari, first generation Nintendo, and have continued on. In fact, we were just admiring Adrian's game collection here. And he's just got some incredible RPGs that he's playing on right now. And for me, it really comes down to a few things. When I think about my experience in playing games, they're really live within this cryptid space. First and foremost, I don't see a lot of quality there, personally speaking. A lot of it is more hack and slash. You know, it's not really that

• 27:05Speaker 06

  higher end, visual, dynamic, interesting gameplay. And what we're really after here is is first and foremost, something that's beautiful. And I can tell you that what Adrian has has done so far as an artist is outrageously gorgeous. I mean, we're talking about plopping you straight down into places that really exist here in the United States and abroad. And it's hyper realistic. Additionally, is the inclusion of a story. And to me, that's the thing I'm always looking for with a video game. And it's this capacity to really explore the the background. What is Sasquatch? You know, what is the history? What is the lore?

• 27:50Speaker 06

  Of these things interact, what do they do? Some of the paranormal aspects that Adrian was talking about earlier that really, really dress it up, really make it fun, really make it exciting that you.

• 28:01Wes Germer?

  Make it interesting.

• 28:02Speaker 06

  Oh, yeah, for sure. Absolutely. You know, and that's what, again, that's what I look for is something that's going to be beautiful, something that's going to be engaging, something you're going to ultimately remember. And I'll tell you what I've seen so far, what we've been building is exactly that. It's a game that like Witcher or like, you know, any one of the other AAA RPG titles that are out there, Ghost of Tsushima, right? Like, that's the type of game we're looking to bring forward, but with a Sasquatch bend on it.

• 28:36Wes Germer?

  You know, one of the things that really impressed me about this game Sasquatch Nations. And for the audience, I'm not being paid for this. I just love the idea. But you know, I've, like I was telling you guys, I've been a gamer, not a great one, but I'm a gamer. And I was playing, my son turned me on to Red Dead Redemption, the second one. And the graphics are just amazing. And it's the little things in the game, like when it's snowing and then the weather clears up, you can see like the snow melt off the guys jackets. It's all the little things that they do. And when Adrian had sent me screenshots of gameplay,

• 29:21Wes Germer?

  it was right up there. You know, when you think of like high quality games, you think of like Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption. And when I was looking at these screenshots of gameplay Adrian sent me, you know, even the water looks real. I would love for the audience to check it out. Go to Sasquatch hyphen nations.com. On that website, can I actually watch gameplay? I know you guys are kind of in the beginning stages.

• 29:51Speaker 07

  Not yet, we're still in the development phases of that, fairly early development phases of that. But one of the reasons that we want to direct people to the website is so that they can check out the concept and check out the important elements of the gameplay and, you know, get their eyes on what it looks like, what the characters look like. We have a concept trailer that's there as well. And we would just encourage people to participate in the survey that's at the end. Let us know your level of interest in it because ideally, if people are interested, we would love to launch a Kickstarter as a community

• 30:35Speaker 07

  and build this up and really make it a communal effort and tie as much of people's real life stories into it as possible. To me, I want people who have seen these creatures. In full disclosure, I have not had a Sasquatch encounter myself, but I don't need to have a Sasquatch encounter to believe in them 100% at this point. I'm thoroughly convinced. In fact, I've spoken to people a few weekends ago. I had an opportunity to speak to a retired lieutenant general, former Air Force and Space Force.

• 31:20Speaker 07

  And he's someone who I have the privilege of having an ongoing relationship with. I see every few months. And I was telling him about the game. A highly decorated guy, you know, has a degree in aeronautical engineering. And he's been everywhere, all over the world. He has companies that build satellites in space.

• 31:43Speaker 07

  When I told him about the game, he was like blown away by it. And he confirmed to me that these things are real and that he knows people who have dealt with them on a military level. And one of the things he said to me was that, he was like, will they be able to travel in portals? He's like, because that's one of the things that they can do. That's what he said. You know, I'm not going to divulge his name. Hearing all these accounts like has convinced me one hundred percent that these things are real. And I'm, you know, I've had some paranormal experiences in my life that have really, at an early age, opened me up to the fact that reality is stranger than fiction.

• 32:29Speaker 07

  And you don't have to dream up some alternate world on another planet to explore that strange nature of reality. We have it right here all around us. And the Sasquatch is the perfect encapsulation of what that means. And, you know, we really want to capture all the aspects of these things, the way they behave, how they interact, you know, and also they're not the only cryptid in the game, you know. There's a Dogman character in the one storyline in the one Pacific Northwest location

• 33:09Speaker 07

  that is your sort of the apex threat that is as powerful as you, if not a little bit more so, because there's some dark magic tied in with them that I believe is tied to them actually in real life. I think they're rooted in some kind of dark magic. That's, that's part of the game. So there's this metaphysical component as well. And, you know, we want to capture that as authentically as possible as well with, obviously, we don't have all the answers and there's some gaps that we have to fill in with our imagination as far as like making sure everything connects. But I think anyone who understands the phenomenon and plays it or that has had an encounter

• 33:52Speaker 07

  and, and plays it will for sure recognize important key things in this game from their own experience.

• 34:01Speaker 04

  Doubling back to your original question there. What is on the website today, inclusive of the trailer, the screenshots, et cetera? Something that I find immensely frustrating.

• 34:13Speaker 06

  In the modern era that we live is that you'll go to a website, you'll get an ad, whether it be through Facebook or your phone or whatever. And you'll see a video or a picture of a game. And then you actually get that game and they're night and day different. What I can tell you is that the imagery that we've put on the site, while there is some concept art, is almost wholly representative of in-game play. And while we're not into our completed alpha yet or our vertical slice, we do have a playable demo and both Adrian and I have poked around at that. And those pictures you're seeing, that's actual gameplay and it is incredibly gorgeous what we're able to actually produce.

• 34:57Speaker 06

  And so I just want folks to know that are listening to this, it's not a smoke and mirrors thing. When you go to that site and you check it out, what you're seeing is what we're building.

• 35:07Wes Germer?

  And I think it's so cool too, that you guys are actually including the lights that people see. Now, whether that's related to Sasquatch or not, no one really knows, but they show up a lot. And I love it that you're including that. But I think what makes games like this so cool. And if you've ever played like GTA or Red Dead Redemption, you'll understand what I'm saying. You can do what you want, but there's consequences for your actions. Or the storyline changes depending on what you do. Kind of like, you know, with Sasquatch. If you decide to attack humans, if you decide to,

• 35:48Wes Germer?

  you know, that whole aspect of changing the narrative of what the game could be and what it is now based on what you do. And I think it just makes games fun. I just think it makes them cool when you include that. And I would love to be a part of it. I'd love to do like a voiceover, you know, where some guy's listening to a podcast or, you know, something like that. I definitely would love to be a part of it.

• 36:14Speaker 07

  Uh, well, I mean, it, this game wouldn't be possible if it weren't for you and your show, man. It really inspired the whole thing and that's why I reached out to you in the first place with this. Cause to me, there's no better person to connect with about this than, than the man responsible for uh, what inspired it. So, um.

• 36:34Speaker 06

  Well, I want to double down on, on what you're saying there too, Wes. This is, you're really, really poking at something that I think is incredibly important to convey, which is that this isn't a game that includes Sasquatch as a replacement character for something else. Just another person or, or what have you. It's, it's this whole world. It's this whole, it's our world, right? But it's taking a different lens on it, including like you're saying, the orbs or the lights, the, the Native American people, the dogmen, all of these different aspects about the paranormal. We weren't bringing all of that together and it's all grounded in the stuff that you talk about on your show. So we're not, while there are some pieces we're filling in, like Adrian shared,

• 37:18Speaker 06

  fundamentally and foundationally, it's all being built around the body of information that we have as a society that you've been bringing to light for all these years. That's our goal. You know, again, not just a Sasquatch character thrown into a world that you get to play with, but one that really jives with that whole environment, that whole sphere, the whole paranormal, all of it, right? And as much as we can reach and, and obtain that and we're trying to do the best we can. And this is really where we welcome the feedback. We really do sincerely, like Adrian said before, we really sincerely welcome any and everyone to go onto our website, throw us your thoughts, give us ideas. You know, talk to us about the things that are, are non-negotiables. You have to have this, right?

• 38:03Speaker 06

  Like, we would love to hear all that.

• 38:05Speaker 07

  Yeah, and if you're a developer yourself, if you have any experience in the gaming industry, if you know how to use Unreal Engine, if you're an artist and you want to join the team, if this sounds like a project that you'd be interested in, that you could contribute your passion to, we would love to have you. We're absolutely in the market. And your audience is full of the kind of free-thinking, independent-minded people that we are looking to work with most, you know, people who share the same kind of mission and perhaps might even be kind of tired of the establishment, kind of corporate mainstream way of doing things, which in my opinion has just grown completely stale.

• 38:50Speaker 07

  And it's in bad shape, you know, gaming these days is just full of just depravity, violence, this like kind of parasitic woke ideology, propaganda, you know, like everything is post-apocalyptic, everything is like the end of the world has already happened, humans are zombies, it's like anti-human, right? This will be the opposite of that. I mean, granted, we're working with Sasquatch, so it's, I wouldn't necessarily call it human, but there's a very human component to it, you know? I think there is some human in Sasquatch.

• 39:29Speaker 07

  If you look at the Sasquatch Genome Project, they seem to have some human DNA in them. So there is humanity to it. And like you were saying, there is a consequence, you know, risk and reward, sort of karmic system that rewards you doing the right thing by allowing you to sort of gain access to more paranormal abilities, you know, that's sort of rooted in your spirituality, your karmic sort of rating, I would call it, for lack of a better term. But the decisions you make, how much violence you bring into the world

• 40:11Speaker 07

  will get you ostracized from your troop, you know, you'll have to do- With military, I mean, you can do it, but just like in the real world, you have to deal with consequences. And I think the best stories are rooted in truth. And this is to me, a no brainer. And you don't have to believe in big fight to appreciate it. That's the beauty of it. And I think for those who are open to the subject, but don't necessarily believe, or maybe are agnostic on on the subject, I think there's still so much fun to be had there. And they're gonna find that the pieces fit. And they might even walk away from it with a newfound appreciation for it. In fact,

• 40:54Speaker 07

  one of my goals with the game is to really de-stigmatize the subject. You know, I think it's it's a sin that people cannot talk about their experiences openly without feeling stigmatized and ostracized for for their experience and claiming that they've seen one of these things, you know, we need to get over that, you know, we need to evolve and be able to talk about the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might be, you know, for people. And I think this game will help serve that purpose and and bring it into the mainstream consciousness more the zeitgeist, so to speak, allow people to feel more comfortable talking about this and and open people up who

• 41:37Speaker 07

  weren't open to it before, you know, get people thinking, get people's minds open. It's time.

• 41:43Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I love that, Adrian. And again, go to Sasquatch hyphen dot nations to check it out. And under the context section, you can kind of give the guys your feedback, whether you're a listener and you want to share some ideas, or if you're a developer, kind of looks like you can contact everyone on the site. Is this going to be like an Xbox game? Is it going to be a PlayStation game? Is it going to be like a PC game?

• 42:13Speaker 04

  That's a great question. What we're definitely going to have it on is PC for sure. And we're exploring opportunities right now, whether it makes more sense to go for an exclusivity play with one of the major console platforms, or ultimately offer it across all platforms. One of the the big things that's differentiated PlayStation, I think in the last, call it five or so years, is that they did a really phenomenal job of locking up a lot of exclusive content. And at the time, Box opted not to do that. And we're starting to see what we've been seeing actually. The impacts of that which have not netted out as positively for Xbox.

• 42:54Speaker 04

  That said, I love all the consoles, so I don't, I don't have a predilection one way or another. You know, I, I do PC gaming, I do Xbox gaming, PlayStation gaming, I got a switch, right? And they all have great titles that that underpin them. But right now we're still in the exploration phase again definitively on PC. And then depending on where the best opportunity comes through. Likely it'll be exclusive on one of the consoles, but it's TBD on that. And folks, I mean, again, we welcome that feedback. Do you have a preference towards PlayStation versus Xbox versus, you know?

• 43:33Speaker 07

  Yeah, that's, that's one of the questions on the survey for sure.

• 43:37Wes Germer?

  You know, one of the things that you guys brought up, and I honestly didn't even think about. Is it might be a cool tool to kind of bring people into the subject. And video games today are amazing. You know, I bought one of those, Adrian, you're probably too young for this, but CJ. I think you're closer to my age. In fact, I think you've actually created a lot of games I've played in the past. But I bought one of those tabletop arcade machines. You know, where you sit across from each other. I used to play them at the pizza places all the time. And I was telling my son, I was like, do you realize how many quarters I put into this machine? And he wasn't impressed. It was like showing someone DOS or showing someone like Windows 3.1.

• 44:22Wes Germer?

  I mean, he was not impressed. Video games today are impressive. And I wanted to ask you, with Sasquatch Nations, is this a game you can play online with other players?

• 44:35Speaker 07

  Ideally, yes. Uh, one of the the main three game modes that we envision uh that we're gonna be working towards is a competitive mode. Where uh you can play as Sas- Sasquatch, as Dogman, as a Skinwalker, or as a Special Forces soldier. Um, and you know, you can have a team of Special Forces, a troop of Sasquatch, a pack of Dogman. Um, and you can go up against people and basically use the kinds of uh systems and and um powers and uh the the various like strengths and weaknesses that each kind of

• 45:17Speaker 07

  character has uh that's you get to experience in the story mode or in the the free roam mode. Um, and put that to use in a competitive online platform.

• 45:29Speaker 06

  I would say absolutely agree with everything Adrian just shared. One of the areas that I've personally found frustrating with modern online gaming is that it it becomes a mechanism for microtransactions. You you read the stories online about the the kid who gets his dad's credit card and next thing you know, a thousand dollars has been dumped into Fortnite or Roblox or what have you. I I wanna be clear with our audience, you know, as a gamer, I'm a gamer. For those that are interested in gaming, the importance of us developing a really strong, single-player story mode with all the dynamic aspects that Adrian was talking about, it's gonna have real replayability

• 46:12Speaker 06

  because you can approach the game like kind of on the the opposite end of the spectrum as this rough, gruff, bad, if you will, character. And how that unlocks certain abilities and capabilities and storylines and dialogue. And then you can double back later and play it as as the good character, right? I mean, I I think back, the first game I ever saw this in. Was Fable on the Xbox, the original Fable. And I just fell in love with that game. I mean, you you either go down one path where you grow horns. You go down the other path where you get a halo. Obviously, we won't have horns or halos in this game, but you get the basic concept on that. But yes, absolutely an online aspect. You really can't create a game these days without having having that in it.

• 46:56Speaker 06

  But I just want to be clear with our audience that we're really doubling down to make sure that the story, the single player mode is going to be absolutely incredible and that there's a dynamic and interesting aspect to the online. And one thing we've also discussed exploring, it's still kind of on it. It's on the side. We're talking about it is is there a way for us to fully integrate a mobile part of this game as well, something that whether you're playing PC or console as you're on the go and you're out there in the world, could you have something that you're actually playing on your mobile phone that keeps you in the game as it were, right? Something where you can unlock abilities, unlock gear or otherwise,

• 47:39Speaker 06

  but then transfers over when you get back to your console or your PC. So that's something we're actively exploring as well. And again, we welcome ideas and thoughts from folks out there. If you know something about that space and you want to share something with us, we would absolutely love to hear about it.

• 47:56Wes Germer?

  Yeah, go to Sasquatch hyphen nations.com and give me your feedback. You guys need to hurry up and make this game. I'm ready to play it. But on the website, you really see Adrian's artwork. You really see the quality of the game that's going to be created. And this isn't like you guys' first time making video games. I kind of said it earlier, but CJ, you've been around this for a long time, haven't you?

• 48:23Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, I so I've been in technology for my whole career. Starting in the US Air Force, well, actually before the US Air Force, I worked for Electronic Arts. I was a game tester working on Command and Conquer. I actually, it's funny, I just found my poster in my garage the other day and framed it and put it up on my wall, signed by the whole development team, my signature's on there. But yes, I I've been a game. Forever and I've worked tangential to the gaming industry for a very long time in technology specifically. For a lot of different Fortune five hundreds and otherwise. But yes, I I have a a long background there and it's something I'm incredibly passionate about.

• 49:06Speaker 06

  My my family, we're all gamers gamers of of every color. So. Whether it's the board games, the console games, the PC games. We we have it all and we really enjoy plumbing the depths of. You know, everything from Control to to Hades to Ghost of Tsushima to Witcher. We're we're big RPG fanatics. Um. My wife in particular loves the the Dragon Age series. And if that really resonates for me, that game in particular, because. There's so much infinite replayability to get all the achievements, which is something I really enjoy is getting to a hundred percent achievement. You gotta play through that game.

• 49:45Speaker 06

  Three, four, five different times and it's not a drag because you can take different approaches. You can build your team a different way. And while we're not creating Dragon Age, we're approaching it with that kind of a mindset where there's going to be enough. Variability and replayability in it that you'll want to reapproach it and you'll want to hit it again and you'll want to play it on the higher difficulty. And you'll want to try it with a slightly different approach. And some of the things that we're also looking to include in here is more of a a dynamic type of dialogue as well. I mean, following along with the stories like we've alluded to throughout this conversation. Is we want you to be able to really go down different rabbit holes conversationally. You can end the conversation early if you want.

• 50:29Speaker 06

  But if you want to just sit there and have a conversation with the the chief elder of the local Native American tribe. To really understand the history and the background and otherwise. You can do that. And again, this is all based. Based on information that we've obtained, both through this show, outside of this show, through books, through personal experience, friends. You know, and yet again, I'll just say like, this is where we really want your audience's feedback. Things that are going to work in a gaming type of an environment that would resonate and be interesting. We want folks to walk away from this game. Feeling like they've come away with something new, some new piece of information, some new tidbit.

• 51:11Wes Germer?

  Yeah.

• 51:11Speaker 06

  And I'll just say this is just the last piece. One of my favorite games growing up was Age of Empires. And what I loved about that game was the historical reality that was in that game. And it stuck with me for my entire life because of that reason. I think there's something that we've lost over time. And it's not unintentional. It's very intentional. I've, I've read the articles. I've listened to the interviews. The industry at large is out to make profit. And if you can cut out all of the work and the time and the energy to go through the process of developing something that's more historically

• 51:50Speaker 06

  or real world accurate, you do that. And I want to just double down on everything that Adrian and I have been sharing here. We're an independent studio. Doing our own thing, not looking to give up control. And so let's leverage the power that technology has afforded us, you know, through the internet in particular, through crowdsourcing, through connections. We're people, people first and foremost. And so we want to meet your folks. We want to meet anyone out there that's interested in getting involved.

• 52:21Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I miss Age of Empires. Man, I've blown so many hours of my life playing, playing that game. Uh, CJ, what do you think Sasquatch is?

• 52:32Speaker 06

  That's a great question. You know, my wife and I, we've traveled up to, to Mount Renew. And we've gone on different tours and read different books over the years. My wife actually just read a book not that long ago on Sasquatch. For me anyways, what I think about what is Sasquatch is I really put it more into the intellectual. I would say that Sasquatch is a mystery. And one of the things that holds true for me in life is every time I turn around, it seems like the things we're told aren't entirely accurate. And so this notion that Sasquatch is just some myth is just some non-reality just leads me to be more interested in researching and exploring it.

• 53:16Speaker 06

  How that manifests physically and in reality, I think we've all got a general sense. You know, your Sasquatch Nation's logo has kind of the outline of Sasquatch. You go to our website. I think the physical manifestation, we've all got a somewhat similar view of what he or she Sasquatch looks like. But I think it's ultimately a mystery and that to me is what makes this whole project so exciting.

• 53:41Wes Germer?

  What about yourself, Adrian? What do you think it is?

• 53:44Speaker 07

  Wow, that question is, is what the inspiration from for the game really is downstream of. I've thought a lot about it and I've often, you know, dreamt about how I would answer this question if you asked it to me. So it's amazing how things come full circle. But what I would say is when you look at the Sasquatch Genome Project, which I mentioned earlier, I think it's an important data point for how I understand them to be at least. I think there's, you know, a part of them that has human DNA. And then the other part seems to be a question mark.

• 54:28Speaker 07

  And that's where the mystery that CJ is talking about for me lies. And I think. They're they're a physical creature. I think that they're very flesh and blood. But I think they have a metaphysical aspect to them that I think comes from their primal kind of nature. I think the more in touch with nature you are, the more disconnected from the kind of trappings of human society that we we have to deal with as humans. The more I think in touch with the sort of metaphysical aspects of reality you can

• 55:10Speaker 07

  become, you know, and the the walls sort of begin to crumble that are built up through the human experience and and a lot of these things that we would see as fantastical or or paranormal might just come naturally to them, you know, an ability to cloak, you know, or an ability to phase out into some into the sort of etheric realm or the astral plane or wherever they go, which is definitely part of the game. But, you know, I think they're they're a people in the in the definitional kind of sense of the word. I think they've

• 55:51Speaker 07

  probably been on Earth for about as long as we have, just living in the sort of outskirts of, you know, the in in the periphery of human society. And I think we have a long history of interacting with them.

• 56:09Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I do think that they've been around as long as we've been around. And they do seem to live on the outskirts. And I know Adrian, I know you love this subject. I mean, I know just from talking to you off the air, we could probably talk for like two hours on what Sasquatch is. And that's why I really think this game will be successful. Because you do love the subject. And you got mad skills, man, when it comes to art and visual effects and that sort of thing. And I really hope that the game comes to fruition. I really want to play it. But for the audience, go give the guys your feedback. Go to Sasquatch hyphen nations.com. Check out

• 56:54Wes Germer?

  the trailer, check out the screenshots, give the guys your feedback. And I really appreciate you guys coming on the show and sharing this project with the audience.

• 57:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Really, really appreciate the time, Wes. And, you know, just to say this one last time, we are still building our team, independent studio. The feedback is welcome. But also, if you or someone you know, might be interested in joining our team, let us know. Reach out through that same feedback form. Because we are looking for folks to join this endeavor, join this venture, get involved, like in a real material way, join our team directly. And so, thank you for this platform. Thank you for this opportunity. It's really been a pleasure chatting with you today, Wes.

• 57:38Speaker 07

  And thank you for everything you do, man. You give people a forum to to vent and to talk about their experiences that have impacted them in profound ways. And there's no other forum like it. And you do it in such a brilliant way. You know, always what to say, and what, you know, when to just fall back and let people get it off their chest. And it's a pleasure listening to your show. I learned so much. And it's been an honor to come on here and talk about this idea. And look forward to building it with you, man.

• 58:12Wes Germer?

  The honor was mine, guys. Thank you again. And that's it for tonight, everyone. Remember, if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is [email protected]. And if you get a chance, check out SasquatchChronicles.com. You can become a member and get additional shows. Does anyone know if they have any more of those world sporting events we could, we could host? That last one seemed like it went by too quick.

• 59:10Wes Germer?

  Flew in from across the ocean, didn't know what to expect. Saw the skyline out the window and I nearly broke my neck. Landed in Atlanta where the Georgia pines run green. And I said, "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Pulled up to Waffle House at 1 a.m. real late. Ash brown scattered, smothered, covered, ten out of ten is gray. Discovered free refills and I almost lost my mind. Found the kind of welcome that I never thought I'd find. Welcome to the land where the whole world comes to play. Flags from every nation waving proudly on display. From Boston to L.A., from Dallas to the sea. Eighty thousand voices, this is what it means to be free.

• 59:55Wes Germer?

  Welcome to the land, yeah, we're rolling out the door. Every street is stage, every stranger one more. The ball is in the air and the whole wide world can see. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the land of the free.

• 1:00:16Wes Germer?

  The Scots marched into Boston with their bagpipes ringing clear. Kilts and tartans everywhere, the whole city stopped to hear. They sang "Flower of Scotland" at the Red Sox Fenway Park. Lit the whole of New England up and glowing in the dark. The Germans hit the highway, chased the road from south to north. Freddie said, "It's the Holy Land," he meant Taco Bell, of course. Buc-E's left him speechless, Space Pro Shops left him amazed. Even got invited to the White House, yeah, the whole world's going crazy. Norwegian fans in New York doing yoga in Times Square. Then they turned the escalator into a Vikings lair. Rowing up together like a long ship headed home. Little boy in and out, now he won't leave alone. Welcome to the land.

• 1:01:04Speaker 05

  Japan fans cleaning stadiums the same way that they do. An NFL star grabbed a trash bag, join the whole crew. Mexico and South Korea, best friends on the street. Dancing to Gangnam Style with their arms around each beat. Kansas learned Algerian, the marching band played their song. Five hundred Lawrence locals showed the world where you belong. Swedish fans were searching for the recipe to ranch. Frenchman says the air conditioning deserves its own whole stanza. English fans, the jaw dropped at the first sight of Buc-E's. Scottish fans at Fenway, Boston said, "Please don't leave." Bucky and the ranch dressing brisket by the pound. Best tournament the world has ever seen. And we're just getting wild.

• 1:01:49Speaker 05

  A bag popper and a bucket drummer outside Faneuil Hall. Plaid kill, wicker hat, playing music for us all. Different worlds, different words, different flags, different names. But when the whistle blows, we all come alive the same. From the Rockies to Rockefeller. From Seattle to the shore. America is telling the world, "Come on in." It's Ruffin' for more! Welcome to the land where the whole world comes to play. Flags from every nation waving proudly on display. From Boston to LA, from Dallas to the sea.

• 1:02:32Speaker 05

  Eighty thousand voices, this is what it means to be free. Welcome to the land, yeah, we're rolling out the door.

• 1:03:10Speaker 05

  Every street is stage, every stranger wanting more. The ball is in the air, and the whole wide world can see. Welcome, welcome, welcome To the land of the free.

• 1:03:29Speaker 05

  To the land of the free.

• 1:03:36Speaker 05

  From the people who came here and fell in love with the land. To the people who live here and reached out a hand. One beautiful game, one beautiful truth. The whole world is welcome. And the whole world came through. Yeah.