Bigfoot vs Dogman
| Bigfoot vs Dogman Robert Hayes had lived in the northern part of Michigan all twenty-seven years of his life. Raised in the rugged woods where there are not a lot of people; he learned to hunt and fish as a way of life. There was no winter blizzard that he couldn’t survive. There were no animals he had not hunted which were native to the area. He had faced both black and while in Canada, even grizzly or brown bears. Mountain lions were the only female sounding creatures in his location. The occasional bobcat was also sometimes mistaken for the sound of a woman screaming. Robert had been in the woods long enough he was not fooled by any of the sounds which might have been a woman screaming. So on that fateful late afternoon in the late fall of 2018, while hunting on or near mt. Arvon, Robert was not conned into thinking there was a woman screaming out in the woods. What fooled him, was the sound of a woman talking in the woods. He left the trail when he knew he should have stayed on it. It sounded like the woman was just on the other side of that bush, or that tree. He kept moving in the direction of the voice since it sounded so very close. He couldn’t quite make out what she was saying, but he knew she shouldn’t be out in the woods in the dark. Even if the bears had went to hibernation, which was questionable; there were still mountain lions that roamed the woods. Every time Robert would come around a tree, or through some bushes, or around some rocks, the voice would still sound like it was just right there, but out of sight. She was so close! He had to keep looking, she was just on the other side of that …, but she was never there. Not in person. Even as Robert knew he absolutely had to go back, he kept looking. She was so close. Too close to leave out in the darkness. What would he think of himself if the next day, or the day after that, he read about the woman that died out in the north woods. This was lake Superior. It didn’t mess around. A person could easily die especially this time of year. So Robert kept looking past that next tree or bush. Each time taking him in another direction than before. As darkness finally settled having run every bit of sunlight out of the forest, he came to the realization that he was not only not going to find that woman, the owner of the voice he had been following, but that he was lost. Lost! He had taken so many turns this way and that, trying to locate that woman who was just on the other side, that he had completely lost track of which way was which. He couldn’t even find his way back to the trail. He was lucky in only one instance. He had a flashlight slash personal protection electric shocker. It had a very bright beam and was obvious that the item was full-charged. Robert turned it on. The light provided a lot of safe feelings that he would not have had without it. The fact that the flashlight was also a personal protection zapper gave him a very confident feeling that if he ran into any trouble, he was prepared to handle it. Bears might not be frightened away by a shock, but they were likely hibernating so his biggest worry was the random mountain lion running into him. Robert thought about trying to find his way out of the forest but he didn’t have a compass. He always relied on the sun which was a reliable means of finding east and west. Standing in a world of complete darkness with the only light, that being a very bright one that only illuminated a small area at any one time, he was unable to find his directions. If he could do that, he could find his way to his truck. He tried looking for the moss that grows on the north side of trees but in the woods he was located, there was moss growing on all sides of the trees. Yes some trees did have a heavier build but even that was misleading because it was still more than half the area around the tree. Robert did however use that as his best guess as to which way was north. It didn’t matter. If he wasn’t sure then his best bet was to overnight it where he was at, then tomorrow when he could see the layout of the land, he would be able to figure out how to get to his truck. If he kept trying to find it in the darkness, he might manage to really get himself lost. As it was now, he wasn’t lost as long as it got light again at some point. Robert used his flashlight to gather dead branches so he could make a fire. He wasn’t certain how long the flashlight would provide light, perhaps all night, but if not he wanted to have a backup plan. As mentioned he was an experienced hunter and fisherman, so he carried supplies with him that would allow a person to survive out in the woods over night, if forced. It included a small kit to start fires which had a bottle of eye drops, that had been emptied and then replaced with diesel fuel. There were also shreds of paper all kept inside plastic so to stay dry. After gathering some dry, dead branches laying on the ground, he broke them up and arranged them so to make a fire. Using the dry pieces of newspaper, and the eye-dropper full of diesel fuel, he was able to get a fire going. Robert had his phone with him but it wasn’t getting signal. Not a big surprise, he really didn’t let that bother him at all. After about two hours of sitting in the dark with just the fire for light, it began to snow. There was no reason to be alarmed, yes it might be a cold night, but it was too early in the season to blow in a big blizzard, or anything to that effect. He just kept feeding the fire and looking out in the darkness. Then he thought he saw eyes reflecting back the fire light from his campfire. Immediately Robert grabbed for his bright flashlight. He waited until he had it aimed in the direction of what he thought he saw, before turning on the light. When he hit the light it revealed something tall, most likely dark skinned or with dark fur, dart into the brush and out of reach of the light. Just before the thing disappeared into the darkness, it turned its head back to look at Robert, holding the light. Two yellow eyes at a height taller than himself, momentarily glared a dim amber gaze, before joining the rest of the creature in complete darkness. Robert was left there standing with his bright light shining in that direction, when he heard more noise come from directly behind himself. He didn’t think anything could move fast enough through the forest to have made the noise both in front, and behind. That meant there were two of whatever was out there. A few minutes later, after Robert turned out his bright light once again, there came a loud howling. Then came another one, this one in a completely different location. Finally he heard a third howl which also, must have come from a separate animal than the ones that made the other howling noises. Now Robert was scared. More frightened than he had ever been. He did not recognize the sound of the howls. They were not coming from a coyote. Wolves are known to be there but the howls were more gutteral. Plus they really seemed to be communicating. More than just saying, ‘hey here I am’. These howls had a lot of specifics to them. Grizzlies are not known to visit that part of the state. That was some consolation though it was not an impossible thing to believe that one could end up there. So what was making such a deep, gutteral howl? Perhaps just as curious was what was it that was taller than himself? To make matters even worse, it was beginning to snow hard. Robert thought there was even a chance that come morning there would be white on the ground. He added more dead branches to his dying fire, bringing it back to life. Half an hour later he had to turn on his bright-beamed flashlight to search for more dry wood to burn. As he ventured further away from the fire for more dry wood, he began to hear something moving in the trees again. Quickly Robert grabbed more dead branches off the ground and he dragged them back to his fire. After hearing something moving around, he built the fire up and then forced himself to go out looking for more dry wood. The snow kept falling, making his ability to see very far ahead almost impossible. He was terrified he would look up and there would be one of those tall, dark things. It wasn’t hard to imagine sharp teeth dripping salivia being attached to those tall things. Finally after getting back with more dry wood, and that pretty much being all that was around his campfire, he stayed and listened. Something was definitely out there. It sounded like it was moving in circles around his camp. Occasionally he would aim the bright-beamed light in the direction of noise, and then suddenly turn it on. All he would see, if anything at all, would be a shadow darting into the cover of the forest. When it was close to midnight, according to his phone, a new sound began to announce itself. He heard a whacking and then a lot of tree branches being broken. That was a ways off however. The more immediate threat was much closer and he could hear them getting braver as the snow fell heavier and the night grew colder and older. Finally Robert didn’t think the things moving around his campfire could get any closer without him seeing them. Up close and personal. There came a howl that sounded like it was truly just feet away, followed by an even more intimidating noise of branches being broken and then a roar! A roar like he had never heard before. This roar made the intimidating howls he had been terrified by, just a short time previous, seem like the difference between hearing an alley cat announce his fighting presence by hissing, compared to hearing a mountain lion let go a roar. Robert dropped the firewood he had been getting ready to drop into the campfire. Then he tore off running into the darkness and the falling snow. He fumbled for the bright-beamed flashlight and turned it on as he stumbled-ran through the forest. Behind him he heard the sound of what might have been six or more creatures. That was the number he counted judging solely on their different locations at various lengths behind his retreat. More of the roars came. Then more of the breaking of trees, or tree limbs. The howls were still coming too, but they seemed much less threatening, much less close on top of him, than before. Robert had no cause for relaxing however because what had replaced the sound of the howls being close and all around, was that intimidating breaking of the limbs combined with the occasional roar. Then Robert caught a break just as he heard the first yelp come from the darkness beyond. He stumbled upon the trail he had been seeking when it was still light enough to see. The woods had become alive with the sound of creatures racing through the woods, all behind where he was located. Though it was very cold out, sweat had drenched his inner layers of clothing. Robert realized he needed to find his truck before he ran out of energy because he would most likely die from exposure now that he was so damp. Still behind him he could hear the movement of many creatures. There was one really loud yelp that broke the night silence which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Onward Robert continued to race through the woods. The sounds of whatever was out there with him, was still very much just behind his retreat. When Robert saw the trail and recognized what part of it he was running, he began to holler at what was behind him. “Leave me alone! There are people just ahead! Hello! Hello! Human being coming your way!” Robert continued to race down the trail. Now he knew the parking lot was just maybe eight football fields away. His truck just another half a football field once he reached the gravel parking lot. Now the bright-beamed flashlight is bobbing up and down with the motion of Robert’s arms. He realizes he is at a full-on sprint for what seems like his life. Through the falling snow he is constantly thinking he is seeing something dark that is jumping out at him through its layer after layer of surprise about what waits just out of reach of visibility. Because the light beam was so tightly focused it meant the snow lit up by the beam was nearly blinding in its reflection which caused Robert’s periphial vision to become almost nill. The closest way of describing what he was experiencing would be to tell someone to run as fast as they can through a long room which had a strobe light provide the only illumination. Robert literally expected something big to grab him at any second as he raced onward through the snowy darkness. All around he could hear the sounds of things running just behind him. They were keeping pace easily. Then as he finally came to a sign noting there was a parking lot just ahead, and he could see how the forest was cut back to allow for the parking area, there came another roar. Then another yelp from what was clearly an animal of different species. He raced onto that gravel parking lot flinging small rocks behind his kicking feet, not slowing down until he was on top of his truck. Robert started fishing into his pocket for the truck keys as soon as he saw the sign stating the parking lot was just ahead. So when he got to the truck he was able to throw the door open and jump in. He quickly started the truck up fearing they were right behind him. There was nothing there. Robert turned on his truck lights and was surprised to see so many different sets of eyes being lit up by his headlights. There were two sets of amber colored eyes which were the closest to the parking lot. Behind them, a little taller in height, were three sets of red reflecting eyes. He punched the gas and rooster-tailed loose gravel behind the truck as it sped away down the road. It is true Robert will never know for certain what was out there in the woods with him that night. There will be those that will claim it was only wolves. Others will claim a combination of wolves, cats and imagination. He won’t allow himself to even get close to be caught out in the woods after dark, after that experience. He still hunts, but only in the mornings. Did he experience a dogman, bigfoot combination? Perhaps a pack of wolves and some bigfoot? He said that they all had eyes which were set at a height taller than his own. What do you think they were? the end | |