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Slain by Sasquatch · Bedtime Stories

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The missing 411 phenomenon centres upon a series of unexplained
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: deaths and disappearances that have largely occurred within the boundaries
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of North America's national parks. Those who study these cases
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: have proposed a number of possible explanations, yet no single
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: theory is capable of accounting for every incident. There is, however,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: a small group of cases that some believe may point
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: towards one particular culprit– In this episode, we will be
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: exploring several disappearances in which it has been suggested that
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the victims fell prey to Sasquatch. In the 60 years
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: since the now infamous Patterson-Gimlin film was recorded, countless attempts
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: have been made to uncover convincing evidence that Sasquatch is
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: more than simply a legend. Researchers, enthusiasts and amateur investigators
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: alike have amassed an extraordinary collection of alleged evidence. Oversized
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: footprints have been photographed and preserved in plaster after being
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: discovered pressed deep into the mud of remote forests. Hair
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and fur samples recovered from vegetation, fence posts and isolated
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: campsites have been subjected to laboratory analysis in the hope
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: that they might belong to an unknown primate. Audio recordings,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: many of which have circulated online for years, are said
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: to capture eerie vocalisations echoing through dense woodland, whilst eyewitnesses
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: continue to report encounters with large ape-like figures disappearing into
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the trees. Alongside this physical material are the recurring observations
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: made by those who spend considerable time in the wilderness.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Cryptid researchers from different parts of North America have independently
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: described remarkably similar behaviours, including large wooden structures or nest-like formations,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: loud knocks upon tree trunks that appear to function as
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a primitive means of communication. and even the throwing of
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: stones or sizable boulders at those who venture too close. Yet,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: despite the sheer volume of material collected over the decades,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: one uncomfortable reality continues to overshadow the debate. None of
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: it has provided the kind of unequivocal proof capable of
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: convincing the wider scientific community. No verified body has ever
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: been recovered, No authenticated skeletal remains have been examined, and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: no photograph or video has succeeded in escaping persistent questions
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: over its authenticity. To many, this absence of definitive evidence
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: is reason enough to dismiss Sasquatch altogether. If such a
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: large creature truly inhabited the forests and mountain ranges of
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: North America, surely there would be something more substantial to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: show for it. And yet, the legend refuses to disappear.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Every year, new expeditions venture into some of the continent's
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: most isolated wilderness, driven by the hope that they might
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: uncover the single piece of evidence capable of settling the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: debate once and for all. For a few, however, those
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: journeys have ended in a far more unsettling manner, and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: some never returned at all. In the early hours of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the 14th of September 2004, A chartered float plane descended
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: through the skies above the Canadian Yukon before touching down
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: upon the still waters of Reed Lakes. This remote wilderness
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: stretches for countless miles in every direction, broken only by
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: dense forest, rugged mountains and an intricate network of rivers
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and lakes. There are no roads leading to this isolated region,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: no permanent settlements and little chance of encountering another human being.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: For those wishing to reach it, the only practical means
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of access is by air. The aircraft remained on the
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: water only briefly. Once its lone passenger had unloaded his
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: equipment onto the lakeshore, the pilot had agreed that he
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: would return in exactly two weeks' time to collect the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: man he had just dropped off. He then turned the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: floatplane around and lifted back into the sky, disappearing beyond
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: the surrounding mountains. The passenger was 49-year-old Bart Schleyer, an
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: experienced academic whose professional life had been devoted to studying
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: North America's grizzly bears. An accomplished outdoorsman, skilled bowhunter and
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: veteran of countless wilderness expeditions, Schleyer was no stranger to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: surviving alone in some of the continent's most unforgiving landscapes.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Over many years he had refined his equipment, routines and
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: fieldcraft to the point where venturing into bear country alone
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: had become an accepted part of his work. When the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: float plane returned on the 30th of September, however, there
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: was no sign of him. The shoreline where Schleyer had
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: established his camp appeared strangely deserted. After circling the lake
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: several times and receiving no response, the pilot reluctantly accepted
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: that something was wrong. Unable to land without knowing what
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: awaited him, he immediately reported the situation to the Royal
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Canadian Mounted Police, who began organising a search of the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: remote site. Four days later, investigators were flown into Reed
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Lakes to examine the abandoned campsite for themselves. Almost immediately,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: they found themselves confronted by a scene that defied any
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: straightforward explanation. there was little evidence of panic or disorder,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: yet neither did the camp resemble one that had simply
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: been abandoned by its occupant. Near the landing site, Schleyer's
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: inflatable raft remained securely moored exactly where he had left it,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: alongside fishing equipment that suggested he had settled comfortably into
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: his routine. Several plastic containers and packing crates still held
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: food supplies sufficient to sustain him had hunting proved unsuccessful.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Nothing indicated that he had intended to leave the area voluntarily.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: His tent, however, told a very different story. Rather than
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: standing where it should have been, investigators found it tangled
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: high amongst the branches of a nearby tree. The fabric
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: appeared to have been wrapped or clumsily tied around the trunk,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: despite much of Schleyer's equipment still remaining inside. No obvious
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: explanation could account for how it had come to rest there,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: nor why anyone would have attempted to secure it in
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: such an unusual manner. Elsewhere within the camp stood a
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: small observation hide that Schleyer had constructed to watch bears
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: moving through the surrounding woodland. Resting beside it were his
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: hunting bow, a quiver of arrows fashioned from animal hide,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and several packets of dried food. As the search widened,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: officers also recovered his backpack, hunting knife, VHF radio and
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: a canister of bear spray, items he was well known
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: for keeping close at hand whenever he ventured into grisly territory.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: The most disturbing discovery, however, lay only a short distance
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: beyond the camp. Scattered amongst the undergrowth were a pair
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: of camouflage trousers, a balaclava, a baseball cap and several
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: fragments of what appeared to be a human skull. Analysis
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of teeth later confirmed the remains belonged to Bart Schleyer.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: He appeared to have died barely 60 metres from the
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: relative safety of his camp. So little of his remains
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: had survived that forensic specialists were ultimately unable to determine
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: exactly how he had died, leaving behind a mystery that
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: continues to provoke debate to this day. When pressed for
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: an opinion, investigators concluded that Schleyer had most likely fallen
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: victim to a grizzly bear. Some suggested he may have
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: unknowingly encountered a protective sow with cubs nearby, provoking a
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: sudden and violent attack. Not everyone accepted that conclusion, however. Friends,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: colleagues and a number of independent researchers argued that Schleyer
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: possessed decades of experience working amongst grizzlies. and would have
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: understood both their behaviour and the precautions necessary to minimise
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the risk of such an encounter. His camp had been
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: carefully positioned away from areas likely to attract bears, whilst
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the observation hide he had constructed allowed him to monitor
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the surrounding landscape without exposing himself unnecessarily. He was also
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: equipped with a hunting bow, bear spray and an inflatable
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: raft should he ever need to make a rapid escape
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: across the lake. They also pointed to several aspects of
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the scene that they believed were difficult to reconcile with
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: a conventional bear attack. Schleyer's food supplies remained untouched despite
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: being left in the open. and none of the equipment
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: scattered around the camp appeared to have been disturbed. His
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: recovered clothing showed no obvious tearing or shredding, and investigators
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: reportedly found no blood upon the garments recovered near the remains.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Even more curious was the condition of the skull fragments themselves,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: which displayed no clear claw marks or tooth impressions, despite
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the head often being the focus of a grizzly's attack.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Search teams later examined the surrounding area in detail, inspecting
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: animal caches and analysing the scat left behind by bears
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and other wildlife. Although traces of human tissue were reportedly identified,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: no fragments of clothing were recovered. To those who question
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: the official explanation, this represented yet another inconsistency in a
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: case that already contained more than its fair share of
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: unanswered questions. Amongst those who subscribe to the missing 411 phenomenon,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: a very different interpretation has emerged. Rather than falling victim
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: to an opportunistic predator or even scavenger, they suggest Schleyer
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: was deliberately stalked whilst carrying out his fieldwork. According to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: this theory, Whatever killed him waited until he had moved
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: away from the relative safety of his hide before launching
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: a sudden ambush, overpowering him with remarkable speed before carrying
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: away much of his remains, leaving his weapons, equipment and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: supplies behind. For believers, there is only one creature capable
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: of fitting that description. Reports of Sasquatch and Yukon stretch
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: back to the days of the Klondike Gold Rush, and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: continue to surface even today. Some have argued that the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: region's frozen, unforgiving terrain makes tracks far less likely to
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: survive in softer ground, allowing a large, elusive animal to
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: pass through the wilderness with little trace of its presence.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Whether there is any truth to that suggestion remains impossible
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: to say. Yet for those convinced that Bart Schleyer became
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the victim of something far more unusual than a grizzly bear,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: his death remains one of the strongest cases ever put
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: forward in support of of that extraordinary claim. During the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: summer of 2010, authorities in Oregon were contacted by a
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: man named Michael Bissell, who asked them to open a
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: missing persons investigation. His brother, Robert, had travelled alone into
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: the Roaring River wilderness, a vast and heavily forested region
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: lying within the boundaries of Mount Hood National Forest. More
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: than a week had passed since Robert's last communication, and
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: despite repeated attempts to contact him by telephone, Michael had
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: heard nothing. Convinced that something was seriously wrong, he decided
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: to travel to the wilderness himself in the hope of
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: finding answers. Robert Bissell was 57 years old and no
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: stranger to life outdoors. An experienced hunter and woodsman, he
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: had spent many years exploring remote parts of the Pacific
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Northwest and was well accustomed to looking after himself in
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: difficult terrain. It was precisely because of that experience that
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: his sudden silence caused such immediate concern. The last confirmed
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: contact with Robert had taken place on the 12th of
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: July 2010. He told his family that he had established
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: a campsite near Middle Rock Lake. before setting out to
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: explore deeper into the Rock Lakes basin. He intended to
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: spend several days hiking through the surrounding wilderness before returning
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: to his camp on the 16th of July. After that,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: he would make his way home. But no one would
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: ever hear from him again. As the agreed return date
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: came and went without any further communication, Michael's concerns steadily grew.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Phone calls went unanswered, text messages received no reply and
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: there was no indication that Robert had left the wilderness.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: On the 19th of July, Michael travelled to Mount Hood
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: National Forest and followed the shoreline of Middle Rock Lake
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: towards the location his brother had described. It didn't take
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: long before he found the campsite. At first glance, nothing
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: appeared obviously wrong There were no signs of violence, no
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: evidence of a struggle, and nothing to suggest that a
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: wild animal had passed through the area. Yet the longer
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Michael examined the camp, the more uneasy he became. Something
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: about the scene simply felt wrong. It did not resemble
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: a campsite that had been carefully packed away, nor one
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: that had been abandoned in an emergency. Robert's fishing rod
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and tackle box were missing. suggesting he may have wandered
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: only a short distance from camp in search of food.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Other items, however, remained exactly where they had been left.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Various belongings lay exposed or scattered about the camp in
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: a manner Michael knew his brother would never have tolerated.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: To him, it almost looked as though somebody had searched
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: through the campsite after Robert's disappearance, handling equipment before discarding
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: anything of no apparent value. Robert's vehicle remained parked exactly
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: where he had left it at the beginning of his trip.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: If he had not returned to his car and had
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: not returned to his camp, there seemed only one conclusion
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: left to draw. Somewhere within the immense forests of the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Roaring River wilderness, Robert Bissell had simply vanished. Over the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: following eight days, a major search and rescue operation unfolded
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: across the region. coordinated jointly by local law enforcement and
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the Oregon National Guard. Personnel from numerous agencies, supported by
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: volunteers from the local community, systematically searched the surrounding forests,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: some on foot, others using all-terrain vehicles or horseback to
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: cover as much ground as possible. K-9 teams were also
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: deployed in the hope of picking up Robert's scent, whilst
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: helicopters equipped with thermal imaging scanned the dense woodland from above. Yet,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: despite the scale of the operation and the considerable resources
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: committed to it, no trace of the missing hiker was
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: ever discovered. Neither the area surrounding his campsite, nor the
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: trail he had told his family he intended to follow,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: yielded a single meaningful clue. In the years since Robert
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Bissell vanished, many have suggested that he most likely fell
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: victim to a black bear. The forest surrounding Mount Hood
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: supports a healthy population of the species, and although attacks
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: upon humans are rare, they are by no means unprecedented. Yet,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: much like the death of Bart Schleyer, many of the
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: features commonly associated with the fatal bear attack appear to
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: be absent from Robert's disappearance. Search teams found no indication
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: of a violent struggle, no blood staining on the ground,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and no disturbance of the surrounding vegetation. Despite an extensive
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: operation involving hundreds of personnel, not a single trace of
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Robert's remains was ever recovered. Equally curious was the condition
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: of his campsite, where edible food supplies had been left
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: untouched despite being easily accessible to any passing bear. A
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: human attacker has likewise been proposed, but this explanation also
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: raises difficult questions. Robert's vehicle remained where he had parked it,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: whilst valuable equipment was left behind at the campsite seemingly untouched.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: With no obvious motive and no evidence of foul play,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: investigators were left with little upon which to build a
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: conventional criminal investigation. Among supporters of the missing 411 phenomenon, however,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a very different explanation has gained traction. Witnesses have repeatedly
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: described large, brown-haired humanoid figures walking along remote forest trails
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: in the Mount Hood region over the years, their appearance
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: distinctly different from the area's black bear population. To those
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: who favour this interpretation, the timing of two reports made
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: shortly before Robert's disappearance is particularly noteworthy. One concerned a
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: widely circulated photograph taken by a visitor named Billy Browne.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: who claimed to have encountered a Sasquatch near an area
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: known as Shell Rock. The other involved a group of
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: anglers at Rock Lakes Basin, who reported being attacked by
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: an unidentified figure concealed within the treeline, which allegedly hurled
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: large rocks towards their boat before disappearing without a trace.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: For some, these incidents suggest that Robert Bissell's disappearance was
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: not an isolated event, but another encounter involving an elusive
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: creature said to inhabit the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: According to this theory, he was ambushed after leaving the
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: safety of his camp before being carried deeper into the wilderness...
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: where his remains have never been found. California's Sierra Nevada
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: has witnessed more than its fair share of unexplained disappearances,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: including the infamous Yuba County Five and the lesser-known Don
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Alvista Point cases. Yet amongst the most disturbing is that
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of 16-year-old Teresa Ann Beer, who was last seen on
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the evening of 1st June 1987 heading into the Bass
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Lake region. When she failed to attend school the following morning,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: concerned teachers contacted her uncle, who in turn reported her
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: missing to the local police. Teresa had already endured a
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: deeply troubled childhood. Removed from her parents after suffering prolonged
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: physical abuse, she was left carrying the psychological scars of
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: a traumatic upbringing. In the months leading up to her disappearance,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: she had formed a friendship with an older man named
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Russell Welsh, a reclusive local who frequently disappeared into the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: surrounding forests for days at a time. It was with
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Welsh that Teresa had last been seen, and despite assuring
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: her family she would return the following day, neither of
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: them could now be located. Four days later, investigators finally
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: tracked Welsh down at his mother's home. Officers described him
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: as visibly distressed and highly agitated. During his initial interview,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: he claimed that he and Teresa had returned from the
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: mountains on the day they had set out, and that
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: he had dropped her off only a short distance from
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: her home. Detectives quickly established that this account could not
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: be true. As his story unravelled, Welsh began offering a
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: very different and far more disturbing explanation. Those who knew
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: him were aware of his long-standing fascination with the legend
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: of Bigfoot, and his belief that Sasquatch inhabited the forests
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: around his hometown of North Fork. He had reportedly used
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: stories of sightings on numerous occasions to persuade young women
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: to accompany him into the wilderness in search of the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: elusive creature. According to his revised statement, he and Teresa
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: had once again ventured into the mountains in pursuit of Sasquatch,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: establishing a rudimentary campsite in an area known as Brown's Creek.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Welsh claim that as darkness settled over the forest, he
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and Teresa had been sitting beside their campfire discussing where
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: they would spend the following day searching for Bigfoot. Without warning,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a huge, fur-covered humanoid had stepped silently out of the darkness.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: According to Welsh, the creature stood motionless for several moments,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: calmly studying the pair before suddenly reaching down, lifting Teresa
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: into its powerful arms and turning back towards the trees.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Welsh said he had immediately rushed forwards in an attempt
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: to pull the terrified girl free, only for the creature
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to strike him violently across the head knocking him unconscious.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: When he eventually came to, Teresa and the mysterious figure
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: had vanished. Gripped by panic, he gathered his camping equipment
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and drove back into town, where he spent the night
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: at a friend's house. Over the days that followed, Welsh
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: wrestled with whether to report what had happened. Eventually, he
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: convinced himself that the Sasquatch meant Teresa no harm, believing
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: it would treat her kindly and provide her with a
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: good life. After finally leading investigators back to the alleged campsite,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: where they discovered the remains of a campfire along with
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: a handful of discarded personal belongings, Welsh insisted there was
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: nothing more he could do to assist the investigation. He
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: was arrested and charged with child abduction as the search
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: for the missing 16-year-old intensified. Before his trial, prosecutors offered
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Welsh a plea deal if he revealed the location of
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Teresa's body. Although he appeared tempted by the offer, he
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: maintained that he simply could not help them, insisting he
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: had no idea where the Sasquatch had taken her. Welsh
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: was ultimately acquitted of child abduction and maintained until his
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: death in 1998 that Teresa had been carried away into
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the forest by a Sasquatch. Despite repeated searches over the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: past four decades, no trace of Teresa Ambier has ever
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: been found, dead or alive. Like Robert Bissell, she remains
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: an active missing person case, and to some, another suspected
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: victim of the secretive community of cryptids said to inhabit
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: the wilderness alongside us. There have been countless modern accounts
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: from people who claim to have encountered Sasquatch, each describing
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: a remarkably different experience. Most involve little more than a
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: fleeting glimpse from afar, or a brief confrontation in which
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the witness is intimidated by displays of strength before the
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: creature retreats back into the wilderness. Others are stranger still.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: including stories of young children who disappeared into remote forests,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: only to return days later claiming they had been watched
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: over by frightening, yet ultimately benevolent, guardians. Yet, alongside these
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: accounts are others that end in tragedy. One of the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: most recent occurred in Washington State's Skamania County during December
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of 2024, when two men entered the Gifford Pinchot National
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Forest after telling their families they intended to return with
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: proof of Bigfoot's existence. Three days later, search teams recovered
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: their bodies, the expedition ending not in discovery, but disaster.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Perhaps that is what makes these stories so difficult to reconcile.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: If Sasquatch is indeed responsible for some unexplained disappearances, why
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: do so many other reported encounters end peacefully? why are
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: some witnesses merely observed, others seemingly protected, whilst a small
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: number are alleged to have vanished altogether? Even within the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: folklore itself, no consistent pattern seems to emerge. Others have
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: therefore suggested that if an unknown intelligence does exist within
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: these remote landscapes, it may not always take the same form.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Alongside tales of Sasquatch are persistent reports of dogman-like creatures,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: unnaturally pale humanoids, and even strange cloaked figures glimpsed silently
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: watching from between the trees. Whether these accounts describe separate phenomena, misidentifications,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: or different interpretations of the same unknown presence remains impossible
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to say. Whatever the truth, people will continue venturing into
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the wilderness in search of answers. Most will return with
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: nothing more than a story to tell. A few, however,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: will never return at all. And for those left behind,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: the mystery endures. Thank you. Thank you. So, Thank you.