Terror in the Woods s01e06 Episode Script
Bigfoot Showdown & The Catacombs
1 [ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
[ CROW CAWS .]
[ DISTANT SCREAM .]
[ ANIMAL SHRIEKS .]
[ WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ DOG GROWLS .]
synced by dom.
smrc [ SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ BIRDS CHIRP .]
[ CROW CAWS.]
ADAMS: Something was throwing it right at us.
[ ANIMALS GROWLS .]
It was so close, but there was no sign of a person.
[ LOUD, HEAVY THUDDING .]
Something was breaking saplings, just kind of crunch, crunch.
The whole mood went from, "Let's have a good time and sing around the campfire," to, "Oh, what do we do now?" [ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
I said, "If you want to know the truth, it sounds like Bigfoot.
" [ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
My name is Rodney Adams.
I'm from Louisville, Kentucky.
Where I grew up at, my house was on a dead-end street, and behind me was nothing but acres and acres of woods, so that was my playground.
Any time that I really could I spent outdoors, and I've just been in the woods my whole life.
On this particular weekend, I had a nice big job on a Friday and a nice one on a Monday, and they were both relatively close but very far from home, so I decided I was just going to camp through the weekend instead of driving back.
I was on a kayaking, backpacking forum, and I just kind of posted, "Hey, camping alone this weekend," and I said, "Anybody wants to join me", I'd love to have some company," because camping by yourself down there can get a little, you know, shady sometimes.
[ BIRDS CHIRPING .]
If you've truly ever been completely isolated by yourself in the woods, you start to find all kinds of strange things.
[ WATER RUSHING .]
And I just wasn't ready for that kind of solace, I don't think.
I was hoping to have some company.
[ UP-BEAT MUSIC PLAYS .]
I had been to the gorge quite a bit before.
It's a very unique area.
It's paradise, a very beautiful place.
I arrived about You know, it was probably 6 o'clock, I guess.
The other guys actually show up right about then.
Hey, it's Rodney, right? Yeah.
Yeah, I'm John, and this is Chris.
Nice to meet you.
I was like, "Yeah, I've hiked down there a couple of times.
" I haven't really stayed.
" Got all my stuff together, and I had a backpack.
Can you tell this is our first time proper camping? Come on.
I had been to the red river gorge as a student in Kentucky at the university of Kentucky.
I spent many, many weekends there.
It's just beautiful.
Old-growth forest, the trees are 200-plus years old, and I like to be as remote as possible.
[ SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ DISTANT SCREAM .]
There has been sightings of wolf in that area, coyote for sure, bobcat, and there was an occasional bear through there.
Nowadays, there's actually a lot more.
The bear have actually moved back into that area.
Pretty much spent my whole life in the woods in some shape or form.
I've never really been a hunter.
I felt pretty comfortable in there with the amount of wildlife that's there.
That's probably why I didn't really have a weapon with me other than a machete for chopping limbs.
[ CROWS CAW, WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ CROW CAWS .]
It's just solid woods, thousands and thousands of acres, very dense, very old-growth forest.
In the summertime, you really can't see, you know, 40, 50 feet, even during the day, because it's just so dense.
[ WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
There's a big ridge and a bluff there, and then down below there was a waterfall and a huge stream, and the stream, it's just crystal clear.
It's beautiful.
[ UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ AWED LAUGHTER .]
Here's our home for the night.
Amazing.
When we saw that spot, it just Ah.
It just shined to us.
You know, that was the spot we wanted.
It's beautiful and perfect.
We get down there, start setting up.
You know, I get my bedroll out and get my tent set up and get all that nailed down before it started to get dark, which was really not a whole lot of time.
You know, about 2 hours is all you really got.
I'm going to go get some wood.
I always build as big of a fire as I can get and keep it going all night.
The last thing you want to do is have to scrounge for wood in the dark, and if you don't have a fire going there, the coyote are coming.
Coyotes are a real threat, but they don't like fire.
The ones we have nowadays seem to be actually kind of mixed with dogs, so they're bigger than the average coyote, and they're actually a little meaner.
[ SIZZLING .]
[ SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
[ FIRE CRACKLES, BIRDS CHIRP .]
Decided I better get my pots and pans and scrub out the stuff because if you let them sit for a day, you'll be scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing, so I get down near the water and just kind of scrub out the pans.
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
[ GROWLS .]
You could hear it splash!, you know, overtop the sound of the babbling creek that's constantly running.
I really just kind of looked around, and I was really startled because I didn't see anybody.
[ GROWLS .]
[ SOMBER MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
A little bit of Hemingway's nectar? Oh, there we go.
Thanks man.
- May I? - Yeah, absolutely.
ADAMS: I've got a little bottle of Kentucky bourbon in my pack because it's a lot easier than carrying a 12-pack of beer.
Here you go, buddy.
ADAMS: And that's, you know, just kind of giggling and carrying on and really not listening to, or thinking about what's out there.
[ LIGHT GROWL .]
[ BIRDS CHIRPING .]
About 20, 30 minutes into the whole sitting around the fire, I hear a rock come boom and hit the ground.
It actually landed right in front of me and rolled right up to the fire pit.
Hey! Hey! Who's up there? It kind of startled us because it was so close.
It was like something was throwing it right at us, but, you know, there was no sign of a person.
It's huge.
I actually realized when I picked it up that it had been pulled up out of the ground because you could see the fresh dirt on it.
Hey! Who's out there? You better not be messing with us! When that second rock came in, it made a really big splash.
[ MUSIC CLIMBS .]
Something had to have a significant amount of power to throw that rock.
Quit messing with us! Leave us alone! Both of those guys at that point became kind of visibly scared, and the whole mood went from, "Let's have a good time and sing around the campfire," to, "Oh, what do we do now?" Hey! [ FIRE CRACKLES .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
[ ANIMAL BREATHING HEAVILY .]
Once it had gotten a little darker is when we started to hear things.
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ CRASH! .]
[ CRASH! .]
[ CRASH! .]
Is there somebody out there? [ DISTANT CRASHES .]
You know, of course, we got no response, and that's when the vocalization started to happen.
[ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
It was very guttural like a [IMITATES GROWL.]
.
[ GRUNTING-LIKE NOISE .]
Really low, you could feel the force of that grunt in your body.
[ GRUNTS .]
It must be a deer or something.
It'll move on.
I wanted to really think in my mind that it was a large buck, but it would've had to been a really large buck, and I hadn't seen any sign of a deer.
[ GROWLING CONTINUES .]
We heard the second vocalization probably 10 minutes into the first one, but it was different.
It was kind of like a [IMITATES GROWL.]
sound.
[ SHORT BARK-LIKE GROWL .]
That one probably, I would say, 40 to 50 feet over to the right from where it was the first time.
[ BARK-LIKE GROWL CONTINUES .]
[ THUDDING .]
I hear whap! Just really loud, crack! Like somebody had grabbed a piece of wood and smacked it against a tree.
[ THUDDING CONTINUES .]
It caught me off guard.
It was very loud.
It really sounded like a baseball bat.
[ THUDDING .]
I really couldn't think of how that would happen naturally.
Something was breaking saplings, just kind of crunch, crunch, you know, the commotion of a large creature of some kind.
Well, I heard definitely some rustling and some snaps but bipedal heavy footfalls, and they're heavy.
[ BRANCHES CRUNCHING, HEAVY FOOTFALLS .]
It's on two legs and not four because, you know, the sounds of four is, like, kind of a [ IMITATES FOUR-LEGGED FOOTFALL .]
.
And not a [ IMITATES TWO-LEGGED FOOTFALL .]
.
But it really had a heavy footfall.
It sent chills up my back.
In fact, I think I'm getting goosebumps now just thinking about it.
[ GROWLS .]
And so, at that point in my mind, I'm already realizing that whatever I'm dealing with, it's not a deer, and it's not a human.
[ GROWLS .]
[ CRASH! .]
[ GROWLS .]
It wasn't what I had heard before.
It started out very low, kind of, "Ah!".
[ ANIMAL ROARS .]
And at that point, I was able to really tell exactly where it was coming from.
What is it? Shh! Keep quiet.
I could see this creature standing next to the tree, and there was enough moonlight that I could see an outline, and I could tell that it was very large.
You know, you could actually see the fur kind of glistening in the moonlight a little bit, and I couldn't see its face, but I could tell from where it was standing that it was much taller than me and much wider than me.
I grabbed my flashlight, and I shined it up there, and when I did, it ducked behind the tree, but I could see the edge of it still there, and it was trying not to be seen.
Where did it go? I hear a crack.
A cedar limb almost hit me.
I remember seeing it flipping end over end through the fire light, and it went right past my head.
Look out! And I'm thinking, "Oh, wow.
Now it's throwing limbs at me.
" Ah! So I decide I'm going to throw things back at it.
I don't know if it was a great move or not, but it felt like the thing to do at the time.
Somebody's messing with us.
I said, "It's not a somebody.
It's a something.
" [ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
They were pretty unnerved at this point.
I said, "If you want to know the truth, it sounds like Bigfoot.
" Both of those guys were kind of visibly scared and definitely in fight-or-flight mode, but I wasn't really ready to run off.
I was a little nervous, the fact that I didn't have a firearm of any kind.
The only real weapon I had was a machete, but I really didn't visualize myself doing hand-to-hand combat with whatever this was, and then I'm thinking, "If we leave, how many more are there?" Is it just one creature here, or am I dealing with creatures?" Guys, we're going to have to post watch.
I'll go first.
You guys get some sleep.
[ GROWLS .]
They got in the tent.
I got the first watch, and I felt that I was safer with the fire, and I know right here there's only a couple directions where it could come at me.
[ GROWLS .]
I still wasn't really sure if this thing was going to just rip us limb from limb, and I think, in my mind, I thought it might.
I was just ready for it to happen at any moment, and from that point on, things started to gradually die down, and I actually felt more comfortable, and I decided that I was going to try to get some rest, I guess "If you can't beat them, go to sleep" kind of philosophy.
I eventually get into my tent at about 12, and I had left camping pans stacked over by the edge of the creek there.
[ CLATTER .]
I hear my pans get knocked over, and I'm thinking, "Oh, it's probably a raccoon," [ CLATTERS LOUDLY .]
And then I hear some more intense rummaging like it's got one of my pans in its hand and maybe trying to scrape something out of it.
I could see it over there, and it's got my pan in its hand, and it's just kind of scraping the edges of it.
It pretty much just froze me in fear.
I couldn't even move.
It made me feel confused, scared, terrified all at once.
It was actually kind of hunched over.
Even then, it was taller than my tent.
It was probably 6, 7 foot without standing up straight.
[ GROWLS .]
What else really shocked me was the width of the shoulders.
I mean, it looked like if you picture your standard doorway that this thing would have to duck and turn sideways to get through a door.
To me, it looked like the missing link between a large primate and a human.
Definitely had very long arms, like, the ratio of arm to body was longer than a human, was built, like, similar to a gorilla but much taller, and it's got that width and that bulk of a gorilla but just bigger, a whole lot bigger.
[ CLATTER .]
[ GROWLS .]
It threw my pans down, and it just went [ GROWLS .]
.
Made that loud grunt kind of sound.
[ GRUNTING .]
MAN: We got to get out of here.
Come on.
Let's go.
Where are we going to go, out there in the dark with that thing? It really scared the living daylights out of me, even at that distance, and it looked at me.
[ GROWLS .]
I grabbed my flashlight again and went, "Hey!" Leave us alone! And I hit it right in the face.
[ GROWLS .]
I could see its eyes And its teeth.
I knew what I was looking at, and there was no doubt at that point that what I was looking at was Bigfoot.
[ GROWLS .]
I could see its eyes and its teeth.
I knew what I was looking at, and there was no doubt at that point that what I was looking at was Bigfoot.
[ GROWLS .]
It really looked like I caught it off guard, and it just kind of looked at me with this grimacing face.
I kind of ran back.
I was actually terrified.
I definitely felt that it was coming all the way at us, but it stopped.
I guess it didn't want to enter into the clearing of our campsite.
Guys, I need your help! Get out here! But at this point, I was very disturbed and definitely in fight-or-flight mode, but I wasn't really ready to run off.
It was more like fight mode.
Hey! Get out of here! Ah! I'm actually yelling and screaming in its direction, "You expletive expletive, get the heck out of here!" Ha! Get out of here! We should go out there.
We're not going out there.
Leave us alone! Get out of here! Ha! [ GRUMBLE-LIKE GROWLS .]
When it was retreating out was when that first long vocalization came out, that, "Ah," kind of a sound.
It really sounded like it was a frustration, mad kind of a vocalization.
[ LONG GROWL .]
[ LONG GROWL .]
It let out another [GRUNTS.]
kind of a sound, and it kind of scurried up around the side of the hill.
[ LEAVES CRUNCHING .]
[ BARK-LIKE GROWL .]
It was just kind of crunching all the way up, and then it went up above us onto that ridge, and it would vocalize like, "Ah," but, you know, it was getting further away.
[ DISTANT ROAR .]
Does this sound mean, you know, he's giving up, and this is his last-ditch effort to try to scare us out, or does this particular sound mean he's calling in his buddies? Am I hearing the one that I just had an experience with, or are there more than one? It almost sounded like somebody answered it from over there.
[ DISTANT ROAR .]
I laid back down and the rest of the night, I'm convinced that I hear things all night long.
It just wasn't safe to leave.
The other guys, they were hitting the road, and I think they were probably going to wake me up before they left, but I don't even know if they would've done that.
They were pretty shook up.
We were all pretty shook up.
You know, these guys were professional career individuals.
- Sorry.
- Go.
Go.
ADAMS: One of them was a lawyer.
They had reputations to worry about, so they really didn't want to speak of it.
To this day, I don't know if they ever have.
[ GROWLING .]
[ GROWLING CONTINUES .]
I couldn't expect other people to even believe me because I was so stunned by the fact that it had happened to me that I was in denial.
[ WATER RUSHING, BIRDS CHIRPING .]
It almost makes you question your own judgment in your own reality and sanity, but, you know, I know it was real.
It happened.
Now I know that I've seen something that all my life I always thought a little bit of it was legend, and now I know that it's real.
It totally changed the whole scope of my life.
Now I'm constantly on the look to see it again.
My focus now is really almost obsessed with finding out what these creatures are about.
More information I can get, the better.
When I go in the woods now, it's no longer a machete and a walking stick.
I usually carry a firearm, and I've always got a camera now.
I want to be prepared for it this time, that one video or picture that's undeniable proof.
Still in a lot of people's eyes, I'm that crazy guy now that I didn't want to be labeled as, but that's just who I am at this point because I can't unsee what I've seen.
You know, I know it was real.
It happened, and I've been searching ever since, trying to find it.
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
[ BIRDS CHIRPING .]
[ DISTANT WHISPERS .]
Are you ready to accept the spirit world? I feel terrified.
I don't want to make contact with a ghost.
- Show yourselves.
- [ SCREAMS .]
The first reaction out of anybody's mouth is, "Holy crap.
" Get me out of here.
There's something pulling me in! Some sort of force is trying to keep me down there.
We just need to get her out.
Ah! Jess! ASHLEY: My friend, Jessica, and I were home in our small beach town in Florida one summer between college.
We were bored.
She suggested that we go visit her boyfriend up in Savannah.
You excited? I can't wait.
It's been 3 weeks.
Ashley wanted to come with me because she's just an adventurer and wanted to kind of come along for the ride and explore Savannah.
You know, I never told you what he does in his spare time.
He does ghost tours.
No way! That is so cool.
Immediately, I was fascinated by that.
It's been 3 hours of I-95 highway, and all of a sudden, you get of the exit for Savannah, and it's mossy trees hanging over the streets.
It's so pretty.
It almost feels like you have gone back in time a little bit.
We arrived in the late evening.
- Hey.
- Hey.
And he said to us, "Hey, would you be interested" in going down "and seeing the catacombs?" - This is Ashley.
- Hey! - Nice to finally meet you.
- Yeah, you too.
Ashley really wanted to go.
So where are we going again? To some old catacombs.
They date back to the 1800s.
Oh, so exciting.
When he tells me that, I think it is so exciting.
This is terrifying.
They say it used to be part of an old hospital.
The catacombs that run underneath Savannah in the late 1800s were used as a sort of quarantine for all of the yellow fever patients in the city.
They say a lot of people never left them alive.
[ NERVOUS LAUGHTER .]
JESS: The best place for a ghost tour is anywhere where people have died, and a lot of people died in the catacombs.
ASHLEY: When we get to the location that's the entrance to the catacombs, there is an abandoned hospital, which just makes me feel like I am walking into a horror movie.
After a few minutes checking out the grounds, he tells us he needs a minute to be able to find the entrance of the catacombs, which he eventually does find.
[ OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS .]
JESS: It looks very dangerous.
Clearly, no one's meant to go down there.
It just looks completely like a black hole.
You can't see anything.
You can see that it's probably about 8 to 10 feet down, I would say.
There are no ladders, no stairs, nothing leading down.
It just looks like a hole in the ground.
The first person to go down into the catacomb is my friend's boyfriend, JESS: So he goes ahead to make sure there's no homeless people down there, make sure that no one is, you know, kind of squatting.
There's no lighting.
There's no way to call for help if you need it.
So many things could go wrong down there, and nobody can help you.
Ah! Well, who's first? I will.
I jump in next because I am so eager to get down there.
When I get down there, I see a stone room, and it's walled off after about 40 or 50 feet, so it's a big room.
It's just not miles of catacombs.
It's just this one area.
JESS: I get scared easily to begin with, so something of this nature I probably wouldn't have agreed if the whole group hadn't been so gung-ho to go, so I'm the last person to go in.
I immediately had a very creepy feeling.
It's in the middle of the summer when we went, and it was very, very cold.
ASHLEY: I am down there for a few minutes, and I think, "Okay.
This is it.
There's just a stone room.
" Nothing's happening.
I think we should probably go.
"Adventure is over.
I'm a little bored.
" Hey, let's have a séance.
Let's try to summon some spirits.
Everyone, get in a circle.
One of the gals that we're with suggests doing a séance to see if we can make contact with a spirit, which terrifies me.
Everyone else is very cool with it.
Everyone else is into it and wants to do it, so I, against my better judgment, agree to participate.
I am very hesitant to do this, but I am kind of along for the ride with everyone, so I go along with the group.
ASHLEY: Jessica and I exchange this look that reads of, "Are we really going to do this?" Are you ready to accept the spirit world? JESS: It's clear that we're both a little scared, a little freaked out, but we don't want to go against the group, so we go ahead with it.
We need total silence to invite the spirits into our world.
Everyone, please close your eyes.
After I close my eyes, I felt very scared.
I had sweaty palms, felt very uneasy.
Spirits, if you're here, please make yourselves known.
Very eerily quiet.
The chanting echoed.
If you're here, please make yourselves known.
ASHLEY: I am way too scared to close my eyes because there's just enough moonlight coming into the room that I can still see the people I'm with, and that gives me a sense of comfort.
I just stand there with my eyes bugged wide open, barely blinking because I don't want to feel that vulnerable.
I feel terrified.
This is not what I wanted.
I don't want to make contact with a ghost.
Make yourselves known.
I started to feel like there was somebody else in the room, just, like, this thick presence.
Makes yourselves known.
I don't want a spirit here.
I don't want to make contact.
I do not care if it's friendly.
This is not what I wanted.
This is too much.
If you're here, please I start thinking, "Go away.
No.
No ghost.
I don't want a ghost," and I start thinking my rejecting thoughts because I don't want it to make contact with us.
[ DISTORTED VOICE .]
Spirits I feel a bit at the mercy of the group, sort of a step past adventure into dangerous territory.
Please show yourselves.
[ INDISTINCT WHISPERS .]
[ THUD .]
ALL: Ah! Spirits, please give us a sign.
One of the gals that we're with suggests doing a séance to see if we can make contact with a spirit, which terrifies me.
Please show yourselves.
[ THUD .]
ALL: Ah! We hear a huge thud, like a smash on the wall, and there's a huge stone, I'd say maybe about 10 pounds, a very large stone, is just shattered in, like, 100 pieces on the ground.
The first reaction out of anybody's mouth is, "Holy crap.
" That rock was in a million pieces at the other side of the room.
I'm done.
No more séance for me.
This is crazy.
I have no desire to investigate what happened.
At that point, I'm kind of fight or flight, and I want to get out of there.
My heart has dropped, sunk right into my stomach.
I am so genuinely afraid.
My adrenaline is spiking through the roof.
I think, "Well, if there is a ghost, it doesn't like us.
" It's a way of saying, "Get out.
" - Oh, my god.
- That's how I took it.
I don't understand how this could happen.
I look over at Ashley.
She's completely pale.
I think a yellow fever patient threw that rock.
Oh, my god.
[ GASPS .]
ASHLEY: We were somewhere we weren't supposed to be.
JESS: It seems that whatever is down there is very angry.
I want to go.
No one is wanting to stay and investigate.
No one is wanting to continue to try to make contact with the spirit.
ASHLEY: Everybody is terrified.
Everybody wants to leave.
I am now down there with just one other person, and he gives my leg a boost, pushes me up.
None of us have had trouble getting out so far.
She's about halfway out.
She's got her foot on a ledge, and she's about to propel herself out of the hole.
Here, take my hand.
It won't be much longer.
Take my hand.
I've got you.
There we go.
I got you.
I got you.
All of a sudden, this force, it's almost like a suction force, like you're being pulled down to the ground, just pulls my entire body.
There's something pulling me.
I can't get out.
It almost felt like if you put your hand up to the suction of a vacuum cleaner, how there's such a tremendous force that pulls your hand toward it.
It felt like that but for my whole body.
- Please! - A little more.
I got you.
Ah! And she just falls to the ground, just falls.
Like, there was no warning.
It wasn't like, "Ooh, I think you're slipping.
" It was, "She's on the ground.
" Jess.
I'm crying, part of it in pain, but part of it just because I'm so terrified, thinking that, like, I might not be able to get out of here.
[ JESS CRYING .]
Jess? Jess! ASHLEY: There's no reason I can think of that Jessica would have fallen.
We had a great grip on her.
She wasn't having any trouble getting out, so I'm terrified that this ghost is back for more.
Jess, are you there? We just need to get her out.
Jess? I think that some sort of energy or some sort of force is trying to keep me down there.
Come on, Jess.
Get me out of here.
I get up from the ground, and we try it again, and that time, I'm able to grab my boyfriend's hands.
[ BOTH SIGH .]
And I'm just glad that my friend is okay.
Ashley is trying to comfort me, but at that point, no one really knows what happened.
My boyfriend says, "You know the whole history of this" is that there were guards who were stationed at the entrance of the catacombs who would make sure "that the patients weren't able to escape".
[ DISTORTED VOICES .]
When he tells us the story of these guards, I feel instantly like they must have something to do with why Jessica fell.
That night in the catacombs really changed my outlook and beliefs on the paranormal.
I've always listened to other people's stories and been very skeptical, but having this experience of my own really made me believe.
I've had some unexplained experiences, and until there's explanation for that, yeah, why not? Of course it could be ghosts.
It was the most terrifying experience of my life.
Ah!
[ CROW CAWS .]
[ DISTANT SCREAM .]
[ ANIMAL SHRIEKS .]
[ WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ DOG GROWLS .]
synced by dom.
smrc [ SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ BIRDS CHIRP .]
[ CROW CAWS.]
ADAMS: Something was throwing it right at us.
[ ANIMALS GROWLS .]
It was so close, but there was no sign of a person.
[ LOUD, HEAVY THUDDING .]
Something was breaking saplings, just kind of crunch, crunch.
The whole mood went from, "Let's have a good time and sing around the campfire," to, "Oh, what do we do now?" [ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
I said, "If you want to know the truth, it sounds like Bigfoot.
" [ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
My name is Rodney Adams.
I'm from Louisville, Kentucky.
Where I grew up at, my house was on a dead-end street, and behind me was nothing but acres and acres of woods, so that was my playground.
Any time that I really could I spent outdoors, and I've just been in the woods my whole life.
On this particular weekend, I had a nice big job on a Friday and a nice one on a Monday, and they were both relatively close but very far from home, so I decided I was just going to camp through the weekend instead of driving back.
I was on a kayaking, backpacking forum, and I just kind of posted, "Hey, camping alone this weekend," and I said, "Anybody wants to join me", I'd love to have some company," because camping by yourself down there can get a little, you know, shady sometimes.
[ BIRDS CHIRPING .]
If you've truly ever been completely isolated by yourself in the woods, you start to find all kinds of strange things.
[ WATER RUSHING .]
And I just wasn't ready for that kind of solace, I don't think.
I was hoping to have some company.
[ UP-BEAT MUSIC PLAYS .]
I had been to the gorge quite a bit before.
It's a very unique area.
It's paradise, a very beautiful place.
I arrived about You know, it was probably 6 o'clock, I guess.
The other guys actually show up right about then.
Hey, it's Rodney, right? Yeah.
Yeah, I'm John, and this is Chris.
Nice to meet you.
I was like, "Yeah, I've hiked down there a couple of times.
" I haven't really stayed.
" Got all my stuff together, and I had a backpack.
Can you tell this is our first time proper camping? Come on.
I had been to the red river gorge as a student in Kentucky at the university of Kentucky.
I spent many, many weekends there.
It's just beautiful.
Old-growth forest, the trees are 200-plus years old, and I like to be as remote as possible.
[ SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ DISTANT SCREAM .]
There has been sightings of wolf in that area, coyote for sure, bobcat, and there was an occasional bear through there.
Nowadays, there's actually a lot more.
The bear have actually moved back into that area.
Pretty much spent my whole life in the woods in some shape or form.
I've never really been a hunter.
I felt pretty comfortable in there with the amount of wildlife that's there.
That's probably why I didn't really have a weapon with me other than a machete for chopping limbs.
[ CROWS CAW, WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ CROW CAWS .]
It's just solid woods, thousands and thousands of acres, very dense, very old-growth forest.
In the summertime, you really can't see, you know, 40, 50 feet, even during the day, because it's just so dense.
[ WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
There's a big ridge and a bluff there, and then down below there was a waterfall and a huge stream, and the stream, it's just crystal clear.
It's beautiful.
[ UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ AWED LAUGHTER .]
Here's our home for the night.
Amazing.
When we saw that spot, it just Ah.
It just shined to us.
You know, that was the spot we wanted.
It's beautiful and perfect.
We get down there, start setting up.
You know, I get my bedroll out and get my tent set up and get all that nailed down before it started to get dark, which was really not a whole lot of time.
You know, about 2 hours is all you really got.
I'm going to go get some wood.
I always build as big of a fire as I can get and keep it going all night.
The last thing you want to do is have to scrounge for wood in the dark, and if you don't have a fire going there, the coyote are coming.
Coyotes are a real threat, but they don't like fire.
The ones we have nowadays seem to be actually kind of mixed with dogs, so they're bigger than the average coyote, and they're actually a little meaner.
[ SIZZLING .]
[ SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
[ FIRE CRACKLES, BIRDS CHIRP .]
Decided I better get my pots and pans and scrub out the stuff because if you let them sit for a day, you'll be scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing, so I get down near the water and just kind of scrub out the pans.
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ WINGS FLUTTER .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
[ GROWLS .]
You could hear it splash!, you know, overtop the sound of the babbling creek that's constantly running.
I really just kind of looked around, and I was really startled because I didn't see anybody.
[ GROWLS .]
[ SOMBER MUSIC PLAYS .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
A little bit of Hemingway's nectar? Oh, there we go.
Thanks man.
- May I? - Yeah, absolutely.
ADAMS: I've got a little bottle of Kentucky bourbon in my pack because it's a lot easier than carrying a 12-pack of beer.
Here you go, buddy.
ADAMS: And that's, you know, just kind of giggling and carrying on and really not listening to, or thinking about what's out there.
[ LIGHT GROWL .]
[ BIRDS CHIRPING .]
About 20, 30 minutes into the whole sitting around the fire, I hear a rock come boom and hit the ground.
It actually landed right in front of me and rolled right up to the fire pit.
Hey! Hey! Who's up there? It kind of startled us because it was so close.
It was like something was throwing it right at us, but, you know, there was no sign of a person.
It's huge.
I actually realized when I picked it up that it had been pulled up out of the ground because you could see the fresh dirt on it.
Hey! Who's out there? You better not be messing with us! When that second rock came in, it made a really big splash.
[ MUSIC CLIMBS .]
Something had to have a significant amount of power to throw that rock.
Quit messing with us! Leave us alone! Both of those guys at that point became kind of visibly scared, and the whole mood went from, "Let's have a good time and sing around the campfire," to, "Oh, what do we do now?" Hey! [ FIRE CRACKLES .]
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
[ ANIMAL BREATHING HEAVILY .]
Once it had gotten a little darker is when we started to hear things.
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ GROWLS .]
[ CRASH! .]
[ CRASH! .]
[ CRASH! .]
Is there somebody out there? [ DISTANT CRASHES .]
You know, of course, we got no response, and that's when the vocalization started to happen.
[ ANIMAL GROWLING .]
It was very guttural like a [IMITATES GROWL.]
.
[ GRUNTING-LIKE NOISE .]
Really low, you could feel the force of that grunt in your body.
[ GRUNTS .]
It must be a deer or something.
It'll move on.
I wanted to really think in my mind that it was a large buck, but it would've had to been a really large buck, and I hadn't seen any sign of a deer.
[ GROWLING CONTINUES .]
We heard the second vocalization probably 10 minutes into the first one, but it was different.
It was kind of like a [IMITATES GROWL.]
sound.
[ SHORT BARK-LIKE GROWL .]
That one probably, I would say, 40 to 50 feet over to the right from where it was the first time.
[ BARK-LIKE GROWL CONTINUES .]
[ THUDDING .]
I hear whap! Just really loud, crack! Like somebody had grabbed a piece of wood and smacked it against a tree.
[ THUDDING CONTINUES .]
It caught me off guard.
It was very loud.
It really sounded like a baseball bat.
[ THUDDING .]
I really couldn't think of how that would happen naturally.
Something was breaking saplings, just kind of crunch, crunch, you know, the commotion of a large creature of some kind.
Well, I heard definitely some rustling and some snaps but bipedal heavy footfalls, and they're heavy.
[ BRANCHES CRUNCHING, HEAVY FOOTFALLS .]
It's on two legs and not four because, you know, the sounds of four is, like, kind of a [ IMITATES FOUR-LEGGED FOOTFALL .]
.
And not a [ IMITATES TWO-LEGGED FOOTFALL .]
.
But it really had a heavy footfall.
It sent chills up my back.
In fact, I think I'm getting goosebumps now just thinking about it.
[ GROWLS .]
And so, at that point in my mind, I'm already realizing that whatever I'm dealing with, it's not a deer, and it's not a human.
[ GROWLS .]
[ CRASH! .]
[ GROWLS .]
It wasn't what I had heard before.
It started out very low, kind of, "Ah!".
[ ANIMAL ROARS .]
And at that point, I was able to really tell exactly where it was coming from.
What is it? Shh! Keep quiet.
I could see this creature standing next to the tree, and there was enough moonlight that I could see an outline, and I could tell that it was very large.
You know, you could actually see the fur kind of glistening in the moonlight a little bit, and I couldn't see its face, but I could tell from where it was standing that it was much taller than me and much wider than me.
I grabbed my flashlight, and I shined it up there, and when I did, it ducked behind the tree, but I could see the edge of it still there, and it was trying not to be seen.
Where did it go? I hear a crack.
A cedar limb almost hit me.
I remember seeing it flipping end over end through the fire light, and it went right past my head.
Look out! And I'm thinking, "Oh, wow.
Now it's throwing limbs at me.
" Ah! So I decide I'm going to throw things back at it.
I don't know if it was a great move or not, but it felt like the thing to do at the time.
Somebody's messing with us.
I said, "It's not a somebody.
It's a something.
" [ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
They were pretty unnerved at this point.
I said, "If you want to know the truth, it sounds like Bigfoot.
" Both of those guys were kind of visibly scared and definitely in fight-or-flight mode, but I wasn't really ready to run off.
I was a little nervous, the fact that I didn't have a firearm of any kind.
The only real weapon I had was a machete, but I really didn't visualize myself doing hand-to-hand combat with whatever this was, and then I'm thinking, "If we leave, how many more are there?" Is it just one creature here, or am I dealing with creatures?" Guys, we're going to have to post watch.
I'll go first.
You guys get some sleep.
[ GROWLS .]
They got in the tent.
I got the first watch, and I felt that I was safer with the fire, and I know right here there's only a couple directions where it could come at me.
[ GROWLS .]
I still wasn't really sure if this thing was going to just rip us limb from limb, and I think, in my mind, I thought it might.
I was just ready for it to happen at any moment, and from that point on, things started to gradually die down, and I actually felt more comfortable, and I decided that I was going to try to get some rest, I guess "If you can't beat them, go to sleep" kind of philosophy.
I eventually get into my tent at about 12, and I had left camping pans stacked over by the edge of the creek there.
[ CLATTER .]
I hear my pans get knocked over, and I'm thinking, "Oh, it's probably a raccoon," [ CLATTERS LOUDLY .]
And then I hear some more intense rummaging like it's got one of my pans in its hand and maybe trying to scrape something out of it.
I could see it over there, and it's got my pan in its hand, and it's just kind of scraping the edges of it.
It pretty much just froze me in fear.
I couldn't even move.
It made me feel confused, scared, terrified all at once.
It was actually kind of hunched over.
Even then, it was taller than my tent.
It was probably 6, 7 foot without standing up straight.
[ GROWLS .]
What else really shocked me was the width of the shoulders.
I mean, it looked like if you picture your standard doorway that this thing would have to duck and turn sideways to get through a door.
To me, it looked like the missing link between a large primate and a human.
Definitely had very long arms, like, the ratio of arm to body was longer than a human, was built, like, similar to a gorilla but much taller, and it's got that width and that bulk of a gorilla but just bigger, a whole lot bigger.
[ CLATTER .]
[ GROWLS .]
It threw my pans down, and it just went [ GROWLS .]
.
Made that loud grunt kind of sound.
[ GRUNTING .]
MAN: We got to get out of here.
Come on.
Let's go.
Where are we going to go, out there in the dark with that thing? It really scared the living daylights out of me, even at that distance, and it looked at me.
[ GROWLS .]
I grabbed my flashlight again and went, "Hey!" Leave us alone! And I hit it right in the face.
[ GROWLS .]
I could see its eyes And its teeth.
I knew what I was looking at, and there was no doubt at that point that what I was looking at was Bigfoot.
[ GROWLS .]
I could see its eyes and its teeth.
I knew what I was looking at, and there was no doubt at that point that what I was looking at was Bigfoot.
[ GROWLS .]
It really looked like I caught it off guard, and it just kind of looked at me with this grimacing face.
I kind of ran back.
I was actually terrified.
I definitely felt that it was coming all the way at us, but it stopped.
I guess it didn't want to enter into the clearing of our campsite.
Guys, I need your help! Get out here! But at this point, I was very disturbed and definitely in fight-or-flight mode, but I wasn't really ready to run off.
It was more like fight mode.
Hey! Get out of here! Ah! I'm actually yelling and screaming in its direction, "You expletive expletive, get the heck out of here!" Ha! Get out of here! We should go out there.
We're not going out there.
Leave us alone! Get out of here! Ha! [ GRUMBLE-LIKE GROWLS .]
When it was retreating out was when that first long vocalization came out, that, "Ah," kind of a sound.
It really sounded like it was a frustration, mad kind of a vocalization.
[ LONG GROWL .]
[ LONG GROWL .]
It let out another [GRUNTS.]
kind of a sound, and it kind of scurried up around the side of the hill.
[ LEAVES CRUNCHING .]
[ BARK-LIKE GROWL .]
It was just kind of crunching all the way up, and then it went up above us onto that ridge, and it would vocalize like, "Ah," but, you know, it was getting further away.
[ DISTANT ROAR .]
Does this sound mean, you know, he's giving up, and this is his last-ditch effort to try to scare us out, or does this particular sound mean he's calling in his buddies? Am I hearing the one that I just had an experience with, or are there more than one? It almost sounded like somebody answered it from over there.
[ DISTANT ROAR .]
I laid back down and the rest of the night, I'm convinced that I hear things all night long.
It just wasn't safe to leave.
The other guys, they were hitting the road, and I think they were probably going to wake me up before they left, but I don't even know if they would've done that.
They were pretty shook up.
We were all pretty shook up.
You know, these guys were professional career individuals.
- Sorry.
- Go.
Go.
ADAMS: One of them was a lawyer.
They had reputations to worry about, so they really didn't want to speak of it.
To this day, I don't know if they ever have.
[ GROWLING .]
[ GROWLING CONTINUES .]
I couldn't expect other people to even believe me because I was so stunned by the fact that it had happened to me that I was in denial.
[ WATER RUSHING, BIRDS CHIRPING .]
It almost makes you question your own judgment in your own reality and sanity, but, you know, I know it was real.
It happened.
Now I know that I've seen something that all my life I always thought a little bit of it was legend, and now I know that it's real.
It totally changed the whole scope of my life.
Now I'm constantly on the look to see it again.
My focus now is really almost obsessed with finding out what these creatures are about.
More information I can get, the better.
When I go in the woods now, it's no longer a machete and a walking stick.
I usually carry a firearm, and I've always got a camera now.
I want to be prepared for it this time, that one video or picture that's undeniable proof.
Still in a lot of people's eyes, I'm that crazy guy now that I didn't want to be labeled as, but that's just who I am at this point because I can't unsee what I've seen.
You know, I know it was real.
It happened, and I've been searching ever since, trying to find it.
[ ANIMAL GROWLS .]
[ BIRDS CHIRPING .]
[ DISTANT WHISPERS .]
Are you ready to accept the spirit world? I feel terrified.
I don't want to make contact with a ghost.
- Show yourselves.
- [ SCREAMS .]
The first reaction out of anybody's mouth is, "Holy crap.
" Get me out of here.
There's something pulling me in! Some sort of force is trying to keep me down there.
We just need to get her out.
Ah! Jess! ASHLEY: My friend, Jessica, and I were home in our small beach town in Florida one summer between college.
We were bored.
She suggested that we go visit her boyfriend up in Savannah.
You excited? I can't wait.
It's been 3 weeks.
Ashley wanted to come with me because she's just an adventurer and wanted to kind of come along for the ride and explore Savannah.
You know, I never told you what he does in his spare time.
He does ghost tours.
No way! That is so cool.
Immediately, I was fascinated by that.
It's been 3 hours of I-95 highway, and all of a sudden, you get of the exit for Savannah, and it's mossy trees hanging over the streets.
It's so pretty.
It almost feels like you have gone back in time a little bit.
We arrived in the late evening.
- Hey.
- Hey.
And he said to us, "Hey, would you be interested" in going down "and seeing the catacombs?" - This is Ashley.
- Hey! - Nice to finally meet you.
- Yeah, you too.
Ashley really wanted to go.
So where are we going again? To some old catacombs.
They date back to the 1800s.
Oh, so exciting.
When he tells me that, I think it is so exciting.
This is terrifying.
They say it used to be part of an old hospital.
The catacombs that run underneath Savannah in the late 1800s were used as a sort of quarantine for all of the yellow fever patients in the city.
They say a lot of people never left them alive.
[ NERVOUS LAUGHTER .]
JESS: The best place for a ghost tour is anywhere where people have died, and a lot of people died in the catacombs.
ASHLEY: When we get to the location that's the entrance to the catacombs, there is an abandoned hospital, which just makes me feel like I am walking into a horror movie.
After a few minutes checking out the grounds, he tells us he needs a minute to be able to find the entrance of the catacombs, which he eventually does find.
[ OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS .]
JESS: It looks very dangerous.
Clearly, no one's meant to go down there.
It just looks completely like a black hole.
You can't see anything.
You can see that it's probably about 8 to 10 feet down, I would say.
There are no ladders, no stairs, nothing leading down.
It just looks like a hole in the ground.
The first person to go down into the catacomb is my friend's boyfriend, JESS: So he goes ahead to make sure there's no homeless people down there, make sure that no one is, you know, kind of squatting.
There's no lighting.
There's no way to call for help if you need it.
So many things could go wrong down there, and nobody can help you.
Ah! Well, who's first? I will.
I jump in next because I am so eager to get down there.
When I get down there, I see a stone room, and it's walled off after about 40 or 50 feet, so it's a big room.
It's just not miles of catacombs.
It's just this one area.
JESS: I get scared easily to begin with, so something of this nature I probably wouldn't have agreed if the whole group hadn't been so gung-ho to go, so I'm the last person to go in.
I immediately had a very creepy feeling.
It's in the middle of the summer when we went, and it was very, very cold.
ASHLEY: I am down there for a few minutes, and I think, "Okay.
This is it.
There's just a stone room.
" Nothing's happening.
I think we should probably go.
"Adventure is over.
I'm a little bored.
" Hey, let's have a séance.
Let's try to summon some spirits.
Everyone, get in a circle.
One of the gals that we're with suggests doing a séance to see if we can make contact with a spirit, which terrifies me.
Everyone else is very cool with it.
Everyone else is into it and wants to do it, so I, against my better judgment, agree to participate.
I am very hesitant to do this, but I am kind of along for the ride with everyone, so I go along with the group.
ASHLEY: Jessica and I exchange this look that reads of, "Are we really going to do this?" Are you ready to accept the spirit world? JESS: It's clear that we're both a little scared, a little freaked out, but we don't want to go against the group, so we go ahead with it.
We need total silence to invite the spirits into our world.
Everyone, please close your eyes.
After I close my eyes, I felt very scared.
I had sweaty palms, felt very uneasy.
Spirits, if you're here, please make yourselves known.
Very eerily quiet.
The chanting echoed.
If you're here, please make yourselves known.
ASHLEY: I am way too scared to close my eyes because there's just enough moonlight coming into the room that I can still see the people I'm with, and that gives me a sense of comfort.
I just stand there with my eyes bugged wide open, barely blinking because I don't want to feel that vulnerable.
I feel terrified.
This is not what I wanted.
I don't want to make contact with a ghost.
Make yourselves known.
I started to feel like there was somebody else in the room, just, like, this thick presence.
Makes yourselves known.
I don't want a spirit here.
I don't want to make contact.
I do not care if it's friendly.
This is not what I wanted.
This is too much.
If you're here, please I start thinking, "Go away.
No.
No ghost.
I don't want a ghost," and I start thinking my rejecting thoughts because I don't want it to make contact with us.
[ DISTORTED VOICE .]
Spirits I feel a bit at the mercy of the group, sort of a step past adventure into dangerous territory.
Please show yourselves.
[ INDISTINCT WHISPERS .]
[ THUD .]
ALL: Ah! Spirits, please give us a sign.
One of the gals that we're with suggests doing a séance to see if we can make contact with a spirit, which terrifies me.
Please show yourselves.
[ THUD .]
ALL: Ah! We hear a huge thud, like a smash on the wall, and there's a huge stone, I'd say maybe about 10 pounds, a very large stone, is just shattered in, like, 100 pieces on the ground.
The first reaction out of anybody's mouth is, "Holy crap.
" That rock was in a million pieces at the other side of the room.
I'm done.
No more séance for me.
This is crazy.
I have no desire to investigate what happened.
At that point, I'm kind of fight or flight, and I want to get out of there.
My heart has dropped, sunk right into my stomach.
I am so genuinely afraid.
My adrenaline is spiking through the roof.
I think, "Well, if there is a ghost, it doesn't like us.
" It's a way of saying, "Get out.
" - Oh, my god.
- That's how I took it.
I don't understand how this could happen.
I look over at Ashley.
She's completely pale.
I think a yellow fever patient threw that rock.
Oh, my god.
[ GASPS .]
ASHLEY: We were somewhere we weren't supposed to be.
JESS: It seems that whatever is down there is very angry.
I want to go.
No one is wanting to stay and investigate.
No one is wanting to continue to try to make contact with the spirit.
ASHLEY: Everybody is terrified.
Everybody wants to leave.
I am now down there with just one other person, and he gives my leg a boost, pushes me up.
None of us have had trouble getting out so far.
She's about halfway out.
She's got her foot on a ledge, and she's about to propel herself out of the hole.
Here, take my hand.
It won't be much longer.
Take my hand.
I've got you.
There we go.
I got you.
I got you.
All of a sudden, this force, it's almost like a suction force, like you're being pulled down to the ground, just pulls my entire body.
There's something pulling me.
I can't get out.
It almost felt like if you put your hand up to the suction of a vacuum cleaner, how there's such a tremendous force that pulls your hand toward it.
It felt like that but for my whole body.
- Please! - A little more.
I got you.
Ah! And she just falls to the ground, just falls.
Like, there was no warning.
It wasn't like, "Ooh, I think you're slipping.
" It was, "She's on the ground.
" Jess.
I'm crying, part of it in pain, but part of it just because I'm so terrified, thinking that, like, I might not be able to get out of here.
[ JESS CRYING .]
Jess? Jess! ASHLEY: There's no reason I can think of that Jessica would have fallen.
We had a great grip on her.
She wasn't having any trouble getting out, so I'm terrified that this ghost is back for more.
Jess, are you there? We just need to get her out.
Jess? I think that some sort of energy or some sort of force is trying to keep me down there.
Come on, Jess.
Get me out of here.
I get up from the ground, and we try it again, and that time, I'm able to grab my boyfriend's hands.
[ BOTH SIGH .]
And I'm just glad that my friend is okay.
Ashley is trying to comfort me, but at that point, no one really knows what happened.
My boyfriend says, "You know the whole history of this" is that there were guards who were stationed at the entrance of the catacombs who would make sure "that the patients weren't able to escape".
[ DISTORTED VOICES .]
When he tells us the story of these guards, I feel instantly like they must have something to do with why Jessica fell.
That night in the catacombs really changed my outlook and beliefs on the paranormal.
I've always listened to other people's stories and been very skeptical, but having this experience of my own really made me believe.
I've had some unexplained experiences, and until there's explanation for that, yeah, why not? Of course it could be ghosts.
It was the most terrifying experience of my life.
Ah!