Armchair Bigfooter Wants to Hear Newbies’ Experiences

[Lam90]

These things stick with you your whole life. Mine is an experience rather than a sighting, and most likely it was a bear or cougar or even a feral dog.
 

     Thirty-four years ago we’d moved to Cleveland, Tennessee. We were staying in an apartment several miles out of town in a very rural, forested area. It was a small complex, and our unit bumped up to the woods. We stepped out our door and two steps away was a steep incline leading into hundreds of acres of woods. My mom and I initially enjoyed hiking around back there, but we finally quit due to a very spooky feeling of being watched. I was raised in the country, as was my mom, so we weren’t city clickers frightened by a chickadee tweet. 
 

     So, one day my dumb teenaged self decided to go for a walk alone in the woods. I’ve no idea what was going through my head. I remember heading up the incline, then my next memory is rounding the path curve about 50 feet in. That’s where I lose time. I believe Bigfoot is flesh and blood, so this dissociation isn’t a paranormal thing because later learned in therapy I did dissociate on occasion. Seeing a bear or cougar in stalk mode would’ve just as easily caused me to go blank. My next memory is walking back in a panic but keeping my walk calm. I knew something was right behind me stalking me, had been stalking me for awhile, and I knew not to run. I also knew not to look back because it would cause me to lose control and run. I can’t convey how powerful that specific impression was. At this point when my memory returned I was within 10 feet of the top of the incline, the exit out of the woods. I could see our apartment. It took all my willpower to not break into a run because I was so close, but I kept walking quickly but calmly. 
 

     I think I saw something as I rounded the corner, and that’s when I blanked out. I assume at that point I turned around and headed back and “came to” around 10 feet from the incline. Statistically this was probably a black bear. They’re silent stalkers. Maybe I was overreacting, but my life depending on not running is the single most powerful feeling associated with the experience to this day. In the intervening decades I’ve read a lot of animal attack stories, and so many of them involve the victims seeming to have sudden instinctive feelings of what to do or not do. 

 

     My mom had a less intense experience. One day she climbed half way up the hill to sit and eat lunch in the warm sun. Her back was to the woods. About half way through her sandwich she suddenly felt a menacing presence behind her. She got back into the apartment immediately. With her sandwich!. I asked, haha. Make note, researchers: it’s possible baloney sandwiches may be the secret weapon to attracting a Bigfoot. 
 

     

[DuneBeast]

1 hour ago, Lam90 said:

These things stick with you your whole life.

So very true...26 years and I think of my encounter every day.

[Lam90]

6 hours ago, DuneBeast said:

So very true...26 years and I think of my encounter every day.

Exactly! It was terrifying yet exhilarating. Don’t you wish you’d gone back to get footprint castings? 
 

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by Lam90

[NatFoot]

On 1/24/2020 at 12:17 AM, Lam90 said:

Exactly! It was terrifying yet exhilarating. Don’t you wish you’d gone back to get footprint castings? 
 

 

 

For what purpose?

[Lam90]

17 minutes ago, NatFoot said:

 

For what purpose?

Souvenirs. I have some rocks I’ve gathered from historical places we’ve visited, and I enjoy looking at them and wondering if pioneers’ boots touched my rocks. I doubt it, but I still enjoy them much better than a t-shirt.

[Wolfjewel]

It’s always a good idea to make casts of any tracks from sightings, if you can. If it was a bear you saw, so be it, the tracks would still be interesting and a great souvenir. If tracks are human-like in a place where humans are not likely to go barefoot, then you have some research ahead so hang on to the casts! Like @Madison5716 does.
It may be just me, but I can’t make out footprints in a lot of the photos shown here on the Forums. (Some, yes, at least toes.)

[Bigfoot Gumbo]

I’m looking forward to these encounters from new members 😀