Today's post is written by David A. Claerr, a Bigfoot researcher, artist, and author whose work I hold in highest regard.
The following is an account of one of the first encounters that I had with a Sasquatch:
My best friend, John, built a homestead in north central Ontario, Canada, on the western edge of Algonquin Provincial Park. The nearest town was Huntsville, which was about 80 miles away. The land on his property had thickly wooded, rolling hills, a creek and a sizable beaver pond. Deer and black bear were in abundance.
I worked with my friend one summer to help finish his house, putting up siding, shingling the roof and digging a cellar for his pump house.
John's dog was an exceptionally large, malamute/wolf hybrid named Silverbear. He was so strong that he could break a logging chain. To secure him, John had to thread 3/8 inch steel cable through the logging chain and padlock it around his neck. One time we gave Silverbear a whole leg-joint of a cow to chew on, and to our surprise, he crunched up the whole thing and swallowed it!
Silverbear would go after the black bears if he was loose and drive them off the property.
John's nickname was "Man Mountain". Although he was not physically huge, he packed a lot of dense muscle on his 220 lb frame and had unbelievable strength and energy. I once saw him defeat a 350 lb
linebacker that assaulted him. It goes without saying that he was no wuss.
John's wife Linda, was a high-spirited adventurous type, resourceful and energetic. The three of us worked hard to finish off the
house before the cold weather set in during late Autumn.
The main structure of the house was complete and we were working on painting and decorating the interior. The nights grew longer and colder and we began to turn in not long after sundown. I normally slept like a log, although any unusual noise would awaken me. On the night of the Bigfoot we had a big
meal of Stroganoff, and I was looking forward to a nice, restful sleep.
But sometime that night, probably between 10 and 11 PM, a, low indistinct sound aroused me from a deep slumber. My first impression was that I was hearing the distant rumble of a train. That seemed peculiar since there was no rail line anywhere nearby. I heard Silverbear outside begin to growl as well.
He had a deep growl himself, but the rumbling sound was deeper still, almost like infra-sound that you can feel more than hear.
The low rumbling gained in volume and gradually raised in pitch. It seemed to be drawing nearer and sounded more like an animal sound, very deep and with powerful reverberations. In fact, at certain frequencies the windows rattled and the wallboard shook. It was suddenly very alarming, and Silverbear, paused in his growling as if he was disconcerted by the noise.
The volume raised to a tremendous sustained bellow, raising in pitch from a howl to a screaming wail that I could feel in my teeth. Silverbear dived under the house; I could hear the chain scrape on the foundation piers. The wail raised in tone, apparently to a frequency that only Silverbear could hear, and he squealed and whimpered as if it hurt his ears.
There was a period of silence of about 30 seconds. Then the howl began again, this time even nearer and louder. Now, I've been right next to an African Lion (caged) when he roared, and once was chased through a pasture by a bellowing bull. I've had a big mountain lion screech and growl as it circled
around me threateningly. I've also been close to a huge alligator as it bellowed. But none of them even came close to the sheer volume or the palpable sonic pulse of this vocalization.
The effect of the incredible sonic assault was amazing. It triggered an astounding mix of paralyzing fear and confusion. It seemed to penetrate the very core of my being.
By the third sequence, I was unable to move a muscle. I couldn't breathe and felt as though my heart had almost stopped. I also had a sensation of being cold, as though I was nearly freezing, even though sweat rolled down my forehead into my eyes. I lay on the bed as though petrified. The only thing I could move was my eyes. My body was locked in a rigid catatonic state. It seemed like the ultimate state of terror that I could endure
without passing out completely.
Meanwhile, in the other bedroom, John and Linda were experiencing much the same effect. Linda felt the same terror, paralysis and freezing sensation. John felt a similar shock, but was able to roll out of bed and belly-crawl over to the closet where he kept his rifle. He was only able to hold the rifle as he lay flat on his back, staring toward the window, which was covered with a bed sheet.
The room that I was in did not yet have any curtain or window shade. My head was at the end of the bed near the window. There was a little bit of light from a waning moon but overall it was a fairly dark night. With effort, I rolled my eyes toward the window. I could only see out of the corner of my eye, and the stinging sweat blurred my vision. But in one of the periods of silence, I thought I saw a pair of
glimmering red eyes peering in the window. I seriously questioned whether the whole episode was a hallucination. I also thought it might be a supernatural manifestation, like a demon or malevolent spirit.
But hearing Silverbear whimper and squeal made me realize something was occurring to him also in reality.
John also saw a huge shadow pass across the bed sheet over the window. This happened twice, and he nearly pulled the rifle trigger on the second pass, but something made him hesitate. He felt dazed and nauseated, and by that time also could barely move.
At last, the bellowing, howling scream ceased. We all lay there, in a state of slowly ebbing terror. I tried to force by breathing and found myself drawing air through clenched teeth. Eventually the locked muscles began to relax, but I still felt extremely weak and nauseated.
After an hour or so I could hear Silverbear scratching on the door and begging to get in the house. After that I just lay in a state of
shock, in utter dread that whatever it was would return.
Finally, at about dawn, John came, literally crawling into my room. He was very pale and asked me if I was all-right in a hoarse whisper. I replied and asked if he had heard the screeching too, and he shook his head yes.
I slowly sat up in bed. My limbs ached and I had a terrific headache.
Eventually, I shuffled out to the kitchen. I looked out the front window. I was surprised to see that the entire landscape was covered in hoarfrost from the grass on the ground to the leaves on the tallest trees.
Hoarfrost is crystallized ice that forms feather-like growths about an inch long. That day it looked similar to a snowfall.
When I opened the front door to look out, Silverbear forced his way in, chain and all. He hadn't been in the house since he was a puppy, and he was obviously still scared out of his wits. We unchained him and made him lie down in the corner as we talked about the bizarre and frightening night we all had.
After some coffee and toast, John and I decided to grab a couple of rifles and check out the property.
We still felt shaky as we stepped out into the bitter cold. It was eerily silent outside. Not a bird twittered nor a squirrel stirred. The hoarfrost that formed in the pre-dawn hours had covered every thing, and we could see no tracks or sign of anything at all. However, there did seem to be a rank, sour smell outside the house.
Silverbear could not be coaxed to come outside so, we couldn't use him for tracking.
We decided against going out to the woods, it was too cold and neither of us felt up to snuff that morning.
At the time, none of us knew what to make of the previous night. Not one of us even thought of the possibility of a Bigfoot. In fact, we were more disposed to think of it more as a malevolent spirit than an animal.
John and Linda actually lit candles, prayed and even sprinkled the outside of the house with
what they called "holy water" that they kept from a visit to a Catholic shrine.
We were somewhat isolated, and had no telephone, so we didn't have an opportunity to discuss it with anyone for a few weeks.
It wasn't until some time later, when I was reading about Bigfoot encounters in Russia that I made the connection. There were several reports of the bellowing-howling-screaming sequence, some concurrent with face-to-face sightings. The people involved experience the same terror and paralysis, nausea, headaches and inability to breathe. Some even reported the sensation of the heart functions being severely repressed. In fact, peasants of the Russian interior ascribe a hypnotic or even magical power to the Bigfoot. Some report similar sensations even if they can't see or hear the Bigfoot when it is very close, but concealed in bushes or behind rock formations. (The reports also mention the nocturnal habits and red eyes that have a reflective retina similar to that of a cat.)
There is another element that bears consideration. All animal lifeforms generate an electromagnetic field. Many predators, for example, sharks, can sense the electromagnetic pulses from their prey and
home in on them. The EM field is stronger in close proximity and a creature with a large mass can generate a powerful field that extends outward many feet from their body.
Have you noticed how you can interrupt your TV's reception by walking a few feet from it, or conversely, bring the TV screen into focus by touching the antenna? That is due to the electromagnetic properties of your body.
There are documented reports of people who can accidentally set off alarm sensors in airports, supermarkets and department stores even though they have neither metallic objects nor electrical devices on their person.
Consider that a mature Bigfoot could be up to nine feet tall and possibly weigh in excess of 1200 lbs.
They are reportedly massively muscled and adapted to extremes of cold. This configuration would result in a creature with a high metabolism that naturally has an immense electromagnetic field surrounding its body. It is quite possible that if a person was in close proximity to the Bigfoot's EM field, it would conflict with that person's own EM field and disrupt that person's functioning. This
could account for the headaches, nausea and confusion that people feel, even if they are not particularly frightened by a Bigfoot's presence. If the Bigfoot was right outside my window, I was only about three feet away from him.
Other reports from both Russia and the U.S. and Canada mention the Bigfoot's habit of breaking and bending sapling trees at about 8 to 10 feet from the ground, then twisting and forcing the boughs together into a rude shelter of sorts.
Earlier in the summer, we saw a structure just like that down by the beaver pond. It formed basically a roughly roofed hut with no walls. I first wondered if the beavers had been cutting the saplings some how, but there were no toothmarks, and beavers generally do not climb trees.
Inside the structure the earth was shallowly dug out and packed down to a hard, bare surface. In the winter the snow would collect on the roof and drift up on the sides to form a semi-enclosed area about 8 feet in diameter.
My hypothesis then, is this: John had inadvertently settled in a remote wilderness area that was either a wintering grounds or part of a nomadic migratory route used by the Bigfoot. The seemingly enraged howling was perhaps an attempt to scare us off, or just an natural reaction to the presence of interlopers. There was no actual physical violence to the property or our persons, although the Bigfoot
could have easily smashed through a window or wall.
So, let those of you who are in pursuit of the Bigfoot consider NOT shooting to kill. Why not instead arm yourself with a tranquilizer gun and carry grizzly-strength pepper spray (commercially available online) for defensive purposes? After all, a live specimen would be infinitely more valuable than a dead one.
Besides, some hunters faced with a Bigfoot suddenly feel as if it would be something close to homicide to shoot one.
Maybe they are right.
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David has other posts on this blog that can be found in the search bar. As well, please be sure to check out his books. You can find them online including Amazon. DAVID CLAERR BOOKS
