Chad writes "Back in 1992, I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). We were running a force-on-force training operation. I don’t recall the exact location—maybe an hour’s drive from Lewis.

Our task was to defend a simulated Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) site consisting of a trailer and container meant to resemble a rocket launcher.

We had two Special Forces Operational Detachment Alphas (ODAs) involved, roughly 20 guys total, plus a few support personnel. The site was backed up against the “no play zone,” so any attacking team could only approach from the west. It was fortified: two M-60 machine gun nests, a perimeter of seasoned operators, M-16s for each of us, a couple of HF radios—basic gear for a simulated “enemy” approach. No high-speed tech, no grenade simulators that I can recall.

The terrain was layered: a track in front of the site, then woods, then a clean trail parallel to a ridge 150 meters to the west. Beyond that, a large field of tall grass. Ferns covered the ridge slope—dense and knee-to-hip high.

Our mission was to intercept and resist any attempt to assault the SAM site, likely between dusk and sunrise. We ran rotating two-man patrols along the trail, each covering a three-hour shift.

The night of the encounter, I was paired with a Sergeant First Class—an 18D medic whom I’ll call “Guy.” He’d been in group for years. I was 22 at the time, on of the youngest on site.

Moonlight was strong—brilliant enough to allow stealth movement. We paced slowly, stopping every few meters to kneel and scan. After an hour, we paused under a shadowed area. Guy lit a cigarette with quiet precision—no glow exposed. I asked how he did that. He smirked and said, “Sniper check.”

Then it happened.

A deafening scream rang out from the ridge. At first, I thought it was an animal. But then came a bizarre shift: halfway through, it took on a human tone. Eight to ten seconds of sustained vocalization that morphed into a frantic, incoherent babble… and finally, a coyote-like cackle or laughing sound. The volume never dropped.

We scanned the ridge. I spotted a silhouette—a massive figure, turning swaying side to side near a tree at the top of the ridge. It looked human. I thought, “Who in group is that size?” We went guns up. The figure turned north and walked away.

We pursued him, assuming a diversion tactic to draw us away from the site. But despite jogging, we couldn’t close the gap. He moved quickly—strangely so. This went on for nearly a kilometer and a half.

The forest thickened. The ridge narrowed – bottle necked. And then the figure veered east—straight toward us—charging downhill like a bipedal rhino through underbrush. Not sticks snapping… limbs breaking.

I think at this moment, I realized It wasn’t human and started to categorize it.

We veered northwest off the trail to intercept. It turned north, the woods were dark – perfect place for a kill zone, an ambush, I could still track its movement. Then… silence. It stopped moving.

Total quiet. We crept forward—as noted this was textbook ambush territory. But nothing came. The smell did.

It hit in layers. First: wet dog tangled with decay. Then: putrid infection, feces, rot. It overwhelmed me. As the stench peaked, dread set in. Danger. Immediate and primal.

I glanced at Guy. He nodded: time to back out.

We backed out—me facing rear, unwilling to turn my back. I feared a charge. Surprisingly, Guy was only 15 feet behind. I suspect he walked backward too.

Eventually we hit the trail again, dazed. We stood in silence. Not tactical—just stunned. I have no concept of how long we stood there. I remember being totally surprised by how far we went, and how far off the trail we went. Almost like an unexplainable time warp.

We never spoke of it again. The only time I had heard what Guy had experienced was later that morning as he debriefed the CO and some of the others.

There is much more to this encounter that I would like to discuss with you.”

Dominic writes “There was two separate occasions with in the same year it happened once when eight years old another when I was about nine. When I lived in the town of Allen in western New York.

We lived on basswood hill and our family owned about Ten acres of land but our neighbors each had 250 acres of land and they were hunters so really only were around on the weekend and or hunting season. So they would let us in there property whenever it wasn’t hunting season. And me and some family members all around the same age as me built a fort in a heavy pine tree area and it was fairly cold out it was late October.

Well we were gonna build a little camp fire but I decided to sneak a pot form in the kitchen and put rocks in there to hold heat. (8) year old take in mind. Well as we were sneaking items in and out of the kitchen on our way back to our fort I saw in the tree opening a face a gorilla face looking in at us and I ran away along with the other kids and grabbed our bigger pocket knives and went back to see it was gone.

The other encounter was on the same property. But in the summer. Me and my nephew were gonna camp out out back and as we were bringing the tents out something caught my eye in our hay field we assumed immediately it was a black bear and they were common in the area but as we looked longer and the sun was setting we realized this thing was massive. So we got our binoculars which these binoculars were garbage kids toys pretty much but also gave us a slightly better look.

This thing kinda was shaped like a gorilla once again. I just remembered seeing very large shoulders and it was on all fours but had its rear end towards the ground. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the movie Tarzan but we grew up watching it . It reminded me of kerchek the head ape. But we went inside to find an adult to show them but by the time they came out it was gone.”

Sean writes "I'm a 51 year old clinical social worker, love the woods, and have had a few interesting experiences myself but we're writing today because my 13 year old, Bennett, came back from a week long Scout camp in Mississippi in which he AND his friend Dylan experienced the following:

The two boys were hanging out by themselves in an area somewhat isolated, waiting on the other boy's dad to meet them. Bennett suggested they had time to walk up a nearby trail and look around. Shortly after starting out they hear footsteps in the woods to their left. And yes, when they stopped the footsteps would stop. The boys knew there was another nearby trail and called out, "Hello"? No answer. They walked again and again hear the footsteps. They stop again. Then, as Bennett tells it, they're looking in the direction of where the steps were coming from.

He said the woods are not thick at all and they can see pretty well at 50' plus into the woods. He said they both see this clear mass from behind a tree that looks like it's "on delay". He then named a movie trying to describe what it looked like and I asked if it was like the Predator movie and he said yes. He said it looked to be a little taller than me so about 6' and the "top part" of it would lean out from the tree.

Although I've heard of these experiences before, Bennett had not, which makes this awfully awfully strange in my book! We would love to get your feedback and experience about this "encounter"(?)!

We will also be speaking with Seth, Seth writes "I found your pod cast last year and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’m a farmer and Hunter and everything outdoors guy and I had a short experience while mushroom hunting with my ex girlfriend and our son 2019. I’ve wanted to share with my friends but I haven’t told anybody because like many others I don’t want the you’re crazy label. I’d love to talk to you and see what you think cause I’m still a skeptic on the whole Sasquatch thing but now I’m about 60%-40% that there’s something out there after what happened to us. I used to make fun of people who brought it up and now I actually feel bad cause I believe something is out there now and I’d like youre take?"