I sang for Sasquatch: A Recent Expedition to Kentucky yields a possible encounter

  Last week Angela and I took a little trip up to Mammoth Cave National Forest to do some zip-lining and investigate some recent bigfoot sightings in the area. The guys giving the zip-line tour were already talking about some Bigfoot sightings they knew of in the area so we got excited about hunting a hot location. 

Possible structure 

    Next we headed into the park and crossed the ferry into the backcounty portion of the park to the area I had previously identified as promising. This part of the park near the White Oak Trail is among the least traveled and features a one-way trail which does not connect to any other. In fact it dead ends at the Green River.  We couldn’t take our rig on the hiking trail so we identified an opening in the foliage that we could  use  to climb up the steep bank and enter the forest from the road. I  locked down the differentials (gots REAL 4x4 ya'll) and headed off-road into the woods all the way dodging trees, boulders and stumps. Thank gawd for skid plates and ground clearance.  We then carefully selected a campsite far enough into the forest so as not to be seen by anyone coming down the dirt road. After establishing a camp I prepared a fire for cooking and after dinner we enjoyed some whiskey as is our tradition when on expedition in the state of Kentucky or any state for that matter.

 Later that evening at around midnight I began doing some tree knocks.  Now anyone who has read about bigfoot research is aware that these things are believed to communicate at times by banging rocks or logs against trees. I've heard tree knocks before and have used this approach to attract the creatures. My first round of knocking yielded no response. 

After a few more sips of whiskey I had an idea. Angela is an impressive vocalist with a some powerful lungs. In fact she was the pop artist known as Angela Ammons back in the early 2000's and was signed with Universal Records. So of course I got her to sing for Sasquatch.  You may be asking, just what does one sing to the Sasquatch? That’s a good question. While Angela had some commercial success during her career I don't think Squatch is down with American teeny-pop. So I asked her to just ad lib something like Native Americans might sing. My whiskey fueled logic was that injun  music might resonate better with this ancient being than say Ke$ha or 50 Cent. What she came up with isn't really native American but just a simple rift you might hear from one of those hippies playing the pan flute at a drum circle in Asheville North Carolina.  Click below to listen. 

                                           

                                                          Angela sings for Sasquatch

   

About 20 minutes after Angela finished her serenade to Sasquatch we heard a series of tree knocks that we were unable to record because we weren’t ready with any sort of recording device. This was the only sign of bigfoot that we encountered besides some oddly stacked wood which may or may not be placed intentionally. I’m planning a larger expedition in the fall to further investigate this same area. See below for picks from our trip. 

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What was that?

"I sang for Sasquatch"

Our campsite

Building a fire

The Brown Mountain Lights: An Appalachian Mystery

Light appears just below the horizon (center of photo)

Deep in the Pisgah National Forest of North Carolina there exists a lingering mystery that predates European settlement and continues to defy solid explanation despite much investigation by countless individuals and government agencies. This deep Appalachian mystery known as the Brown Mountain Lights has been the source of much speculation over the years. It has inspired films and even been blamed for mysterious disappearances.

The Brown Mt. Lights are characterized by luminescent spheres which appear on the mountainsides, ridges and valleys of these ancient forests much like the will o' the wisps of European folklore that lure travelers astray to an unknown fate. The lights which can appear as a faint glow or the flame of a lantern will occur after nightfall on evenings throughout the year and are visible from a number of overlooks within the park. While they appear to pose no threat by most accounts they have at times been associated with more ominous happenings. Local Indian lore has associated these lights with the simultaneous disappearance of individuals and even large groups of people. Many contemporary accounts include people who say they have had encounters with UFO’s, missing time, and even abduction by extraterrestrials while in the vicinity. The setting for the 2014 independent film Alien Abduction took place in the area around Brown Mountain. In fact this area has such a reputation for unexplained events that it’s sometimes called the Bermuda Triangle of the Appalachians. The attraction I felt for this place became irresistible. So I scheduled a “business trip”.

After a brief 7 mile hike on the Nantahala portion of the Appalachian Trail (South of the NOC) I packed up the Jeep and made for Pisgah National Forest. I wanted to get a glimpse of the infamous lights for myself and possibly get abducted. Arriving at Pisgah I followed the dirt trail leading up the mountain to Wiseman’s View just before nightfall. Several vehicles were stationed along the trail overlooking Brown Mountain so it was obvious that I wasn't alone in my curiosity.

Despite my advanced state of preparedness and savage physique I’m nonetheless cautious when approaching strangers in National Parks where the number of people who have disappeared without explaination is significantly on the rise. It’s another troubling mystery which author David Paulides writes about in his book Missing 411: North America and Beyond. So taking care to avoid looking like a creeper I approached a young couple who were natives to the area and regular observers of the lights. I asked questions and they shared with me some of the popular speculation which includes everything from ancient Earth spirits to subterranean gas combustion, geomagnetic forces and witches.

As darkness came I climbed on top of the Jeep with my night vision equipment and a very good bottle of merlot from the nearby Lineville Falls Winery. I waited several hours and would have fallen asleep if not for the frigid breeze. Just before midnight is when they came. I couldn’t believe it. Peering through my scope I began to see what appeared to be a series of glowing orbs flickering in the dense forest canopy. The silent objects rose vertically and then extinguished at slow unpredictable intervals before reaching the mountain horizon. For several moments I was overawed by the deepest sense what my eyes were witnessing was something primordial. Then the lights ceased. They disappeared. No aliens abducted me and after two solo adventures to this area I don’t believe the extraterrestrials are directly involved with the cause of the phenomenon. As with so many enigmas it remains yet unsolved. So if you seek an encounter with the unknown this is one that is quite accessible and with the beauty of North Carolina as the backdrop for your expedition, why not explore it for yourself?

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