SC EP:1138 The Joker Laugh

Kris writes " In early January I decided to head to RMNP west of Estes Park to hike up and snowboard down an old ski hill there. This is something I've done many times on my own and often there are others doing the same. Although I think it's a bit more rare to go at night, you'll still see folks up there hitting a line a night with head lamps and lights. This time I decided to go at night on my own. I did tell 3 friends where I was going and actually texted one friend a starry Pic from the trailhead. The trailhead lot was empty as we're the ranger stations on the way in. So, at this point I headed up the hill. It usually takes about an hour depending on snow conditions. I had a snowboard, a backpack with snacks and a Bluetooth speaker. I typically opt out of using snowshoes because Ive got to carry them down as well. I threw on the whole Sabbath paranoid album to get my head straight and motivated. The hill is a limited number of runs with low angles so there is really no avalanche danger. A week prior, I did the exact same thing. A night hike and boarded down. So, I was confident and enjoying the solace. Even over the sabbath, I could here the wind moving tall trees and flakes hitting the ground. The trail isn't challenging going up and the terrain opens and closes with the trees in the background. About 45 minutes in, I am at the point where the hill opens up and is peppered with trees in the ski slope. The sides are surrounded by darkness due to the trees around. My speaker suddenly says "low battery". I kept walking to the top where the hill funnels you into a narrow trail between more trees. ( i had my phone, so i could point this part out on Google maps) Right then, I decide to reach back and turn off the speaker so I don't have to hear the low battery alert. I continue up this narrow trail for about 80 yards, just short of thr length of a football field. Only hearing the flakes landing, wind, and my crunchy boot prints, out of nowhere came the loudest BARK, with a roaring echo, I've ever heard. At this point, I froze. My whole body went into shock. I went from nice n warm because of all the movement to cold as ice. I lost feeling in my lips. I didn't know what to do, or say or.... So I did what I've done on a couple occasions. I channeled my inner Phil Anselmo and ripped the biggest scream I could. I yelled HEY! With everything I had. I wanted to Guage where this noise came from so I yelled. After, I sat down shaking. About 15 heartbeats later, BARK! At that moment I knew it was in the trees down from me. Silence in-between these barks so I know it wasn't moving. I got into my bag and took out 3 lights I use for night biking. All of which are at least 1000 lumens. I pointed one up the trail, one down the trail, and one right in front of me into the trees. I listened and heard nothing. I'm thinking, did I imagine this? So I go HEY one more time. Sure enough, about 10- 15 heartbeats later, BARK. I almost started crying as I strapped my snowboard faster than I ever could have otherwise. I'm freaking out in silence as I think I'm about to board into this sound by heading down. As I'm thinking all of this, I've gotten ready and am about to stand up. This is where in the trees ahead of me, a crazy loud laughing started. Hat ha ha ha haha. It echoes as if there are multiple somethings laughing at me. Like a mad joker. I flipped at that point. Mentally freaked out. I was having trouble standing up because my hands were sinking into the snow. I quickly found a way and headed down faster than I would have in the day! I didn't sleep gor two nights, and still have trouble doing so. Thx for reading Wes. I was shaking and having a hard time writing this." We will also be speaking to Augustus, he writes "My uncle just died and he told we to tell you about all of are interesting stories and the crazy we saw while hunting and horseback riding." Augustus is from Utah and shares strange encounters near his families property.

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

• 0:04Wes Germer?

  Did you hear that right there?

• 0:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:11Wes Germer?

  Let me back it up.

• 0:15Wes Germer?

  I always call this a Scooby Doo laugh.

• 0:33Wes Germer?

  No, but uh, anyway, I wanted to hear the, that Scooby Doo thing.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's wild. Yeah, it's like a rolling laugh, like, "Hoo hoo, hoo hoo."

• 0:44Speaker 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.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  They don't make people that, that big.

• 1:12Speaker 02

  The way it moved. Uh, almost as if it was gliding across the beach. I've never seen anything move like that in my life.

• 1:26Speaker 02

  They were screaming at each other in gibberish.

• 1:30Speaker 02

  It sounded like a language and they were chuntering away, back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forwards.

• 1:37Speaker 02

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

• 1:55Speaker 03

  911, what are you reporting? Jesus Christ, you better... Care? See ya! Hello? Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know. Do you see him now, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at him. Uh-oh.

• 2:17Speaker 04

  This is John from Ontario, Canada, and you're listening to Sasquatch Chronicles.

• 2:51Wes Germer?

  Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show planned for you. We'll be chatting with Augustus, and Augustus comes to us from Utah, and his family owns a bunch of property out there, and they've had a lot of weird things happen on this property. Augustus has actually seen the creature, his little sister has seen the creature, and I'll kind of let him go into it. We're also gonna be chatting with Chris, and Chris comes to us from Colorado, and very recently, he was out snowboarding at night, and had this scary experience up on the mountain. I'll kind of let him go into it. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email.

• 3:36Wes Germer?

  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. And on last night's member show, I spoke to April, who is from Georgia, and she has this little tiny creature, well, I won't say tiny, he's about four foot seven, that keeps coming around her property. She just bought this home back about six months ago, and this thing won't, basically won't leave her alone. And she talked about the creature actually coming into her home one night. And for the members, I posted the pictures of the handprint on the wall,

• 4:19Wes Germer?

  so if you go back underneath that episode, please help, you'll see where I've updated it and added the pictures she sent me. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Augustus to the show. Augustus, thanks for coming on.

• 4:37Speaker 05

  Happy to be here.

• 4:38Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I'm happy to have you on Augustus and I know this takes place in Utah and we're going back to 2018. If you would, just kind of start from the beginning, kind of walk me into how all of this unfolded.

• 4:53Speaker 05

  So, uh, back in 2018, my dad just got remarried and she had four daughters. And we have this big giant camping trailer, but me getting to that age of 13, I needed some privacy, so I got myself a tent and we run hounds for bear. And we were up on the bear hunt and um, I came in, set up my tent, everything like that. Beautiful area. We uh, went to bed that night. And I have to use the bathroom far away from the camp because we don't want the dogs getting into it.

• 5:34Speaker 05

  So I wake up around 2, 2:30 a.m. and I wake up and go to the restroom. I throw on my little cheap headlamp and I start heading down the trail. I just realized that the woods are just like silent. There's not like any sound, like not even crickets. It was just really eerie. And I um, keep walking and my light scans over this like hunched over thing, like it looks like a player, like a big, big bear. And I was like, oh crap. So I hurried and turned back to it and it's this thing hunched over, hair, everything like that. And I'm like, oh, it's a bear.

• 6:19Speaker 05

  But then I realized we have hound dogs that are trained to bark at bears. And not one's making a sound. And then I'm sitting there.

• 6:31Speaker 05

  And I see it turn its head towards me and I kind of see the side of its face. I think it got me in its peripherals and it hurries and stands up and just books it across this a couple of yards to this creek and jumps the creek in one jump. And it, I was sitting there just out of pure fear I could not move. And I don't, it was just like, I felt like I was having a panic attack or a heart attack. I didn't know what to do. And then I just had that fight or flight and I ran back into the trailer.

• 7:10Speaker 05

  And my dad's like, tried to come down, he's like, what's going on? Why are you happy about anything? I tell him, he's like, oh, you just saw something that's not true. And the next morning I went out there. And I was like, maybe it was my uncle who was a really big, tall guy playing a prank on me. So I go out there and I measure where his head was to the stick and it measured eight and a half feet.

• 7:33Wes Germer?

  Yeah, and I know that this is an area where your family ended up buying a bunch of property, but um, when you saw this thing, how far away from you was it? And if you would kind of describe what you were looking at?

• 7:46Speaker 05

  Probably twenty, thirty yards. It was like, do you know like when a gorilla is like on its knuckles and it's standing on its knuckles?

• 7:59Wes Germer?

  Yeah.

• 8:00Speaker 05

  It was hunched over like that, which made me think it was a bear.

• 8:04Speaker 05

  But then I saw the shoulders rise up. And then it was standing just on its two legs, but still hunched over and instead of its head turning, its whole body turned towards me. And I saw the side of its face. And then it looked over at me, saw me, and then just took off running. It was like the color of the red clay in that area. I couldn't see the ear. It was covered by hair. But it had like a nose. It wasn't like protruding like ours, but also wasn't extremely flat like some apes, but it was very flared out nostrils and like, but not completely flat like some apes. It was like a grayish color.

• 8:49Wes Germer?

  Oh, I gotcha. Yeah, the skin of the face was kind of that gray color. Let me ask you, I mean, you're out there with your family. Your family is, you know, they are major hunters in the area and you've been doing this most of your life. What did you think it was?

• 9:06Speaker 05

  Well, growing up, I always watched like the Finding Bigfoot and stuff. And so I, at the beginning, I was like, oh, that was Bigfoot. And then I saw it and I was thinking in my head, I'm like, but Bigfoot's not real, blah, blah. And I replayed it in my head and I just started thinking in like, maybe it was a moose or maybe it was a bear or maybe I was, maybe for some reason, my dogs weren't barking at it. But then I just keep going past it and remembering like, it couldn't have been a bear. There's no bears that big in that area and there's no bears that run on two legs and jump creeks.

• 9:40Wes Germer?

  And was that kind of the end for the night?

• 9:43Speaker 05

  Uh, that night, yes. But other nights, we did, I did have some things that I didn't account to it being a Sasquatch until I listened to your show.

• 9:55Wes Germer?

  Uh, give me an example. What other things are you talking about?

• 9:59Speaker 05

  Uh, like we would, the coyotes would start going off at night. And then on top of them would be this weird coyote, like this deep throaty one that was just would out, would cover them all, like out, make their sounds, make them sound puny and just like this deeper sound. It was kind of like the Ohio howl, but higher pitch. And, um, like I said, we run bears with dogs. And I'm sure you know, I've listened to you talk about the coon hunters, how those dogs, that's their drive and they don't want to do anything else. Nothing's going to stop them. One day we rig a bear, which is when we drive down the road

• 10:42Speaker 05

  and the dogs smell a bear and go crazy. So we turned the dogs loose. They ran probably like 300 yards in the brush and we hear one of them let out this like, like, like something had hit it. And then all the dogs come running back, jump in the dog box, won't come out. Won't come out of the back of the truck. And um. One of them. Did. Have a broken rib.

• 11:10Speaker 05

  And then um. This was in two thousand twenty. We were on the same bear hunt. But probably I'd say. Two mountains over. This area, we usually hunt out of trucks or side by sides, but this area is so rough. You can't get in there with only with horses. So we walk in there with horses. We had an all day hunt. And we're coming back down the road. And there's this tree covering the trail. But it's not like a tree fell over. It's the whole root ball. With the tree still attached to it across the road. And we were looking around and we couldn't see where it fell from or where it got pulled from.

• 11:54Speaker 05

  So it's like something had pulled it from another area and carried it and covered the road with it. It was a type of tree that was from the area, like you could find it in the area, but like. We couldn't see where the tree came from. It's like we looked around and like, you know how if a tree falls over and the root ball comes with it, how there's that big. Clawed dirt that you find where it came out of. That wasn't anywhere near it. We never found it. And uh. Last year. I know it two years ago bought some property up there. About four hundred acres of land. We were. Getting this area ready. And there was this big giant patch of woods in our backyard. That we were cutting down to be able to. Plant more crops and graze the cattle better. You know what I mean?

• 12:40Speaker 05

  We cut this whole area down. And it seems like as soon as we cut this area down. We pissed something off. Like things started happening like. We started losing. Uh chickens, a lot of chickens.

• 12:54Speaker 05

  We lost a like a 300 pound boar we lost. No trace of it. And uh, we did have a couple of times where we did have something come up and smack the house. Which it it wasn't happening every night, but it happened enough to where my stepmom and my sisters stopped coming up there. And uh, my little sister saw one. At this, at it out of her, out of her bedroom window. She uh, it was one night. And she's sitting in there and she has all her friends over. She has a bunch of, she plays softball, so she has all her softball girlfriends over.

• 13:37Speaker 05

  And they're out back playing, tagging the dark and running around laughing, having fun. Telling scary stories, everything like that. And apparently they went into her room for the bed that night. And they said, walking along the edge of the house, they could hear something like. They said it sounded like something that was having a hard time breathing, like.

• 14:01Speaker 05

  Like it was like congested or something. And they. She, we had this dog at that time, it was this uh, bulldog and it made that sound like that. Hard to breathe sound and so she. And a couple of her friends went around the corner to go grab the dog out of her room. And go get the dog out from outside, thinking they maybe locked it outside. And she turned that corner and said she just saw this black silhouette, walking along the edge of the house, turn the corner. Of the house by her window. And then all her friends just start screaming. And then. That was the last she saw of it because she ran inside and hid.

• 14:44Wes Germer?

  This whole area, I know all of this is kind of happening in the same area and you guys decided to buy a property there. Is it a place where you guys live full time? Or is it a place where you just kind of go to hunt?

• 14:56Speaker 05

  It's a place where we go to run cattle. So we're only there in the summer.

• 15:00Wes Germer?

  And when did this happen, Augustus? Was this last summer?

• 15:04Speaker 05

  Last summer, yeah.

• 15:06Wes Germer?

  I hear you. And you think all of this kind of started because you guys decided to cut back the brush on the property?

• 15:14Speaker 05

  I don't, we lived in there for a couple of months, but then as soon as we cut all that stuff out of there in that area, it started happening.

• 15:23Wes Germer?

  Have you walked around this property and just see if you could find anything? Any sort of trace of something being there?

• 15:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, I have. And like, there's some weird trails around there. They're like, it's too wide to be a deer trail, but it's too tall to be a bear trail. You know what I mean? It looks like people are running around on our property. And we have had a couple of times where you do get a weird like wet dog skunk smell around the house at night.

• 15:59Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it definitely sounds like they're on the property, especially with your sister seeing them and then, you know, it smacking the house. I know in your original email, you had emailed me about your uncle before he passed away. You kind of had a conversation with him. And it kind of meant a lot to you because, you know, your uncle had seen them. Did anything else happen before you had that conversation with your uncle?

• 16:25Speaker 05

  There actually, there is one where me and him actually did find a set of tracks. So we were on a lion hunt. We mount lion hunt with these dogs too. And you have to find the track in the snow because they don't leave a lot of scent. And so we're horseback riding and we see this track, these tracks. And I don't know if you noticed, but a mount lion walks like on a tightrope. You know what I mean?

• 16:51Wes Germer?

  Yeah.

• 16:52Speaker 05

  And so we see this tightrope walking. We're like, and it's deep snow. So we're thinking, oh, it's a tightrope cat walking and dragging its feet a little bit. We get up there and It's this. I'd say. I wear a size twelve. It's probably about four sizes bigger than my, four inches bigger than my shoe. Impression, it was like, it was like powder snow, so you couldn't see the details, but you could like, shape it out, if you know what I mean. We just saw it cross the road and then it went up on this hillside. Where I hit dirt again. And that was the day I talked to my uncle. So I was riding with him, I was like, what was that? And he's like. I don't know, it's like, what do you think of Bigfoot? And he's like.

• 17:35Speaker 05

  He goes, I don't know. I'm like, do you believe in Bigfoot? He's like. I've had some experiences and I, I would say yes. I'm like. Oh, what happened? I, I've had my experience. So I told him my experience and then he. Told me his and it was. He was eighteen years old on a raccoon hunt. And. They're. Just driving down the road. Having a good time. Him and his buddies are drinking, laughing. Having fun and. All of a sudden, the dogs freak out and start hiding underneath the truck. And won't come out. So my. Uncle, he had one of the, he got one of these big spotlights for Christmas. You know, the ones that plug into the cigarette outlet? And he was like.

• 18:21Speaker 05

  Supposedly like really powerful back then. Well, he turns it on and starts scanning the wood line. He says he sees this. Little like four foot tall. Monkey thing. Hurry and run up the hill. And just disappears like over the hill. And then he. Hear something from the other side of the creek. Breaking branches and like shaking trees and. He. He starts freaking out and he hurries and gets in the truck. He turns around and his headlights hit this. He said it was identical to the one he saw, except. Way bigger. He said about nine feet tall and it's sitting there shaking a tree.

• 19:03Speaker 05

  And breaking branches and he said as as he was driving peeling out, he started throwing rocks at him in the truck.

• 19:12Wes Germer?

  Yeah. And may your uncle rest in peace. I know it meant a lot to you that he told you this account because when you had seen it, your dad didn't really believe you. Um, did your uncle describe it like the face as far as what he saw?

• 19:27Speaker 05

  He said it just looked like a very hairy man. He said it looked like a man and a monkey had a baby.

• 19:39Wes Germer?

  And I realize all of this kind of happened in Utah. When he told you his experience, obviously, you know, he's he was going back to when he was 18 at the time, but was it in the general area where you guys found the, uh, the tracks?

• 19:54Speaker 05

  Oh, a long ways away. No. So all the experiences with the bear hunting, all that area is in the southern part of Utah by Fish Lake. And I've been doing some research. I looked on the BW, the BWR, uh, website.

• 20:11Wes Germer?

  Yeah, the, uh, BFRO.

• 20:13Speaker 05

  BFRO. Sorry, my bad. There's a bunch of sightings in that area. And I know this is a show about Bigfoot, but I do have another weird cryptid encounter.

• 20:26Wes Germer?

  Yeah, tell me about it.

• 20:29Speaker 05

  So this was up in Vernon, Utah. They do a bunch of cattle running out there and I was out there one day just riding my four wheeler around, uh, just doing what teenagers do and having fun, just riding around, killing time. And, um, there's this dead cow about, I would say 50 yards off the road.

• 20:55Speaker 05

  And then there's this little gray thing. It's like, well, not li- I wouldn't call it little. I'd say it's six foot tall gray colored thing, like dark gray colored dog. But it's giant compared to anything. It looked like a Great Dane out there. But it had long shaggy fur with a long bushy tail like a fox, but it was the size of a Great Dane. And it just, I saw it. And so I started chasing it on my four wheeler and it went down this ravine up there. And it just seemed like it vanished. It like went down this ravine.

• 21:36Speaker 05

  And this ravine, you could look both ways, left and right for 300 yards and above on the other side, 100 yards. And there was nothing. It was like it ran in that bottom and just disappeared. It was, it looked like a wolf and it seems like it was faster than the ATV.

• 21:59Wes Germer?

  How fast does your ATV go? What is it 30, 40 miles an hour?

• 22:03Speaker 05

  If I'm full throttle, I can get 40 miles an hour.

• 22:09Wes Germer?

  Yeah.

• 22:09Speaker 05

  And I wasn't gaining anything on it.

• 22:12Wes Germer?

  Yeah, that's weird, man. Not gaining any ground on it. Uh, makes me wonder what it was. I have had a few reports of Dogman out there in Utah.

• 22:21Speaker 05

  I know. And what, what made me think of this just now is I was actually listening to your account with the rabbit hunters in Utah. They were in Vernon, Utah and saw a black one, almost exactly what I just described. I forgot what episode number, but I remember listening to it and like, oh my gosh.

• 22:38Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I do remember that episode. I can't remember what episode or number it was, but um, you're right. They did see one, basically what you're describing, but black. Makes me wonder about that property you guys bought, you know, up there for the cattle. And I know you guys only go up there during the summertime, but I wonder if they lived there all the time? Or if they were just kind of passing through and you guys kind of met at the same time?

• 23:03Speaker 05

  So my, uh, other uncle, we have, we've been letting him stay up there through the winter and like living up there. And I've been talking to him about it because his brother's the one that just passed and he, he knew his story. And I was asking him like, anything else been going on? He says, as soon as the first snow came, which is when we left, it kind of stopped. So I wonder if they're just there in the summer and leaving the winter because the winters up there are very, very brutal. You get three to four feet of snow at your house.

• 23:34Wes Germer?

  Yeah. And I know with summer coming up, you guys head up there every summer. Um, I wonder if it was a one time thing or if they'll be there this coming summer. Let me ask you, I ask everyone on the show, what do you think Sasquatch is? What's your take?

• 23:50Speaker 05

  I think it is

• 23:54Speaker 05

  a flesh and blood creature. I think it's the part of us that didn't evolve. It's, it's not a human. It doesn't have a human DNA. But it's also not a straight monkey. It has the, I feel like it's a Neanderthal before they lost all their hair and had skin, if you know what I mean.

• 24:17Wes Germer?

  So do you think it's more of a human more than animal?

• 24:22Speaker 05

  No, I think it's more.

• 24:25Speaker 05

  It's hard to say. I think it's like right in between because it has animal characteristics in the face and the behavior, but it also has human behaviors. Like, I hear the stories about them like smiling at people or they like see a baby and they smile or they frown or they make faces at it. So I think it still has some human in it, but not a lot.

• 24:51Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it's hard to say. I will say most people kind of like what you were just saying there, Augustus, about, uh, you know, somewhere in between. That's what a lot of eyewitnesses say. Somewhere between like a monkey and a man or a gorilla and a man. And then other times people will say kind of like what your uncle told you, you know, it looked like a, a big man. Their appearances are very similar, but can be very different as well. And might, and some of it might be perception from the eyewitness too, as far as what they're seeing. You know, did it look more like a man? Did it look more like an animal? I'm kind of with you, man. Somewhere in between.

• 25:34Wes Germer?

  I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share it.

• 25:40Wes Germer?

  And I appreciate you taking the time to listen, man.

• 25:43Speaker 05

  I've just been a great big fan for so long and I've reached out to you before when this first, when the one in 2018 happened. And then, I don't know, I just didn't get back to you, but it's, you've helped me so much in figuring out what all these things that have happened to me are.

• 26:00Wes Germer?

  Appreciate the kind words, Augustus.

• 26:12Wes Germer?

  Next up on the show, I want to welcome Chris. Chris, thanks for coming on.

• 26:17Speaker 06

  Hey Wes, how's it going? Thanks for having me.

• 26:19Wes Germer?

  I'm doing well, man. Thank you for being here. I know this happened to you out there in Colorado. How long ago did this happen to you, Chris?

• 26:28Speaker 06

  I was just early this year, actually right around the first of the year. I had been up in the same area a week prior, doing the same thing. And yeah, something completely scared me out in the woods. So yeah, I just figured I'd share it.

• 26:45Wes Germer?

  Well, if you would, just kind of start from the very beginning. What were you doing and what happened?

• 26:51Speaker 06

  Yeah. So first I do want to warn people that, you know, this, this may or may not sound a little reckless, you know, walking up a hill in the winter to snowboard down at night. But other people do this and, and ski up and down this, this old hill. It's, it's west of Estes Park. If you know anything about that area, you definitely know where I'm talking about. I don't want to blow it up or anything like that. I don't know what's going on out there. It's just a. Old recreational spot that people go, you know, sledding, go hiking in the summer, snowboarding, that kind of thing, cross-country skiing. It's a very mellow slope. Um, that's also why, you know, when I have time in the winter, I can go up there in the evening and hit a run,

• 27:36Speaker 06

  you know, clear my mind, hike up, snowboard down and I've got headlights and, and, um, you know, mountain bike lights that are super duper bright, so I feel comfortable out there and other people do it as well. So on this occasion, um, I, I went up in the evening and, you know, let three friends know, um, where I was going. My son knew where I was going. Um, even, you know, when I got to the parking lot, like way up there in the Rocky Mountain National Park, um, usually you do have reception in the, in the parking lot there. So I sent a, a beautiful picture of a starry night to a friend like, hey, I'm here, just letting you know.

• 28:18Speaker 06

  And, uh, I did, I did notice that there was no one there in the parking lot. I, I wasn't super nervous about it or anything because I've done it before. Um, and again, not a big slope, no avalanche danger, that kind of thing. So just feeling pretty confident, just about to have fun and, uh, I bundled up, got my gear ready. I've got a backpack full of snacks. Um, you know, I have like an emergency blanket in there. There's some other things and I've got a bunch of flashlights and, and, uh, I'm just ready. So, um, before I, I start this hike, um, I, uh, I turn on my Bluetooth speaker and I, I turn on a Black Sabbath album, uh, my favorite Paranoid. And, you know, get my head straight, start up the hill.

• 29:04Speaker 06

  And, uh, also I do want to put it out there that the snowpack there is, is pretty good unless it's snowed recently. So I typically don't take snowshoes because then I also have to bring them down and they're dangling off my backpack or inside of them or that kind of thing. So, um, I just take my time and hike up the hill, enjoy what's going on around me. Um, so.

• 29:27Speaker 06

  I I leave the parking lot and again, I'm I'm jamming, but I'm not. I'm not super loud. I'm just going up. I can still hear my boot prints and. Um, it takes about an hour to get to the point where you start. You want to start heading down past Trail Ridge Road. Um. That's kind of where the slope gets fun and you can actually get some. Some time on your board or your skis. So I've got some time and the the album's got at least like forty five minutes to play. So I'm jamming, hitting the hill. Um. The uh, the old uh, recreational area, the old ski resort. They're narrow runs through the trees, but they're.

• 30:07Speaker 06

  They're not super narrow. They're totally doable even at night for somebody that has experience. They're super fun. And again, no. No real steepness uh, steepness to them. They're they're really easy. So I'm heading up and and uh. I, you know, I. I had, I'm I'm funneled into like a little tree run and you know, you go that that way for a while. And the trees open up and they close back in and they open up and they close back in. So. I I definitely think it could be eerie if you're not used to being out there. I just love being out there. It's. Where I go to clear my head. So. Um, I'm pretty pumped again, like I did this a week prior, this exact activity, exact area. I'm confident.

• 30:52Speaker 06

  And it gets to this area where the hill starts to get a little steeper and it funnels out into more of a bigger ski slope and there's. Trees peppered throughout and I kind of traverse up the hill um, strategically kind of making my way, finding like the good snow pack area. So I'm not sinking and things. And at the very top of that hill, my speaker, my Bluetooth speaker, it just goes low battery. You know, it's pretty cold out, so I'm sure it's it's not going to hold battery very well. Um, but I I wait till I'm at the very top of that before I take my bag off and turn the turn the speaker off. Um, and when I get to the top of that, the hill, um, again funnels into a small

• 31:37Speaker 06

  uh, little runoff to the side. A lot of people, if, if you know this area, um, some people will call it the catwalk. Uh, some skiers call it that because it does. It kind of thins out into a catwalk and the snow on the side of this run is a little deeper. So, um, again, my speaker's off. I've got my backpack back on them. I'm hiking with my snowboard and uh, I'm probably, I, I would bet seventy to eighty yards into this um, little ski run, this catwalk off the, the funnel hill. Um, and

• 32:17Speaker 06

  at, at that moment, like out of nowhere,

• 32:22Speaker 06

  there was like the, the biggest, deepest bark I had ever heard. And, and I mean, I just froze. My lips went numb. I did not know what to do. Um, and it was, I don't know, it wasn't, it was too, you know, too big to be a dog, but I, I'm like shaking telling you this. It's like super tough, but I'm imagining this and, and before all this is happening, you know, I turned off the speaker and I could hear the crunch of my boots. I could hear the trees swaying and touching each other um, in the wind and I could hear like the, the sprinkles of the snow.

• 33:04Speaker 06

  Uh, the snowflakes just falling and hitting the ground, just this, this magical feeling, right? And then out of nowhere, there's, uh, I, obviously I can't repeat it, but it's like this, uh, this

• 33:18Speaker 06

  and I like, I don't know how that's gonna sound on the recording, but it was this echoed up the valley, up this hill bark. And that's the only way I can describe it. There wasn't a roar. It was a bark. It was a start and an end.

• 33:35Speaker 06

  Um, I didn't know what to do. And the only thing I could, I could think of, because I've done this before. When I knew there were some sounds around when I was mountain biking or something like that. And uh, I like to call it uh, channeling my inner Phil on Salmo. I really like Pantera. Obviously, you know, into Sabbath and stuff, so I just, I roar back. And the only thing I could think of is, hey, so I'm, hey, just the biggest thing I've got. And as soon as I do it, I, I fall, like I fall and I just sit down and I've got my snowboard next to me and I'm listening. But from what I can remember, I'm not breathing. I can hear my heartbeats. It's that intense.

• 34:23Speaker 06

  And I'm counting and I've got to be between ten and fifteen. Again, like I'm flipping out, man. Uh, ten and fifteen heartbeats later. And something responded to my hey, and it goes.

• 34:38Speaker 06

  Again. And at this point, modes changed. I took my backpack off. I went into, like I about started crying, but I went into this like speed survival mode. I took out three flashlights, all of which, one of which is two thousand lumens. It's super duper bright. The other two are a thousand lumens. I've got one pointed down the trail, up, one up the trail, and one straight towards the trees ahead of me. And I'm thinking, you know, put your, put your snowboard on, uh, leave the backpack out so you can pack up, you know, one or two of the lights, like figure this out. You got a headlight on in these flashlights. Um, I also, um, I didn't put this in the email, but I did have a fixed blade on me in a case.

• 35:21Speaker 06

  At that point, it went into a zipped pocket in my snowboard pants. And I was like, okay, at least it's like easy access. Again, it's in a case. I felt protected more than anything. Um, maybe stupid, but uh, I didn't know what to do. So, I put my snowboard, I strapped that snowboard to my feet faster than anything. This is not a click in, snowboard two straps, pretty standard. You know, click, click, click, click, click. And at this point, my head, my brain changes and I'm thinking, did I imagine that? Number one, and two, where the hell is this thing at? Uh, cause it sounded like it was down the hill and the sound echoed up at me.

• 36:04Speaker 06

  And I've obviously got to go down the hill to make it back to my truck, to the parking lot, to just anywhere to safety at this point. Um, I could go directly up. But the problem with going directly up is I didn't know it was up there. Trail Ridge Road was not far from where I was at. Um, but at this point, I was also thinking, I should already be at Trail Ridge Road. It's been a while. And I hadn't thought of that before. So one more time, I decided to just give it everything I got and I, I wanted to gauge where the sound was coming from. And again, channeled everything I had and I said, hey!

• 36:50Speaker 06

  And then silence and I counted my heartbeats. It's almost like I held my breath. And boom, one last bark. And at this point, I'm, I'm like, okay, I gotta go. That's the third one. That's the, you know, like it's there. I didn't imagine it. It's down for me and I'm about to potentially, you know, snowboard into the arms of, of whatever's down there. I was so scared. I, I decided, you know, keep your 2000 Lumen light in your hand. Uh, you've got your headlamp on. You have an open hand to get your fixed blade. You're set, right? So I packed the bag faster than I could. Like it's on my bag. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. As I'm just trying to man up to stand up, just to stand up and go, cause I'm on my butt at this point.

• 37:36Speaker 06

  It is a packed trail, but it's soft enough where if you were to put your, your fist in there, your, your palm, it sinks a little bit. It's not as broad as a boot. So. I, you know, I'm, I'm kinda trying to stand up, but I'm still scared. And right in front of me, like ten to fifteen yards. Now, again, this bark is off. It's, I don't even know how far off, but it's far enough that I'm like, okay, it's, it's out there and I can get moving. But right ahead of me, as I'm motivating to get up, just straight ahead, ten to fifteen yards into these trees.

• 38:18Speaker 06

  There, there was the, like, the scariest laugh I have ever heard, and it was echoed once it started. And the only thing I can say is it sounded like a mad joker laughing at me. And the first part of that, it sounded like hat, like H A T. It was very defined. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And as it kept going, more started with it.

• 38:45Speaker 06

  And it, then it stopped. And I'm flipped due to like, I don't know what to do. My hands are sinking in the snow. I can't get up. And I'm like, my, my, again, my lips are numb. My face is, uh, complete, like, I, I went from being like, warm. Uh, because of all the activity, I'm hiking up the mountain, listening to Sabbath, you know, hell, yeah. I'm going up and then all of this happened and I went to ice cold. I couldn't feel my fingertips. My lips were numb. Um, when I, when all this was over, I, I literally was like, I couldn't feel like the lobes of my ear. Something had happened. Uh, to me, like, it was, it was off and it was awful.

• 39:28Speaker 06

  But going, going into this mindset of like, dude, holy crap, you gotta go, was one of the worst. Uh, one of like the worst feelings, cause I've not, I've had a few, you know, sense of, you know, emergency, sense of urgency, go, go, go. In, throughout my life, but nothing like that, because I couldn't see either creature or either entity or either thing that was after me. Or talking to me, laughing at me, barking at me. The other thing is, after all of this, I got to researching and where I stopped on that night was not where I stopped the week prior.

• 40:11Speaker 06

  There's two different like main runs and kind of two different catwalks at that place. And one of them goes pretty much straight to Trail Ridge Road. The other one deviates. If you were to look on Google Maps, it deviates a little bit and it goes like through a thinner trail. I was in that thinner trail. I got a little bit more information and I do believe where this little recreational area crosses over Trail Ridge Road. I got to reading, right there should be at eleven thousand four hundred feet. I, again, I, I read this, um, and the, the parking lot starts at about ninety five hundred. I also got to reading, how likely is it for a pack of coyotes, one coyote, two coyotes,

• 40:55Speaker 06

  to be out of the valleys in Rocky Mountain National Park? And, you know, weird things happen, right? Animals travel, um, and, and they find places that they like. They go hunting, that kind of thing. But whatever was laughing at me in the trees, I, I really believe shouldn't have been there. I don't think those were coyotes. I don't know what that was. It doesn't, you know, it doesn't sound like a Sasquatch experience as far as the laughing, the barking, that kind of relates. But all of this stuff, um, it turned into one of the worst experiences in my life that I don't necessarily like to share with too many people because

• 41:34Speaker 06

  the, the fact that I went out there in the first place is like, you know, people go, come on, man, what are you doing? You're snowboarding at night by yourself? Like, there was no cars? Sure. Um, but again, there's no avalanche danger. I just wanted to go out, clear my mind and, uh, one of, one of my most favorite spots in the world has like in my mind turned almost into a spot that I probably won't ever visit again at night. Uh, maybe if I have a couple of friends, but, um, yeah, this was, it was definitely one of the most scariest things. Um, again, the, the weird part about this was. Do like I deviated from the original trail that I went on and I don't know that that's

• 42:18Speaker 06

  why this sound happened, why this experience happened. I really don't know that or think that, but it makes me wonder if more people do not go in this area and perhaps something or a few things are nesting in that area near Trail Ridge Road on this more uncommon trail. Um, because there's also a few streams that go down through that area and little, you know, kind of nooks and crannies in the mountain and um, I'm sure you could, I'm sure you could find yourself in a really bad place if you weren't a skilled skier or snowboarder or whatever and find, you know, like fall into these little crevices and things like on the side where these streams are and things, but I've been there in the summer. I know where the streams are. Um, but

• 43:02Speaker 06

  again, after saying all this, like the second time I went up in the dark, I went the wrong way a little bit and ended up on a different trail. So, um, yeah, that's, that's my experience. Like I'm, I'm shaking talking about it between the bark and, and the laughing. I don't know what it was. Um, I shared with you that, that link, uh, Wes and, and a friend of mine, uh, his wife showed me that link and it kind of explained the bark sound. But at the same time, I don't know, man, I'm on the fence about what happened and, uh, perhaps they were just telling me to get out of there because they were real close. That laughing was too close for, for comfort. So.

• 43:46Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I'll play that recording you sent me here in a moment. I know it was kind of close to what you heard and, um, well, actually let me grab it real quick. You sent me this. This was a moose barking in Maine. Let's take a listen.

• 44:05Wes Germer?

  Oh, wow. That's a big moose.

• 44:14Speaker 06

  That's god awful sound.

• 44:16Wes Germer?

  Yeah, and you're way too close.

• 44:20Speaker 06

  I remember the first time I ever heard that. I thought it was a dog barking in the woods. I'm like, what the frig is a dog doing out here in the middle of the woods?

• 44:27Speaker 06

  It was a moose.

• 44:28Wes Germer?

  That is loud. You know, I've actually heard of, um, gosh, I'm trying to think of what. I had an audio recording of a Sasquatch barking and it kind of sounded like that. Um, I don't have it queued up at the moment. The Joker laugh though, that you heard, I've heard that as well. Eyewitnesses have reported. Uh, hearing kind of a Joker type of laugh. It could have been a moose. I'm not so sure that you heard a moose though. Uh, you know, they'll do that bark. Usually it's when they're in mating season and they're kind of alerting others of danger. And if you're yelling back, hey, you know, mooses are aggressive as hell. I could see it coming to find out who's yelling hey back.

• 45:12Wes Germer?

  That's what kind of makes me think you didn't hear a moose, but.

• 45:15Speaker 06

  I don't know or think that I did either. It's just it, I guess. You know, when, when my friend's wife showed me that it, it gave me absolute goosebumps. I almost fell over. I had to like, we were in the kitchen. I had to hold on to the counter. I was like, whoa, you gotta be kidding me. That's the closest thing I'd ever. Thought I'd hear and I never wanted to hear that again, but also. You know, uh, like we spoke about, like there's. High potential that after you hear something like that, they would come after you. It was completely silent. I could hear snowflakes and my heartbeat between the barks. And that's why I don't, I really don't know if it, if it barked and it was aggressive. Don't you think it would be moving and coming after or, uh, making moves to.

• 45:58Speaker 06

  You know, gain ground type of thing. And yeah, I don't know. It's a very, it's a very, uh, odd experience and especially being in the dark and you know, I didn't see any. Eyes or anything. It had very bright lights, but the trees are very thick in this area. So again, these runs, they're bright, bright white snow. But the, uh. The surrounding, the border of the runs and like the little peppered trees in between, um. That's maybe that's part of the reason why I don't want to go back because I don't want to think that I see something. That's actually not there that perhaps I heard because it just terrifies me. It absolutely does.

• 46:38Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I get it, man. And you know, when you, you know, if I'm out there skiing in the middle of the night and I hear that, I'm probably gonna freak out, you know? The barking is something you often hear. I just had April on last night. She has a smaller one coming around and the main, actually, the only vocalization she hears from it is it barking and growling. The laughter, though, I've had many eyewitnesses say that, where it sounds kind of like the Joker laugh, you know, laughing at them. And I don't know if this is Sasquatch or not.

• 47:16Wes Germer?

  I want to say probably 10 years ago, this was actually from the Umatilla Reservation, and it kind of sounds like laughter.

• 47:26Speaker 07

  I'm a couple hundred feet from my house, and you hear it going off in the background right now. Kind of sounds weird.

• 47:36Speaker 07

  Kind of sounds doggish, hyena-ish, but you can hear it going off in the background right now. It's really kind of strange, just to say the least. It's been going off for about 15, 20 minutes so far by the fire station.

• 47:51Wes Germer?

  I mean, when I first saw this, I thought fox or coyote, but it's too loud. Almost sounds like a hyena.

• 48:14Wes Germer?

  Is that kind of what you heard?

• 48:16Speaker 07

  I mean, that almost sounds like laughter.

• 48:19Speaker 06

  Yeah, I would say it's super similar, obviously without the echo because I was so close. And rather than a "la la" like that, like it's a very, that sound, I mean, it almost sounds like a howl a little bit, like they were really defined. And again, it was hot, hot, hot, like that and just, I mean, it, it was like the hyenas from, you know, The Lion King or something. They were like laughing at me in the trees. It was wild. And again, that also too, like thinking back to it, when I was trying to get up and I'm, you know, I'm cussing at myself. I'm going, oh shit, oh shit, get up, get up. I couldn't hear any rustling or sticks moving or anything.

• 49:05Speaker 06

  You know, and I was, I was feeling pretty fortunate at that point, but it, that's very similar to what I heard. It's like a, again, like a loud, high pitched, almost like a laugh.

• 49:17Speaker 06

  Or perhaps, you know, it sounds different when you're farther away versus like super, super duper close. But yeah, that, that could be, you know, right there along the lines too. And it also like where this is at, at 11,400 feet, like we're not far from, we're not far from territory where there's no, there's no towns like over the continental divide from this little area. I think it's another, I'm pretty sure it's another 40 miles on Trail Ridge Road, the highest, you know, the highest road around.

• 49:51Speaker 06

  To, to get to even Granby. So there's a lot of wild stuff in there. There's, you know, old glacier lakes and all kinds of stuff up there that, you know, could, could potentially, uh, I mean, some, something could be hiding up there. I don't know. It's very, it's very scary to hear those sounds and then think back what, to what I thought and be like, yeah, that's, that's very similar.

• 50:15Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I can't blame you one bit for not going back up there, man. And like I said, I've heard eyewitnesses describe the, uh, the Joker laugh. Even in the Sierra sounds, I call it the Scooby Doo laugh. Let me pull it up here.

• 50:36Wes Germer?

  Did you hear that right there?

• 50:38Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 50:42Wes Germer?

  Let me back it up.

• 50:45Wes Germer?

  I always call this a Scooby Doo laugh.

• 51:03Wes Germer?

  No, but anyway, I wanted to hear that Scooby Doo.

• 51:06Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's wild. Yeah, it's like a rolling laugh like.

• 51:11Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it's a freaking Scooby Doo laugh, man. You know, I ask everyone on the show, Chris, what do you think Sasquatch is? What's your take?

• 51:20Speaker 06

  Um, you know what? I'm not sure really. Like, I do listen to the show here and there. I don't listen to it, um, you know, every time a new show comes out, but what I like to do is is stack them up and then and then listen to three or four at a time and and kind of get down that way. So I like to hear other people's opinions too, but, um, you know, I'd I'd like to think it's it's, uh, it's out there undiscovered, um, doing its thing. But yeah, I'm not, I'm not sure how to, you know, how to place that, right? Like, I'm not sure, uh, when it comes to the scientific terms or where to put that, but it's like, you know, some people are thinking, you know, this magical creature in and out of different dimensions. While those are really

• 52:04Speaker 06

  cool stories to listen to and I and I don't want to discount them at all. Um, I don't know if I feel that. Um, but at the same time, who knows? Uh, you know, I'd like to think magic does exist at some point. So, but yeah, hopefully if if Bigfoot's out there, you know, it's just, you know, doing his own magic type of thing. I don't know what to say about that. Like, undiscovered creature, maybe. I'm not sure.

• 52:30Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I think that's a fair answer, Chris. It's hard to say really what they are. I want it to be a non-human primate we haven't caught up with, but I'm not so sure about that. And you know, the the vocalizations generally when they vocalize at you, it's meant to scare you. It's meant to make you go away. Um, and they do bark and they do laugh according to eyewitness testimony. Uh, the laughter is really fascinating because everyone describes it like the Joker laugh. Um, and and what's fascinating about the Joker laugh is.

• 53:05Wes Germer?

  People describe it kind of a higher pitched type laugh, which makes me think it's probably younger ones. Cause I mean, you were hearing it up in the trees. I think I've only had one eyewitness report and they actually saw it laughing. It was a male and it was appearing to be laughing. That's how they perceived the vocalization it was doing, but it was a really deep guttural laugh. But most people don't describe it as a deep guttural laugh. It's more of a high pitched laugh, which makes me think younger ones. I would be careful up there, man. If you go back up, are they going to hurt you? Probably not. I think

• 53:47Wes Germer?

  if when you encounter stuff like this or weird vocalizations, you can't place, just leave. And for the most part, they'll leave you alone. When you don't leave, it's generally when they ramp it up.

• 53:59Speaker 06

  Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I don't know if I had perpetuated by yelling, hey, a few times, but again, I, there was something, there was something about like, again, the second time, did I imagine this? But even the first time when I yelled that, I kinda had it in my head that that it, I was like, did that even happen? Did a tree just hit another tree or fall over or something? I mean, am I out in the woods and hear a tree falling? Like it, it, yeah, some thoughts went through my head and like, what do I do here? So again, it just, I, I may have perpetuated what happened with the laughing and that by yelling back. And I don't think that I would have gone further up. But yeah,

• 54:43Speaker 06

  it was, it's just a wild experience. I really, I did want to share it. Um, you know, it's even telling friends, I get kind of emotional about it. I get goosebumps. It was scary as hell. But I'll still continue going up in the area, just probably not, you know, same time of day, probably not doing that at night anymore. And I'll still go night mountain biking. That's always a thrill, but I probably won't be as far west or stay up on the front range or go to the grasslands or something, you know?

• 55:09Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I get it. And I don't think you perpetuated it by yelling, hey. I think any normal wildlife would probably run off the minute you yell, hey. I mean, I'm no moose expert. Moose might actually come and find out who's yelling, hey. They're, they're aggressive as hell and very territorial. Just be careful when you're up there, man. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and be safe, will you?

• 55:38Speaker 06

  Yeah, there's, there's definitely something out in the woods, man. I'll still go out, but it's scary. So.

• 55:44Wes Germer?

  Thanks again, Chris. 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. Until next time, everyone.

• 56:22Speaker 08

  You say you like the wind blowing through your hair. Come on, roll with me till the sun goes down.

• 56:35Speaker 08

  Texas sun.

• 56:40Speaker 08

  Say you wanna hit the highway, father, hitting Jamie Ross. Come on, roll with me till the sun goes down.

• 56:52Speaker 08

  Texas sun.

• 57:01Speaker 08

  Texas sun.

• 57:05Speaker 08

  Caressing you from Fort Worth to Amarillo. Come on, roll with me till the sun dips low.

• 57:18Speaker 08

  Texas sun.

• 57:27Speaker 08

  Texas sun, oh girl

• 57:35Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 57:40Speaker 08

  When I'm far from home, the cold winds blow Stuck out somewhere, folks are gone Cause you keep me night, thinking you want Want to feel you on me, can't put you in that therapy

• 58:01Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 58:10Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 58:18Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 58:27Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 58:32Speaker 08

  You say you like the wind blowing through your hair Come on, roll with me till the sun goes down

• 58:44Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 58:53Speaker 08

  Texas sun

• 58:58Speaker 08

  Ooh baby, you're so gorgeous

• 59:03Speaker 08

  How about you and me?

• 59:07Speaker 08

  Take a little trip?

• 59:11Speaker 08

  You and me, buddy?

• 59:15Speaker 08

  Take a ride with me, babe? You by my side? How does it sound? You and I?

• 59:27Speaker 08

  Oh, girl

• 59:32Speaker 08

  Take a ride with me babe You by my side How does it sound? You and I

• 59:43Speaker 08

  Baby

• 59:49Speaker 08

  Take a ride with me babe You by my side How does it sound? You and I