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@WSA @BlackRockBigfoot Thanks both for the stories. Makes me feel less crazy. We moved to this area a few years ago and finally bought this house shortly before the pandemic set in. Prior to the house most of our outdoor activities had been limited to hiking and camping in Shenandoah NP. Now having a freezer to fill we've started to roam more in the GW national forest. Had an experience last summer that I've never had elsewhere. Went to check out a meadow, made it about 10' in, and had the most overwhelming urge to LEAVE. I've never had anything like that feeling before and I've hunted, hiked, and camped up and down the eastern seaboard and as far west as Missouri. Have seen/felt a few other things that my wife and I have taken to documenting.

@Doodler If this is in my neck of the woods, let me know. The Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee. If it is in the Pacific Northwest, @Madison5716would be a great person to contact. West Virginia...you want to speak with @Skinwalker13

Familiar with that side of the Valley, yes....From Vesuvius and on up into St. Mary's Wilderness and SNP's Southern Section. Was once looking for property to buy around Big Levels, but things did not line up. I don't know if Paulides every gave it the full "Missing" treatment, but maybe 8-9 years ago a guy disappeared in the Ramsey's Draft area. I mean, full-on "Poof. Gone!" You can hunt it up on Google I'm sure, but he had been hiking in Wilderness with friends the day before and lost his cell phone along the way. He went back the next day, alone, to look for it. Never found a trace of him, although his pack was in his car at the trailhead parking area. In true a "Missing" turn of events, a major storm came in that hampered the search, which was massive. The kicker was that his phone had been found the day he lost it by another hiker. She put it in her pack and didn't remember to look for the owner until a few days later...when she read the news of his disappearance. Which leads me a story I tell on occasion. About 15 years ago I left my family's home over in Middlebrook and drove with my mountain bike over to W. Augusta and the fire road leading up to the gap and the trail that leads to the top of Elliott's Knob. It was a nice Summer day and my plan was to park at the top of the road and ride my bike up the grind to Elliott's Knob and come down as fast as I could without killing myself. Along the way there is a vernal pool sort of pond on Hogback Mountain...not more than a puddle, but it stays full all year and is pretty rare for that elevation on the Allegheny side of the Valley. I paused there to take a breather and suddenly got the classic "something is watching me" feeling. I had never been that spooked in the outdoors, despite having been solo in these mountains for days, and also out West. Just unmistakable unease. I remember even being surprised to remember that my bike was right next to me. I hopped on it and tore-ass down that mountain. The feeling left me immediately. So weird.

I carry one of these tarps - https://coalcrackerbushcraft.com/collections/shelter/products/t6zero-emergency-shelter-deep-forest-edition I carry an extra layer (puffy jacket) and a bivy - https://www.campmor.com/products/sol-survive-outdoors-longer-thermal-bivvy?utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=bing-shopping&utm_medium=cpc&msclkid=8fc6f6e5002313122b2996886a24579f I also carry a Ferro rod, BIC lighter, char cloth and a tinder kit. I also have a sil-poly rain poncho as a backup/additional shelter - https://seatosummitusa.com/products/ultra-sil-nano-tarp-poncho?variant=7896136548380&currency=USD&msclkid=7382348be17918a8c44d54e68ba5363d&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping SPAGS%3A Dry Sacks&utm_term=4582420879980529&utm_content=shopify_US_344709529628_7896111841308-Stopper Dry Bag 8 liter %2F Yellow by Sea to Summit In my truck, I have these wool blankets - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FBD7XYG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm not planning on being cold 😁

They don't "disappear". Humans, and really all animals, have no chance to process all visual stimulus thrown at us, we don't really even try. Your brain fills in details where there are none, and your brain excludes details where they exist. Ask any motorcyclist. You ignore your nose, your glasses, your A pillars in your vehicle, your eyelashes. You fill in everything that's not in a small circle in the middle of your vision. When you scan left, right, up or down, you skip over whole chunks of vision and your brain fills in details from other times you've scanned that space, and miss new details. An animal that stops moving is often lost to background. Anecdotally, I bore down on a deer once with my bow and when drawn up, right eye looking through the peep sight and the other open, I could not see the deer standing about 15' in front of me. It disappeared. She had simply stopped moving when I drew, and there was no indication that she was anything other than background weeds. Disappeared completely. I thought she had noped out so I blinked and pulled the bow away to draw it down, and then she bolted. My brain made it appear that she just magically appeared standing right where she was, and sprung as if fired out of a hole in the ground. Reports of a bigfoot disappearing in the woo-sense, lend credence to the theory that the phenomena is mental. As in, the dark scary thing in the woods archetype that exists only in your brain and genetics hard coded to see dark shapes.

@Doodler I'm in WV and eastern KY so if they are anywhere nearby shoot them my way. Report can be filed at http://www.wildandweirdwv.com/contact-us and if its in the east coast we can get it in the hands of whoever is closest to get boots on the ground. Thanks for the tag @BlackRockBigfoot

I am actually watching Missing 411:The Hunted as I type this. I agree with your interpretation of what Messick's family and friends are implying. "He said that he heard some sort of snapping or crack sound that was strange." "He almost said that it sounded like a big trap closing or something." Messick's friend says that he estimated it being 150 yards away... coming from the top of the hill. I do not think that they were implying a physical trap door closing, but instead a sharp and sudden sound like a spring loaded trap makes when the jaws impact together. https://www.videvo.net/sound-effect/trap-big-bear-snaps-bfx022506/260057/ An interdimensional portal opening or closing... suddenly displacing air...is what they seem to be implying.

You have me curious. Can you provide a sound recording of a pressure wave generated by infrasound? What was the original impression you refer to? Messick's area was systematically grid searched and the more likely grids searched again and again. If it was grid searched north-to-south the next search of that grid is done east-to-west. The most probable grids were tightly searched such that every searcher could see the feet of the person on either side. I believe that was mentioned in the movie the searchers were that close. I think they also mentioned that several people lost keys during the initial search and they were found during the grid search. If you can recover something as small as a set of keys, you're not going to miss a trap door or a body. One of the distinguishing features of the Messick case is the 6 other members of the party went immediately to look for him the moment he didn't show up at the prescribed time. Messick was stationed only a few hundred yards away. Also, SAR was summoned at the same time and on site and looking within hours.

The area around North River would be an interesting spot to explore...if you are interested in strange activity... especially the old North River Lean To's, if they are still standing.

Allot of us have started just like you. Where we did not now nothing about these creatures. So we had to learn on our own. You have people here who can help you through the process. Field work is different but if you find some one with experience you may learn from them. But like everyone has said there are groups every where that can help you and are willing to teach you as well.

It is a cool and interesting part of the world, for sure. Then you have the stories of the McChesney haunting. I've driven by this area countless times. Very weird stuff. https://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/the-mcchesneys-ghost/ Here's the summary of the guy who disappeared: https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2014/07/03/missing-since-search-staunton-man-goes/12144441/

I have only been back a couple of times since college. Beautiful part of the country.

Augusta county is where I have spent much of my time, just got back from camping at Lake Sherondo and spent last hunting season in the Big Levels area.

If they're in Oregon, point them our way!

I remember seeing that one. Quite interesting! To the OP - If I ever got really good footage, I'd probably release it after showing it to knowledgeable folks who could verify it. Our sighting video? I'm 100% confident in it and I'll go to my grave defending it. If we got lucky and got another sighting, like a daytime sighting that was even better, I'd want to share it, because it'd be freaking cool - unless the location could easily be identified. I wouldn't want to endanger them needlessly.

You've never accepted the science and you never will. You still think it's powerless and in its infancy? Then how can moth species in Nigeria that look identical be determined to be actually at least ten different species? Yes, DNA testing is that good. The Maine Northern and southern Bog Lemmings look virtually identical. But genetically they are different. If that determination wasn't possible then how do you think crime labs tell the DNA of one Human from another and how close is THAT? DNA study has taken me out of the Dark Ages of species determination and given real hope for BF discovery. Don't accept that? Fine. Don't accept it. I've given you real-world examples of DNA differentiation capabilities. But if you don't think it can prove a Sasquatch over a Human? Then I can't help ya.

In my opinion, not being together yields the best results. We are all think tanks. We approach things differently and we view how we get to the end result differently. Do we want one think tank or one thousand think tanks? One mouse trap or the never-ending search for a better mouse trap. In my opinion, the best result is achieved by a thousand think tanks working separately but sharing their methods and results.

I don't see the need to invoke the fantastical when trees, low light, and undergrowth suffice.

Nah, just bored with some of the old time charlatans that pollute the subject and suck in newbies.

I've always thought the implication of the trap door in the Tom Messick case was that it was from a UFO or the snapping shut of a portal entrance. Remember, his lifelong friend who heard a trap door shut was several hundred yards away. I simple trap door on an underground location would be very difficult to hear from that distance. Moreover, there were others in the party who were closer to Messick and they never heard a thing. I don't ever recall them alluding to or suggesting something underground. I could be wrong but it's a case I've followed closely and know a fair amount about.

I am still waiting for them to appear 🙃

If you have trained a dog, you’ll get it right? There is more at stake with mules and mountains. But its the same concept. Its just time and experience. Once everything is dialed in? You can move tons of gear down a 2 ft wide trail 30 miles a day. Every day. It makes backpacking look like sesame street. They are over there in a cold pup tent camp eating freeze dried food on a rock. And your in a heated wall tent sitting at a table eating steak and beans and drinking beer. And if you kill a 1000 lbs animal 30 miles from nowhere? No biggie! I highly suggest everyone to go with a outfitter once in there life.

Last year, I encountered two Timber Rattlers and both chose not to strike. I contacted a number of herpetologists and 7 of them responded to me. I was curious about the likelihood of a strike above the knee. All of them said they have never heard of one but could imagine it could happen it you were walking up an incline, and the rattler was above you, or if you sat down on a log or rock and it could reach your thigh. There was no reason to take any chances so I bought a pair of chaps from Turtleskin, the same company that makes the snake gaiters. They are very lightweight and flexible and are used when going off trail. When wearing them, there is no concern where I step. They're light enough that you can bring the chaps in your pack and take off the snake gaiters and put on the chaps. When away from the vertical, take off the chaps and put on the gaiters. https://turtleskin.com/default/total-protection-snake-chaps.html The other rattler-related change I've made is to wear leather boots that are thick enough to fend off a bite. That's been a bit of a transition as I've always worn low trail runners when in the woods. Not any more in snake country.

Useless. And I hope you get one. Sincerely, I really do. It would surely get the genome in the GenBank! Same to you. Same here.