A Man From Sandy, Oregon Shares His Lifelong Encounters With The Sasquatch

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That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, stocking up on spiral ham, baked goods, fresh flowers, candy, and five dozen eggs. I've got a lot of baskets to fill. Nicole's not worried because she knows she can save big and get it all done in one trip. It's like winning the Easter egg hunt. When you save, everyone wins. Get a $15 digital coupon when you spend $150 in one transaction. Now through April 5th, visit BJ's.com slash Easter coupon for details. BJ's, your Easter destination. You're listening to Bigfoot Society, and I'm Jeremiah Byron. In this show, we go beyond the campfire stories to bring you firsthand encounters from people who say they've seen something impossible, from backwoods, trails, and remote mountain haulers to quiet farms and crowded highways. The stories come from everywhere, and each one leaves us with more questions than answers. These are the voices of the people who've lived it. So settle in because today you'll hear another account that just might change the way you see the woods forever. So stay with us. All right, Bigfoot Society. You've got the privilege of talking to Tater today. Tater is an individual I got connected to. He's an outdoorsman out there in the state of Oregon. And welcome to the show, Tater. How are you doing today, sir? Pretty good. Pretty good. How are you? Doing great. Always a great day when I'm able to talk to some individuals about their experiences and try to connect some more dots. But, you know, Tater, I want to make sure that you have the time to share what you've experienced. And we'll probably be talking about things as we go along here because there are multiple things you've experienced. But, you know, feel free to take us back to, you know, where you were, what was happening when you first started having some things happen in the Bigfoot field? Well, I was about 10 years old. I was living at my parents at the time. I moved around a lot from my grandma and my grandpa. It's just like right up the hill from where my mom lived. Anyway, I was going to sleep one night. Well, I have a hard time sleeping because I'm ADHD. Anyway, behind your house is a big old forest. Like, you know, it's miles. There's probably one or two houses, but they're, you know, spread out. Anyway, one night I was sleeping, well, I'm trying to sleep. And I started knocking on the wall because that's what I do whenever I can't sleep, I knock on the wall. And then I got to knock back. Well, as I'm scared now, I start looking out my window and I couldn't see anything. So I laid back down and started knocking and started knocking back. But only it didn't like knock how I like the way I was knocking. I played like a tune, like, you know, like three blind mice or whatever. And started doing it with me. Well, anyway, I thought it was my sister playing jokes on me and stuff. Well, later on that, well, later next day and next morning, I got up with the breakfast and found out my sister spent night at a French house. So I was scared then. I didn't want to sleep in my room. I was just totally scared. And my mom kept asking me what was wrong, what was wrong. I told her what was going on. She said, you're just thinking it up all this, you know. Well, as the years went by, and this was back in the 99. That's all happened in 99. Well, when I got to 2000s, I started, you know, going outside, going to explore the forest a little more. And, well, when I was doing this trail, like around my property, the hair stood up on the back of my neck because everything went silent. And I started hearing some bushes off to the, like the left of me start going, you know, shaking and stuff. And it kind of scared me. So I ran back home and I really scared me. I mean, Tuesday still puts the hair on the back of my neck. It's getting straight up when I talk about it. But anyway, I went up to my mom about it. My grandpa and my stepdad, I went down there and looked around and they found some tracks. They found some big foot tracks, you know. Somebody was barefoot. And he said that it was, you know, about 17 from length and about maybe five inches across. And my grandpa, he's from, he's from Arkansas. And I don't know if you guys remember the story about the Bug Creek, Legend of Bug Creek. Oh, yeah. But he was actually right in that, the majority is that it was going on. At the time. And he started telling me stories, you know, and that kind of freaked me out even more. Like I didn't want to go out. Those words are no more. Well, anyway, when I was about 17 years old, I grew up. I didn't go out in those forests at all. My grandpa had just passed away. And my mom wanted me to stay at my grandma's house. Well, my grandma wouldn't stay in her bedroom because of my grandpa. But I said I would. Anyway, I'm starting to come shaking still. So my friend just left for the house because his house, because he was down there comforting me and stuff and all this other stuff. So I went back into the back room and went to lay down and I started hearing some scratches on the window. And I thought of my friend playing jokes on me. So I went over and I opened up the screen and he was staring right at me face to face through the window. And I freaked out, started screaming and it's backed up one step and it started screaming and it took off. Well, the yellow was so loud it shook my grandma's house. My mom heard it from where she was living at and she came out on the front porch started screaming too because she didn't know what it was. But yeah, that's my encounter. And I'm sticking to it. My goodness, Tater, that is, that's intense. Did we decide, I know we had been talking about this a bit before, location-wise, what are you comfortable with sharing? I was in Sandy, Oregon. I was up towards Wildcat. Just to say that. Okay, Wildcat. And maybe for those that are not, is that like Wildcat Mountain? Yeah, Wildcat Mountain Road. Okay, got you. I've heard of that area before on the show way, way back. Later on, I actually went to the library. I wanted to check some stuff out. There's multiple sightings at Wildcat on news, clippings and stuff. And then I knew what I saw, what I saw. You know what I mean? It was no grizzly bear looking at me. And my grandma's window, the way it was sitting, is about up to my face when I'm out there behind, you know, out there in front of it. It sets up to my face. So this thing had to be, you know, a good eight to nine feet tall. So, I mean, it was massive. I mean, the build on this thing was massive. I mean, I thought he was actually going to come to my window and snatch me up or something. Just, you know, carry me up. That's what I thought. So, I definitely have, I've got some questions for you. This is some wild stuff. Wildcat Mountain Road. Road. That's definitely over by Sandy. Okay. I'll say that. Was this north of 26 or south of 26? Uh, I'm going up towards the mountain. Yeah. That's north, I think. Okay. South. South. Okay. Got you. Got you. Got you. I'm kind of familiar with the area. Not overly. Like I can walk around blindfolded if you know what I mean. South of 26. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, what year would you say your, your visual was that that happened through the window? Well, the visual one, I was, it was 06. 2006. Okay. Got you. I just graduated high school and it was the summertime. It was, um, in July. Okay. It was actually July 4th. It was actually July 4th. Cause I remember because, uh, yeah, it was July 4th most definitely. So, and I think it brought it out. I'm just saying, I think what really brought it out was all the fireworks and stuff that was happening up there. Cause you can, you can hear booming all along the road, you know, from people letting off their fireworks and stuff going up in the air and stuff. So I don't know. Just like I said, it, this day still puts, I don't even go in the backwards this day. And I used to, I used to run those woods when I was very little, you know? Oh, sure. Yeah, absolutely. But now I did. Uh-uh. I will not go back there. Just to make sure I've got everything. So there was some knocks. There was a feeling of everything went silent. There were tracks found and then they're kind of culminated into you had an actual visual through the window and the how, if you were to put a distance on how close it was to you, what would you say? About three feet. Three feet. My goodness. Okay. How long would you say it was there in front of you for? About 10 seconds. Oh my goodness. That's a long time. Well, me and him just kind of stared at each other and I don't know if it was him or her, but we kind of stared at each other for a minute and you're like, oh, and then I just started screaming and I stepped back and then stepped back, left this big roar and then my mom said that whenever it was like went behind her house, she could feel the footprint and she could feel the footsteps to the house. I mean, it shook the house. It must have been running. So I've heard the roar as well and it's just the way it affects you is it's a primal way and it's very hard to explain, at least for me. Have you ever heard anything that comes close to what you heard that day? Nothing close. I mean, I've been around grizzly bears. I've been around black bears. I've been around like, you know, mountain lions, you know, mountain lions have kind of a scream to like a woman scream to them. You know, I know what they sound like. Bear, they just, you know, they sound like a bear, you know, this thing had nothing compared to any of those sounds I've actually heard in my life. Right. I mean, this thing, I mean, I'm serious. This thing shook the whole house when it let off that scream. I'm like, oh, did your body react in any ways when you're hearing the scream itself or the roar? Sorry, I pissed myself. Yeah, I got you. I totally understand. I think I almost passed out when I heard it. I got a question for you. Yeah. Have you ever felt fainted? Like I was going to faint? Yeah. So you're talking about the exact time when I heard something? Yeah. So what happened specifically for me is it felt like the blood all rushed out of my head and went down to my feet and like my ears turned off. But I didn't feel like I was going to faint, but it was a very, very weird experience. I've never experienced anything else like it. See, and that's why it felt like me, but I feel like I was going to pass out because like I said, it just, yeah. Wow. Okay. So you're, you're, you have about 10 seconds, you're looking at it. Do you remember anything that you had noticed facial details? Correct. Yeah. Well, some people say it looks, it looks like, you know, regular like, like monkey. It does not look like a monkey. What does in a way? I mean, the body building and everything. Yeah. It looks like a gorilla. But a facial, it looks so much like a human. It's not even funny. Hmm. Like, it was like, oh man, winter almost. Okay. Interesting. I can hear that. I'm thinking of something that has some kind of beard on it. It looks older. Is that kind of what you're trying to say? Yes. Yes. Yes. Most definitely. What kind of hair was the hair or what kind of color was the hair on it? I wasn't, didn't really look like, well, it looked like it was like twisted hair. Hmm. You want to talk about? I think I do. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Have you seen anything else that looks like it when you say twisted hair? Oh man. Um, or any hair styles? It kind of looks like it's a corn rolled. Can you choose? Okay. Interesting. Interesting. Why? The thing I hear a lot out there in Oregon is that it kind of looked like dreadlocks in a way. Yeah. That's exactly what it looked like. Exactly. That's what I mean. Dreadlocks. I don't know. I don't know what their size. Dreadlocks. Like the, I'm sorry, hippies. Yeah. Exactly. You got it. Yeah. Um, did any specific, did any particular parts of the face stick out? Because you said what you saw, it did look pretty human like. It wasn't the mouth, man. It was the eyes mostly. It was the eyes. Yeah. The eyes, man. I mean, nose. I couldn't tell what the nose looked like because the hair was in the way, but it was, it was massive. The eyes are like really like, well, they're kind of like a dog's in the, well, between a dog and a sheep, I'd say. Okay. Like the glow, like, like people say it's like be ready. It wasn't be ready to meet. It was like pure white. Oh, like they were glowing white. Yeah. They're going white. They weren't going red. They're going white. I don't know if it's because of the TV that I had on are, you know what I mean? That, okay. So that's interesting. I wonder if it was kind of watching the TV too. Sometimes you hear that where they were right behind you because they're watching TV that you have on. Oh, it must have been watching some good shows. Right. Exactly. How far apart were the eyes? I'd say good. I don't know. If I had to guess between the middle and the middle, probably about six inches. Okay. Well, they're pretty much pretty far apart. Now you mentioned it was glowing white eyes. Were you able to see anything about the eyes themselves? Like, did it have pupils where there are whites around the pupils, things like that? I didn't really want to, uh, well, this is a screen about that time. I was like, I didn't really want to, you know, I don't really too much back. I remember just looking at him. He's looking straight at me and I'm just like, yeah. I knew he was looking straight at me because his, his, I don't know, his facial kind of look, um, but when I looked at him, he kind of just had like a normal, I don't know how to explain it. It's kind of hard to explain to me for anybody else, but for me, it's, you know, easy because I, you know, I've actually seen it. Right. It's just hard to explain to other people because it was hard. No, I totally get it. Is there any kind of emotion in his face or in its face? That's what I was telling you. I don't know. I need like the motion was, I don't know if it was the regular, I don't know if he's mad. I mean the eyes on kind of look like he's mad after he stepped, I started screaming, but when he stepped back and he went straight to the darkness. That's the last time I seen him. Like I said, he walked away. When I opened that blind, my grandma's my great grandma, you can open that blind. You can see whatever was out there. You know, yeah. So when I opened it, he just like stepped right back into the darkness and he was gone. But yeah, I mean, I tell you, Chris, um, my grandpa told me a story about me when I was little. Uh, he's seen not even after they picked me up off the, uh, because they had, we had a little picnic out back. Like we usually do. And my grandpa said that whenever he ain't live, so you can't ask him, but he said, uh, whenever they picked me up and were taking me inside that he's seen a juvenile run towards the back. That's why they picked up this stuff and ran. And that would have been around Wildcat Mountain Road too. Well, yeah, that's, that's like the 90, probably 91. Gotcha. Um, another question. One or two more about, about the face. Um, did you notice anything about the mouth or were you able to see teeth or anything like that? Nope. Gotcha. So you're really focused in on, on the eyes. They were just like 10 seconds and then you scream, it screams, it's out of there. Yep. Okay. Wow. Wow. Wow. Um, the next day, did anyone go and check things out outside? I called my friend back into the house because I was kind of scared to go out there by myself. He even said that the hair stood up on the back of his neck when we were both out there out back, you know, uh, there was, uh, there was all grass, there was footprints, but there was nothing like we could, you know, dump a mold over, you know what I mean? Sure. So, and plus it was during the summertime and then it's hard ground back there, you know? So, you know, all we've seen was a little bit of the grass that was thumped down and stuff. But, uh, yeah, I mean, and personally when I read the same 10 specter, we used to get a lot of people that throw sticks at us and I forgot what that was whenever I was, you know, when I seen it, I knew what it was. It was throwing sticks at us. It says to say that. Oh, okay. I started reading a lot about big foot and stuff and everything started to make sense now. So, you're going to the local library and you talked about this earlier too. So, are you finding actual books or do they have like a collection of newspaper articles about the area? They actually had like newspaper articles and stuff. Oh, flipping on like, you know, the computer and stuff. My, my family's up there all their life. Well, since my grandma was a baby on the same property. So, she's even heard some stuff. My grandpa's even heard some stuff after he moved out here from Arkansas. So, but yeah. Okay. And were you the first person then to have an actual sighting of one on that property? No, my grandma was. Okay. My grandma and her sister. Back in 73. It was actually August. That's what my grandma said. I remember that story because the same thing that happened to her kind of happened to me in a way, but only I didn't see it. So, I started here, like the whole tree shaking thing. She said she's heard that and she's actually heard it come out. She's seen it whenever it came out of the tree line. So, they said a bunch of, you know, a bunch of deer used to be on our property too. And they're not anymore. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. How did she say what her reaction was to having that sighting back in 73? Her grandpa said not to, her dad said not to go in the woods with no more. She said that she had no, like she didn't know what it was. She thought it was a hairy person. And they didn't follow the kids back to the house or anything. They said it kind of staged them making some grunt noise. She said the grunt was kind of deep. Like, um, like when you re-pick up something like, oh, yeah. And she said it sounded deeper though. Were there ever any other sounds that were reported by members of your family over the years that just didn't really make sense or? There was a few. I mean, um, most of the Wildcat people, I know they've seen them, but they don't say, they don't say anything about it because everybody thinks they're crazy, you know? So, when you say Wildcat people, you're talking about people that live on Wildcat Mountain Road. Yep. Okay. Interesting. That totally makes sense to me. I mean, there's definitely multiple areas of the U.S. Especially out where you're at where people got to deal with them. People don't talk about it. They do not want. Yep. Um, yeah. No, I get it. So my grandpa used to, my grandpa said that the reason why he didn't want, and none of us saying anything is because the whole thing with Boggy Creek, when everybody started hunting them and stuff, it really, it really made the, it mad and it started, you know, you know, you know, a lot of stuff, a lot of people's properties. And he didn't want that to start happening there in our property. So he would keep me, because I'll be quiet about it. Yeah. That makes sense. It totally makes sense. I mean, there's even out here in Iowa, like you look at the Lockridge Monster, I mean, got out on the papers and just tore the family and their farm apart. Um, so your visual, well, actually, how about this? After you're, you have the sighting in 2006, how did that affect you afterwards? I don't go hunting anymore. Okay. I, uh, don't go hunting at all. Um, actually I'm afraid to even hold the gun out there in the wild now. Because I, I got a little bit of my grandpa's knowledge there. And he always told me that, you know, the person you're holding the stick in their hand, they'd get mauled. Well, they'd probably get mauled out there, you know. So I don't even like holding guns anymore, except whenever I'm like out here in the big cities. So, sorry, real quick. So you're saying your grandfather told you that if you're holding a gun out there, something would maul you because of doing that? Well, not maul me, but you know, like, like take offensive to it. Ah, got it. Okay. Yep. You don't want to make a mad type thing. Okay. So that's a big sense. Um, 2006, that's 20 years ago. Has anything happened on that property since then? If it, if it did, my, won't talk about it and neither will my. Okay. Gotcha. So I've heard some, I've heard some stuff, but I, I can't really say cause it's your story. No, I, I respect that. Yep. Yep. So. Still is in the family, which is great. You know, the, the, one of the worst stories you can hear is that a family property has, has been, you know, passed on outside of the family and I'm glad you guys still have it. Um, I won't go anywhere else. Yeah. Right. Exactly. So have you, have you heard of any, uh, recent, uh, big foot interactions happening then in that area of Sandy or Estiketa? Well, not lately. Like I said, mostly people, they hear, they hear it, they see it and they just don't want to talk about it. Cause like I said, people think they're crazy. The only reason why I'm coming out with this cause I don't care if people think I'm crazy or not. I've seen what I've seen. You know what I mean? So, and I just want my story to get out because I feel like it needed to be told. Oh, and it definitely doesn't. I'm, I'm so glad that we were able to be connected and you were able to share. I, I would ask you this because the way you explain it is really interesting how it had the body of a gorilla, but the face of a human. Um, when you think about big foot then, you know, how do you describe what kind of thing it is that or what, what kind of, you know, how do you describe what big foot is? I guess. It's kind of hard. Um, what big foot is, is he's big foot. But I don't, I think I said just seen the visual in my like again is like hard for me because I don't know what I'm saying. Hard for me because I didn't, I didn't want to see it. You know what I mean? Um, I didn't believe it. I thought that all was junk. I thought for years that was junk. Like people were telling me crap stories and stuff. But when you witness it yourself, it's it's kind of hard, you know. Sure. Absolutely. Was that a thing that was, was big foot talked about a lot? Like when you grew up in school out there? No. No. I mostly kids in my class were all, we were all like, you know, we're a bunch of rednecks out in Sandy, you know, so we're not, we don't think that, you know, too much of that kind of crap. Except for one of a Caesar or something. I was even afraid to tell my friends at school because I didn't want them thinking that I was, you know, I'm going to blow in smoke because, you know, none of them, I don't think I've ever seen it. But then when I do talk to people, certain people, they, they come back with their stories, you know, and some of the stories are similar to mine, but, you know, like my, my aunt is still alive. She's, I met, she's living in her house. She's told me stories about it before. Oh, about the same property. Yeah. Oh wow. Okay. Wow. And the stuff that's happened up by her house. Okay. You know, when thieves were the bar cat, we don't live in, we don't live up there anymore. You know, I don't, I just, I don't even like stepping foot on that property. And it just brings back memories. It makes, it makes total, total sense to me. And Tater, I know this is hard for you to talk about. I'm not just thankful that you were able to take some time today to go back to that, those memories and to share what you experienced. I know it is going to help a lot of people. I want to make sure that you were able to share everything that you came to the show to talk about today. Everything I told you was nice, what I've heard and seen and, you know, felt. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much and listeners. If you're listening from the Wildcat Mountain Road area and if you would like to share what you experienced, you can send me an email at bigfootsocietyatgmail.com. And Tater, if you ever, if you ever need to reach out and, and, and share anything else, you can always do that as well. But thank you so much for coming on the show today, Tater. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Have you ever heard all the accounts of Bigfoot activity around Oak Ridge, Oregon? And you think to yourself, man, I would love to get out in those woods and experience it for myself. Well, guess what? This year you can. If this is interesting to you, stay tuned because it's pretty cool. Sasquatch Summer Fest is coming up July 10th through the 11th, 2026. It's going to be even better than the previous year's reason. Number one, I'll be one of the speakers. It's going to be wild. I'll probably I'll say this. There may be stuff you haven't heard anywhere else because let's just say sometimes it's, uh, well, you just got to be there. We'll leave it at that. More about looking for Bigfoot in the Oak Ridge woods. Now check this out. You may know Jason Kenzie from his documentary series, Searching for Sasquatch. Well, this year you can not only go to the festival, but you can also sign up for a trek deep in the Wild Forest outside of Oak Ridge with Jason Kenzie to the Bigfoot spots to look for Bigfoot. There's only eight spots to sign up for this. And yes, this will also be filmed for the next chapter in his documentary series, which is searching for Sasquatch. This is a once in a lifetime deal. It's just trust it's going to be a wild, wild experience to get a ticket head on over to SasquatchSummerFest.com and listeners can use the code BSP, like Bigfoot Society podcast in order to get a ticket. In order to get a two day pass for the price of a one day pass. So thanks to Priscilla for giving me that code so that you guys can can get a little, a little help with the cost there. Appreciate that Priscilla. I hope to see you at the booth in Oak Ridge this year. We can talk about your encounter. I was able to talk to so many people last year and the year before it is an incredible time. You're not going to want to miss it and I'll see you there. Before we wrap this episode, I want to say something directly to a very specific group of listeners. If you're in the military, any branch or forces, and if you've seen something that no one can explain, or if you're a national park ranger or forestry worker who's been told to stay quiet, or if you're a pilot who's seen something strange down on the ground, or if you're with the FBI, a federal agency or working intelligence and you stumbled upon something you're not allowed to talk about, and if you're a firefighter, paramedic or search and rescue responder who's heard screams or found tracks that didn't make sense, if you're in the logging industry on a remote oil field or a trucker with government contracts, and you've had something happen that you've never told a soul, and if you're a biologist, a wildlife specialist or a field researcher under contract who has found evidence you're not allowed to report, if you're a pastor, a missionary or someone on a spiritual retreat and you saw something that shook your faith, or if you work in the shadows, CIA, NSA or anything with clearance and you've seen what the public hasn't, then I want to talk to you. Even if it's anonymous, you can reach me at BigfootSociety at gmail.com. The world needs to hear what you've been forced to carry alone and you're not alone. You've got the story, we've got the mic. See you in the woods. And remember, if you or someone you know has had a Bigfoot sighting, please, I'd love to hear from you. So email me at BigfootSociety at gmail.com and let's start the conversation. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, check out our membership community over at www.BigfootSocietyPodcast.com, and that's where you can hear tomorrow's episode today early and ad free and members only episodes every week. Also, it's a place to connect with other people that are into the Bigfoot subject as much as you are. Thanks again for following along with the Bigfoot Society. Until next time, keep your eyes open, trust your gut and never stop asking what else might be out there and see you in the woods. It's like winning the Easter Egg Hunt. Hi, this is Alex Kanshawits. 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