SC EP:1236 The Black Cloaked Figures

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

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

• 0:03Speaker 00

  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. They don't make people that, that big.

• 0:31Speaker 01

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

• 0:45Speaker 01

  They were screaming at each other in gibberish.

• 0:49Speaker 01

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

• 0:57Speaker 01

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

• 1:11Speaker 02

  911, what are you reporting?

• 1:13Speaker 03

  Jesus Christ, you better...

• 1:14Speaker 02

  Karen?

• 1:15Speaker 03

  See ya!

• 1:16Speaker 02

  Hello?

• 1:17Speaker 03

  Get somebody out here.

• 1:19Speaker 02

  What's going on now, sir?

• 1:19Speaker 03

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

• 1:23Speaker 02

  Do you see him now, sir?

• 1:24Speaker 03

  Yes, I'm looking right at him.

• 1:25Speaker 02

  Uh-uh.

• 1:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, this is the Macho Man and you're listening to the cream of the crop, yeah! Podcast Sasquatch Chronicles.

• 2:09Wes Germer?

  Welcome to the show. Tonight, we will be speaking with Seth. Seth had this strange experience in Virginia back on October 31, 2001. While on a hike, he ran into these cloaked figures in the forest. Seth told me, I assumed they were Satan worshippers, but the way they acted and the way they moved didn't seem human. And I know it's not a Bigfoot encounter, but I had to hear about this experience. And I'll let Seth 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].

• 2:52Wes Germer?

  And if you get a chance to check out sasquatchchronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Seth to the show. Seth, thanks for coming on.

• 3:07Speaker 05

  Hey, thank you, Wes.

• 3:09Wes Germer?

  Yeah, and you had this very strange experience in Virginia. I know we're going back to 2001. And I know you're just across the bridge from me, across the Columbia River. Did you grow up in the Pacific Northwest?

• 3:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, born and raised in Hillsboro. And yeah, I went to school in Virginia. And so I was, I was over there in Lynchburg doing that. And this whole thing happened.

• 3:40Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it was a weird account. I've read your email a couple of times. If you would, take me back to 2001. What were you doing and what happened?

• 3:52Speaker 05

  Sure. So it was Halloween 2001. And some of the stuff that...

• 4:04Speaker 05

  Is kind of like present as far as it was a blue moon. And some of that information, I, I, I didn't remember it. Actually, it was, it was kind of when I was doing some research on this and that some of this stuff came more clear for me. And it was, yeah, it was Halloween and so I was going to school there in Lynchburg and going to college and you know, my, my best friend had gotten married that year and we'd worked together as well and and, and typically, you know, Halloween in college, I would have just gotten together with him and we would have gone and done something.

• 4:47Speaker 05

  I had an idea that I was just gonna go for a drive. Kind of getaway. There was a lot of stuff going on in life too, that I was really trying to sort out and figure myself out. So, um, you know, I headed out, out of town a little bit there in Lynchburg and I had been up in this area maybe once before, but it's not something like, it's not a place I typically went or, you know, a place I knew really well. I just, you know, I knew I'd get up there and, you know, go for a drive and clear my head, enjoy the night and do this kind of big old loop that goes

• 5:29Speaker 05

  up there to pop, you know, kind of pops you out like 10 miles down the road and drive back to the town. But, um, when I was driving up there, there was, there was no traffic. And I don't know, I wouldn't necessarily expect there to be a bunch of people driving up there, but you know, um, I just remember that there was zero traffic on, almost oddly so, like you'd probably expect to see somebody driving through this place. But, um, there's, you know, lots of lookouts and trails and different, you know, places that you can pull off and hike and and I noticed a, a turnout. The road kind of, you know, kind of split.

• 6:13Speaker 05

  And then there was this grass median, so you could pull off road, park and then keep going and then, you know, rejoin the road after about a hundred yards or so.

• 6:26Wes Germer?

  And Seth, this is at night?

• 6:28Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And I couldn't tell you exactly what time it was. I mean, I'd say after 10. You know, some sometime between 10 and 2. I don't, you know, pretty sure I had not gotten too late or into the morning hours. But yeah, I pulled off and parked and, you know, just looking around, it looked like there was a trail there pretty well marked. And so I got out of the car and decided I was gonna go for a night hike. You know, there was, you know, and there was just, there was nobody around. And so I, you know, I really wasn't too worried about really running into anybody or anything necessarily happening. I mean, I've

• 7:10Speaker 05

  you know, growing up hunting and, you know, walking around in the woods to chase down some or get ready, you know, get into good locations for deer and elk. You're up, you know, 3 o'clock in the morning and it's dark, you know, getting in and getting out and, you know, in a night like that night, I mean, you don't need a flashlight or anything. The moon was so, so bright. And had no idea where this trail was gonna take me, but I just wanted to, you know, just kind of go with whatever the mood really was. And I, you know, as I kind of think back a little bit about the the why of it, um, you know, why was I there? What was I thinking? And, and that kind of stuff. But, um, you know, I did almost kind of feel like I was just kind of drawn,

• 7:56Speaker 05

  just kind of pulled into this direction for whatever reason. And so I'm getting on this, uh, this trail and it's not, uh, you're up and this is the Blue Ridge Parkway. So the, the Blue Ridge is just, it's massive. And I had no idea how big the Blue Ridge was. It's just, you know, people kind of fill you in when you're living there doing stuff of where to go and what to do. But this, um, this road just drives right along the, the ridge line there of the Blue Ridge. And, um, so you're up on top and and the trail kind of goes off the backside of this hill and drainage area. Where, um, it's not too steep, but you know, I mean, I got down, I don't know, maybe.

• 8:39Speaker 05

  Couple hundred yards max and there was, you know, a little switchback in it and a bench there to just sit at. And, you know, I wasn't necessarily trying to, you know, really get a hike on. I just wanted to enjoy it. So I, you know, sat there for a little bit and, you know, looking around and just enjoying the view and the quietness of it and the night and um.

• 9:07Speaker 05

  The first thing that I kind of noticed was that there wasn't there really, there was no sound.

• 9:19Speaker 05

  And the feeling of it was kind of like being in a bubble, like, like, like, somebody took a huge mason jar and just kind of put it over the top of me. Where there was no sound. Where I was at for sure, but there was just nothing coming from, you know, down the ridge line or, you know, typical night sounds that you would have in the woods at night. Um, boy, during the summer or spring, especially during those times. And we're in the fall now, so it's, it's, um, you know, it's not as loud as it would be during the summer, but I mean, it's almost like, oh, oh, my gosh, that's that loud when the cicadas are

• 10:05Speaker 05

  going and going and going. Then all of a sudden they'll just stop. And then you'll get a little bit of silence before they pick up again, but it wasn't that kind of a, um, wasn't that time of year. So I wasn't expecting that, but you do always hear stuff going on in the woods, you know, and things happening. So there was zero of that going on. And, you know, it's not like everything, it's not like I had like, you know, the hair on the back of my neck standing up or like this, you know, in sense of something. It's just, you know, my, my senses are paying attention and noticing it's really quiet. But then after, I wasn't there long. I mean, I'm probably sitting there five minutes tops.

• 10:50Speaker 05

  Probably twenty, thirty yards down the hillside.

• 10:55Speaker 05

  I just, I heard a snap. You know, just a twig, right? It wasn't big. It wasn't like a big limb. Nothing really fell off of a tree, but it was, it was noticeable. So I'm looking, I'm trying to see, well, what, what was that? And I don't see anything. Not too much longer. I get another snap, not in the same location, little different location. Not too much longer. I get another snap, totally different location. You know, probably within a couple of minutes period of time, I'd start, I mean, I'd heard at least 10 of these limb snaps and I'm not

• 11:35Speaker 05

  seeing anything move. And, you know, when your eyes are adjusted, it's the big, bright balloon, you know, low humidity and so you can, just the visibility is really good. Where I was hearing these snaps, I should, I should be able to pick something up, a rac- a possum, raccoon, whatever. I mean, squirrel wouldn't be out at that time of night, but still, anything that size, I would, I would be able to see that. And after these limbs continuing to snap and not being able to see anything and it kind of, you know, going

• 12:19Speaker 05

  somewhat of a circle around me. That's when I think my senses or my better judgment started to take over. And say, you know, Seth, you're out here by yourself. Nobody knows you're out here, where you're at. And, um, uh, you know, this is, I mean, shoot, we had cell phones, I did. And then, you know, that was a lesson learned, that first $300 cell phone bill. So you don't use it. So I, you know, I went back to my car. My car was this 1970 Chevy Bel Air that I had bought from this 85 year old man, had it in the paper.

• 12:58Speaker 05

  And I needed a ride, needed a college ride. So 500 bucks was really where I was at, um, what I could afford. And this guy had this 1970 Chevy Bel Air. Had been parked under his carport next to his house for probably 20 years plus 55,000 original miles on the engine. The interior was just.

• 13:22Speaker 05

  It was so nice and everything worked. The exterior was this, you know, beautiful avocado green or whatever they were making at that time. But that was, you know, good.

• 13:36Speaker 05

  But it had oxidized and, you know, it wasn't anything to really look at. But just talk about a cool car. I loved that car and drove like a dream. It had this two, two speed slip and slide transmission is what they called it. And later on, found out that they're great for drag racing and stuff. But anyways, not about that. It was, it was just my, my, my car. And so I get back to my car and not too much really happens. There's nothing like, I don't feel like I'm getting chased out of the woods or anything. I can't tell you if the limbs kept snapping or whatever. I just got back to my car after a few, you know, short little hike out and, and,

• 14:20Speaker 05

  you know, get into my car, roll down the windows and I'm just kind of thinking about it. Like, what is that? What was that? You know, I didn't feel like I better get out of here or anything like that. I just kind of was just curious. But after I had sat there for a little bit and, you know, checking out my mirrors or on the window, don't see anything, no cars driving in or out, nothing going on. You know, I think I was almost thinking, maybe I, maybe I imagined it or something like that. And there was nothing going on, but I hadn't decided to get back out

• 15:01Speaker 05

  of the car yet. But then the next thing I remember is, and I couldn't tell you what came first. It was almost about the same time, but it was, it was like something hit the car and just, you know, this, if we were here, I would have told you it was a Douglas fur cone, but a green one, you know, it just has that perfect density to have a fight with your friends. We were told, you know, you can't throw dirt clods, at least in my house and, you know, got my. My backside tan enough times for that that I gave up on those, but these Douglas fir cones

• 15:44Speaker 05

  were awesome because they did not feel good when they hit you if you threw them hard enough. But we'd have those fights as kids. But I mean, so you know the sound of what one of those things ping off a car sounds like. But that's what I that's what I would tell you that hit the car was a Douglas fir cone. But there's no fir trees in the area. It's deciduous forest. There's, you know, not even a pine tree really around. So what hit the car? I couldn't really couldn't tell you, but that's the sound of maybe ping. And why? Well, hmm, no winds or, you know, I'm sure these trees have something in them that that, you know, could fall off and might. But anyways, it didn't alarm me too much. But then there was another one.

• 16:27Speaker 05

  And then there's like a pause, not too much longer, another one. But I'm not seeing whatever it is hit the car. It's not like I'm seeing things fly off the hood, which almost sounds like where it would have hit or the top, the top of the car. Then I'm, you know, really, really perplexed about whatever is happening right now. And as I'm looking out the windshield at the end of this parking area before you drive back on to

• 17:08Speaker 05

  the road there, there's, you know, trees, but then it looks like there's a bit of a rise. So you can see through the trees, but you know, that skyline is probably 20 feet up in the air, you know, due to the rise of the backdrop there. But I could still see through the trees. And what I noticed was that the shape of these trees didn't look right. And, you know, so I'm.

• 17:45Speaker 05

  Looking at them and wondering what, what is it about that? And then I see that it's actually, there's, there's movement there. First time I've seen any movement there. And it was, at that point, I could see that the, um, the light between the trees had done blocked. And then you'd see the light again. I really couldn't make out what I was looking at, but I could start to see that those, that, that, that light wasn't shining through then was. And so clue that's, you know, indicates there's some, something there.

• 18:27Speaker 05

  And, and as I'm really focusing in on this, I, looks like there's

• 18:37Speaker 05

  like a hooded figure, like a, a, a person that has like a black cloak on them. It, it, I mean, and they're, they're a good

• 18:54Speaker 05

  50 yards away from me, I'd say. So, I mean, I'm disbelieving that I'm seeing this. And at the same time, I'm like, no, I'm pretty sure I'm seeing people in those trees. And so I was, you know, looking out my rear view and trying to see, well, is there anybody else? But, um, you know, I thought probably what happened was, you know, I, I'm up there going for a, a hike and I must've kicked up some or walked into, um, I don't know, a group of Satanists or something like that. Every once in a while you, you know, we talk to the people and they'd be like, oh, there's a lot of activity in the area. There's, you know, it's a topic and people

• 19:39Speaker 05

  will drop that, not that they have too much to be able to say about it, but you know, they find things around in the woods or, or was something written up in the paper or something like that, but. Um, you know, I was my best guess was I, I probably interrupted their evening of whatever they've got going on on Halloween night with the full moon and, and that's probably a good time for them to, you know, do whatever they do. But, um, and so that was my, my best idea I had at the moment, but there's enough distance in between us that I'm really not too worried about it. And I'm curious, I'm like, well, what are they gonna do? I mean,

• 20:20Speaker 05

  there probably reason why I'm here in my car, you know, get these things paying off of it every few, you know, six and five, 10, 30 seconds or whatever the time is. But as I'm, you know, looking at them, they're not really coming towards me. They're just kind of standing there and I don't see anybody or anything really going on to my right, which is, you know, not too far to the tree line there or behind me. So as I'm just curious about this, I just, uh, look out my driver's side to, to my left where there's, uh, 10, 15

• 21:02Speaker 05

  yards probably of pavement there. Then the pavement ends before you hit this grass median between the main road and this parking area. And then there's, there's nothing growing out there. It's just grass and, uh, and on the other side of the road, the tree, tree line there. But, uh, as I'm looking out there with, you know, full moon shining down, it, it looks to me like there's shadows where I couldn't see where, you know, I don't know, maybe the trees did cast a shadow from the angle and the moon and everything else, but there was definitely these shadows that were out in this grass median that looked

• 21:44Speaker 05

  like somebody had taken a, like a blanket and just throwing it out there and several of them out there, probably five, six, seven of these, these shadows that I'm seeing out there. You know, I'm looking at those and then I'm keeping an eye on what's in front of me. Making sure I, you know, nothing's coming in on me. And uh, these, every time it seemed like I would look back to the tree line in the figures uh, in front of me. That's when I would look, I'd look back at the, the, the, the median and the grass to the left. They had moved.

• 22:27Speaker 05

  And um, and they didn't look like there, I mean, it didn't look like there was any um, like body, I guess, there. But you know, like a, like a, like if somebody was in some robe, they'd be out, if they were laying on the grass, basically out there and, you know, as I were to look back in, in, in the front and not for long, but just come back and it's like, how could they possibly have changed position and moved so quickly into these different positions? And if they were even, they were, you know, just, but they definitely would change positions

• 23:10Speaker 05

  and they were getting closer to me. And then they weren't, they weren't just on, eventually as I'm doing this, and they weren't just on the grass, they were, you know, getting like on to the pavement or near the pavement. And that's when I started to see these figures. The best way I can describe this is it looked like they had a bic lighter that they were trying to get to light and it was out of fluid or wasn't catching. For whatever reason, it was just like spark, spark, spark.

• 23:53Speaker 05

  But every once in a while, it would catch a flame just for a little bit. They all seemed to be doing this like simultaneous. I'm going to tell you, it wasn't like they were synchronized. It was just kind of, you know, one of them, spark, spark in front of the other one too. So it looked like these figures that were coming towards me on the ground and kind of move, you know, shifting every time I look away and got closer, looked like they would have these like, like where they would be is in front of their face, where their face would be.

• 24:33Speaker 05

  And I would, and I kept thinking like, I should be able to see hands or a face because it would, light for just enough time to cast enough light where there should be something there. And if there was, I wasn't seeing it. And but, but I could see that these figures were like, I could take it. I could tell that there was an outline of a hood. And that that was, you know, like maybe a foot off the ground as if just imagine somebody laying there and then lifting their head up and, and lighting of trying to light these lighters right in front of their face. What purpose that would possibly even serve? No clue. Like why? I don't know.

• 25:17Speaker 05

  But as they're starting to do this and move closer to me, I'm, I'm still thinking that I probably like, I've stumbled into this group of whatever and they probably don't want me here anymore. But being stubborn and curious and trying to I guess spoil their, their evening. If that's, uh, sounds like a good time, nothing better to do. I start, uh, kind of talking to them out the window and kind of taunting them. I'm like, like, hey, wow, you know, that's a, that's a really good trick you got there with that lighter. I'm, you know, wouldn't it be nice if like, if it would work?

• 25:59Speaker 05

  And, and, you know, just stuff like that. I can specifically, I can tell you just, just trying to, I think, kind of calm myself down and make sense of the situation while it was happening. But by now I'm like, I really want to know what these things are. Cause they're.

• 26:22Speaker 05

  Doing things that don't make sense to me. How can you possibly in just a very short period of time? As I'm looking one direction, move. And then I don't remember moving anymore. Like, once I'd start looking at them, I'm like, I don't think they moved anymore. But how could they possibly do that? And so I'm trying to figure this out, but I got nothing. But they eventually get close enough to me that I was like, well, that's enough, you know? That's, that's definitely close enough. So I start my car, just threw it and drive and it was like gone.

• 27:02Speaker 05

  And just drove, you know, straight out and whichever direction was out of there, like continuing on by my, where I was headed to for the evening. And I didn't see anything like pop up or, or, um, you know, chase me or, or anything like that. But, um, by that time, I think I was pretty well freaked out because there was, I, I just couldn't make sense out of what was going on, really. I got probably a couple of miles down the road and there was like a viewpoint off the side of the road. And I just, um, still not seeing any traffic at all.

• 27:45Speaker 05

  Didn't see, I was looking for like, where would these people have parked? Like they had to have caught here somehow. They didn't see any cars or anything. So I'm showing sign of, you know, people being in the area. But, um, I got a couple of miles down the road and just needed to kind of just try to calm myself down a little bit and pulled off. And, and, um, I started taking a look around the car, see if there was, you know, any sign of these things that they had been throwing or hitting my car with and didn't see any debris, didn't see any, you know, sign that they had, um, you know, done anything and left any evidence of what could have been hitting the car.

• 28:28Speaker 05

  And, um, yeah, I still didn't see anybody driving in or out. And, and, um, I think I debated, do I, do I drive back that way and, and see if they're, you know, they're still there or, or, or, you know, whatever. But I, uh, I think I figured I had probably been given a gift of.

• 28:50Speaker 05

  Maybe not knowing what these things were or finding finding out or, you know, them getting any closer to me. And so I just kept driving until it popped out on the next road. And I remember the gas station there and, you know, filled up my my boat and went home. That was it. I don't think I told a soul about it. I kind of maybe dug around a little bit on the internet trying to see, well, you know, if there was any anything in the area that would come close to to being something like this,

• 29:29Speaker 05

  even though I never was able to see a face or any any sign that they were human or or otherwise. You know, I still was trying to, I guess I was thinking like, like, what else could it be? I don't know. And so I just didn't find anything on it. And I did not talk about this for until pretty recently, you know? I think it maybe came up once or twice. I talked to a couple of people, but listening to other people on their counters and and what's going on, I should probably probably find what was that? And, you know, I got online and and I looked around and tried to find, you know, any evidence and through the whole scenario and chat G P T and, you know,

• 30:13Speaker 05

  do, you know, turn into a super sleuth. I could not find anything on anything like this. But, you know, it put the put the story together for me pretty well. And then as I was, you know, getting on Google or I thought one of the well, as if it wasn't strange enough, one of the weirdest things about it was researching it and looking, I mean, like doing the, I don't remember what you call it, but you can kind of get a street view. You get down the street view where you're actually kind of like walking along or traveling along that same location. I was able to see the location and the whole place looked identical to what, you know, it was so.

• 30:56Speaker 05

  But the weirdest thing about it, the only thing that was wrong or didn't work for the whole scenario was it was on the wrong side of the road.

• 31:10Speaker 05

  And I have thought about that so many times. I'm like, what do you, what do you mean? It's not, it should be on the right side of the road where I pulled in. And then when I left, I went straight out. I didn't turn around and come back where I was coming from. And that, that does not make any sense to me. That, that's, that, that I don't know. And I prob, I would probably say, well, I must have remembered it wrong or something like that. But there's, you know, everything else that I can remember as clearly as I can about that whole situation.

• 31:52Speaker 05

  I think I would remember that and just not, you know, I'd give it, I'd give it if I give it away. If that was me, if I was wrong and, you know, was on that side of the road and I just don't remember how I drove out or, or in, then, then fine. But, um, but no, I, it does not leave me alone that that was on the wrong side of the road.

• 32:11Wes Germer?

  You know, about five years ago, I'm interviewing this guy who had an encounter in the James River Face Wilderness there in Virginia. And we go through the interview and we get done and everything. We're not recording and he goes, you know, I, I forgot to tell you about the time I ran into Satan worshippers out there. And I was like, oh, really? And he goes, yeah, I, I'm assuming that's what they were. It was in the Devil's Marble Yard, which is just south of where you were at. It's across the James River and the Devil's Marble Yard, from my understanding, I've never been there. I've seen pictures of it, but it looks like just a big pile of rocks. I've never really

• 32:55Wes Germer?

  looked up why it's called Devil's Marble Yard. But, but what was interesting is he was out there. It was just after sundown and he comes across these three, what he called Satan worshippers. They were in black cloaks and he couldn't really see any faces. Uh, and he assumed because it was dark. But the more we talked about it, the more I was like, I don't know, man, this doesn't sound like people. He, he said it was just black where their faces were at and he didn't see any hands or anything like that because they were wearing these dark black cloaks. But as we were talking, he was talking about, he goes, you know, what was really weird?

• 33:37Wes Germer?

  And he was assuming because it was, he was seeing people in cloaks. He was like, it's almost like they floated it off. And like every one of them was the same size, same build. Uh, and he never went back there. He assumed they were Satan worshippers, but you know, you go back and looking on Google and realizing that it was on the other side of the road. Makes me think it was something more paranormal. Do you think you could have been mistaken and it was actually on the other side of the road?

• 34:08Speaker 05

  I wish I could say, yeah. And that's probably, I mean, and maybe that's, I mean, that is the Occam's razor there for you. You know, it's like, that does make sense. And, um, you know, sure, sure. But that's just not how I remember this. And it's just not the way I remember it. And, um, I could be wrong. I mean, I really, I mean, the whole deal is wacky. You know, like what part of it really makes any sense to me? I don't know. Might as well be, um, you know? Um, I was kind of thinking that maybe when I was going back and looking on Google Earth,

• 34:53Speaker 05

  that I wouldn't even find the place, you know? But, um, it being on the wrong side of the road. I mean, that's kind of par for the course on a, a blue moon and the, uh, Halloween.

• 35:05Wes Germer?

  You know, a lot of paranormal encounters, you'll find a lot of weird stuff like this where people will say, no, it happened over here. And then when they go back to the location, it couldn't have happened over there. Makes me wonder if you stepped into something. I mean, it's, it's creepy. The whole, the whole night is creepy. And the area where you're at is pretty notorious for paranormal activity. I mean, The only other times I've heard weird things, I had a witness one time. What is it? The Westover Plantation? And it's a really haunted area. I think it's a tourist attraction now. But I've had eyewitnesses have weird things happen over there.

• 35:49Wes Germer?

  And that's not far from where you're at. I wanted to ask you, originally, was it three figures you were seeing? Kind of through your windshield? And how big do you think they were? Do you think they were like the size of a human?

• 36:03Speaker 05

  Well, I mean, as I was talking this through, I was thinking that skyline was like, you know, probably 20 feet up from the trees. I'm like, that couldn't be it because I would have made them for me to see the movements in the trees. I would have made them ridiculously tall. So it was probably, I mean, on the top of this ridge line, it was probably more gradual than that. Like maybe about a five foot difference in that elevation. So that would have made them, you know, some somewhere around like, I don't know.

• 36:33Speaker 05

  Six foot, eight foot, maybe eight would be pushing it though. But probably closer to about that six foot, seven foot.

• 36:42Speaker 05

  And there was more than, there was more than three that I could tell. Like I would probably put the total number somewhere close to 15, 20. That I could tell. Cause there was, there was at least like. Hmm, five, six, probably around seven that I could kind of. Pick out in front of me. And then the ones that were on that median, like how they got there, where they came from, no idea. But they were, there was every five, five, six of them out there. And. Yeah. So, I mean, total number, who knows what I didn't see and where they were at.

• 37:25Speaker 05

  I mean, why, why just, you know, stay in that location and come from that direction? Why not behind me? Or, you know, the proximity to my right would have in that tree line would have been far closer to, you know, close the distance on me or something. I just didn't really like, I mean, it's such a weird thing to like. Do. And then why not close the distance in front of me too? I just kind of stayed there. Why not, you know, continue to move in if that's what the, there was some goal like that.

• 38:01Wes Germer?

  The ones you were actually seeing in front of you that you really took notice of, of like, oh, they're wearing cloaks. Were they the closest to you?

• 38:10Speaker 05

  No, they wanted to be in the farthest from me. They were, you know, from where I was parked, there was a good thirty, forty yards out in front of me in that tree line. And it was about the same behind me, I'd say too. And, and it was at least three, but, um, but there was, you know, I don't know that there was, there was more by the end of the whole deal.

• 38:36Wes Germer?

  And so you see these three main figures kind of in front of you. Obviously there's more than just three, but your focus is there and there's other things going on behind them. That made you think there was more than just these, these ones you're looking at. And you mentioned some movement. I mean, what, what was it that they were doing?

• 38:57Speaker 05

  Just standing there. Just standing there and, and then, and then moving. Like they had, I mean, they were moving slightly to their left or their right. In order for me to see like that originally would call my eye. And I'm not sure if they were like standing behind the trees or in front of the trees. I couldn't tell you that, but, um, yeah, moving out enough to be able to close out the, the, the light from behind them where I, I was able to, you know, pick them up.

• 39:33Wes Germer?

  And I know that you said it earlier and I probably missed it. The ones that are directly in front of you, how far away are they?

• 39:40Speaker 05

  Thirty, forty yards in front of me is where I would say that was.

• 39:45Wes Germer?

  And then you look over to your left and you're noticing there's other ones in a field?

• 39:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, they were off to my left. So yeah, the way that I pulled into this area and I was parallel to like the curb. So yeah, like to my left, there was a parallel grass line of that median and that median is probably about 50 yards long total, I'd say. And then across the total width of it was probably about 30 yards to the distance between. So I'm probably like 40, 50 yards off the main road where I'm at. And then there's another, you know, that,

• 40:29Speaker 05

  that, that pay parking area is probably about 10, 15 yards wide. And then, and, you know, the difference there of, of, of that grass area median that, that they were on.

• 40:45Wes Germer?

  And so when you very first take notice of them, it's not like they're up running around. When you see them, it's like they're down on their bellies?

• 40:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, they would have had to have been laying prone. But it wasn't like I could really truly see that they were figures at that point. I just, you know, it looked like somebody took a blanket and or several blankets and, you know, kind of just threw them out in the grass. But, you know, when I noticed them, I was like, well, those were those there before? I don't, I don't think so. Because, you know, sat there and stared at them for a minute and then realized I probably ought to keep an eye on in front of me and, you know, just had kind of on a swivel going around and around trying to see what's going on and make sure, you know,

• 41:37Speaker 05

  I'm not going to get caught off guard or surprised. Yeah, yeah. No, they were just like, they were just like, you couldn't really see like that they were the hooded cloaked beings or people. It just looked like my blankets got tossed out there on the grass.

• 41:53Wes Germer?

  So the ones on the ground that were kind of like blankets, I mean, I realize they're moving closer to you. Did eventually, did they have a shape like a person wearing some sort of weird cloak?

• 42:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, like, like if,

• 42:10Speaker 05

  Like you're like, somebody's doing a like, I'm like a, what kind of a crawl is it where you're on your belly and, and you're, um, like if it were me, I would be like on my belly with the hood on facing down and then like, you know, bringing my knee up and that, that shape, like one leg straight, one knee out and then arms kind of coming up. So it wasn't like it was like the shape of a person as I would think of like, you know, person standing there or laying there. But, um, as those shifts and changes made, uh, were made, then yeah, I mean, those are clearly these things that were out in front of me now on the grass over here.

• 42:54Wes Germer?

  Yeah. And I mean, these things are relatively close to you to begin with. And I realize you're trying to focus on what's in front of you. While looking over to your left, keeping an eye on whatever these things are, whatever they're doing. As you looked up and then looked to your left and kind of, I would imagine it happened that quick. How far up did they move?

• 43:20Speaker 05

  So how, when they would move, it was probably like six inches, not much. So I mean, I guess it's totally possible as I'm looking away that, you know, something could move that quick. I mean, they clearly had a skill set that I'm not familiar with. So they were doing that.

• 43:42Wes Germer?

  How close were they to your Bel Air when you decided, okay, this is too close. It's time to get out of here?

• 43:49Speaker 05

  Hmm. They were about halfway across that road there. So what is that? I mean, about a parking strip wide, five, five, five to eight feet, maybe 10, maybe.

• 44:04Wes Germer?

  And they're relatively close. Right before you took off, I mean, when you were looking at these things kind of crawling closer and closer to your, your car, could you make out anything?

• 44:17Speaker 05

  Could I make out like details about um like hands, face, feet? And I could not, I kept thinking like I've got to see like a boot come out the bottom or something or you know, a hand, you know, and the, I mean, maybe there was, maybe there was like a little bit of an outline of a hand when the flicking was going on with the lighter. Um, I, I'm, I think I was mostly focused on seeing a face. Like I was like, who is that? Like, I want to see, I want to see eyes and a, and you know, I want to see a face to be able to kind of

• 45:00Speaker 05

  put the pieces together now because really I've just got these cloaked things like, and I couldn't even tell you if there was any like a body has a, you know, a depth to it, right? There's like a body on the ground as, you know, however big that, that dimension is, that should be something that I'm able to see pretty well by the distance and I'll have all the, the situation and I couldn't tell you that I did. I could not, I couldn't see anything other than like the cloak itself and where there, there, there should be a body and there, then there should be like a hand and a face and, and um, but I, I mean,

• 45:43Speaker 05

  I mean, if I see, saw it and I blocked it out or something, but I was pretty, pretty sure I did not see a face, like not enough where I could say, yeah, that's, that's a person.

• 45:57Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it's just so bizarre. The flickering of the light. Did they all do it at the same time?

• 46:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, not all at once, right? It was, you know, a couple. It was like the ones kind of in the trees, I think, first. Like, I was like, am I sitting, you know, foot, foot, foot, and not all at once, but they, I'm pretty sure they were all at one point in time doing it. And and the ones that I really was mostly focused on by this time were the ones that were kind of next to me on the ground. And yeah, every single one of those things had a, had, had this flicking thing going on. I mean, it's something like that that makes me keep thinking that it has, it had to be a person or something like,

• 46:46Speaker 05

  I mean, because a Bic lighter makes sense to most people had those things, especially if they're, you know, in the woods and doing whatever. So it would make sense for them to have that. But and that would make them, you know, definitely like a human to me. But

• 47:05Speaker 05

  anyways, I was, I kept going there. I was just.

• 47:08Wes Germer?

  Yeah, no, you answered my, my question, Seth. And you know, you're right. Even with like a Bic lighter, you know, that small, quick flick of a light, you would think you'd be able to make out something, but you're just seeing black. I realize you're not going to be able to make out like details or, but even in that brief moment, you're going to be able to see, oh, there's a face there. And you just seem black. It's just strange to me. You know, you had mentioned you were kind of taunting them. Did they start flickering this light after you were kind of taunting them?

• 47:44Speaker 05

  I couldn't tell you. I mean, I, the, the only thing I remember as far, I don't remember the timing of it, but the only thing I remember as far as like what I actually said to them was,

• 47:59Speaker 05

  That's a pretty good trick there. That's a good one, you know. That that's, that's what I can remember. I said, I probably said, who knows what, but that's all I remember saying, but I did talk to him for a while. Trying to, I just, I was trying to get them. Oh, and I also, I also said, I see you. I see you. I see you. You're right there. And so, yeah, I wanted to let them know, like, they're doing a good job. It's like, I, I'm aware, very aware of where with the, whatever you're throwing, or however you're making the sounds on my car. To all the stuff you're doing, you got, you've got my attention.

• 48:45Wes Germer?

  And they didn't respond to you? I mean, there wasn't even a reaction from them.

• 48:50Speaker 05

  No, nothing.

• 48:53Wes Germer?

  That's what makes me think that you didn't run into people. I mean, you get out there in Virginia, those country boys don't play. You show up with 15 of your buddies in black dresses and you're probably gonna get shot.

• 49:07Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And, and where are, how did they get there? Like, there had to be.

• 49:19Speaker 05

  There, I mean, there just had to be, I mean, unless they carpool. And they got somebody to drop them off so that they could, you know, and just, oh, my gosh, I've never thought about that, like, you know. 20 of these guys all in eight passenger vans and they're getting dropped off at their.

• 49:40Speaker 05

  Piling out of their vans to do their thing. But where were they? I don't, I mean, I never saw any evidence of them in the woods. I never saw any evidence of, you know. Them, you know, having any transportation or any, anything that would have got them there too.

• 49:57Wes Germer?

  Yeah, when I looked it up on the map, Seth, I mean, it's, it's a remote area. You're not gonna hike into there. You're gonna have to be dropped off. What do you think happened? I mean, you think you ran into people? Do you think you ran into something darker?

• 50:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think I, I really try to make it. I, I really try to rationalize it as a human. But I just, I mean.

• 50:29Speaker 05

  There's like so many things about it that I just cannot put that together to make that a reality. So I mean, to me, I think it had to be, had to be something, something not.

• 50:44Wes Germer?

  Not human. Yeah, I agree with you, Seth. I mean, it doesn't sound like people. When you very first got there, you talked about it being silent. The forest was dead silent. Did that seem normal to you?

• 51:01Speaker 05

  That, um, that really kind of became apparent to me as I was sitting on the bench.

• 51:13Speaker 05

  Um, you know, just kind of trying to listen and take in the environment and, and, um, you know, there's, there's no breeze. There's no insects. There's, there's, there's nothing. And I mean, the way that it kind of felt to me, and I couldn't tell you if it had started before I got out there, or if it was right at that time. But it just kind of felt like there was this, like if like I described it like it was a boom, like it just kind of got sealed off. And there was like, it was like noise was like it was in a vacuum or something. If there was something there.

• 51:57Wes Germer?

  Yeah, that whole forest going quiet. I mean, you hear that a lot in Bigfoot encounters. And you also hear about them throwing stuff at you, kind of like when you were in your car and whatever was being thrown at you. And I used to have this theory when it came to spirits that you almost kind of have to engage with them for them to truly bother you. And that's what makes me wonder about whatever this was throwing stuff at your car, almost like trying to get you to come out, pick something up and throw it back at them, kind of engage with them. And you know, that area where you're at, there's so much paranormal stuff that goes on there.

• 52:38Wes Germer?

  I think the plantations that are still there, Native Americans being killed in that area. The Civil War went on there, just a long history of just bad things. Even on the James River, people report this ghost fleet from the Civil War. People will see this weird ghost fleet going up and down the James River. And it makes me wonder why this happened to you. I mean, you were just kind of there minding your own business. Maybe it's just a bad area, you know?

• 53:09Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, it's, it's definitely a, an area that has its, its fair shares of like, that kind of stuff going on for sure. And, and I'm trying to remember what chat said as far as, you know, potential things like,

• 53:29Speaker 05

  and I want to say there was like workers or a mine, but there was, there was some kind of like, like tragedy

• 53:42Speaker 05

  of some level. And I don't, I don't really remember what that was, but there's,

• 53:49Speaker 05

  but it's interesting to just hypothesize on stuff like, you know, the, the land and the land having like a memory or like, you know what I mean? Like there's like, like if, if some, if trauma has happened in an area that's a significant, like enough, I think, it stays there or it's like, it has an imprint that continues to just be there. And whether that's like opening up some kind of a gate or how, you know, and, and oh gosh, what is it the veil? I've heard it called like the veil being thin.

• 54:33Speaker 05

  You know, if I was going to pick a night, a blue moon, which I, I kind of did some research on is like, really rare. And I can tell you this statistically, how often it happens, but it's not often. And for it to be on Halloween and, you know, I mean, those, there's a few pieces there that certainly kind of add up to increasing the likelihood of something going on.

• 55:00Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it definitely makes you wonder, you know, even when Cain killed Abel, it said his blood cried out to God. And the story goes Cain tried to bury Abel, but the earth kept spitting him up. It didn't say that God kept spitting him up. It said the earth, which makes you wonder, I mean, all these areas are so many bad things have happened. I wish I knew more about that and how it worked. You know, that whole thing works. We know very little, man. And I wish I had a great answer for you and said, oh, yeah, here's what you ran into. And I don't think you ran into people. I really don't. But I do appreciate you sharing it. You know, I ask everyone on the show, what do you think Sasquatch is? What's your take?

• 55:45Speaker 05

  Oh, oh, man. You, you, you're, you're Wes, you're good. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that you called me, man. Thank you. I, I love that part of the show. And I am, I am really kind of, let's go with, let's go with like, what does the gut say? And the thing that kind of you said that pops up is abomination. And I think that's through kind of the military channels. Like, I think it is some kind of a bloodline. You know, I mean, you take a look

• 56:29Speaker 05

  at like, Genesis six and the Nephilim, and then you take a look at, oh, gosh, Enoch. And it says it real clearly there that there was not only just like, humans, but animals and plants defiled. And that, you know, I mean, gosh, you were talking, who was it that was talking about like centaur? Somebody saw a centaur? I mean, a centaur? Like, what is that? And so I think they're all kind of in the same thing. I think they are. And given their less than rosy disposition, that seems to, for me, work okay.

• 57:12Speaker 05

  It's funny that I still want to put him in that, you know, cuddly little teddy bear that, oh gosh, he was the guy that the lady that was feeding him muffins and he was on his motorcycle when he saw the two, the one that was in the tree caught by its leg. And, um, you know, they were just kind of these cute and cuddly beings that she was feeding out her house and doing a daycare for, which I was like, why, why isn't there more of that? Still, man, just incredible predators and beyond logic, just defies logic. So I think that, yeah, that's where, that's where I'll stay the day, but it goes, but it goes, goes all over the place when I'm trying to, I really

• 57:56Speaker 05

  try to understand and think about it. And I'm willing to entertain and really think about all of it.

• 58:03Wes Germer?

  Yeah, you were referencing, uh, 419. And you know, I've kind of been looking into this cloning thing, especially with Jeffrey Epstein mentioning it in his emails. And I reached out to someone who does genetics. Uh, they're not really into Bigfoot, but I had asked them, are we at a point to where you could mix a human and an animal? And he started laughing. He was like, we could have done that 10 years ago. But assuming there's some sort of abomination, some sort of, uh, creation that shouldn't be here, you would think it would be evil all the time, but they're not. You know, I think of like, um, I did this episode with Tommy and long story short, he,

• 58:48Wes Germer?

  he grew up in a very tough home and he was running away and he started sinking in this swamp, quicksand. And the more he fought, the more he sunk. And this creature came out of nowhere and he said it was female and it was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. And it actually pulled him out of the swamp, walked him over to the road and dropped him. So something along the lines of like an anethelum or an abomination. I guess in my mind, maybe I'm wrong. You would think it would be evil all the time. It's hard to figure out.

• 59:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, and I think it, um, you know, I think there's the origin story piece that, that, uh, if you're, you know, as, as what they are. I mean, that's kind of what makes them the, the most sense to me. But as far as, you know,

• 59:41Speaker 05

  I mean, I'm gonna just speaking out of faith here, man, is that there is absolutely nothing that God cannot redeem if that's what the deal is. And I think that they, they have an element of that is still God's creation. And so that means that they certainly can be. And that means that they probably have that beautiful part of all of us that really just wants love.

• 1:00:09Wes Germer?

  Yeah, that's a good point. It's all a mystery, you know? And I really appreciate you taking the time Seth to come on and, and share it. I really enjoy chatting with you.

• 1:00:21Speaker 05

  Oh, thank you. It's really fun to talk to you, Wes. And I, uh, and I trip, I just tripping out because like I said, I'm like, you've been going through all this part of my life. Like it's like you're in my, my car with me and, and you're like my brother, man. I just feel so much like you and Woody are like my, my brothers I never had. So I'm so grateful and blessed by you, man. Thank you very much.

• 1:00:50Wes Germer?

  Oh, thanks so much, Seth. That means a lot to me, man. And thank you again for coming on. 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.